Here are a few shots of our new place.

The Dining Room

 

                                                            Living Room

Bedroom

                                                                       Bedroom

   The truck pulling up to deliver our furniture....pure excitement! 

                             All the way from Germany! Everything made it! No broken items!

 

And the unpacking process begins!

      We met up with our friends for a turkey craft at the local community center. We are all about crafts.  We made little turkey pots.  It was a fun little event with free snacks and a raffle. The kids really enjoyed it!

                                                         Owen and Marvin's pots completed!  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We have been super busy over the past few days.  Meg woke up one day and said, "Time for a haircut."  So off we went to get a trim.

The Before photo

                                                                             
                                                                               The During

                                                                           The after

                                 Owen and Meg were thrilled that we have several large boulders in our yard.  Owen went right to work setting up his soldiers on them.

We made the long drive to California to get our car.  Nothing like a 24 hour car drive after having just jumped continents. 

 

The kids started school on Tuesday.  It was a tough day.  We fought through anxiety, nervousness and downright "I don't want to go to a new school" fear.  But we made it! We all skipped breakfast, had misty eyes but circled up for prayer time.  I think the first day is the hardest. 

 

Owen made a friend in his class. His name happens to be Owen as well.  Two Owens in the same class and his best friend Marvin down the hall.  I told Owen I do believe God winked at you from heaven today~!

 

 

 

An update!

We have arrived.  It has been a roller coaster of a ride!  It has not been super easy but we made it! Here is a little update.

Cleaning and inspections filled our last days in Germany.  I was so weary of cleaning but the good thing is it is one of my specialties, so between the car and the apartment they were spotless.

Here we are saying goodbye to our apartment.

 

 Owen's and Meg's last of school in Germany was so hard.  I walked down the hall towards Owen's classroom and I stood in the hall and caught his eye.  They were having a Halloween party. I noticed he didn't want to look at me and kept looking at the ceiling.  Then I saw the teacher talking with a student who was very upset and then the teacher saw me and said she needed to speak to me. I was thinking, "this is strange, something is going on I can certainly tell from how Owen was avoiding me and why is this kid so upset. Did something happen?"  Well, the teacher met me in the hall and she said, "I have been teaching 3rd grade for many years and kids come and go and it is no big deal but the students are very upset that Owen is leaving.  Tyresse (the boy that was upset) is having a very hard time and lots of kids are crying."  That is when I realized Owen was looking up so that the tears would not roll out.  (he hates to cry in front of people) 

The teacher said, "this is so rare for students to be upset and she wanted me to know how much the students loved Owen."  I kept it together and told Tyresse we would keep in touch. Then it was off to pick up Meg.  Well, little Ms. Meg was a basket case.  She made it into the hall and then let loose.  I even got choked up with a little boy came up to hug her and say goodbye.  We all went to the car and cried.  Owen was trying to hold it together and then he said, "I feel the sadness coming to me."  (boys have such a cute way of expressing themselves.)  Anyway, that night we met up with our dear friends a the bowling ally for some pizza and fun and hopefully no more tears. 

 I will truly miss my, "lovelies". 

The kids found a helium balloon left over from a birthday party in a room at the bowling ally.  The girls mom and I were talking and she said, "Listen to what they are saying,"  So we listened in and they were all around the balloon and they said, "let's make a wish and then let the balloon go."  We both got chocked up when they agreed the wish should be that they will always be friends.  They agreed and then let the balloon go...... so sweet.

Time to board the plane!  We knew it would be a long day and boy was it.  In the last few weeks we have made it through: multiple rental cars, taxi drives, 3 plane rides,  16 hours of flying, multiple hours of layovers and lots of hotels!

 

 
We crossed so many time zones that at one point I didn't know what day or time it was.

BUT it was all worth it!  It is so good to be back in the STATES and look who picked us up in Tucson!

                                                        MARVIN  - best friends reunited!

 It has taken awhile for our bodies to adjust.  Germany and Arizona have an 8 hour time gap.

 We wasted no time in letting these boys be back together.  Here we are at Lowes doing one of their woodworking activities.  It was awesome.  I highly recommend these little workshops.  The girls loved it to.  They hold them once and month and we are already signed up for Dec.

 We went Geo caching with Marvin's Family last Sat.  it was a great hike, we found three caches.

 We are so grateful for Marvin's family they have truly blessed us.  They provided meals for us, air mattresses, towels, chairs, pillows and the list goes on and on.   It really is amazing how God provides.  He has certainly used Marvin's family!

More pictures soon. We are off to California to pick up our car.  Updates on our new residents, and household goods arriving soon!  So many thanks for the prayers sent our way to help us through this transition.  We are so grateful!

 

Owen had his final flag football game last Friday.  He learned so much about the game and really enjoyed the season!  We had a great coach and Owen said he would definitely play the sport again. 

 

                                    Here he is at the team's pizza party getting his awards from the coach.

This is Owen's school picture.  He decided to have his redone and was up early "gelling" up his hair.

 

I have to laugh at this little jet.  Owen and I went to the thrift store one day and he wanted to buy this tiny model in a box and I said, "No, because there are so many tiny parts, and I knew he had not read the box because you would have to use model glue to assemble it."  He came back to me all teared up and said, "Mom, it is my allowance money and if I make the choice to buy this plane then I should get to have the choice because it is my money."  I said, "Point taken, but can I just say I think it will be $4.00 wasted because Dad and I don't have the time to help and it is a very difficult model to assemble."  Owen replied, "I can do it, I will prove it to you."  I told him I would make him a deal.  "If you put it together I will actually give you back the $4.00 you spent on it, IF you don't get it put together you owe me a one page letter on what you learned from this experience."  "DEAL MOM."

So he came home ripped that box open and said, "Mom, it doesn't click together like I thought it would."  "Son, did you read the box?"  "No, I thought it just clicked together."  "Hmmmmmm, I said." Well, this kid cried a little and then said, I'll still prove it to you, do we have some tape?" 

He worked on this thing for hours and using only tape put that darn thing together.  He wasn't able to put on every part but by golly I think he did a pretty good job!  I was quite impressed and thought what a resourceful kid!  He proved it to me and yes......I owe him $4.00!

and a picture of Meg's birthday!

 

This week is a bit stressful. We rotate between praying, cleaning, appointments, inspections more praying, more cleaning more inspections.  This too shall pass!  That's what Mimi always says!

 

 

Whew!  What a few days!  Meg was up with a fever and headache all of Monday night.  The fever ran all day Tuesday and finally after much prayer broke around 4 in the afternoon.  She woke up today feeling fine and so happy that she felt all better for her BIRTHDAY!

 

ready to go back to school.

opening a birthday present early...we were desperate to see her smile.  She felt so miserable with a headache and fever. 

I popped into the thrift store and found some real treasures

Shoes for Meg

                                                     A skirt for Meg...this girl loves skirts

                                              
                                               Books by some of our favorite authors.  We had been looking for this Junie B. book for quite some time.  I started collecting these books when I was teaching and thanks to the Thrift Store and Recycling Center Meg and I now have the complete set.

 I found this DVD series and thought Meg and Owen might like it.  Meg watched one episode and came to me and said, "Mom, I really like that Punky Brooni....I just love her clothes!"
Pascal and I had to laugh because we have always described her as part Punky Brewster, part gypsy with a twist of Meg!

 

Tonight we will have a Birthday celebration for Meg.  She is pure sweetness and I will close with one of my favorite little videos of her. It shows parts of her personality even at such a young age.