Enjoying Madrid

This was one of the boys' favorite rooms to play in.  It had no furniture in it, which left lots of space to play!

While in Madrid, we stayed in a company-owned, sparsely furnished apartment.  We had never seen it before, and we weren't entirely sure what to expect.  We were told to bring pillows, linens and even kitchen stuff, pots and dishes, etc... but that there were beds, 2 couches and a table with chairs.  It was quite interesting trying to figure out what to pack.  We were also told that there was no washer (or dryer, but that's normal...) or internet. With all this in mind, I expected it to be a difficult 3 weeks... especially with having to wash clothes by hand!... and trying to keep 4 kids occupied in an empty apartment for 6 hours a day while Mom and Dad were in class.

Playing cards by the pool... Jonathan and I had fun playing war! :)

I think, all the way around, we were pleasantly surprised.  God completely blessed this time with rest, family time, games, swimming, shopping, and of course, lots of language.  The apartment was what they had said, but it was much bigger than we had anticipated, so the boys had lots of room to race cars, build puzzles, etc.  There was also a pool with a kiddie pool, so the kids were really able to enjoy that. Carolina actually learned to swim (with swimmies on :) ) while we were there!

Little miss personality! :)

Wes and I had class in the afternoons (1:30-7:30), so we really tried to focus on having fun mornings together.  At first, Carolina was VERY clingy.  She did not like me leaving all day, but she did ok.  We ended up having a young guy watching the kids all day.  At first, I was a little worried; but he was awesome.  The boys really enjoyed having a guy to be with, and Carolina warmed up to him.  He was a guy who really paid attention to detail, so that made me feel better. :)

The kids with Fredy

We had many exciting mornings with the kids.  We had heard that there was an American store in the area where we were staying, so we went to check it out.  It was amazing.  We found root beer, grape jelly, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, bagels, and Rolos! :)  Actually, I went in first by myself, just to check it out and see if it was worth getting everyone out of the car.  I guess I took so long that they figured it was definitely worth getting out of the car.  I turned around, and all the kids were walking in the door. :)  It was hilarious to see them!  Everyone pointing and exclaiming.

It was cute the things that the boys remembered.  They had saved up their chore money, so each of them bought something while we were there.  The prices were crazy expensive... a box of Apple Jacks was almost $15!!  We stayed away from the crazy high priced things, but Weston did buy a $3 pack of Big Red gum... it reminded him of Grandmommy.

We also found an ice cream place that made some flavors (like dark chocolate and berry sorbet!) without milk.  Carolina and Nathan (both can't have milk) were LOVING it.  The ice cream store was right down the street from "Taste of America" so they tended to go hand-in-hand. :)  It definitely felt like vacation for the kids. :)

Since we didn't have TV (well, actually we did... it just didn't work all the time, and it was in our bedroom, which was the hottest room in the house) we found other ways to entertain the kids.  We put together several puzzles while we were there.  Puzzles are crazy expensive here in Spain.  I'm not sure why.  But, we found a deal at a German grocery store here.  They bring in random things (that aren't food) and sell them really cheap.  We found puzzles for 2.99 each!  We were SO thrilled (they're normally around 30-40 euros.)  Each child got to pick out their own puzzle.  Personally, I really enjoyed it... I'd get rid of my TV right now, if my family wouldn't revolt! :)

The last piece of the puzzle!!

We also found lots of amazing parks in the area where we were staying.  The kids had a blast.  This was one of their favorites.  It had a "jeep" that reminded the boys of Papa.  This park had a LOT of very unique things to play on... it was very fun.

I guess you can't see it in this pic, but the jeep was sitting on 4 huge springs, so it bounced all over the place... just like a Jeep. haha... :)

We did have one incident that was totally scary.  We asked y'all to pray for health while were gone, and God totally answered that prayer!  I had just said to Wes how blessed we were that everyone had been healthy.  Later that day, Carolina fell off a slide... a 7 foot slide!  She landed on her face, and I thought for sure she had broken her neck, lost some teeth, had a concussion.... something!  I do believe angels caught her as she fell, because she cut up the inside of her mouth pretty good and her chin too... but that was it.  We spent some time in the ER, but she bounced back pretty well.  She is such a tough girl. :)  It was pretty scary, though... thank you for praying for her.  The first day/night was a little rough, but then she was fine.  I'm sure it was your prayers that made the difference for her!  Thank you!  God was SO gracious to keep her safe!

Funny how it seems like nothing in the pic! :)  Her mouth was all swollen and she had cuts inside her lip where her teeth landed.  Her chin was also all scraped up... but not cut, so no stitches were needed!

So, despite my fears of 3 weeks of just craziness, God really blessed our time there... both with language AND with family time!  We have some great memories!  Thank you all for your prayers.

Daddy is always the best toy to play with!

Language Intensive

As many of you know, we just finished a 3 week language intensive in Madrid.  I remember what it was like when we were going to class all day, when we first came.  It was really tough... I was exhausted and could hardly do more than "the basics" of cooking and laundry, etc.  I expected it to be much the same this time, since language actually makes you physically tired... not to mention mentally! :)  I was thankful that it wasn't quite as tiring this time.  I'm sure culture shock has a lot to do with it before, AND the fact that our kids were not experiencing culture shock! :)  It was much more peaceful this time.   Thank you, Lord! 

I'll write more later about our family's experiences during these three weeks, but for now here's the update on the language...

We started our first day of class with a placement test.  It was helpful to know where we placed, but we realized quite clearly that our speaking levels were much lower than our grammar levels.  Apparently it's normal, but the difficult part is that we needed to advance in both grammar and speaking levels.  Initially, they had us stop the placement test at a certain level, based on our speaking level.  But once they found out that we had been studying a higher grammar level, they had us take the next level up.  We both did better on it than they expected, so it was a little difficult for placement.

They initially placed me in the level that I tested at grammatically, but I was very nervous about it.  I asked for a lower level (b/c I knew my speaking level was much lower), but she really encouraged me to try.  So I did.  Oh, man... talk about stressful!  I was familiar with the grammar that they were doing, but the entire class was speaking... and not just speaking, but debating!  Any of you who know me well, know that debating is NOT comfortable for me... in English!... let alone in Spanish.  It's just my personality, but any kind of debate puts me on edge, even when it's just for fun.  On top of that, they were all at a much, much higher speaking level than I was.  The whole setting was extremely stressful for me.  There were only 6 of us in the class, and the teachers (who were both very, very good) made sure that every single person spoke, which is exactly what a good teacher does!  But, for me, I wanted to sink through the floor.  I kept thinking that Wes would probably love the class. :)

Before the end of the day, I had debated about what would've happened if Hitler had been killed early on.  I debated about abortion, women's rights, family and religion.   I was beyond stressed by the end of the day, so I looked into the next level down.  The director tried again to convince me to stay in the class, but I didn't want to be frazzled like that for three weeks.  Unfortunately,  they didn't really have anything that fit me well. 

Wes was in a class that had two guys teaching it, which was really good for him.  For some reason, in our area, it's much easier to understand women then men.  Maybe that's everywhere???  I have no idea.  I decided to try his class, and ended up staying in there for the week (since I had already paid and couldn't get my money back.)  BUT, I knew after the first day that I wanted something different.  Wes loves people and the movement and variety of a class, so he was pretty content with his class.  For me, I wanted to be more focused and intent on working on my weaknesses. 

One of our friends there had a tutor with over 25 years experience who was available.  I was thrilled, and God worked out all the details for transportation and the price, too.  For me, it was a GREAT time of learning.  Marisa was really good at explaining things and very knowledgeable as to how to utilize our time.  As we talked, she could pick up on my weaknesses, and she would incorporate that in the next day's studying.  I had one hour less a day than Wes, so after tutoring finished, I walked to a little cafe and studied what we had just gone over.  It was the perfect situation for me, b/c I need long focused times for studying.  I think I had a broad foundation before we started, but I now have a much deeper grasp of it all... AND I've had much more practice speaking, so hopefully that will help!

We will see... I know we both still need to learn much more before we take the exam in November, but I think this was helpful to get us focused in the right direction.  It was lots of work, but very gratifying in the end!... definitely a blessing. 

The night I fell apart...

I know many of you know this story from me posting it on FB.  I was completely beside myself! :)  I mean, life with our family is kinda crazy all the time; so I'm usually pretty used to it, but this particular night... I lost it. :)

Many of you know that right after our two weeks in Germany, we turned right around to do a 3 week language intensive in Madrid.  We had come back from Germany to find a colony of ants had taken up residence in our kitchen.  You know how they make their little trail, and they each follow each other back and forth along this trail... well, the trail in my kitchen was as wide as my foot!  There were TONS of them. Anyway, we spent our week at home trying to get rid of them and trying to un-pack and then re-pack our family of 6 for 3 weeks in a partially furnished apartment.

I think I was pretty stressed with everything going on, and I didn't even realize it.  The night before we were leaving for Madrid, Wes was talking to his parents on skype; and I decided to cut the boys' hair.  I cut Nathan's hair without any problems... Jonathan was in the wings watching and waiting his turn.  I finished Nathan and then took him to the other bathroom so he could take a bath and get all the hair off of him... normal routine.  We do it every month.  This night just turned out NOT to be normal. 

When I came back, Jonathan had the clippers in his hand and he had just touched it to his scalp. I was an instant too late... JUST missed being able to stop him. It was just too tempting for him... he had to try it out.   I was flustered and scolded him, but for a boy its not that big of a deal.  I caught my breath, and we buzzed it down to a 3.  You could still see the bald spot, but I knew it would grow in fast.  My emotions were still a bit off kilter; but in my head, I knew it wasn't that big of a deal.

How does a boy this cute get into so much mischief???

Fixing it....

A little bit better, right?

I took Jonathan into the bathroom this time so HE could take a bath and rinse off.  It took me a bit longer because I had to get Nathan out and dried off, too.  After getting both boys settled, I headed back to the bathroom.   I was already a bit frazzled, so I was definitely NOT prepared for what I saw.

Carolina (who, previously, had been in with Wes talking to Granddaddy) was sitting on the stool with my scissors in her hand and longs strands of hair all over her PJ's.  This time I didn't just scold.  I screamed... not at Carolina, but just out of unbelief.  I know that every mom has a story like this... I completely expected it to happen.  I just didn't expect it to happen TWICE in a row, on the SAME night, with TWO different kids!

I took the scissors out of Carolina's hands and asked her (ok, maybe more like screeched) "what in the world" she was thinking... yeah, what a thing to ask a 2 year old!  I think my response had just scared her in general.  Momma does not normally act like this!  She just looked at me with big eyes as I picked up strands of hair that had taken us 2 years to get exactly where we wanted them.  I felt like I could hardly breath.  I ran out of the room and threw open the door to the office, where Wes was skyping.  I don't know what I really intended to do, but I couldn't get any to come out of my mouth.  So I gave a silent, exasperated scream (maybe it was more a face, since it was silent... haha...) and shut the door again.  Wes had NO idea what was going on.  He was so confused.  He got off the computer really quick and came in.  I was just sitting there... and so was Carolina.  Poor thing. :)

Wes took over from there, b/c I was done for.  I didn't want to look real close; I didn't want to know the real damage.  :)  He got her cleaned up and headed for bed, all the while talking about how it's more important to be "pretty on the inside," which is something we talk about a lot with her.  This time, I'm not sure if he was saying it more for Carolina or for her Momma. haha... :) 

I followed them into her room, in a daze, I think.  I literally sat on Carolina's floor and just stared.  Wes left to go brush teeth and get waters for everyone; and when he came back in, I was still in the same position.  I totally think I was on overload.  I mean, of all the things we've been through in the past year, I've never quite responded like this... and then, over some silly hair, I totally lost it. 

Sweet Carolina is truly her Daddy's girl.  She enjoys being pretty and wearing lipstick and cute hats, but this night... all she wanted to do was to make me laugh.  She could tell things weren't right, so she got in front of my dazed face and made all sorts of funny faces.  She tried dancing; she tried laughing... none of it helped.  Poor baby.

I didn't pack another thing that night.  I was litereally useless. :) 

The next day, I had a better perspective.  I mean, I could have found her with her eyes poked out!!  And after I finally DID look at the damage, I realized that she actually cut it pretty well.  haha... she literally just cut bangs for herself.  Granted, the ones in the middle were cut all the way to her scalp, but I cut some more to cover it up, and it is "doable."  She doesn't have enough hair to really put in a bow anymore, so we've gone to headbands and hats... thanks to a suggestion from our friend Megan Taylor. :)  Thankfully, crazy-cut hair does not alter a child's personality, and Carolina is still as sweet as can be! 

Fun with Friends in Germany

In Germany, we stayed in a house in the mountains that had an apartment upstairs and downstairs.  We met our friends who live in Austria about halfway... about a six hour drive for both of us.  It was so fun to see them and meet their little James for the first time!  They stayed in the apartment upstairs and we stayed downstairs.  The kids had a blast together running around the yard and playing on the play grounds... not to mention the exploring they did, and the random doughnuts that somehow just "appeared" after an afternoon of exploring. :)  We had a fun week.  Here are some snapshots:

Mr Mike and Wes and the kids played UNO on a daily basis!

We didn't want to carry the pack-n-play... just one more thing to lug around... so we decided to try Carolina in a bed!  She did really well, except this one time when she somehow found Mommy's lipstick and decided it was just the right color for her.  The thing is, we didn't even know she'd gotten out of bed until we found her later... just like this.  Needless to say, my lipstick is no good anymore, BUT she didn't get it on anything but her lips!  I was grateful for that!

We found a park nearby... the kids LOVED to pull themselves across the water on this dock.  Carrie and I just about had heart attacks until we realized that the water only really came to Carolina's waist. :)  It does look scary, though, doesn't it?  For a 2 year old to be on without an adult? :)

The nearby creek that the boys (all of them...) played in every day.  There was a beautiful lake, too, but the creek won out every time.  They built walls and dams and pools with rocks.  It was a blast for them!!

I think they are deciding which rock to tackle next... who knows.  :)

The view from our cabin... and the yard out back.

Mike making hamburgers!!... They were incredible.

Boys and fire... not always the best combination.  Well, no one got hurt, but it always makes me sooooo nervous.

Carrie brought all the makings for smores, so we all roasted marshmallows!  The kids had a blast!!!!! Yummmm....

Carolina's first smore ever.

Mr. Mike and Carolina... Mr. Mike has become a favorite with ALL my kids!

Mike, Carrie, James, and Samantha... we are missing William, somewhere... :)

Carolina LOVED playing with Samantha!

Jonathan and Samantha riding the go-carts.

This face says it all... this was a ride that pulled them high into the air and then let them fall.  All the kids loved it, but Jonathan just had the best faces. :)  Does that say "thrill" or what. :) I wish you could've seen his eyes...

We sure did have a blast together!  We were thankful for the fellowship and the sweetness of the kids being able to play together.  God has blessed us with good friends! :)

Vacation in Germany!

After AGM was over, Wes walked about 10 minutes down the street to pick up our rental car (gotta love Europe for that!)  We had quite a time reserving a car before we arrived.  I guess we are just so much bigger than the average family... we had to have a vehicle that seats 6.  One too many for the "normal" cars. :)  There were not too many available, but we finally found one... or at least, we thought we had.

Unfortunately, when Wes got there, it was not one of the two types of vehicles they said it would be. Of course. :)  What were we to do?... at least it had enough seats.  It just had absolute no space in the back, for our luggage.  So, vacation started out in the normal way... improvising! :)

The kids had bags everywhere... under feet, etc.  It worked, though!

Carolina is still not too sure about it.  Poor thing.  She was wedged pretty tight. ;)

Once we got everything in, we started on our way across almost all of Germany.  It was so beautiful with it's green hills and bright blue sky!!!  I was loving it.  For some reason, seeing green makes me take a deep breath and relax.  I love it.  These were just some of the views...

 Before we got into the mountains, it reminded me a lot of upstate NY... I guess that's why I loved it so much.  It was like "home!"  Well, it was similar... except for one thing, specifically.  Wes is a great driver.  He's not slow, but he's not crazy fast, either.  Well, all of sudden, I looked up and noticed that EVERYONE was passing us.  I've never felt like a poke before, when Wes was driving, but, man!  They were all flying past us!  I found out what it was like to "ride" (since I wasn't driving... and gladly so!) on the autobahn!

They were all flying by us.

And Wes was going pretty fast!... oh, btw, this is not MPH.  It's in Kilometers.  Hehe... before you faint.

Anyway, it was a fun trip across the country!  It was really amazing, b/c you could find fast food restaurants all along the highway.  It felt so modern!  We have McD's in Spain, but you usually have to travel into a town to find one... and you really don't know where they are from the highway, unless you've stumbled on them before.  So, we felt like we had it so easy on this trip!!  We pulled of and ate at a Burger King for lunch- how easy!! :)  Other than the fact that we had to completely unload (and re-load... and then unload and load again) the car to get the kids out.... and back in. :)  AND I could order lunch in English!  Amazing! :)  I think we were all amazed at how many people spoke English.  I was grateful!  This was the start of our adventure in Germany...

AGM in Germany!

We have an "Area Group Meeting" or AGM most years, where we are able to get together and hang out with other missionaries.  Our kids really love this time, b/c they have built relationships with other Missionary kids in other countries.  They look forward to getting together and playing... in English. :)  PLUS, there are churches who come from the States and do VBS for our kids while Wes and I are in meetings.  It's so fun for the kids to learn about Christ in English!... such a blessing for all of us parents! :)

This was the view from our hotel window, 14 stories up.

This year, we had our meeting in Germany.  The only flight we could get left Madrid around 8pm.  We had to leave Cáceres around 12:30pm in order to get to the airport on time.  It was SO crazy.  We were heading on vacation in Germany after AGM, so we had luggage for 2 weeks worth of travel. 

We were traveling with a local, cheap airline, and there are no seats reserved.  So, obviously, with 4 kids, we really needed to have seats together.... I've never seen anything like it.  We showed up at the airport 2.5 hours early (the airline suggests 2)... and we barely made it through everything on time!  We waited almost 2 hours just to check our baggage.  It was so hectic.  It's a very popular airline to fly in Europe, b/c it's so cheap.  :)

I was thankful all our baggage was under the weight limit... I was a little worried.  I've never been one for scales, so we don't even own one!! :)  It's at times like this, that I wish I did... maybe we'll get one before we fly again.  It was just stressful not knowing if everything would go through.  But, thankfully, it did!! :)

We had reserved a wheel-chair for Nathan ahead of time.  It's hard for him to walk through all those crowds and for such a length of time (not to mention if we have to hurry.)  It's just easier all the way around, if we get help for him.  By the time we finally go to the check-in desk, we only had about half hour to get to the gate.  With 4 kids (not to mention security!!!!), that's a difficult feat!  So, we quickly asked about the wheel-chair, thinking we needed to HURRY.  She told us to wait over to the side and it would arrive within 20 minutes.  Right.  Ok.  Great.  It really didn't seem like anything we said could make them hurry... nothing much mattered to her!  I'm sure she sees lots of stressed out travelers in her day, so we were no exception.  The poor kids had been in the car for over 3 hours and then had to wait in a two hour line... they were so restless.

Wes and I debated and debated on whether to just leave without the wheelchair.  We were so concerned that we would miss the flight.  When I went to check again on the wheel-chair (like a good American...), she told me not to worry... that they knew what time my flight left.  That didn't encourage Wes at all, but it made me think that they might plan to take us through security themselves, which would be a lot faster!  So, we decided to wait.

Once the wheel-chair showed up, we were off.  It was amazing.  The guy assisting us took us right to the front of the security line.  Wes got off easy b/c he was helping Nathan.  They let him walk through without taking off shoes, belt or anything!  I had the rest of the kids, so we struggled with all our different items and finally made it though.  Praise the Lord, there were no further complications... other than trying to get 4 sets of shoes and coats back on, and not leaving a DVD player behind or something.  (Gotta give another shout out to The Creek for those blessings... 2 portable DVD players... you can't know how much we have used them!!!!!!!)

The kids occupied themselves for a while, just watching the planes.

Once we arrived at the gate, the attendants were amazing.  I was so very impressed.  For this airline, everyone lines up in front of the gate as soon as they arrive... so they can get the seats they want.  By the time we arrived, the line was forever long.  But, the wheelchair attendant told us to take some seats and just wait.  He would have them reserve 6 seats together for us, b/c Nathan needed to be in the front AND b/c we all needed to be together.  He told us that everyone would board before us, but that there would be 6 seats in the front.  WOW.  My stress load was gone!  Thank you, Lord! 

Carolina LOVED the hot pink planes! :)

Sure enough.  After everyone had boarded, we were brought on and had 6 seats up front, with no one ahead of us (which is really nice when you have a little boy who tends to kick the seat without thinking about it.) :)  I had just passed out gum to the boys and a Starburst to Carolina (to help their ears get unplugged), when the pilot came on and said we were delayed... over and over and over again.   So much for the gum during take-off ... I didn't have any more.  Ha!   It was only supposed to be a 2 hour flight, but we didn't get to Germany until after 1am. 

Amazingly... well, I'm sure it was absolutely the grace of God... the kids did so well.  We sat for hours on the plane, waiting just to take off.  Wes and the older boys played UNO Spin, and Jonathan and Carolina watched a video and played games on my ipad.  Nobody complained.  It was actually quite fun! :)  Praise the Lord!

We were definitely exhausted the next morning, but the excitement and energy from being with other believers was enough to get us all through the next day.  AGM is a time of renewal for both adults and kids!  We get to worship and be fed in our own language (which really makes you cry, after you've been away from it for so long!)  Plus, we had training and got to hear from the hearts of our leaders.   It was a blessing.

For the kids, they had VBS all week! :)  I was so shocked when I went to drop Carolina off at her class. She let go of my hand, and walked in without looking back.  I know it's just practice for what's ahead when she starts school!  She is so her father's child! :) ... just like Wes.  She loves people.  :) At the end of the week, the kids all came in and did a little performance.

Carolina, singing her song at the end of the program... oh, and they made these dolls for them!

Jonathan

Nathan

Weston

  What a blessing these couple days were for all of us!  Plus... we knew vacation was ahead! :)