To begin with...

Tough to put the last 2 months into a post so I'll summarize:

• Week #1 - Rough. Awake at night, tired during the day, Mary had a terrible cold, ate whatever we could find (not well) and generally felt like aliens.
• Week #2 - Slightly better... but we left city hall with our passports on the car roof in a folder and then saw them in the rear-view mirror spread all over a major road. I ran in front of traffic to retrieve them. Learned "tut mir leid" (I'm sorry) as our new favorite phrase, to be said whenever we messed up - often.
• Week #3 - Dealt with house closing paperwork by driving to the US embassy in Luxembourg for US notary services - painful - and moved IN to our new place which actually went very well.
• Week #4 - Discovered doors lock differently in this country... spent more than an hour outside our front door, even though we had the key, because we had left a key on the inside lock of the door and you can not get in. Landlord came and broke in. Many neighbors noticed, commented, and were surely amused at the American doofuses.
• Week #5 - Eli is liking school a little at a time. We love them - very sweet & helpful. Final closing on the house in Iowa.
• Weeks 6-8 Settling into the house - shopping constantly. And went to Bavaria to get away from settling in. Kevin was gone for a week in there and I continued to figure out how to feed the family. Went to a fun kids playground place, though... and that's the day it began to rain.
• Weeks 9-10 Rain, rain, rain. What does the sun look like anyway? Planning for Christmas and shopping for cars - not the funnest job but necessary. Mary had her 9-month appointment. She weighed 9.13 kilograms and was 74 centimeters long for those of you who like to do conversions. And she had another cold. Hopefully she's getting it all done before winter really sets in.