I've been busy, ok!

Seriously... insanely busy. So we're getting ready for the Art exhibit, I'm STILL working on budgets (my meeting got postponed), I have to do my packet for the Recreation Program Awards (we won BEST in the WHOLE ARMY last year) and get ready to go on vacation! Whew! In my copious free time I have managed to make a tunic, a formal dress for the art show, and a new mug (below). I will put picutres up of the other projects if I ever have time to take pictures of them!

Oh, and here's pictures of my new Ikea furnished living room.

And here's the pillow covers I made out of our new black and white minky fabric. So soft!

...

Budgets due Monday. Ugh...

School Days

I forgot to mention the results of Haven's test! She will in fact be going to American school in the fall. She would have been recommended for Real Schule (where we wanted her to go) but she made the mistake of telling the exam proctor that she could go to American school. So he then refused to recommend her for Real Schule. On the bright side, he did say she was too good to go to Haupt Schule. But we already knew that. She's excited to go to American school and I'm ok with it now. There is a bus that will pick her up right by our house and she can come to work with me in the afternoons. So it will work out. And I will actually be able to communicate with the teachers! She may end up graduating from Patch High School... who knows! But I'm giving her education over to God and hoping He sorts it all out! :)

I Love My Kids!

So Haven has been writing the most amazing songs and poetry for the last few months. She started singing when she was about three and we called it Opera because she sang instead of speaking. So it would be "I'm playing with Barbies..." in a sing-song voice. Now it's full blown songs, with music. (Of course not written out yet.) So I got her a voice recorder so we could capture them. Now it's stories. She entered the writing contest at the library with a story she wrote about some witches and an orphanage. It was really good. Here's one of her poems she wrote for school. They've been writing short forms of a rondel.

Rondel 3 (English Translation)

I hear music.

I love music.

The band is called the Beatles.

I love music.

The Beatles rock!

They sing "Yellow Submarine."

This song is cool!

I love music.

My favorites are at school. I'll post them if she ever brings them home. Wait, she thinks she can dictate one to me:

The Stars

I'm looking out my window.

I see the stars.

The stars form a picture.

I see the stars.

They form a ballerina.

They could also form a bear.

Or they could form a space ship!

I see the stars.

And since one artistic kid wasn't enough, we went and had another one. Ethan has shown creativity for the last few months as he turns anything he touches into a gun or a lightsaber. (Of course every boy does that!) But now his creativity has crossed over into music as well. This morning he was singing his own "opera." Here it is, his poetic debut:

Dreaming

I've been dreaming of you.

I've been dreaming of a lightsaber.

I've been dreaming of a lightsaber.

I've been dreaming of a lightsaber that is blue and I have a beard.

I've been dreaming of you.

I've been dreaming, I've been dreaming, I've been dreaming of you.

NO JOKE! Haven wrote it down while he was singing! Ok, so I can't be outdone by my kids. So here's my rondeau for the night.

I Love My Kids

I love my kids and all they’ll be.
In them, a reflection of me.
Their laughs and smiles, their lips and eyes,
Their shouts and fights, their pouts and cries,
Like a mirror, they look like me.

The world can sometimes burden me
With lies and crime and enemies.
I fear what in the future lies.
I love my kids.

For these two children God’s plan will be
More sure than any plan from me.
I know he hears my aches and sighs,
And will my children love and guide.
His love and grace poured out on these;

I love my kids!

A Sale

I sold my first "tattoo-ed" latte mug! I was so excited... but a little sad to see it go! It's definately my favorite of all the ones I've made. But I think the person who bought it (our new consignor who you can view here) will give it a loving home! :) Sorry Mary... I guess I'll just have to make you a new sample. Oh darn... I'll have to make more! ;)

Gotta love Ikea...

Ok, so since Rob is in the hospital I'm trying to do all these things to surprise him when he comes home. (hence the fish tank blog) So one of the things I wanted to do is replace all the broken furniture in the living room. That's two sofas and a dining room table. Since I have the glorious Ikea credit card that was the store of choice. They have this great line of sofas called "Ektorp" but it didn't come in a color I liked. So I decided to change the color scheme of our whole living room. This meant I was able to get the black leather sofas! (The cheap ones. I'm not that well off!)

Ok, so deciding was the easy part. Getting it home is the hard part. So I have some friends from church who volunteered to give me a whole day of manual labor on Thursday: taking out the broken furniture, picking up the new furniture, and constructing the new furniture. But I needed to go buy the furniture the night before and ask them to hold it. It gets better. I didn't think I would be able to get there tomorrow night because of church, so I went tonight PRAYING they would let me leave it there till Thursday.

So I get all checked out and go around to the warenausgabe (it's at the Ikea now. You don't have to drive to Boeblingen!) and start turning on my Euro-American charm. This didn't work so I started the water works. That was much more effective! I was only able to convince her to let me leave it there till tomorrow night. So now I'm going to have to figure out how to drive a big van alone and pick it up tomorrow night after work. But I'm sure this will work out just fine. I can't think of any problems with this plan. Do you see any problems? ;) So you're asking "if I could pick it up tomorrow night why couldn't I buy it tomorrow night..." Ah ha! See that's the other funny thing. They USED to close at 8:00 pm. That's when church is over. NOW they close at 9:00 pm. So yeah... I coulda just bought it all tomorrow. Grrr.

Still, I'm VERY grateful for the lady letting me leave it there, because she totally didn't have to. Oh, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the VAT form!

A little help from my friends...

Well, I didn't share this with everyone at work yet, but Rob is in the hospital for severe burn out. Yup, in Germany you can get a three week vacation in the hospital paid for by the insurance! Gotta love the Germans. Of course he's bored stiff, but he doesn't have to work!

Anyway, I've been really blessed by everyone who has brought us meals and the people who are taking over Rob's job while he's gone. A couple of days ago I decided I would surprise Rob by cleaning the fish tank. The dreaded fish tank. The neglected and smelly fish tank. Of course I don't like the fish tank and have no idea how to clean it... so I sent out an SOS to my Sunday School class! I got a taker!

So my friend Johanna came over today and we cleaned the fish tank together. Yes, I helped. I cleaned the rocks. And felt very good about myself! Then we tackled the freezer... otherwise known as the block of ice. I miss self-defrosting freezers... Anyway, I feel so good with those two things not looming over me anymore! And the fish tank is now a pleasure to look at! Hehe!