Sleeping Beauty

I just had to post this because it is fresh in my mind and rather cute! Caedon's class in the preschool is studying fairy tales. They are a little different here because they haven't been "Disneyfied" but still similar. Anyway, Caedon came home the other day telling us that he had role-played Sleeping Beauty. He told me what everyone did and who they were. I can't recall exactly who he said he was (I didn't understand all the parts!). Today, when we went to pick him up, he was about to do the Sleeping Beauty play again. this time he was the prince. So I waited till they got it all together and the teacher began to tell the story. Caedon came in in the end and kissed sweet little sleeping beauty. I didn' see him do it. On the way home, Caedon was telling his dad about being the prince. He said he had to kiss the princess (Antonia). I asked, on the cheek or on the mouth? He said, "on the mouth. Kisses on the mouth are more funner!" I thought that was so funny but also a little scary!

Another story along these lines. Caedon and Logan and I were talking about Jack. He is a "mature" dog now and the kids have taken notice. We talkedabout Jack having puppies later. That led to talking about getting married, etc. Caedon said he wanted to marry Marit, a girl in his preschool class. He said that she was his friend. Then 3 year old logan piped in, "I will marry Re'ne, he's my friend!" So, I had to tell him that boys only marry girls but that marrying your friend was a good idea! It was cute and fun to have "serious" discussions with my children.

Goethe

Jason and I began a 4 week language class on Monday. With Jason's sister being so unwell, class from 8:30 to 1:00, just my everyday chores, and everything else coming up in the holiday season, I will probably be posting very little. I am on the search for 2 apartments for some workers coming in January, and if Emily does well and Janis is not needed in December, Mike and Janis will be here with us for the 2 weeks around Christmas. So, with all that rambling I will sign off. If someone does something amazing cute, funny or precocious, or we have a great story to tell, I will blog it.
After Christmas I will share pics from the top floor of our house. I am hoping to have it done shortly after Mike and Janis bring my new bedding stuff! I know if you made it this far you must be thoroughly bored by now, so I will stop.

Bis dann...... (till then)

Jason's sister Emily

Jason's sister Emily just gave birth to her 5th child, her 4th daughter. On Tuesday,a couple days after the birth, her femoral artery ruptured and almost killed her. She coded on the trip from her local hospital to Dallas. She is stabilized now after 2 surgeries but not out of the woods yet. Needless to say, it has been a very difficult 3 days for us. Jason's entire family is in Dallas or Quinlan to help her husband Luke and the the kids and to be with Emily. It is difficult to be on the other side of the world and feeling so helpless. It is a very similar feeling to when my best friends came to Prague and had to leave after 6 months to return to Texas for their son to undergo chemotherapy for a bone cancer. They have since returned and it was a wonderful reunion but during the over a year they were away, I felt helpless. I am a servant by nature and I want to help by doing. Give me something tangible to do, work, that is helpful. So, with all this going on in Texas I can "do" very little here. I know prayer is very important, and I am doing that but as a servant I want to be there to watch the children, clean the house, drive someone somewhere, cook a meal, anything to feel like I am helping.

I am reminded in this situation how quickly things happen, and people go from this world to the next, or go from healthy to sickly. Life is a very tenuous thing. It is fleeting. We are reminded of our mortality. Do I need to do something now that shouldn't wait,because I may not be here tomorrow.

Please pray for Emily. She is a wonderful mom, wife, daughter,sister, and friend and she has a precious new baby, Sarah, waiting for her at home.

Randomness (that's allowed even with OCD)

During the summer here, since we are fairly far north, it stays light till almost 11 pm. The sun comes up at about 4:30ish. For this reason, Europe has these great things called Rollladen. Yes, I know there are 3 L's, but that is the correct German spelling. Anyway, they are usually built into the wall on the outside and have a band inside on the wall for moving them up and down. They can come all the way down and block out ALL the light, or anywhere in between. They are one of the best inventions ever! Unfortunately, we don't have them on the windows in our room (we have 2 door windows and 2 smaller windows) so our room is very bright and hot during the long summer days.

Here is a pic from the boys room, with the rollladen half down.

Here is one window with it down and the other with it up.

Also, When I first showed pics of the house, I showed one from the front door looking out at the auto shop across the street. It is rather unsightly. But after a couple weeks, he has made some improvements. I am not sure I like the new paint job, though.

After, with a fresh coat of neon yellow. The pics don't do it justice! It is hideous. I think I liked the old brown better! But, what can you do. I hope it fades with time.

People really like to paint their buildings bright colors and I usually like it but this is a really ugly yellow. (and I like yellow)

Floor 3

Here are some more pics from the third floor. It is the kids' floor. It is Ashlyn's room, the Boys' room and the bathroom. Here is a shot from the stairs into Ashlyn's room.

Her loft bed, desk, and dresser.

Looking into the hall from Ashlyn's room

Straight shot from hall into boys' room. On the other side of the windows is the balcony.

Jonah's and Logan's bed

Caedon's and the guest bed

Everything is "color-coded". Jonah has orange sheets, and picture frames, Caedon, red and Logan light blue. All the toys are in bins under the beds.
Stairs going up to our floor. I will probably wait till after Christmas for our room because it is in transition. I am changing the bedding and colors. I want to paint but won't because I don't want to invest the time and money for only a year or 2. That and I don't have the money right now!!!