The Heymann Family Journal

It’s Sunday. Thomas is sick with a fever. We are mostly hanging out at the Villa. Juergen took Philip and Sarah for a bike ride around the wall of Lucca. I walked around with Jessica. Nicole stayed home with Thomas. We are also getting some laundry done. Last night the hills were filled with fire flies. I don’t ever remember seeing fire flies (except at Disneyland). It was wonderful to see them flying. There must have been a million little lights. The night sky is also awesome up here on this hill. Did I write that there are 90 curves in the road to our Villa? There are! And it takes between 10 to 15 minutes to drive up here. You have to honk the horn about 10 times because the turns are often blind. I wouldn’t want to drive up here in the winter time! You can tell who the Italians are by the way they drive and how they use their horns. It helps to have a tiny car. We of course have a 8 passenger Mercedes Viano. It’s the next thing to driving a semi truck. I’m le...

Italy Day 4 Pisa Today we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. It was impressive. There were allot of tourists trying to get that photo of holding the tower up. It’s not as easy as one may think. I tried to get that shot but people kept walking in to my shot. So many people!!! Jessica was not happy to wait, so I said forget it. But the tower is cool. You need to buy tickets on-line to go up the tower. They charge you around 20 Euros and they only let 35 people up each half hour. You can not go up the tower if you are under 8 years old. We skipped that part! I also saw very little security. I would be careful not to bring anything important with you. I’m sure the whole square is full of pick pockets. I did have 6 people ask me to take their photos for them. They handed me their very expensive cameras. I’m not sure I would ever be that trusting! I bought Philip, Thomas and Sarah new hats. Thomas wanted a BMW hat because he is German. That’s what he said! Sa...

Italy day 2 It’s our first whole day in Tuscany. I remember a friend telling me once that if you have 5 kids there is a pretty good chance one of them will be in a bad mood. Today Thomas was that one. He just doesn’t transition well. He couldn’t turn it around. We went to Lucca but cut the whole trip short because he was such a pill. Lucca is an impressive medieval town with it’s wall in tact. We walked a bit on and next to the wall, and also drove around. I would love to visit Lucca again if I don’t have to drag around a sour 12 year old. He did manage to snap out of it. It only cost me a 2 Euro yoyo and 2 hours of star wars on the Nintendo. BTW we didn’t bring the Nintendo, it was here. We left the Wii at home too. Juergen set up the pool for the kids. Nicole is painting (so many subjects to paint and so little time). Juergen is playing guitar. I’m taking photos. Jessica is watching videos. She also has trouble transitioning. There are many amazing places to go...

Italy day 1, The way was long. We woke up at 4am with like 3 hours of anxious sleep. We were on the road by 5am. The kids were generally good. Still, you can imagine the string on “are we there yet” questions, and “he’s touching me” and “he’s looking at me funny” garbage that can test the credentials of any parent (especially ones who have had only 3 hours of sleep). The only thing I can complain about is the price of food at the restaurants on the road way. Either pack your own food or take the time to go into the towns along the way. I felt royally ripped off at these truck stops. We first drove through the Swiss Alps. It was a bit hazy and it’s hard to take a good photo when the car is moving 160 km per hour. I can not really fault Juergen for not stopping. There weren’t really many places to stop. It was a 10 hour trip with out stops. So I did what I could, and you’ll have to take my word for it…breath taking! The mountains are high, the lakes are green blue, an...

I'll bring my computer and camera. I don't have internet at the house, so we will see how much I can post. Maybe everyday, maybe not at all. Pray for our trip. The kids are wired. I can hardly stand how obnoxious the boys get when they are wired. It's a big exciting thing. They have looked forward to this, and so have I. I'm worn out from the preparation. I hope I'll sleep. God willing we will leave at 5am. So the adventure begins again!

I'm starting to relax. The house is pretty clean, the trash is out, the cloths are packed and all I need to do is water the plants. We leave at 5am. It's a 10 hour drive. I'll probably sleep for 2 days before I go see anything. Ah!

here is our villa in Italy http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p519334 Home away is a great place to find a rental house.

I'm not sure why I always feel stressed before a trip. I hate long lists of stuff, and deadlines! I hate the feeling I forgot to take the lettuce out of the refrigerator and it's going to be fuzzy when we get back. All the laundry has to be washed, all the plants have to be watered, and I have to be sure all 7 of us have shoes and under ware. Italy is not the end of the world. They have stores! They even use the same worthless money we use. I should try not to stress so much! I have a list. I even have a house sitter. I should get professional help. This is not healthy. But...but...but! I need to cover my potatoes with dirt, download books for the kids to listen to, and have to drop the dog at the doggie hotel, and and and and and!

It looks like a very beautiful day outside. The birds are singing and the sky is blue. God bless you and give you rest!

There is an odd squeaking sound just outside our house. We hear this sound every night. It turns out that it's a very rare owl. There are only 10 of these birds in all of Germany. Every night we not only hear the bird, there are also bird watchers flocking to our neighborhood hoping to see the rare bird. it is called a Zwergohreule or dwarf eared owl.

I’m thinking we have a very funny idea of what a vacation means. For example we are a technology heavy family. We will be traveling to Italy with no fewer then 3 computers, 5 mp3 players, 2 portable DVD players, and a Nintendo wii. Then Juergen and Nicole will each have a guitar. I’ll carry 2 cameras. We need the basics, gummy bears, nutella and kinder chocolate and goats milk and lactose free milk. Apart from that I think we can find all we need/ want in Italy. What do you find important must haves for a vacation? By the way, I carry a whole library of books on my lap top. Sun, good food and a book is what I really want.

It's Friday and Juergen just picked up the Pizza. We eat pizza every Friday, that's Heymann family law. But there is a different feeling in the house. A whole nother vibe. The kids have had their final class, Juergen has had his last meeting. We have two whole weeks of vacation. I just dropped Nicole off at church. She goes on a youth retreat this weekend. We all go to Italy when she returns. I have to pack, clean, and plant my friend Petra's garden. I actually look forward to the garden work. It's a bucket garden. We just need to put stones on the bottom of the 10 large containers, add very good dirt and then plant vegetables. Everything is there and ready to go. The trampoline is also there. Juergen will put it together. When our works done the kids will jump and Juergen and I will drink a good cup of Petra's very good coffee (she has an extremely good machine). The sun is shining...Praise God! The only thing that could make this all better is if ...

The header is a photo of my window boxes. You probably already knew that. Some of my flowers are loving the rain...others will not bloom at all. People are just like plants. Some manage to do well in any condition, others only do well in the correct balance of soil, light, and water. And some times a plant just needs a few seasons to establish its roots. It is vulnerable for a few seasons, and then it’s strong.

The New Tomato House came today. Philip and Nicole helped me put it up. A few of the plants are not going to make it, but most of them will finally have a chance to live! These are heirloom tomatoes I started from seed. They are from France, Italy, North and South America and Russia. They were doing so good before the cold rain hit us 3 weeks ago. I have a friend that will take care of them while we are in Italy. We are suppose to get good weather tomorrow, and all weekend. Then next week rain and cold again. I'm so glad to have a tomato house. It will give these babies a fighting chance! I can taste the multi colored salsa now!!!

I'm listening to the cold rain outside and wondering if I'll get any tomatoes this year. I started the plants from seed. They were doing so well...now my poor plants are dying. I know, there are much worse things happening in the world. I just wanted to begin to grow my own food. I picked a bad year to be self sustaining!

Today I shared a little about Nicole during our family story time. I shared where her name came from, especially her middle name Isabella. She was named after the character Bell in Beauty and the Beast because Juergen and I love this strong and intelligent women. The whole time Thomas kept asking where his name came from. So I kept telling him I will tell him on Friday night when I tell his story. So we have moved away from an uninterested Thomas to someone who is at least a little involved. Praise God for progress. Juergen and I are looking at what our church needs. Juergen is now an Elder in our church. We read a book called the connected church. I didn't think the book was very good, but the idea was very good. I read another book on ADHD called delivered from distraction. In this book the author says connection is the very most important ingredient for happiness. People that feel truly connected at work, school, in families and with friends and other groups are happ...

I finally got my compost worms in the mail today. They came in a big bucket. I made a nice home for them in a large black rubber box that has holes drilled on the bottom. I put cardboard over the holes so moister can get out but the worms will stay in the box. I added dirt, and damp news paper, lettuce, old fruit and old leaves from dead flowers. I coved the box with a wet burlap sack and a cardboard box. I need to buy another rubber box to sit this box in. That box can catch the worm tea (that's the liquid compost that's going to drain out of the bottom of the box). I think I'll place the whole thing in my basement because the temperature stays cool down there. If the box gets too hot it will kill the worms. I understand you should feed the worms at least once every two weeks. I'll make sure they are wet enough( but not too wet) and have lots of good veggies, potato peels, and old fruit to work on when we go to Italy. Worm compost is very good for plants...

Today I talked about Jessica in our family story time. I shared the meaning of her name, "gift from God". I shared how people stopped me on the street to look at her because she was the most beautiful baby. The whole time Thomas was acting up, and not paying attention. It made me really angry. I guess I wouldn't like it if he had shown disrespect towards anyone, but this was Jessica. Jess has no voice and he simply doesn't know her. This makes me deeply sad. He is 12 years old and oh so self absorbed. I talked to him afterwards and told him not to act like this. If he does this for the others I will not tell his story. He wants his story to be told. He needs to learn the golden rule. I prayed about my anger. I am trying to just ask God to transform him...to help him grow up. He has a great loss if he fails to know Jessica. She is an amazing person. He also has a deep loss if he never learns to care about anyone be self. I have hope he will learn. Th...

I went and bought 2 small heaters for the greenhouses. They run on oil. They say it's going to rain the rest of the week. The heaters raises the temperature 10 degrees F. I don't know if the tomatoes will start to grow now, but at least it will keep them alive until we get some sunshine! I have a large tent like tomatoes house coming in the mail. I got it on eBay. I'll cover my other tomatoes with this tent, and put one heater in there too. You can not control all the elements, you have to trust God to feed you! It would be really hard to grow all your own food. One day I hope I can do that. I want to become self sustaining. It will not happen all at once. This is a long term goal.

This is my garden today. We haven't had any sunshine for 2 weeks. The cabbages love it, but the roses are covered with bugs and the tomatoes don't grow. I need to transplant the over grown cabbages and spray my roses again.

I looked at the long term weather forecast for Italy. It's only 22C or 72F. I was hoping it would be warmer then that. I want sun, and lots of it. Maybe they are WRONG!!! I am cold! I want some sun!

I had an idea today. I feel sad because I feel like my kids do not really know us. they don't know each other, and they really don't know Jessica. I thought it might be good everyday to say one small thing about a member of our family. There are 7 of us, so today we will say something about Juergen, tomorrow me, then Jess, Nicole, Philip, Thomas and Sarah. I'll keep a family scrap book. I'll put into it simple facts about us. So today I have a photo of lederhosen. Juergen had to wear lederhosen as a child, and he hated it! That's it. I'll let Juergen say more...but keep it simple and short. Maybe we can do this for a few months and little by little the kids will know us better, and know each other better. Everyone has a day of the week. I figure it will be a good way to tell them about the first time we even thought of adopting them, waiting for them, praying for them, and more. Our boys do not ask questions. They are self absorbed. They know not...

I feel like a real gardener today. I was at my friend Petra's house. We put another coat of paint on the 10 large containers. We will put a final coat of paint on the pots sometime this week, or next weekend (a total of 3 coats of paint). Juergen was there to put together the trampoline. Unfortunately only one of the 4 boxes has been delivered. I'll call the company and hopefully get the other 3 boxes delivered before next weekend. We also cleared an area in her yard for the containers. We evened out the soil, added compost and covered the spot with cardboard. My hope is to add horse manure and wood ash to the area. The soil is in really bad shape. I think if we have manure, compost and wood ash it will attract worms. Worms also like to eat cardboard. The cardboard blocks weeds. I will place my containers on the top of the cardboard. Then Petra has allot of cut branches piled up in her yard. We can get a wood chipper from Petra’s dad. I'll cover the cardboa...

I called to see the house I like in Bad Schönborn. The one with the nice winter garden. The realtor said that he just sold the house. So I guess it is not my house! I think I'm just too early with my shopping. I really have no interest in moving until Nicole and Jessica finish school next year. I had better wait until next Spring to look. If it's God's will, He will give us the right house at the right time. It may even be He want us to just stay in our house. Maybe moving was never His idea? One thing is surprisingly clear, I was not to buy the house with the winter garden. It was not my house! I do still love the farm house...but it would be so much work! I totally love this old house! I guess I see it as it could be, Juergen sees what it is!

We looked at another house today. It was very nice and the price was super. I think it could be perfect for now, but way too big in a few years. It wouldn't be easy to make it into 2 apartments. I think it's not for us. I still like this one house we saw with the winter garden. The price is still too high, but we didn't want to move right now anyway. It would be much better for us to wait a year. We will have our house painted, redo our bathroom. Maybe we will buy another house, or maybe we will stay. I'm open. I actually like my house, and garden more and more. We will see! It isn't easy to sell a house. The owners we met today were very nice. I hope they can find a buyer. It will not be easy because it's such a big house. Not many families need such a big place!

Some weeks you wish you never got out of bed! Today the boy’s went to the orthodontist to check on their braces. I guess they haven’t been doing a good job brushing their teeth. I do make them brush their teeth, but I’m not actually doing it for them. So the arrogant Dr says he will know longer work with the boys. He does this while taking photos of their teeth to give the insurance company. This is going to cost us some real money! The Dr yelled enough at me and the boys, I didn’t need to add to the humiliation. Thomas was crying, it was really awful! We will try to find another Dr that can continue the treatment. We will over see the brushing better, but just how I don’t know. I really don’t like this Dr who has some how gotten it all wrong. I pay him and he works for me. I guess he thinks I should be grateful to be his client…if he had not dropped my boys, I would have been happy to fire him. But seriously, I have to find a new orthodontist, and I hope the insurance compa...

I sprayed my roses with a mix of milk, dish soap, water and garlic. First I boiled garlic in a pot of water then strained it into the sprayer...and added the milk and dish soap. I’ve had problems with Aphids,. I hope it does the trick.

Tomato plants

I'll video tape her when she get's it! Cool song!

I thank God for my wonderful Mom who I love so much! Happy Mother's day to my sisters, sister in laws, and nieces and many friends who are also moms. I have 5 very special kids, and here are some of their photo's. Lunch is ready ...got to run!

Last May our family took a trip to Northern Cyprus with my brother Rick. We go to Italy in 2 weeks, and Rick gets married next month. I'm packing for our trip, and I hope it's at least half as good as this trip was! Love you Rick...we will have to do something with you and Amy next year!

I won the bid on a super big trampoline for Petra's yard. I'm going to have it sent right to her house. Now when I go work on her yard, my kids will come too. If I had a big yard I would have a trampoline at my house...but you do what you can do!

we have this treasure in a jar of clay so everyone can see it’s all God , not us!

You do not need to be invited to an official meeting to pray. America has canceled the National day of prayer...but they can not keep us from praying! If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I'm married to a phD too.

I bought 25 meters of this metal fencing to use as tomatoes cages. I had looked at other options but everything else looked too costly or hard to build. I have over 40 tomatoes plants and I want to cage them. You can stake tomatoes but that's more work. So the fencing will come in the mail. It is almost one meter high. It really should make life easier.

Sharon Stone: Europe: The Ice is Breaking and You are Heating Up! Prophecy Sharon Stone received on April 23, 2010: Europe, you have been living under a block of ice You have been ice bound Confined by ice Frozen in time I will not let you be a spiritual ice cap— Where there's a permanent layer of ice covering the land Europe, you are not an ice field And the Kingdom of God advance will not be put on ice any longer There is a thawing going on The ice is beginning to melt God says, "I am the Ice Breaker"— For a New Beginning To break through the reserve You have lived, where you could feel the ice And religiosity chilled you to the bone But you're no longer on thin ice You're moving from your risky situation Where the ground was frozen Now watch the warming trend The volcano eruption is a sign of spiritual seasonal change— From Ice to Fire Where natural transportation was immobile Spiritually, NOW—there is a little movement You're being liquefied— That you migh...

I am starting a worm compost bin. I just ordered my worms on line. Here is the place I used in Germany. You need special worms for compost. http://www.wurmhandel.de/

I saw this on my sister Shelley’s links...Sharon’s blog. Totally cool idea! I'm looking for tomato cages. These are made from wood. Cool idea!

squash takes up space in a garden. I don't have much space. I found a metal compost box on e-bay for 39 euro. I thought I could put a bed of pumpkins and squash in here and let it climb all over the sides and out and over this box. Perhaps it will work? I'll let you know. I of course need to make sure the raised bed I plant the squash in is very rich in compost so the plants get enough food.