Catching Up

Oh, I have fallen woefully behind on picture posting! While the camera loads our 500 neglected photos from which I can choose but--um--five, I will try to recap some highlights of the last few (very!) busy weeks. In reverse order:

Yesterday Justin and I sang Mir Wird Nichts Mangeln, the 23rd Psalm auf Deutsch, in a quartet (+ 2) at the funeral of Schwester Gisela Berndt. Sister Berndt's oldest daughter is the wife of our former Stake President and mother of 8 children (that's saying something anywhere, but especially in Germany), her second daughter is the wife of the Institute Director, and her son is our former bishop and current member of the Stake Presidency. Bruder Berndt was in the Area Presidency for a long time which may be part of the reason a personal letter from the First Presidency was read at her funeral. Our very first Sunday here I mentioned that I had accidentally packed up my temple recommend in a storage shed in New Haven and the Stake President and Bishop immediately bent over backwards to have a new recommend issued by the following Sunday. That was only the beginning of so many small acts of kindness and concern we received from members of Sister Berndt's family that though we hardly knew the woman except through her wonderful children and grandchildren, it was a high honor to pay our respects to her by singing in her Traurigfeiern.

We bought a year pass to Legoland. I didn't take my camera because I figured 3 on 1 odds were bad enough without throwing a camera into the mix, but Eli has designated the Saturday after next for a whole family outing to the place. In case I don't even get pictures up from that excursion, interested parties can take a video tour here. We're planning lots of visits during the yucky Berlin winter since it's only five stops away on the bus.

Julia began learning to crochet. And she learned the European way from the wife of our home teacher, so you know her nose-warmers will be quality.

Julia and Eli warmed up to school, so Justin and I were able to start taking our weekly museum dates. Justin may have mentioned our first visit to the Gemäldegalerie. It sits just across the street from where Justin works so we'll probably visit that one a lot. Albrecht Dürer is our favorite artist so far, but my enjoyment of the Gemäldegalerie was far surpassed by the Pergamonmuseum. Tears. Literally. The frieze is just breathtaking, and the way they've arranged everything is so impressive in its root sense. The gates from the Market of Miletus and Babylon were remarkable as well. The next week we tried to go to the Bode Museum to see the Italian Masters exhibit, but opted for the Alte Nationalgalerie after we saw the line and noticed how close we were to Katharine's lunch time. We only saw the first floor. Katharine's favorite was a sculpture of Dornroeschen.

Speaking of special dates, Justin and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! The best eight years of my life, each better than the last. The girls and I went shopping for Justin at H&M, finally persuaded by the U-bahn ad campaign that features a model who looks just like him when he's due for a hair cut and happened to drag his hair through a tub of Crisco. Er sieht sehr huebsch aus, naturlich. Justin wrote me Anniversary Sonnet no. 8 (which, like the years, get better with each passing one) and bought me The German Genius. This is how he sabotages my German study, by buying me riveting books in English.

Our anniversary coincided with General Conference, the viewing logistics of which were pretty crazy, but was a wonderful experience nevertheless. 10 am in Utah is 6 pm in Deutschland, and between-session picnics are better for Sunday, not Saturday, so we'll be sure to cart our quiche the correct day next time.

I taught two sessions of Institute and Justin started his regime as Dahlem Ward Choir Director. Justin commented after his first rehearsal today that this is probably what people who despise public speaking feel like after teaching their first Sunday School lesson. This may be the most growth-inducing calling Justin will ever have.

Julia is in the middle of school vacation, but Eli has stalwartly marched on to Kita alone regardless. Three cheers for stalwart Eli! But Eli only goes for 3 hours and then we have "German School" to try to help her learn extra words so she'll feel empowered when she goes to Kita the next day. One recent session was spent practicing useful playground phrases, another was spent snapping pictures of common verbs she employs in order to make flashcards, and another instructing her step by step auf Deutsch how to make a clown out of shapes. Julia's vacation has messed us up, but we're excited to get back to it in another week!

I don't think we ever recorded that Julia lost both of her front teeth. And with that prosy piece of news, I think we're done!