Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I would also like to congratulate three of my friends who are all having babies around the same time: Laura, Rachel, & Robin CONGRATS!!!!!!
Happy '07!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Tammy & Laura come to town!
My two best friends from high school are coming to Jacksonville today. I'm so excited as I haven't seen them in almost 6 months! We are planning a "spa day" tomorrow and a trip to our favorite dessert spot in Ponte Vedra called One Hot Cookie. For those who haven't had the experience it is a WONDERFUL shop in Sawgrass in PVB that's a lot like Cold Stone except w/cookies. You can choose which kind of cookie you want and get any kind of topping and/or ice cream to go on top. It's SOOOO yummy and something the three of us always look forward to.
I've enjoyed my time at home and can't believe it will be over next week!
I've enjoyed my time at home and can't believe it will be over next week!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Merry!
Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope and pray you all have a wonderful time with your family and friends tonight and tomorrow. Also, I would like to extend a HUGE congratulations to my friend Temple and her new fiance' Mike--HAPPY ENGAGEMENT!!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Tuesday
This past Tuesday I spent some time at my old school that I taught at last year, First Coast Christian. I spoke at their chapel and then spent the day w/my old students in some of their classes. That night one of my room moms from last year had a get together at her house w/a few of the kids from my 4th grade class. Below is a small slide show showing some of the fun I had. It was a great time!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Big Differences
Today I had a sushi craving and since it's been almost 5 months since my last bite of sushi, I decided to run into Publix and get some. Having now lived in Germany for months now, I have forgotten just exactly how ginormous grocery stores are over here. I think I looked a bit shocked b/c one of the stock guys came up to me and said "Ma'am, is there anything I can help you with?" I think I was probably just in awe of the produce aisle that went on and on and on. You could seriously fit five of our grocery stores back home in Weil in the Publix on San Jose Blvd. Wow. Before Publix I had gone into my Mecca aka TARGET and walked around a bit. It was so nice to see it! Boy, the things you take for granted living over here! Still suffering from some jet lag but all in all I've had a great time these last 2 days in the good ol' US of A.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Home for Christmas :)
I got in last night at 7pm US EST after having left my apartment in Germany at 4:00am my time (which would make it 10pm over here). The flight from Basel to Brussels to Newark wasn't so bad. It was the flight from Newark to Jax that felt like FOREVER. I swear I think the captain flew the plane extra slow or something. We were already an hour behind schedule leaving Newark and it just made it seem particularly LONG. When I saw my parents for the first time in 4 months it was almost surreal. I still feel like I am dreaming and I'm going to wake up and be in Germany! I went to my home church and it was so great to see everyone. After church we all went out w/my mom's fam to Olive Garden. And now I'm back home and a/b to take a much needed nap! Anyways, so far my stay at home is going super. Sorry if this is a rambling post but I'm suffering from lots o'jet lag!!!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
3 days to go!
This will probably be my last blog until I get home on Saturday. I'm quite busy these next 2 days before I leave so I don't know if I'll have a chance to get online at all.
Today was the last day of school and we had a great party for the kids. We had three classrooms set up as "centers" and the kids rotated for an hour to each center. They decorated Christmas cookies, made a Christmas craft, and learned the jitterbug to Christmas music. We then all gathered in the library to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas before lunch. They left as soon as lunch was over and the staff has been cleaning up the school since about 1. I'm ready to get home and CHILL tonight if you consider mopping, vacuuming, and sweeping "chilling."
Anyways, I am sure I will blog some while I'm in the States. Until then~AUF WIEDERSEHEN!
Today was the last day of school and we had a great party for the kids. We had three classrooms set up as "centers" and the kids rotated for an hour to each center. They decorated Christmas cookies, made a Christmas craft, and learned the jitterbug to Christmas music. We then all gathered in the library to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas before lunch. They left as soon as lunch was over and the staff has been cleaning up the school since about 1. I'm ready to get home and CHILL tonight if you consider mopping, vacuuming, and sweeping "chilling."
Anyways, I am sure I will blog some while I'm in the States. Until then~AUF WIEDERSEHEN!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Stereotypical
Last night I decided to stop by my favorite place for pizza called Milano's. They have excellent pizza, pasta, chinese, & turkish food (dont' ask...it's the norm over here for multi-cultured restaurants!). As I was waiting for my food, the guy behind the counter asked me if I was from Britain or America (English speakers always get asked that...they can't tell the difference over here). Here is the rest of our conversation:
Me: America
Him: What part?
Me: Florida
Him: Ah, my cousin owns big store in Florida
Me: Really? Which one?
Him: (keep in mind he is INDIAN) 7 Eleven
Me: America
Him: What part?
Me: Florida
Him: Ah, my cousin owns big store in Florida
Me: Really? Which one?
Him: (keep in mind he is INDIAN) 7 Eleven
Monday, December 11, 2006
A weekend of Christmas plays!
Friday night was our Christmas play at school that I wrote and directed. It was titled "Maggie's Reason for the Season" and it went so great! On Sunday my church did the same play w/a few little improvisions. Below are some pictures of both plays. Enjoy :)
Friday, December 08, 2006
Bad Day
It's only 11:09am over here and so far the day has not been so great.
It began at 1:45am. The phone was ringing and both Anne and I stumbled out of our bedrooms with a "Who the crap is calling us at this hour?!" expression on our faces. It turned out to be Anne's pastor's wife back home who told her that her dad had taken a turn for the worse and was in the hospital. Anne had already booked a flight back home for Monday morning so that she could extend her stay with her family over the holidays. However, her mother had told the pastor's wife she needed to get home asap.
We tried calling my friend Carly who helped us get the earlier flight home (she works for an airline back home) but the number wasn't right. We finally called my dad who so graciously helped us book her another flight online (our internet has been down forEVER so we had to do it this way). She booked a flight that would put her in Philly around 6:30 pm EST. After we got off the phone there were a few more calls to make and lists of things that she had to get done or that I needed to pass on to people at school. I finally went back to bed around 4:30 only to have the alarm go off 2 hrs later. I didn't really sleep much...just off and on for those 2 hrs.
At school now and completely exhausted. Unfortunately, I can't go home until later tonight after our Christmas play is over. I'll be running on the strength of God and pure adrenaline until then. Thankfully, my kids are understanding of all of this and have been reading quietly and enjoying a day of freetime. Hurray for Fridays.
Please pray for Anne's dad and for her family. I am extremely worried for her and very, very sad. It was a long night last night and has now gone on into the day. It is difficult for me to keep my eyes open as I type this, much less to type on the right keys! I know that His strength is perfect and that He will never give us more than we can handle. But I also know that this is one of those times where I can be completely blunt and honest and say I don't understand why He's doing this. Especially at this time of year. I know that it's OK to feel this way and that it's OK to share this with you all, my faithful readers. This makes it even more real to know that God is bigger and that He is sovereign. His will for our lives is such a mystery at times like this. And yet I know that through it all, Anne will be a stronger person at the end of it.
If you're reading this around 9am EST please pray for continued strength. It will be 3pm my time and the day won't end for me until around 9pm my time.
Love to all.
It began at 1:45am. The phone was ringing and both Anne and I stumbled out of our bedrooms with a "Who the crap is calling us at this hour?!" expression on our faces. It turned out to be Anne's pastor's wife back home who told her that her dad had taken a turn for the worse and was in the hospital. Anne had already booked a flight back home for Monday morning so that she could extend her stay with her family over the holidays. However, her mother had told the pastor's wife she needed to get home asap.
We tried calling my friend Carly who helped us get the earlier flight home (she works for an airline back home) but the number wasn't right. We finally called my dad who so graciously helped us book her another flight online (our internet has been down forEVER so we had to do it this way). She booked a flight that would put her in Philly around 6:30 pm EST. After we got off the phone there were a few more calls to make and lists of things that she had to get done or that I needed to pass on to people at school. I finally went back to bed around 4:30 only to have the alarm go off 2 hrs later. I didn't really sleep much...just off and on for those 2 hrs.
At school now and completely exhausted. Unfortunately, I can't go home until later tonight after our Christmas play is over. I'll be running on the strength of God and pure adrenaline until then. Thankfully, my kids are understanding of all of this and have been reading quietly and enjoying a day of freetime. Hurray for Fridays.
Please pray for Anne's dad and for her family. I am extremely worried for her and very, very sad. It was a long night last night and has now gone on into the day. It is difficult for me to keep my eyes open as I type this, much less to type on the right keys! I know that His strength is perfect and that He will never give us more than we can handle. But I also know that this is one of those times where I can be completely blunt and honest and say I don't understand why He's doing this. Especially at this time of year. I know that it's OK to feel this way and that it's OK to share this with you all, my faithful readers. This makes it even more real to know that God is bigger and that He is sovereign. His will for our lives is such a mystery at times like this. And yet I know that through it all, Anne will be a stronger person at the end of it.
If you're reading this around 9am EST please pray for continued strength. It will be 3pm my time and the day won't end for me until around 9pm my time.
Love to all.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Pics from St. Nicholas Day
Here are two pics from St. Nicholas Day. The first was taken (obviously) before the kids arrived. The second is self explanatory ;)
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Today is St. Nicholas Day in Germany. The tradition is that kids leave their shoes outside their door and St. Nicholas comes and fills them with fruit and chocolate. So yesterday we told our kids to leave their indoor shoes outside their classroom door so that "St. Nicholas" could fill them. They came in today and had a great time looking inside their shoes :) I took some pictures and will post them later.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Christmas Fun
This weekend Anne and I took a short little trip up to Heidelberg, Germany. It is about 4 hrs from us and only cost 22 euro round trip! WE LOVE CHEAP DEALS! Anyway, we headed up for their infamous Christmas market which is HUGE. It was so much fun and Heidelberg is BEAUTIFUL! I've posted some pics on a slideshow below for you to enjoy. Click on the image to get a description of each picture for this slide :) 12 days til I'm home! YAY!
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