A Highlight From the Heart

Okay, so I've seen some pretty amazing and beautiful things in the last 10 months and making a list of highlights would be almost impossible. However, yesterday afternoon in the living room, the sweetness of my five year old brother, Samuel had me smiling from ear to ear in what I have no doubt will forever remain a highlight.

Samuel and I were home alone and were both reading on the couch in the living room...his steady commentary had me reading more of his book full of pictures than my own, but it was cute :) I was tired and so, jokingly, laid down with my head in his lap. I expected laughing or maybe even the daily questions "are you ticklish today?" but instead received the reply, "Ok, I can read on your head." Seconds later I felt the book on my head as he silently continued to flip through the pages.

The phone rang. Sami let it ring three times and then said softly, "Julianne, the phone is ringing."

I got up and answered the phone. It was a quick call and as I hung up the phone and stood in the kitchen I heard from the living room, "Are you going to come back?" My heart just about melted. I asked him if he wanted me to and he responded with only a grin. I walked back in and he smiled and put a pillow on his lap before I laid down.

Not often can you catch a five year old boy calm enough to sit still for minutes on end but Sami didn't say anything...and I started to drift off to sleep. Then he started rubbing my back and I couldn't contain my smile. A few minutes later he started playing with my hair...gently and carefully working out the knots he found it that mane of mine.

Then out of the blue a giant blow in my ear! Have you ever had someone blow in your ear? Saying it tickles is putting it lightly. To Sami's delight he got quite the squeal out of me which triggered a fit of laughter from both of us. There was no more going back to sleep or silent book reading once the giggles got out, so instead we moved on to a heated game of memory :) It was an afternoon I won't forget and I only wish I'd had the entire thing on video. I'll say it again, it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

We're Celebrating!

In a family the size of mine, there is always something going on, always something being planned, and always something to celebrate! Naturally, birthdays certainly lead the charge, thoroughly hitting every month of the year, but Anniversaries, weddings, baptisms, and Confirmations are not to be forgotten.

The Owens family interprets "crazy picture" differently..

The Weihing birthdays are perfectly scattered throughout the year; summer, fall, winter, and spring. Wayyy back when, we Celebrated Christian's birthday with a day trip to Switzerland after a week on Lake Constance. In November, our house looked (and sounded) like a kindergarten with Samuel and all his friends running around happily. Selina and I share February as our birthday month and although it wasn't on our birthday, the family ski trip was certainly a great Feb. treat. In March, friends and family came for the evening to celebrate Papa's birthday and unlike in American culture, I've come to learn that adults usually throw themselves a birthday part too--why not? To Jonathan's disappointment, I'll be in Berlin over his birthday but once I promised to bring him back a surprise I think the disappointment faded a little bit :-) And then this summer, after I leave, Mama will celebrate her birthday. Mentioning the birthdays of my eight cousins, three aunts and uncles, and grandparents would simply take to long and bore anyone to death...but i think you get the idea!

Me with my cousin, Annika

However, at the end of April, our family had something bigger than a birthday to celebrate--a Confirmation. The closest thing to compare it to in the U.S.A. would be a high school graduation. Confirmation takes place around the age of 13 and it is the students' commitment to continue their life following God and comes only after a year of classes and a bit of preparation :) The church was packed!

Once the ceremony itself was over, our group of...well..many...headed back to the house where the celebration began. Oh. My. Goodness. Never have I seen so much food! As soon as we got to the house, the adults toasted to the occasion and everyone nibbled on the small assortment of finger food set out on the patio. The delicious snacks certainly would've held over my appetite for another hour or two but what felt like only minutes after the treys were pulled, the lunch bell rang and we all filed in to an enormous buffet of chicken, venison, pork, potatoes, veggies, salad, and certainly a handful of things I forgot.


Without going into useless details, I'll fill you in on the rest of the day: after lunch free time for an hour or so until "Coffee" (which is code for a tiny cup of coffee and giant slice of cake), family games, dinner. The response to "dinner time" has to be one of the most humorous responses I've ever heard to such a delicious buffet of breads, meats, and cheeses, but I too was stuffed to the gills and the thought of finding room for an entire meal was somewhat laughable but somehow we all managed.

But don't worry, there was at least a little more to the giant celebration than food, food, food :) Several family games had us all laughing--including one that had me admitting to the three grey hairs I'd found that morning and the grades I'd received for my latest Chemistry test. I played photographer as the 14 kids took their best swing at the pinata which wasn't always the safest job..."stand close to the blindfolded kid with the baseball bat to get a picture of him swinging madly.." hmmm. Oh, and I played memory. I remember the days when I was so good at that game...

And in a nutshell, that sums up a fun, beautiful, and exciting day of celebrating with my cousin her Confirmation :)

Burgers!

American culture doesn't get more stereotypical than a big juicy cheeseburger, a generous helping of salty french fries, and a giant coke to wash it all down. And although, to the surprise of some, I don't eat burgers on a daily--or even weekly--basis, there really isn't a more American food and so I caved...I made burgers! 

I had to laugh at the German culture that snuck its way into the meal though :-) Thankfully, my host parents share my disgust in the airy white buns that normally go with hamburgers and so when dinner time came, we had good ol' German rolls (not exactly rolls but also not bread) that certainly tasted better than the buns the kids went goo goo over! 

The burgers took a while on the stove and by the time they were all on the table, I smelled like grease and had a flashback to my days waitressing at Colleen's when I would come home from work to "Wow, you smell like a french fry!" But the burgers were quite the hit with certain members of the family eating up to 3 giant ones! The  best part was that the electricity didn't go out, I didn't burn anything, I didn't break anything, and I didn't ruin the recipe....could that mean I actually cooked an American meal without a catastrophe? I never thought I'd live to see the day! :-)