Bruges

I really had my heart set on going to Bruges over the holidays. I've been hearing great things about it from the people I work with since I've been here. It's been to the tune of, "Go to Bruges. It is worth the trip."

Since the kids all had gotten sick over the holidays, I was hesitant to make any hotel reservations, but I still REALLY wanted to go. So David and I agreed to "wing it." I'm not very good at winging it. I'm too much of a planner, and not having plans stresses me out. And I don't like being stressed out!

We left at 14:07 on Friday. I kept looking at hotels.com and booking.com to see if there was availability, and honestly, it didn't look like much. But I still didn't want to make a reservation because I thought they were easily 20 Euros per room higher than they needed to be. We were getting 2 rooms, so I decided that the savings would be worth the stress.

David drove. He feels a lot of stress when he drives over here. That stress carries over to me. We got to within about 10 minutes of the city center, drove past a fancy hotel, and made a u-turn back to it at a roundabout. I checked if they had vacancies, they did. They had a restaurant. They had breakfast. They had adjoining rooms. It was twice the price I had been hoping to pay! But it was 100 times more convenient than driving the extra ten minutes at 1930 and trying to find a B&B in the city center, not to mention parking for our giant van.

What a good decision!

Our dinner and breakfast were excellent. The rooms were lovely, with some unexpected amenities (coffee, chocolates, madeleines, beer). I had told the kids that we were staying for one night, but if they ended up loving it, we would stay a second night. OF COURSE they loved it! But I reneged. Anyhow, what I had ACTUALLY told them was that if they loved the city, we could stay a second night. They loved the hotel. Even Livvy said when we got back that she was a little bit sad because we weren't staying at that hotel. Alex said he wished we could live there. I'm glad they have that sense of adventure, at least.

Bruges was certainly worth the trip. The first thing we did was visit the ice castle located next to the train station. It was kind of gimicky, but still interesting. It was cold (22 degrees), so we only stayed in for about 20 minutes. But the interesting thing was that the train station had parking for a half hour for only 10 cents. Handy! And even better, after having parked, we found a parking garage right next to it for 3.50 per day. That was easy walking distance in, and it was big enough to be relatively comfortable for David to park the van.

We walked around for four or five hours. Livvy wanted one thing and one thing only--ice cream! Even though it was cold, she enjoyed her ice cream so much. David and I got some waffles. (The word Belgian there is redundant, don't you think?) Delicious! I went into a grocery store and bought some chocolates and waffles to bring home. I/We visited two churches, the plaza, and the outside of Belfort. Alex wanted to go up it, but the line was long both times we went there, so we didn't do it. At least they had a convenient restroom there! I am to the point where I don't hesitate to pay 50 cents for a potty anymore. They're always clean and well-stocked when they're attended, so it doesn't bother me at all.

Bruges had such a different atmosphere than most of the German cities we've visited. For one, I didn't feel in the least bit judged for speaking English (not Dutch or French). There were a lot of tourists, so I would imagine in the spring/summer/fall it would be very crowded. They don't like cars in the city center, so parking by the train station and walking in was ideal. (Not what we would have done if we hadn't gotten that hotel--I was going to try to go into the center and then find a B&B very close. I don't think that would have been easy for the six of us.) I could see Bruges being very romantic and a fun destination in addition to Paris. It sort of reminded me of Prague (friendly, ancient, modern), and I didn't think the prices were bad compared with other cities we've been to. I could easily spend 3 or 4 days there. I'm so glad we were all feeling well enough and had a chance to go!

Church of Our Lady Bruges

Two lovely girls. I took this at breakfast at the restaurant.

At St James Church Bruges. It had dozens of lovely Flemish paintings and many sculptures. I took a quick stroll through it, but I could have easily spent an hour there.

A look at the year gone by

I'm very excited about this year. I'm looking forward to so much. But before I get into all of that, it seems only appropriate to tally the pros and cons of 2018.

Let's see:

January: January of last year was a little bit sad for me because Mom left, but the good news was that she was coming back to help us out in March.

February: February was somewhat uneventful for us, except that we visited Koln (Cologne) and saw the Lindt chocolate factory and the very impressive Dom (cathedral). I really enjoyed Koln and would go back if I had more time. I recommend it as a top city to visit in Germany.

On February 3, 2018, I became a Rodan and Fields consultant. So glad I did.

In February, I also left for the exercise in Israel. Mom came a week later to help David out with the kids.

March: In March while I was in Israel, I got to see so much, including Tel Aviv, the Mediterranean, Masada, The Dead Sea, Ein Gedi Nature Preserve, The Sea of Galilee, and Yad Vashem. The sunshine and the sights were incredible. It was a time I will never forget.

I had about a week left with Mom when I got back, and we went to Frankfurt and saw the Goethe House, the Museum of Archaeology, and the Cathedral and its museum.  We also went to Mainz and saw the Isis and Magna Mater Museum, the Dom, and St. Stephen's Cathedral. It was very hard to see Mom off, not knowing how long it will be until I see her again. (I'm still hoping it's before July!)

April: In April, we all went to Frankfurt so David could visit the Schirn Museum. We also went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (very cute), and we took a trip to the Netherlands to see the tulips. That trip was a little dampened because Lilly had a fever most of the time, but the tulips were incredible, and I might like to go again. Also, since Lilly wasn't feeling all that well, we didn't go to Amsterdam, which would be really nice to see.

May:  May was the kickoff for our series of incredible months. I went to Prague with a friend, and we took a family vacation to Tuscany, which remains one of our favorites so far.

June: June was special with the visit from my in-laws. I also took a special day with Alex in Mainz, where he got his first mohawk.

July: In July, my sister came to visit for three weeks. We hit Paris, Berlin, Colmar, Strasbourg, Trier, and did a Rhein River Cruise. It was such a blessing to get to see her and spend time with her.

August: In August, my friends came to visit us and let David and I go on our first date of the year. We also visited Stuttgart with another friend of mine, including the Porsche museum, which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I'm not a motorhead whatsoever. Fred and David did a Rhein River Cruise together because I thought it was a necessary experience for David, and Fred and I did a tour in Rudesheim that included 2 gondolas and a short hike. It was such a nice visit.

September: I met up with a friend from my past in Worms. That was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Shortly after that, my friend from high school came, and we went to DisneyLand Paris, which wasn't fun at all for me because I ended up getting sick and then so did everyone else.  During her visit, we missed our opportunities to take her to Garmisch and Neuschwanstein, Oktoberfest, and everywhere else we had planned. Fortunately, she wasn't timid and didn't let that stop her from sightseeing on her first trip to Europe. AND, she didn't get sick, thank God.

October: October ended up being a downhill slope for us, when David was hospitalized with the same infection of strep that was plaguing all of us. The German doctors didn't give us adequate prescriptions of antibiotics, and Griffin and Lilly ended up with Scarlet fever (Griffin for a whole month). So we didn't really go anywhere or do anything in October. The kids all felt well enough to go trick-or-treating, fortunately. They didn't last more than an hour, though! A really big, huge milestone that happened in October was that Lilly started sleeping in her own bed. For the first time in about 7 years, I was getting quality sleep through the night again!

November: November 12th was the last day that anyone in our family started their last prescription, so in all honesty, part of September, all of October, and most of November were pretty hard on us. I depleted my sick leave almost entirely during that fiasco.

December: December saw us all on the mend and mostly healthy. I thought I would be very sad after Christmas, but I absolutely wasn't. Our Christmas was so enjoyable, and I appreciated the reduced workload from not having visitors (but I don't want that to happen again for at least another ten years!). I had hoped that we would go to Belgium to see an ice castle in between Christmas and New Year's, but the kids were taking turns with a fever, so we didn't. By New Year's Eve, everyone was feeling well, though, and we had a nice time on our balcony watching the fireworks that surrounded us.

It was a blessed year! It wasn't without its challenges, of course. And honestly, as my friend warned me before I left, being here without our support network has been very taxing on our marriage. I'm not worried about that, though, because we'll bounce right back when things get easier, and we now have a baby-sitter to give us some time together here and there for the rest of our time here (thank God!). I mean really, if you think about it, David and I went about the first six months of our time here without a single moment to peacefully share between just the two of us. Then when Mom was here in December we went on one date. Then, if I recall correctly, it didn't happen again until August. That would be tough on any marriage!

What's in store for 2019:

The stress on my marriage is the main reason I am looking forward to coming back home in July. That and, of course, because I miss my extended family and my friends SO MUCH! But don't get me wrong! I have about 7 months left, and I intend to enjoy them to the fullest! Starting with a trip to Belgium (the one I didn't get to make over Christmas) tomorrow for a night! I am also planning (God willing):

* A trip to Bratislava / Vienna / Bavaria during Alex's spring break
* A trip to Poland to go to the Polish Pottery Outlet
* A trip to Denmark / Sweden / Finland
* A visit to Nuremburg

I'm CONSIDERING:
* Another visit to the Netherlands when the tulips are in bloom.  That was so pretty and we just didn't quite enjoy it enough because of Lilly's fever! But it almost seems silly to revisit (even though we are going back to Edelweiss in Garmisch) and I'm not sure I can swing it with another big trip in April already. We'll see!
* A Disneyland Paris do-over. (I really can't decide about that!)

What are your hopes for the year? What are you looking forward to this year?

View of the fireworks from our house on New Year's Eve

Home for the holidays

Christmas Market in Mainz

Okay, okay. I'm not ACTUALLY home, but I'm at the home in Germany with the family this week, since I decided to take off from work and take advantage of the slowness there during this time.  (Do I even have a job right now?  I guess I will wait to be concerned about it until Wednesday.)

For my time off, and at their request, I spent some special time with Livvy and Griffin.  Livvy wanted to go out at night time, so at 5:00, we took the bus into Wiesbaden and walked around the Christmas market and got her a Steiff raccoon.  What a cutie. It was the "best day ever" for her since she unexpectedly got something. I have been intending to get all of the children a Steiff while they're here as their quintessential German souvenir. Alex chose a lorikeet and Griffin chose a kitten.  Neither of them care for them much, but maybe they will a bit later.  Livvy chose a raccoon, and it is SO cute. I might have to get myself a Steiff!  Lilly cried because she wanted it. But I will take her to get a Steiff, God willing, when the weather gets nice again, and she is a little bit older. It will be the "best day ever."

Griffin wanted to go spend a gift card he had received for his birthday from one of his classmates, and I wanted to go to the Mainz Christmas market, so we did that. It was the "best day ever" for him, as well.  We had a good time eating noodles at Mosch Mosch. We also went into the Mainz Dom, where there was an orchestra practicing followed closely by a harpist playing for a woman singing Ave Maria. And it was amazing.  I had never heard a harp live before.  It was much prettier than the Mozart music box that I had bought for the twins when they were born.  I was surprised.  And I was also surprised by how well Griffin sat and listened.  When we left, he said, "That wasn't that bad. I thought the church was going to take forever!" 

Today I had intended to take Alex to Rudesheim for the last day of their Christmas market, but it rained all day, so I was just going to go by myself, but it rained all day (still), and I wasn't crazy about walking around the market in the rain all alone for the day.  I probably should have gone, but since I didn't, we watched Christmas cartoons and read Luke chapter 23 together. Actually, Alex read most of our chapter tonight.  I played with the kids a lot today, and it was nice.  I'm rather enjoying antagonizing them about the presents from David and I that I wrapped.  They've already opened their gifts from Grandma and Nana, but the gifts from us are eating away at them (since they know they exist!). I'm pretty sure they will be pleased with their "loot" from Santa Claus.  I'm so excited for it, and it's only two days away!

Merry Christmas, everybody!  I hope you have a great day and get to enjoy some time with your family!

Rothenburg--just to keep the Christmas markets in a single blog post.

Lilly LOVES this choo choo train from Grandma.

Wiesbaden Christmas market.

The hat girl strikes a pose in front of a hat shop.

The Mainz Christmas market nativity.

Inside Mainz Dom. The interesting thing about these cathedrals is how different they look every time you visit based on the light in the sky.

Mainz Christmas market.

Harry Potter Lego set from Nana.  Think he was happy about it?

Schneeballen!!

Remember my last post where I was so at peace and thankful to my husband for the time to visit the Christmas market alone? That peace didn't last very long, and David and I got into a huge fight the following Thursday. I was SOOO mad at him for the way he treated me. And he was SOOO mad at me for the way I treated him.

Life works that way sometimes, doesn't it?

We're on the mend now, and we're all on our way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to visit the Christmas market and hopefully get a moment with the one and only Santa Claus!

Rothenburg is one of the the prettiest cities in Germany. We visited it once and walked around a bit in the summer. You can walk the wall and visit churches. Today I am excited to see it decorated for Christmas and to visit Kathe Wohlfahrt. I will get myself a quintessentially German Christmas ornament there. I'm hoping to get a mug too, but we'll see.

...Ha! The best-laid plans, right? We saw Santa walking, but he looked fairly haggard, so we didn't follow him. We got candy and schneeballen (tasted kind of like a funnel cake only crunchier and not as sweet), but I didn't get an ornament because the kids were just not in a mood to let me shop. Livvy was too cold. I really had her dressed well. She wore some long johns and I even brought some hand warmers for inside their mittens. However, Livvy wouldn't use the hand warmers, and her hands and feet were freezing.  I didn't want to push it with frostbite, so we were only there for about an hour and a half before going home.

It's okay. We may go back when the weather is nice, and Kathe is open all year. We made it back to Wiesbaden, and we're checking out the new Chinese restaurant on post... For the second night in a row! It is just so convenient and easy to pay with a Visa and order in English! And tomorrow is grocery store day. And perhaps another Christmas market, if I can convince David again for two days in a row?!

Such a sweetie!

Alex read to me at school.

The five in Rothenburg. Such a cute town!

Griffin and Livvy playing Mom and Dad with their baby.

Organ music and the bells

High on my list while I have been living here has been to visit an old church while someone was playing an organ. I finally got to do it today, alone, with no worries of who else is enjoying or hating something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I wasn't certain I would make it to the church on time, since I took the last bus that could get me there, and it was running a few minutes late. I got in the door at 11:28 for an 11:30 start time, and I'm pretty sure I was one of the last half dozen or so admitted. The Germans are punctual as a culture.  It wasn't standing room only, which I thought was unfortunate because a man was showcasing his talent, but of course was fortunate for me because I didn't have to stand in a crowd for a half hour.

I found out about the performance at the Wiesbaden Marktkirche through the Christmas market program. I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, even though I thought they might because they have seen (and enjoy seeing) a friend of mine from elementary school play the organ on Facebook. But I wanted to really enjoy this for myself. It was a good decision.

Not two minutes after I sat down, soft music began whispering through the congregation. I smiled as one note after another reverberated from the walls in the giant room. The acoustics in the church were great, as I had thought they would be. The music started out sombre and slow, and the acoustics were such that even my deaf ears were able to hear in spite of the soft tones. The audience was quiet and still.  There were no distractions, save the beauty of the church itself. A minute passed. Two minutes. I took a breath and relaxed, recovering from the hurried transit from my house to the church.

The organist is Hans Uwe Hielscher. I know nothing of him, except what the flyer tells me: He has been at the Marktkirche Wiesbaden since 1979 and has performed in more than 3500 organ concerts. His main focus of study was French organ music. Wiki tells me that he is 73 years old.

Although I played the violin all through middle and high school, I am surprisingly musically ignorant.  It's not that someone failed to teach me, but that my brain lost that information to make room for things on Army Acquisition and timing of kids' doctor's appointments.  My ignorance does not detract from my enjoyment. I appreciate the light, smooth flow of notes and the stillness within the room. I'm so glad I didn't bring the kids.

There's a pause after the first section, but no quiet rustling from the audience. They are perfectly still, as am I, waiting for the next piece. As this is my first experience, it is going to be good even if it is bad, but it is not bad in the least. It is lovely.

I know nothing of the program, which reads like this:

Charles Marie Wider (1844-1937)

Symphonie Nr. 2 in D-Dur op. 13/2 (That's D-major.)

* Praeludium circulare

* Pastorale

* Andante

* Scherzo

* Adagio

* Finale

I can tell you honestly that when it was over, I wasn't ready for it to be. I wanted to listen to "Adagio" and the finale for another 20 minutes at least. The music for the last six minutes could be felt by the soles of my feet. It enveloped me, coming to me from all sides. I could feel it in my chest, but at the same time, it wasn't so loud as to be uncomfortable. It was perfect.

I am grateful that I had this opportunity. In a way, sitting at an organ concert in a magnificent church was an act of worship to God. I couldn't help but wonder if Herr Hielscher worshiped God as he played. I hope so.

Now that I have had this experience, I would like to experience it again, only in a different church. I enjoyed it immensely; not just the music and the church, but also taking 30 minutes to slow down and listen. That is a good thing to do around this time of year.

The concert ended at 1200, and at 1205, the bells went off in a more-than-usual musical song. I went outside, ordered some gluhwein, did some shopping, and enjoyed the Christmas market.  Thanks to my husband, it was a pretty much perfect, solitary day, amidst an enormous crowd of people. It was the paragon of life in Germany as I had pictured it.  I haven't had very many moments like that where I have been able to see it for what it is while it was going on, and the fact that I could see it this way as I was experiencing it made it even more special for me.  By the time I was on the bus to come home, I was looking forward to seeing my family, fully satisfied and content with where I am, who I am, and what I have.

God is good.  Life is good.

Doctors in Germany

I finally went to a doctor for the first time since Lilly was 6 weeks old. What a different experience here than at home! This doctor is the same one I had found for David. She's female, 40 years old, and fluent in English. There's such a difference in the attitude that doctors in Germany have compared with doctors in the U.S. I believe it has to do with the health care system differences, although I would have to explore that a little more to be sure.

Dr. P answers her email! She sent me (over a year ago) recommendations for a pediatrician. She is the one who came to get me out of the waiting room. And even though she was at least 35 minutes late today, she still spent twenty minutes with me and set up three appointments with me (necessary since I haven't had anything preventive done in over two years). I finally figured out that doctors go by Herr and Frau here instead of by their professional position. (Wouldn't it be funny if I required everyone to call me Analyst Alexander all the time?) In my opinion, they're just more down to earth here than at home. And she is not my only data point.

The other day, I was having dinner with some girlfriends (most of whom were new to me), and one of them noticed that her doctor was at the table next to us. He came and sat down with us for a minute and chatted jovially. He told her he was watching her! Lol. It's a very interesting dynamic here that I'm somewhat grateful for. Usually seeing a doctor is stressful enough, but here it would be worse because of the language barrier at the front desk (everywhere) and the difficulty in getting there (I took the bus to make it easy on myself). The down-to-Earth attitude of most of the doctors here at least alleviated part of that stress. Yay for German doctors, and especially the one I met today!

On another note, we had a lovely little birthday party for the twins yesterday.  I had them invite five friends each, and then I invited one more because I wanted her parents to stop by, too.  Of the 11 kids we invited, 7 showed up. It turns out that my cowboy theme was a good idea.  I was able to get some cute cowboy hats from Amazon. Then, much to my delight, a local chain discounted some ponies at a very high discount. Plus, I decided to do a "torn paper" craft and build a cactus for a "pin the flower on the cactus game". Torn paper was a craft I found last year at this time for kids at my work Christmas party. (Torn paper Christmas trees.) I consider it a Pinterest success! I used foam and glue sticks for the flowers, and some of the children liked them so much that they took their flowers home with them.

One little boy was so shy that his mom decided to stay. Thank God!  Her translation proved to be invaluable.  I'm sure we would have gotten by, but her help made it a lot less stressful for me.  What a sweetheart! We sent home treat bags (plus the cowboy hats) with "gold dust" (yellow gum), "rocks" (jelly beans"), and balloons. I wanted to include sheriff's badges, but the cowboy hats were pricey enough, and the sheriff's badges were pretty chintzy, so I didn't get them. I wanted to buy enough horses for everyone, but the store only had 4. So we had "door prizes."

It was a fun party, and fun to finally get to interact with some Germans, who were very sweet all around. Perhaps their public presence is different from their private presence. Or perhaps the parents at the twins' school are just a little more easy-going. Who knows? Regardless, it was a good time.

Next up for me, I have to make 40 cupcakes without icing and figure out how to take them to the twins' school.  It was nice that we didn't have to invite all of the kids in the classes to the birthday party.  I can't imagine this place with 20 additional kids (or more) running around. For Alex's birthday, we have to invite the entire class. He doesn't really care for one boy and asked, "Why do I have to invite T--?" I'm hoping that less than half will show up! He wants to have a Jurassic World themed party, even though he hasn't seen the movie. I guess that's fine?

He's really happy I gave him some Pokemon cards.

Why I love my cluttered and chaotic life

Ouch. Just stepped on a Lego.

There's poop on the toilet again.

"I don't want this EVER!" (Lilly)

Has anyone seen a clean, flat surface lying around?

"Get your finger out of your nose." (Me.)

Slinking down the steps before getting ready for school.

"I hate this soup! And I don't want peanut butter and jelly!" (The power of three.)

Laundry. Mounds and mounds of it.

My sleep was interrupted 6 times last night. I ONLY HAVE FOUR KIDS!

12 infections requiring intervention in October and November. (Did I mention that I only have four kids?!)

... But the good thing is that all of this, all of THIS, the craziness that is in my life, is there because I have four little kids at home, and a beautiful, wonderful, still sometimes unbelievable family.

I honestly love the Legos. They are everywhere. It's okay, though. It's a good way for me to relate to the boys, and I'm hopeful it will last into their youth. They hurt quite a bit when you step down on them, but now I just walk around the house light-footed like a ninja. That also helps me to scare David half to death. I did it hilariously on our honeymoon. It remains one of my favorite pastimes to this day.

I have a great life. I'm tired, don't get me wrong. I'm ALWAYS tired. But moms are usually tired, I think. Moms remember. Everything. And when moms forget because we can't really remember everything, moms have more work because of it.

Moms fill every role. We abate. Berate. Comfort. Defend. Encourage. Finalize. Generate. Hug. Instruct. Judge. Kiss. Love. Memorize. Nag. Overrule. Praise. Query. Remember. Synchronize. Tally. Understand. Video. Wait. Examine. Yell. And see our children as a zenith in our lives.

And we do all of that in the first hour of our day, most days!

I know other moms who are very tired. (I'm thinking of you, MBS.) I want to tell the tired moms that your good deeds and tireless, unending efforts do not go unnoticed. True, your husband may not notice. Perhaps he underestimates your work and overestimates his contributions. Your children may not notice. They may be at an age when they're just too little to understand, or too self-involved to take note. Your parents may not notice. They may think you're not doing an adequate job or you're doing it incorrectly. Your friends may not notice.  They may judge you for having too many kids in this awful world, or not having enough kids when this awful world needs more good people like you.  But God always notices. Always.

So keep your chin up, Tired Mom. You can do this. You're strong, too strong to quit. You're needed, whether they know it or not. You're worthy, no matter what the people around you might say. And your work IS noticed, and your work will be rewarded.

“Restrain your voice from weeping

    and your eyes from tears,

for your work will be rewarded,”

declares the Lord. 

Jeremiah 31:16

Me attempting to get a good picture of all four kids at once.

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Keep scrolling. That was about a third of all I took.

Nope.  Couldn't do it.  I'll settle for a rock with a red berry on it.