September 5, 2010
Being in a new place and a small apartment has shown me what I value. For better or worse I value sleep for myself and my family, pleasant conversation with each other, alone time, sunshine, alone space, food, and extended conversation with other women. Certain of these things are in short supply, while some can be remedied easily. I am so grateful for two friends I’ve made at Elisabeth’s school and realize that God has answered our prayers for preparing friends for us ahead of time.
Regarding space and sleep: If all goes as planned, we have 10 more days until we move to our “suburban Hannover” home. John and I joke that we are moving from the wooded suburbs of Houston to the wooded suburbs of Hannover. We had the chance to move to the city, but we just couldn’t see ourselves in a flat. I am so excited about not having to tell Henry to stop rolling a ball on the floor or jumping on the floor for fear that it will disturb the other residents. Our new home will share one wall with our landlord, and I’ve already been thinking that we should make sure Henry’s bedroom is on the other side of the house. Last Sunday while I was typing we had put Henry down for his nap, but he was crying. John said he was fine and would settle down, but before he did, there was a light knock on the door. Our landlady had come up to see if everyone was okay and if we were even here. I suppose “crying it out” isn’t so common around here. Anyway, Henry has learned to bypass the crying and simply gets out of bed and comes to get us, saying, “I can’t sleep in this bed. I won’t sleep. I will keep getting up.” I hope and pray this will change when we move and he gets his own bed and his own quilt with his own initials on it. This is our biggest struggle right now and is wearing us down. I feel like we could write a chapter in, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," but we are anxiously awaiting the end of the chapter where we say, “And then we had our Henry back.”
I appreciated all the birthday wishes last week, and was grateful to receive some before you had woken up for the day! Elisabeth gave me extra hugs the night before, and greeted me in the morning with a card she’d made. I had planned to meet my two new friends for coffee in Hannover, but decided that I wasn’t up to another trip into town, so Henry and I spent the day together—grocery store, chocolate croissant (my last one here. They are so much better in France you can’t even compare them. Plenty of other good treats here though), a trip to the bakery to get some kuchen for my birthday cake, then the park and lunch. In the afternoon we went to the train station to pick up Elisabeth, but the train was late. It turned out to be completely cancelled because of construction, so she ended up arriving at 5:15 PM instead of 4:05 as usual. I was confident that she was in good hands with Talitha, the 10th grader who has been escorting her from the playground at school back to Celle, and Talitha had called me to let me know their plans. But there was a brief moment around 4:45 when I thought, “I have no idea where Elisabeth really is right now” and “How could I leave my daughter like this?” Those moments passed and as always Elisabeth greeted us with a big smile and hug. Unfortunately her late train was not the only late event. John was due to bring us pizza for dinner, but his meeting with the insurance agent lasted two hours, so he arrived home shortly before 7 PM with no pizza in hand. He ran out to Smiley Pizza to quickly remedy the situation, but it was a late pizza night. It wasn’t Papa John’s, but we were prepared for that and ate with gusto as he told me all about the types of insurance we will have shortly: household, liability, legal, and glass. Antje, our relocation agent who has been helping us find a house, get a bank account, drivers licenses etc. went with John to take care of this step as well. As she gave examples of the types of coverage her stories always seemed to involve Henry. For instance, if Henry were to throw a ball into the neighbor’s window, glass insurance would cover the broken glass. If Henry would unplug the refrigerator before you left for a holiday and the food spoiled, household insurance would cover the costs. If Henry would knock over a hot iron so that it melted something that would also be covered by household insurance. If Henry were walking someone’s dog and the dog got loose and caused some damage, the damages would be covered by liability insurance—the “other people’s dog clause.” And more: if you break the glass cooktop on your stove, glass insurance covers it. If you don’t shovel the snow on the sidewalk in front of your house and someone slips, liability coverage will cover the medical costs. Household insurance also covers damage due to protests, boiling water, and radiator leakage, things stolen from a hospital room, and more. We are covered, and it is all less than what we paid at home for household insurance.
Thursday was our anniversary, but this time I knew John wouldn’t be home. There was training this week in Houston, but (fortunately?) the company wouldn’t pay for John’s group to travel there. Instead they just stayed until 10:30 PM at work for three nights so they could watch the training via video conference. As I put the kids to bed each night I had to remind myself that it could’ve been worse. At least he would be home for breakfast and to drive Elisabeth to the train station! We had a better celebration Saturday when we got a babysitter—Elisabeth’s train companion, Talitha. She came for the afternoon while we had an early dinner out and a chance to walk around Celle unencumbered. We felt so refreshed when we came home to clean up after the kids’ dinner and put them to bed.
Elisabeth started coming down with a cold last week, and it is gradually spreading to all of us, as colds do. The thought of taking kids to the doctor for ear infections or going myself for a sinus infection is not something I want to entertain right now so we are going to bed early tonight and praying Henry sleeps well. Elisabeth is quite happy with her pallet in the kitchen, claiming that is the best she’s slept since the first day of school. The move came after one of John’s nights at the office as I was up with the kids for hours (?) it seemed, as they took turns waking each other up. So now Henry is in the bedroom with a small double to himself, Elisabeth is on a small mattress in the kitchen (I need to take a picture!) and John and I sleep on the sofa bed (which, again, is not like an American sofa bed. We are considering one like it for our guestroom. It is fine for us, but the kids just couldn’t share it well and their covers were always falling off. John and I, after 10 years of marriage in a queen sized bed, are sharing it well).
On that note, good night, and love to you all.
- Laurel
Being in a new place and a small apartment has shown me what I value. For better or worse I value sleep for myself and my family, pleasant conversation with each other, alone time, sunshine, alone space, food, and extended conversation with other women. Certain of these things are in short supply, while some can be remedied easily. I am so grateful for two friends I’ve made at Elisabeth’s school and realize that God has answered our prayers for preparing friends for us ahead of time.
Regarding space and sleep: If all goes as planned, we have 10 more days until we move to our “suburban Hannover” home. John and I joke that we are moving from the wooded suburbs of Houston to the wooded suburbs of Hannover. We had the chance to move to the city, but we just couldn’t see ourselves in a flat. I am so excited about not having to tell Henry to stop rolling a ball on the floor or jumping on the floor for fear that it will disturb the other residents. Our new home will share one wall with our landlord, and I’ve already been thinking that we should make sure Henry’s bedroom is on the other side of the house. Last Sunday while I was typing we had put Henry down for his nap, but he was crying. John said he was fine and would settle down, but before he did, there was a light knock on the door. Our landlady had come up to see if everyone was okay and if we were even here. I suppose “crying it out” isn’t so common around here. Anyway, Henry has learned to bypass the crying and simply gets out of bed and comes to get us, saying, “I can’t sleep in this bed. I won’t sleep. I will keep getting up.” I hope and pray this will change when we move and he gets his own bed and his own quilt with his own initials on it. This is our biggest struggle right now and is wearing us down. I feel like we could write a chapter in, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," but we are anxiously awaiting the end of the chapter where we say, “And then we had our Henry back.”
I appreciated all the birthday wishes last week, and was grateful to receive some before you had woken up for the day! Elisabeth gave me extra hugs the night before, and greeted me in the morning with a card she’d made. I had planned to meet my two new friends for coffee in Hannover, but decided that I wasn’t up to another trip into town, so Henry and I spent the day together—grocery store, chocolate croissant (my last one here. They are so much better in France you can’t even compare them. Plenty of other good treats here though), a trip to the bakery to get some kuchen for my birthday cake, then the park and lunch. In the afternoon we went to the train station to pick up Elisabeth, but the train was late. It turned out to be completely cancelled because of construction, so she ended up arriving at 5:15 PM instead of 4:05 as usual. I was confident that she was in good hands with Talitha, the 10th grader who has been escorting her from the playground at school back to Celle, and Talitha had called me to let me know their plans. But there was a brief moment around 4:45 when I thought, “I have no idea where Elisabeth really is right now” and “How could I leave my daughter like this?” Those moments passed and as always Elisabeth greeted us with a big smile and hug. Unfortunately her late train was not the only late event. John was due to bring us pizza for dinner, but his meeting with the insurance agent lasted two hours, so he arrived home shortly before 7 PM with no pizza in hand. He ran out to Smiley Pizza to quickly remedy the situation, but it was a late pizza night. It wasn’t Papa John’s, but we were prepared for that and ate with gusto as he told me all about the types of insurance we will have shortly: household, liability, legal, and glass. Antje, our relocation agent who has been helping us find a house, get a bank account, drivers licenses etc. went with John to take care of this step as well. As she gave examples of the types of coverage her stories always seemed to involve Henry. For instance, if Henry were to throw a ball into the neighbor’s window, glass insurance would cover the broken glass. If Henry would unplug the refrigerator before you left for a holiday and the food spoiled, household insurance would cover the costs. If Henry would knock over a hot iron so that it melted something that would also be covered by household insurance. If Henry were walking someone’s dog and the dog got loose and caused some damage, the damages would be covered by liability insurance—the “other people’s dog clause.” And more: if you break the glass cooktop on your stove, glass insurance covers it. If you don’t shovel the snow on the sidewalk in front of your house and someone slips, liability coverage will cover the medical costs. Household insurance also covers damage due to protests, boiling water, and radiator leakage, things stolen from a hospital room, and more. We are covered, and it is all less than what we paid at home for household insurance.
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| Henry enjoys a different kind of cucumber for the first time |
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| We value sleep: Elisabeth's bed in the kitchen |
Elisabeth started coming down with a cold last week, and it is gradually spreading to all of us, as colds do. The thought of taking kids to the doctor for ear infections or going myself for a sinus infection is not something I want to entertain right now so we are going to bed early tonight and praying Henry sleeps well. Elisabeth is quite happy with her pallet in the kitchen, claiming that is the best she’s slept since the first day of school. The move came after one of John’s nights at the office as I was up with the kids for hours (?) it seemed, as they took turns waking each other up. So now Henry is in the bedroom with a small double to himself, Elisabeth is on a small mattress in the kitchen (I need to take a picture!) and John and I sleep on the sofa bed (which, again, is not like an American sofa bed. We are considering one like it for our guestroom. It is fine for us, but the kids just couldn’t share it well and their covers were always falling off. John and I, after 10 years of marriage in a queen sized bed, are sharing it well).
On that note, good night, and love to you all.
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| Making toys with what we've got: tissues and library books |
- Laurel
Comments
Happy birthday Laurel and happy anniversary to you both! 10 years! Quite a milestone. I remember your wedding and the surrounding festivities fondly - it was a wonderful weekend!
Our 35th anniversary is tomorrow - 9/12/1975.
Thanks for the update, would love to se some photos of your house (in & out) if you can upload them.