Quotable Quotes

First of all, it is amazing what gets passed around at school, even here.  For example, do you remember that "chubby" story with actions that goes, "My mom is chubby, my dad is chubby..." and they go on a motorcycle ride and say, "Slow down!"

Also, out of all the songs they could teach these kids in English, what do they come home singing?
"What do you do with a Drunken Sailor?"  I remember learning this song in school when I was a kid.  It is funny to hear it in British English with a German accent!

Macy:  Mom, I think it's just wonderful to be here in Germany...The playgrounds are my best favorite thing.

Carly (upon seeing a man with a black eye):  Man, it looks like he got in a fight!  Or, maybe he didn't drink enough water.

Me:  Please make your beds so you can give Gram the grand tour when she comes.
Carly:  She knows we're not perfect.  Something has to be not perfect or it's boring.

Macy:  I can't believe Gram's really coming.  It seems like a dream.

Carly:  Look at that gutter!  (a goat's udder)

Macy:  How did you NOT see that?  You're a mom AND you wear glasses!

Carly's thoughts on her first roller coaster ride:  It's like my heart dropped way down and then split between my legs.

Carly:  What if when the doctor checked your smeller and you couldn't smell good enough he put those tubes up your smeller and then you could sniff in like this and say, 'Yeah, they're having chicken for dinner across the streeet?'

Macy:  It's all crazed in my head.  (German mixed with English)

Me (about the rice cakes we were trying):  It reminds me a little bit of popcorn.
Macy:  It reminds me a little bit of edible styrofoam.

Macy:  Mom, I know you're learning a lot of German.
Me:  Really?  How?
Macy:  Because you said, 'Do you want a trink of milk?'  ("to drink" in German is "trinken").

Carly:  Mom, you must be getting old.  You keep forgetting things.  I wish you would've forgot to take a nap with me today (we were both sick).
Myles:  That's a good one.
Robyn:  You should write that one down.
Me:  Yeah, before I forget!


Macy:  This is for 6 and up.  Good thing she gave it to me on Sunday, or I would've been tempted to use it on Saturday!  (She turned 6 on Sunday).


Carly:  I bet the old ladies miss their Easter flowers.  (We used to deliver them in Utah).  
Myles:  We could've just cut one of our orchids off.
Macy:  That would be like cutting off an arm!


Me (while riding bikes):  Watch out for that poop!
Carly:  Thank goodness for all the flies in this world.


Carly (walking into the kitchen where Myles and I were cooking):  It's really starting to smell like a noodle around here!


Macy:  I have no choice but to love you!


Carly (translating a sign from German into British English on the train that said "First Class"):  What does it mean to sit in the first grade?

Macy (explaining why she didn't know her great-granddad Ross):  I was going down when he was going up!

Carly:  There's edible paper, edible string.
Macy:  Next, there should be edible hole punchers!
Carly:  I think there should be edible milk cartons because then moms can say, 'Oh, kids, drink your milk, so you can have your treat!'

Carly:  Wouldn't it be funny if the way grandmas died is that they just kept shrinking and shrinking until they were gone?
Robyn:  No, I don't think that would be very funny, actually.

Carly:  Did Noah from Noah's Ark live in America?
Me:  I don't know.  Why?
Carly:  Did he know German, then?  In religion we learned a song about the rainbow that he sang, and it was in German!

Carly (trying to peel her band-aid off that was put on after getting a shot):  When I get older, I'm going to make some handy things, like band-aids that fall off after an hour.

Robyn (giving a lesson about what a plant needs to grow):  What else do we need?  (besides sun and rain)
Macy:  Somebody to look at it.

Carly (talking about a boy in her class who was the slowest runner):  He tried really hard, but I just don't think that he was made for that.


Carly (holding my deodorant):  I don't understand how this helps you smell better because it doesn't smell good in the first place.


Carly:  Sheep milk?
Me:  Yeah, you know, like goat milk.
Myles:  Sheep give milk.  They're mammals.
Carly:  Well, it's not like we drink gorilla milk!

Carly (discussion about what if people steal flowers from the you-pick place):  If they were really a robber, they'd take the money box!

Me:  When I hear them speaking Chinese, then I know that I really do know German.


Carly's new favorite phrase:  Every man on the face of the earth knows that.  (Man in this case in German really means person).

Carly:  Mom, some people aren't very wise...with their money.  Remember that one lady we gave a pretzel to?  And, then, the next time we saw her begging, she had pink hair?
Macy:  Yeah, sometimes, people aren't really hungry for food.  They're lungs are just really hungry for cigarettes or wine.

We were at a party where a baby was crying really loudly.  A woman told us that everyone's so quiet in Sweden that even the babies cry softly.  Since then, we have told our girls, "Let's be Swedish," meaning, "Let's lower our voices."  When Carly heard someone walking by our apartment laughing loudly, she said, "She's NOT Swedish!"

The girls have been super into the Guinness Book of World Records lately.  I remember that stage as a kid.  They keep talking about what they could do to get in and are wondering how much you might get paid or if it's just good enough to get in the book...

A thought I can't seem to shake

While my friends and family are burning up (literally) in America, here we are in Germany in the middle of July wearing jeans and sweaters.

What is this!?

And, I think I have reason to complain until my friend from England informs me that in her homeland they haven't been able to turn the heat off yet.  Good thing they're hosting the summer Olympics.  I'm sure the runners from Africa will be real happy about that.  Everyone tells us, "Don't worry.  This isn't normal."  But, somehow, it's not normal anywhere we go.

For example, Oregon in August is normally quite lovely, or so I've heard.  Except for the summer I was pregnant with my first living on the second story with no AC (Something nobody "normally" needs).  That was the summer they happened to be having a record-breaking heat wave.  Or, the time we were in short-sleeved shirts in Chicago on Christmas...

Maybe I'm just gettin' old complaining about the weather.  Or, maybe there's actually something to it all.  Besides the fires, there have been a few other things going on lately, or even for the past several years.  And, although I hesitate to even approach this topic, I can't seem to stop thinking about it.

The other night, when we were reading about a man in the scriptures who was trying to convince the people that no Christ would come, the girls said, "But, that's crazy!  We know he's going to come.  Look down on the bottom of the page.  It says, '74 B.C.'  That means He's going to come in 74 years!"

Of course, that's easy for us to say now.

We may wonder how people could be blind to the signs of His coming that now seem so obvious to us.  But, He will come again, and it's a conscious effort for me to be drawn to Him, rather than drawn away.

Maybe if I try to remember Jesus every time I have to remember my jeans instead of my shorts, I'll be better off.

Happy Birthday, America on our One-year Anniversary in Germany!

No matter how old or small a German village may be, almost every one has a travel agency.  People here love to use their vacation days to travel.  Macy got a kick out of this one's window display.  It's funny how many people want to go where we came from and vice versa.

 

Here we are exactly a year ago seeing the real thing.

 

Here we are now one year later doing crazy things like playing beauty shop on public transportation and getting ready for the circus.

 

Here we are now, exploring beautiful places.

Myles' parents have been in Panama for the last 2 years on a mission for our church teaching piano lessons to the youth.  On our last video chat with them, Macy asked which place they like better--Panama or the US.  The conclusion was that they like both places for different reasons, but feel more comfortable in their homeland.

At this point, I have similar feelings.  Here are our top 10 favorite things about Germany:

#10 warm, fresh pretzels
#9 living within walking distance of most of what we need
#8 rollladen (If you want to make BIG bucks, you should start a business for these in the US.  They are amazing blinds that go on the outside of your windows).
#7 milk and eggs that you don't have to refrigerate
#6 beautiful countryside between every city/village
#5 castles
#4 shorter school days
#3 a heater/drying rack mounted on the wall in the bathroom for all of our towels
#2 completely new non-food inventory every week at the local grocery store
#1 friendly, helpful people almost everywhere we go!

I guess we need more numbers because there's also:  more good cheese and chocolate than you have time to try, beautiful flowers, lovely down towns, farmers markets, fresh fruit year round...

We have learned much, cried some, laughed a lot, and look forward to the next 2 years.  Thanks for all of your love and support while we are across the ocean.  Watch some good parades for us today!