Where did May go? Where did June go??? (Part 2)

So here is the second part of our two part catch up post, May and June. If you have not read the May post, you might want to skip down and read that first. During these last two months we kept thinking of where we were a year ago. Finding out that I lost hours at Barlow, loosing more hours, starting to look at international jobs, split between Barlow and Gresham, finding the job at Thuringia International School, applying for the job, calling the school and having an interview that night, being offered the job 2 days later, accepting the job and making the decision to uproot our family and move to Germany! Now here we are a year later being stretched in ways we never thought possible (in a good way). So let me share with you what has been happening during the month of June.

June

In our last post I said that the month of May was incredibly nice, well the month of June was incredibly wet! It rained a lot and was just grey. We've been told that that is fairly common here. June, July, and August are the wetter times of the year with thunderstorms rolling in and out fairly quickly. Unlike Oregon where it will be wet for long periods of time and then it is nice for most of the summer. So the month of June kept jumping from beautiful to wet and ugly. You never really knew what you would get next.

Stanley and Holly both listening to their "thinking rocks."

The month of June kicked off with a German celebration called Kinderstag (Childs Day). We have mother's day and father's day, why not children's day? Kinderstag was June 1st, and there was a giant festival for it on Schiller Strasse. There was an inflatable bouncy house, balance beams, ring toss, face painting, calligraphy, slack line, music, clowns, acrobats, wood work, and more. It seems as if lots of different groups set up booths with different activities. Heather wasn't feeling very good that day with the pregnancy so I took Stanley and Holly down to check it out. Unfortunately it was very crowded and most of the activities were geared more towards kids 6 or older. But it was fun to see and Stanley and Holly did enjoy the balance beam obstacle course, building with blocks, the slack line, and watching some of the clown acts.

Stanley taking it all in before he jumps in to participate.

Stanley's Kindergarten photo.

On June 2nd my school held the graduation of the 12th grade class. It was neat to see the difference between ThIS and Barlow. 10 students vs 310 students. There were 3 speakers, a student, a teacher, and a key note speaker. They were able to give time for families to take pictures when each student received his/her diploma. It was a nice formal event with a very personal touch to it.

On June 6th I was able to compete in a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) fun run in the nearby city of Erfurt. It was a business who's-who run where runners represent their respective companies (over 4500 people participated). A group from work came out to compete. I had been running about 30 miles a week plus another 30 miles a week biking. I knew I was in good shape but I didn't know how good. After my run in Chemnitz I was hoping to run under 17 minutes and hopefully win it. We had a collegue from work watch Stanley and Holly so Heather and I could go out together and she could support me in my race. The weather forecast was for Thunderstorms so we were a little nervous about it. Well, the evening went better then expected. First of all, the weather got nicer as the evening went on (instead of the predicted uglier). By the time the race started the conditions were perfect. Secondly, while I didn't win the race (I was 4th) my time was much better then I was hoping for. I ended up running the 5 kilometers in 15 min 17 seconds. (that's about 4 min 55 seconds per mile and was better then my high school personal best and my first collegiate 5k) I was shocked at the result. During the race I knew it was fast (the winner ran 14:30) but I was able to just hang in there and was unfortunately out kicked at the end.

Our group from Thuringia International School.

The two leaders took off early so I was in this chase pack. 

The tall guy ended up 3rd when he out kicked me in the last 400 meters.

After the race I was very happy with my time.

Our school's directer and me after the race. Behind us is the Erfurt Cathedral. 

The finish was at the base of the stairs up to the cathedral.

My number 1 supporter! 

We enjoyed a nice bowl of Goulash after the race.

Our group took two taxis there. 

Afterwards we got a taxi to ourselves since everyone else lives on the other side of town.

During the month of June we received a fun toy from some friends from church. Heather had been wanting to make a play kitchen for the kids. We have lots of great play food from IKEA, but they end up all over the house. Marcus and Babett had a play kitchen in their attic that their girls no longer played with so they let us borrow it. Stanley and Holly have absolutely LOVED it and Heather has since done some work to improve on the style!

Enjoying their creations.

Another piece of furniture that we are borrowing is a new bed for Holly! Heather was thinking ahead with the new baby and decided it was time to get Holly into a big girl bed. We were looking at buying an inexpensive one from IKEA, but fortunately our neighbors had one in the Keller. Their 4 year old had out grown it so the dad and his son came up one day when I was still at work and even assembled it for us! (Have I mentioned yet that we are really blessed with our neighbors and friends?) Unfortunately Holly was only able to sleep in it for two nights and one nap. Since she and Stanley are such great friends they are more interested in playing than sleeping. We would find Holly out of bed, then Stanley out of bed, then both of them out of bed. During nap time, Holly was not going to nap. So for now she is back in the pack and play in the closet (which in Germany is actually considered a separate room). We have until November to move her back in with Stanley and we aren't in a hurry to do that any time soon.

Our two precious kids in their beds. They have too much fun together. 

Which is a good problem to have.

Heather is always looking at and researching new craft ideas that inspire her. In June she found the art of Zentangle. It is a doodling art form that results in really cool creations. She has absolutely loved it and has come up with some pretty cool creations.

Art time with Mommy

Mid June our church did a really cool thing by having a church service in the local park. They call it open air Gottesdienst (service). They held the service at 2 in the afternoon and it is a more exposed venue that allows people to stop by and check it out. They did a similar thing for the youth Friday night, but that was rained out. However, by Sunday the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I missed most of the service because I joined Stanley and Holly with the kid's activities in the park. During the service they had a girl in the church sing who apparently won a music contest in Weimar, the group of kids performed the bird song that I mentioned in Part 1 of this post, a group did a little drama, and that was about all that I saw before I went off with the kids. In the kids area they did a reenactment of the miraculous catch of fish and Jesus asking Peter "Do you love me?" They even had a rubber raft in a little pond for the fishing boat. It was a really neat idea, and a great way to invite your friends to church. Plus being at 2 in the afternoon no one can say they want to sleep in, and as I've mentioned before everything is closed in Germany on Sunday so you can't go shopping or really be doing much else. The thing to do Sunday afternoons is to go for walks with the family.

Playing in the raft after church with our friend Carola and her daughter. 

A big hurdle that I got over in June was that I finally earned my German driver's license! Fortunately, coming from Oregon I did not have to take the entire driving test. Unfortunately, coming from Oregon I did have to take the written theory test. Fortunately, I was able to take it in English. I don't know how they decided this, but when coming from the United States what you have to do to get your German license varys based upon what state you're coming from. From some states like Washington you just need to show up, sign a few papers and viola you have your German license. Some states like Oregon you have to take the theory/written part of the test (which ends up cost about 200 Euros). The other unfortunate states have to do the whole shebang (which can end up costing a couple thousand Euros). We registered to take the test some time in March, but never really got around to studying for it like we should. Finally I decided to just set a date to take the test. I knew that once I had a deadline I would get it done. So a date was set (June 19th) and I had a week to study. The guy at the Fahrshule (driving school) was worried since I had only completed 4% of my online practice guide. During that week I spent multiple hours going through the online guide, although the only thing I could do was go through practice questions because those were the only things in English. Finally the day came to take the test. I went to the Fahrshule and the guy took me to the central exam center. No one spoke any English (well duh we are in Germany). The exam center is a classroom like environment with laptops for all the test takers. When the exam began I realized in horror that my exam was in Deutsch! I pointed this out to the proctor and he did an oops laugh and went to his computer to change it. Saying a few things to me in German which I didn't understand so I just smiled and nodded. Finally it restarted in English so I was able to start it. The test was 30 questions (all of which were in the 900+ practice questions available online which I had gone through). They range in difficulty from "what do you do when someone cuts you off?" to "if a truck has orange license plates what does that mean?" Each question varies in point value and if you lose a total of 8 points you fail (one question could be worth 6 points). Also, the questions are multiple choice, but multiple or all of the options could be correct. So the answer could be A and D or A, B, and C, or just B. Because of my late start I was one of the last ones to finish. After I was done I told the proctor. He looked at the results and said "Topps" he then showed me where to click so I can see my results. 100%!!! I was so excited. In America it took me two attempts to pass my written test and 3 for my driving test (given that one of those 3 was when the brake lights didn't work). I now have my German driver's license (actually I have a temporary license and I am waiting for the actual license to arrive in the mail). The next day at work I had a long break and was going to pick Stanley up from Kindergarten mid day for Heather because she wasn't feeling well. One of my colleagues offered to let me use her car, but then stopped, reminding herself that I don't have a license. "Actually I do now!" So I got to drive the day after receiving my license. After 11 months of not driving it came back very naturally. I got to pick up Heather and Holly and the three of us went to pick up Stanley as a little family adventure. Heather was feeling sick enough to not be able to do the whole catching a bus routine, but good enough to get out and let me chauffeur her around. We had a lot of fun that day.

We had a tea party for Stanley's Orange Baby. It apparently was the baby's birthday. 

(We're glad Stanley told us or we would have forgotten). ;-)

Holly was happy to celebrate and loved her tea and ice cream. 

She now asks for "Holly, Holly...Tea...Holly, Holly...hot tea, hot tea...Holly...bitte"

During the entire month of June my school year was also wrapping up. In Oregon we finished mid June, in some states the beginning, at Thuringia International we finished the end of June (which is better then the public schools here who are still in session). I'll take a little tangent here to say in Germany they only get 6 weeks of summer break but have other week long breaks throughout the school year (two fall, two Christmas, one winter, two spring break). To balance out traffic the entire country has their summer breaks staggered according to region (state). Those weeks could vary from year to year. In Thuringia this year they get from mid July to the beginning of September. Next year it might be from the beginning of June to mid July, or the beginning of August to mid September. They publish these dates years in advanced so it isn't a surprise. So Theoretically if you move between regions you might start your summer break beginning of June and not have to go back until mid September if you're lucky or if you're unlucky you might not get a summer break at all! Anyways, we get all of July and the first part of August off. The last month of school however was fairly odd. We did final exams June 7, 8, 11, 12 (remember final exams are really big here). But after finals were done on the 12th we were back to school on the 13th! We still had 2 more weeks of lessons. This works well for the high school classes because they are really 2 year curriculum (IGCSE for grades 9 and 10 then the IB for grades 11 and 12), but for the middle school what do you do? We ended up doing some extra content that we couldn't fit into the year and some more hands on work. Statistics in grade 8 and scale drawings and constructions in grade 7. We also lost some days to different field trips that some of the classes went on. But the days were very relaxed and fun. On the last couple of days the students had class parties and it was hard to get them to do much of anything anyways. In that regard it is nice to not end with finals because it allows more time to do some of those last minute bonding activities that you would otherwise miss out on being so focused on the final exams.

Two fun events during those weeks was a school talent show and sports day. The talent show was actually a fundraiser for an orphanage in Kenya that the school helps support. The 11th graders had people vote for their favorite act by donating money. The act that received the most money was the winning act. When talking to another teacher who was the adviser for the 11th grade I made the comment that it's not about the most talented but who can get the most donations. I then went on to tell her about my exploits as a Senior in high school when a couple of friends and I did a magic show at our class banquet when we really didn't know any magic. She thought that was hilarious and said I should perform. I laughed and said I would think about it (really not planning on performing). Well two days before the talent show a couple of 11th graders came to me and said that I was on the list of performers! Yikes. I couldn't bail out at that point so I went ahead and performed in the show. Actually I got my twin brother "The Magnificanto Americano" to perform in my place. It was a lot of fun, the kids loved it and the act ended up in 4th place out of 11.

"The Magnificanto Americano's" first act was to make his leg disappear. 

Unfortunately the photographer spoiled the illusion.

The final act was to saw a student in two, 

but since the the saw was a little rusty he just made the student "disappear."

 The second fun event was an upper school (grades 6-12) sports day. Although grades 10 and 12 were not there because they were done for the year. The PE teachers did a great job organizing it and putting it together. The morning consisted of class and individual competition. 75/100 meter dash, long jump, ball throw, jumping rope, wild river, and flags. I was the starter for the run and it was fun to put my sprint coach training into practice. Thank you Jordan Trump for all you taught me about using blocks! In the afternoon we had the Swedish Relay, soccer, volleyball and other activities. The Swedish Relay was a 9 person sprint medley. 50-50-75-75-75-75-100-100-200 (future Barlow Relays idea Dave Kilian). For this the staff was also asked to put a team together. Being the runner of the group I got the 200 meter leg. The students who were also running the 200 kept asking me to go slow. My response was, "I am a distance runner not a sprinter and you probably will be too far ahead for me to catch." Well, when the teachers were 10 meters behind after the first two legs I knew it was over. By the time I got the baton I was 50-75 meters behind the last team. The winning team was almost 100 meters ahead! I ran valiantly, but students were getting onto the track by the time I came around because they thought it was over. Besides getting last place we had a lot of fun.



The strange thing about teaching in an International School is that good byes are a regular occurance. Teachers and students are always coming and going for various reasons. On the last day we had the end of the year assembly aka the crying assembly. From my homeroom class we had two students leaving and one student who is going to study abroad in America next year. There were also 8 teachers moving on to other adventures. One of the teachers, Freya, has two sons the same ages as Stanley and Holly. At the beginning of the year we hung out with them several times, but then once the year started we didn't hang out much. During the last couple weeks we got to hang out again several times and were asking ourselves "why didn't we do this more?" Stanley got to speak English with kids his age! The kids loved playing with each other. We babysat for them one time to give mom and dad a much needed sanity break (they were doing what we were doing last year, scrambling getting ready to move). They played together at an end of the year staff picnic, and then one last good bye the night before they moved to Japan. While we can still stay connected via facebook, for a lot of these people you say good bye to you realistically will never see again unless they know Jesus and we can be reunited again in Heaven. Goodbyes are just weird.

We had some friends from Heather's choir over for dinner during the month of June. 

Heather does a great job creating a great meal and presenting it well.

To end the month of June we got to go on a fun canoe trip with some friends from church. We were honored and so thankful to be invited. We rented a bunch of canoes, drove about an hour to the launch point, and made our way about 10 kilometers (6 miles) down river. The weather turned out to be beautiful and it was a great time with friends. We were reminded again how blessed we are with our church in that all of these people are friends from church. The people from work are great, but come summer most of them are off traveling Europe or visiting family. We ended up in a canoe with the four of us plus Selma for the first leg of the journey. After that we stopped for lunch. After lunch we did a little trade and got Erik Meichsner and lost Selma. That actually worked out great letting Erik and I do all the work and Heather was able to just enjoy the ride. She was sore the next day from just rowing on the first leg. Imagine how much more sore she would have been if she rowed the whole way! The second leg was defined by water fights, although we stayed out of it for the most part. After that we stopped for Kaffee and Cake (a German tradition kind of like English Tea time) and during that stop we all got to jump in the river and swim a bit. Then the last leg took us to our final destination Freyburg which is known for its beautiful vineyards. The leader of the group took the drivers and canoes back to the starting point so the drivers were able to get the cars and pick the rest of us up. It was a day of laughter and friends and we all felt it was a great way to really kick off the summer!

Enjoying dipping our feet into the natural spring in the park.

A favorite free hangout place for families on hot days.

Our absolutely adorable, fun, energetic, and precious children. (We think so anyway.)

Well, there you have our May and June updates. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. Hopefully we can get some July posts up given that I am not working right now! Some of the things we have coming up is lots of visitors. My parents and Grandma Bettie are coming out to visit next week. The Smucker family will be here after my parents leave, Urska will come from Slovenia in August, and we may have some other guests in there as well. We are looking forward to it and hope to have some fun adventures along the way. Unfortunately we will not be able to get up to London for the Olympics. Tickets to Track and Field were ridiculously expensive anyway. We are hoping to go on some fun day trips though. Some with our visitors and some just our little family. We are thankful that it is summer and that we get to spend it in such a special place. Thank you for taking the time to stay caught up with our family. Please feel free to leave a comment, we would love to hear from you. Here are a couple more photos for you.

Being in the center of town, there is always something interesting to watch. On this day the German equivalent of the American Red Cross was having a festival regional get-together. It started off with a drum/rhythm procession that started in Rollplatz. More and more people started to gather once the drumming began until there was a huge crowd.

When the days get hard/long/frustrating we look around us and remind ourselves 

"WE LIVE IN EUROPE!!! How cool is that?"

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!

April Update

This last month sure has been crazy. Since our last post we had just started Spring break. Since then we had Spring break, Stanley and I had birthdays, back to work, and then an emergency trip to America for Heather. I don't even know where to start with this. So I think I'll start with the biggest event, Heather's trip to America. I will put a disclaimer in right now. With Heather gone, this post has not gone through it's normal editing. Please be patient with any of my typos and grammatical mistakes.

On Saturday April 21st in America one of our good friend's 18 month old daughter was injured a tragic accident on their farm. It was Sunday for us, and we didn't get word of what happened until after Olivia had already passed away because we were gone all day with some friends from church. So Heather found out Sunday night, and we were trying to decided whether she should go back for the funeral and help her friend during this crisis. God said yes and provided a way. A friend of Heather donated her family's frequent flyer miles and by Wednesday morning Heather was on a plane for America. It was a crazy whirlwind of events, and Heather had to leave the house at 4 am to be on a 4:45 train for Frankfurt.

That left me at home with Stanley and Holly. Our friends here in Germany were great in stepping in to help out. Heather arranged who would go where so all I had to do was get the kids to the right place and pick them up. Stanley was at Kindergarten in the morning and Susanne picked him up, except for Friday when he went to Miriam's house. Holly was with Uli Wednesday, Susanne Thursday, and Andrea Friday. I had a little trouble timing it on when I needed to leave the house, but it all worked out. Fortunately I did not have classes first period Wednesday or Thursday so it gave me some extra flexibility.

On Saturday I had the crazy idea of still doing the run I registered for in Chemnitz (about 2.5 hours by train). I packed up the night before, and then woke up the kids at 6:10 to catch the 7 am train. I actually got to the train station and to the platform with 25 minutes to spare. The kids stayed in the Pajamas for most of the trip to Chemnitz.

Morning breakfast in the stroller.

Train ride to Chemnitz. "Who's ready for a race?"

When we arrived in Chemnitz we made our way to the park by bus, got checked in and got ready for the run. Since Heather was not here I was going to run with the kids in the stroller. Of course I always get some strange looks and lots of smiles when running with the kids, but especially during a "race." Turns out it wasn't much of a race, just a fitness run. For the first 200 meters I ended up off-roading it to clear the crowd. Lots of slow people like to start in the front. Or maybe I need to be more aggressive to move myself to the front of the line. Either way, I feel sorry for the guy who's heel I clipped with the jogging wheel. I made it to the front and joined the lead runner. We started talking and I found out that it was not supposed to be a competitive race. So we ran together the whole way. By the way, he spoke great English! He is a triathlete who was running this as a training run. At one point someone caught up with us, but then we dropped him over the last loop (it was a 1.25 km loop we did 6 times). Our last mile was about 5:40 pace. Because we did so many loops the lead biker and myself kept dinging our bells to get people to move. Having a warning bell on your bike (or running stroller) is practically a must. I didn't start my watch at the beginning. But my last 5k was 18:22 and Robin said we were just under 28 minutes (about 6 minute mile pace). I'm guessing our total time was about 27:45ish.

Robin and I after the run

After the run we hung out for a bit, had some fruit, Bratwurst, and water. Stanley played in the bouncy castle, and we had a good time. It was nice not to be in a rush to go anywhere.

Stanley in the bouncy house (white shirt). He is getting bolder every day, because in Oktober he wouldn't even go into a bouncy house.

A really tired Holly. She got a little sleep during the run but not enough.

It was really hot (80's Fahrenheit). We then made our way back into Chemnitz because a lady I was talking to recommending stopping at the Zentralstation. We did and bought some Blueberries and Strawberries at the open air market, and then went into the mall to get some ice cream.

In central Chemnitz with Stanley being goofy.

Dancing in the square. Notice many of our pictures Stanley and Holly are doing the same thing. That's because Holly loves to mimic her big brother.

The Strawberries were a lifesaver!

Sharing Ice Cream at the mall. 

Auf Deutsch it is called Eis "I-s" and it is one of Holly's favorite words.

Making one of our many connections. I love to see our kids have fun together.

Afterwards we made it to the train station to head home. When we arrived I found out that we had just missed a train and the next one wasn't for another 2 hours! So we hung out in the station, got some Burger King for an early dinner, and tried to waste as much time as possible. The kids did really well considering the circumstances. They also got really messy from Strawberries, Blueberries, Nougat cream cookies, and just playing. I decided not to stress about the germs and messiness too much otherwise I would just go crazy trying to manage all that.

You can't go wrong with Burger King and the crowns.

About an hour before our train I started to notice alot of police in riot gear. Then I saw some people with football team scarves. Turns out a Football game between Chemnitz and Erfurt was just finishing, and those going to Erfurt would be on our train! About 20 minutes before the train left Stanley got one of his really bad bloody noses. Fortunately I had grabbed a bunch of paper towels earlier in the day. As our departure time got closer I had to have him squeeze his own nose. It was a little awkward trying to push the stroller past Polizei holding my son's nose with bloody paper towels. But we made it and his bloodynose did stop. Dealing with these Football fan hooligans is something the Polizei are obviously used to. They had all the fans on one train and other travelers on the other. But the Polizei are still are on both trains. So we had 4 officers with us the entire time.

The Polizei corralling the fans.

Stanley with one of the Polizei

The ride home was the hardest part of the day. The kids were a mess, we were all tired, and the train was unbearably hot. But we finally made it, and we were so glad to be home. We stopped at the store on the way home because the stores aren't open on Sunday, and walked in the door about 7:30pm. Just over 13 hours after we left that morning! What a day. I gave the kids baths, fed them a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and put them to bed. I finished up Schindler's list that I had started Friday night, then started to watch the documentary with interviews of the actual survivors, but soon fell asleep. Unfortunately, Stanley's bloody nose wasn't really done and twice he was up with it bleeding some more, so I was very tired Sunday morning.

Not the most flattering picture of Stanley, but it captures how we felt. Very tired, but happy.

A nice family picture taken by the Polizei

Despite how tired we all felt we still made it to church Sunday morning. A group was doing a fundraiser so we also had lunch at church. After church Holly took a nap while Stanley played quietly in his room. After naps we went out to a coworker's house that afternoon and evening. It has been nice not having to cook very many meals. I did leftover Lasagna on Thursday, the Meichsners fed us Thursday, and Friday we had Donor Kebap. The kids had a great time Sunday evening playing with one of my coworker's daughters (who is in high school) and 2 young boys of another family who was there. It was a nice relaxing afternoon and evening. The only problem was that we didn't get home until after 9 and Stanley didn't fall asleep until almost 10!

At church when all the kids come forward before going to Sunday School.

Of course the next morning they didn't sleep in. We had breakfast, cleaned up the house, then went for a run. 8 miles, picnic, and then 4 miles back home. It was one of those beautiful spring days where you just have to get out.

The kids get to ride in style.

Playing at the part on the beautiful spring morning.

Meanwhile in America Heather is glad she went. She has been able to support Courtenay and the family. On Friday, the day of the memorial service, she was at Courtenay's right hand. She made sure Courtaney ate, drank water, sat down, etc. Heather really felt like she fulfilled her purpose in going to America to help Courtenay during this hard time. She has also enjoyed seeing friends, family, and doing a little shopping. She has said it has also been an interesting feeling of not being at home there. Home right now is in Germany, and not in America.

Heather with Sarah and Sue Overby

I hear Holly waking up from her nap so I need to go. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hopefully I'll be able to post more on the rest of our incredibly busy April. In the mean time please pray for Heather's travels as she leaves Oregon Tuesday morning and won't arrive in Weimar until Wednesday afternoon/evening. Have a great day.

Scott