📺 Info Siaran: Match Update & Schedules

We're back! We only took a 8 year break from updating the blog. The kids have been asking for stories when they were little and I showed them the blog. It was so nice to look back on those years and have pictures and stories documented. Abram suggested we start it back up again since we're so far again from family and friends. It will be a way to keep everyone updated with more detail than we can on Instagram and also for us to look back on in the future.

I'm going to go back 18 months and start from the beginning and then try to get caught up to the present day. We'll see how this goes.

So why Germany?

Josh was looking at new career opportunities in winter 2020. He came across a new start up company, Legendairy, based in Germany that needed his skillset. After a phone interview they asked him to come in-person. He flew over a few weeks later. He visited their offices in Berlin and the lab in Rheinbach, a small community about 5 hours from Berlin. He fell in love with the company and the country. We had hoped that Abram and I would be able to visit in a few weeks during his spring break to determine if it's somewhere we thought we'd like to live. Unfortunately while Josh was here interviewing the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US and Trump announced borders would close. Luckily Josh was able to make it home. Germany also shut down travel to US citizens so we couldn't make our visit.

Josh started working for Legendairy (now called Formo) remotely from the US in April. In July 2020 the travel regulations opened up enough for Josh to come back for a visit and to look for housing. A few weeks later Josh and the older kids were on a plane to Germany! They left before Alexander and I did because they wanted to start school on the first day.

The kids and Josh each brought 2 checked bags plus their carry on bags. They made quite a sight going through the Frankfurt airport. Due to lots of crazy mix ups they spent hours in the Frankfurt Airport. While that day was really rough on them it's made them realize that they can do hard things! It was the first of many hard things they'd experience during their first year of school in Germany.

The kids were so brave through the whole process. They were all excited for the adventure. They all go to local schools and were immersed in German from day 1. Abram goes to the middle/high school and a few blocks away the girls attend an elementary school.

So cute on their first day!

Here's a link to a podcast where I share our whole, eventful moving story.

https://www.theexpatcast.com/floods-vegan-cheese/

Abram had the honor of being one of the crownbearers for the Essex Homecoming Week this year. The theme was 'Homecoming Heroes' which was perfect for Abram. He decided that they must have chosen that because they knew it was his favorite.

Here are some of the fun pictures from his activities.

So handsome...