Hello Family and Friends,
Click here to see some new pictures …
It has been about 4 weeks since my last confession (I mean blog post). That was some kind of Catholic flash-back. Since the Esslingen Wine Hike and Migle’s Mom left, I spend a not-so-fun day at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, had a business meeting in Zurich, got a bunch of shots so I can go to Abuja Nigeria, our Friend Greta came to visit, my Dad came to visit, and I went on a business trip to Brussels. A busy four weeks!
I have been attempting to navigate a complex labyrinth of a process for an immigration visa for Migle. And the U.S. makes it that hard on purpose. After many months and a lot of pain, we are within 8 weeks of having a visa for her (well, I have my fingers crossed that it will only take 8 more weeks). This will allow her to live in the States and to come and go from the States back to her home country of Lithuania. You wouldn’t believe how convoluted and not-user-friendly the process is if I told you!
The week before last, our friend Greta came to visit us. Which has been GREAT! She’s helping out with Kostas and freeing me up to get back to the business travel that is required for my job. And she is just GREAT anyway! She is in one of the pictures at the link at the top of the post (Migle, Kostas, Greta, and me sitting on a red couch). She is staying with us until the 9th of August when she goes back to Lithuania to get married in September.
A day after Greta got here, my Dad came to visit. He was in Copenhagen, then St. Petersburg, then back to Copenhagen traveling with his wife Dale and her three girls (ages 17, 19, and 21). We kept is pretty low stress – concentrating on his spending time with his new Grandson. Tom, Stephanie, and Skylar came to our place to spend the day hanging out as a family. It was good to get everyone together. We did go to the Stuttgart Wine Fest (yes, they have a lot of wine fests here) and we had a GRAND time. He left last Monday flying back to meet Dale in Copenhagen. There are some pictures in the link at the top of the post.
It is FIFA World Cup time here. And it dominates when you live in Europe, well, big European Football (Soccer) countries anyway, especially Germany. And since Stuttgart is one of the venues, it permeates into everything from 9 June to 9 July. Thanks to some legwork from a friend of ours and bidding online 13 months ahead of time, we got tickets to two matches. Last Friday, Migle, Moni, Ivan, and I went to the Holland and Ivory Coast Match (Holland won) and this Thursday Todd and I will go to see Croatia play Australia. Also, the U.S. isn’t doing very well but “we’re not dead yet!”. If Italy beats the Czech Republic and we beat Ghana on Thursday, we’ll go to the next round (stranger things have happened).
And, in case you are wondering, Kostas is doing very well. He’s healthy and growing like crazy (just above the growth profile for boys). He’s sleeping slightly more and crying slightly less these last few weeks. We hope that is a sign of changing times.
And the big news …. My brother Chris has proposed to his Pam – His Love and the Mother of their Child, Emily! Congratulations Pam and Chris!
