Here I am again for another long-overdue update. I apologize that my updates are becoming LONGER and further between!
First of all, an update on the church room... We have again moved temporarily into an apartment in the next building over from the old church room that we can use until the end of July. We are still on the lookout for a more permanent home so we will let you know when we find out more! Thanks so much for your prayers :)
I can’t believe I only have 1 month of pregnancy left before we get to see this new little one! Time sure flies. The past 2 weeks we have started gathering baby things as the time is drawing near. I found a used Kinderwagen (convertible pram/stroller with big wheels for the uneven, cobbled streets) at a second-hand baby exchange that takes place the first Saturday of every month. Meg also called around to some second-hand shops and found us a used side-car-type bed for an incredible price, which we picked up today! Today also we went to the “stock exchange” and found a dresser that we think will work as a changing table. We will have to go back and pick it up in the next couple of weeks. Things are coming together! Plus, I finally finished my cloth baby wipes! Not the cutest patterns, but super cheap to make from the recycled pillowcases I found:
I have an appointment tomorrow to meet the midwife at the hospital to “preregister” and we are praying that the hospital will work with us this time to either bill our insurance directly or allow us to leave the hospital (without paying cash first) and just trust us to pay them after we get the money from our insurance. Ahh, the joys of having obscure foreigner health insurance! Also, it turns out to have been a good thing I had to stay there for 4 days at the beginning of the pregnancy because at least I know my way around a little--I know where the meal room is and have met some of the staff--so at least that part won’t be so foreign. A blessing in disguise!
The spring weather here has been beautiful! Through the Easter holiday weekend it is supposed to be low to mid 70s and sunny. The past 2 days we have gone outside in short sleeves without a jacket and it has been so nice! I have been enjoying taking London to the park and spending some quality time with her before the baby comes. Life is sure about to change!
We enjoyed a visit from Erica (my best friend and roommate from college) last month and were able to do a quick weekend trip to northern Italy all together while Anna was still here (Anna and Erica flew home to the U.S. on the same day). We were so blessed to be able to do the trip and split the costs with everyone--we found SUCH a great deal on airfare for around the equivalent of $50 each person ROUND TRIP. (I cannot believe how cheaply you can fly within Europe sometimes!) The only hang-up we had was that we misread the Ryan Air website and the Italian airline workers wouldn’t let me board the plane without a doctor’s note saying how far along in the pregnancy I was and that I was fit to fly. Thankfully, Meg came to the rescue again and phoned my doctor so they could quickly fax the letter to the airport and we actually made the flight. That was really a miracle!
I hope we will get to see more of Europe while we are here, but that is one area we have had to release since our main purpose for being here is the church and not a European vacation. :) We have a peace about it, though, and are really enjoying our time here in post-communist eastern Germany. It feels like it has taken a long time, but things are finally becoming familiar here and we are feeling less like we are stuck between 2 worlds. It helps a lot that we can understand more German now and don’t feel so out-of-the-loop. We can communicate very basically now and that alone feels so freeing! Yay!
Jason has had a fairly good season of work this winter (averaging about 30-35 hours per week) and we are hoping that will carry us through those slow summer months. We weren’t able to get some of the assistance we applied for because of our non-EU status and also because Jason is technically self-employed (a free-lance English teacher) which is a hard combination. We have another appointment next week with the wonderful social worker who has been helping us to fill out yet another application for Elterngeld, which is the allowance given to workers for the first year after they have a baby. The government will pay 67% of your pay for the first year after you have a baby for our equivalent of maternity leave (plus your company has to save your job for you for that first year). This can be split for that year between the mother and father, or just one can take it. Or you can decrease your work hours and the government will compensate for the decrease (a minimum of 300 Euros a month). The short of it is, Jason can work 30 hours a week (close to his average) and get 300 Euros a month, which will be a HUGE help especially during the summer when 30 hours a week is hard to come by!
Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend! Here are a few pics from the last month or so:
These pictures are all so great! And the videos too! :)
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