Christmas greetings!

Let me just say, this video couldn't be any more typical!

Decorating the tree

We like to wear pink while doing anything, anything at all.

Mom, Fiona's favorite thing to hang up? The Hallmark dog series that never ends. She got every one of them out and was so excited about all the Abbys.

Putting up the baby deer, that Fiona looks for and likes to kiss.

Frank (who is studying in Göttingen) stopped by after his dentist appointment (right across the street), ended up staying for lunch and was thus the first person outside the Seybold family to see the finished product.

A shout out to my new sister...

My first straightening attmept. And thank you, mom, for sponsoring the purchase!
A lot of people ended up seeing me with no curls. I helped Randy and Katy out with their annual Adventskaffe, or Open House. I tried to keep the tea and coffee filled up, which at first glance, may not seem like a stressful job, but I assure you, it did more than keep me on my toes. I couldn't have done it without Marcel's help. That's why I was suprised when Randy and Katy said there were only about 63 people that rolled through, I was expecting more like 150! It was fun, though, and I'm glad I was able to help them out.
And because I can't make an entry without a new picture of Fiona...

Jesus Chocolate

This is usually the first thing we do in the morning, thus the expression. Anyway, Fiona calls this her "Jesus chocolate". She came up with the name on her own, priceless, isn't it? When we open it, we talk about waiting for Jesus' birthday and I think she's got the idea, more so than many in our society?

Fiona's been busy, too!

Comforting mom after a long day at church

reading the Christmas toy advertisements

making mommy feel good by playing with her old "lamby"

And helping cheer up our friend and neighbor, Rita. She'd been having a rough day, but as the picture suggests, my girls made her feel loved and appreciated. This picture is from today. Brett isn't in it because he is sick and resting. I knew it was serious when he said, and i quote, "Coffee doesn't even sound good."

And the angels rejoiced...

As did we when Uwe was buried with Christ and rose, a new man vested in a glorious eternity.

Upper Room

So we decided to do the Upper Room a little more sporadically in the hopes of making it more of a novelty. This was the first one since we've been back.

Brett thought up the best ice breaker ever!! Speed-get-to-know-you, something very similar to the more popular speed dating. We thought up crazy questions that each pair had to talk about for a minute and then everyone rotated to the left.

Fiona started out well, but by 8:30 (we got there at 5) she was half asleep on her father's shoulder. When it was time for him to preach, she switched to my shoulder. The cuddling was nice, but if you've ever met Fiona, it's not something she does. She had the I'm-tired-of-being-touched-and-I-want-to-go-home bug, and it was gone the next morning.

Thanksgiving

I know, it looks like a lot of vegetables, right. I assure you, there were plenty of carbs to make it an official Thanksgiving dinner (the rolls were on the table).

I think there were 23 of us, one US American passport per family is required.

It was quite a full holiday, though. Sven came over for breakfast and witnessed my yearly nervous breakdown when my pie crust fails (I have since learned that the key is a cold dough, and not to be touched by the hand). Brett helped set and clean everything up. I had band practice after dinner (and missed clean up--what a cryin' shame) and then Brett helped the band set everything up for the Upper Room (which I also missed out on because I had to bring Fiona home to go to bed, I know how to plan, huh?).

A band, ein Tafel and Faith...

So, I'm in a band. We have no name and we like it that way. We have no leader and also like it that way. We come together because we love Jesus and want to sing His praise. We don't all go to the same church and our age is varied. Sunday's gig was my first, and let me tell you, this is much harder than it looks. We sang 14 songs, I think, and I knew about half of them.

I also volunteer with Catja at the Peiner Tafel, a "store" people come to when they just can't make ends meet. They don't charge for the groceries, since the goods there are donated by the big grocery stores in the area. I've been there twice so far and it is nice to be anonymous. I'm just a volunteer, and do whatever needs to be done; I don't have to make decisions about how to run the store. Completely new rolls for me. Not to be in charge or even know what's going on. I'm just along for the ride. And I'll tell you something else, that's not just how I feel in the band or at the Peiner Tafel. Life is so unpredictable. The dollar reached an all-time low against the euro (lower than it ever was against the mark) this week--$1.47=1 euro. So our finances seem completely out of our control, and they are. We know in our hearts that He'll take care of us, but it just doesn't add up. I guess that's why it's called Faith.

Purzelbaum

So we were invited to lunch after church on Sunday. The Sutojo's have what we have come to call "fat boy". It is a square bean bag and very big. Fiona was jumping on it and what not when Sara asked me if Fiona can do somersaults. I said only with my help. And as if she understood every word of our conversation (in German) she did a somersault and kept doing them. It's like she wanted to tell me, "you have no idea what I am truly capable of." And that's the way I felt.

And yes, we are trying the potty training thing. Don't ask, it is not going according to my plan, what does?

May we be clay?

I don't know how you feel about weekends, but I feel much busier on the weekends than I do during the week. Last weekend, for example...



After cleaning the church (families rotate each month, November is our month), the youth group met to pick up trash on friday night. We got them to come by promising pizza (that we did not find while picking up litter). It was pouring down rain and pretty dark when we started. We also made cards for Sara and Isabella, who are in the hospital.




On Saturday, they (fiona and I were not invited, wonder why?) got together to play Risk. And then Catja invited us over for a three course meal. I helped prepare it and I must say, it was very little work for such an amazing culinary experience.


This weekend will be even more packed, including some volunteer work, a combined worship service with the church from hildesheim, a basketball game and my debut with a youth worship band. "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." May we be clay.

At the Pauls' house...

This is my friend Renate's second son, Sean. He loves watching Scott and Fiona play. He even forgets he's hungry while watching the two play.

Scott and Fiona enjoying their mid-morning cocktail.

Gummibears, whatever.

This is one of my favorite pictures EVER!!

I know it looks forced, but picture this with him on his tractor! So cute!

Niederlassungserlaubnisse!!!

We picked up our passports today with something very precious inside--permanent residence stickers! I mean, I used to be a big fan of stickers. I kept them in my sticker book and used them ever so sparingly. Fiona, on the other hand, would just as soon decorate everything visible with her "Cars" stickers. While I have laid aside the love of stickers for quite some time now, I must admit that I am very big fan of this most recent sticker.

Same story, new thought

The Paul boys--Neil, Scott and Sean

We went over to their house last friday to play and decided to go for a walk. He has a tractor with pedals and an attatched wagon. Fiona loves to ride in the wagon and get pulled by Scott (he is very strong). About half-way through, Fiona had had it with the wagon decided to see what was up at his end of the tractor experience. Thinking she wished to take over his ride, he raised his arm so as to smack her, but then thought better of it held her hand. As I told my mom about this, she keenly mentioned how vital relationships and trust are. Even at the ripe old age of 2, one can differentiate motives based on past experience. Had anyone else attempted to get that close to "Big Blue", they would have needed smacked, but Fiona, she's my friend and I'm sure she means me no harm. Did Scott really think about all these things? While it's humorous, I doubt it. But is it any less true with us adults? We think sharing things so near and dear to our hearts, like Christ, is difficult or risky, but if that trust has been built up? What can I say? And I learned it from two 2 year olds.

Fiona video

Youth Group on Friday night. We watched Facing the Giants. Anyone seen it? It was a bit extreme until you remember the stories of Joseph and David. God can do anything!
Anyway, this is Fiona keeping herself busy.

Home again, Home again...

So it's back to normal at the Seybold household. Okay, so I don't always pose like that, but yesterday was #29 for me!! Catja took me out to her favorite Italian restaurant and we had wonderful steaks and great conversation.
And for those of you who thought Fiona would never eat anything besides kickin nuggets and french fries after doing so all summer, she is doing fine with veggies. I make a lot of casseroles and she hasn't turned one down yet!
And as the picture of Brett might suggest, he is checking things off his to-do list right and left.
It feels good to jump back into life over here.

Top 10

Fun things to send the Seybolds!!!

10. Swiss Rolls
9. Zesta crackers
8. Old Navy Socks 2T
7. Aleeve
6. Secret Clinical Strength
5. Twizzlers
4. Skyline mix
3. Doc Hudson (little Matchbox-like car)
2. Mack (little Matchbox-like truck)
1. Tow Mater (little Matchbox-like truck)


If you feel like donating one or all of these things to our family, let us know!!! I guarantee you'll have fun just knowing how much fun we'll have with these commodities!!

Albert-Sergel-Str 1a
31224 Peine
Germany

Aufwiedersehen!!

"Oh, mom!" Sometimes I feel like my two-year-old is going on 13.

Pebbles Flinstone

Mr. and Mrs. Comp came to visit. Fiona forced them to watch Cars with her.

Zach and Alyssa came to talk about Germany and hang out. We had a fun time playing the game Apples to Apples.

Celebrating my birthday, that's right, a little early with my friend Erin.

And sorting clothes at the church with Kristin for Master Provisions.

So that concludes our summer in the USA. We are looking forward to going home, but will miss so many people. Brett and I were at Wal-Mart today and I decided that it is the modern convience I will miss most. And like the Canadian Geese, we outta here!