May 16th, 2016
Hubby started a new work schedule. His days are a bit longer now. He leaves the house around 5:45am to catch the train downtown then the bus into work. He returns home around 5:15pm. Thankfully, he is a morning person! What makes this new schedule worthwhile is how it affords him every other Friday off. We just experienced his first three day weekend and LOVED it!
Friday was like a mental health day for both of us. In the morning, Hubby took a run after he dropped E off at school. When he got back, I left for a bike ride. It was my first time on my bike since we moved to Germany. There is a wonderful network of trails that connect the villages around here. I rode from our village, past a nearby retirement community, alongside lakes and farm land and through the woods.
Others were out on the trails enjoying the crisp, beautiful morning. Their presence gave me comfort. Though I’m somewhat adventurous, I was also raised by two New Yorkers so caution is in my blood. The rolling hills got my heart pumping without completely exhausting me. The scenery inspired and wooed me to keep going…just a little bit further. Thankfully, the trails are marked with signs painted on posts and trees that helped me keep my bearings when I would take a new turn. My bike is not fancy, I got it during my college days, but it does the trick to take me out on the back roads where I connect with nature and the God who created it all. I’m a tree-hugging, country girl at heart. I’m so grateful to have such beauty around us!
When I got back to the house, Herr Schmidt (the gentleman who was our original landlord) was visiting. Hubby was helping him create an advertisement online for his rental house. It was fun to use our creativity and computer knowledge to lend him a hand. As he was leaving, he mentioned meeting up at our favorite coffee shop in the village sometime soon. We are definitely up for that!
In the afternoon, S and I took Hubby to his chiropractic appointment downtown. He has been seeing a German chiropractor for a few weeks now after continuing to struggle with hip pain and loss of motion. Herr Schmidt is a physical therapist and spoke highly of this chiropractor. He also recommended another PT that could help strengthen the muscles around the hip and round out the therapy Hubby is currently receiving. We are really hoping to find some good options that would enable my Love to keep doing the things he enjoys. Thankfully, he has experienced some relief of pain and renewed range of motion after a couple of laser therapy sessions.
We made it back to our village to pick up E when he got dropped off in the afternoon. He was sooooo excited to see his Daddy waiting for him at the bus stop! What a treat to ride to school with him in the morning AND to see him again in the afternoon. =)
A couple of hours later, we mustered our courage and sense of adventure again, piled into the car and went in search of our village soccer club for the boys. I had seen a poster in a window last week advertising a team for E’s age group. We used Google Translate to figure out the details. After a little research online, we found another possible team for S. We’ve been talking about checking out the German Soccer club for awhile now. I’m glad we finally did!
The boys were hesitant at first, understandably. However, the head coach was incredibly kind and invited both of them out on the field to join in a practice. He spoke both German and English fluently which was incredibly helpful. When I asked him where I could purchase soccer shoes for the boys, he brought out a couple of bags full of shoes and told us to try to find some that fit. He explained how parents give him shoes when their children outgrow them after a season. We found two pairs of shoes that fit each of our boys plus shin guards! The boys had a blast playing for an hour. When they came off the field, they told us we needed to be back next Friday for the next practice. Yay!
While we were talking and watching the boys, a woman approached us and commented that she heard us speaking English. Turns out she and her husband are also English speakers, parents to three boys (ages 7, almost 5 and 2) AND live in our village! They moved here last summer and have been on the look out for community. She said its been lonely for them. Desiring community, feelings of loneliness, village life…it was so easy to connect and use these topics as spring boards for conversation. We chatted the rest of the practice and introduced our boys to each other afterwards. We are excited and hopeful to get to know this family better with time.
What a day! So many blessings came out of it. I think these shoes will serve as a visual reminder to me of the goodness we experienced on Hubby’s first Friday off. We were refreshed in every way…mind, body and soul! Yay!
