Reflections on Silvester

It's a little weird to see January 1, 2012 above the posting, no? 2012 already???

I'll admit, last New Year's seems very long ago. I was still in the apartment with Ashley, I hadn't started back at ASU yet, and I don't even really remember what I did. This year, I spent my second New Year's Eve at the Festaburg setting off fireworks. Germans know how to do it, man. It's especially cool as we're all in these little hilltop towns, so you can look over and see the other villages setting off theirs. They don't have nearly as many restrictions here on what you can and cannot set off, and some of them are big. We had sparklers for the kids earlier in the evening, but we had a bunch of big-kid rockets to set off at midnight. The Americans down the street had an arsenal that sent clouds of smoke billowing up the street to envelope us in the sulfurous scent. The German family just above us on the hill had some very large fireworks, one of which accidentally got set off sideways, shooting past us to explode a few feet above the ground in a fortunately unoccupied patch of grass. Yikes.

Lots of fireworks from all around. The church bells from the next town were going off, people were screaming and shouting, lots of bangs and booms and pops and sizzles from all the different rockets and fountains and roman candles and firecrackers. It was a very noisy celebration to bring in the new year, and SO much fun.


This year has been Last year was a good one. I have made some of the best friends I could ever ask for, and we have laughed and lived and loved and cried and enjoyed and played and learned and grown and had so much fun. They are there for me when I need them, willing to pray or to listen or to help out. I can't imagine life without them anymore, and I MISS them something fierce, being away for the holidays. They make school worth going to. :)

Here's to 2012! This year, I will (hopefully) graduate from college, at last. December 2012, I'm coming for you! I will also turn 24 - eek! Who knows what else it will hold? Maybe I'll get a house. Maybe I'll finally find a new church to plug into. Maybe I'll find a teaching job. Maybe I'll have someone to kiss next New Year's at the stroke of midnight. For now, I can hope and dream and pray. Happy New Year!

The 3 Days of Christmas

Whew. That took a long time to upload - especially since I had to do it twice (darn internet failures). The silver lining is that the scarf I'm knitting for my sister more than doubled in length during the wait time. Hope you enjoy a glimpse of what Christmas was like here overseas!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

Santa has already done well tonight - he brought in an extra large return of soldiers. We didn't make it to the actual ceremony, but apparently Santa himself led them through the doors into formation in the Hall of Champions. What more could anyone ask for but the return of a hero just in time for Christmas? There are still many, many more downrange, so as you enjoy time with your families tonight, say a prayer for those whose family is far away and fighting, waiting to come home at last.

My Christmas Eve was lovely, starting with banana cinnamon pancakes in the morning, my favorite Christmas reading at breakfast, a hike to the castle in the cold and sunshine, and an afternoon of warm fire, winning at nertz, and naps. We then went to a Christmas Eve service at the chapel which I shall refrain from describing, then people came back to the house for bread and soup, a simple dinner in reminder of the humble birth of our Savior.

It doesn't really feel like Christmas. I know that the trappings and trimmings and traditions are not what the holiday is about, but they're nice, and it's different without them. I miss my family, far away in various places of the US of A. This is only my 2nd Christmas without them, and it's a little bit sad, even though I love being in Germany and celebrating at the Festaburg. Makes me feel even more for those who are off serving their country, and for the families they've left behind who are wishing they were home.

Life at the House

If you see my facebook, you'll be aware that we have had snow. Lots of snow! I woke up to a world of white (think Amy Grant's Christmas to Remember) and as soon as I was out of bed I was running around taking pictures. I went out with Brad to walk Sam, and we walked up to the end of the village. Everything is just so picturesque, especially with the fresh snow blanketing everything. I asked Brad if he ever felt like he was living in a postcard. He said that on trips to Rothenburg and similar places, he felt more like he lives in Disneyland for free. It's a fairly accurate description. :)


Yesterday I went shopping with Debbie at a German market (Globus is the closest Germany comes to Wal-Mart), and I picked out a few of my favorite things, including pepperoncinis stuffed with goat cheese and some Bresso. I covet a German grocery store at home, simply for the vast variety of meats and cheeses and jogurts they have! I'm sad that it's now illegal to bring home any kind of meat, but believe me I will be laden with chocolate and cheese and other deliciousnesses. If you want something specific, let me know!

Sunrise happens here about 8:30/9 am, and it's dark again by 4:30, which really is messing with my brain. By 9pm, I'm exhausted, which I put up to a combination of leftover jet-lag and sheer internal clock confusion by the early darkness. In the morning, I enjoy my tea with Brad and Debbie before we split off to our separate occupations. Debbie's not been feeling well, so today has turned into a very quiet one. I've been working on the videos, which are coming along quite nicely. It's weird to have been elevated from slave to intern and now to contractor, perhaps the highest level achievable in this house. Contractors get all kinds of perks, hee hee.

I am loving the snow. People were rather aghast that I had never before shoveled snow, so I seized the opportunity to do so this morning, and Brad obliged by narrating a video about it, thinking his filming was a fair trade for my shoveling.

The chill outside really makes my room seem even more delightfully warm by contrast. I also love the new wood-burning stoves that have been added since my last visit, one in each living room. We sat around last night, Brad knitting a scarf, me writing a letter, Debbie chatting on the phone, listening to Christmas music.


I am loving being here, even if it is cold. Still holding out for a White Christmas. Love and miss all of you at home! And eine froliche Geburstag für Matt!

Rothenburg & Würzburg Christmas Markets

Hello! I decided to do a vlog, for several reasons that you don't really care about it. However, I was exhausted, between jet-lag and a long weekend trip, so I only went with one take. Please to forgive any errors or oddities. I say umm a lot. Enjoy!

New Videos!!

Yup - a large part of my work as "intern" (notice I'm no longer a slave?) is making videos for the House. Here are the most recent two. The first is the newest, and actually gives a glimpse of what the Hospitality House ministry is all about. The second is a short, fun video from our trip to Colmar, France to see the Tour de France. Enjoy!

Fambly Visit

This week the House was FULL!! On Wednesday, Brad and Debbie received visitors from Cadence Headquarters. Gene and Anne P., Carolyn, Matthew & Jill B. and their kids Eli and Emma all came to spend some time with Brad and Debbie and to see the House. On Thursday, my parents and Elisabeth arrived, effectively filling every bed in this whole huge house. Since I'm normally the only occupant of the third floor, it was quite a change to be running into someone every step I took, but having that many people here was pretty fun. We had to caravan our trips and used four tables for dinner on Friday night.

Having my family here was great! This was Elisabeth's first trip to Europe, and I'm glad she came this time. They were in Germany for almost 2 weeks before coming to visit me, and traveled all over. Thursday night, we had dinner just ourselves and Gordon, as all the others were out eating elsewhere. On Friday, we picked Justin up from the base and spent the afternoon in Idar-Oberstein, hiking up to the castles, eating Doener, shopping for gemstones, and enjoying some ice cream. That night was Bible study, led by one of the chaplains from post as a 'guest speaker.' It went really well, and it was cool having such a large group of people.

On Saturday, we piled into a wide assortment of vehicles and headed off to visit Trier. I have been there many times, but I still enjoy visiting, and most of the people had not been there before, or at least not for a year or more. We saw the Porta Nigra (an old Roman gate), the double-cathedral, Constantine's Basilica, and Karl Marx's house. I thoroughly enjoyed a bratwurst and brotchen, along with a mass of Pommes (french fries) with mayo, and some pineapple ice cream. I'm going to miss Germany!!

Sunday saw all of our visitors off, my family to go back home, the Cadence folk on to the next House. That afternoon we enjoyed more bratwurst and just relaxing and hanging out together at home. Justin had a new Wii game that entertained a number of people, some played Nertz upstairs, others of us enjoyed the ancient tradition of the Sunday Afternoon Nap. Dinner was grilled quesadillas and chips and salsa, followed by a short devotional reading from Brad, and trips back to the base. My last weekend at the Festaburg is now over...

The Bike Shed

So, I talked in the last blog about helping Brad build a bike shed. There was an old playhouse in the farthest corner of the backyard, long since condemned due to it's age and general decrepitude. So, Brad tore the rotten pieces off and fixed it up with newer wood and added a roof, since the old corrugated plastic roof was sacrificed to become a baptismal pit cover. Then I got to help, and we covered the whole thing in tar paper. Brad even entrusted me with a hammer and nails! (Though he did say I hammer like a girl...well...) After that, I got to paint tar onto all the seams and nails. The next day, after my garage project, I painted some wooden signs for the shed. My original thought was "Festaburg Bike Shop," but Brad said that was advertising for thieves. In response, I went with a Calvin and Hobbes-esque "Keep Out," "Top Secret," and "No Girls Allowed" idea, which was accepted with glee.

So, here's the finished product! Waterproof and waiting to be filled with a few more bikes.

"Actual Work"

So, from looking at my blog, I realize that it may often seem that I do no actual work here, just play around with the people who come over. I promise, that's not true!! There's everyday chores like sweeping stairs, vacuuming, mopping, all those household chores. But there's "actual work," too. Like helping Brad build a bike shed yesterday (pictures to come!). I got to paint tar!

Take today for example. My job was to clean out the garage. Well, half of the garage, as the other half is mostly full of trash waiting for the appropriate trash pickup day. So, armed with lots of rags, some 409, a bucket of water, sponge, and my iPod, I attacked the garage. Several hours later, organization and some semblance of cleanliness appeared. I felt productive, for sure. But I just thought I would put this up here so that I can show that there is all kinds of uninteresting "actual work" that goes on that doesn't get included in my "fun work" blogs. :)

(I just wish these pictures showed the amount of DUST I cleaned! I had dust in places I didn't know dust could get! ugh)

Three More Weeks to Go!

Wow...I cannot believe the time has gone by so fast! I remember thinking before I left that three months was a long time, my whole summer would be here. Now I'm down to two weekends and I'm wondering where the summer went! I am excited to come home, yes, but at the same time I know I'm going to miss Germany and all my friends here!

On Thursday, Brad and Debbie headed off to Belgium for an overnight date, so I had the House to myself. After doing chores and playing phone tag with Nellie for a few hours, I went and picked her up for a girls' night in. We had pizza and chips and watched a ridiculously girlie movie and just generally enjoyed having no boys!

Friday people came over early for dinner and Bible study, and I got to babysit two perfectly adorable little girls. I was in charge of the meal, and it was a success! Yay. :) On Satuday we went to Glan-Munchweiler for a Volksmarch. We did the 5 k route up some hills and then back around in a loop. It's a bit of work, but a lot of fun, especially with German summer being as beautiful as it is. After an afternoon of MarioKart and naps, we went out to Burg Lichtenberg for a castle tour by our very own Docent Brad. Unfortunately, our tour was cut a little brief by a sudden chilly rain, and we headed down to the Greek restaurant in the town below.It was probably one of the best dinners I've ever had. The food was good, yes, but the company even more so. We had a very large group, so they seated us out on the patio under a tent-awning, and I'm sure by the end of the evening they were very glad they hadn't put us inside. We weren't being rude Americans, but we were very loud and probably a little obnoxious. Our table was enveloped in hysterical laughter for a good portion of the evening. Michelle stops breathing when she laughs and really does begin to turn blue. Gordon laughs very loudly and enthusiastically slaps his knee. I her-hee when I laugh. Now, all three of us were seated next to eachother in the center of the table. Whenever one would start to laugh, the others would join, which would draw in the rest of the table. I actually laughed to the point of pain, something that hasn't happened in a long, long time. It was SO much fun!!On Sunday, we had people over after chapel for a cookout. We went to the comissary first, and the guys generously provided most of the meal, with many bags of chips along with hamburgers and chicken and brats and steaks. Despite the weather being perfect for volleyball, we mostly stayed inside playing the Wii and cards and napping and just hanging out together and enjoying one another's company.

Rhine River Cruise

So, with Brad and Debbie back in the States, the Festaburg is being kept open by the amazing team of George, Rosie, and myself. Most of the soldiers are home on block leave, but there are several who've stayed in garrison for various reasons. So, yesterday, we took a group of soldiers and families on a cruise up the Rhine River. We left the house bright and early on what promised to be a beautiful day, and we drove to Bingen, where we caught our boat.

I've cruised up the Rhine before, from Rudesheim (which is across the river from Bingen) to Cologne, but I think this trip was more fun. We went from Bingen to Koblenz, about a 3 1/2 hour ride. The trip is fascinating, because there are castles everywhere you look. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing this could easily be the most castle-populated region of the world. There really are a ridiculous number. Some are ruins, some restored, some hotels, some museums, some still residences. The first time I went, I remember trying to snap pictures of every one that came along. This time, I was able to sit and enjoy the cool breeze and sunshine, go below to eat some ice cream and enjoy panoramic windows, and just have fun with my friends.
Once we got to Koblenz, we found a little place to eat lunch. I had a little shoe-drama, too. Before we'd gone 10 steps from the van in Bingen, my flip flop broke. And not being a normal flip flop, I couldnt' just push the strap back through, but rather walked barefoot to the boat, where Michelle fortunately had a sewing kit and I made a rough repair to last me to the nearest shoe store. Walking through Koblenz I saw flip flops for €3.95. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, and they were awful. Yes, they were shoes, but hard plastic with wiry braid and just...owch. Blisters and pain!

We took a train from Koblenz back to Bingen, and then took a ferry across to Rudesheim to walk around some more. What we didn't expect was a massive biker convention to be filling the quaint streets of old town Rudesheim with the smell of hot motor oil and the rumbling of thousands of bike engines. It was packed solid, and nothing like the romantic little town I remember. After leaving, George managed to successfully navigate us back home, despite having no GPS and lots of confusing construction.

Once home, I thoroughly enjoyed washing my poor feet in cold water, putting on comfy clothes, and curling up on the couch with bags of popcorn to watch a movie with Justin before bed. Today, we've all enjoyed a lazy Sunday, full of sunshine and beautiful weather and Mario Kart. Life here is pretty good. :)

"I like you better in person."

That's what Jonathan said to me tonight, as we sat downstairs working out some worship songs for Friday's Bible study, and it struck me as a curious statement. We have been e-mailing back and forth for about a year now, almost every day, short little blurbs about life or curious thoughts or pretty much anything. As time went on, the approaching end of the deployment became a more frequent topic, and the idea that "see you soon" was dwindling from months to weeks to days, "talk to you later" was about to become actual talking rather than typing. Now, "see you soon" means the minutes between hanging up the phone and driving to base to pick guys up. They're finally back. The Festaburg is full again, even with so many gone home on block leave.

This is why we're here - we're here to be family for those who have none to come home to. We're here to be a home away from home, to be friends, to share life. In II Thessalonians 2:8 Paul says, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." We share food, trips, talks, games, projects, walks, music, movies, our stories and our struggles and ourselves. And really, sometimes I think that's exactly what it's about - God shared Himself with us, and we can't share Him with others without sharing ourselves, as well.

House Maintenance

I'm sore. Achey-brakey. But it's good pain! This morning Kristen and I met at the track after PWOC for an extra day of running! I've been doing about 2.5 miles three days a week. This morning we ran the straights, walked the curves for a mile, which is SO much more fun when you have a running buddy! After that, we did some laps of walking backwards, and we did about a quarter-lap of walking lunges. DANG but those hurt. Good gracious. We got up after them (we shortened them from "all the bleachers" to "this set of blue bleachers" and it STILL hurt) and our legs felt like noodles - really heavy, jello-y noodles.

So, add that to a day of painting and another day of carpet shampooing. The House is closed for repairs this week. Yesterday we painted the main-floor living room, a wall or two in the downstairs coffee-area, the main kitchen, and the Kinder room. Today, we removed furniture and shampooed the carpets in the up- and downstairs living rooms and the Kinder room. Now everything is clean and shiny, and smells citrus-y fresh. (which is particularly appreciable in the kinder room!!) We finished it all a lot faster than we thought we would be able to, which was nice. And everything really does look so much the better for it! We're headed out this weekend to visit another hospitality house, which will give the carpets time to get good and dry. The House looks really different with all its furniture piled higgeldy-piggeldy on the tiled areas.

Saying Goodbye . . .again

Friday night we held our farewell for Andy, Jeroham, and Mac. Andy and Jeroham will be deploying, and Mac is finally headed to WTU and has PCS'd to another post in Germany before heading to Fort Bragg. So, all the families (the Eiflers, Lahmons, Stones, Todds, and ourselves) were here Friday night to say goodbye. It felt a little strange to say goodbye, since Andy and Mac were spending the weekend with us, and because the Army is the Army, they all may very likely be here for quite some time yet. But you don't want to miss the chance to say goodbye, and to do it right. We discussed the biblical way to say goodbye, like Jesus does with His disciples at the last supper. Basically, there are four parts: "be good," "see you later," "I love you," and praying together. So we talked and prayed and laughed and said our goodbyes, and generally had a great time, despite the tears.

Saturday PMOC / men of the chapel took a trip to Belgium to see some WWII stuff, I think it was (not having gone, I am unaware of the specifics). Debbie, Mac and I were left to run around and go shopping and enjoy lunch and ice cream in Idar. Jonathan, Brad, and Andy came back and joined us for grilling hamburgers, and we all adjourned to our beds or our computers. Up this morning for chapel, where we learned that "eating a carrot is like walking with Jesus." (It's a long story.) A friend of Brad and Debbie's came for lunch today, as he was in Germany on a business trip, and after lunch Mac and I took Andy back to post and went looking for enough people for a volleyball game, with no success. So, we all took a hike almost to the castle instead, and came home for grilled cheese and leftovers. Then, since he was headed Ktwon way, our visitor took Mac back to his new 'home' (and the word is used ever so loosely), and Brad and Debbie and I cleaned up and retired, getting ready to start the new week.

A Wonderful Weekend

Friday
Friday night after Bible study, we finally hooked up the volleyball nets. We played four on four, me and Andy and Jonathan and Pedro against Duncan, Suzanne, Jeroham, and Kristen. We played until it was too dark to see the ball and the fireflies came out. (I haven't seen lightning bugs since last time I was in Michigan, and they make up part of my favorite memories, so I was TERRIBLY excited.) After we finally gave up (we lost too many balls over the fence), we went up to where Duncan had started a fire. Some of the guys had NEVER roasted marshmallows, so I took it upon myself to make lots of them. After people went to bed or back on post, Andy and I sat around talking and playing with the roaster-hanger and the poker in the fire, until the coals were out.

Saturday
Saturday we took a trip to Barefoot Park - 3500 meters of various things to walk on. The very first is mud. Slimy, cold, mushy-gushy-nasty mud. There was also a lot of grass, several wood bridges, a rolling-thingy, round rocks, flat rocks, sharp rocks, rocky rocks, wood chips, loam, a muddy water, a river, and a rope bridge. My feet hurt afterwards, but it really was a lot of fun. We had three other families go with us, and one soldier.
Sunday
Today after chapel, we went to a middle-ages-market thing at Kusel Castle in Burg Lichtenberg. (sponsored by the german army...?) It was a really warm day for Germany - 85 degrees and humid. We walked all around the castle and looked at all the little booths and their overpriced wares. We did get really good bratwurst and potatoes, though. After coming home and chilling (literally) in the basement to recover from the heat of the day (be quiet all you phoenix folk!!), Suzanne and Mac and I went to the theatre on post to see Prince Caspian. It's a weird theatre - the seating is flat, so all the kids bring booster seats so they can see the screen. We dropped Mac off at his barracks and came home to play around on our computers, trying to get all our various pictures and blogs up. And with that - I am done, and can go to bed!

The Weekend

I love Germany in the summer - the weather is perfect! We've had a lovely mix of beautiful sunshine and a few hard thunderstorms at night. :) On Saturday we went and played in downtown Idar-Oberstein. We walked up to the Felsenkirche (Church in the Cliff), which was cool because I'd never been inside before. We also did some shopping and ate Doener - yummy German/Turkish food. After that we came home and hung out before dinner, and then we played Quelf, which is quite the interesting game.
Sunday was Chapel, and I think I shall refrain on comment about this particular service. We came home and grilled up our lunch and ate out on the balcony. After lunch we played Nertz, watched movies, played ping-pong, and generally hung out until it was time for dinner. A nice, lazy kind of day with friends - and I even beat Brad at ping-pong! (True, he was playing left-handed, and being distraced by Mac the whole time. But still! Neither Mac or Jonathon managed to beat him!) After dinner we cleaned up and then settled onto the couches downstairs and watched Braveheart before it was finally time to take the guys back to post. Always sad to see them go - even though I'll see them again tonight.

more videos

The Festaburg

Part of my job as slave to Brad and Debbie was to video tape just about everything, so I could later make sort of 'promo-videos' for the Festaburg. In the interest of spreading the word, I thought I'd post them on here as they come. I finished the first one tonight! Yay. So, check it out!!

Easter Weekend

And what a weekend it was!! Busy days, and it was a four-day weekend for most of the guys, so it's been crowded. People came over Thursday night after getting off work, and the house was pretty much full from then on, to the point that we used every single available bed, which has never happened before.

Friday was hole-digging day. Brad had decided that Sunday was going to have baptisms for some of the soldiers, and it was going to be a field baptism. That means, we went out and dug a hole in his back yard big enough to dunk people in. During the digging process (and by we I mean Mac and Will, with myself as supervisor, photographer, and coffee-fetcher. When I offered to be on digging detail, I was told that I could go play with my little sandcastle set. Brad has his picture here digging, but he only turned up the tip of a shovel-full for the sake of a photograph), it snowed, and hailed, and sleeted, and the sun shone. O spring weather in Germany, how strange thou art. In German there's a saying, "April, April, er weiss nicht was er will," (April, April, he doesn't know what he wants) and it's sooo true. The weather is crazy!! Anyways, as they started, the guys were like, "It's been raining so much the ground is nice and wet, this should be no problem, as long as there aren't really many rocks." A few shovel-fulls later, they discovered the boulders. We were out there for 4 hours before it was finished. I got sick. :(

Saturday was Easter-preparation day, but included a hike to the castle. Much of the day was spent cleaning and cooking and getting ready for the next day's invasion. I made a potato salad, the recipe of which I must remember to brink home with me. Mmmm-mmmm. Yummy! One of the hams was cooked, and a bunch of other stuff prepared. We did take a nice hike up to Brad's castle, and I got to sing. Gordon even sang with me, which always makes things more fun. There were snowball fights on the way, and another once we actually got to the castle. Jonathan and I ran and locked ourselves (literally) into the castle to get away from the onslaught. Mac had to use his 'key' and free us again. That night we watched Ben-Hur, and I managed to stay awake for the whole movie!

Sunday morning, snow had fallen, but I was determined to still where my little Easter dress, and I did. People looked at me like I was crazy, but that's okay. I was determined. The service was good, and when we came home there was a mild frenzy of getting ready, and then sort of a calm before the storm spent playing Left Right Center and the piano. There were over 50 people for our Easter meal. Tables and chairs upstairs and down, tons of food (about 40 lbs of ham and a turkey and tons of potatoes and deviled eggs and so much more), people on couches and oustide and everywhere. After lunch, we sang some songs and then went outside for our field baptism. We'd filled the hole up with hot water from the downstairs shower so that the poor soldiers wouldn't freeze to death, and the sun had come out and melted the remains of the snow. Five soldiers were baptized, and wrapped warmly in towels as soon as they got out. Next came an Easter Egg Hunt for the little kids (of which there were many!) and I got to be Chief Easter Egg Hider (woo-hoo!). Once that was over people started trickling home, and when they'd left, there were still almost 20 people staying here. Having 50+ people over makes a house a mess, so we set to work doing a basic cleaning before watching our movie and then saying our goodnights.

Today was re-clean-up day, with a thorough scrubbing of the house from top to bottom, helpful since there were still 12 of us. All the beds full, plus people sleeping on couches! Incredible. After clean-up and some down time, some of us took another hike to the castle. Then came dinner, and the soldiers were back off to post. Most of them have four-day weekends coming up again, and I'm looking forward to seeing them all again soon. The house seems so empty once they're gone, especially after such a full weekend as this one was!

Sorry for the long read, folks, it was a long, fun, and busy weekend! And I'll be home in 2 weeks!!!

Week One

Well, my goodness, I can hardly believe the first week is already over. Time flies when you're having fun! And what a week it has been. Have I mentioned I love this place?

So, Tuesday morning I went with Debbie to the PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) Bible Study on post. It had been snowing a little bit when we woke up, and by the time we got to the chapel, there was enough snow sticking to the ground that we could leave footprints. I was excited! Well, 3 hours later, it still hadn't stopped snowing. We got almost 8 inches of snow!! It was so beautiful! We did get stuck on post for a while until the roads got cleared and we could go back to the House, and it was just so cool to see everything covered in so much snow. I finally got my big snow for living in Germany! Wheee!!! Of course, I had to go make a snowman, down on Brad and Debbie's volleyball court, and they even gave me a carrot for his nose. :)
Wednesday night is always a dinner & discussion night, and there were quite a few single soldiers there. We filled the entire upstairs living room. It was fun to meet a lot more of the soldiers, and to see some familiar faces again.

Thursday was a good day, Brad left to go pick up the speaker for the PMOC (Protestant Men of the Chapel) conference that was this weekend, so Debbie and I had a nice, laid-back day, concluded with popcorn and movies.

Friday is Bible Study day, so we clean and cook during the day, and people come over for dinner. It was a smaller group, since most of the guys were at the PMOC retreat. One of the soldiers led a Bible study, and then everyone went home except our weekend group.

This weekend, the group was Debbie, me, Nellie, and Mac. Now, Nellie and Mac are regulars, to the point that they have rooms named after them. The 2-bed bunk room (where I'm living) is "Nellie's Room," and the bedroom is "Mac's Room." (and the other bunkroom is "Rob's Room.") What a great group - we had a blast. Saturday was spent shopping, all over in Idar-Oberstein and on post in Baumholder. Saturday night was movies and ice cream sundaes!

Sunday morning we had chapel, and then it was back to the House for grilled cheese sandwiches - and yummy tomatoe sandwiches! Lazy afternoon playing dice and catching up on e-mail and stuff, and watching Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which is very good. We also all got new nicknames this weekend. In Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, they have an accountant, and they call him Mutant. (you have to see the movie!) Anyways, it's hilarious, and at the end I said I needed someone to call Mutant - and Mac volunteered, so he's officially Mutant. Nellie is Trolli, or gummyworm, because she managed to win an electric blue Trolli hat at the German store. Then they decided I was Princess, or Buttercup, after we watched the Princess Bride - which of course makes Rob the Dread Pirate Roberts. It's random, but a lot of fun. We went back to post in the evening so Debbie could go to Bible study, and we three ate at Taco Bell (!!) and then picked Rob up at his barracks, since he was back from PMOC, and we went to the bowling alley on post. Just really a great week!