Feb 11, 2013

Saying Goodbye

Well, I started to write my "goodbye" post sometime in August, and never posted it. Now here it is, January, and I've decided to just do it. A lot has changed since I wrote the following, but that's OK. This is what I was thinking back when we'd only just arrived in Tampa, and it seems a fitting way to close out this blog and start a new one. So, please forgive the outdated parts, and come check out our new blog once it's up and running!

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It took me a long, long time to get around to writing this post. I think there are probably a number of reasons for that--we've not exactly had oodles of stress-free time on our hands, lately. Still, I think one real reason is that it's hard to accept that our time in Germany is over.

On the one hand, we are just thrilled to be back in the U.S. I call my sister and my mom on my US-time-zone cell phone every couple of hours, just because I can. We saw more of the sun in our first 2 weeks in the US than we had seen in several months in Germany. (And that's not an exaggeration. I know that's hard to believe, so I'll say it again...that was NOT an exaggeration.) We had weeks and weeks of time with family this summer, and at the end of it all we didn't have to get on a plane to start another 20 hour marathon of travel. All of this is pretty awesome.

On the other hand, Anja and Emmanuel don't live around the corner anymore. Claudia doesn't pop by to pick up David and head to the playground, or sit and have coffee with me. There IS no playground around the corner to pop over to, or anywhere, really, that David and I can walk to. And nobody here speaks German. So how am I supposed to practice this crazy language that I worked so hard to learn?!

And another thing. It has been exactly one month and one day since Michael has gone around the corner to get us all warm rolls for breakfast. (Or, as David likes to remind us, pastries. I think he especially misses the pastries.) Do you know how nice it is to have warm rolls brought to you for breakfast? It's pretty nice.

All that to say, it's slowly dawning on me that we're really not going back anytime soon, and that's a little weird for me.

It's time, though, to close this blog up and start a new one. So here's my attempt at capturing our last few weeks in Germany. There are a ton of pictures, but I couldn't have picked fewer than this so that's just how it's going to be.

David and I at our last "Mutterkindkreis" (Playgroup at church)


(I don't how know the other children did it, but David was never very good at
playing once the cookies had been placed on the table.)


Emmanuel's baby brother, Artur. (David calls him Baby Ar-tur-tur)





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