The Heymann Family Journal

I found a vacation house just outside of Innsbruck, Austria. It's half way to the house in Italy. They will allow us to rent it for just one night. Most houses want you to rent for 3 to 7 nights. So maybe we can rent here on the way down to Italy? And maybe even on the way home. I just hate the idea of a straight trip. It's kind of long for our kids.

I'm reading old posts from my blogs and I find it great to look back on the years of growth. Thursday, August 19, 2010 (packing for a trip to Holland) the last min stress of getting out the door So I have the kids packed. The toys, roller blades, beach toys etc… I’m on my last load of laundry (I think). The car is cleaned out. The kids are not happy, but they are cleaning their rooms. Actually the boys are having a power struggle. I wish they each had their own room. They are trying to out lazy each other. When will they get past this awful stage? God please give me grace! We have a big car, but I’m not really sure how we will fit it all in. Juergen is a genius at packing. I’m sure he will manage it. He will be saying “Amy, you can not bring the whole house” but he will manage it. He is so blessed to be at work today. He doesn’t need to listen to the battle of the bedroom. Oh I wish I had a job ( you know what I mean)! Thursday, November 15, 2007 (You're Fired) Philip &

I'm trying to win the bid on one of these spin driers on eBay. I used one once on vacation. We use so much energy drying cloths. I do 2 or 3 loads of wash a day. In the summer I hang my wash on the line.

I've been busy ordering a few things for our garden. First I ordered these noise makers that run on solar power. They are suppose to chase away moles. We have a very serious mole problem. We did use these things and they helped. But our noise makers could be heard by the neighbors and they didn't like the clicking sound. These send a vibration and high pitched noise into the earth. And perhaps we can chase those moles away. Of course they will probably run to the neighbors house...and I'm sorry about that. We are not allowed to kill them, and we have had no luck trapping them. Our garden is covered with mole hills. We need to do something. I also bought a shredder to shred my compost. Nicole has been busy giving the perennials a haircut. We don't have any trees to compost, just stems and leaves. But shredding it will help everything compost quicker. And I bought 2 new compost bins made from wood, and one thermal compost bin to put in the greenhouse. I

Nicole and I sorted the seed bank today. I really do have enough seeds to keep us going for a decade. I'm teaching a short lesson on container gardening in April. Maybe I can share some flower and vegetable seeds then. But I hope to start some plants today. I start my seeds in the basement heater room. After a few weeks I can move them to the green house. So today we start onions, broccoli, cabbages, kohlrabi, carrots, kale, spinach, in many different sorts. I'm sure I left some kinds of veggies out, but these are the kinds I remember off the top of my head. I wrote out labels and recorded each variety in a book. We are getting very professional don't you know! The weather is improving. We had ice rain yesterday, but it's melted today. It is actually suppose to get 12 degrees above zero by the middle of the week. I can not explain what it does for my disposition, the thought of being able to get outside. I get headaches from the cold. I am a sun lover.

Juergen and I just started reading a book called “why Christian kids rebel” by Tim Kimmel. Our kids are all pretty good. I know their youth pastor may have a different opinion. But so far we don’t have drug or alcohol problems, and no pregnancies. There are some bad attitudes, some disrespect towards authority. And we are trying the best we can to hold them up in prayer. To build them up, to teach them what they need to know. I guess we want to know if we are covering all the bases. We are not perfect parents. And we don’t have perfect kids. But I have hope that they will grow past these hard years, and find themselves. The book is funny. “My 17 year old daughter bought a thong bikini for the church pool party and can not seem to understand why I, as her mother can not stop hyperventilating”…”These are the kinds of incidents that jumpstart our relationship with God. It’s as though, during these crises, God puts two spiritual cardiac paddles on the side of our hearts, yell

I’m what you might call a seed-aholic. When I find good seeds I buy them. And Nicole will tell you, I have enough seeds. But she’s wrong! Well, no actually…she isn’t wrong. But I just love to collect seeds. And try them out. And sometimes I find some that I really love. I found awesome vegetable varieties in Italy. They have the very best onions and artichokes and peppers. Today I found some peppers (a mix of 8 kinds), lettuce, 5 different kinds of basil, orange sugar beets, a variety of sunflowers, a rainbow mix of carrots, 4 different kinds of zucchini, and dill and chives. I think I can safely start a few plants in our heater room this weekend. In 6 weeks it should be warm enough to transplant starts into the greenhouse. So even though it snowed today, and we expect freezing rain this weekend, I’m planning on a summer that includes a very big variety a colorful and healthy vegetables. When I buy seeds I can see the thousands of tomatoes, the fresh salad, the awesome pum

I'm very excited about our trip to Italy May 18-June 1. But it's a big Villa, and there are lots of rooms available for friends. So if you are looking for a vacation with your family, or with a group of friends the Villa Migliarina is a very good deal. You can get a 2 bedroom apartment for about 600€ for 2 weeks. Our idea is to take day trips with our family and hang out with friends at the villa at night. Everyone doing their own thing, with some time spent together. Some jamming on guitars, some board games, some soccer, some pool time with friends. Or Juergen will hang out at the villa with Jessica and the kids, and I take a day trip to Florence to see the art. I hang out with Jessica and Juergen goes to Rome for the day. We can only do so much with Jessica. She mostly likes to stay in one spot. And last year the kids didn't want to leave the villa. They were happy to spend the whole day at the pool. So Juergen and I would love to have friends around to to

I spent allot of hours looking at houses, and trying to consider what to do. But today Juergen and I went ahead and booked the same Villa we stayed in last year. It really is perfect for our family. It's old and beautiful for me, low costing for Juergen, and has a good pool and a soccer field for the kids. It has the space for Jessica to have her own bedroom (very important for an autistic person to have their own space). And there are allot of interesting things to go do and see. The down side is the drive. But we will survive it (I hope). And I can look forward to the trip. I feel compelled to get some of these "big things" scheduled. The calendar seems to be filling in very fast this year. I'm not generally one to plan so far in advance. But this year seems different in that way. There are a number of "bigger" things I want to do. Paint the house, travel to England, Italy and America. So that decision is made. We hope to travel to Italy i

Dear Alien Invaders, This weekend Juergen brought me coffee in bed, did the dishes and shopping, made a gluten free lunch and down loaded a Jane Austen movie (all with out being asked). He is obviously a clever clone. I do not know what you have done with my husband, but I hope you are good to him. He is a good man. I’m sure you will find him helpful to your cause. And we will be happy to keep the clone. Sincerely, Amy Heymann Earthling

I'm sending a gift of 2 Personal Vortex Space Heaters to my parents. Dad said he was cold. This should help keep you warmer with out causing your heating bills to go up. I bought 2 so you can keep one in the living room, and another in the bedroom. I love you!

Nicole and I saw the garden at the Villa di Castello last June. Maybe we can see it again!

We think we will go to Italy again. I found a nice house in the hills just outside of Florence. And I want to go to this hot spring. We went here about 3 years ago. Jessica loved it.

This is Nicole's latest painting. It's s surreal self portrait. She painted it for my Christmas gift. Juergen hung it up for me today. I need to take another photo of it in the day without flash. But I love it!

I just bought a new lamp for my bedroom. I'm also looking for a new bed frame. I have pretty much ignored my bedroom since we moved in. But I deep cleaned the room this week. And now I want to do some decorating. I found an old bedroom set I'm hoping Juergen will let me buy. I want an Art Nouveau, Italian Villa look in the room.

I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster. Captain Edward Smith in 1907.

I did this in Leimen but never got around to building a new worm bin. So I ordered new worms. I'll start another worm bin. Make sure and put something under it to catch the worm pee. That can be used in compost tea. We want to start setting up our straw bales in the vegetable garden. They need a few months of rain water and a natural compost like worm compost. After a few months of the straw breaking down, you can plant in the straw bales. I have about a dozen straw bales I bought last fall. I thought I would try straw bale gardening this year. I won't do it in the whole garden, just a section. And then next year, I'll take the used straw to cover my raised beds. The straw mulch in my vegetable garden has been amazing! I'm sold on mulch! The ground improved so much in one season. And I only needed to water my vegetables 3 times all summer.

Poor Jessica is now sick. I'm guessing it's the same flu that has half the city down. I hope we can keep everyone in the family from getting it...but we are a family. Oh fun! Elderberries were listed in the CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs as early as 1985, and are listed in the 2000 Mosby's Nursing Drug reference for colds, flu, yeast infections, nasal and chest congestion, and hay fever. In Israel, Hasassah's Oncology Lab has determined that elderberry stimulates the body's immune system and they are treating cancer and AIDS patients with it. The wide range of medical benefits (from flu and colds to debilitating asthma, diabetes, and weight loss) is probably due to the enhancement of each individual's immune system.

It's very cold today. And they say we will be getting snow tonight. Jessica's teacher just returned from Central America. She came down with a fever. Hopefully it's nothing serious. But Jess is home. Most likely for the rest of this week. And I know we can afford Italy, but I really want to go to Thailand. I even tell myself Texel (a very cold Island off Holland) would be fine. But we have never had much luck with the weather there. The place is very beautiful. I know there are much bigger problems in this world. It really is the cold, dark, depressing German winter talking. But if I could go anywhere on a vacation, I would most surely go to Thailand. There is no other place my entire family was so united and relaxed and happy. There is just something special about the sunshine, the food, the water and the fact that Philip, Thomas and Sarah look like everyone else. Jessica loves it there. The sunshine does her good. She is a different person. And when Jes

I just pulled myself out of a very warm bed to make sure my boys got off to school. One of them is in the habit of going with out a coat. You would think he wouldn't forget when it's below freezing, but it takes awhile for him to registers cold. And then he is half way to school, and will not turn back for his coat. The other rides a bike. And I got the "MOM" look when I made him bring reflector lights. His hair is black, his coat is black, and the sky is dark. He does not drive a car. He can not judge if cars can see him on his bike. He can only think how uncool the reflectors look. I have to drag myself out of a warm bed for this ungrateful audience. I don't expect they will ever think to say thank you. In a year or two they will be on there own. Right now Sarah is much more receptive to my input. I hope she continues to be appreciative. I guess the boys just don't want to be babied. They aren't babies anymore.

I just booked our tickets to London in April. Just Nicole and I for a Mom and Daughter cultural weekend. We want to go to the Tate Modern, The National Gallery, The British Museum, Kews gardens, Hill song church London, and see "Singing in the Rain" the musical. 4 full days. I had better start walking everyday so I can manage this trip! Thank you Juergen, you are the best! I took Nicole to London when she was 5 years old, and again when she was 9. Now she is 19 and it's a long over due return trip. And because she is studying art this makes the visit that much more interesting. I remember showing her the Monet and Picasso paintings in the National Gallery when she was 9. Maybe her own work will Hang in the Tate one day. And I took her to see My Fair Lady. She sang "All I want is a room somewhere" on the streets of London. And now we want to see "Singing in the rain". That use to be Nicole’s favorite movie. It's suppose to snow tomorr

It's cold and dark outside. So I am dreaming of travel. I'm pretty sure I always dream of travel in January. By March I am fully engaged in my garden and Ok with staying home. I'm now looking at a short trip to London with Nicole, Thomas, Philip and maybe Sarah. I say maybe Sarah because I'm not really sure she could keep up with all the walking and museums. We would have 3 short days and 2 nights. I would want to see allot in that short time. I promised the boys I would take them to London one of these days. I took Nicole when she was 9 years old. I need to take Nicole to the Tate Modern. She should see the best modern art because this is what she is studying. And we should see a show. Maybe the Lion King because of the masks. But I noticed that “Singing in the rain” is showing in London. That would be a great show. All that dancing! And if we have time I would want to see the green house at Kews garden. And I’m guessing it’s best to see the garden in

View Larger Map Just 8 1/2 hours South of Heidelberg.

I hated the long drive but loved Italy. So when I think of a warm vacation (and who doesn't think of a warm vacation in the winter) I think of Italy. It was so wonderful in the Villa in Tuscany. The only question I have is, who will go with us? The Villa we went to last year has many separate apartments. It's on a large farming estate. They make their own wine. And it has a soccer field and very nice swimming pool. It's about 1 hour south of Florence. Who wants to go to Italy with us in May?

I waited until the last 20 seconds to place my highest bid, but someone else was willing to go higher. So Juergen does not need to worry about spending his Saturday moving my wagon. I'm a little sad, but that's how it goes. I really went as high as I wanted to go. I wouldn't have been happy going higher. It's not like I was going to use it on the farm. It would have looked nice as decoration in my vegetable garden. And I'm happy that Juergen let me bid on it. He was willing to waste a Saturday moving it too. Good man!

this is a ruff recording of a song Nicole just wrote. It’s a work in progress, but I like it.

Someone has started to bid on the wagon. I had placed a bid of 56Euro on it, but now they have out bid me. And I guess I'll just have to wait until the last minute and place my highest offer. It sells tomorrow. I don't know if I'll get it. Too bad for me! It is very nice, and worth a great deal more then I would want to pay. I put a photo of Jessica sitting among the flowers in Holland. I wish it was spring. I look forward to the spring.

You can find really cool stuff on eBay. I have had my eye on this wagon for the past week. Juergen has resisted my making a bid. And the truth is, everything I buy on eBay means work for him. But he finally allowed me to bid on the wagon. It is being sold from someone in the next village (less then 5 miles away). It sells in 2 days. There is no guarantee I’ll win the bid. I can not imagine there is a high demand for old hey wagons. I would put it in my vegetable garden as a sort of sculpture. I would fill it with plants, and surround it with old cottage garden flowers. I would need to find a way of getting it home. And then getting it into the back yard. The wheels would need to be made secure, and some kind of steps built so I could get up into the wagon to garden. But I think it would be charming. And now Juergen agrees with me. He is out test driving a car we may buy for Nicole and Jessica. The State gives me money for gas and maintenance on my car. Jessica’s teach

I've done it 3 years, and I am doing it again. I'm listening (God willing) to the entire Bible in one year. And It's so awsome to hear it again. Each time I learn more, understand more. And I invite you to hear it or read it too. You can buy the Bible on CD's or Mp3. Or you can hear it for free online. www.dailyaudiobible.com