What a beautiful day it has been ....

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in good ole Deutschland and we have escaped in to what will most likely become our “home away from home” for the months from late spring through fall. Just about a stone’s throw away from the house, across the street and the railroad tracks, is our beautiful little garden. Well, it’s not that little actually, it’s about 12,000 sq ft in size, with a little shed to keep the necessary things protected from the elements. We are connected to the water system but there is no power so we have to “rough it”. Guess we’ll have to break out the BBQ frequently. We spent the last couple of weekends with the help of a friend to clean it up. It was pretty overgrown, with lots of brush and bushes and we filled a 180 cubic feet big container full (yes, that big orange thing and no, it’s not part of the decoration …) with cuttings and other thorny things. Now we are sitting here trying to decide what to plant and where to plant it. There are two established cherry trees (one bigger and one smaller) and an old apple tree along with a few other trees that we haven’t identified yet. The apple tree and the big cherry tree were already here when I was a kid. I remember my Mom getting us up at 6AM during summer vacation to pick cherries “cause it wasn’t too hot yet for the day”. Needless to say we loved those mornings. But now as adults we have a different kind of appreciation for these trees. We’re actually looking forward to see what the summer will bring. Then we have some raspberries we think, I guess we’ll see for sure as the year progresses. There are a few rosebushes, lots of ornamental shrubs and a few color spots as you can see from the pictures. We are trying to figure out where the best spot for the compost area is, where we should plant the sunflowers, tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, zucchini and other vegetables that we’re looking forward to enjoy – not that we brought any seeds from our old Windsor garden with us or anything like that …. The unfortunate part of it is, that during the years where the garden wasn’t so actively used it was frequented, mostly in the evenings, by groups of teenagers that felt it was cool to make holes in fences and find “hiding spots” in the brush and under the trees. We found lots of lovely evidence (including some DNA …) as we cleaned up. But we got rid of all the hiding spots and now we hope we won’t have those visitors anymore. Sophie and Charlie are absolutely enjoying the garden as well; they especially like saying hi to anyone walking by. There are lots of birds around us constantly serenading us with their “Gezwitscher”. Now there is a great German word for you… . To finish off the beautiful day we just had an early dinner at a nice beer garden overlooking the river. Now it’s time to settle in and get ready for the new week. Make it a great one…

Cody has been found

Just got word (as I woke up this morning... :-)

..."Cody was found safe by rescuers! Thank you all for your prayers and support!" I want to thank all of you who helped spread the word. It's nice to have a happy ending!!!

Now have a great day  ... :-)

Haircuts, Brain and fishing for words ...

Just finished getting my hair cut and now I am waiting for Deb to be done. She got brave and is getting it cut really short. I think it'll look great on her :-)- It does by the way ... :-)
We are having a beautiful week with our weather here in Gernsbach, makes it really hard to have to sit inside at a desk all day. It sure has been quite a change from working in the restaurant business and being on our feet all day to sitting in front of a computer most of the day. But at least I am enjoying my job. I have learned a lot so far, from better understanding what we do at the company, working with lots of new software to getting used to the way the business world functions in Germany. It certainly took me a while to get used to the more formal approach between people in general and colleagues at work. I still find myself fishing for the right word more often than I would like and the weirdest thing (Deb thinks it's probably the funniest thing ...) is that when I am in the middle of a longer conversation or the opposite when I am very relaxed, I respond to a question in English and get usually greeted with a somewhat blank stare. Sometimes I even ask myself "did I just say that in English or in German?". The brain is an amazing concept. :-) I wonder what God thought about when he designed it ....

Is the grass really greener....?

We have "suffered" through a 4 day Easter weekend (Yes, Good Friday and Easter Monday are official paid holidays here in Germany), closing out the weekend sitting outside at a little cafe at the old Marktplatz (see photo) in Gernsbach enjoying the afternoon along with some much appreciated sunshine. Lots of families out walking and enjoying the break in the April weather as well. As we've mentioned before our transition from California to small town Germany was a lot different than we anticipated. We know for sure that we made the move at the right time, because now the weather can only get better. The signs of spring are visible mostly in the form of beautiful flowers that are popping up more and more. Our dogs, Sophie and Charlie, are definitely enjoying longer walks in the parks. There must be some amazing smells in the air because Charlie has so much energy on our walks that he can hardly contain himself. Even Sophie at her more respectful age is pulling us along most of the way. Now we're looking forward to getting our bikes out of the garage to get some exercise. Only problem is, there's a lot of hills around us .... :-) ..... OK, I know, that's part of the exercise.
There is one thing we've noticed when we're out walking. People here have a tendency to stare at you as you approach them or walk by. And then when you nod and say hello as you pass the large majority won't respond at all. Some even look the other way. That is the strangest feeling, cause you would think it is common courtesy or at least a sign of respect to at least respond. I don't remember that at all from when I was growing up. The really funny thing thoygh is that when you enter a restaurant it is customary to say "hello" to other tables as you walk by or at least say hello as you're entering the restaurant and good bye when you leave. You figure that one out ... :-)

Easter Sunday

So, it's Easter Sunday and we spent the morning in Karlsruhe at our new found church, ICF Karlsruhe. It was a very uplifting Easter Sunday service, reminding us of the miracle of the resurrection through the story of the two disciples who were on the road back to their home town, Emmaus, leaving Jerusalem after the crucifixion, disillusioned and disappointed at the course of events. This wasn't what was supposed to have happened. In their minds this was supposed to have been the time when their king would take over and end the reign of Rome. Instead those same Romans nailed their king to a cross and left him to die. But then, two days later, He met them on the road, spent time with them, communicated with them, all without them realizing who they were walking and talking with. Once they finally understood who "that stranger" was that was with them He disappeared from their sight. But it was enough for them to get back on track with the mission He had given them earlier. And I believe that this is how it is with all of us from time to time. We lose sight of where we need to go and what we need to do and then God sends us someone to bring us back on the right path and lead us back to him. And we see that He is still there, that He still loves us, His arms are still open and He gladly welcomes us back.
So this is where I am this Easter Sunday, back where I belong and excited to have found a place where I can go every week to refresh and refuel. I wonder what He has in store for us next. We'll keep you posted.