Baby Boy Joshua

Well, he was born yesterday weighing in at 2lbs 1oz at 26 weeks along. I know many of you already know this, but I am just waking up to the news. He will have to stay in NICU for the next few months and this period is critical for him. From what I understand, Jennifer had a few problems, but is doing ok now. Please continue to pray for them. Congratulations Scott & Jennifer!

Scott & Jennifer

Please see below for an email I received regarding Scott and Jennifer:

Dear Prayer Partners,
> Jennifer has been admitted to University Hospital in Little Rock due to
> complications. She is having some contractions and there is concern that
> the hematoma might burst. The doctors are trying to stop the labor.
> Please
> pray that the contractions will stop and that she will be able to make it
> at
> least 4 more weeks. She is in her 26th week of pregnancy.
>
> We know God has them in His hands and has already answered our prayers in
> a
> miraculous way. We believe He has great plans for this baby. Please keep
> praying.
>
> Neal

Kudos to the Germans!

Guten Tag :-)

I must pay tribute to all the Germans out there who speak English. To Matt and mines amazement, there are English speaking Germans pretty much everywhere you go. I did not expect this, nor have I ever heard this before coming over here. It doesn't matter if you go to a small little grocery store, a big market, talk to the postman, or your next door neighbor...... a very high percentage of them can understand you. The extent of our knowledge of German is so minimal:

Sprekin si English?
nein
yah
bitte
autobahn
wc
cheers
alvedazeng
helfa

...well, you get the idea. We know more words than that and have picked up a lot, but it still doesn't even compare. When you ask them if they know English, the most standard answer is "a little bit." Their "a little bit" and my "a little bit" are two totally different things. If they truly don't know much, we use hand signs and gestures and we usually get through it. Its a little intimidating at first, but you get used to it and just learn to laugh.

I just wanted to commend the Deutsch on their ability to know more than one language well enough to speak it. I realize that English is the universal language, yet I still am very impressed. On one note, I'm a little sad because I thought we would be forced to pick up some German. They cater to us so well, we don't really have to. In fact, some of them really enjoy "practicing" their English on us! One more interesting tidbit on this subject is that they listen to English growing up on the radio. I thought we would have one station to listen to over here, but there are many to chose from. They speak German while introducing the song, with a little English thrown in here and there. I assume this is how most of the younger crowd learn to speak English so well, as well as from a few classes in school.... We usually head to a young tyke if we need some help in translation and they usually can help us out!

Cheers!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Nederland aka Netherlands aka Holland

Well, lets see. I've been kind of slow posting, huh? I guess we've been busy. I'm not sure doing what though!

Last weekend, we headed into Holland (just the corner of it) for a few hours. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there. We drove through Belgium to get to our destination and saw lots of run down and poor looking villages. Interesting. The landscape pretty much looks the same as it does here in Germany - maybe not quite as pretty. Thanks to our lady friend (the GPS!) we made it to our destination, found a parking spot and got out of the car. It was COLD. They must have had a festival or something the night before because there were clean up crews everywhere. Oh, and the number of peoples on bicycles was amazing. They were everywhere - lanes on the streets and intersections for them as well. There were huge "bicycle" parking areas too. People were dressed up and holding briefcases - riding their bikes in the cold. Most of them were very thin!



Anyway, we sat on a bench and ate our sandwiches, then headed down to the walkplatz (shopping district). It went on and on and on.... they were already decorating for Christmas and there were lots of people out and about. We saw lots of stores that we are used to seeing in America - Nike, Claire's, McDonald's, Timberlands, and more. Matt managed to buy a couple of sweaters at C&A, but that was all we got. Somehow, its hard to shop with three rugrats. lol Before we left, we visited a bookstore in a beautiful old church. Then, the boys got waffles w/ powdered sugar (nothing like gearing up for the ride home!) and off we went. Jordyn wasn't on her best behavior that day, but we managed.













Let's see... what else is there to report? Oh, I think I mentioned we got a little snow. Nothing really accumulated, but we got quite a bit off and on for about 2 days. I assume there is lots more to come. The highs have been 30, 34... but it is suppose to warm up into the 40's tomorrow and maybe even 50 next week. Woo hoo!!! So, all you enjoying (and complaining) about that nice 70 & 80 degree weather I'm hearing about - I'm jealous. I'm a sun girl!




One more thing - it sounds like the prayers are working for Scott and Jennifer!! They are in Little Rock now and things seem to be looking up for them. Believe it or not, they think the baby is ok now and is healed! :-) She's still on bed rest and has a mass, but the baby may not need surgery after all. God is good.

Bet you thought you'd never see this!

Me either! Let's discuss things. When a girl grows up blonde, and then becomes a dull brown headed woman, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. Highlight. So, I began asking around about where to get my hair done. I was told I basically have one option on base. Or, I could drive an hour and a half to Ramstein to a German lady who speaks English. Now, I'm sure there are very nice German salons around, but I for one am not going in one anytime soon. The Germans idea of highlighting is a little different than the American idea. They go more for the "chunky" look. So, back to the base. Before I make an appointment I begin hearing people say, don't go there! They got black dye in a blonde womans hair, among other comments. Now, what are my options? Home.

I've done the home kits before, but only with my little sister. In fact, when we started, Landen said, "We need Terri here!" It's true. But I didn't think I could wait until next fall. My next best option at this point? Matt. To my delight, he agreed. :-) So, as we watched the Razorbacks lose on TV (our first game we actually got to see!), he highlighted my hair. Please pray for me Tuesday as I go get my haircut. lol

He did a great job. You know what? I think he actually kind of enjoyed it!!! Guess what, he'll probably get to do it again. And the best thing is, I'm blonde again - for a few months, anyway. Thank you, babe!!!

It's Snowing!

Ok, so its not sticking, but it is snowing! I think this is the earliest I've ever seen snow. They are calling for it through out the day today and tomorrow, however it is melting as soon as it hits the ground. The kids are still excited. We are hoping to get a few good snows that the kids can actually build a snowman this year, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm told that last year they didn't get hardly any, but the year before that they got a lot!

That's all for now. I've got to get the kids snow boots ordered for the winter.

More Halloween

Landen got 1st place in the costume contest for his age group. :-) He won $20! The rest of the evening was lots of fun, too. We ate at the club where they had games, candy, and contest (oh yeah, he won the hulla hoop contest too... he's so gifted, lol). We ended the night with trick or treating and the kids were worn out by the time we got home. Trick or treating on base was quite an experience. Yikes!!! Since Germans don't really trick or treat like we do in America, everyone has to go on base. Can we all say crowded??!! When we got home, we did have one knock on the door. It was four German trick or treaters... We opened the door and they said "sweet or sour".... we quickly found some candy and with a "cheers" off they went. Halloween is catching on in Germany!!!