David's Birthday

I just love this boy.  He is so sweet!  And of course, every mom says it, but I can't believe he's already 4!

First we went out to lunch, and David got to pick his favorite place. He really wanted strawberry pancakes from Skyline Inn, even though his big sister kept trying to talk him into McDonalds.

Later we held a birthday party at the park and invited all his new friends.  We had hot dogs and chips, then cake. Unfortunately we found out after the party that some people hadn't received the email. Oops. Big sorry to anyone who did not get invited, we thought you did and just didn't like us! David loved his cake that Daddy found for him. It is a construction scene, complete with giant pieces of chocolate cake for dirt and rocks.

This is my favorite picture of all, David with his Daddy! Thank you everyone who came, and made the day special!

Walking Away

In the search for simplification in packing today, I asked my daughter an interesting question.  What would you like to leave behind?
Her answers were interesting and insightful.  She wouldn't mind leaving behind all but her favorite pair of shoes, that one pair she wants to wear every day that I am not so fond of.  She wants to bring home her bike lock and her coloring book, but other than that, she is ready to leave behind all her toys.  The only category I was eager thin that she wouldn't give on was stuffed animals.  So then I asked her which one she would pick if she could only take one.  First it was the baby doll, then it was the purple stuffed dolphin.  She admitted the crocodile could be left.
After some time her zeal for our game faded and she started telling me what she wanted to keep instead.  So I asked her to pick only four things.  After three she was having to search.  My point is that all this time I thought she would be more upset if we didn't bring these various toys and objects home.
In my life, I feel like I have become jumbled up in all these possessions that we acquire over time.  How I wish I could be like my little daughter, ready to drop almost everything at a moment's notice.  I fret over what I should or shouldn't keep, what I might need later, and how I should get rid of things.  Here in Germany there is no Goodwill, and with the novelty of a different culture we have picked up this and that and now have too much to fit in my luggage.  And there is a portion of me that wants to just leave it all behind rather than taking the time to carefully pack it and lug it through the airport.
To be able to gracefully and quickly let go of all but a few things that are useful to who I am today - that is certainly a virtue I would love to rekindle.

On another note, I think have secretly been trying to teach my kids to love things, without noticing it.  Bred out of the simple desire to have my children appreciate their blessings, I find us saying things like, "You better eat up, this is the last time we'll ever get to eat doner."  Do I really think my kids will miss it that much?  Perhaps I encourage in them the very flaws that now haunt me as I try to pack to go back to the states.  The idea that I will be sorry when something is gone, that I will miss it - most often, when I observe my children I find that this is rarely true.  Perhaps a fleeting desire for old things pops up.  I find it to be the worst though when I get rid of something that I don't like but I know they do.  How is that fair?  Of course I would be upset if you took away one of my favorite things.  But I think that for fear of such feelings I often hold onto things that have long since fulfilled their purpose or hold little meaning to me.
There are many reasons we hold onto things, but I hope as I pack I can be a little more like a child and learn to let go without batting an eye.  Because it sure is better to travel with a lighter load.

It's the Final Countdown!

    Grandma Olsen asked about school and church after my last post.  I haven't said a lot about it because not much was going on.  I did not receive a calling here because, as the bishop puts it, three small children is a calling.  I do occasionally get asked to fill in odd jobs though, like in nursery during ward conference or playing the piano.  Jeff, on the other hand, was called as a secretary in the elders quorum.  His first question was how could he be a good secretary without complete fluency in German!  I think it will be a learning experience and a good opportunity to increase his language skills.  Sometimes it can be hard to get people to converse with you in German here!

   School for Jeff has been going for several weeks now.  I think he is finding fall term a little more rewarding and settled than summer.  The students that made up the summer program were from all around the globe, and as you can guess, they were here more to experience the culture than to learn anything they couldn't have learned at home.  I think the particular flavor of "lets party!" did not mess well with our personal goals.  We really are here to study international law and business.  Also, our idea of experiencing German culture can vary quite a bit from the average student in the summer program (think drinking...).  With our small kids in tow, we go to parks, the pool, the zoo, church activities, and eat German food, and a healthy helping of Turkish sandwiches too!  While other students are at the bar "networking," Jeff is at home helping with the kids.  So you can see how there was a little bit of a feeling of disillusionment and disconnect between us and the other students that was frustrating at times.  We have far more responsibilities in life, and that is just a fact, and I think that makes us much more serious and goal oriented.  We have fun too, but our definition of fun is different.
   At the start of fall term, it was asked for a show of hands who was married.  Out of about 110 students, only Jeff raised his hand.  A bit awkward, but at least people know not to hit on my husband now!  Even so, fall term has been different so far.  There is more of a vibe of studiousness coming from the students I get to meet and the program in general.

  The real reason I started writing this post today, though, was to ask for some opinions about schooling in general.  Fall classes for OSU started this Monday.  I'll admit insanity - I signed up.  I can already hear the groans.  I know, I have three kids three and under, a husband in law school, and we live in a foreign country!  How could I possibly take on any more?  I should just stick to surviving.  This is what I hear you say in my head.    However, I currently have access to some of the best, most affordable childcare in the world.  I don't want to put all my kids in, but having Ariana there part of the time is a wonderful thing, because the other two kids are much less mmm...demanding (I don't want to make my child sound bad, but she can be very high maintenance and draining).  Even if I don't go to school, she is attending the Kita three days a week.  She loves it there and comes home covered it all sorts of craft supplies.  I think that with this arrangement, part time school would not be very difficult.  I signed up for full time though, because it is easier to drop classes than to get in last minute.  Another factor that pushes me to try to take classes every term is that I really feel silly with three fourths of a degree.  The closer I get to the end the harder it becomes, but it feels like I would be wasting years of work not to finish.  I know that I still have the knowledge and experience gained from that time, but there is something about getting a piece of paper that says you made it that I'm sure is very fulfilling.
   After looking over the books for the courses that have come in the mail, I have a dilemma though - I've realized I can't stand my major!  Some background - I was never quite sure what I wanted to do with my years of schooling and so I have floundered around for 3 of the four theoretical years it takes to get a degree.  I never really wanted to train for a vocation, I just wanted to be well educated.  So I am.  I have taken everything from History of Science to advanced levels of calculus, from hip hop dance to Entrepreneurship.  But I do not have enough of any one kind of knowledge to achieve that golden little piece of paper that is supposed to be the point.
  I am also hampered in by the fact that I do and will always put the well being and happiness of my children first.  This has made me wonder on occasion if I should even bother finishing, because it makes me stressed and crabby and I sometimes take that out on them.  However, I know that I was very inspired by the fact that my mother was college educated, and I feel that my children deserve to know by example how I feel about becoming an educated person capable of understanding at a greater depth the world around them.  Not only do I benefit myself by becoming better, I benefit my posterity.  Long-winded and lofty, but that is my thinking.
  Putting my kids first to me means not sending them to childcare.  We've tried it, and it was horrible for the whole family.  It put stress and strain on each individual and on our relationships with each other.  This means that a traditional degree achieved by showing up in class everyday is not suitable.  Fortunately, OSU has a great online program which allows me to stay up till three in the morning learning economics while my children sleep.  On the other hand, many of the degrees that would have been some of my first choices are not offered because of the difficulties of online classes and their relatively lower popularity.  Like math.  I was going to study math.
To make a very long story short...math, business, HDFS.  Like math, but don't want to be a teacher and the math department will never give you your pin to sign up for classes.  The Business school hands out pins like candy <3.  Want to start a business, but adviser tells me "our program sucks for that (really, WTH do you teach then?!) get different degree with a minor in business then an MBA instead,"  OKAY... so I switched to Human Development and Family sciences after taking a child development course and a parenting research course and really liking them.  Probably because I have kids.  (I even get bored telling the whole story of my major woes and flip flops in person!)
  I have not officially changed my major yet from business (because it is soooo easy to get your pin from the business school) but I had already shifted the focus of my course loads for the last two terms to HDFS, which can be completed all online through a new major they added this year.  BUT.....
  I signed up for Family Violence and Neglect.  There are three different texts for this course, all with pictures of sad children on the front.  I read through one of the books and had nightmares all night, and I will never be able to get some of those stories out of my brain.  Thanks a lot!!  But more than that, I realized that all this major does is train you to work for DHS (and those people, while I appreciate what they do, sort of, I would rather die than have their job!).  Okay, so I am a bad person for not wanting to help poor in money and poor in brain people along in life via distributing government programs.  I hate it and I am okay with that.  Now that I take another look at the course requirements for the major I realize that I was just fooling myself that I would like these courses.  Torture would be a better word.  (I'm paying money for this, so I think it should at least be useful and enlightening, not something I loath and dread).  But now what am I supposed to do to get that illustrious piece of paper at the end of the rainbow??
  Here is how I have narrowed it down.  I don't know what I want to do, or even if I want to study to pursue a career later.  But I do want to finish.  And I don't want to stress, I want to learn.  And I don't want to put my kids in childcare much.  So - online and part time is the verdict so far.
  The online degree program has 13 available degrees (just another sign for those of you who are superstitious that I should obviously quit now!).  I narrowed that down to Economics, Sociology, and maybe Environmental Science.  And I am leaning toward Economics, even though is seems like it might be somehow sinful to study money all day.    All these degrees can be finished online, probably in two years or so doing only part time.  And I really need to decided, like today, so that my Family Violence books stop haunting me, and I don't get charged any extra tuition.  But it's a decision that will affect me for the rest of my life and I can't afford, quite literally to pick wrong again...ARG! *Stephanie disappears in a whirlwind of frustration and anxiety*

If you have made it to the end of this rambling, please congratulate yourself by adding extra length to it!  I would really like to know:
Did you go to school and finish?  What did you study, and how did you choose it?  For example, was it required to take a basic course, and then you liked that course so you continued?  Did you take a minor, or just use your electives to study different things that you were interested it, or more coursework for your major because you really loved it that much?
Did you feel like you learned what you wanted to, or did you just feel like you were jumping through hoops to get a job at the end?

 

The next great adventure...

We have been living abroad for almost three months or so now, so I guess the new had rubbed off of good ole Hamburg. The travel bug bit us again, and we decided to take off for the great and beautiful north. Our first stop was the northern tip of Denmark. Okay, so we could have seen waves coming together on some other beach, but these waves were from two different bodies of water! We rode on a trailer dragged by a huge tractor (okay, a little un-romantic, but a little cool in a big monster truck sort of way). Jeff and the kids made a little sand castle, then we rode back.

Next, we stayed in Copenhagen. We paid lots of money to stay in a tiny room with two bunk beds. The next morning we took the bus into the center of town. The bus deposited us in the biggest gay-pride party of all time! I think if I ever see rainbow colored ice-cream (or anything else of that color pattern) again, I will run away screaming. We tried to follow a walking tour of the city, but aparently in was designed around the sponsoring businesses, so after a while we left the path to hit up the free Danish museum. Free exhibit, super expensive everything else. We walked through looking at old stuff while our kids ran around screaming until we couldn't take it anymore. After looking at the price of food there, we left and meandered around town some more. After walking past yet another canal, Ariana piped up that she would like to go on a boat. This is a more common request than you might think, but this time we gave in. We paid for the nearby boat tour that took us around canals and out into the harbor, to take a look at such things as the royal palace, the naval base, and some really old buildings. The tour guide repeated everything in three languages (danish, english, spanish?) and still didn't get any tips at the end! We had eaten some pastries with hot dogs in the middle and a red sauce (sold by 7 eleven of all things, but it was something local). After that we tried to make it back to the bus stop. Between us and the bus stop: "Tolerance Block Party." I can't exactly describe what it was like to try to push our way through the throng of multicolored, undulating drunk party-goers with a stroller configured for three children. Lets just say it passed like a bad dream. Or like what I always imagined a person on LSD sees while they are hallucinating. Really colorful and so weird you don't believe your eyes. We finally made it to the bus stop on the other side of the huge celebration and headed for the hotel.

After we made it back, we decided to visit the temple in Copenhagen. It is a beautiful brick building with a small garden area that looked so peaceful in the evening hours. We were glad for the visit even though it was closed.

We continued on our journey the next day straight through Sweden. Yes, straight through. There is nothing wrong with Sweden, we just couldn't find an ATM. We drove all the way to Oslo in Norway and had to pay for gas and toll roads with a credit card.

We didn't actually stay in Oslo, but in a hotel near the airport about half an hour's drive from the city. The next morning we drove back into Oslo to spend the day. First we hurried to see the changing of the guards at the palace. We saw some of the royal gardens (and the "royal ducks" in the royal pond). Then we walked down to the harbor and had ice cream and hot dogs at a playground built on the docks. We walked up to the fortress, but by that point in the day the buildings were closed, so we just looked at the view. We came back to the car to find a parking ticket (apparently we hadn't quite understood the directions of the hotel staff...or the signs in Norwegian).

Today we left the hotel and drove north. And drove, and drove. And drove. We drove through mountains, passed valleys and lakes, all of it breathtaking. Don't get me wrong, cities have their perks. I just can't seem to remember what any of them are when I'm out in a small town or the country-side.

You have never seen beauty until you have seen Norway. We are staying in a small guesthouse somewhere around the middle of Norway in a town of about 240 residents. Our window looks out on one of earth's greatest wonders - a fjord. Now, call me uneducated, but up until about eight hours and sixteen minutes ago, I didn't give a hoot about a fjord. Sure I had heard of them. I could probably have told you geographically what one was and how they are formed. But up until now I had not seen one. Today, I have seen one after another, after another. I am happy to be able to soak up their beauty for the next couple of days, unadulterated by the normal touristic buzz that seems to seep into every travel experience and ebb away some of the magic of the moment and the place. We are staying on a fruit farm in the middle of nowhere, and we have already eaten at the only available food establishment in the area, in the next town over. Most visitors just cook meals from groceries bought at a small store, just like the locals. I love it! Also, we had to take a ferry just to get here, which was cool in and of itself.

It has been a little hard to stay in regular sized hotel rooms with an anything but regular sized family (it's almost 11 and the kids are still going strong). But today made it worth it.

This is the ferry that took us across the fjord. They even packed a tour bus on. One the other side you land and drive straight into a tunnel.

Here is the view from our window and balcony to the right side. Eplet bed and apple started taking guests and making juice in 2004. The building was built by the family in 1945. The other hotel in this small area has been owned and operated by the same family since 1690 (it opened in 1640), but the mystical powers of the internet brought us to this one :> .



Ella has spent many a travel day cooped up in her car seat. Because we don't have a car in Germany, this is a new and rather traumatic experience for her. But she is very glad to be out and to get to be held again now that we are here in Solvorn. Apparently she learned a new trick in those many hours though. She can get her feet to her mouth in a little less than 3 seconds. And I checked....she is completely uninterested in her feet if you take those socks off. I have to keep changing them because she soaks them.

We are so grateful to the many people who helped see us off, and especially our family. We miss you guys!