Lest I Forget

This afternoon, we decided to see our first German castle. We started close by. Berg Nanstein is in Kaiserslautern, which coincidentally is where Tony's car lost it's drive shaft a few days ago. We were following the brown signs, but were having trouble locating the castle. We drove past a narrow little cobblestone path with an arrow to the castle with a picture of a bicycle on it. We assumed that it was a bike path. After circling for a while, our friendly GPS finally felt like cooperating and informed us that that little path was indeed a road for cars. When we reached the castle, the inside was open for only thirty more minutes. Since there was a charge to see the inside, we will go back when we have more time. There was plenty to see on the outside and we stayed for several hours. The weather was perfect, the view phenomenal, the beer cold, and overall was a splendid day for the soul.  I'm told the ice cream was pretty good...

I am linking up with Jamie today to do a thankful post. First, let me say how thankful I am to finally, finally, have an internet connection! I called my parents last night for free and I also Skyped with them! Oh, so thankful for Skype so I could see my mom and dad, Sophie, and my grandmother. Thankful for creative kids who liked watching a show called Art Attack in the hotel room. She created this paper mache helmet from items in the room. I did buy her some paint. Thankful for cotton yarn and a pair of knitting needles. I made a lot of dishcloths in that hotel room!   Thankful for little boys who can fall asleep anywhere.  Thankful that these kids of mine handled this move like champs. Even through three, count them three stomach bugs in the first six weeks! Thankful for Lysol wipes too. Thankful that cans of food have pictures on them so I could buy the things we needed for pizza at the local grocery store. Thankful for Google Translate on my ph...

outside the window... a foggy morning. The bare tree branches are dotted with dewdrops. It has decided to be cold again after several warmish days. I liked not having to bundle up to go out. Hopefully the springlike weather will return very soon. on my mind...my mother-in-law who fell and fractured her skull. Please pray for her recovery. It is hard to be far from home anyway, but now it is especially hard. in the kitchen...learning to do things differently. The sink is small. The fridge is small. The oven is small. My first loaves of bread did not turn out so nicely. There is one rack in the oven and one cookie sheet type rack. I think the solid rack is interfering with heat distribution. The bread looked lovely on top and very undercooked on the bottom. I also have always planned a weekly menu, but I do not have the space to store all that food. I guess I could still plan weekly and then buy daily. The walk to the store is nice. in the classroom...we have had some good days and...

Confession time. I never thought about taking the memory card out of the camera and loading the pictures onto our old laptop that has been chugging slowly along while we have moved halfway around the world. But I did today and guess what? I have knitting pictures! Tomorrow, our internet is supposed to be hooked up. I am really, really looking forward to the moment when I don't have to work off of my phone's hotspot. It is rather slow and unreliable.  The scarf thing I finished while I was still in the US at my parent's house. I had bought the yarn on sale and never could find a project for it. I have never been into wearing scarves, but I must admit I like it a lot. Every time we go for a walk in our little village, everyone seems to be wearing a scarf, so I fit right in. That is very unusual! I am sure my little American brood and I stand out as foreigners in every other way!  Next is a surprise knit for someone I know, who may or may not read this littl...

This past week, I have not gotten restful sleep. Poor Peter has been sick since Tuesday, with the other kids getting less severe versions of the illness throughout the week. Today is the first day that I can truly say I think he is on the mend. I don't know about you, but when I am bone-tired exhausted from caring for little people all through the night, my dreams get a little strange. I dreamt that Tony blew all our savings on something very frivolous and the dream was so real, that I had to keep reminding myself throughout the day that he had not really done anything wrong! Several times this week, I have also had that deja-vu sensation. I never know what to make of it when that happens. Sometimes I think it means that I am where God wants me to be since it seems like I have already lived it before. It probably just means that I need a nap! Usually, my dreams are fraught with anxiety when I am over-tired. But I had a surprisingly beautiful dream last night. In the six years s...

Our house has a bidet. When I saw it, I thought, now there is something that will not get used! We have been here less than`a week and I have to admit that this thing is really handy to me, but not for its original purpose. It is perfect for cloth diapering. I have rinsed diapers. I have lanolized covers. There is even a handy towel bar for hanging covers! The only improvement would be if it was in the bathroom that houses the washer and dryer. And just this afternoon, I found it to be most helpful in rinsing the sheets that Peter threw up on. Yep. He is sick again. A fever too. I hope he does not share with the rest of us. There is a four day weekend coming up and we were hoping to go exploring. That is all. I must console a miserable baby.

Last night we slept in our own beds for the first time since January 8, just one day shy of two months. It felt like such a luxury. I have such mixed emotions about that since it is the beginning of Lent after all. I feel like we have had our own personal Lent imposed upon us for the last two months. We have lived out of three suitcases, three outfits a piece plus one more for Church. One more suitcase for some toys, which quickly got old. Not many luxuries to speak of, and frequently I found myself having to improvise to make things happen. Our household goods arrived yesterday, one week ahead of schedule. All day Ash Wednesday, Jack would burst out, "I can't wait for tomorrow!" Finally, at bedtime, I said "I can't wait either. Do you know why?" And he looked at me expectantly. I replied, "Because you will stop saying 'I can't wait'". He thought that was the funniest thing. He laughed and laughed. It was a little like Christmas, ripp...