Countdown to Goodbye! Life is Good.

I can't believe, we'll sending our Michaela off to Europe in just over 30 days. Michaela's Mission Call Video We won't see her for 18 months. That's a long time to say goodbye to one of your babies. Will we miss her? Yes, we will. Do we still want her to go? Yes, we do! Why? Because this is a dream come true for her. She has wanted to serve a mission for the LDS Church her entire life. Is she prepared? YES! She has been preparing for this since she was small. She is so excited to serve her Savior and to help others to feel His love. She has spent the last few months, since she's been home from college, studying her scriptures, the missionary manuals, and taking care of all the travel logistics (passport, visa, etc). She's been studying the German language her entire life, but these last few months, she has really upped her intensity. She has been studying grammar like never before...and it's slowly starting to make more sense to her. It's fun to see the grammar finally start to click. Just today, she pointed out that "Wir gehen ins (in das) Haus hinein" and that we use "das" because it's accusative! Yay!! I think she's getting it!! She constantly comes to me with grammar questions and it's so fun to see her intense desire to really learn.

Apparently, her German is good enough that she tested out of the language training in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). They had her call in and do a phone interview, after which they told her that she would be training with the other native German sisters and that she would only be in the MTC for 2 weeks instead of the usual 6 weeks (required when you're learning a foreign language).

We started a blog for her and she did her first post today: Miss Michaela On A Misson! It's hard to think that we only have just over a month left. Her little Simon is already missing her so much. He and Michaela have such a special bond. It will be very hard for him and for Clarissa and Jonathan, as well. But they  understand that serving a mission is a good thing. They are so proud of their oldest sibling, Ben, who is currently serving a mission in Wisconsin: While in Wisconsin. They pray for him every single night; they talk about him and they draw him LOTS of pictures, which we mail to him regularly.

We are so excited for all the fun adventures that Michaela will have in Germany. We're happy that she gets to make some wonderful memories in a country that is dear to our hearts. It will be fun for her to learn more about the local culture and to get to know the wonderful people. It makes me excited just thinking about it. There is just so much to be grateful for! Yes, life is good!!

German Storytime at the Library

Last week I got an email from the German American School of Portland about a German Storytime at a local library as part of their international storytime week. I must have given the school my email when I was attending a Christmas Market event last December. I have been trying to find other German speaking children with whom my kids can interact. So, now and then, when I hear of German events, I will attend them to see if we can find some other German speaking children in the area. 

The kids were excited for German Storytime. They thought it was neat that we were going to hear German stories at the library. The lady who told the stories did an excellent job. She was extremely engaging and had the kids on the edge of their carpet squares. She didn't read books, she told (and acted out) the stories. Even my little Simon, who tends to be very bashful in public settings, was excited and blurted out responses to her questions. While she was telling the story, my kids would often look back at me with a "knowing nod". It was their way of saying: "Hey, mom, this is our language and I understand this. How cool is that?" Our fun German experience was over too soon. Afterwards, I found a couple of the moms to see if anyone was interested in forming an informal playgroup.