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girlinmirror
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Name: Sarah
Country: United States
State: Ohio
Metro: Toledo
Birthday: 2/28/1981
Gender: Female
Interests: quilting, singing, reading, crocheting, being outdoors (hiking, walking, frisbee ets...) playing games(settlers!!!) ,spending time with friends
Occupation: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
5/24/2005
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| Life in Germany....First of all let me say thank you to all of you who left notes saying Congrats.....we are very excited.....and now I REALLY gotta get working on this german =) So....Christmas is just around the corner here...at least that is how is seems......Germans really know how to decorate and celebrate for the Christmas season. Its really fun actually. Ben and I went out the other evening and walked around at some of the christmas markets they have out. It was really neat, being among all the people, eating the fun foods(gotta love crepes mit nutella), and just looking at all the fun Christmas things they have to sell. We have just about completed our second german class....just a few more weeks. Its really hard to believe its almost over. I'll be glad for the break, but it still seems like we have ALOT to learn. Well, gotta run and finish the cookies we are baking.....blessings to you all from Germany. | | |
| Back in the swing of things...."Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessings will come through you all the time" ('My Utmost for His Highest') So we are finally online in our apartment. This is wonderful cause it seems like its been so long since we have been able to really keep up with all our family and friends at home. Life here in Germany is just wonderful. We are still attending school everyday and working very hard to learn this german language as best as we can. I still find myself talking backwords and ben laughs at me when I do use my german but I'll manage to get around all of that. Travis is growing fast and learing to say many new words. Its lots of fun listening to him, especially since he is saying things in both German and English. Plus he loves to sit at the computer with us and look at pictures from home, and thats when we practice names of all our friends and family. Other big news for us is that we are having another baby in June....yeah. I'm feeling really well and the baby is doing great also. Its an interesting experience going to the doctors in German so please pray that God would help me learn this whole new set of vocab quickly and easily. Well I think that enough for a quick update....there will be more to come..... | | |
| Halo from Germany....
Soooo.....today was a busy but good day.....i was at ikea with Shelly
all morning before class to order and bye the furniture for our
house....this was fun but alot of work....its done now though....
Ok so this is also exciting, we get the key to our house on friday
morning.....yeah...at 9am....so we are not going to school that
day.....the whole weekend is about moving....Saturday is all about
putting furniture together....gotta love Ikea....=) and then we wont be
in school monday because our barrels arrive that day, when....we dont
know....soooo we will be busy. Before I forget.....as of next week
please be aware that our emails will not be as frequent due to the fact
that our phone is not hooked up in our new place....we have signed up
for this to happen but it could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6
weeks, this is just one of those german things from what we hear and
cant be change....so we will be going to the Jones house or the Kragts
house to
do emails as often as we can, but either way just bear with us and know
that this is incredibly difficult for us as it will be u. =(
Otherwise....things are going really well....school is great, definitly keeping us really busy but all in a good way. So God
really added to the school load as well and convicted me this week about my attitude for one of our teacher and
since then its been much better....Barbara is her name and she isnt the
easiest person to have. She isnt mean or anything but her facial
expressions and the way in which she critisises people isnt very
nice....it makes it hard to like being under her especially when our
other teacher is the complete opposite, Astrid is really nice in all
she does, she is kind and respectful, patient and understanding.....all
this to say that after a little bit of smaking around God made it clear
to me that if MY attitude and opinion of Barbara didnt change nothing
else would and class woulnt get any easier....so....all this to say
that this week is going Much better. I know that we have a LONG way to
go but I finally feel like im sorta getting it. Plus its nice to know
how to greet people and also understand some of what they are saying.
Yeah....Im getting it.
Travis is doing well this week. Im very interested to see again how
he adjusts next week in our new place.....it will be much more quiet.
Plus he will not be in a crib. We have purchased a mattress for him and
he will just be on this on the floor. It was kinda neat picking things
out for his room as well cause he has ALOT of space for one little guy,
and Ben insisted that we do all that we can to make it so he can do
just about anything in there and it be safe....so pretty much we are
putting nothing that can break, and his toys will be reachable and so
forth so that he can play in there and it be ok. We also got a really
neat rug for him to play with his cars on as he gets bigger.....its
colorful and this was a plus to add to the room. =)
Well, I gotta run but no worries I will write several times over the
next few day until we officially move.
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| Another new week.....of the German Language!! So it is monday, 10:30 and we begin again a new week of school this
afternoon. Im am excited and nervouse but thats ok, this will be
fine.We had a good weekend, a bit busy but a nice one. We attended our
first german wedding for a couple from Open Door(our church). It was a
bit long but nice. So here is an interesting piece of german info for
u....in germany in order to get married u cant just have a church
wedding and it be official, they must go to the court house and have a
legal wedding and then if they choose to have a church ceremony u can
but if u arent married at the court house then it is not legal. So
Inga and Ulf ( a couple from our church) had to go to the court house on Friday and be married and
then on Saturday had their church/ christian marriage ceremony with
their friends and family. Interesting, huh.....
Other than the wedding we had a good weekend, kinda laid low but this
is good. Travis is fighting a bit of a cold, due im sure to the
weather. It is beautiful inthe morning and then raining in the
afternoon, or cold and then hot, its actually really crazy weather. We
even borrowed some warm clothes from the Jones and the Baltez family(
the people who watch him) just cause we werent prepared for it to be so
cold. But God is good and put friends around with children who are his
size...so now he is warm. Also it is really common in Germany to have
these sacks, they look like a sleeping bag, in your stroller, so the
child is in this and then in the stroller and it keeps them warm. We
bought one when we got our stroller and I am so glad we did. Since we
dont have a car and are doing alot of walking this helps keep Travis
warm as well. Also another thing is that we now have this plasic cover
for the stroller to keep him dry, so yeah we are totally stroller ready
and prepared for all weather=).
This week is going to be a bit busy, we are hoping and praying to
move into our new apartment this weekend or even sooner, it all depends
on when we get our key. Please pray that this happens early if
possible. It is all dependent on the new wood floors, so if they are
done then we should be ok. Im really excited that finally we have our
own place, a bit nervouse about being on our own but that ok, I will
just have to learn through all my mistakes, ( ie...language) as well as
not be afraid to make them and laugh at myself. God is faithful
though and I know this....He will not give me( or us) anything we cant
handle. This is truly the one thing that is getting me through
school....I know that I can learn German because this is what I am
called to do and where we are to be. ( k so i dont know where that
little tangent came from but it was important=)
Blessing on u all as u go through this week as well......
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| Wow, time flies when your having fun....So we made it to Germany......
We are still living with our field director and his family and so this makes it harder to sit down and do emails, blogging, etc.... for long periods of time, this not being our home and all. This will change in10 days though when we move into our own place. Yeah!!!!!
Its hard to believe that its been 24 days since we arrived, alot has happened.
So for starters let me just say that the Kragt family we are staying with are absolutly wonderful. They are just taking such lovely care of us and making each day of transition more and more fun and smooth. God is sooooo good. Their children started school last week so the house is a bit more quiet, Travis is a bit confused since they were all home all day and playing with him. =) However, we also started school this past monday, yesterday. All I can say it WOW, its alot to take in!!! Speaking of Travis, he is doing really well, hes finally adjusted as best as can be considering the circumstances. Hes eating really well, and saying some new words.....like...up and Anna( one of the girls here). It will be interesting to see what he continues to say now that he is with a German family while we are at school. This is such an answer to prayer, there is a young family at our church who is taking care of him, lovely is the best way to describe them....she is a stay at home mom, wonderful person. They are so sweet and easy to get along with.....i can see us becoming good friends as time goes on.
Anyway.....weve been to see some very unique sites in the past week. They have taken us to see the home of the president here....which is very interesting. Also some historical places---so much that Im still a bit overwhelmed by all the info. We also went to see the berlin wall.....there is a place in the city where a very large portion of the wall is left standing....this was a unique experience and also a bit emotional. I felt so many things as we stood there and touched this piece of history. Something interesting in the city is that in many places as you drive and the wall would have been there, they have layed bricks to represent its presence so that people will know where it was. Plus its helpful for me as I learn the difference of the east and west sides of the city. We live on the east side but have been over to the west several times.
Ive found it very interesting as we go around and see building that are post war, with bullet holes and such. God has brought us to a city full of alot of history.....alot of hurt and hardened people. It saddens me but at the same time makes me excited because I know why more and more each day the reason we are here. Its because we have a message of hope and healing to share. Im glad for the moments that Shelly Kragt has taken us to these emotional places, such as a memorial site for all the Jews killed just to help bring a little perspective, gentle reminder and love for the country and people here in Berlin.
Something very unique about all of this is now brought back to our living arrangements.....yes we have found an apartment....it is very lovey and just what we wanted and more. We wont be moving in till the 15th-16th but thats ok cause they are putting in new wood floors for us. I cant wait to take pictures and show u our new home. Anyway God is so cool how he works things out....our apartment is just around the corner to another part of the city where there is some of the wall still standing, like not even a block away. There is also a small museum across from it in rememberance of the wall and people. HOw cool is this. I find it as another great reminder for us as we walk around our community. The building we are living in and those around us were buildings that only wealthy communist would have lived in....interesting huh. So thats my little bit about the history of our home.
Its a great set-up, we have a kitchen with cubards, yeah....ben doesnt have to install them...this was a wonderful perk. Then the livingroom/dining room, and two very large bedrooms. Actually all the rooms are increadbly large. They have very high ceilings cause its an older building but remodeled. The bathroom is very nice and our washer and dryer will fit perfectly in it and out of the way.
So now I have to tell you some funny/ interesting things that they have here and not in the states:
1. to flush the toilet there are two buttons....one for number one and one for number two, some only have one button but then u have to stop it early in the flush if its just number one.
2. Chocolate for breakfast....they have this amazing spread called Nutela that everyone eats on their bread for breakfast....its yummy.
3. Cobblestone.....so ALOT of the roads and sidewalks are very much like cobblestone in the states, but some made with smaller stones....this makes for great times with the stoller, actually we went out and bought a new stroller, a german kind that are made to hold up under more stressful condition, especially since we are doing alot of walking.( this makes travis have fun when we walk cause he will hum as we go over the bumps so he can hear himself its funny.
4. They have quiet hours here for the city, between the hours of 1-3 people must be quiet, this means no loud noise outside, mowing the lawn, using drills in your house, etc....and then again from 10pm till 7 am. Its interesting cause for a large city it is fairly quiet as you go around. Plus cause this is the law people could report u for being to noisy. Interesting huh....
5. THe grocery store charges you for plastic bags so everone buys fabric bags to bring with them, or they have these cart like things that roll and you put your groceries in them instead.
These are just a few of the things i can think of off at the moment. Im sure Ill write with more as time goes on. Please pray for us as we continue to live with the Kragts for a little while longer. Pray that we would find time for "us" as a family, as well as a good balance with all the things going on. Also that language school would go well.....its fun but also alot of work.
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