December 2009

Much has happened this month. Bailey and David have been ever so busy with rehersals for the musical Oliver. Which I failed to mention earlier that they tried out and made it.  Bailey was selected for the youth girls chorus, after all there aren't any major parts for 12 yr old girls in Oliver.  David was selected for the Men's Chorus and ended up with a solo/ensemble part in Who Will Buy?  He was the "Strawberry Man". There were meetings, and Girl Scouts and school out days and class parties and band concerts to attend. We held our first ever game night on Dec 22 and it was great fun!! We got a real Christmas tree for the first time in a loooooooooong time and we made up for all the years without a real one by getting a HUGE one! It was about 12ft tall. By the way, it was our first cash Christmas in several years!  I'm so proud of us.  Not a present was purchased on credit, nor the food, nor the tree, which is saying a lot since we just moved in Aug.  Did I ever mention, I hate moving.  We ended the year quietly and together in our home. That is if you don't count the fireworks.  In Germany EVERYONE sets of LOTS no TONS of fireworks in the street at midnight!  It is sooooo crazy!!  We live right by the train tracks and even saw a group in the train having a toast to the new year as it passed our house right at the stroke of 12.  Neat Huh?

November 2009

Sorry this took so long, I wrote this some time agao and have been waiting to add pics!  More soon to follow.

November was busy, busy, busy for us. We started the month running and ended up sprinting toward December. What kept us so busy you ask? There was a school holiday, teacher work days and conferences to attend. Rehersals for Oliver started. There was homework and practice time for instruments and studying, exercising, cooking, cleaning, and rehersals for the Messiah choir.

Rewind to August

Here are some pictures of our visit to Angelbachtal during their annual Knight's Tournament the second week in August. We have been to this festival before and it has grown a lot since our last visit. We love to see the artisans and crafts folks working. Our favorite this year was a troup of musicians that was complete with jugglers. This is very much fun and interesting for all of us.

The Final Stretch

Sorry it has been soooo long since my last post. We have been without Internet for about a month. This was due in large part to the difficulty of communicating in German. Since my last post, the household goods have been delivered and the temporary furniture picked up. Everything arrived sealed and in good condition. We have yet to discover any badly damaged items. Bailey is missing a two dollar bill and dollar coin that were kept in her jewelry box. She had taped it closed, and the tape was gone along with her treasures. Oh well, I guess the woman that packed her room was really desperate. We have yet to find the binders that hold our collection of DVDs and Music. I am hoping they turn up. All that is left is the endless unpacking and sorting and finding the right places for everything. The living room is free of boxes though there are some living room boxes in other rooms. We purchased shelves for Bailey's room and it looks awesome though it is not quite all put together. The boys room has their beds and shelves put together, but all the stuff is stacked/piled up because they thought they would "help" unpack and dumped the contents of about 5 large boxes of toys in the middle of their room and played with everything. For a week and a half you could barely walk into the room. There is still much sorting and reorganizing to do in there. That's all for now, in the next few days I will try to post some family things we have been up to with pictures and such.

On the other side of the move.

We arrived safely in Germany about three weeks ago. We are staying in a two room accomodation on the post called Patrick Henry Village or PHV. There is one bathroom and a small kitchen with a little fridge, coffee maker, microwave, two stove burners, and a toaster. The kitchen is also outfitted with a set of dishes and some basic cookware and utensils. The past few weeks have been rough as far as transportation. Dave will finally pick up our van today. It has been 7 weeks. They have a lovely free community bus here that goes to all the little posts in the community and when that fails we know how to use the German public transportation. We rented a car last week and that made for more ease.

Let's see what else do I need to update you on? Well, there is housing. Dave attended the briefing our first week here and received the first two listings for us to view. The first was very urban, nice size and in good shape and close proximity to work, but no yard. I couldn't see myself staying very sane there, homeschooling the kids and the dog needing a little freedom also. Next was a big house far from work with an ok yard, on a really busy street, with mold in the basement. It was a no go, for allergy reasons. We had to wait a day to go back to the housing office and get more listings. Ms. Luney gave us one in Ketsch and one in Schlierbach. We made viewing appts for both. Our wonderful sponsor, Norm, worked with us to get us to see these houses as we had no transportation yet. The one in Ketsch was surprisingly nice inside and had a lovely garden out back. The layout was really neat, but the access to the house was difficult and it just wasn't quite right. We had a rental the day we went out to Schlierbach and the people who were supposed to meet us there failed to show. We waited for a while then made some calls and left a little disappointed, but intrigued. We liked it already. We got a call later the next day for another try at seeing the house. We loved it! The only bad thing is the commute for Dave is not simple or direct. It is by no means the hour one way he had in DC either. So Monday we told Ms. Luney we like this one and want to make a contract on it and we did. There is a tax assistance office where we signed up to have our utilities managed. They set up the accounts for us in our names and the automatic billing through our bank and we don't have to pay the 19% tax on our utilities.

So now what? Now we are waiting. We are waiting until the 31st when our temporary furniture will be delivered to the house so we can start living there. Our household goods have not arrived yet, nor do I know when they will arrive. They are also bringing some 22ov. appliances to the house as these are not furnished. In the mean time, there is new student orientation for Bailey and Mikey. They get to take "electives" like art, PE, music, Host Nation (German) at the Middle and Elementary school. We must decide on a phone carrier for a house phone, handi, and internet.

The Perfect Day

It starts with the smell of crisp morning air filtering in my window. The smell of freshly brewed coffee calls from the kitchen. The sound of the shower running. The preparation of the day. Stretches to get the kinks out and get the blood flowing. Then time spent breakfasting with my love, making fun of the news or talking about plans for our nest vacation, or for the weekend, or the events of the day. We kiss and embrace as he parts to go then the bustle begins as the kids start to wake. Get up, get dressed, there's so much to do. Good Morning hugs and I love yous. Eat your breakfast we don't have all day. Let's go outside and play. The air is so fresh with the green grass smell. Sun is shining and the temperature is just right for a day spent together just living life. Dinner together with talk of the day, the new adventures, the people we meet, new things we can do. Everyday is perfect when spent living life.

Packing Out

It took four days for the moving company to pack everything in the house and load it into wooden crates. We survived the process. They packed the tv and dvd player last so we could still watch movies and play games. We have been finishing the pantry supplies and eating with paper plates and plastic ware. The rest we have been attempting to bless others with. I usually order food enough for my family and the crew of movers in the house. We had two or three packers there on days one through three and a crew of five on day four to load the crates. I spent some time on Friday cleaning the house and we took the weekend off and chilled at the Hotel. We have been cleaning the house and running assorted errands all this week. thankfully I have a crew of my own to help with the cleaning. Everyone contributed. Joey and Mikey were tasked with cleaning baseboards and sweeping. Bailey was sweeping, windows, kitchen cabinets, and bathrooms. Dad and I took care of the floors, oven, fridge, ceiling fans. The assignment of tasks helped to reduce the amount of whining and sibling annoyance. Today, the owner came for the walk through, and we passed. Yay!!!
Wednesday night, Mimi Donna and her kids decided to throw a kinda surprise going away party for the kids and it was sooo nice. We have moved so many times and haven't had a going away party really. It was awesome. We are going to miss the new friends we made here.
Tomorrow I have a few more errands to run, pack up the suitcases again. Saturday will be our last Sabbath here. It will be so sad. Then Sun. we will begin the new journey. I will probably be off line for a week while we adjust to the time change and get our bearings, but look for more on the continued adventures of our family.