Happy May! Our long winter finally ended and Spring has arrived. It took a long time this year to warm up. It didn't get above freezing until April 8th, and the snow lingered around until April 12th. A lot has happened these past 3 months and while we will not be able to share everything, here are a few highlights.
February
We started off the month making a trip to Berlin to get Stuart his US Citzenship, Passport, and Social Security Card. Fortunately Stanley and Holly were able to stay with Nadine and Susanne respectfully. Thank you Nadine and Susanne! We were able to stay with Tobias and Jessy which was such a blessing. The trip was successful and it was neat and interesting being back on US soil interacting with Americans at the Embassy.
The day after we returned home from Berlin (only a one night trip), I had to go back to work. My paternity leave was two months long and it was amazing how quickly those two months flew by. It was nice going back to work and seeing my students and coworkers, but the pace of being home is hard to beat. It wasn't all that bad though. After 8 work days after going back I was off for Winter Break! In Germany we get two weeks for fall break, two weeks for Christmas, one week for Winter, and two weeks for Easter Break. The trade-off is that Summer is "only" 6 weeks compared to 10 in America.
Before Winter Break however we had Valentine's Day. A nice thing in Germany is that Valentine's Day does not get the hype that it does in America so there are no expectations. We did make and deliver some Valentine's cards for some of our friends' children. Heather then prepared an amazing Valentine's Day dinner. Wow, it was delicious.
During Winter Break we were blessed to have Grandma Sue travel from Oregon to spend almost two weeks with us! Before Stuart was born we decided it would be good for her to come out some time after I went back to work. That way she could help out with the big kids when Heather needed her most. What a great time. We did an everyone's birthday party for all our spring birthday's coming up. We put up streamers and balloons and played pin the heart on the map. Stanley and Holly absolutely loved it. With her here, the weather also turned very cold and wintery. It would stay that way all the way until the beginning of April!
March
Grandma Sue left the beginning of March, but she left the snow with us. The temperature never got much higher than 0 Celsius. Occasionally the snow would begin to melt and it would look like Spring was on it's way, but then another snow storm would hit. Every time we would say, "there's the last snow of the season!" We probably said that 5 or 6 times. Despite the cold, we were still able to get out and get some fresh air.
We did have some surprise visitors the first weekend of March. We follow Josiah Venture (JV) on Facebook, and Heather saw one day that there were some JV staff on a vision trip in Leipzig making contacts and dreaming about future ministry opportunities there. We have worked with JV many times with English Camps in Czech and Slovenia. We have always had a heart for the work JV does, and here they are in our backyard. We were able to contact the staff and they made a spontaneous trip out to Weimar (about 1.5 hours driving). They joined us for dinner and we got to talk to them about their vision for Leipzig and East Germany. We think it would be really neat to do an English Camp with our church here in Weimar and maybe some day we might become JV staff ourselves. We'll just have to wait and see what God has for us.
After my Winter Break, I had four crazy weeks at work, and then I got another two weeks off for Easter Break! Again, since it was so cold we couldn't really get out all that much, but we did what we could. By the time Easter rolled around it felt more like Christmas than Easter. A friend told us that they were singing "Easter Carols" on the Radio. The week leading up to Easter we were able to do some really cool things with our Hauskreis (Bible Study Group literally translated "House Circle"). On Monday we did a Seder meal recognizing the Jewish Traditions for the Passover Meal but also seeing the symbolism with Christ and His death on the cross. On Friday we watched The Passion. Such a heavy movie, but gives us better perspective of the price Jesus paid.
Between those two activities we also celebrated Holly's Third Birthday. Heather did a Rainbow Theme with colored plates, cups, cupcakes, balloons, and other fun decorations. We had the Meichsners over for her birthday and had a fun time with our friends and honoring our precious little girl. Although she is not so little anymore!
April
Finally the weather turned nicer and spring started to arrive. Although it went from Freezing to Cold and Wet before things started to warm up. Holly's birthday in March marks the beginning of Birthday Month. We celebrated our friend Susanne's Birthday the second of April. Her amazing husband Erik had a day filled with fun planned, and we had the honor of being part of that by having cake and ice cream at our house. Heather made a bulletin board for Susanne which turned our really great.
After Susanne's Birthday came Stanley's 5th birthday on April 12th. Stanley wanted a Lego Birthday so that is exactly what Heather did. She made some incredible Lego Head Pops (Marshmallows dipped in White Chocolate dyed yellow), Lego Man Coloring pages, and an amazing Lego Pinata. Since the Pinata is a Mexican tradition (not Spanish) many of our friends here had no idea what one was. It was fun to see the kids realize what they got to do and boy did they have a blast whacking that Pinata. Now, we don't have baseball bats here (although we could buy them if we wanted to), so instead we used our wooden swords! What a fun European Twist on the activity.
Another fun thing that started in April was a weekly Date Night! Our friend Elizabeth who is from Boston and working on her PhD has been able come over Wednesday Nights after the kids go to bed so Heather and I are able to get out for a couple of hours. It has been wonderful. Unlike in America, after 8 pm pretty much everything is closed with the exception of some cafes. The theater is open, but since all movies are in German (we live in Germany duh) we really get to be out together and just walk, talk and maybe enjoy an appetizer or dessert at a cafe. Thank you Elizabeth for being willing to do this.
May
Now that it is May the weather has turned gorgeous. This year Heather got to enjoy the incredible Flea Market on May 1st. It is hundreds of booths that cover the huge plaza near our house. I went for a run that morning and at 5:30 people were setting up and others were already wandering through looking at the merchandise. Heather was able to make it out there by 8, and by 9:30 it was packed. Last year I made the mistake of trying to get the stroller through the crowd at around 10 am.
May also brings Heather's birthday and this year for her 30th she decided to throw herself a party and invite some of her mommy friends over. Of course with her creativity it was an incredible success and such a fun birthday for her.
So there you have a little update in our lives. Stanley and Holly have been great big siblings to little Stuart and it is fun to see their love and attention to him. Of course they are 5 and 3 which means high energy, plenty of conflict, and tons of laughter. We are trusting in the Lord with raising them correctly, but we sometimes wonder if we're doing it right.
We would love to hear from you. We hope you are doing well, and for our friends in America, we hope to see you this summer.
