It's a Wonderful Life

For the record: I hate this movie.  My mom watched it at least once every Christmas when I was a kid, and, honestly, I just never liked it.  I think it's Jimmy Stewart.  His wild eyes and weird voice.  I don't know.  But the storyline is great and it's a particularly meaningful one for me this year.  We are still rejoicing in this wonderful life we are getting to experience here in Germany.  And ten days ago, my mom was diagnosed with leukemia.  I have been thinking back, of course, over the great impact she has had so far in her nearly seven decades here on Earth.  We don't know how the rest of her journey will go, but this news has led me to be even more grateful for all that I have and have experienced.  I'll go on in a minute to share some of those experiences.  And I'll ask that you would be praying for my parents (Michael and Kathryn) and for my brothers and I and our families as we seek to walk this road with grace.  Thank you all.

I haven't written here since April, so there's a lot to catch up on.  There will be a ton of pictures and I hope you'll get a taste for life here.  These are the big highlights, but mostly our days are filled with the regular stuff that you all are doing too!  Meal planning, school runs and homework, church, chores, the usual!  

April:  Spring is lovely here after the cold of winter.  We planted so many flowers! 
Our landlord said we could get chickens and so we added 14 hens and a rooster (don't ask) to our household.  The fresh eggs are lovely, and even writing this at the end of December, we're getting between seven and ten eggs a day from them.  At the peak of the summer, we were getting12-14! The creepy crawly in Emma's hands there is actually a legless lizard that lives in the old stump in our front yard.  We have quite a bit of wildlife here, including martens, foxes, kestrels, kites, and buzzards.

 

 

 

May:

The kids were in an actual circus with their school.  Tessa did acrobatics, Elliott did the tightrope, and Isaac did some juggling (pictured here).  

 

There is always plenty of time for hiking and catching frogs, of course!

 

 

The oldest three and Mom and Dad sang in the Rheinland-Pfalz International Choir.  Ian joined us in the fall.  That has brought a lot of joy to our family.  It's good to make music together.

Christ College in Cambridge

Punting on the Cam

In May I went to the Hutchmoot UK conference in Alfreton, England.  This is a gathering of Christian artists for the purpose of encouragement and fellowship and inspiration.  This is a project of the Rabbit Room, which I highly encourage all of you to go check out.  Especially if you are fans of Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers, Chesterton, Andrew Peterson, and many more!  So many great resources there.  After the conference I spent a night and a day in Cambridge.  It was lovely!

The end of May found us flying to London for a ten-day UK excursion.  We spent five days in the London area and then five days based in Newcastle-on-Tyne.  We had some mishaps (a whole lost bag on a bus/train?) and some sickness, but on the whole, it was so much fun!

Look, kids, Big Ben!

Bekonscot model railway and village in my old hometown of Beaconsfield.

Our former neighbours!  Thanks for your hospitality! And dinner at the Royal Standard (oldest pub in England) was tasty!

 

One day in Oxford: the Tower, punting

I took the oldest five to see Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theatre.  This was definitely a highlight for this literary family.  Daniel even got used as a prop by Beatrice!

We had several Paddington sightings and even made it to the Harrod's toy department in homage to the Peter Rabbit movie.

We were able to go to the Lion King!  Our funny story from that: Mufasa has fallen to his death and Simba is crying and calls out, "Father, why don't you get up?!"  Callum (3 at the time) says quite loudly, "Because he's dead!" :)

Buckingham palace was a very brief photo stop.

 This was an unexpectedly cool part of the trip.  We took the train from Newcastle west toward Hadrian's wall.  We hired a guide who took us on a good hike along the wall sharing lots of history along the way.  Then he led us to an active archaelogical dig and museum where we learned a lot more. He was a fascinating person and we had delightful conversations as we hiked.  That area of the country might just be my favorite in all of England.

 

 

 The beach at Newcastle was not originally on our itinerary, but we needed a quiet day after being on the trains (we hit Edinburgh, too) almost every day.  The beach here is known for its sea glass and the tidal pools were so much fun.  We even logged a geocache!  A day at the seaside...sigh.

 

 

We had based most of this trip around children's literature, so a stop at the free Seven Stories Children's Literature museum was a must!

 Last item of this very full month was Rob's overseeing of the base commander's change of command.  He did an amazing job! (As always!)

June:

Rob and his date head off to a promotion ceremony!

This is our local castle and we visit fairly regularly.  We had a friend of the bigger boys visit from San Antonio this month and we brought him along on this visit.

July:

 Emma's birthday trip was to Amsterdam.  Not our favorite city so far, but still a fun day.

 

 School ends quite late here and there is only a six-week break for the summer.  It was actually perfect this year for us.  Here's the last day of school.  You can go back and compare first day if you'd like!

 

An outdoor performance of Dr. Doolittle.  It's a great way to improve our German!

We spent a lot of our days at the pool in our village.  We're very blessed to have one.  This was our farewell to our dear friends the Chaplins.  We got to have them for one year here with us.  But we'll see them again!

 

Another local castle (Burg Nanstein)

August:

The beginning of the month found us in France!  Rob and I returned from our dear friend's wedding and a reunion with the mission team of Jews for Jesus that we used to work with, and we headed straight for France.  The Paris Olympics were on and we were able to take the kids to the Women's Quarterfinal Football match.  France v. Brasil. It was an amazing thing to experience the Olympic spirit and cheer on a whole country!  France lost, but the fans were so respectful of the Brazilian supporters that were there.  I was proud to have participated.  We stayed in a beautiful chateau, got to see my dear friend Annie (from college) and her family, go to the beaches, and do our own family Olympics!  

 This was so funny.  Annie's daughter doesn't really speak English or German.  My children know even fewer French words.  But they wanted to play.  So, Louise spoke French, and my children settled on German and they just seemed to sort it out.

 

This is a sea serpent sculpture that gets covered and uncovered by the tide.

For Daniel's birthday trip we took him to Cochem castle.  Very picturesque and had a medieval style banquet in the castle. 

Rob baptized six people, including two whole families!  It was a really beautiful morning!

And then, back to school!  This year has been both easier and harder for the kids.  Easier, because they speak much more German (Tessa and Isaac in particular) and they understand what to expect.  But harder, because there has been some craziness with the staff and they all got new teachers mid-year and Tessa will get even another one this spring when hers goes on maternity leave.  It's been unsettling.  We've realized the importance of making sure that those around us who are unfamiliar with the language and the culture are well communicated with.  We've felt a bit adrift because people assume we know what's going on.  I have joined a women's Bible study in the village finally.  It's improving my language and connecting me with people in the community.  I also only understand about a third of what is said, so it's pretty humbling! But I'm giving thanks for my mother's amazing instruction in the Word of God because at least I know that part of it!

September:

This month was pretty chill.  AWANA, school, choir, youth group.  Regular things.  Kathryn is working on base now and so is here in her own right.  Emma spends most of her time volunteering with Club Beyond, a ministry to military kids.  David, Ian, and Daniel started a new homeschool program (Ambleside Online) and are working really hard.  

October:

Crocheting featured heavily this month.

Also puzzles!

 

Emma sang in a women's ensemble concert in our local castle!

The Air Force Ball

During the kids' fall break we headed south to the Black Forest (der Schwarzwald) for a few days. We were able to see the traditional bringing home of the cows (Viehtrieb) which began with a tractor parade.  I only have video of the flower-bedecked cows coming down the hill, but you can google it. Please note the tractor pictures I shared, however.  Germany is funny!

Really good gelato the night before

Notice the baby being pulled along behind the tractor... Germans can be quite casual with "safety."

Note the traditional tractor, lederhosen, and cellphone...

This was a fun instrument made out of a ski blade!

The Triberg waterfall in the middle of the Black Forest

Black Forest iced cookies!  The red ball thing on the right is a traditional hat for the area.

Black Forest cake - delicious!

Our new cuckoo clock! They're traditionally made in this area of the country.

For Elliott and Brigit's birthdays we took them to Cologne, or Köln in German.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) memorial

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Reliquary for the finger bones of the Magi in the Köln Dom (Cologne Cathedral)

Chocolate factory

Haribo factory outlet store on our way home!

And Brigit turned six and was able to start acolyting.  We'd love your prayers though as we continue to struggle with where to worship.  

November:

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At the beginning of the month I was able to return to Omaha to attend my silent retreat.  The Cloisters on the Platte continues to be a place of closeness with God in prayer and a real blessing in my life.  Rob will go to his in February.

November 11th is St. Martins Day and is celebrated here in our village with a worship service (which Brigit had a part in this year) and then a procession behind a real horse and rider (dressed as St. Martin).  Children in particular make and carry laternen (lanterns) and carols are sung.  We then finish up at the town square and listen to music and drink hot drinks around a bonfire.  Pretzels are also traditional! 

Emma sang again with members of her Lyrical Voices group at a Schloss (estate) in Saarbrücken.  

We also took the kids to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in Strasbourg, France to meet up with a former colleague of Rob's.  It was magical!  

And, finally, December!

No-shave November showed us just how manly my boys are! This is just before they gladly shaved it all back off!

We still open all of our gifts on St. Nicholas' Day.  It was a sweet time again this year and we are very grateful for the resources God has blessed us with!

This one's just because he's too cute!

The kids and Rob played bells in church.  They love it, and it was fun to add Isaac into the mix this year! 

The weekend before Christmas we took the kids to Paris.  We promised them we'd, at the very least, do London, Paris, and Rome while we live here.  This checks box number two.  We'll probably head to Rome in 2026, after the Jubilee Year!  Next spring and summer are filling up anyway!  So, Paris is beautiful right now because of all the work and cleaning done for the Olympics this summer.  And we were blessed to be able to get into Notre Dame after almost all of its restoration is complete.  I was last there 28 years ago and its almost unrecognizable.  It's so clean and light!  This was just about a perfect trip, and I think it's one the kids will remember.

Only an hour and 45 minutes in the Louvre is sacrilegious, but it was probably all the littlest ones could handle.  This painting of the Wedding at Cana is on the opposite wall from the Mona Lisa (which you can barely get to).  Tessa declared she loved this one better anyway.

We did make it up the Eiffel Tower, even Callum to the first floor!

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The boat rides on the Seine were super fun!

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Disneyland Paris was a surprise the night before!

Christmas Eve at the Episcopal Service - incense and everything!

After Christmas, Rob took me on a date to Mainz to see these stained glass windows by Marc Chagall, one of my favorite artists.  They are lovely and I feel so blessed to have been able to see them.

On the fifth night of Chanukkah, my true love said to me... Hey, let's join the Jewish Community at their Chanukkah party!  We have a good relationship with them and though we're all praying for each other's conversions, we enjoy celebrating and seeking God together. 

It's been a good year.  We have a wonderful life and we are grateful.  I pray that all of you can count your blessings this year and look forward to God's work in 2025!  Einen guten Rutsch in das neues Jahr!