Part II - For Part I see below!

Hello, everybody! Let me introduce you to two of our Area Presidency. On the right is President Robert Oaks of the Seventy with his wife. On the left is President Gerald Causee and his wife and 8-year-old daughter. Elder Causee was the speaker at our last zone fireside (our zone is made up of the senior missionaries), and I just have to tell you a smidge about how he received his call to the Seventy just last year. He's the youngest Seventy on board right now, by the way. He has one married daughter (married last November), another college-age daughter, a 16-year-old son, a 12-year-old daughter, and this 8-year-old. Is she not beautiful?!! He said at the beginning of January last year he received a phone call from Elder Dallin Oaks of the Twelve who arranged a teleconference with Elder Causee and his wife. In this teleconference, Elder Dallin Oaks interviewed Elder Causee and his wife for a very, very long time. At the end of the interview, Elder Oaks said, "We will call you toward the end of January and either extend a calling to you or not!" And that is how it was left. Elder Causee said they spent many a sleepless night during January wondering what on earth the call could be, would it even be extended to them, would it not, would it involve travel, moving, up-rooting the family, etc. One night Elder Causee asked his wife what she would do if a call were extended, and she said, "We made that decision years ago when we received our endowments in the temple. Of course we will say yes." So, he left his VERY lucrative position as owner and president of a food chain of some sort in France and has committed himself and his family to Heavenly Father's service. His talk was unbelievably wonderful, and, being a very accomplished pianist, he interspersed several piano numbers during his talk which only added a more wonderful spirit. I didn't even want to come home that night. Go re-read his conference talk from October just for fun.

Well, are you ready for a dumb story? I read on the Internet that on January 9 the moon was supposed to be the biggest it would get all year. So, of course I went searching for a place to get just the right picture while Dad stayed at the office and worked! He just grinned and shook his head at me when I left. I never did catch the moon as it was rising, but I did catch a beautiful sunset, complete with a huge jack rabbit off in the farmer's field. It was so big that I first thought it was a deer! The moon was totally red--sorry it didn't show up that way in the picture.

I continued to wait for the moon, and I was joined by a large hawk. First he flew to the ground just a ways from me, then to the top of this tree, and then...

As I was trying to get a little closer to say hi, he flew off and left me to wait for the moon alone.

Well, I never got a picture of the moon as it came up--too much haze, which of course is too bad, 'cause it looks larger at the horizon, but you can now all say that you saw a picture of 2009's biggest moon!

Here's a view from a little earlier in the evening. Still can't get my pictures in the right order!

This little cottage is the Johannisberg Castle. It is located in a beautiful city called Aschhafenburg or something like that, and the "Seniors" traveled there one Saturday and took a tour. It has been rebuilt twice, once after the 30 Year War and again after the 2nd World War. It's an amazing building, filled with models of many Roman buildings and ruins made of cork, of all things, as well as plaster models of the castle itself in its various stages of ruin/build-up/run/build-up, and of course, rooms filled with original pewter, crystal, china, etc., more rooms with the original beds used by the various kings and princes. The walls and tapestries are remarkable, the walls being covered by silks made in Leon, France, with matching curtains and bedspreads.

Okay, bear with me. Besides watching jack rabbits and hawks, I just love watching people, and this is just a small demonstration of how the Germans spend an afternoon. I told you how the farmers make paths in their fields so people can walk in them, right? Well, here's a small sampling of a typical afternoon, although not too many were out that particular day. Temperatures have been pretty chilly. The temperature that day was 1.5 degrees C.

Here's a mom, baby, and dog. Dogs are more plentiful than children. And, of course, the babies are so bundled up that all you can see are the eyes!

Notice the little lady on the back of the trail in this next picture. In the close-up that follows, you can see that she's all dressed up, complete with her purse. In the warmer weather, you would never see the women in pants, even the young ones. They dress to the hilt and then take off into the fields!

Isn't she cute?

I'm almost embarrassed to show you this picture. You'll have me re-called to home and commit me to the Behavioral Health Unit. I'm really not crazy, but I get excited over weird things. I don't know if it's because of the Frankfurt Airport being so close or the Wiesbaden Air Force Base, or whether there's a German Air Force base close or what, but in the mornings on the way to work we have counted up to 15 jet-streams at a time criss-crossing each other in the sky. I don't know how they keep from running into each other, but Hank and I will each take a part of the sky and start counting. Fifteen has been our highest! This particular picture was taken while I waited for the moon that same evening, but if it had been morning, the sky would have been full of "tails."

We'll end this little tour with a picture of our narrow roads. And this road is actually comparatively wide! Parking spaces are marked on both sides of the road in sequences of 4 or 5 on one side, then 4 or 5 on the other. Thus, if you are traveling down and come to a spot where there are parked cars and there is oncoming traffic, you must pull to the side behind the last parked car, wait for the oncoming traffic to pass, then continue. However, if your side of the road at that moment doesn't have cars parked, you have the right of way, and the oncoming traffic has to wait for you. It's a crazy system, but it seems to work.

This is a Time-Ran-Out-Blog...

We started the month with a bang when we headed to Wes and Sandra Theurer's (Steve's brother and sister-in-law) who live in Wiesbaden! They served us a wonderful meal and made us feel so at home. We're hoping to get them up here for a "walking" tour of Bad Homburg as soon as weather permits, but we won't be able to serve them crab or roast beef like they served us! Wow! They are definitely at home in the kitchen. And they are also just plain generous and wonderful people. Another military family had just arrived in Wiesbaden that week and were living in a hotel until their housing became available, so when Wes and Sandra met them at church, they invited their whole crew (parents and 5 kids) to come as well. I'm sure they ran home and put another roast in the crockpot during church, but they made room for everyone and acted like it was just another walk in the park for them! We totally enjoyed ourselves. Can't wait to see them again.

And speaking of Theurers, these two pictures are for you, Steve. The Germans seem to have a liking for round buildings. There are lots of them over here. Just thought I'd share some engineering with you!

....

HOW MANY SENIOR ELDERS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB????!!!!

This picture made me chuckle. We were at home evening the other night, and one of the elders noticed that a light had burned out. So, he being younger than the elder whose house we were in, was soon standing on the coffee table taking the cover off the light and changing the bulb. Pretty soon, the others had gathered round to offer their suggestions and support, and behold, there was light!

Here's Hank working on his computer in our study/living room one evening. It looks like he's on his way to bed, but we jump into jammies the minute we get home 'cause I'm just not used to 10 hours a day in panty hose! So, if you stop by any time after 5:30 or 6:00 at night, we'll greet you in jammies!

Well, that's all folks. I'll have to finish tomorrow, 'cause we're off to a housewarming for the Howletts (the other indexing couple). They had to move from one apartment to another, so we're getting together to see their new digs and have dinner. Love you all.

More This's and That's

Talk about FRESHNESS! This is how we buy our lettuce, guaranteed fresh! It comes wrapped in a bit of plastic to keep the dirt from straying, and, as you can see, we get a variety of three different types of lettuce with each square of soil. I think it's really quite inventive and remarkable. We love it!
Here's a close-up, just in case you didn't believe me the first time

Here is one of the dearest women you could ever meet. (Sorry the ornament is right above her head--that wasn't planned!) This is Sis. Dulinsky, and I love her to pieces. She has been a widow for nearly 35 years. Her husband died of cancer two months before her third child was born, and she has just had the grit and determination to make life good for her kids and others. In fact, she is the one who helped us get our "registration" for Bad Homburg completed when the Area Office dropped the ball. We got our first ride at 120 kph, except we weren't on the autobahn. She was driving us to her house in a frenzy to pick up a piece of paper she had forgotten that was needed at the Rathaus (city hall). Just a good ol' ride down a country lane! Anyhow, she was wonderful and saved us boo-koo bucks, cause we would have had to pay a penalty in addition to the $75 bucks we each had to pay just to register. Besides, she knew the ropes and spoke German! Hooray!! It took a tremendous burden off our shoulders.

She is a Church Service Missionary right now. Before she retired, she worked for 12 years at the Area Office, where she served under Pres. Uchtdorf when he was Area President. She also comes into the office two afternoons a week to help out. She's a whiz at FamilySearch and also helps at the temple two nights a week to help people get names prepared for ordinance work. She is so energetic and positive! She invited the three couples to her home for cookies and tea, and it was a really spiritual experience for me. Her home is filled with the Spirit, and she shared some special experiences she has had working under Pres. Uchtdorf and others. Anyhow, she had spent three full days baking at least six or seven different kinds of cookies (maybe more), and we each brought some, so we really had our sugar fix for the day!

As usual, I had to take a picture of her table. The people here are such great hosts--it made me wonder how all of you put up with my serving food from the bar straight from the kettles and then sitting at a bare table! Good grief! Anyhow, she served an orange-flavored-ish tea that I drank just enough of to be polite, but gratefully the others liked it and had seconds and thirds! Just haven't learned to handle that yet!

Her window typifies all German windows at Christmas. I can't wait to find the little "candle holder" (which is really electric). They come in all colors with decorations ranging from nothing to elaborate. The one I hope to find is not just the ladder-type but an ornately carved one of the manger scene. Really fun.

Since she retired, she decided to see if she could learn to play the piano. She's played for nearly a year now, only taking lessons every other week 'cause she can't afford every week. She does really well, and here she is playing Jingle Bells for us, as she wanted to learn it for her grandkids for Christmas! Her faith and testimony are just incredible, and I learn from her every time I'm with her. Just love her!

Guess what's going on here?!?! Yup, Dad's giving me a haircut! Pretty scary, huh? Well, we just stuck to around the ears and the back, so we're still married and speaking! He's a brave man, I'd say!

Or, am I a brave woman?

While Dad was so sick, I worked with the Howletts at the MOC (situated in the Europe Distribution Center up the street from where we work). MOC stands for microfilm ordering center. Anyhow, the whole computer system that deals with the ordering of films in Europe went down, and things got really hairy. Orders were horribly backed up; people hadn't received refunds from films they failed to receive, etc., etc. It was giving the Church a bad name, 'cause about 80% of the people who order films are nonmembers. And on top of that, the Calls brought back another 10,000 rolls of microfilm from Sweden when they shut down one of the family history centers up there that needed to be scanned, labeled, and re-filed. Lots of work to do.

Here's our cutest of cute bosses! Her name is Maggy (for Magnolia), and she's about 20-ish. She was so fun. We just laughed the whole time. Of course, she speaks perfect English, as does everyone else who works for the Church here. Anyhow, she was only hired temporarily to help get this overload taken care of, and she was the right one to hire. She worked like a trojan and was so fast and good. She could run the whole system, I think! She wants to serve a mission (as did her two older sisters and two older brothers)!

This doesn't begin to show how large the MOC is, but it's filled with innumerable drawers and cabinets and files. I just can't imagine what the Granite Vault must look like with it's millions of films. The 10,000 we put away didn't even make a dent in the system here! Sis. Howlett is sitting in the top left of the picture, Bro. Howlett in the center and me on the right.

Bro. Howlett filing away in one of the drawers.

Applying the newly scanned and printed labels for the boxes, which then get filed.

And here we have the Three Amigos! I asked them to all put on their hats one day for me so I could take a picture, and they thought I was out of my mind, but it was worth it!! Dad was made for a "beret"--don't you agree?

They're the real thing!

And, last but not least...We have discovered the answer to the age-old question of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" It was proven scientifically in our last box of eggs that they came together, and here's the proof! The feather was literally stuck to the egg, so I think it is indisputable!

Love to you all!

CHRISTMAS WEEK

We've had a fun Christmas season, and the following pictures will just give you a small flavor. Hank is back on his feet and feeling almost up to par, so we've been out and about quite a bit. Every time I say that, though, I fear you'll think we're never at the office working, and I promise that's not true! The Germans really know how to vacation, though. Most people take many days off. We were warned to have enough groceries for a week, 'cause the markets close for several days--nothing open on the 24th, 25th, or 26th, and never on a Sunday. We could learn a good lesson from that! All the church employees (our bosses, staff, etc.) take a whole two-plus weeks off, from the week before Christmas until the 5th of January, so the office gets pretty quiet with just the three couples tip-toeing around. I thoroughly enjoy it, though!

This first picture was taken on the 14th of December, the night we got to go back to the church for the delayed broadcast of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It's too bad that their talks were all so good, 'cause I had wanted to sneak out in the middle to take a picture of the moon. It was just coming over the mountain (I'm using the term "mountain" loosely) as we drove to the church, and I wanted to catch it just as it got to Moroni, but it had risen too high when the meeting ended. So, here we have Moroni blowing his horn at the moon on a beautiful Sunday night. Our church shares the same block that the temple is on, so we get to see Moroni lots. Feels good.

Then, on a lighter note, here's our little Christmas tree that waited so patiently to be decorated. We finally got to him on Christmas Eve day, and he is truly beautiful--creative, but beautiful! The Calls loaned us a string of lights, Sis. Dulinsky gave us some old ornaments (some of which her kids had made 30 years ago!), and then we used some Christmas ribbon to drape down for some color. We like him!

This little nativity has become a favorite of mine. It was carved by the man who carved our bigger set, and I just love it. I'm going to keep it up all year.

And this little guy became our candlelight dinner tree. We bought it at a ward bazaar in Darmstaadt. It was made by someone there. We were going to paint it when we got home, but the paint may not stick anymore 'cause the wax has dripped down. Oh, well... I hope I can at least get the wax off the table!

Dad gave me a surprise Christmas present. I found an envelope under my pillow one night, and inside I found two tickets to the Nutcracker, to be performed by the Russian Ballet Company right here in Bad Homburg!! This is the Kur Theater where it was held.

Anyhow, the ballet was delightful, the Sugar Plum Fairy a true ballerina, and the prince truly charming. Here the Fairy dances for a few of the toys and dolls. A perfect start to the season!!

Here are your ducks, Andy!! If you have perfect eyesight, you can see them as they walk down the front little berm. I took a close-up of them, but thought maybe you're tired of my animal friends! Kind of a gray day, but we took a walk to check on the times of the Christmas midnight mass at the Catholic and Lutheran churches. This is the Lutheran church (the Erloerser Kirche), and you'll see a smidge of its interior two pictures down from here.

This is the inside of the Catholic church on Christmas Eve. We arrived early (about 9 p.m.) and watched the man light all of the candles in the building and various other preparations. The mass started at 9:30 p.m. The inside of this church isn't as "outstanding" as the Lutheran church in the evening, but it has some incredibly beautiful and huge stained glass windows that can't be beat in the daylight.

The Catholic mass had a little more pomp and ceremony than the Lutheran mass, but it was very lovely. They had some candle-bearing altar boys and a small girl who portrayed some part in the Nativity story, as they accompanied her down the aisle and she put baby Jesus in his Krippe (crib or manger) at the back of the church. My favorite part was the "cantor" (I don't know what the Catholics call him, but the Jews would have called him the cantor). He would go to the pulpit throughout the evening and "sing" some scriptures, and his voice was just beautiful. I could have listened to him all night. They also had some other music consisting of a viola, organ, and a woman singing. Of course, the audience would stand and recite some scriptures and sing occasionally, and I was amazed at the endurance some of those older people had to be able to stand for so long and so often. Very reverent and impressive. We could learn a lot about reverence from them!!

And here is the inside of the Lutheran church (The Erloerser Kirche, or Church of our Redeemer). The whole inside of the building is covered in small mosaic tiles, most gold-leafed. It just shines, and many things are depicted on both the walls and the ceiling, including angels, the Savior, and others. The pastor in this church was a woman. She seemed very sincere, but she seemed to lack much fervor. They had a wonderful choir, accompanied by an organ that comes a close second to the Tabernacle Organ (just kidding, but it was beautiful).

So, the Catholic mass was two hours. It started at 9:30 and went to 11:30 p.m. We left the Catholic mass at 10:45 so we could go to the Lutheran mass (just a block away), which started at 11:00. It only lasted till midnight, so it was an hour shorter than the Catholic mass.

One of the highlights for me was the ringing of the bells before each mass. They would ring for at least 10 minutes. So, we heard the bells from both churches--fun!

And here's Hank doing a little tap dance down the "walking" street in Bad Homburg. Many of the cities have these walking streets, where cars aren't allowed and people just meander up and down. They're fun. Of course, there's a car in the picture to blow what I just said, but an occasional car is allowed for one reason or another, especially at night after the stores close.

Here's one more of our Christmas trees. Every night when we would leave work, we could see this tree out over the fields in the direction of Bad Homburg, but we couldn't for the life of us figure out where it was. It could be seen for miles, and we were really curious. Well, Dad finally figured that it was at the edge of the northeast side of BH, and it faces one of our favorite walking areas (where the farmers leave paths between their fields for people to walk through). This picture was taken from our office road, and ...

this one from a path up a little closer...

You can finally meet the Calls now. They are such hardworking people that you'll always find them in the kitchen preparing, cleaning up, or wherever there's a job to do. They were originally called to be Outreach missionaries (meaning they were in charge of activities for young adults of institute age). They were serving in Darmstaadt under the Frankfurt Mission President. Then the need arose to have more family history missionaries, and they were "switched" to the Europe Area Presidency instead of the mission president, and they were trained (as we were) in family history. Their area of training, though, was in newFamilySearch, not indexing. So, we and the Howletts do the indexing, the Calls newFamilySearch. Elder Call also is in charge of installing new computers in family history centers throughout the area, so they do lots of traveling. Anyhow, meet the Calls:

And this was Christmas dinner with a few of the sister missionaries and some couples. We certainly ate well! The first couple on the right are temple missionaries, then the Howletts, then two sister missionaries who work in finance for the Area, Sister Call, and HMHII himself!! The elders were also there, as well as another couple and one more sister missionary.

So, dear people, too many words and not enough pictures. I'll try to do better! We just wanted to share a bit of our Christmas, which was totally relaxed and enjoyable. Our lives are very blessed and rich, mostly due to loved ones like you.