Wir sind zu Hause

nutella ftw 

date night lights

parks here are cool

train table at Osiander

this guy is in it for the thrill

my animal lover dominated by the blur. it was short-lived, if you're wondering. bruno is a hoss and pinned seb later. 

I have found it so hard to write about what it’s like living here in Germany, that I’ve largely been avoiding this blank screen before me. It feels strangely normal to be here. I don’t know why, or how, but the only answer that makes sense when I think about it, is that God has given me peace. This is where we’re supposed to be, despite all the hard things, and man are there hard things. If it’s not difficult enough to move across the globe, it’s one million times harder when you have a 3 yo who understands just enough to break your heart a little bit more every day. Sebastian misses his grandparents and aunts and uncles so much, and not a day has gone by when he hasn’t talked about them, and the things he used to do with them. It’s adorable how little flashes of memory come to him, or how he randomly mention’s someone, even though that person is seemingly unrelated to the event at hand. Today we were coming inside after playing and Seb wanted to buzz our apartment. I told him that no one was there to let us in, and he got really upset saying, “Why is no one there?” I then asked, “Who do you think should be in there?” He thought for a moment, and then his face brightened, “NOAH!”. Well, Noah, in case you wondered, you’re missed. 

Most recently counted among our missing persons are Mamaw and Pawpaw, Cody’s parents. They did this amazing thing and flew to Germany the same day as us, got to our apartment before our flight had even landed, bought food for our supper, got our keys, made sure we had everything we needed, and then went straight back to the airport to pick us up. They had the bus figured out and everything. And that was only the beginning. They stayed an entire two weeks with us, and I seriously wonder if we could have done it without them. We got so much settled and figured out in those two weeks, thanks to them. They tirelessly served us by watching and playing with our kids, cooking food, grocery shopping, and exploring bits of the city and reporting back on what they’d found. I am still in disbelief. And am missing them so much. I learned a lot from Cody’s mom about what kinds of things to do with the kids here, and patterns that I might follow for our days. She boldly explored new places, where I would have likely been too timid, and because of her, I have courage when taking the boys out. They are familiar with so many places, know new games to play, and understand the rules of different spaces. Cody’s dad took charge of getting us set up with internet, phones, and all the technical aspects of settling in here. We were hooked up on the second day here! And, he gave me one of his old iPhones to use so I would be connected while I’m out and about in the city, and able to use maps, or get to my e-mail if needed. And let’s not forget Instagram, people... follower be warned, I have a hard time holding back.

So a giant cyber hug to meine Schwiegereltern. You are a gift that we treasure.

I can’t wait to write more about the nitty gritty of life here, but I definitely need to go to bed. So for now I’ll leave you with a few possible future post titles:

No one speaks English here, and everything you’ve ever heard to the contrary is a total lie

Moving to Europe makes you so poor you can only justify buying the 2.99 IKEA bedding (at least it’s cute!)

Learning a Language: Will I wake up one day and suddenly realize I can speak German?

I know you can hardly wait. Bis dann.