Friday Night Quote

The first month

The first month with Sophie gone is almost over. It's getting easier, but there are days when I do miss her, a lot. I knew she was not going to be with us forever, but after all this time she had become one of us, naturally. Finn keeps saying he wishes we could have adopted her. Our friends keep hugging me (thank you!) saying how hard this must be. Neil keeps telling me that if I can't do this anymore I just have to tell him. (I think I said, "Okay, I can't do this anymore - go get her!" ☺) He meant foster parenting of course. And we ARE taking a break for a few months. Luckily, two more families have agreed to be emergency foster homes, so that it is not just us for the whole county anymore. We will spend all of June in Canada, and the vacation will do all of us good. After that, I think we'll be recharged and ready for another adventure.
And of course it helps tremendously that we get to see Sophie regularly. Her permanent foster parents are the nicest couple ever, and we are so happy for the new little family that has been created. Sophie is clearly thriving there. She eats jarred baby food now, and is as happy and huggable as ever!

Look at those legs! And to think they looked like skinny twigs when we got her.

Last week we gave Sophie her parting gift from us, a little treasure chest to tell her the story about the first half year of her life.

It has a photo book about her time with us, portraits we had done last November, the dress she wore in those pictures and a toy that a little friend of ours, Anastasia from Bad Tölz, made for her as a Christmas present. It's a little whale with a rattle inside, and Anastasia is sure following in her mama's footsteps when it comes to being crafty! By the way, Uschi, Anastasia's mother, is currently fighting the fight of her life battling breast cancer. If you know her and Christoph (which I know many of you do) please keep Uschi and the family in your thoughts and prayers.

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The next few weeks will be busy for us, and before we know it we will board that plane at the end of May to fly to Canada! We are really looking forward to our big trip.

But first Opa Harald will celebrate his 60th birthday in Rostock (we'll go there next weekend and stay for about 5 days), then Lily's 5th (WHAAAAAT?!) birthday is coming up on May 4th, with the big party (at the riding stable, thank goodness!) on May 6th, the weekend after that Neil will leave for a 6-day-business-trip to Japan (really, of all places!), and not long after he is back we'll pack our boots and chaps and cowboy hats to go to Calgary.

And as if preparing for all this wasn't enough I somehow had the urge to change some things up in our house after Sophie moved out. Lily's room: check. Hallway: check. Our bedroom: a work in progress. We got rid of our old wardrobes (no built-in closets in this house) and hopefully we will have our new ones in place in a few days. I'm looking forward to actually fitting all our stuff INSIDE the wardrobes. But where is said stuff now, you ask? Well, the question is, where is it NOT? Looking for a belt, Neil? Good luck. Seek and ye shall find. Maybe. ☺

And, I will leave you with a few pictures from our patio. A pair of blackbirds (you know, where the mother is actually brown, not black, but of course the species is named after the male) decided to build a nest in the lattice right in front of our patio door, much to the cats' delight. It's the birdie channel, on air 24 hours a day! Once it got warmer we actually started using that patio door again, and I think the birds were as surprised to see us on the patio as we were to see them. And every time I step outside (or look outside) mama bird gives me the evil eye. Like so.

Believe it or not, I even had a nightmare one night where I dreamed I was in the garden with the kids, and mama bird came and attacked me, getting tangled in the hair on the back of my neck. I woke up slightly panicked. Hitchcock, anyone? And if you think SHE is scary you ain't seen papa blackbird with his yellow beak yet. Those yellow-rimmed eyes can stare ANYONE down. Standing behind the glass and casually nibbling on and waving a chicken leg at them didn't help much either. Oh well.

But when mama and papa bird are gone to look for food I sometimes peek in the nest, making sure there is no loose hair at the back of my neck. 

The expression "A face only a mother can love" comes to mind. Cute looks different, if you ask me. But then, I'm not their mother.

Good night!

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Howdy.

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As you can see, 3 of the 4 of us are sharing a hobby now. Neil tags along on the weekends, takes pictures and carries hats/drinks/snacks/bags/tired children. He can't say this is coming as a big surprise, considering I lived and worked at a horse training facility when he met me. So far he is holding up well. ☺
Bella, the black and white pinto mare is "my" new horse. Apparently she is a Friesian / Paint Horse cross. (As Neil said, "Who does THAT on purpose?" - but oh well.) I've ridden her twice, found her to be a good match (meaning, we were BOTH huffing and puffing after galloping a few circles), and decided I will lease her from the owners. It feels good to be finally back in the saddle. And while my brown riding jeans purchased in Canada in 1998 are still in good shape, the same can't be said for the poor unused riding muscles in my legs. Ouchie. I will take some lessons on Bella with the resident trainer at my new barn. I'm looking forward to that, and it's needed.
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Finn and Lily are doing well with their riding lessons, too. Yesterday they both got to gallop for the first time, and not on a small pony either. (The videos are from their first lessons, and I didn't have my camera yesterday.) Seeing my still 4-year-old little girl perched on top of a full-grown horse in a tiny English saddle, trotting and gallopping around in circles made my mama heart do some very interesting flips. I wonder if this is what Neil feels like sometimes? Because he really wants me to wear a helmet and to purchase a safety vest. I'm considering going all out and breaking into the army museum in Ingolstadt to steal one of their knight's armours. Go big or go home, right? ☺
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More Easter pictures

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After Lily seemed perfectly fine on Good Friday it was a shock to hear her coughing like crazy when she woke up on Saturday morning. Neil and I both thought it was Finn coughing at first. Since Lily said her throat hurt so much and she had lost her voice too I took her to the doctor's office to make sure it wasn't strep throat. Well, everyone and their mother had the same idea; the office was crowded! We came home for 1.5 hours in between, but in the end they ran some tests and it is just a bad virus. The rest of our Saturday we spent resting and coloring eggs.

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Before I went to the doctor with Lily I drove to the farm where I buy our meat and picked up the leg of lamb I had ordered. When I saw the huge chunk of meat I asked the farmer's wife to cut out the bone for me because I was afraid it wouldn't fit in my slow cooker. Glad I did! Saturday night I browned the meat, roasted some vegetables and the bone, put the meat and veggies in my slow cooker, drank half a bottle of wine and poured the other half over the meat. Maybe a bit less, if I remember correctly Neil had some wine, too. :)

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So on Easter Sunday morning, we woke up to the smell of roasting lamb and THIS:

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Needless to say, Easter breakfast on the patio was moved indoors, as was the Easter egg hunt. And to think that last Easter we ran around outside in our t-shirts! Must have been because we had such great company from Canada, right? This year, they just sent their weather over. ☺
Oh well, we turned up the heat and put on our nice dresses anyway.

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After breakfast, the kids got their (empty) Easter baskets and the hunt was on.

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Lily was still not feeling very well, so we cancelled our planned visit with baby Sophie and going to church. 

We just stayed home, played, rested and ate. The lamb, by the way, tasted really good. More expensive than supermarket meat, but worth it!

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Lily said she wasn't hungry, but when Daddy made her food look like this, she happily ate it. Except for the pudding, which went to Neil. :)

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In the afternoon we went for a little walk with Marion, Thorsten and Jana, and Lily and Finn rode their scooters. Lily perked right up when Jana was here, and by Sunday night she was almost back to her old self. Thank goodness. When Lily is grumpy, she is REALLY grumpy. Just like when she is happy (which luckily, she is most of the time) she is REALLY REALLY happy. ☺

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Party at Tiffanie's

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Here are some of our pictures from Good Friday. We went to an Easter party at our friend's Tiffanie's house where we had a great time with our English speaking friends from Britain, Australia, Canada and the US.

Lily and Finn made Easter cupcakes to bring to the party.

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As soon as we got there, Neil snatched up Cherry to help ease his baby withdrawal symptoms. And they don't call him the Baby Whisperer for nothing! Cherry, not usually happy to be separated from her mummy or daddy, was content to be with Neil and napped in his arms for about an hour.

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Lily discovered potato chips, something I don't usually buy. She called them "crunchy things" and I'm pretty sure she ate that whole bag.

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Cheers. :)

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Almost all of us outside. Can you tell the weather was not exactly summery?

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The kids getting ready for the egg hunt.

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The race is on!

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Stay tuned for more pictures from our super long (4 days) weekend!

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He reigns!

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On behalf of all of us, Lily wishes all our family and friends a Happy Easter!

Saturday morning Lily woke up with a very sore throat and a bad cough. Luckily, it is just a virus, and she seems to be on the mend.

After a huge meltdown being a little grumpy on Sunday morning, she perked up as the day progressed.

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And at the end of the day she was happily dancing again. It made me think of an Irish blessing on a calendar that our friends Marion and Thorsten gave us for Christmas:

"Ich wünsche Dir, dass Du arbeitest, als würdest Du kein Geld brauchen;

dass Du liebst, als hätte Dich nie jemand verletzt;

dass Du tanzt, als würde keiner hinschauen;

dass Du singst, als würde keiner zuhören;

dass Du lebst, als wäre es das Paradies auf Erden."

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(May you work as if you didn't need money,

love as if you have never been hurt,

dance as if no one were watching,

sing as if no one were listening,

and live as if it was Heaven on earth.)

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She asked me to turn on some music and danced to the song that came up on my playlist: "You reign" by Mercy Me.

It's a bit hard to hear on the video, but this is how the song goes:

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"Even before Your hand made the heavens

Even before the breath of all mankind

Even before we had to be forgiven

You were on Your throne

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You reign

Glory in the highest, You reign

Let creation testify by Your name

Every knee will bow and every tongue proclaim

That Jesus reigns.
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Yesterday, today, and forever
You are God
Who was and is and is to come."

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How fitting for Easter.

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Be blessed!

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P.S. And because I'm immature like that I totally crack up every time I see Neil "sneaking" through the picture. I couldn't help it - I had to point the camera right at him.
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Happy Easter from Finn and Lily, with ♥