All Saints Day

While Germany is less churched than the US, the vast majority of their public holidays center around the Church calendar. Sadly, the traditions of Christmas and Easter have mostly been reduced to St Claus and the Easter bunny but that's a topic for another post. As we are more aware of the holidays, our church tends to follow the liturgical calendar more than a typical Methodist church. One of the perks was getting an opportunity to talk in Kids' Church about All Saints' Day. Without further ado, my mini sermon:

Does anyone know what we’ll be celebrating next Sunday? 

Halloween! 

Yes, kids are encouraged to dress up and we’ll go trick or treating during Sunday school. 

Does anybody know what comes the day after Halloween? 

Nov 1 is all Saints Day. What does that mean? What is a Saint? 

In the Methodist tradition - all saints day is a day to give thanks to the saints in our lives both living and passed. We Are thankful to people who are officially recognized in the church and also people in our own lives. 

Just like Christmas, where all the lead-up, and decorations and presents distract from the real meaning of the holiday - that the savior of the world is born - all saints day can get lost in Halloween. 

So, this week let’s remember someone we know personally or in the church who has been a Saint to us and let’s reach out to that person if she or he is still living or talk to a friend about that person if he or she is not. And either way, thank God for the blessing of this person’s influence in our life. 

We’re going to sing peace like a river. This song is special to me as I sang it a lot as my mom, who was a Saint to me in some ways, was very sick. 

Song: Peace like a River 

Prayer: God thank you for the saints still among us and for those who have died. We pray that you will help us encourage the saints who are with us and comfort us as we miss the saints we’ve lost. Amen. 

--

I mentioned my mom in the mini sermon because even before her doppelgänger came to live with us, I of course would think about her every day.

Baby Mommy Connie seen here holding on to a gold baby ring.

Baby Carmen seen here holding on to something of equal value to her.

We actually attempted to have a circle conversation with the little kids before the Sunday School devolved into the usual crazy of Hugo accidentally getting his lolly pop stuck in another kid's hair while jumping on the trampoline. (Safety note: clearly he wasn't jumping on the trampoline with the lolly in his mouth, I mean, how then would it get in her hair?) Anywho, I talked about my Grandpa who we call "Grandpa Robert Ralph" to remind our little Ralpher of his roots.

Sniff...this was the last snuggle before my grandpa passed.

I talked about how my Grandpa was such an inspiration in how devoted he was to my Grandma. As a child I saw him always put her first. 

Best impromptu wedding speech. There's ugly crying and I present to you...ugly laughing. 

Some of the kids opened up and talked about people in their lives. One Sunday school family from Syria talked about a teen friend who just died in an explosion earlier that week. For the older kids (and adults), it was a sobering reminder of the continuing conflict and hardship so many continue to endure. One little girl talked about her grandpa who just died. Our conversation also prompted our friend Agata to head with her family to Poland to visit her Grandparents' grave. I'm thankful for these meetings of meeting in person, before heading back online. Speaking of which, I need to pop online for our zoom fellowship. 

Preparing for the Siege

I just listened to another great book by Kate Bowler, No Cure for Being Human, which put words to my feeling at the moment. The downside of audio books is I can't remember her eloquent words exactly, but they amounted to something to the effect of preparing for the siege. Her siege is much more crushing, a serious cancer diagnosis, then my Delta variant drama. I know; I read and recommend the seemingly most uplifting books. 

This might be my last blog for a bit as the Delta variant is having a gay old time in predominantly unvaccinated folks in Germany. Our incidence rates are higher than they've ever been since the start of the pandemic. Literally half of Crosby's school is in quarantine right now. I haven't read any official news about when vaccinations for kids over five will start, but Germany's track records with vaccine roll-outs, including the booster, have been less than inspiring. So, this is how we are preparing:

1. Carmen's New Room = Old World Class

Yes, if this doesn't become a Pinterest sensation I don't know what will.  She's been waking up around 5 am, so she's been moved to a place - the bathroom closet - where she'll wake me up but not the boys. 

My other fix was to stop nursing. sniff. Maybe she'll sleep in if she knows she won't wake up to the ultimate form of emotional eating? So far she's taking the change like she takes everything - like a boss. I think my body will also enjoy a break after almost five straight years of being pregnant, nursing, or both. 

Throwback of one my favorite places to nurse: public transportation.

Bonus points if your baby is wearing Lederhosen.

2. Library Adventures

Our search for Dogman and Captain Underpants books led us to a library near the school that has a library of stuff. Paul talked about teaching Crosby how to code and voila:

Today Crosby's school had a teacher in-service, and Paul had some flex days to use-up, so the two of them goofed around on this programable toy for a bit. This was the perfect library check-out because we definitely don't need toys in our house that can only be used when the two littlest aren't around and Paul happens to be free. 

3. Haircuts 

This is such a tease because I'm only posting the before photo. Hugo had to stay home an extra day from Kita yesterday. Before corona, kids had to be symptom free after fever, barfies, etc but now it's 48 hours. Crosby told me he had a stomach ache when he woke up on Monday morning. Crosby was also just fine after all so the two went to get haircuts. Per usual, they weren't great, but for 25 Euros ($30 USD) total, it's a steal and an improvement over:

Seen here with Crosby saying "second graders are too big for painted nails, but Hugo I'll paint yours." #helpabrotherout

4. Enjoying our last along-the-way church adventures before heading back to Zoom.

Not too far from the epic bumpy bumps of Gleisdreieck, is this skate park.

Carmen and I tried to help Crosby out of the skate bowl.

He found one side with a ledge and went this way. Hugo, on the other hand, did this the whole time:

which brings me to my last point

5. Getting more sleep

This day he was so wiped out from a flu shot he didn't even wake up when kids and stuff piled around him.

So much more comfortable (comparatively speaking).

Ha! This point was just an excuse to put more sleeping photos of Hugo. As you can see from Point 1, this Mama is up snuggling bright and early. Speaking of which, my little alarm clock needs to be picked-up from Kita.

Anniversary Bonanza

 November 3, 2021 5:00 AM thoughts

Paige: "Who is next to me in bed?"

Paul: "Why is everyone naked?"

Marriage for nine years. End of blog post. Jokes...

We're done with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease but now we're onto colds with coughs which means we're playing "musical beds". Paul is typically in what we call the "sensory deprivation hole":

King bed behind curtains, behind a door, with a sound machine and earplugs. This part of the house with the sound blocking is the only place to escape the noises of these people:

Seen here "winding down for bed"

The hope for king bed was actually to both sleep together, but you can see where I slept last night:

Twin mattress on the floor in the hallway. 

Crosby quarantined his cough in the office:

Note the new anniversary artwork. Apparently 2020 was the year of funny zoom backgrounds but in 2021 everyone is supposed to have well decorated offices. The placement of the frames is far apart, but otherwise Paul's head on the zoom screen blocks the art. Three frames would also be a solution but we adhere to a "free pile only" art policy. Our neighbors (thanks Pretes!) who lent or gave us most of the furniture in this room only had two posters. As we moved here with just suitcases (13 to be exact) - we've bought double of most things - bikes, kitchen supplies, furniture, bedding - but art is a bridge too far. In any case, the purpose of this art is zoom appearance not good interior design. ha!

Carmen and Hugo started out in the "kids" room:

Again, seen here "winding down for bed". We moved Carmen into the boys' room about a month ago. We put her in her black out tent (bottom left) and zip her in with a sound machine. In the morning, Hugo typically zips her out, earlier than his kid alarm clock tells him he is aloud to be up, and then takes off her diaper (and her clothes with it). This explanation explains the how, but not necessarily why, they both came into the office, where we were sleeping that night, at 5 am on our anniversary.

Last night she was up for an hour at 1:00 am so she was demoted to the bathroom closet. I'm not joking, but also not providing any photo evidence.

While the original purpose of putting Carmen in with the boys for Paul and me to be reunited at night has largely been unsuccessful, we do now how a great work out space and great coach:

Insert joke about "making a better door than a window".

Shocker - it turns out our work-outs are more effective without the kids. Our goal is to work out for a half-an-hour after Kita drop-off before Paul needs to start working. He's back in the office three days a week starting December 1, so we will have to make a new plan then. For now, our goals are modest - not injuring ourselves. 

Back to our anniversary, as our actual anniversary fell on a Wednesday, we did our real celebrating on Saturday. We started by finally executing a brilliant decor idea from my uncle Karl.

While visiting in the summer of 2019, Karl marveled at the manhole covers on the streets of Berlin and said he'd thought about making etchings from the cities where he travels. A man of action, he got the supplies and we searched around in over 100 F / 40 C heat to then not find any of the pretty manhole covers. We did, however, find some interesting designs at the Berlin Wall memorial (far right) while he was visiting. About a year ago the littles and I finally made a manhole covering with the kids - center (can't find the picture of us making it). 

Finally, the last week of fall break, Crosby and I finished the project with a Bonhoeffer plaque at the large Zion church near our house where Bonhoeffer discipled young men during their confirmation. I read Bonhoeffer's Life Together 12+ years ago with some of then college girls I love the most, who have since gone on to do amazing things. Bonhoeffer also has a special place in my heart after Connor read this passage at my mom's funeral. 

Crosby is amazingly creative (and nimble). Creating this project together was one of my greatest joys.

I pushed Crosby up on the ledge. Then I wheeled my bike around to stand on the baby seat to (per Crosby's suggestion) put a black border around the sketch. I should take a closer photo of the finished result, but you'll just have to come visit to see it.

This art project was a bit of a deviation from the "free pile art only" rule as we did have to buy frames. But, this project fulfilled a Berlin adventure itch - to take a cargo bike to Ikea.  I convinced my neighbor, Emily, to let me peddle her. Then I convinced her to let me take her baby on the bike back while she took the big frames and Crosby home on the tram. I spent the ride home sniffing baby Tilly while feeling like I was cheating on Carmen.

This photo is slightly misleading as I dropped the two littles off at Kita before heading to Ikea, but you get the picture. Bike Party.

Speaking of party, Paul and I went on a fancy date for our anniversary celebration evening at a former club turned fancy restaurant called Crackers:

Tequila cocktail - check

German custom of gratuitous F@#$ usage to be cool - check

Enter through the kitchen - check

Morning after breakfast cake - check