A Series of Unfortunate Events...

Emma was having a birthday party the other day. I had spent a long time decorating a birthday cake that I made for her. So, Jon knew how important this cake was. (There aren't decorated cakes here like there are in the States in the grocery stores)

So, I was taking care of getting the girls' swimsuits on for the pool party while Jon was in charge of getting everything out of the van. He had the cake in one hand and a basket of goodies in another hand while he was trying to close the trunk. Well, the cake wobbled and to save the cake, Jon sacrificed his finger in the hatchback door.

The nail immediately turned reddish purple and we think it actually broke the tip of the finger. So, after a weekend of pain, Jon decided to go to the Dr. where the nail was lanced and drained to relieve the pressure.

I just had to include the photo of the bandage that the Dr. put on his finger. It gave me a good laugh!

Wish I had my camera...

Robin and I were in The Hague last weekend meeting with some church planters.  It was a good, quick trip.

After we were done, and before we would start the 7 hr. trip home, we visited the "boardwalk" there for a few minutes.  We decided to have a cup of coffee.  The coffee was great and the scenery was gorgeous! 

As we enjoyed our coffee and marveled at the people swimming in the cold North Sea in cool, windy weather, we saw something that I wish I could have captured on film.  The guy pictured below (who is easily over 300 lbs.) is wearing the typical European Speedo swim trunks.  What you can't see in this photo (because my phone camera is good, but not THAT good) is a male "Tramp Stamp"!

A "Tramp Stamp" is the name given to the horizontal tattoo some women get across the top of the behind.  I have NEVER seen it on a guy before.  I was laughing hysterically... so hard, in fact, that Robin had to tell me to laugh a bit more quietly.  Thankfully, the guy didn't hear me because of the surf, but it was definitely a funny experience.

A little brown sugar, if you please...

One of the things you miss most in a foreign country is cooking with the ingredients from your home country.  One of the things from home that we can't get here in Germany is brown sugar.  Yes, they have "brown sugar", but it's not the same as what we have in America.  And when you're cooking, in order to get the right flavor you need the right ingredients.

There is a Dutch organization that delivers North American ingredients to missionary organizations and they have partnered with our kids' school.  So we were able to purchase some good ol' American brown sugar.  The funny thing is that it is can only be purchased in 55 lb sacks.  Yes, that's right, a 55 lb sack of brown sugar!

So, needless to say, we've now got enough for awhile.  Actually, we have enough for the entire neighborhood to come borrow some (not that we'd advertise this, or even that the Germans would want any).  This is like edible gold! 

We ended up putting it in 50 one gallon ziploc bags (just kidding... it fit into these 10 bags).