The Heymann Family Journal

I like my plants, and I love seeds. Nicole and I sorted seeds today. It's a good thing we did. Otherwise I would think I actually needed to buy more seeds. Silly idea! I have allot of seeds. So we will start some seeds very soon in the green house. And I'm looking forward to spring and summer. Here are some photos of my house plants. They are not nearly as exciting as the garden plants. But for now they will do!

I guess I always think about taking a vacation when it's cold and dark outside. But I know we cannot spend allot of money this year. We want to get some windows fixed, and have the house painted. The vacation is later this year. So maybe it would be good to go back to Italy in June? We had an awesome time there when it was warm 2 years ago. Last year was cold but the company was nice. Anyone want to go to Italy with us in June? It takes 12 hours to drive there, or you can fly to Pisa. Pisa is about 1 hour from the Villa.

Gung Hai Fat Choi! (gong-hey-faat-choy) Happy Chinese New Years, This photo was taken at Christmas.

The boys just got offered a job delivering ad papers. It will take them about one hour every Saturday morning and pay them 25 euro per month (each). So they will not get rich fast. And they will learn money does not grow on trees. If they do the job well, they will be given more papers to deliver, and maybe 50 euro a month more. But this is the only sort of job a 16 year old kid in Germany can get. So they had better take the job, and do it well.

They dug up the sidewalk just outside my house today. They didn't tell me they would be doing this, so I cannot drive my car today. The driveway is blocked for at least a few hours. So I went online and order seeds and pots. In about 6 weeks we can begin starting plants for our garden, and plants to sell. This year we will have heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, Hokkaido pumpkin, red and green onion, and some herbs to sell (the plants). I would gladly start plants for anyone in our area. Place an order and I'll start whatever you want. Sarah is saving money to go to China. She wants to find her birth parents. Nicole wants to save money for her next mission’s trip(she has ideas of what she wants so do, but no set plans yet). All the money from our plants sale goes towards these projects. contact me if you want to preorder plants.

I have maybe 100 books I want to sell just to clean up my book shelves. But maybe this would be some extra money for someone?

I just talked with my dad. He got to go home today. He is so much better! It truly is amazing! He still has to have all sorts of people come to help him, and check up on him (Physical therapists, medical aids). But the Dr thinks he no longer needs to take insulin for his diabetes because his blood sugar has been so good. And they don’t know 100% what caused all of this, but he had a very bad infection (possibly meningitis), and his kidneys stopped working. He could have died, but thank God he is OK, and now he is home!

It is going to be Chinese New Year Jan 31st. And in China millions of people travel home to be with family. It is the largest migration of people in the world, and it is for many very hard.

Nicole hanging art for a show

Happy birthday to my baby brother Rickey who is turning 50 years old today. This video was taken in northern Cyprus almost 5 years ago. Philip and Sarah look so young. Rick was painting a gourd he found in the garden. He gave the gourd to Jürgen for his 50th birthday! It was a great villa on the sea. You could see all the way to Turkey on a clear day. I love you Rickey! I look forward to seeing you soon.

I just talked with my Dad on the phone. I must say, it was wonderful! He is his old self. He was joking about how bad the food is, and how he wants to go home! As sick and out of it as he was, I was not sure I would ever get to talk like that with him again. Thank God he has at least his mind back. But he needs his strength back too. And that may take some time. He isn't at all happy about staying in the hospital.

My Mom said Dad was doing much better today. But he got really tired and disorientated as the day continued. He needs lots of rest. He did watch part of the big playoff game. And our whole family is cheering for Seattle to win the super bowl on Feb. 2nd. Nicole is going to Seattle to paint with my brother at the beginning of March. My brother is selling allot of t shirts he has designed for the team. He has a design ready for the super bowl too. I hope he sells allot of shirts. It's good business for him! Mom is very tired as you can imagine. But I'm sure she is also relived. It's been a rough few days. There are allot of things going on here too, but I could hardly think of much besides my Dad. Juergen has helped so much with the kids. He also talked with his own Dad last night. Richard seems to be doing well. I think Juergen will go visit him on the weekend. I'm going to try to reorganize my office this week. I have so much paper to get rid of, an...

I talked with my Dad today on the phone. They had him out of bed sitting in a chair. He was clearer then yesterday, but sounded very weak and tired. He was looking forward to the big game. Go Seattle! He may even get to eat some GF Pizza. But he needs allot of rest and time. I thank you for your thoughts and prayer. I hope he will return to his old self. It will take some time. I guess as long as I know he is out of danger and will regain his speech and ability to think I'm at peace. It all goes in stages...first saving his life...then helping him regain his speech...now regaining his reason. And I guess it is happening very fast. But I wait all day long to hear of any change. I am so anxious to know he will be OK. And even though He was so weak, I see amazing progress. So I really think He will recover. And for this I am so glad! I'll go to bed and look forward to an email from my Mom when I wake up.

I got to talk with him. He knew who I was. But sadly, he is still not thinking clearly. They are allowing him to eat a small amount. He has made other progress as well. They still don't know what has caused this. He may have a form of meningitis. They have him on antibiotics. He still has fever. He seems to be improving, but he has a way to go. Hopefully he will rest well, and gain back his clear thinking. At the moment he is still delusional, and it is stressful to have a conversation with him. I think it all must be hard for my Mom and sister Dianna who has been with her most of the time. I am praying all the time. I hope we have better news today.

I tried speaking with my Dad today, but he is not very clear yet and he fell asleep. It was the first time in my life my father didn't seem to know me. I realize he will most likely recover but I am so sad he didn’t know me. I really love my Dad.

I got a call from my Mom yesterday night. She sounded upset and I sort of tried to calm myself...tried to not fear the worst. My Dad had passed out and it was hard for her to wake him. She was not sure at the time if it was a stroke. And I guess she gave him something to drink. Chocolate milk. He is diabetic. That was a wise thing to do. And the fire department was called. And he was taken to emergency. And eventually put in the hospital. Tests were run. His breathing was poor. At first they thought it was pneumonia. But now they know his kidneys were not working well. The drugs he was taking built up in his system causing an over dose. It was all very scary. But he is stable. My sister Shelley was at the hospital with my Mom. I'm so glad she was there. I think Dianna was also there at least part of the time. She works, so I imagine she was there as much as possible. And I prayed. I'm grateful God gives me this means to help. I would feel so helpless with...

I have what I think is a stomach flu today. I have a headache, the chills, and I have to run to the toilet allot. Not fun. It's rainy and cold outside. I have allot of stuff to read. I read today that long winters were made for warm blankets and thick books. I guess you can add tea to that list, and dreaming of summer. I found a vacation house on the Oregon coast. God willing, my family is going to have a very special birthday party for my mom there. I am going to America at the end of March. Nicole will already be there. She is traveling for a whole month. I can only manage 10 days away. It's too hard on Jürgen to be a single parent for longer than that. It's too hard for me too. Our kids are allot of work. And he won't have Nicole’s help. But he did it 2 times last year. I'm pretty sure he can handle it. And I'm going to try hard to have a great trip to visit my family. I hope the weather is good. Oregon has one of the nicest coasts in the...

It was a cold but nice day today. So Juergen and I took a long walk. It felt good. I hate winter because I feel so cooped up in the house. I hate the cold.

She is a winner! Sarah's team took 2nd at a soccer tournament this past weekend. You know Germanys women are number one in the world! Every kid should have something they can be proud of.

Nicole and I spent most of the weekend at the International house of prayer conference. There was awesome worship that was very God centered, and great teaching. But we also took some time to see Art by Paul Klee, and tour the old town of Augsburg. The high light for me was time with my daughter. There were people there from many nations. And both Catholics and Protestants. We were all Christians united under Christ. And this was very special. It was very inspiring. A great way to begin the New Year!

The boys dance at camp The boys had a good time at camp.Nicole and I got to see them dance last night. And today Juergen and I took Jessica to pick them up. School and work begin again tomorrow. The vacation has gone by to fast!

I have to leave my warm house and my wonderful husband to go to Augsburg, I’m sure it will be a blessing. Nicole and I will be 3 days at the International house of prayer worship conference. There are over 3000 people coming from all over Europe. I'm sure I will be humbled to the floor!

Some photo's from Philip's birthday party. It was fun!