The Heymann Family Journal

The scaffolding is going up outside. They are going to repair our 3 balcony's and paint the outside of the house. I would love to have it painted a warm terracotta but it will be white. We live in a row house. All the other houses on the row are white. I think it would look funny if it was the only colored house on the row of 6 houses. We will have the bottom of the house painted blue. We are also going to get the very best paint (with lotus effect). We want the bright white paint to stay that way for a very long time! Our house needed to be painted 7 years ago when we moved in but we decided to adopt Thomas and Sarah instead. International adoption is pretty expensive. I'm happy adoption didn't end all our plans, it only delayed them. But you make choices in life. I would choice my kids any day of the week! As my brother Rick always says...it's just paint! So they will be busy painting for about 4 or 5 days. They do a base coat, and then a top coat. Th...

For my birthday I want Juergen to take a week off to paint the inside of our house. If we want to sell the house, I think fresh paint will help it sell faster. If we don't sell, I want new paint anyway. We have lived here for almost 7 years (With 5 kids and a dog). It really needs fresh paint! The stair well, kitchen, living room, hall ways and dinning room all need a fresh coat of paint! I found a spray paint system that could make the job much easier! So I want this system for my birthday!

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. I'm still reading the one year Bible. Isaiah 55 is beautiful!

I went and bought 5 moving boxes at the building supply store. They also had a very large stack of empty boxes (good book boxes) for free. I took about 15 of those. I'm going to start packing away my clutter (nick knacks and family photos, board games etc). I'm also going to do some heavy cleaning. I don't know if I'll be given a chance to buy that old house? If the chance comes I want to be ready to show my house. I've got to do work in the garden, paint, clean wood work, and more. Even if we decide to stay in our house, it will make things more livable. The stair well needs to be re painted, so the pictures should come down anyway. It looks like the house painters will not begin until the end of the week. The weather does not look very good. Perhaps it may even take a few more weeks to get the house painted. That's OK, we have waited almost 7 years to do it. We have put off getting a new bathroom too. But we don't believe in doing jobs like t...

I was told over the phone this week that they would not sell the house until Juergen got to see it. Well, I just got a mail saying that they are negotiating a sale with someone else. That negotiation can not move forward until after October because the pastor will be away. If it falls through, they will contact us. I don't mind the delay, but they promised we would be allowed to see the house again before it's sold. I guess maybe someone from the church must have made an offer? I guess if it's our house, the offer will fall through. If not, it's not my house! But I was really hoping!

So why not go buy some organic vegies you like, and save the seeds.

I need to re do the bathroom,and maybe even rent an apartment or storage unit to store all the clutter. I do not think I could ever sell my house. It is way too full! If we get serious about buying another house, and selling our house I would need to rent something else, and move my kids out of here! I shouldn't pay for a real estate agent, I should pay for a rental house and some paint! Our house looks so large when it's empty and clean!

I was afraid to call because I thought they would say it's sold. But I found my courage and picked up the phone. They have short office hours. If I didn't call, I would have gone into the weekend not knowing. So they told me they got the e-mail. They want to wait until the pastor is moved out before they show the house again. They know I can not buy a house my husband has not seen. I asked if there was great interest in the house. To my surprise only one other family was interested enough to get back to them. So I guess we are still in the game. Perhaps the other family also has a house to sell first, and that can become a non issue? I don't know when the pastor moves out. It may even be a few more months. I would actually be happy for the extra time to get my house in order. I'm not ready for this, but I could get ready.

I have not heard from the people selling the house. They said we should e-mail them. I did that, but still no word. I think I'll call today. I really like the house (allot)! But I know a half dozen other families also liked the house. The bottom line is we can not buy it until we sell our house. Why should they wait for us? They probably already got an offer from someone ready to buy it today. Maybe it's just not Gods will? It is a good thing to be content with what you already have! This weekend we will move the tomato's into the tomato house. The paint company will put the scaffolding up on Monday. If the weather is OK, they plan to paint our house next week. The balconies are in need of repair. This will be done too. I am sad. I would love to live in a big old house. But I am very grateful for all the good things I have. I am going to have to believe that this old house will only be mine if it is Gods will. Otherwise it's just too impossible!

I sent an e-mail to the person selling the house. I wrote that we would like to see the house again (this time with Juergen). I also told them we would need to sell our house first before we can buy the house. I am sure they will get offers for the house. There are also people who have the cash in hand. So most likely they will not give us the house. So I guess if it's our house they will let us see it on Saturday. And if it's our house we will be able to sell our house in a good and timely manner for a good price. If the weather is good, our house will be painted next week. I like the old house allot. I can imagine how nice it would look in fresh paint and art deco wallpaper! But most likely they will sell to someone who is able to pay for it today. We will need months to sell our house and buy their house. But God is in control, and if He wants us to have it...it is ours!

I took Philip and Sarah to see the house. It has been renovated in many good ways. It has new water, electric, and insulation. It has a newly renovated foundation. The walls have been renovated too. I guess from 1990-2000 they put 500,000 Euro into renovations. They are only asking 385,000 Euro for the house. It is in this way a deal. But the garden is not as large as I thought. The larger garden behind the house is being sold as building space. I guess 2 houses will be built behind the house. It does have a nice side yard. There is sun, a vegetable garden, and room for our trampoline. It is not overly large but pretty OK. The front garden is also larger, but shady. I could plant English roses and perennial flowers in the front yard. There are two garages and a larger parking area. There is a super large fig tree on the side yard (sort of a sign). Then there is a very nice patio and fireplace just off the kitchen. On the ground floor there is a very large office, Livi...

I get to go look at the old house that's for sale today. Juergen has to work. He is teaching a seminar. I tried to get a new appointment, but the people are in the process of moving. They don't have the time to show it every day. So if I really like it, and know one else buys it first,Juergen will get to see it later. I'll bring my camera. If they allow it, I'll take pictures. It looks like an amazing house, but I do not know how we can afford it. It would really need to be God's will. I am fine with my house, I do not need a mansion. But I of course love high ceilings, wood floors, fire places,stain glass windows, a big kitchen, and a large garden. But I will not get our family into a financially stressful situation. If we can not buy it because it is too expensive, that's that! But the interest rates on houses are almost 2% cheaper then when we bought our house. And this house could easily have a large rental apartment in the upper floors (it is ...

Juergen and I are thinking about what to do on our 20Th wedding anniversary Oct 6Th. I found out that the flower for the 20Th anniversary is the day lilly. Maybe I will plant one in the garden? It is also the China Anniversary. I already have nice China. I wouldn't mind a trip to China, but we can not find a babysitter for even one whole day. I guess none of that really matters to me. I've been to China, I have China. What's most important is I still love, and like Juergen. I am very happy to sign up for another 20 pulse years. We don't have to do anything grand...we just have to be together! What an amazing gift God gave me in Juergen! Life has been pretty great with him!

Today I went to a friend's birthday breakfast. It was nice to see many of my oldest friends. I feel like I never see anyone anymore because many of my friends have gone back to work. And why not? Their kids are older, they are happy to keep busy and do something useful! I of course have to stay at home. My kids (especially Jessica) are often sick. I think I could never manage a job. I need my mornings to keep up with my family (shopping, cooking, doing the to do list). I'm just glad we can make it on one income! I think one of the reasons I want a nicer house and bigger yard is because I'm home all the time. I really would love a bigger garden. I got home from the party and made lunch. I made a really good pumpkin soup. It had ground beef, and loads of vegetables, cream and curry. I guess curry is very good for the brain. It's good that I love it. The kids loved it too. They all eat 2 big bowls of soup. One good thing about the cold weather is soup. ...

Today is my dad’s birthday. Happy birthday Dad, I love you. I talk allot about my dad to my kids lately. I told them last week that dad was born in a chicken coop (really). He didn’t have a easy start, he was poor. My adopted kids also began life poor. And he didn’t speak English as a first language either. His first language was Spanish. But he was the president of his high school French club (Thomas began learning French this week). French will be Thomas’ 4th language. Grandpa draws just like Nicole. My dad loves gardens like Philip (and me). He introduced my kids to The Iron Chef. They all like cooking. And when Jessica laughs so hard that she cry’s, I see my Dad. Dad, I hope you enjoy the movie I sent you. Have a great birthday. You are never out of our thoughts, we love you and miss you!

There is an art nouveau mansion, less then 1/2 mile from my house for sale. It was built in 1908 and has been used as a parsonage for the last 100 years. It is now being sold by the Evangelical church. The price isn't so bad. The location is pretty good too. It is a 5 minute walk to the train station. Thomas could be at school in 10 minutes, Nicole 20 mins, and Philip could walk to school in 10 minutes. It has a beautiful big yard. Oh, if only we could!!!! I'm going to try to see it on Saturday morning. We still need to paint our house, and redo the bathroom in order to sale it. This is a very nice house, but I don't know if we can afford it. You can not imagine what a nice house it is! What a very nice location. They say it was renovated in 1995 and in very fine condition. Sarah and I drove by it today. It has new insulated windows. It looks tip top!

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Nicole has final exams next spring. Her first exam is in February, then there are 3 or 4 other exams in one week in March. I think there is one last exam in May. You can hear the stress in her voice, and it's written on her face. She is also pretty sober about all the stuff she can not manage this year. For example, where will she have time to do the 30 pieces of art required for a portfolio to get into art school? When can she fit in drivers education class? I think it's clear finishing high school one year early will come at a price. I think she just needs to go ahead and finish school well, and take a year off. In that year off she can do art for a portfolio, and take drivers education etc... But getting good grades on her final exams is pretty important now. She will finish a year ahead of her friends...and maybe it's better to go to University with them later! Nicole is very smart. She will manage it just fine. I think she will not try to do it all at once....

The kids went back to school today. Sarah goes to school on friday. I had to sleep in Jessica's room last night. I put a mattrus on the floor, in front of the door. She was just so excited. She would have sat on the stairs all night...just waiting for the school bus. As it is, she had a restless night. I'm pretty tired! I know, what is new! I do look forward to the quite. I look forward to the time and space needed to catch up on the laundry, and de-clutter my house. It wasn't the best summer of our lives. It was loud, cold and dark. It's still cold and dark outside...but at least it's not so loud. I stll don't know what's best concerning Thomas' school. I still want to see if I can get him a test day, or test week. I talked with a friend of mine. Her son went to the Christian school. It really was great for him. He graduated and is now doing wonderfully! Thomas doesn't want to change, and Juergen would rather not force it. I just ...

Juergen put a mattress on the floor in Jessica’s room. It was right in front of her door, so she could not get out of the room. She tried a few times to get out. Juergen said no, sleep. After 2 or 3 times she finally settled down and slept (all night). Thank you for the prayer!

Jess went to bed at 11pm last night. I gave her NYQUIL hoping it would do the trick. I have tried melatonin but that wasn't helping. So we went for the hard stuff. She slept for 2 hours. At 1am she got up and stayed up. She is still up. It's 5pm and she still has not slept. Juergen got home at 9:30am. He let me sleep 2 hours, then he slept 2 hours. Then we took turns driving her in the car. She would nod off 5 minutes at a time, but that's it. This is the 3rd day in a row with out sleep. She looks like a train wreck. I am sure I do too. I sent Juergen to get lavender bath soap. I'll give her a bath. I am also going to give her magnesium to help her relax. I need you to pray for her. She has had pretty normal sleep for a very long time. This sleepiness period is killing us. I can not function! She can not go to school like this. She has to stop waking up after just one or 2 hours.

Jessica didn't sleep all day after a night with only 3 hours of sleep. Last night I got her to sleep at 11pm, but she woke up at 4am. She was in my room and I locked the door and tried to keep sleeping. I'm a wreak. She kept bringing me cloths. My room is a mess. I kept telling her to lay down and sleep. She was up and down, back and forth. For hours she walked from my bed to the door and back. I pulled the cover over my head...I could not change Jessica but I needed sleep. I have 4 other kids to take care of. Juergen is in India until tomorrow and school doesn't begin until Monday. When I finally got up at 7:30am Jess had pulled her diaper off and pee was on the floor. She had also gotten so upset, her nose bleed. I have to mop the floor, and do laundry because she bleed on my cloths. She took the key out of the door, and we were locked in the room. I could not find the key! Here I was, sleepy me with Jessica covered in blood and urine. What a sight. Bu...

Jessica is 19 years old today. She was the most beautiful baby. She was smart and perfect. When she was 18 months old she lost her coordination, and her language. It was devastating. We spent years going from one Dr to another. No one could tells what had happened. How could a " normal" child lose her skills? It took 6 years to finally hear the words autism. And all our hopes, and dreams were destroyed. If it's true that God holds our tears in a cup of remembrance, he holds an ocean of tears for me. The loss was awful. Sometimes it still is. Last night Jess was so excited about her birthday, she could not sleep. She stayed awake until 3:30am, and woke again at 6am. I'm finding it hard to function on 3 hours of sleep. But I want to say this... When Jess lost her voice, and we felt the loss of all "normal" hopes and dreams it was hard. I sat for years in a pile of broken dreams. The edges were sharp, and it cut deep to the heart. But after a...

Bill Gates speech: 11 rules your kids did not and will not learn in school by Kent Summers on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 1: Life is not fair - get used to it! Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save...

When I buy school supplies I buy in bulk. People often look at the massive amounts of stuff in my cart and they ask if I'm a school teacher. Today we pulled out the backpacks and tossed out the old papers and folders. We shopped for all the stuff. I labled pencils and pens etc until my hands hurt. I have a head ache and I think I deserve an award. We also bought new sports shoes, and a Jacket for Thomas. Philip and Nicole cooked lunch. I think I'll take a hot bath. School begins on Monday. I think Thomas will stay in his school for now. I can not reach the Christian school. Juergen doesn't think we should move him. Thomas wants to stay, and has felt very insecure at the idea of moving. I want to do a test day at the Christian school some time this semester. I want to keep the option open. Maybe we will move him next year?

I'm not a morning person. During vacations I'm likely to stay up until 1 or 2 am, and sleep in until 10am. The kids stay up late too. But next week we have to get up at 6:30am and be out the door by 7am. So I sent the kids to bed at 9pm and got them up at 7:30am today. I've been awake since 5:30 because Jessica got me up. I'm making the coffee strong. We have to start adjusting to the new reality! Juergen called me when he arrived in India. I missed him hours before he left. I never get tired of him. I guess I married the right guy! He is teaching trainers all week. But he gets home Friday. I'm grateful he doesn't have to travel much. I'm also grateful he has such a good job. I realize the un-employment world wide is so high, and under employment is even higher. I just Thank God for His provision. I thank God for Juergen! Today I get to pick up the biofeedback machine I sent away for 2 months ago. I guess they wrote Denmark on the package, ...

Today Thomas is 13 years old. I got up very early to make a very good breakfast. Juergen had to leave by 9am. He flies to India for a week of business. I couldn't find my camera. It got unpacked from the vacation and placed "somewhere". I'm sure I'll find it, but I missed the gift photo's. He got his Lego Star Wars stuff. I also bought him a 3D Star Wars chess game. It's really cool! Thomas is pretty good at chess. I'm sure he will love this for years! If not, Nicole collects Star Wars stuff. She is more then willing to take it off his hands. Thomas is a gifted drum player. He loves airplanes. He wants to be a Pilate one day. He is great at video games. He builds super Lego. He is also a pretty good soccer player. He is actually good at most sports. He is also a pretty good cook. I'm thinking of changing his school. That's a little stressful. Please pray for that this week. Thank you!

I'm having a much nicer day today. I spent a few hours with the kids in the garden. We needed to cut all the rotten grapes down. They were falling on the ground and making an awful mess. Sadly the rain ruined the whole crop. But my kiwi's still look good, and so do the figs. I guess I'll be making allot of jam next month. We pulled all the weeds, and swept the walk way. It looks great. The best part was the sunshine. The sky is finally blue, and I got 2 hours of sun. I really think I suffer from depression from a lack of sunshine. I need to look into buying some full spectrum lights. Nicole told me they think we will have a warm Fall. That will be so great! I would be so glad just for the good weather! After the work, Juergen took Thomas, Philip, Sarah and Nicole to see the film "Cat's and Dog's 2". I took Jessica out to lunch. I guess the movie was good. I haven't heard any details yet. Jess was the perfect lady in the restaurant. ...

We got home from Texel at around midnight last night. I could smell the rotten grapes as I walked into the house. Today I could see that all the grapes are bad. They were so beautiful last May. It looked like we would have the best crop. But we have only had one rain storm followed by another. The beautiful grapes molded and now are awful! We will lose the whole crop. And I feel like that is how my summer has gone. I feel depressed from lack of sunshine. Texel was so wet. It is a beautiful place. We had some good times. But I'm not well rested or relaxed. I feel over tired and kind of stressed. I could use an Indian summer. I need to move to a warm place. This wet place makes me sad!