Misc. Goings On



Lauren, Courtney, and Flat Emma getting ready to board the train to Heidelberg




Our family in front of the Neckar River




Courtney, Me and Flat Emma standing in front of the Old Heidelberg bridge




Courtney has always wanted to marry a prince, now she has a king!




Scott and I in one of the Heidelberg squares with Heidelberg castle in the background




One of the facades of Heidelberg Castle

 Wow, I'm really going to have to get used to posting weekly. It's amazing that it's already been almost 2 weeks since my last post, and I'm already having trouble trying to remember all the things that I want to record.
We had a tragedy last week here in our Ramstein community. On March 2, two airmen were shot and killed by a suspected Islaamic extremist, when he boarded a military bus that was parked outside of the Frankfurt airport. Back on base we didn't have any clue what was going on, but they went into lockdown mode, and we couldn't get into any of the buildings on base without showing our military ids. It turns out that 2 of the airmen involved were stationed at Lakenheath Air Base in England (where Scott worked for 3 months back in 2007), and they were on their way to support military operations overseas. The third airman was a transportation operator that was stationed here at Ramstein. Living here has definately opened my eyes in a very real way to the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make each and every day to protect and defend our freedoms. A large percentage of the members of our church congregation are currently deployed in dangerous areas of the world. These people are no longer just names. They are actual family members of people I know, and I see how challenging it is for their loved ones who are left behind to "keep the homefires burning". This whole experience has definately reminded me of how proud and how grateful I am to be an American.
On a lighter note, we had our first houseguest (or should I say "hotelguest") come for a visit. Our 7 year old niece, Emma, was kind enough to reccommend us to her friend Flat Emma. Flat Emma is here to check out our community. After spending a few weeks here, and documenting all of her fun experiences in Germany, she will report back to her friend Emma's first grade class. She is going to share a little bit about what it's like to live in a German community. We've really been having a blast showing her the sights, and can't wait for her to get back to Colorado so that she can share what she's learned!
Another fun thing we did this past weekend, was visit Heidelberg. What a neat city! Some of the buildings date back to the 14th century and earlier! Many were destroyed in war, but not WWII like you might think. They were actually destroyed by King Louis IVX because he was mad that his troops had been defeated. As he retreated back through Germany, he burned everything in his path. Interestingly enough, the city escaped the ravages of Allied bombing attacks during WWII, because the people of Heidelberg  cooperated with Allied Forces. They allowed them to use Heidelberg as a base of operations for their bombing raids on other German cities, thus saving their city from becoming a huge pile of rubble.
While in Heidelberg we also got to tour the amazing castle that sits up on the hill. Parts of the castle were destroyed by fire, but it is magnificent. Our favorite story of the palace was the story of Freidrich V and Elisabeth Stuart (granddaughter of the famous English queen- Mary Queen of Scotts). Their arranged marriage took place when they were each just 19 years old, but they fell deeply in love with each other. Friedrich had an entire new palace built along side the old one just for her. It is said that he ordered the stonemasons to carve small creatures into the rock of the castle, so that every time the queen found a new one, she would owe her husband a kiss. Cheesey, I know, but sweet.
The fun thing about seeing all of these ancient sights, is the itch it gives me to learn more about the history of what I've seen, and the people who lived before me. As I walk down the hallways of these ancient edifaces, I can't help but think about the people that walked those same hallways centuries before me. Who were they? What were their stories? It's pretty surreal.