Feb 19, 2008

Love & Kisses...

Happy Birthday Baby: Our baby turned 1 year old last week. Just in time for the big event Mary learned how to 'kiss-kiss' on command. She sticks out her lower lip and offers her mouth to you for some love. And she gets plenty. Rather than avoid the cliches, I embraced her near-Valentines birthdate wholeheartedly (snicker, snort) and scattered pink, red, and white balloons - including hearts, of course - for our little party. Our friends John and Sarah came by with their kids. Low key, messy, and fun. Pictures to the right. We reflected later that night what a gift our surprise girl has been and are so grateful to God for the precious daughter entrusted to us. And we like her big brother, too.

As my sisters forwarned, bedtime has become a time when Eli has big questions and comes up with the best pronouncements, things I wish I could remember forever. Tonight he talked about God's house in Heaven and how He also lives in our hearts (even Mary's!) but how did he make us? I reminded him of the story of Adam and Eve and also babies inside of mommies and he says: "I know what God did! He took some sand and mixed it up. Then He made it really hot and then He put the bones into it! But how did it get into the mommy?" The conversation continued and he was thinking hard about the complexities of babies growing arms, legs, and even teeth inside of their gums... all before they are born. Unexpected, wonderful conversations - one of the gifts of having a little boy. A favorite phrase you may hear from this child if you visit and ask him to do something with you: "I'm not available right now but you can do it by yourself." Ah, independence.

Don't be shocked. Not just for punks and rebellious teens, brightly colored hair is one of the first things you will notice about the German people. Upon my arrival I began an immediate and frantic search for a good salon. Having colored my hair in 6-week intervals for the last 12 years a safe medium brown, I was extremely anxious about the abnormally high number of otherwise normal looking women - of all ages - with fluorescent orange, red, and purple hair. We're talking about regular folks in the neighborhood - moms and grandmas alike. German acquaintances surmised - quietly - that these were 'East German' women or 'Russian Germans' - a few of the many stereotyped groups in this area. Regardless, you're going to see them, and are forwarned. But my hair shall remain brown.

Autobahn Oddities. Unless you're driving the Autobahn at night you won't notice another strange phenomenon in Germany, the total lack of light pollution. Completely dark driving. For the most part the Autobahn has zero lights (not on signs, or difficult corkscrew entrances/exits, or bridges), zero reflective barriers or markers, and even dull hard-to-see paint lines. A consistently large buffer zone made mostly of tall woods between the Autobahn and any buildings helps and everyone turns their lights off at 8:00pm regardless (that's 20:00 here, by the way). It's almost spooky. But don't be spooked by the seemingly 'homeless' cars hanging out under underpasses - thats carpool parking. One last warning. If you spend much time at all driving around our host country, you will at some point see a man peeing on the side of the road... and not behind a tree, a bush, or even a car door. Gute Fahrt!! ("Enjoy the Drive!")

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What a lovely birthday party! What grand memories and she's beautiful just like her momma! Of course I understand the coffee bit as well. When we moved to GR for Dad to go to sem, we lived with my aunt & uncle for 3 weeks. Every afternoon we had tea and cake!