Success!?

On Monday we headed into the city with David for our third attempt at applying for our drivers licenses. We won't be completely sure until we actually have our German licenses in hand, but for now I'm calling this third trip a success! It took us an hour on the subway to get to this new Drivers license Amt (what is that called in English? Agency? It seems like all the government type things are called "Amt's"), much to our delight there was no line, and limited paperwork to fill out. The girl helping us spoke some English so we were able to complete the whole process in a kind of English/German conversation. The whole thing took about 20 minutes and 50€. Supposedly we will have be able to go pick up our new licenses in 5-6 weeks. I really can't wait! I think a car will make our lives to much easier for certain things. We attend a small group with our church, which we absolutely love, but the commute for us by train/foot is an hour and a half including 19 agonizing minutes of standing on the train platform because we miss our connection by a minute! With a car we'll be able to get to small group in less than a half hour, and we won't have to endure the end of the day, cranky, tired, David  on our trip home from church on Sunday nights!

My German class continues to go well. I feel like I'm really getting better at understanding German all the time, and I'm even able to make some complete sentences when I'm feeling really brave. This week I wrote numerous emails in German with only a tiny bit of help from google translate (for translating words I don't know, I've found google translate to be worthless for questions of grammar/sentence structure.) On Wednesday a gentleman from our church came over for dinner, and we spent a good 10-15 minutes having a conversation in German which was great. I'm trying to be more confident and just go for it with speaking, because when I do it's like I can feel my self getting better by the minute. It's one thing to know how to say stuff in your head, but you have to say it out loud a lot of times before it starts coming out the way you want it to. I still have a loooong way to go though. I tried to talk to the non-english speaking teacher at James' kindergarten this week, and I told her a gift we had given her was for "his baby" (sein Baby) instead of "your baby" (ihr Baby) sigh, it's not that I don't know the correct word, it's just in the moment I get all flustered and the wrong stuff comes out! The whole formal/informal thing always really messes me up. I know I'm not supposed to use informal with James' teachers, but I never practice the formal, so I end up using the completely wrong form! Luckily they're generally patient and forgiving, but still, it's frustrating. It gives me a little window into what things must be like for David.

Speaking of David, he's talking so much now. It's adorable. He still doesn't speak in sentences, but he'll string all these words together with lots of "filler" in between, kind of like a cross between grunting and saying um. Last week he fell at the Kinderpark (first big accident we've had, stressful!!) and cut his head open so one of his teachers drove us to the local Doctor. We were afraid he'd need stitches, but luckily just a few butterfly strips was sufficient. Anyway, now if you ask him about his head he'll say. Uh, uh, uh, head, uh, uh, uh, ouch, uh, uh, cah, uh, uh, uh, doctah, uh, uh, ban-ban (bandaid). I can't really give it justice in writing, but it's really adorable. Anyway, I can relate, I think that's kind of what I sound like in German, so I bet he's got all kinds of perfectly formed well thought out sentences floating around in his little head!

James continues to do well at kindergarten. A new boy started in the new year, and they've become fast friends. I'm really glad, because before that James mostly had only older, girl friends at school. His new friend is from Mexico and at the moment speaks no German or English, so they have no common language at all, but they still seem to love playing together! I'm not sure their friendship is the best for James' German development, but I'm really glad he has a friend, and the mother of his friend speaks English, so I've really enjoyed getting to know her! 

As long as I'm updating on everyone, I may as well do Dylan too! He's doing really well. Things seem to be ticking right along at work, which is great. He's working longish hours, but nothing ridiculous, and he still has lots of time for the kids, and they really enjoy him. James and David both come running to the door every evening when they hear Dylan's keys turn in the lock. 

We really can't complain about much these days, God is blessing us richly, and we are thankful for his presence in our lives!