Where did May go? Where did June go??? (Part 1)

Is it already the beginning of July? The months of May and June just flew by, and now we are gearing up towards the end of our first year in Germany! Incredible! One year ago we were in the middle of the ups and downs of not knowing what God was doing. These last two months have been busy. Since I last posted, Heather was still in Oregon! I want to try to bring you up to speed.

May

On May 1st we celebrated May Day in Germany, complete with a giant Flea Market (except no fleas) and a soap box derby. Notice the scruff, that's what happens with no wife for a week.

Best seats for the soap box derby.

Mommy comes home!!!

  

I'll start where I last left off, Heather returned safely to Germany. Seems like an obvious statement, but we were very thankful for safe travels. She was so thankful that she was able to go, but she was also glad to come back home to Germany. God blessed her on the return trip with people to help her with her bags. She was able to rest on the flights, which you're not able to do when traveling with kids.

Something that started in April, but continued into May and even June was a project that Heather worked on with a friend from church. Heike (HI-ka) does an outreach ministry in Weimar West (one of the low income parts of town) which involves guitar lessons. As a final performance she was going to do well know children's song called, Ein Vogel wollte Hochzeit machen (A bird wanted to get married) So Heike enlisted Heather's help in making the costumes for this performance. It was a painstaking process of cutting out each feather for each costume using different scrap fabric patterns. But the results were awesome. The cool thing about it, is that the costumes have reappeared several times. First, with Stanley's Kindergarten we had a "Wandertag" (Hiking day) at Tiefurt park. There the kids did a mini performance and we were surprised to see the same costumes come out to be used. One of the teachers had seen the performance in Weimar West and wanted to do the same thing with the Kindergarten group. Then recently we had a church service in the park and Heike brought the group of kids from Weimar West to perform at our service. Some projects you never see the fruit of your labor, so it is nice when you get to see the results several times over.

 Each feather had to be individually cut out then sewn together. 

But what a cool finished product!

During the month of May we were blessed with some absolutely gorgeous weather. We had weather consistently in the 70's or 80's Fahrenheit. With the nice weather we were able to enjoy several meals on our back patio.

Enjoying the view from our patio.

Dinner on the Patio

Relaxing after the kids went to bed.

During one of those meals, Heather heard some singing coming from somewhere nearby. After dinner she wanted to go explore where the singing was coming from. I put the kids to bed and she set off. Turns out it was a gospel choir rehearsal at a church meeting hall behind our house. A gospel choir in English! Heather sat in on it that week and again the week after that. Now she joins them on Tuesday nights and will hopefully sing with them at their concert in December! It has been a great way to meet new people and a fun activity for Heather to take part in.

As Stanley and Holly grow they are able to play together more and more. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that they are only four and two. Well one of those times that we forgot was when they were playing in their room, unattended, with wooden swords. It was one of those bad parenting moments. As we were working in the kitchen preparing a meal or cleaning up we hear a thump, then silence, then a terrible scream. I race into their room to find a wooden sword on the floor, Holly screaming, and a huge goose egg (a large bruise that protrudes from the head) on her forehead. Stanley had "bumped" her head with the sword (it probably was more like a thump). We immediately put ice on it to reduce the swelling and were trying to decided if we needed to take her to the hospital. We decided not to, because one of the amazing things about Holly is that she bounces back very quickly (much more so then her brother). When she gets thumped, she is likely to only need a little bit of comfort and cuddle time, and then she is ready to run off and play. We kept on eye on her "oww-wa" but there didn't seem to be any sign of a concussion. The only lingering effect of this episode was that the wooden swords are now in the cellar and no longer in commission. When you asked her what happened she'll say, "Knight...Danley...Oww-wa"

Stanley and Holly being "Bees" notice their yellow antennae.

Holly's injury from the sword.

Playing in the sand box at the Divan Restaurant (Turkish food

Lunch at the Divan Restaurant. Delicious.

Almost to 8 years together and loving married life more every day!

I will say a little more about Holly right now. She can be extremely independent and opinionated. She wants to be like her brother and often wants to do things herself. She loves to play dress up and pick her own clothes. We let her pick out her clothes sometimes and we're working with her on having a good attitude when we don't let her choose. She is also extremely empathetic. If she hears a baby crying she'll get a concerned look on her face and start asking, "Baby?" She loves to give hugs and being as small and petite as she is, other children love giving her hugs back.

Holly loves to play dress up.

She's a cutie!

During the month of May there are several holiday weekends. We had a day off for May Day, Ascension Day, another third day for Pentacost. Plus the first two were on Tuesday and Thursday respectfully, so we got the Monday and Friday off too! (Two different weeks.) During the Ascension day weekend we traveled to IKEA in Erfurt. The distance to the IKEA is probably about the same from Sandy to the IKEA by the Airport (maybe even closer), but to get there we had to travel by bus, train, tram, tram, and bus (one way). It was a fun family adventure and we are feeling pretty good with ourselves for being able to travel freely around here. While at IKEA Stanley was brave enough to go into Smaland. We enjoyed a familiar IKEA meal, complete with free refills! (most places do not have free reflills in Germany). After we were done with our shopping we realized that we just missed the bus home, so we got some ice cream and waited. In the mean time we saw someone we knew from Weimar (that happens a lot here), and met someone we needed to know. Aryn comes from Canada (so he speaks English), he is a student in Weimar and has tutored students from my school even though I had never met him. I had actually just recommended him to a student a couple of days prior to our meeting. He and his girlfriend were also going back to Weimar via public transportation so we had a chance to get to know them. She was also able to tell Heather about a German Music Therapist in Weimar. We are going to get together with them hopefully soon to meet this gal and continue to get to know Aryn and his girlfriend.

Out with my two favorite ladies.

The two handsome men being "copycats" with their Deutschland shirts.

With Stanley's brave and fun time in Smaland at IKEA I wanted to let you know that he is doing great socially. He has turned a corner in his language ability and comfortableness here. We no longer have battles at Kindergarten or at church. In fact, he is often telling us that he is ok and he doesn't need us! At church he will remind me every time that I don't need to go upstairs with him. It is really nice to see him have this confidence and success. When interacting with German speakers he will transition between German and English like we would transition between conversations. He will do his "crazy boy dancing" to impress people. He is a lot like his Nana, an exuberant performer with great social skills. This is not how we would have described him 6 months ago. When we first came, he really really really did not like to have any attention on him. Stanley's teacher's are very impressed with his improvement and he is constantly amazing us. We are starting to ask him more, "how do you say that auf Deutsch (in German)?"

Mr. Goofy.

Stanley doing one of his other favorite things: "Mommy School" aka 1:1 time with Mommy

Also during the month of May, Heather celebrated her 29th birthday. For her birthday she got some kitchen things that she's been really wanting including a crock-pot! She has absolutely loved it and has made some amazing meals with it.

Opening a mother's day card from Stanley.

Heather's birthday Crock-Pot

On memorial day weekend we still got the day off, but for Pentecost (Pfingsten) instead. For memorial day we invited our neighbors over for a BBQ chicken meal. The problem with that was that in Germany stores are closed on Sundays and Holidays. So we had not been to the store since Saturday and we were not anticipating hosting a family of 5 (it was a spur of the moment inviataion). So Heather in her creativity came up with a great meal with what we had (Pasta salad, Roasted chicken with homemade BBQ sauce, shrimp/pinnapple side dish, and homemade Lemonade). It all worked out beautifully and we had a great time with them. Stanley and Holly have really taken a liking to their kids and it has been fun seeing them interact together. They will often go to the backyard/garten and play together with bikes, scooters, soccer balls, chalk, bunnies (our neighbors have two white rabbits and had an additional 2 bunnies for awhile), strollers, etc. We are blessed to have such great neighbors (they even introduced us to our new favorite Eis (ice cream) Cafe here in Weimar).

The Americans in Germany.

At school the Seniors finished in the month of May with their IB exams. For those of you who complain about American schools "teaching to the test" it is nothing compared to the IB (International Baccalaureate) and the British GCSEs. In other school systems the exams are the end all. If you don't do well on your exams then you don't move on or have the same opportunities. I was talking to a collegue and he was saying that in some Universities in England (the Red Bricks) your entire education is based on exams at the end of three years. Well in the IB the students take a series of exams at the end of a 2 year curriculum. They are spaced out over a series of weeks and whether or not they earn their IB Diploma is based on these exams (and some other internal assessments done throughout the year). In Math the exams are 80% of the final Diploma grade. So the seniors were done at the end of April and took their exams during the month of May. I won't get the results of my students until August but I am eager to see how they did.

With the nice weather I have also been able to bike a lot more. I don't bike like I run (for recreation). I bike for getting around town. When Heather was in America I was able to take Stanley to Kindergarten and Holly to friends' houses. When Heather returned we decided that I would continue to take Stanley to Kindergarten because it was working so well and it made it so much easier on Heather. So every morning Stanley and I leave the house around 7:20 and I bike him up to Kindergarten. It has worked really well and it is nice for Heather to have only 1 round trip on the bus instead of 2. It gives her and Holly more time together in the morning and makes the day less stressed. (one round trip on the bus would take about an hour so by the time she took Stanley and came home she would only have about an hour and a half (to do house work, errands, and make lunch) before having to do it again). I've enjoyed the extra exercise. In all my morning commute is about 4.5 miles, plus my ride home giving me about 6 miles total every day. Then on top of that I have been running about 30 miles a week. It has felt really good being this physically active and living in a place that is very conducive to physical activity.

Goethe's Garten Hause. A must stop for all tourists.

Biking on our way to the Meichsner's for a game night with pack & play and all bed time gear for the kids so we could put them down for bed, play games, and then bring them home with us later.

I think I will stop with May for now and hopefully get June's update out within the next couple of days. Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures. It truly has been an adventure. Feel free to email us and we'd love to catch up with you. Blessings from the Overbys!