Our Anniversary Today!

We celebrated 17 years of marriage on this unseasonably warm, windy day.  It was similar to the weather in Ft. Monmouth, NJ all those years ago when I wore my short sleeved wedding dress!  

It was nice to have this day free to relax.  Tony washed and vacuumed the car while I got ready for our date.  We went to Sindlefingen Steakhouse for dinner.  A wonderful meal and lots of time to talk!  Thanks to our neighbor, Kristin, the girls were entertained with a movie and pizza back at home.  
We are grateful for so many years of good times, great friendship, and committed love.  I love you, Tony, with all my heart! oxoxoxo

Lantern Night

We celebrated St. Martin's Day with Lauryn's German Kindergarten class in the Wald (Woods) tonight.  We all gathered at the Waldheim, a beautiful place in the woods where there were two buildings and a fabulous playground area.  The kids performed a play about St. Martin.  The story is a wonderful lesson in generosity. St Martin gave a needy man his cloak as he was riding by on his horse.  When it became dark, the kindergarteners lit their lanterns (with real candles and flame!) and we processed through the forrest and sang beautiful German songs.  We returned to a banquet of "suss und salzig" sweet and salty treats that were prepared by the parents.  We drank hot "teepunch" (teapunch--hot cider tea) and enjoyed the brisk night air!  Another American family brought spinach dip with blue tortilla corn chips and there was a crowd gathered around.  The German families were asking if the corn chips were dipped in something blue and raving over the flavor of the dip.  We got such a kick out of it, that all the American families have decided to make a Southwestern meal to share at some point during the year.

Grateful and Happy

It is no coincidence that I am getting this blog up and running in November, a month where we reflect on being grateful, and I hope that will be the focus of this blog of ours! 

We are grateful for each other.  It's been a busy time with the move, Tony's travel and our settling in to Stuttgart.  The girls have been great and are enjoying this new home.  We love our new neighbors and hope we can be good neighbors in return.
We are grateful for our home and material possessions.  We pray that material things never become our focus, but over 100 families here in Stuttgart lost their household goods (shipments of everything they brought to Germany) in a warehouse fire last week.
We are happy to be on an adventure sponsored by the Army and can't wait to find out what lies ahead!