Home

It may be a bit beside the point to say at this point, but we are home.

We arrived back in Texas on Wednesday, January 13; Katie started her new school on Wednesday January 20; we moved back into our house on Sunday January 31. The air shipment came on Tuesday February 2. The sea shipment came on Wednesday February 17. So the first several weeks were a bit of a blur :-)

People keep asking me if we are settled in. I usually answer "not completely". I think this is the wrong thing to say because it always produces a strong surprised reaction. :-) It is true that physically we have long been settled in: you can only find a handful of boxes left unpacked around the house. Katie has thrived in her new class. Jason is well into the new job and reconnected with IBM USA. I have most of the big to-dos checked off my list.

But mentally, emotionally... that is definitely going to take some more time.

We are so so glad to be back in Texas - life is so easy here and we know what to do and what to expect. We know the language :-) and the nuance in every conversation. We have loved reconnecting with our family and friends. We enjoy the sense of permanence that this life holds for us.

And we are glad for more trivial things as well :-): Laundry doesn't take me more than 1 day a week. My weekly grocery run takes 45 minutes instead of 2+ hours. We can run the water downstairs to wash dishes AND upstairs for Katie to take a bath - at the same time!! We have all our worldly possessions back together under 1 roof and the logistics are simpler once again.

But we miss life in Spain too. We miss our friends very much. Life was foreign there, but we got used to it. And - though I won't say this too loudly - we grew to like some things better.

So now our task is to sort out these two sides of ourselves. To take the best of our life here and the best of our life there and meld them into something good and cohesive. We don't want to just go back to business as normal. That would be easier. But we were given an amazing opportunity to see life in a different way. We want to put into practice some of the things we saw and learned these past 2 years. We want to live differently here because we lived there.

What an experience it was. What a gift we were given. We are thankful we got to go. And we are thankful we are home.

People vs Tasks

Well... today we fly home. Jason writing. I woke up at just before 4am today and couldn't sleep. Many things on my mind, but the theme that keeps coming back is how thankful I am for my amazing (and beautiful, but that's a different post :-) wife, Becca.

As I was laying in bed, I was thinking back a few years about when a great friend of mine was moving from Dallas to the East Coast. He had a to-do list as long as my arm... but kept taking time out of his days to visit friends and genuinely hang out to say a proper goodbye. I spent a full Saturday with him and this was stressing me out! I'm wired to get my tasks done and THEN relax and see people. He is wired the other way... and I know it created some long days/nights for him as he worked to get the tasks done too.

All this brings me to Becca. Yesterday, we were picking Katie up from school together and saying some goodbyes to the school staff, etc. Given the Holidays, there are some friends Becca hasn't had the chance to see and say goodbye with. One of her dear, dear Italian friends Roberta came through the door and all the sadness of leaving without time left for a visit just came bursting out. Becca started crying and so did Roberta and it was a sweet and beautiful moment of them expressing how they'd wished they could've spent time together prior to leaving, will miss one another, etc etc. Such a sweet and sad moment.

I'm thankful to glad to share with you that there are few on Bec's list that didn't enjoy her time in these past weeks. In the midst of a complex and crazy foreign move, Bec made time for people. Just like my friend Brian... she drank the cafe con leche (we'll miss it!) ... shared the tapas/vino and kept people as a top priority. This resulted in a few long days and late nights finishing those lists... but it was very clearly worth it.

Well done Bec. You finished well. I love you... along with so many others here in Spain.

P.S. I could write 3 or 4 or 5 posts on the amazing Becca and how she's managed the logistics of this move. In the midst of ending/starting jobs (and saying a few goodbye's of my own) I've only helped a little here... Bec has done the lion's share of the work and done it WELL. The complexity is almost impossible to describe...

Take your Katie to work day!

It occurred to me recently that when we return to the US, I'll office from home and won't have an official space in the IBM building in Dallas. One thing my Mom and Dad used to do for me when I was young was to take me to work with them. I plan to do this with Katie... but it's not terribly exciting to come to my office in our house.

So...

On December 29^th, I took Katie to work with me to the IBM Madrid office! As we are preparing to move home... this had the additional benefit of giving Becca some kid-free time to get work done on our logistics, etc. We started our day with my 1.1 mile walk to the office. It was the same as every (non-travel) day for me... but longer than she expected! On the way, we discussed proper behavior in an office setting. That we don't act super silly when we feel uncomfortable... but instead it's best to sit quietly, breathe and wait until we feel better about whatever is making us uncomfortable. That we introduce ourselves clearly and say our name “more loudly than you think you need to” while looking directly at the person we're meeting. That we don't run down the halls (unless you're my current manager who does everything at 78 rpms!). Etc etc. :-)

We arrived and got our space all setup. Katie had her own desk, chair and computer. Big times ahead!

Katie started out by sharing confident greetings and kisses with several of the ladies who sit near my office and then meeting the “big boss” (my manager's manager) who is an American recently arriving to Madrid from Austin, Texas. He was genuinely glad to meet her and she did a great job chatting with him about school and our move back to Texas soon.

After getting a coffee and apple juice/water... we got down to work. Katie brought her Thank You notes to complete from her recent 6^th Birthday party. It's quarter close, so I genuinely had several items to complete and I was able to focus on those tasks while she did her work.

After completing thank you's, Katie did some of her reading/learning games online. She loves these and they are actually pretty hard. It's amazing how fast she is learning to read.

I also have an electronic rfid key for our vending machines that allows me to buy things without having change at that moment. I just hold it near the sensor and it shows me my credit, etc. I brought all the euro dimes that we'd been collecting in the house, and Katie helped me by reloading my key. Well done! I have 6Euro's now!

After playing some games, we went and made scan's of our Passports and Residence cards. These were needed for our moving paperwork. While there, we trimmed up her Thank You's on the paper cutter. Nice!

We returned to my desk and I joined a telephone conference call. While I was on the phone, Katie did more online fun and drew me several new pictures to hang around my desk.

It was now 1pm and time for lunch! We met Mom a

t a nearby Italian restaurant and had a great lunch of pasta. Yum. She and Becca then went home for an afternoon siesta. :-)

I must say that Katie was impressive in our day at work. She did an excellent job and was (with the exception of running to the bathroom once!!) nearly a miniature professional office worker. It was a side of her I hadn't seen, honestly. Normally, I get home and she's tired and I'm tired and we either are just silly together or a bit quiet/grouchy and ready for bedtimes. She was impressive. I wish I had an office in Dallas so we could go do it again next year! Perhaps we'll find a way...

Best part? He question to me when leaving was, “Dad... can I PLEASE PLEASE work with you this afternoon? Or tomorrow?? PLEASE??” :-) Mission accomplished!

Christmas

We enjoyed Christmas fun in December, in between the birthday and moving preparations :-).

We had a fun treat of a snowfall the week of Christmas. Sadly, it didn't stick around for us to enjoy a white Christmas like they had in DFW this year, but it was great! We really enjoyed the chance to go sledding and throw snowballs. Daisy LOVED the snow and ran around like a crazy dog the whole time we were playing outside! (see her in the background of this picture?)


Katie had a nice Christmas program at school - here she is with her sweet friend Anna Sophie. They sang songs in Spanish and English, with a Hanukkah song partly in Hebrew thrown in there too. The program ended with an older class doing Indian dancing - I think these occasions highlight the international-ness of life here the most! It was quite a cultural range!


Christmas was definitely different this year because we were completely alone! We are moving home 3 weeks after Christmas, so it just didn't make sense to go home or for anyone to come here. It was definitely a little sad on Christmas day and on the days when our families were gathering to celebrate together. But we had a nice quiet day with just us 3. Some of our family sent us gifts to open on Christmas Day which was so thoughtful and made the day special. And some of our family is waiting to celebrate with us until we get home. Next year we look forward to again celebrating Christmas with all the parts of our family.

The big hit of Christmas was definitely Katie's electronic keyboard. She was soooo excited! She has been asking for a piano or a guitar for 6 months, so it was just what she wanted. (here's her reaction when she realized what was under the tree!) She didn't think she would really get a piano because she thought we wouldn't be able to take it back to TX. (and the next picture is her reaction when we assured her it would be coming back to TX with us - she said "yes!" :-) ) She has said this several times about several things - I'm not sure if she is only thinking of the suitcases or if that's just some underlying anxiety she has about the move. It was fun to completely surprise her even with something she has asked for so much!




Here's one more pic of Daisy - she even got to be festive for Christmas :-)

Katie turns 6!

On 23 December Katie turned 6! We can hardly believe how big she is getting. Sometimes it seems we have a grown up girl suddenly before our eyes. She is growing in thoughtfulness and responsibility. She has music in her bones and is always singing and making up songs, usually praise songs to God. It is so fun to see her personality and talents develop!





We started off the festivities early, with Katie's birthday party on 12 December. She wanted a puppy party this year and I have to say it was one of the easiest, most fun parties!! Of course, Mimi & Poppi helped quite a bit with the party planning, sending us gobs of supplies from TX. It was a great theme as well since half the party guests were boys - I think they liked puppies more than princesses :-).

The party began with each guest receiving their own puppy ears and tail so they could get into the theme. They enjoyed showing us how they panted and wagged their tails too. Some were reluctant... but eventually all were changed into puppies for a couple of hours!

We played Musical Puppies (like musical chairs with stuffed puppies instead of chairs), Pin the Paw on the Puppy, Dance Freeze to puppy music - they were all big hits! Each guest also got to paint bone and puppy ornaments to hang on their Christmas trees. We ate bone shaped sandwiches and paw print cupcakes. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself to the parents who stayed for the party - I do NOT do parties like this!! (i.e. all themed and creative) But with a few minutes of searching on the internet I found so many easy and fun activities! So hooray for my 10 minutes of Martha Stewart glory :-) I would highly recommend this party theme!










Katie enjoyed the day of her birthday as well. I think she gets more excited about her birthday than Christmas! :-) When she was a little baby, I was concerned about being sure that the 2 are always separate; basically that her birthday doesn't get lost in Christmas. But for her, her birthday is totally connected to Christmas - it's all just one big happy celebration :-). Jason & I snuck into Katie's room the night before to decorate with balloons and streamers so she would wake up to a fun surprise. What I didn't count on was that she would wake up so early that it would still be too dark to see the decorations :-). When she went back into her room and turned the light on she was suitably impressed :-).

On her birthday, Katie enjoyed opening presents and riding her new bike. We finished the day with a "movie night" by watching Snow White, complete with popcorn and pizza - one of her favorite things right now!

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!!

Not the way you are supposed to write a blog

OK, I thought I should fess up...

I am compiling this blog into books so that we will have a record of the blog when we get back to Texas. There have been a couple of posts that I wanted to write, but as I am ALWAYS behind on this blog, they just never got written. So... in an effort for the blog books to be complete... I went back and wrote those missing posts and dated them so that they would fall in their chronological places!

But then I noticed that those retro posts weren't showing up on my blog reader - so I figured I'd better tell you about them so they would actually get read :-)

So here is my post on my 35th birthday and here is my post on Mother's Day. Hope you enjoy them. :-)

The peanut butter is gone....

.... so it must be time to come home!!

Thankful

We have already celebrated our Thanksgiving, with 150 friends from around the world at our church this past Sunday. We enjoyed all the traditional food of Thanksgiving, as well as goodies from Spain and other foreign places :-) We are going to be "celebrating" Thanksgiving Day in Paris by sharing some French cheese with our good friends, Dan & Ruth Staalsen. So it's not exactly a typical Thanksgiving Day for us this year!

I have been reflecting on many things these past few weeks. As with many of you, I have also been thinking of the things that I am thankful for. For one thing, I am thankful that my dad is doing so well. By way of (belated) update for those of you who are not also Facebook friends :-), my dad's surgery went extremely well. He has recovered nicely and the doctors are pleased with how he is doing after surgery. He also got extremely good news last week from his first blood test: his PSA level has already gone to ZERO!! Now that his prostate is gone, any level of PSA hormone in his blood means that there is more prostate cancer floating around in his body. So this means that they really did get all the cancer that was there!! The doctors did not expect that it would go to zero this soon, and they had kind of indicated that they did not think it would go to zero at all (i.e. that they were afraid there was still cancer floating around). They will continue to watch him very closely, but we are so so thankful!!

I have also been reflecting on the last 2 years. I have been reading my journal from 2 years ago and it is hard to believe how things have changed. It would be fair to say I had many mixed emotions moving here to Spain :-). I am NOT a dreamer and it would never have occurred to me to move halfway around the world, far from everyone and everything I knew and loved. But God gave me a wonderful husband who compliments me well and who dreams big dreams - and I am SOOOO thankful! (How boring my life would be without him!) What I would have missed out on if he (and He!!) had not led us here to Spain!

In my journal in November 2007, I wrote of fear and loss and being completely overwhelmed at the prospect and details of moving internationally. I wrote of not knowing if we could make a new life for ourselves in a strange land. I wrote of being far from family and worry of something happening to them while we were so far away. I wrote of peace in the midst of my swirling thoughts and emotions and a clear sense of God's leading us to take this huge step.

The last 2 years have been some of the most difficult and the most rewarding years of our lives. We have experienced loss and overwhelming details in learning how to survive, then thrive in a strange land. But God has given us comfort in our losses and increased patience in dealing with those details - and the joys have overshadowed the loss. We have indeed had things happen with our parents: 3 of our 4 parents have had a major health crisis since we've been here. But each time, God enabled us to be with them and protected their lives. We have made a home and a life here, with a wealth of good friendships and good experiences. We have seen God's hand in our lives, protecting us and providing for us in so many ways. He has not left us alone; we have not faced this strange land without His help and His strength. We have grown emotionally, mentally and spiritually with His help.

We are now looking at the end of our time here in Spain. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for how God has helped us these last 2 years. Remembering my emotions and thoughts 2 years ago, it is a bit ironic that in many ways we will now leave Spain with mixed emotions. Yes, we are ready to come home; yes, we will leave part of our hearts in Spain.

Thank you, God, for this rich experience and your faithful love for us!!

Happy Thanksgiving :-)

My dad

I would like to ask you to pray with us over the next few weeks and months. About a month ago, my dad was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. He will have surgery on October 22 so they can remove his prostate. We are praying that they will be able to get all the cancer out, that the cancer has not spread to his lymph nodes, and that the side effects will be as minimal as possible. Also pray for the time to go quickly - the surgery was originally scheduled for October 5, and it is not especially fun to wait 2 more weeks!!

For several months, Katie & I have planned to come to Texas at the end of October - I guess only God knew the whole reason we were coming. So our schedule has been arranged and rearranged, and will likely be rearranged again, but I am thankful that I will get to be there with my family.

I don't know what else to say. It's scary stuff and we don't know what the future will hold. But I know that God does know and He is big enough.

Psalm 142:3a "When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way."

Psalm 16:8 "I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

1st Day of School!

Friday, 4 September, was Katie's first day of school. Katie has been in school 4 days a week this past year, but this year was a big deal:
1. Because this is Kindergarten!! For real (and no matter what country we live in), she is in school now!
and 2. Because she switched to a new school!!

Katie is now attending an international school called ICS (International College Spain). It follows the IB program and is much more similar in style and philosophy to schools in the states. We hope this will make her transition back to a TX school easier when that time comes.

We kicked off a new tradition this year, one that comes from my childhood: the back to school lunch! Katie & I enjoyed lunch together the week before school started, to celebrate the new beginning. We ate at a place called Frankie & Benny's that makes yummy American style pizza. Then we went shopping for her new backpack and to spend the money Mimi & Poppi sent her for some new school supplies. She loved the shopping and spending of money - maybe as much or more than the lunch! :-)

Thursday we got to go meet her new teacher, Ms. Moran. Ms. Moran is from Ireland. Katie enjoyed seeing her new classroom and the new school.









On Friday, Katie was up and eager to get on her way. She was ready WAY before Mom & Dad were! Katie doesn't exactly wear uniforms at her new school, but they have a gym outfit that they wear on gym days. Since they have gym 3 times a week, it about amounts to the same thing :-)




Unfortunately we can't quite walk to school, even though the new school is closer than the old one. We clocked it at 26 minutes the week before school started. A bit too much for EVERY morning! But we park on a street down the hill from the school and walk up the hill so as to avoid the traffic. If we get there on the late side, sometimes it feels like we're walking to school :-)





Each morning, they line up to wait for their teacher and their class's turn to go inside. Katie was REALLY upset when she found out at meet-the-teacher that we could not go upstairs with her to her actual classroom. But on the first day, she did great! It's actually a great system because any leaving drama is lessened by the structure and the distance from the actual classroom.

And finally: the actual back-to-school outfit :-). We had bought this before we realized that the first day of school was a gym day and that she would wear her gym clothes. So this was on Wednesday, the 4th day of school :-) Katie is LOVING her new school and has quickly settled in and made friends. This is a HUGE answer to prayer, as her transition to the 1st Spanish school was not so smooth. She is still adjusting to the schedule - by Thursday or Friday each week, she is pretty worn out. She goes 5 days a week from 8:50 -4:05 - 1 day and almost an hour longer than her school last year. Actually, I think Mommy & Daddy are still adjusting too - we get pretty worn out by the end of the week too! :-) But we are so thankful that we have found a place where Katie is doing so well!

Comfort Food

I don't know what fits your description of comfort food. For us, it's pretty much Kraft macaroni & cheese. Now, I'm NOT saying this is our favorite food (unless you ask Katie), and the longer we live in Europe the less we even like it at all (what IS that orange powder anyway??). But whenever we are super tired or sad or just home from a trip or just don't know what else to cook, we always turn to Kraft mac & cheese.

Today my family left after 11 wonderful days here with us in Spain. This spring has been a series of visits from our family so that now each member of our family has been here to visit us within the last 4 months. (though we missed you, Uncle Bryan!) It still really blows my mind that they were all willing to come and that we were able to show each of them our world. What great memories we have!

But now they're all gone, with no more visits to look forward to. So we are eating mac & cheese today. And wishing Spain were just a wee bit closer to Texas.

Bye Bye Baby

It has been awhile since I've posted - remember how I am when I don't have any deadlines?? (which for my life here in Spain means visitors or a trip :-) ) Well, my family arrives on Saturday, so here I am with an update :-)

If you saw my Easter post, you might have guessed that Katie's tooth has indeed fallen out by now :-) A mere 2 weeks after she 1st noticed it was loose, it was ready to come out! Monday morning 4 May, it was REALLY wiggly and sideways and I was afraid that it would fall out at school! How sad would that be?? They weren't there when it came in, so why should they get to be the ones who get to see it fall out? :-) So I rushed a bit to go pick Katie up, immediately checking for sure that her tooth was still hanging on in her mouth. Fortunately it was! So I decided that we needed to get this tooth out while she was safely at home :-) Sadly Jason was in Las Vegas, so it fell to Mom to do the honors - that tooth was not waiting for him to get back home!

Now, the trouble is, whenever I would look at her tooth sideways and feel it cracking free from its roots, my stomach would turn a little bit. I am NOT a fan of blood or extracting things like this! But what could I do? There was no one but me :-) So I just wiggled it back and forth until it snapped right out - it just needed 1 good push!


Katie was SO excited and happy to put her tooth under her pillow to wait for the tooth fairy. They don't have the tooth fairy in Spain, instead they have something called "Ratoncito Perez" who leaves money or a small gift for a lost tooth. But I am sure that at OUR house in Spain, we were visited by a fairy and NOT a little rat!!! :-) The tooth fairy did leave Euros, with a little bonus for the 1st tooth. Oh happy day!

The really sad postscript to this story is that now, 1 short month later, Katie has THREE more teeth that are loose. The other tooth in the middle on the bottom and the 2 middle ones on the top. So my baby is truly growing up and will soon have more holes than teeth visible (and then HUGE teeth instead of the little cute ones!)

Mother's Day

True confessions, part 2: This post is being written on 30 December, 2009, not in May as it says below... this is another post I wish I had written when it actually occurred! :-)

The main reason I wanted to write this post is to brag on my hubby a bit :-). Every year since Katie was born, he has done Mother's Day big for me. One of his traditions is that every year he has had a hand painted ceramic plate made for me with Katie's hand prints, or footprints, or fingerprints. As she's gotten older she has been able to help more and more with the creation of these plates.

Well, in Dallas, Jason has a shop that he goes to that helps him out with the design and the finishing of the plate after he and Katie paint it. But 15 months ago, we moved to Spain, and who knows how to do that here!!! But my dear hubby is more determined than that :-). Last year, he thought of this dilemma BEFORE we moved - in the midst of 6000 other things that he had going on - and had a plate made for me in Dallas before we left. His dad delivered it to us when he visited in March.

This year, however, there was no Dallas trip anytime in the spring - but again, that did not stop him! He conspired with a friend from church who has a friend who has a kiln. So after church one day, Jason & Katie disappeared to paint my plate (unbeknownst to me) and then our friend had it finished for us. What a gift! It really blew me away - maybe you can see the tears in my eyes in this pic :-) I am so thankful for my creative, determined, thoughtful hubby!


We enjoyed a nice lunch at the same restaurant we went to last year. We had some really yummy beef. After many false starts, we have finally found the way to order delicious steak here in Spain! Sometimes it even comes just browned on the outside and they give you a burning hot stone to finish cooking it on :-).


After lunch, we walked around in the beautiful rose garden near our house. We were mostly unsuccessful in our attempts to get a good pic of Katie & me in the garden - it was just too sunny or too shady! :-) We actually were in fits of giggles most of the time trying!

What a wonderful Mother's Day!! I love you, honey!

QOTD

Jason has been in Vegas this week - he left last Saturday. So both Katie & I woke up early, excited that he's coming home today! Our rule for Katie, our early-riser, has long been that you have to stay in your bed/room until 7 (we seriously taught her this at age 2 so I - the NON early riser - could stay sane!! :-) )

Anyway, here was our conversation at 6:30 this morning:
K: Mom, can I come snuggle with you?

me: Sure (I was up anyway and knew she was just excited)

K: Because when it says 6, then you can come snuggle.

me: Well, no, usually when it says 6, you need to stay in your bed.

K: But today is a big celebration because Daddy's coming home.

Indeed :-)

Then about 5 minutes later:
K: Mom, can we go to the airport to get Daddy now?

:-) :-)

Daisy the Dog!!!

We are VERY excited to announce that we have a new dog!! We just couldn't stand being without a dog any longer :-) We got Daisy 10 days ago from a local shelter. She is 35 pounds, about 7 months old and some sort of Spaniel mix. (anyone have any ideas on what you think she is??)






The Saturday before Easter, we decided to go look at dogs. We had all been getting increasingly restless for a dog, even after having purchased our substitute pet bird. And Voila!! There she was, just sitting quietly observing us as we walked around the kennels. Katie was very confused about the whole process: Are we getting a dog today? (probably not, we're just looking) Are we getting this dog now? (not sure, we're trying to decide) Are we bringing the dog home today? (no) Is she really our dog? (yes!)

We really were just looking and in particular, we were looking for a small dog - but here we are :-) I think the main problem there is that we're just not small dog people :-) They told us that it would be 2 weeks before we could bring her home - she had to be spayed before we could pick her up - but Monday after we went, they called to say she'd be ready on Thursday! So we went back to see her again on Monday afternoon - just to be sure! Thursday Katie & I took the new collar, leash & cage and went to pick up Daisy.

The 1st weekend was pretty rough, mainly because she was scared of EVERYTHING! The first time I walked her, I literally had to pick her up and carry her across the street. Big fun. I'm sure I made quite a scene carrying this huge dog across the street while also trying to corral a 5 year old! Daisy wouldn't walk through doorways, she wouldn't play with any toys, she wouldn't even go potty most of the 1st day. She was just really really scared. We were really nervous that she wouldn't be able to overcome the fear and be a good dog for our family. (and that we'd have to take her back) She basically was acting like a 15 year old dog - just a big dog lump! It really surprised us because we hadn't seen any signs of fear while she was at the shelter.

But about Tuesday or Wednesday last week, our puppy finally showed up!! I was making the bed and she took off with one of the pillows. Then I could hardly finish because she was trying to bite the sheets, the pillows, pretty much anything she could get her teeth on. Jason was out of town, so I was still nervous that she would still be super scared around him. But she really and truly has relaxed and is enjoying life now! The 1st day or so of Daisy being herself, she hurt Katie by knocking into her or jumping on her. It was a bit tricky to explain that it's actually a good thing that Daisy is doing this because it shows that she is acting like a normal puppy. :-) Not such a popular explanation for Miss Katie!

Daisy is definitely now acting like the silly young pup that she is - here she is trying to get through the gate to follow Katie to the garden :-) No mind that only her head would ever fit through that little hole :-) I really thought she was going to choke herself... but still had to run get the camera to record the silliness :-)





She is a very sweet dog and very calm in general. You can see she is making herself right at home. :-) She has her fair share of really bad habits - pulling your arm off on walks, jumping up on everyone, peeing in the house - habits that seem to be a bit harder to conquer since she is bigger and thus harder to control. But we are trying to practice plenty of patience and have a big order of training tools in to Petsmart for Jason to pick up when he comes to the US on a business trip next week. :-) I'm trying to remember all the helpful hints I learned from taking Rosie through puppy training 2 years ago.

It has truly been a joy to have a dog around again. And the walks haven't even been that bad :-) No, we don't have a yard here - the primary reason that we did not bring our dogs to Spain. We LOVE our dogs, but are also lazy and weren't so keen on the idea of walking our dogs 4 or 5 times a day. But as they say in Spanish - vale la pena - it's worth it! Not having dogs is worse than having to walk them all the time! And I've met all sorts of nice people on my frequent walks - even mostly people who speak English! It has been beautiful weather as well, so it's been great to have an excuse to be outside so much. Yeah for Daisy!!