Mothering in a Season of Darkness

The main goals of my blog are:

Make Paul laugh:

If we owned a coffee table. This would be on it. 

Provide a small source of entertainment for my grandma:

Here's Hugo at celebrating Saint Martin's Day at pre-school. 

Give tips on life in Germany:

I can recommend the new Deutsches Museum for kids who can read.

Dump photos of my kids sleeping in uncomfortable/adorable positions:

Humblebrag about my kids' culinary feats:

AKA how I keep my kids occupied during the endless sick days.

Give product recommendations with no renumeration:

Whoever created these paint my number sticker books is a genius. Also, likely the right corner of this photo is my thumb in the frame, please refer back to goal one of the blog.

And sometimes I turn to the blog to vent. This was a sad and hard year. I was going to declare victory on the darkest day of the year. It's only going to get lighter from here! But sadly we've had more hard news rolling in the last couple days from the states. But we have to keep going...don't we? 

These little people need us to notice their moments of brilliance:

Recognize their limitations:

And recognize the brilliance in their limitations:

Not to mention keeping them fed, warm, and looking awesome.

Thankfully I have a husband who brings the fun: 

And access to good healthcare:

And friends who, when we can visit, don't bat an eye when my kids do this with-in five minutes of showing up at their house.

And friends who, when they can't come to visit, write inspiring books.

And a neighbor who gives you the keys to her apartment so you can read aforementioned book in a quiet cozy living room:

And a new-to-us church community that has held our family up this year through the goop. Tomorrow the kids will be participating in a nativity play to celebrate the birth of Christ: Emmanuel - God with us. This season is hard, but I am thankful that we don't have to do it alone.