Our Dirty little Habit................ Recycling

     In Texas we enjoyed the extreme luxury of not one but two gigantic trash cans. I can not say at the time I fully relished what I had. Not only were the trash cans gigantic but... you could place anything you wanted into the bins! I'm not saying it was good that you could dump batteries, food, and paint all into one container but we did... and it was easy!
    Upon our arrival here the company ambassador proceeded to give us a 10 page pamphlet on how to recycle. It came with this handy chart to help those of us from Texas whom take our large trash cans for granted. I could fit the contents of all four trash cans here into one back home... sigh.
     So we began to sort our garbage, plastic here, food cooked/uncooked there, paper, plastic blah blah blah. However, we have one major problem the house we moved into is missing some of the color coded trash bins. So at the moment our garbage is starting to really stack up and I'm running out of room.  The kitchen is beginning to look like one large garbage pile which fondly reminds me of a poem by Shell Silverstein  Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who would not take the garbage out. Well I am not Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout and I would very much like to take my garbage out!
    Until we receive our tiny cans I will continue to sort even though I'm more than sure I'm doing it all wrong and will shortly be issued some sort of fine. Enjoy your over sized, non sorted trash cans and think of us as we try to determine weather a candy wrapper is paper or plastic.. or is it paper with a plastic coating?

Just of few of the bags

Handy Guide

Nutella Cookies

I have very little on hand for baking no brown sugar or chocolate chips etc... but every night after dinner my kids ask "what's for dessert." So tonight I looked for something sweet I could make with what I had on hand.  Nutella is plentiful here so I made these cookies with only four ingredients. They were really easy to make and pretty delicious.

1 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 Egg .............. How easy is that!

-You simply mix all the ingredients together
-Form dough into small balls with your hands
-Then roll the ball into a little extra white sugar
-Place on cookie sheet, flatten with spoon
and bake 8 min @ 350

Bible Study

Well I traveled across the ocean to a foreign land and what do I get .... a bible study from Texas!
It is a running joke that every womens bible study is from Beth Moore and that proved to be true even in Germany. Somethings I guess you just can't escape...
  The study officially kicks off here this week but last week at the meeting the leader shared a poem by Beth Moore that I really needed to hear it changed my outlook for the day and for the week and I will continue to reread it whenever I am feeling that weight the world can sometimes lay on your shoulders I thought it was worth sharing, true for everyone.....
 
 Has someone seen the life I planned
 it seems to be misplaced.
 I've looked in every corner
 it's lost without a trace.
I've found one I don't recognize
 things missing that were dear
 promises I'd hoped to keep
 and dreams I dreamed aren't here.
faces I had planned to see
 hands I planned to hold
now absent In the pictures
 not the way I told.
has someone seen the life I planned?
did it get thrown away?
God took my hand from searching
then I heard Him say,
"child, your ears have never heard
your eyes have never seen
 eternal plans I have for you
are more than you could dream.
you long to walk by sight
but I'm teaching eye to see.
I know what I am doing
til then, you must believe"
He's done so much, I felt ashamed
to know He heard my moans
 to think I'd trade in all He's done
 for plans made on my own.
I wept over His faithfulness
and how He'd proved Himself
how He'd gone beyond my dreams
 and said to Him myself,
"no, my ears have never heard
my eyes have never seen
 eternal plans You have for me
 are more than I could dream.
yes, I long to walk by sight
but You're teaching eyes to see
 You know what you are doing
 til then, I must believe."
I felt his great compassion
 mercy unrestrained
 He let me mourn my losses
and showed to me my gains.
I offered Him my future
and released to Him my past
 I traded in my dreams
for a plan He said would last.
I get no glimpse ahead
no certainties at all
except the presence of the one
 who will not let me fall.
are you also searching
 for a life you planned yourself?
have you looked in every corner?
have you checked on every shelf?
child your ears have never heard
your eyes have never seen
eternal plans He has for you
are more than you could dream.
perhaps you long to walk by faith
 but He's teaching eyes to see
 He knows what He is dong

........child, step out and believe.

No TV??

Where the TV would be

     We have not had Television in over three weeks. I still miss it terribly maybe a little too much. I miss all the horrible reality TV shows that are really just watching train wreaks unfold. The kids miss their hours of Saturday morning Nickelodeon. That is full of subject matter geared for an older adolescent audience. Michael misses football.... but what are we really missing?

     The news is right here on my computer at all times, I can see everything that happens in the USA plus all the absolutely useless "news" articles Yahoo deems fit to post. I can look up the weather even though the outcome so far is always disappointing.

     So we have decided that as a family we are not really missing anything! We have passed the point where we think TV is absolutely necessary and so we have decided not to hook up the TV. We actually do not even have a TV that works here so not only are we saving our bodies and brains from all the mind numbing television we are saving money. Then again maybe we will break down in a week from our lack of Duck Dynasty ?

How to make kids happy? ... Let them play

     The kids have been at their new school now for a little over 2 weeks and there are many difference between the school they came from and the one here. As I think over those differences I can just hear the variety of responses(and eye rolling) from my friends and family. We all value different things, science, art, math, music.. our interests lie in different areas and we hold the ones we are good at as more important than others. I would say I love reading and art while Michael believes that if the kids are not superior in math they will never hold a real job. Perhaps I can not argue his point since I currently don't work. lol
    That being said before the kids could even begin here we had to attend a mandatory meeting with the deputy principal so she could explain the differences between the learning style we came from and the one we were about to enter. As we set in the office she explained to me and Michael that this school DOES NOT focus on skill and drill but on conceptual learning. Unlike their school in Texas there would be no grades, no official report cards, and the kids would not even be taking test. She explained that most people are fine with the concept until you come to learning math and then they insist that with out skill and drill and testing the concepts can not be learned. Also, they do not assign homework. In fact they believe the effects of homework are more negative than positive and ultimately degrade home life. Believe me I am all for no homework, especially for elementary aged children  So we both agreed to the terms and conditions of the new school and they began class the following day.
    So far they absolutely love it. They have never really looked forward to going to school, but now they do some of the things they love.....
-2 Recess times, one is 45 min the other 15
-No lines
-They are allowed to move about the room as the please unless the teacher is talking
-Eli gets his own macbook
-No homework of course
- In music each student is given and instrument that they can take home and practice on
- In gym they do activities such as plate spinning, juggling etc..
-Oliver has a class period outside in a garden everyday (yesterday they built a snow fort)
   
      They play outside daily no matter the weather snow, wind or rain the kids still go out and play. I know there would be days in Texas the teachers would keep them inside if it was fifty degrees! It will be seven degrees here this Friday and they will still play outside! By far the kids are enjoying the two recess times the most. I know they are at school to learn but they are still kids. Play time is important and I think a little undervalued in the states where the focus in on "the test."
     Altogether they seem to have much more freedom within reason at the new school and because of the little freedoms they enjoy going. At first we were concerned over the differences in the learning styles but we decided that it was similar to the gifted classes Michael and I had in elementary school which were puzzle and activity based as opposed to work sheets etc.
   Right now we are all pleased with the school! This may change over time and it has occurred to us that when they come back to the states they are in for another big adjustment as they return to the Texas public school system.
   I do not think there is only one way to learn and I look forward to watching the kids growth in this new setting... to be continued

Sweat Treat

      It looked like a Blizzard outside this morning when we woke up. It snowed enough to have a fresh blanket of white covering everything.
      It was time to make snow ice cream so we gathered a bowl from the back yard and added a little sugar, vanilla (brought from the states), and milk. It was Delicious! and here you can make it every day... not just once every three years.

Light it Up

    When you rent a house in Germany and many other european places you must provide your own lights and install them. Where else do you go for something you need that you do not want to pay a fortune for.... Ikea. All together we needed 13 lights and even though we will be here for several years we did not want to break the bank buying lights we can not bring home. We choose several lights for a total of 224 euros.
    Sadly Michael had to add another thing to his already full plate. I think he has aged 10 years since we have been here. The picture below should say it all. After all that effort the lights we bought and partially installed were very dim, so we decided to go back one more time and look for some more. Currently even though we live in the house we only have 4 lights installed just enough to get around in the dark nothing more. To be continued...