Weekend with the Wagners

 This weekend I spent with the Wagners. They live in Glan-Munchweiler, near the airforce base Ramstein. We used to go to church together in Abilene, where they became dear friends of our family. Marilyn stayed at our house many times while Jeremy was deployed, and Jenny and I stayed with her several times as well. She only had Elijah then who is now 4! Now there is also Luke (3) and Jonah (9 months....I think). This is sweet Jonah on the left! He is wearing the tractor outfit that mom bought him...so cute! I arrived Thursday around 7:30. I got some big hugs from Elijah and Luke...we played together outside for a while. They are so funny!

 The next day we went to a city fest in a nearby town. It was so fun and relaxed. There are delicious food vendors everywhere and music and other booths. Basically like a fair I guess.

 Elijah is so sweet and talks so grownup.

 Me and the Wagner boys!

 Funny and cute.

 They live so close to France that we had to drive through so I could say I've been. So....I've been to France now!

 The Wagner house.

 Luke gave me a flower! :)

 Jeremy is growing and takes great pride in his garden, especially this giant pumpkin. It was one of the first things the boys wanted to show me, haha. Their goal is 500 lbs.

 I am so jealous of their garden. It has tomatoes, pumpkin, corn, potatoes, gourds, ginger, and more that I cant remember. In the back yard they have raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, johannnesberries, and many herbs. Jeremy said it's hard to fail at gardening there because of all the rain. I miss having a summer garden....it's just too dry for us right now. :(

 Jeremy is even growing hops! He wants to make his own brew at some point.

 It is growing up their drain pipe.

Friday night their neighbor came over who is my age. We all talked for a long time that  night and found out we had a lot in common. Her family is very conservative. We made plans to go to a yard sale the next morning because it was American and she really wanted to go. It didnt have much so she just took me to places around town which was so fun. First a grocery store. She showed me what chocolates were good, and so I bought a lot on her recommendation. I tried some and it is probably the best chocolate I've ever had. mmmmmmm.

She told me her uncles owns the company that makes this juice.

 She showed me the Catholic church in town.

 And the Protestant church that she goes to.

 In the back yard of her church was some really old stuff that had been dug up years ago. This is a coffin.

 And these are stones from pagan monuments. The one on the right is Hercules. Glan-Munchweiler is a really old town from like 700 AD. She said Glan means river, and munch meant that monks lived their and weiler meant that there was a lake near. I showed her my last name and asked how she would say it, and she said it like we do. She said that Duden is a book of German words, and that sing is sing haha. I dont know what that put together is supposed to mean for us but she said her grandma does name history and origins of families. I will have to ask if she could get her grandma to do ours!

 We also went to this monument for villagers who had died in WW bombings.

 Part of the monument.

 Look how pretty these graves are! She says people put a lot of work into families graves.

 Luisa is a member of the county volunteer fire department. Apparently a lot of young people do it just because they want to help. She has weekly trainings and is always on call if she is in the area. People spend every  Saturday there and get nothing back from it, it's amazing. She showed me around. They actually have pretty high-tech equipment and are very trained.

 So funny. These were hanging all over the inside of the girls bathroom. None are even that "sexy" haha!

 Inside their garage.

 She let me wear her gear, lol.

 In a huge German firetruck!

Control central. So after she showed me around I went back to the Wagners. Luisa and I really got along well though and are going to stay in touch. I have a German friend! She as a flat on the Rhine, which is awesome. She kept telling me all these cool things we could do if I could stay longer. I'm going to have to come back for sure! When I told her we were farmers and from such a small town she asked if we had electricity and running water, and if we stored our milk in metal containers...haha! So when I left she said I make her want to visit Texas to the "edge of civilization." lol. She had already been to San Antonio....she has done a lot of traveling. So anyway after that I spent the rest of the day visiting with Marilyn and Jeremy which was nice. I had to be on the train by 1:45 unfortunately. This might have been the best weekends so far. It was just like visiting family....idk it's close. Mom and Dad, you WILL go to Germany. Soon.