Yesterday began my longest run of the year of consistently being home. Since February I have logged 30,168 miles on the road to 31 cities and nearly 3 of the 4 corners of the US (stats from Tripit.com). I’m sure there is a way to see the number of nights I have been away, it has to be nearly 60 so far for the year with another 22 planned before the year-end. My schedule has me home until mid-October and I am very excited for that. I hope to discipline myself to keep up on these entries as much as I can while I am home. Hopefully between Melissa and I we can keep this going. As we talked last night, we want to keep this for later years to remember back on this experience.
Last night on my way home from work I pulled into our neighborhood and Lou and some of the neighborhood girls were sitting out visiting in Lou’s driveway. When I arrived at home Melissa was working in the kitchen, Xavier, Emma, and Michael were in the living room, and Steven was working on his homework at the kitchen table. Steven said he had a great first day, was able to find the shuttle for his ride home and had been working through catching up in his classes. I told him that Lou was outside visiting with some new friends and he said that Lou had already stopped by to invite him out, but he wanted to finish his homework first. Melissa joked with me that I needed to help him with his Chemistry; I laughed but am excited to see what I can remember.. I told her I’d handle the science and math if she handles the English and history. You will see by my posts that my English needs a lot of work!
Fortunately the chemistry book was closed for the night and he was working on his English assignment. He needed to underline the prepositions and circle the noun in a group of sentences. I can’t do that and I speak English, it amazes me that someone can do this with their second language.. Melissa had no problem helping him, while the three of us worked on his assignment, Emma pulled her homework out of her bag and joined in. Not be outdone, Xavier had some lines on paper from preschool where he was learning to use scissors. To join in on the fun we made him some more lines to practice cutting. Michael finally climbed to the counter and colored on paper while everyone worked. For nearly an hour the 4 kids were busy working on their assignments. During the time Lou rang the door bell to once again invite Steven out to visit but Steven insisted that his schedule for the night was homework first, then supper, then he’d ride with Melissa to the store where he needed to pick up a few school supplies. If time allowed, then he would socialize… I was very impressed, I know I would need a little “wind-down” time if I was him after all of his travel, first day at school, and new family.. The last thing I would want to do is find a noun in a sentence especially if the neighborhood girls wanted to hang out. Not to mention neighborhood girls that just installed an underground swimming pool…
Melissa, Emma, and Steven headed off for the store while Xavier and Michael and I spent some time outside. It began to sprinkle so we went for a quick walk then got them ready for bed. When they returned they all carried the groceries in and Steven already knows where we keep the items and helped store everything away. Melissa told me about Emma quizzing Steven on how to speak some German phrases and Steven did his best to help her understand. Emma and Steven practiced speaking “I love you”. With Michael in bed and Emma and Xavier ready for bed, they asked Steven to read them a bedtime story. It was one of Xavier’s tractor and truck books. Steven got to experience a challenge much greater than any Chemistry, Physics, American History, Advanced English, or Anatomy class; that is reading a book to Emma.. She is quite the critique. As hard as he tried, Emma would not let him miss a word in the book. She is bound and determined to correct the German accent where “t” sound like “s”… Good luck Emma, I know you will try. I wonder how long it will take Steven to learn to have the kids sit in front of him rather than on his lap so Emma cannot see the words he may need to skip. Melissa and I could hear the lesson from the kitchen and we were both tried very hard not to laugh and Emma’s English lesson… I finally had to ask Emma to ease up on him.
With the kids in bed Steven used my iPad and Google Maps to show us pictures of his home in Berlin. He could zoom in on his school, showed us where he plays, landmarks around Berlin, and shared a bunch of stories about Germany, their culture, and his family. It is amazing how the technology let him show us how you can walk up his street, see his back yard and his home. We used the map so he could show us where else in Nebraska a friend of his is staying. She, also from Germany, is staying in Eustis Nebraska that is around 2.5 hours away in central Nebraska. Steven would say his “girl friend” when describing her. We asked if they were dating back home, he said no, just friends. Melissa and I then explained the difference between a “girl friend” and a “friend that is a girl” terminology. It was fun trying to explain the differences and why, especially when we tried explaining the difference why Melissa can call her friends “girl friends” and why I should not call my friends “boy friend’s”…
Steven brought a new laptop with him. We needed to set it up to work with our internet. It took a little work to have it recognize our wireless signal, his laptop display is all German and I needed to have him translate the error screens until we were able to set the password. Once it synced, he had over 100 emails. I told him he was more than welcome to spend the rest of the evening catching up as long as he didn’t stay up too late yet he only wanted to quickly scan through and make sure there were no important emails that needed answered. In less than a minute he closed up the laptop and was done. He said he only wants to check his email one a week… The determination I am seeing in Steven I truly believe he will be that disciplined about it. Where so many kids can’t be away from Facebook for even a few hours, he had not been on for days. I would want to send notes and posts on where I was yet he wanted to visit with Melissa and I.
We all were woken up early this morning by a quick thunderstorm. The first crack of thunder had me wide awake thinking about ALL of the kids. Emma and X are not scared of the storms, they usually use it as an excuse to climb into bed with us although there were no signs of them. For Michael he isn’t scared either, but that kid needs his beauty sleep so we cross our fingers that he is not woken by storms just so we don’t have to get up and play with him. I wondered what Steven thought.. His basement room has two large daylight windows and he is certain to hear and see the storm. The house remained quiet despite the storm passing through. At 6am you could hear movement downstairs. Melissa was up getting ready and Steven beat me to the kitchen. He was fully dressed, bags packed for school by the door ready to go and he was getting his breakfast ready. As Emma and Xavier were getting ready, Steven helps get Emma her breakfast while we negotiate with X that he cannot have chocolate. This morning there was no celebration for a dry diaper for him.
I dropped Steven off at the Elementary school so he could catch a shuttle to the High School. On our way to the school I asked him about the storm. A storm like that was nothing new to him, he said it sounded “stronger” than what they are use to in Germany. I started telling him that our spring storms are normally much stronger, especially as we start warming into summer. We were at a point in town where you can look up the road and see the driveway where a home use to sit that was completely destroyed by a tornado about 7 years ago, yet I held off on that story for another day. That conversation can wait until we have 12 inches of snow on the ground.
Tonight will be a true test of his self discipline. I need to do some yard work up the street at a home we take care of for an older couple. Last night I told Melissa that when I get home from work I plan to come in and change and head out to mow their yard and need her to cover for me with Steven as she does with X when he wants to tag along. Steven asks over and over if he can help around the house with projects and is excited to do some work outside. Knowing he will be at the table on his homework, I’m certain he will want to finish up to come with me to help. Little does he know that he will have endless opportunities to work. I’m excited for him to meet our (Melissa’s and my) parents and our siblings. He will get a true taste for a mid-west work ethic and his determination will have him fitting in when it comes to work. My father-in-law already has extended the open-invite and I am excited to have Steven on the farm with him and working with my dad. His Agriculture class will be very informative but it does not do justice to the real thing that he will get to see in a few short months when harvest in Nebraska gets underway.. My boys have already showed signs of being hard workers raised the same way my brothers (and sister) and I were and I am excited for the day when they can get involved. I already have a sense from Steven that he rather-be working than visiting with the neighborhood girls. He will find in time that is the best way to change having "friends that are girls" into "girl friends".
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