December 25th (Saturday) MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pacey got his first tooth last Sunday on the 19th! He's almost 9 months old! I can't believe he didn't get a tooth until now! But, everything at his own pace.

Rich and Roxane got in late Sunday night (at midnight). We went to a Christmas Market on Tuesday in Wiesbaden. On Wednesday we went to Rottenburg to a Christmas Market there. Then we stayed in Wurtzburg. It was a very cool city! We were walking to dinner, and Elee started crying and screaming. He kept saying his pee pee hurt. He ended up pooping his pants. We got to a restaurant and I went to the bathroom with him. It went all the way down his leg. We threw away his underwear and socks and cleaned him up. I ran to a store to buy him some new clothes and then we joined everyone for dinner. It was really good Chinese food.

Then next day we did some shopping in Wurtzburg. Then went to Bamburg. Richie and I took the two little ones and went to his favorite brewery for about a half an hour. We had an Urbach. It was a really good smoked beer. Roxane and Rich did some shopping with Josiah and Elee and went to a church. They lit a candle for Great Grandpa Frank, Great Grandpa Bill, and Grandma Judy. We got home late that night.

Today was a great day!!!! Merry Christmas! We opened presents this morning and just had a lazy day. The kids played with their legos and toys and Lincoln logs. Luna found my mascara and put it all over her face. She looked like Bert from Sesame Street with a huge black uni-brow. It was hard to get mad when she looked so funny and cute. We had a birthday cake for Jesus. Josiah helped me make a blueberry pineapple dump cake but he didn't have a bite. I thought he would like this since it wasn't really like cake, but he didn't want it.

Rich and I are getting ready for Venice tonight. We leave tomorrow about 11:00 AM. We are taking Pace with us and Richard and Roxane will be watching Josiah, Elee and Luna Jane. Looking forward to our trip. I really hope the weather is okay for us.

December 20th (Sunday)

We went to pick Roxane and Richard up at the airport today but their flight was cancelled because of the weather. We've been checking online to see if the next flight they were supposed to get on was cancelled too but apparently it was supposed to get here at 10pm. Richie left for the airport and the roads are really bad. I shoveled the driveway and sidewalk after he left. I haven't heard from them yet. It's midnight now. Hope everything is okay.

December 15th, 2010

My call to Dell computers last night was about an and a half long. They kept transferring back and forth. Part of my conversation went like this,

me: "my computer caught on fire last week & i had to put it out with a fire extinguisher".
guy from dell (in india) says, "is there a gray light"?
me: "no, there is no light on my computer. it caught on fire".
guy from dell: "what is the error message"?
me: "there's is no error message! MY COMP-UT-ER CAUGHT ON FIRE & THERE IS A HUGE HOLE IN MY COMPUTER. IT DOES NOT WORK"!

niiiice.


Richie is still sick and has a fever. He took the day off of work. We're supposed to get lots of snow tonight.

Insurance man for the house came today. Looks like they are going to replace the carpet. Everything else I think can be cleaned.

December 9th (Thursday) FIRE!

So....long day today.

Took Josiah to the bus stop this morning because there was so much snow! It was up to his shins, so he asked me to drive him. I dropped him off to wait with the other kids and then had him walk home if the bus didn't come. The bus didn't come so he came home shortly after. The boys were watching tv upstairs and I was getting ready for the day downstairs when Elee came down the stairs crying. He said "mom come here, it's an emergency. There's sparks and smoke". So I booked upstairs to the third floor to find the laptop sparking every where and smoke filling the room. So I ran down and grabbed the fire extinguisher. Ran back up and finally managed to yank the ring out. By this time the smoke had filled the room and the computer was on fire so I put it out. I called a friend here in town who is German to call the Fire Department. Then, the computer popped again and started another fire from one of the sparks. Then I put that out. I took the kids downstairs, and had the boys take the little ones outside. Josiah moved quick because he was on the back patio with no boots. So I threw him his boots, ran up to get their coats and came back down and we walked up to the front of the house from outside. By this time the village fire sirens were blaring and the village fire department was here in no time. As well as our friend Stephen (the couple I called) and his neighbor. We had about a foot of snow. The buses couldn't even get back here to pick the kids up so there was a lot of snow. And it's hilly where we live too! But they managed to get here really fast!

They fire department helped air out the house and hooked up a machine to draw out the smokey air. The kids got to wait in the fire truck and did such a good job. They were great and well behaved! Then the fire department from Bad Schwalbach came (that's the larger town near us). The chief checked everything out and then came to talk to me. Then he said, "next time just throw the computer out the window". I was like, "really? the computer was on fire"!! Maybe a language barrier or something but that didn't make sense to me at all. And even the others don't know how he said that. Duh!!! I know in theory that would've prevented the whole 3rd floor from being ruined with the fire extinguisher residue but my kids are safe. And no one got hurt! This is what is important!

I'm so glad that we were home and the kids had the snow day. I was planning on going to my friend Selma's house. So glad we were home or else it's possible the house could've burnt down! There are NO FIRE DETECTORS IN THE HOUSE! And now after this happening I realize that. It's funny that the fire department didn't even really make a big deal of that!! But I am going to buy a whole bunch this weekend!! We are renting through the military and I'm very surprised that isn't a requirement by law.

Richie is in the Atlanta, Ga and I called him and woke him up. I knew I had to call when he was in his hotel room or else I wouldn't have been able to reach him at all. He called his work and they managed to get him a flight back home tomorrow morning. It'll be good to have him help with this. I feel very anxious still.

Two people from Richie's work came to our house to see if we were okay and we weren't home. They tried using their cellphones to realize they can't get a reception out here, they got stuck in our driveway and had two ladies help push them out, asked around and then found where we were. So they found us at our friend Stephen and Sabrine's (who let us hang out at their home for several hours to let our house air out a bit). The people from his work came in the terrible weather just to see if we were okay!! I guess they will come again tomorrow too to check out the damage. Mainly from the smell of the smoke and the fire extinguisher.

So, we made some cookies tonight. The kids are all in my bedroom, except Pace. Elee made a cool bed for him and Luna on the floor and Josiah is in the bed with me. I'm so proud of the boys! They came and got me right away and told me there was an emergency! They even took care of the little ones. I'm so proud of them! I told Elee and Josiah that we'd take them out to dinner this weekend and Elee was like, "ooh, out to dinner?" It was so cute!

All this, I have to say that GOD IS GOOD!!!! Richie was in a car accident where he was rear-ended two weeks ago , totaled his car and he was OKAY! Then the fire, and we are all OKAY!! Thank you Jesus!! I'm leading worship this Sunday and earlier this week was thinking on sharing Psalm 100 as a scripture passage. I wonder if this was God preparing my heart to be thankful in all things? I am so thankful that we're all okay. The Bible sitting on the couch reminded me of the verses this week.......

A Psalm for(A) giving thanks.
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

5 For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

6 December (Monday)

I drove Richie to the bus stop this morning. He was taking the bus to the train station in Wiesbaden and from there to the airport. He left for Atlanta, GA. Should be there by anytime now. Took Pace to the doctor after dropping Richie off. He has a really bad cough. The German doctor (the same one I took Josiah to) prescribed an Herbal Cough Syrup (yay) and something to take at to stop the coughing so he can sleep.

We went to Ramstein yesterday after church and bought a fake Christmas tree. So I put it up tonight and also some LED lights that I bought in Bad Schwalbach today. The tree looks nice. Maybe I'll get the ornaments on later this week.

Talked to my brother Aaron for the first time in since we moved here. I also called my nieces in Germany. I haven't talked with them in a very long time.

December 2nd (Thursday)

Had the ladies breakfast at our home today. It was great. luna and pace were so good. pace took his normal time nap around 9:45 and slept the whole time and luna watched some veggie tales.

It was snowing today off and on all day. I told Luna Jane she was "my girl" and she'd say, "i'm your girl" and then she finally said "i'm luna jane girl". it was so cute. her big thing when we call her something other than luna is to say, "no, i luna jane".

the boys played outside a little bit today. they went "sledding". elee fell in the snow and came home crying so i laid with him on the couch for a little bit. then josiah came home. elee didn't take a nap but josiah ended up falling asleep in his room. they play hard!