Merry Christmas!

We haven't updated this as much as we had planned.. but especially for Christmas we will add a little bit of info about our daily lives... and our latest news!

We have had a really enjoyable fall... well, actually looking back, it has rained every day except for maybe two days and we feel like we completely understand the German love of tanning beds.. any thing with strong light! It does keep the country green, and we are just amazed at the green green grass even in December. I thought you needed light for photosynthesis!

Isaac has been playing tennis and soccer... we are just as shocked as you, but his more favorite 'american' sports just aren't available, and he is finding that these are fun too. He joined the chess club at school. I finally gave him the go ahead on the Harry Potter books this fall, and he read all seven, beginning in August and ending in November! He loved them all. Alissa has really found a teacher in 2nd grade that she adores, and who adores her too. We have also become friends with her p.e. teacher that told us a cute story about a soccer game they played: Ali scored 5 points for the blue team, the teacher asked her to switch teams to make it a little more fair and then Ali scored 6 for the white team... to win. Blue team 5, white team 6. Go Ali!
Amanda has found her stride in all day kindergarten at the international school. I miss her a lot, but Ian (surprisingly) has never missed her, even for a second. She loves all things pink and pretty, and fuzzy... and is asking for a baby doll again this Christmas (four years in a row). Her favorite day of the week is ballet lesson day! Ian is still the family clown, and is really enjoying his new found freedom from German preschool (long story) but we will really enjoy this year and a half together until we return to the states and 'have to' send him to school. Ian and I are going to make a last ditch effort to learn German together for the second half of our rotation... wish us luck!

We are back in the States for the Holidays and are enjoying all the parking lots, shopping malls, enormous grocery stores, SUVs, etc. etc. etc. that make the USA the USA. And from our perspective it really is a treasured and special thing. We are also enjoying the company of family and friends that we haven't seen for a long time. We look forward to more travels and every day cultural eye openers in the months to come.

We wish you all the very best of the Christmas Season.