You Can't Beat 'Em

We tried to speed up our furnishing process by ordering our chouch and chair for the living room from IKEA--where the turnaround time is less than half of most furniture stores and so is the price. It was due to arrive next week, but we got a letter yesterday letting us know that our order had been "delayed" and it should arrive sometime on Week 51. That means the second to the last week of the year. The week of Christmas! which means we'll get our furniture AFTER we return from the states sometime in January.

The good news is that because the stuff we had shipped from home has gotten held up because of work permit stuff, they've decided to air ship it (rather than send it on the slow boat) once all the paper work has cleared. That will mean once it ships, it will be here in about a week to 10 days rather than 4 to 6 weeks.

Here's a picture of Maddie at our train stop. Maddie and I take the train to and from school each day. We get on at Muhlenacker and get off at Alte Landstrasse--just four stops. She still thinks it's fun every day--which either amuses or annoys the other commuters who are riding with us.


These are pictures of the playground at Maddie's school. We can stay as long as we want after school and play. When the weather is good, we usually stay about an hour before heading home.

Skip heads to the states for training next week, and he'll be taking one full suitcase and one empty one to fill up with stuff we can't get here in Germany like cornbread mix, baking soda, baking powder (in Germany, it's only single action, ours is double action), kosher salt, a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween, children's Tylenol, Delsyn (cough medicine), etc. We're not as bad as some people. There are folks here who have peanut butter and macaroni and cheese shipped over on a regular basis.

If you need anything from Germany, let us know before Monday. Skip's got a whole suitcase he can fill!