U.S. Soil

It's going to take the kids a little while to adjust to the fact that we're not in Europe anymore but in the land of strip malls and Super Walmarts.

Just before our plane landed around 9:40 pm EST last night, Naomi looked out the window at the glimmering lights of Newark, NJ and exclaimed, "MOM, I SEE A CASTLE!!"

Maybe it was just a big McDonalds.

Edinburgh: St. Giles Cathedral

A lovely church that is the seat of Scotland's Presbyterian Church, located on the famous "Royal Mile" in central Edinburgh.

Edinburgh: University and Castle

We were in Edinburgh, Scotland in March and here are some of our favorite views. The first photo is the courtyard of the University near to where Ross gave a lecture. This courtyard and the surrounding buildings are on the top of a hill overlooking the city, and the views are truly spectacular.

The other 4 photos relate to the Edinburgh Castle, an imposing structure in the center of the city that can be seen from most any direction in the city.

Grandpa and Grandma are here!

We have been anxiously awaiting this day for a long time!





Nathaniel and Ross went to pick them up while the other kids dressed up in their 'best' clothes.



The moment arrives!







Cool American things came in their luggage!



More photos coming later! Now we're busy catching up on lots of things, including sleep.

Annie!

It was so fun to have my dear friend Anne visit us in January while Ross was in Turkey. I first got to know her on a missions trip to France 20 years ago, and we have been close friends all these years. She is SO MUCH FUN to be around! We laughed and stayed up late talking and ate great food....all around such a wonderfully bright spot in all the cloudy days we have had here this winter. I was so thankful that she made the huge effort to come here. And thank you, Tom, for holding down the fort in Michigan. I know she was very happy to get back to him and also to Matthew, Julia, Sarah and Hannah after 6 days in Germany.

We miss you Annie!



Anne in front of St. Jacobi church downtown:



We went to see a lovely 12th century castle in Wernigerode, near the Harz Mountains. Here are views looking over the city from the castle wall:





The outside of the castle:







The Chapel inside the Schloss dates from 1880:



We had the traditional Kaffee und Kuchen at a cafe in Wernigerode after visiting the Schloss. There were no other customers there that day and the hostess got a kick out of our loud American ways. :-)



Food was definitely one theme of our time together! Anne took a photo of the way that eggs are kept in the stores here, stacked in boxes, unrefrigerated:



Here we are enjoying a neighborhood birthday party with friends from Egypt and Canada:



We had so much fun at the dessert cafe in downtown Göttingen that we went twice.....





Everyone who visits us gets an obligatory photo at our famous Goose Girl statue:



It's not everyone who has a friendship that lasts through the ups and downs of more than 20 years, and I'm thankful to the Lord that I have had this gift in my life.

Visit from the Guders

A few days ago, Darrell Guder, the seminary's Dean of Academic Affairs, and his wife Judy paid us a lovely visit. We have so few visitors that every one is a very special occasion. Thank you for a wonderful day!

Scenes of Christmas

Our advent calendar this year came from a German storybook with window clings. The stars are traditional handmade ones that we learned to make while having brunch at a professor's house.


We had a freshly made Advent wreath this year


Our favorite gifts

















An evening at the Göttingen Christmas market








Visit with the real Santa, St. Nikolaus

Kaffee und Kuchen with our neighbors from Spain


Best neighborhood friends


Kids' jumping contest at neighborhood party



Naomi's artwork


Caleb plays Christmas carols on his recorder


Nathaniel mixes and burns a CD for Caleb's gift


Claire reads to us from her homemade nativity storybook

Cool Stunt

Nathaniel's love of photography has been growing over the last few months, so we encouraged him to enter the BBC Generation Next Photography Contest. Out of over 2000 entries, his photo was selected as one of the top 12! What a cool stunt, son!

You can see the whole article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6220402.stm

After you go to that link, click on photo number 12 to see Nathaniel's photo.

Here is the photo and the caption that appeared with it:



"This picture was taken in Göttingen, Germany, at the Internationales Begegnungszentrum (IBZ). My friends and I enjoy riding bikes and scooters in the IBZ complex. I took this photo because my friends and I love to pull cool stunts.”

– Nathaniel Wagner

Goslar

We returned to Goslar on Saturday with our friend Lara to enjoy the Christmas market. Here are some of our favorite photos.

Very Special Visitors

You know how every once in a while you are able to connect with someone you haven't seen in a really long time? That happened to us Monday, and it was all the more special since we managed to get together on this side of the globe. It was one of the very nicest days we have had in a long time.

Our French teacher from junior high and high school, Nancy Bauer, and her husband Dick, came to see us as a part of their visit to Stuttgart, where their son lives. We haven't seen them for about ten years, since my youngest brother Lance graduated from high school. Just being with them for about 8 hours brought back SO many great memories.....like reading Sartre, baking a bûche de Noël, singing Il est Né at Christmastime, having a picnic at their house, and so many more things. It was quite scary to realize how old we are getting ...we first met Mme Bauer over 25 years ago! (And, no, she doesn't look any older than she did 25 years ago....I am not sure how she has pulled that off, but I would like to know her secrets.)



Mrs. Bauer was a tremendous influence on Ross and me during the six years we knew her. She sponsored Bible studies and prayer groups then and for many years afterwards. She pointed Ross towards a good college church that was instrumental in his choice to go into full-time ministry. She shared her faith with us in little and big ways, and we were so happy to have a chance to tell her that Monday night, so many years later.




She was no shabby French teacher either, but a wonderfully skilled instructor. When we spent the month of August in France, we were both happy that we had retained enough language abilities to be able to communicate with the people we met there.

Can you believe that after we graduated from Copley High School, Mme Bauer became Frau Bauer and began teaching German there? If only we could have had 6 years of German with her!!! There might have been hope for me to actually attempt mastery of this difficult language!



As if their visit wasn't enough, the Bauers brought us a magnificent present.....special foods that we cannot get here! Those who have lived overseas without the benefit of buying from military commissaries are the only ones who can really appreciate such an awesome gift. THANK YOU from the bottom of our tummies! (And apologies to Dick for having to walk 20 miles in the dark to get the molasses..........)

Thanksgiving 2006

We were thrilled to have our friend Lara, who is from Jordan, at our Thanksgiving table on Saturday. We met her over the summer at our Goethe Institute language course and were happy to make her reacquaintance when we ran into her at the train station last month. She is one of the sweetest and most cheerful people I have ever met! She must have thanked us ten times for inviting her over and sharing our home, our traditions and our family with her. She had never experienced an American Thanksgiving before, nor had she tried most of the foods we served. Lara, we want to thank YOU for sharing our Thanksgiving this year and making it so special for US!

New Kitchen!

It's a good thing we didn't have a houseful of visitors coming for Thanksgiving dinner! Our hausmeister came to us last Tuesday to tell us that the kitchen would be gutted and replaced on Thanksgiving Day.

We had to disappear from the scene so we ate lunch at McDonald’s and then spent some time browsing in the local “mall.” When we returned, they had finished the whole job and were ready to leave.



The brown floor was replaced with a light-colored floor that is so much nicer! Brown countertops were discarded in favor of light wood-colored counters.



Our new micro-frige is now stored inside the kitchen cupboards.





Washing dishes by hand is so much more pleasant in the new stainless steel sink.



We had our Thanksgiving on Saturday and our new oven actually baked our food in the proper time without burning the edges. Yahoo!