Oh, the Benefit of Good (I mean, Awesome) Friends

Here I sit, in my girlfriend's house on Ramstein AFB near Frankfurt. I thought I would be on a plane, happily dreaming of my (almost certain) upcoming visit back home for a couple weeks. I was just so sure I would be on that plane! They said it would be easy; they said that I would just *slip right on*; they said, "just be flexible and it'll be fine." Those people.

Well, it's not so fine. Here I sit so, so thankful that there are old friends who move to Germany just in time to live 2 minutes from where I am stranded with 3 kids, 3 backpacks, a large suitcase, and no place to store our stuff for the day.

If you were in the military, you might guess that I was trying to fly Space -A. And you'd be right on.

Set the alarm at 2:00am this morning to drive 2 1/2 hours away to Ramstein to get on a military HOP (makes it sound so fun) to Baltimore at 05:00. I was actually so deluded into thinking that I'd be on that plane, that I made domestic flight reservations on Southwest. I was so sure. That'll teach me. Cancel the Southwest tickets and mentally prepare myself for a complete change of plans. Ok, flight to Charleston, roll call at 7:10pm. We have all day here in this place, 2 1/2 hours from home, no where to store bags, 3 tired and hungry kids.

In steps my *awesome* friend from 10 years ago when we lived on Ft. Bragg. She and I used to walk almost daily with our first born babies in the stroller. We parted that long ago and have only seen each other one other time in the past 10 years. But when I send an email: "Hey-ey! (I say so cheerily) I'm in town with the kids and happen to have all day-ay... (act nonchalant). If you're not bu-sy, we'd LOVE to see you-ou-ou." (smile, smile, smile)

And does she not show up within 30 minutes to recue me and the kids?? She DOES. She is the. bomb. And so we are here in her lovely, warm, cozy house full of movies for the kids and cumfy couches, and fruit and stuff. (*sigh*)

Now, once I settle down and figure out my next move after *most probably* arriving in Charleston, SC in the middle of the night- the hotel, the train in the morning, the pick up by my brother at the train station - I'm almost feeling settled in, sure of pulling off this inconvenience. Yea, that flight was pushed back a little. To 03:40 am. Seriously. 3. a.m. If I decide to show up at that roll call at 3:40 am, we ALL have to be present to be accepted to fly. Which means another day of getting us all up at 2:15 to *maybe,* *perhaps,* *if you're super-lucky,* get the awesome opportunity to fly for free on a military HOP. (cue maniacal laughter) If that flight doesn't go, or we don't get on, it's another FULL day to maybe get on another possible flight to Charleston, or maybe Baltimore. Either one. It's a crap shoot.

Ask me if I'm happy. Ask me if I'm glad that we saved $3000 by taking this military benefit. Well, I recognize that this is merely an inconvenience, not a tragedy. I'm being flexible and open-minded, along with very, very hopeful. And, I'm so, so, very thankful to those old friends that pop back into our lives at the most opportune times. They are what turn lemons into lemonade. From the bottom of my sleep-deprived, coffee-jittered heart,

Thank you Anja. You're the best.

Now, if I could just get over the dreadful feeling that I'm some ridiculous 20-something with no money trying to hitchhike home for Christmas.

What I Learned in School

The longer we homeschool, the more I wonder how I've gotten by with such little knowledge of history?! Reading historical fiction last month, I had to turn to Ric for a quick lesson on the Japanese involvement in WWII, the internment camps, what happened during which years. It's actually downright embarrassing to be learning history along with your elementary aged children; fortunately for me, it's way more interesting the second time around.

Last week we got a visit from this lady, Mercedes Wild:



She was a child during WWII and was personally affected by the amazingly giving spirit of the Americans to their German enemies in a time of dire need. Americans donated thousands of tons of candy to the children of Berlin, along with food, coal, and supplies, while they were blockaded in by the Russians. We had just fought Germany to the death (literally) and then turned around and helped them from the threat of starvation during what was the Berlin Airlift.

I quickly ordered the children's book about her story, "Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot" and read it with the kids. Then realizing it was so compelling a story, started reading the adult version of "The Candy Bombers." Finally, after moving half way around the world to get interested in history, I'm getting my re-education of WWII!

Visiting these historic sites, standing on the shore, imagining the sea filled with American and British ships, having come to liberate Europe from Germany; it's literally breathe-taking. All the soldiers and seamen who gave their lives here; the eyes of the world were truly upon them. And they were courageous beyond measure.

I am so thankful for this awesome opportunity to witness history, learn it again, and see it in a context that makes sense now.

Evelyn, making a replica of a candy parachute, like those dropped by American pilots during the Berlin Airlift.

Normandy, France

We got our fill of WWII education last weekend, visiting the beaches at Normandy. The kids liked playing around in the old German bunkers.


The American cemetery. More than 9,000 servicemen are buried here; only about 2/3 of the total who died. The other 1/3 were sent back to the US to be buried. Not to mention the German cemetery, the British cemetery, and the Canadian cemetery.



Mont St. Michel.

At the farm B&B where we stayed. Eggs collected from the chicken house in the mornings were still warm... now that's a fresh egg!

Slovenia

Spent Labor Day weekend in a little corner of Eastern Europe, Slovenia. Beautiful country nestled between Austria and Italy with lots of mountains and rolling hills.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

This year Ethan turned 10. Totally missed that post that I should have made back in July.
Sign me up for "Bad Mom."


For his birthday, Ric took him to his first concert. Green Day, up in Frankfurt.
Yes, make me head of the "Bad Moms" welcome committee.



He went with his friend, Beau and Beau's dad.
Whew! I'm not the only Bad Mom in town.



Alex and Evelyn were so jealous.
Ok, Commander-in-Chief of the Bad Moms Support Group. What good mom would let their 6-year old listen to that garbage?!


When you turn 10, there's cooler stuff you get to do because you're older. And then there's worse chores you have to do because you're older. Ethan and his new 10-year old chore.
I think Ethan would confirm that I am, indeed, Worst Mom.

On Making New Friends

Alex: "I already have 2 friends. They are Ethan and Evelyn and they are already too much."
Me: "Dude, if my 2 friends were Ethan and Evelyn, they'd be too much for me too."

Two times a month on post are new classes for Homeschoolers. Friday mornings for 2 1/2 hours they teach the "extras" that are hard to fit in at home: P.E., art, German, and computer science. Throw in a little time for foosball and ping pong and it's a fun day out of the house for mom, er, the kids.

Except...
since we started home schooling last winter, my kids went from (practically) despising each other to actually being *awesome* friends. The turn around has been nothing short of amazing for Ric and I to watch. I don't know if it's that they get 2 more hours of sleep than other school-kids, maybe that there's no rush around in the morning or the afternoon which always led to grumpiness. Maybe part of it is the desire to skee-daddle and make themselves scarce as soon as school is over lest I may call them back down to do more work. Maybe it's just that there's no one else to play with during the day.

Whichever the reason, they've become so close to each other, that when things like this come up, they'd rather stay home and play with each other than get out with all the new kids.

One might say that they're turning into *those* weird HS kids who don't have any friends. But from inside the family, I'm so much happier that they actually love each other, I don't even care.

***Ok, so maybe 10 seconds after I posted this, Evelyn and Alex screamed bloody murder at each other and Alex swore that he'd never play with her ever again for the rest of his life. And then Alex whined the rest of the evening about Ethan's non-judicious use of the Lego atoms we built in Chemistry. Ok, so maybe L-O-V-E is a wee bit too strong a word for what they feel for each other. How about this: sometimes they play nicely. There.