Winter Break

I haven't blogged much lately.  Adding school teacher to my list of things to do has added a lot of work and time to my days.  I love it, though.  I also always want to post pictures, and sometimes it's not easy trying to collect them from the various locations for the blog.  Anyway, it's late, but I still want to share some cool things that we did over the Christmas break.

First of all, we had the great blessing of having Zaily, our "other daughter," (actually our neighbor in Salt Lake) join us for the season.  It was so wonderful to have her here!  I hated to send her home again.

The week before Christmas was mainly spent in preparation for that special day.  We had a fabulous Christmas!

The boys with the little tree in their room

 The girls with the little tree in their room

Five Kendrick nuts

Hmmm, I can't find the pictures for Christmas day right now.  Well, moving on!

One of Zaily's Christmas gifts was a quick trip to Paris.  Ben, the boys, and Sarah stayed home while I took Zaily, Kayanna, and Molly on a whirlwind day trip.  We weren't there long, but we got to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

On Zaily's last day, we took a trip to Aachen, Germany and Maastricht in the Netherlands.  She came to Europe for two weeks and visited 4 countries.

Abe at lunch in Aachen. 

(My sandwich was amazing!)

Zaily, Sarah, Molly, and Kayanna in Aachen

 Ben and Abe enjoying afternoon snack in Maastricht

The girls eating ice cream

I was puzzled that they wanted ice cream when it was so cold outside!  I had a delicious waffle, and Ben chose hot chocolate.

It was pretty miserable weather, so we didn't wander around much more than to find a warm place to eat.  It was still great.

Life these days is pretty busy.  The system at Ben's work went live, so this month is nuts.  He is working 10-12 hour days.  We live about 35 minutes from work, so he's gone a lot.  It's still better than being across the world from each other.  School is going well.  I enjoy being able to choose what and how to teach the kids.  Ben and I also go visit people with the missionaries when we can.  I love being able to help with missionary work.

Dishwasher Saga and Other News

As I have mentioned previously, our automatic dishwasher ceased functioning about 3 weeks ago.  It took several days to tell our landlord about the problem.  On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, he removed the old dishwasher and said the new one would be there on Wednesday or Thursday.  It wasn't.  I probably misunderstood.

The new dishwasher arrived Friday night. We came home from our date to find it installed and prepared to run a cycle. It wouldn't start. The manual was in French and three other languages, none of them English. Ben called customer service today. The remote diagnosis from the flashing lights was that either it was installed incorrectly or the heating coil is bad. The representative said they could send someone out to check. Ben said he'd call back and let them know. He had called from a U.S. number and didn't say we were in Belgium. I guess we'll call someone here on Monday.

I told our landlord that it wasn't working earlier today before we called customer service.  He wasn't happy, either.  It's quite a nice and expensive dishwasher.  

So, instead of an old broken dishwasher, I have a new broken dishwasher.  Good thing I have lots of kids to help wash all the dishes they generate.

In other news, we had a baptism in our branch today!  We have been working with the sister missionaries as they have taught this wonderful woman.  It was a beautiful service.  Our daughters even sang in French and did a great job.  (She made me feel grateful for my situation because her clothes washer was broken.  I'd rather hand wash dishes than clothes, that's for sure.)  We visited her this evening again with the sisters, and it was so much fun to see the light in her face.  She will be confirmed tomorrow at church.

Thanksgiving!

Dinner turned out just fine.  I did NOT have to pluck the turkeys (well, not much), but they cost far more than I was expecting.  Between the hassle and the cost, if I'm here next year, I think I'll just buy turkey cuts at the store.

We had 4 missionaries here, who were all a great help.  I never would have finished in time if it weren't for them!  The sisters helped tons with the cooking (especially the pies), and the elders helped with setting up the extra table and entertaining the boys.

Ben's coworkers arrived.  They brought lovely hostess gifts: a bouquet of tulips and chocolate.  Peter also brought some delicious homemade sauerkraut.  Peter was born in Poland, but he is in the process of receiving his American citizenship.  Having him join us at this American holiday was a special pleasure.  The kids love that he brought each of them a chocolate bar and a chocolate advent calendar.

We had turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato and peach casserole, green beans, a spinach salad, and sauerkraut.  We honored the local traditions by eating baguettes instead of homemade rolls.  For dessert, we had pumpkin pie (from fresh pumpkins) and apple pie.

It was odd to have a house full of friends and strangers instead of family, but it was great to enjoy the holiday and celebrate the many blessing we receive daily.

The next day we had a Relief Society meeting about gratitude and holiday traditions around the world.  I brought leftovers to share, introducing them to the wonderful turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich.  The other sisters brought amazing food, too.  I have eaten a little too well this weekend, I think!

We still don't have a dishwasher, but Ben and the kids got the kitchen clean before I got home from the activity.  I enjoyed a nap and a leisurely afternoon.

Thanksgiving Preparation

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving yesterday.  Since it's not a holiday here, we planned our Thanksgiving dinner for Friday night.  We invited several people from Ben's work and all 4 missionaries from our branch.  They usually can't eat together at a member's home, but since Ben is now the Branch Mission Leader, they can!

10 days ago, our dishwasher broke.  Last Saturday, our landlord came and pulled it out, assuring me that the new one would be installed Wednesday or Thursday evening.  As I start this post, it's Friday morning, and the dishwasher is not yet installed.  On Wednesday night, my slow cooker pot got broken.  I was counting on it for my sweet potatoes, so I needed to replace it.

Yesterday was my day to get all the errands done so I could just cook today.  In Utah, when you go to the kitchen appliance section, there is usually a decent selection of slow cookers.  Not here!  I started looking at about 8:45.  After 6 or 7 stores, I had finally found one by 2:00.  It was also tough to find a roasting pan large enough for a small turkey.  Speaking of turkey, I ordered my turkey on Monday.  The lady was quite shocked when I requested a 22-pound bird.  Apparently they're not usually over 11 pounds here.  When we spoke later in the week, she did say they had found one of about 16 pounds.  I just called her, and it hasn't been delivered yet.  I hope that it arrives in time to cook it and especially that it doesn't still have feathers.

Yesterday I did succeed in finding bacon (we like to cover the turkey with it) and fresh cranberries!  I felt truly blessed to find everything I needed yesterday.  Well, except the turkey and the pastry blender.

This morning, Ben woke up with a terrific headache.  He is trying to recover enough to go to work.  I'm wondering when my turkey will arrive at the shop.  I'm also wondering if he'll feel well enough by this evening to have a party.  I guess I'd better go make pies and other such things that can be done this morning.  I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Veterans Day

Today is a national holiday in Belgium.  In America, we celebrate Veterans Day, but here, it is even a day for schools, banks, and other businesses to close.  On 11/11/18 at 11:11 am, the armistice with Germany officially began.

We went to a ceremony at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery for a special Veterans Day ceremony.  The kids didn't really want to go, but I felt that it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a celebration of the end of World War I inside one of the countries so heavily affected.  The gratitude of the Europeans for the Americans' part in their liberation is still very strong.

The ceremony was rather simple, but as I looked across the cemetery to the flag while the national anthem played, I was so grateful for the freedom purchased by the sacrifice of those many fallen soldiers.