One Great Day

I was lucky enough to get to go to the Frankfurt temple today. Our young men and women attended this afternoon and the adults did an earlier session. Garrett was on call, so he couldn't go, instead he stayed home with our boys and 2 extras that we have on loan right now. I can't say how much I appreciated him watching 6 boys all day so I could go. It's been over a year since I've been able to go and I can't express the feeling of peace and comfort I felt as I sat down. My friend Leah and I were rushed, of course, to make it on time and a kind older man temple worker said as we entered, "We were waiting for you". As we hurried to get to the first room he said "It's o.k. , we've got all the time in the world." and gave us a big smile. I hope that's the kind of person that I turn out to be like when I grow up. I knew I needed the spiritual recharge, but I was overwhelmed by the feelings of just being there. Thanks for the great day, Leah. What a blessing to have a temple two and a half hours away and a husband who will help me get there!

You're in the Army Now...or What the Government is Doing with Your Tax Dollars...

Have you heard that song "Woah, you're in the army, now!"? We seem to hear it all the time here, in Germany. Being in the army we get to view, firsthand the actual usage of your tax dollars, which is particularly troublesome at times. Garrett brought a microwave to work to use in his office for lunch. The first time he pressed start it flipped the breaker in his office (or should I say the closet which he shares with two other dentists). Now, normal people would just go down and flip the switch, however, when you're in the army, you, as a dentist, are not qualified to deal with the delicate technical issues of breaker switches. Therefore, Heidelberg, the dental military headquarters in Germany, was called and informed of the situation. A technical wizard from Heidelberg (a base an hour and a half away) was informed that the electricity had been compromised in his office. The said technical wizard was given leave to drive from Heidelberg and stay over night (how can one be expected to drive the three hour round trip to Stuttgart and back and flip a switch in one day?), receive additional "away from home" pay and finally restore power to a dark and microwaveless office. "Woah, we're in the army, now."

Memorial Day Camping...in Provence, France!

We wouldn't be real Americans if we didn't go camping for Memorial Day Weekend, even if we did drive to France to do it! This was our first trip to France and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. For years I've heard about the rude French and how they hate Americans, but the people were kind and the the landscape reminded me alot of Utah--a perfect combination. Our time at the campground proved once again that boys are content with rocks and sticks. Joe and Mason played with wooden "light sabers" and Sam and Jacob played a game of baseball. Everywhere we looked we saw beautiful bridges and aquaducts, like the one Garrett and the boys are standing in front of. We went swimming at a lake, hiked and swam in waterfalls, swam at the campground pool and played fussball with a new French friend.

We were a little disappointed to find that the famous fields of lavendar hadn't bloomed yet, but the red poppies were absolutely gorgeous. It reminded us of a more well kept Italy--quite the Mediterranean feel. We read that the French spend more of their income on food than anything else and I can't say we blame them, after trying some delicious French pastries. Each of us thought our own pastry was the best (Of course,mine actually was the best!).

What Wood family trip would be complete without a short trip to Switzerland on the way home? In Switzerland we did some hiking and enjoyed the fairy tale scenery. Garrett is wondering how he can get a permanent job in Switzerland. It's definitely our favorite place to be in Europe.

Chim-Chiminey-Chim-Chim

Yesterday the chimney sweeps came to clean our chimney and I had to take a picture of their outfits. It must have been 80 degrees here and they still wore the traditional chimney sweep outfits--all black with a heavy black, gold buttoned jacket and top hat. If you see them in town the guy is twisting the chimney cleaner-thing (resting on his right shoulder) around and around--it must be like twirling the umbrellas in Seinfeld to drum up business.

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day I bought my mom and mother-in-law the latest book from "The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. I know, I know, we're in Germany and I send a book from Amazon.com--how lame, but all three of us truly love this series. I highly recommend these books. Some of my favorite people have told me that they "couldn't get into it" or that it "was boring" which illustrated personal character flaws that I am working on forgiving. I love you guys, but are you kidding, these are incredibly insightful, clever, humorous and morally sound literature which give us insight into the heart of Botswana and its people. Let's not be so shallow, shall we? Anywho, imagine my delight when I received a package for mother's day from my mother (she always gives us, her children, presents for mother's day. Isn't she cool?) which contained the entire series, including this most recent addition. Between the Lindt chocolates in my room that are screaming to be eaten and my new book, I might not sleep tonight!

So I just realized that I didn't tell you a whole lot about my whole little family and what they did for me for mother's day. This was the first year that each of my boys did something for me for mother's day. I got a card (which I couldn't read--it was all in German) from Mason and a card from Jacob. Jacob also made me a weaving project at school. It was done on nails on a wooden board with string which he has since "borrowed" back to use as a trampoline for his lego guys and Sam made me a heart ashtray, and Joseph has been picking me flowers all week and telling me happy mother's day. Garrett and I made homemade Greek pizza for dinner and listened to Elvis songs. I love cooking with Garrett because he likes to experiment with whatever spices he can find in the cupboards-- I'm much less exciting. It was a great day!

Snail races--the new spectator sport

Rain, rain and more rain...I'm having flashbacks from my childhood in Washington state. Everything here is incredibly green, but the rain has been pretty constant for the last few weeks, with intermittent sunshine. So what do boys do when they're bored inside, but everything is soaking outside? They invent games, like "Snail racing" This is how it works: When it rains, all the snails come out of hiding and the boys walk around the yard, looking for the prime competitors. the put the snails in a row, and they're off--I think they're off, no, maybe they're sleeping right now. For added fun they like to put obstacles in the way, like sticks or rocks. To cheat, they put a wet sponge out and the snails seem to triple their speed across the wet surface (which is still incredibly slow!)

In the winner's bracket Jacob's "Old Timer" tied with Mason's "Garrett". Sam's "Shift" won the obstacle course. Sadly, Joe's "Darth Vader" had an off day. After the boys finished racing the snails the first day, they took a black Sharpie marker outside and wrote their initials on the shells so that they could find them in the next rain. They've continued to do snail races nearly every rain. If that gets boring, what else could they do? Invent a new game, we like to call it "Snail stacking" How many snails can you stack before your pile falls over?

P.S. can you believe that I could figure out how to change the backgrounds? What's next, using the Ipod that Garrett bought me 2 years ago? It's a technological miracle! Thanks Angie!