Merry Christmas!!!

Last Tuesday some of the campus groups hosted a lecture--"I think therefore, is this the right place for me?" The picture is taken in a church building.

Brett said it was very interesting, but they had hoped more "seekers" would come.

Milling around afterwards, always a good opportunity.

Fiona with some friends at the dress rehearsal for the Children's Musical at church.



Fiona was not one of the sheep, like her friends beside her, but the preschoolers did join the rest of the kids for the finale.

All the grown-up helpers being thanked (with chocolate). See the big lady in black on the left, that's me

Fiona and I after the show, infront of our lighted Christmas tree (real candles).

Fiona showing off what she's learned at ballet at their little Christmas party. Her teacher's name is Tabea.

Such a big girl, maybe she's getting used to the stage after all.

We had a bit of an Open House last night, not as many visitors as we expected, but it was still a nice time.

Picking out the perfect tree...

that was exhausting.

Fiona at gymnastics. The "trainer" is like over 80, but the kids love him and he does a good job.

Oh, my goodness! Have you ever heard of this? Recordable storybook. My dad made it for us and as you can see, I could not stop crying.

Getting ready to decorate the tree.

And done! We're very proud of ourselves! Now everything's ready for our little Open House next tuesday.

We'll keep you posted!!

Thanksgiving 2009 and other happenings

Look at all those pies! Is there a Heather pie among them? No, Heather has cried over one too many a pie crust to keep trying when this many people are amazing at it. I didn't get a picture of the main course, but there were carbs enough for all. I contributed 4 dishes of Sweet Potatoe Casserole (and only took one home).

Did I spill something on the belly? Of course! Applying (and reapplying and reapplying and reapplying) starch truly can remove grease.

Fiona refused to allow me to take her picture during the festivities.

Unlike in this picture, proudly showing off one of her beautiful Christmas dresses.

Loving on little sis.

NOT saying her line at the preschool's Christmas play.

But doing pretty well singing in the Choir.

At Randy and Katy's Christmas Open House. I haven't seen Dino in like a 1 1/2 years. She was a nanny in the states for a year and is studying in the Netherlands.

Sara (25), Katy, Randy, Marcel (18), Brett, Fiona and Dino (20). Makes me realize how long we've been here since these are the "kids" we came here to work with.

Family update

Dressing up as princesses, Fiona obviously has a lot more apparel to choose from than I do. I'm pretty sure every princess has an alabama t-shirt, Kelly.

Fiona and Brett love to wrestle, I think they were resting here, though.

After "naptime" one day.

After quite the literal "run in" with the grocery cart. We then proceeded to the frozen foods section to get some kind of cold compress, I think we ended up with cauliflower.

Fiona enjoying some "Zuckerwatte" (cotton candy). Such a strange invention.

Brett went to Peine last weekend to visit some friends, he stayed with Stefan.

And saw Johannes, Benjamin and Andreas at church.

He also got to watch his old Edemissen Basketball team play.

And watched the Vöhrum game with them. The two teams had been asking him to come check them out and it just so happened that both had a home game that weekend.

Then we had the annual "Laternenfest" at Fiona's preschool.

It was pouring down rain the entire time.

After walking in the rain with our lanterns, we ate pumpkin soup and baked pretzels to warm up.

And we got to see the baby again, she was moving around like crazy, gave us quite the show!!

What do you smell like?

We live in a three story house. There is a doctors' office on the second floor and we live on the third floor. So to get to our apartment, we have to walk through the doctors' office. Usually, it's no big deal.
I went for a walk this morning and when I came back, all the nurses were scrambling to open windows and get the place "aired out". I wasn't exactly sure why since Germans have this kind of phobia about breezes, especially in the winter and especially, I would think, in a place where people come when they're sick anyway. Well, as I came to the waiting room by the door to our apartment, I smelled why. An unassuming, nicely dressed older woman sat waiting to see one of the doctors. I'm not sure how one gets to the point of smelling like this, but the stench was one of a long-ignored armpit. I expected the smell to fade as I traversed the stairs, but it did not. Brett sat in the living room also wondering how dirty the dirty clothes were that I was in the process of washing, unaware of the unaware carrier of the scent. While getting rid of my own comparitively mild odor, I realized how this situation can be applied to how we personally come across to the people that we know, meet or walk past. Do people want to get to know me better? Or do I leave a trail of sadness, joy, anger, mystery or indifference? Or do people turn around and wonder how they might know that stranger who just said hi?
Then I thought about how I hung up on someone yesterday who told me it'd be a week before they could mount the new tire to replace the spare. I'm sure that didn't go unnoticed. (I called him back to apologize, after this realization, and his colleague knew who I was) So, the question stands. What do you smell like?

Pumpkin night....

At our neighbor/landlord/doctor's house, getting ready to slaughter a huge pumpkin.

Trying to figure out how much pumpkin we actually put it (3x what the recipie called for)

Walter changes the recipie every time, I insisted on the scale.

Zach and Brett pondering the meaning of something meaningful, I'm sure.

talking to Walter's son, Leon, who is in the states for an exchange year.

Fiona was missing Rafael, who was...

trick or treating with his friends (Rafael is on the right)

watching a little tv before bed

Changing tires

Zach Murphy and his wife Alyssa (photographer) came for a visit and we put him right to work.

Even Fiona had to work.

And Brett supervising it all.