Cameraless

After a Cameraless February, now begins a Camerafull March!!



Princess with princesses. Cannot believe this is my baby girl!

Neighbor, classmate and friend, Emma.

This is truly a 5 pound (2,5 kilos) tube of ground beef. Random, I know, but just more proof that EVERYTHING really is bigger in America.

Opening the package from the Pauls, it was long awaited and, apparently, Fiona's present even more so than her own.

Not impressed

Wacky Wednesday, celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. They were supposed to be as mismatched as possible.

Roller skating!! If you haven't been in a while, you should totally go with your kids! A trip back to the 80s never hurt anyone!

They even blew up the bounce house for us.

Noelle, Ellie Bell, Seybold turns one!!

A big thanks to Taylor Caddell for the birthday garb, a tick too big, but whatever, I still rocked it.

Searching for the birthday gifts due to the wrapping paper deficit.

Figuring things out with big sis.

Our new favorite game.

Totally looking forward to that cupcake.

"I cannot believe mom is letting me get this messy."

This will be shown at your sixteenth birthday party.

Not wanting to get left behind.

That's about all a one-year-old can take.

so you may have been waiting...

It has been a while, a long while. Living without something you have grown accustom to isn't easy. It is annoying and brings the feeling of complete unsettled-ness. That is the way we feel about leaving our lives in Germany and getting started here. We had a life, it made sense and we knew how it worked. Getting settled, even in what might be "home" has been a long haul. Slowly things are falling into place and turning into a routine.
None of it, though, would have been possible without friends and family taking care of us in more ways than we can count. It is humbling to be on the recieving end of such grace and hospitality.
So here are some long awaited pictures, begging to be commented on...

Saying goodbye to the Johnsens

and the Kmietschs

and Thorsten, Nina and Titan

the Pauls

Sven

and the Roehrekasses

tons of snow follows us EVERYWHERE we go--this is Indiana

how many college students does it take to put our first new bed together?

Up in Pennsylvania with Opa

Christmas with my whole family, a tradition not repeated since 2003

and our little ski trip to celebrate a great 10 years of marriage.

How blissful is your ignorance?

So our friend, Daniel, wanted to buy our car. He took it to his mechanic friend to see how much needs to be fixed on it before he buys it. Well, we figured it would probably be a lot since we were admittedly bad at the upkeep of this car. What we weren't expecting, is to hear that it is late on passing inspection. This is a serious offense that entails a heafty fine, some points on your driving record and possibly having the car towed away. We were obviously oblivious to this fact, having read the expiration date wrong. We also found out that our tires were mixed (every car has winter and summer tires), also illegal with a large fine. Knowing all this could have been very expensive, as we would have had to pay for all the other repairs (brakes, power steering, shock absorber, new tires) that amounted to 2,500 (without labor) in order to get it through inspection. Or live without a car for the last 5 months. Just thinking about all that could have happened, and didn't, still blows our minds--we drove all the way down to Bavaria!

Then we tried to get rid of the car as quickly as possible. Called here, there and everywhere and found someone who would take it, despite all its issues. He is a very nice Muslim man. Trouble is, we sent the title on the ship with the rest of our stuff. So Brett goes with him to get a replacement title, and on the way back "God" comes up. A somewhat nervous, yet excited, Brett decided to just listen, throwing a poignant question or two in.

Car is gone, got enough money for it, and we discover the owner's manual on the desk. No big deal, but an opportunity. Look in to getting an Arabic NT through Mission for SE Europe (http://www.msoe.org/), which came in the mail the very next day. I'll send it off today, along with a prayer.

All this has got me thinking about ramifications--what if we'd have gotten caught? Will he open it? What if we had sold it to someone else? What if we had been worried about getting as much for the car as possible? We had a missionary at church say, your faith in God doesn't have to be huge, but the God of your faith is. He has a plan and he works everything out according to it (Eph 1:11).


What a relief! I will take my ignorance and live a blissful life.

What did you do on Friday morning?

I sat, worried, waited and prayed. As you'll see, the packers came. Inspecting the mountains of stuff, though drastically reduced due to insane shipping prices, I thought "No way!" The guys came, said we'll be done by noon (starting at exactly 8), and that all of it and more would fit. So I was still a doubter, just call me Thomas.

Getting started

They worked really fast!

The containers

trying to take a break from worrying

we even got Noelle to worry with us

very thorough

and did I mention quick?

First one full! And at this point I'm thinking, what if it doesn't fit what else can I live without? What else can I sort out?

Second one full! And can you believe it? He said, not quite full, what else you wanna send? I could not believe it, metaphoric weight fell from my shoulders (wouldn't it be nice if worrying made actual weight fall off?).

And they were off at 12:15! Just like he said, we thought he was crazy, that there was no way they'd be done that quickly. I guess that's what 20 years of experience'll do for you. I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson to be learned it that...

I must say, that though we are living in a pretty empty house, it is quite a relief to know (or hope?) that our stuff is on its way. One step closer to establishing a new household. Home really is where the heart is and you don't need stuff for that. We are so blessed with a wonderfully healthy family, friends willing to help see us off and then get settled on the other side.

That's all folks!!

Happenings...

It is exhausting as we get ready to leave.

Saying goodbye to our sofa.

Singing at church

celebrating 30-something

looking good

reading a book


Driving home yesterday from Peine, it hit me. This is the last time we'll drive down this road. I teared up, but didn't cry because in the very next moment I thought about how very exciting the next chapter will be. That's about where we are, sad and happy, at nearly the same time. The packers come next week, which will be extremely sobering as the only remaining things will be that which is left behind or on the plane with us. I keep thinking about a song we sing at church "zwischen zeit" (time between). As much as I don't like being between places, it has made me think a lot about home. Home can be very relative if you've moved around a lot, but Jesus talks about a home I definitely don't want to miss out on. I think I'd really like a place where there are no tears, until then, I guess I'll just have to get used to the time between.