Exploring New Options

Anyone who knows me, knows I love kids.  Kristina gives me a hard time sometimes when we go visit friends because I often ignore all the adults and go play with the kids.  I especially love my nieces and nephews.  Before moving to Germany, there was nothing I enjoyed more than visiting my brothers so that I could play with their kids.  After marrying Kristina, I was so excited to instantly gain 3 (now 5) new nieces and nephews.  I love this picture from last Christmas with our then newest niece.  When Kristina posted this on her Facebook page, she got a lot of response asking if she was our baby.


Kristina also loves, and is loved by, our nieces and nephews.  They want to play with her and spend time with her.  I have long thought that Kristina would make a great mother one day.

Unfortunately, that day for us has not yet come.  Nor does it appear that it will come any time soon.  Although our wait has not been as long as for some, the past joyous two and a half years of marriage have been sprinkled with the disappointment of repeated unsuccessful attempts at pregnancy.

At some point as a teenager, I considered the issue of adoption, and decided that was something I would be willing to consider.  I wouldn't say that I decided I wanted to adopt, but rather that I was open to the option.  In our first year of marriage, after already making several attempts at pregnancy, I mentioned the possibility of adoption to Kristina.  I believe she was somewhat surprised by the idea, and didn't want to consider it; she didn't want to feel like we were "giving up" on having a biological child.  As LDS Family Services won't work with a couple that has been married for less than two years, we didn't discuss it further and continued fertility treatments.

In preparing to move to Rexburg, we realized we would now be living in the vicinity of an LDS Family Services office and again considered the option of adoption.  This time, Kristina agreed it was time to consider this option.  She called and scheduled an appointment, and last week, we met with our case worker to start down the road to adoption.  As expressed before by others, our desire to become parents has become stronger than our desire to become pregnant.

We realize this is typically not a quick process, but are confident, that at the right time, the Lord will bless us with children, and we want to give Him as many options as possible to fulfill that desire.  We will continue to explore all our options, to do all we can to achieve this goal.

Although we are just getting started, one thing we've heard over and over is how pro-active we have to be.  And that is where you can help.  We ask you to mention our desire to adopt to everyone you know.  As we get our online profile setup and other outreach means established, we will share those with you as well.  But for now, please let people know that you know a loving couple seeking adoption.  And ask them to pass it on.  Who knows whether that birth mother that finally picks us is a friend of your friend's friend.  We thank you in advance for your help.  We look forward to the day when we can share our love with one of God's children as He has shared it with us, and would be forever grateful for whatever part you might play in that miracle.

An Unexpected Result

Among all of the new things we've bought this month, one was a set of metal serving/mixing bowls.  Just some basic, nice, cheap bowls.  One day shortly after buying them, Kristina had grated cheese into one to eat with our noodles that evening.  I noticed that the bowl was not sitting level on the table.  This disturbed me because it was brand new, and I didn't think it was that cheap.  So I examined the bowl and realized that the bottom was just bent in the wrong direction a bit.  I figured if I pushed on it a bit, I could get it to flip around and then sit flat on the table.  I proceeded to push on the bottom, and it did indeed pop into place as I had expected.  Well, perhaps a bit more forcefully than I had expected.  Plus, I hadn't accounted for the effect this sudden change would have on the little bits of shredded cheese which still filled the bottom quarter of the bowl.  Not only was my "repair" of this bowl accompanied by a loud pop, it also rained cheese down on the both of us.  After recovering from her surprise, Kristina simply responded with, "I know who's cleaning up after dinner."

Sofa und Sessel

Hier seht ihr einen glücklichen Aaron, direkt nachdem er den Sessel zusammengesetzt hatte. Letzten Freitag hatte ich das große Glück, dass Larry und Barbara (Gerratt) mich nach Salt Lake mitgenommen haben. Sie wollten zu einem Hochzeitsempfang, ich nochmal zu Ikea, um Sofa- und Sesselrahmen zu holen. Larry und Barbara kamen extra für uns mit ihrem Pickup-Truck. Ich fuhr mit dem Salt Lake Express bis nach Pocatello, wo sie mich erwarteten. Es war total schön, sie wiederzusehen. Wir haben die ganze Fahrt geredet. Ich durfte mit ihnen bei ihrer Tochter in Sandy übernachten. In Sandy liegen die Berge fast vor der Haustür. Es war ein bisschen komisch für mich, bei einer mir völlig fremden Familie zu übernachten, aber sie waren so lieb, dass es doch wieder gut war. Am Samstagmorgen ging´s zum Ikea, wo ich wirklich alles bekommen habe, was wir noch brauchten und wollten! Es war so toll! Und die Gerratts waren die reinsten Engel. Larry half mir mit den Paketen, und Barbara kaufte selber noch ein bisschen Kleinkram ein. Bei Ikea findet man ja immer was Nettes. Alles hat so super geklappt; ich bekam sogar die 60 Dollar wieder, die wir beim letzten Einkauf zuviel bezahlt hatten. Ich war froh, wieder nach Hause zu meinem lieben Aaron zu kommen. Ich vermisse ihn immer sehr, wenn wir getrennt sind (für mehr als acht Stunden). Und dann war es so lustig. Er nahm sich nur wenig Zeit zum Hallo-Sagen mit den Gerratts und gar keine Zeit für Smalltalk und schlitzte sofort ein Paket auf und begann mit dem Aufbau des Sofas. Er wünschte sich schon so lange, mal wieder bequem zu sitzen... Larry, der ja ein richtiges Arbeitstier ist, machte sofort mit, und so zeigte ich Barbara unsere Wohnung und wir quatschten schön. Die Männer bauten tatsächlich das Sofa und den Sessel in nur 30 Minuten auf. Wie gefällt euch das Grün? Wir lieben es! Im Hintergrund ist auch der Küchentisch mit Stühlen zu sehen. Den lieben wir auch. ;) Jedenfalls kann ich den Gerratts gar nicht genug danken. Sie haben uns einen echten Bärendienst erwiesen, uns geholfen, uns beschenkt usw. Am kommenden Wochenende fahren wir sie in Burley besuchen. Wir bleiben übers Wochenende da. Larry wird uns die Farm zeigen. Ihr müsst uns unbedingt nächsten Sommer besuchen kommen; dann fahren wir zu ihnen und helfen ein bisschen auf der Farm mit. Das wäre prima!
Ansonsten bringe ich meine Uni-Bewerbung voran. Es gibt noch einiges zu tun. Eigentlich kann ich diesen ganzen organisatorischen Kram gar nicht leiden. Und ich bin schon seit April am Organisieren! Aber ich weiß ja, wofür es ist und wie wichtig es ist; das hilft ein bisschen. Übrigens habe ich meine Green Card schon bekommen, nach nur einem Monat! Das soll normalerweise drei Monate dauern. Es läuft also alles sehr gut. Aaron wird an der Uni als neuer Professor drei Wochen lang geschult, es gefällt ihm sehr gut und er mag seine Kollegen. Es ist weiterhin ein sehr sonniger und heißer Sommer hier.
Ich bin zur Zeit mental ein bisschen neben der Spur. Ich vergesse Sachen, kann manchmal einfachen Zusammenhängen nicht folgen und bin allgemein nicht ganz konzentriert. Es liegt wahrscheinlich an zu viel Input. So viel Neues zu sehen, zu verstehen und zu lernen; da hat mein Gehirn in anderen Bereichen den Strom ein bisschen abgedreht. Aber ich bin zuversichtlich, dass sich das wieder geben wird, wenn ich mich eingelebt habe und nicht mehr alles so neu ist.

The big journey

This is a picture of us at the Idaho Falls Temple with our friends, Melinda and Gary. We are very glad to have found them. It´s one of those rare combinations where not only the women are friends but where the men also get along very well. Afterwards, we had them over for lunch and we had a good time sitting on the floor and eating off the coffee table. And just last night, Aaron and I were invited to meet Melinda´s family for Melinda´s birthday party! Her brothers are really fun-loving people and we laughed for most of the evening. It was great! They reminded me of the Johnson brothers by their openness, their friendliness and - this may seem strange, but I had a strong impression - their virtue. They emanated a goodness which I have rarely seen in young men.
Two days later, we rented yet another car and took off on our big trip through the West. Our first destination was Manteca, California, to meet with the grandparents Johnson. It took us about 15 hours to get there. The way through northern Nevada was interesting because it was unlike anything I had ever seen. Brown mountains and very few vegetation for hours and hours; and sometimes a little town along the way. I wondered how it must feel to live in the desert of Nevada. Do people miss the green? Or do they just get used to it?
We visited Aaron´s grandparents at their new apartment and spent the whole day together. It felt good to see each other, to talk and to see the place. It´s a beautiful house and the staff was very friendly. Mostly we talked. Grandpa also showed us a slide show (he was a professional photographer). Grandma was doing well. She participated in our conversations. She needs to sit and cannot stand. It isn´t easy to grow old and to know that you can´t do everything yourself anymore. When we watched the slide show, grandma said she would like to see these places again. I understand. We enjoyed our time with them very much and I am glad Aaron had the idea to do it.
On the next day, we left for Bountiful, Utah. Another long drive out of California, through northern Nevada again and into Utah. I drove for two and a half hours and was completely spent afterwards. Aaron had to drive all the rest. I was still exhausted from the past two days. Luckily, Aaron was in great shape. We arrived in Salt Lake City and Bountiful just as the was setting. I got a glimpse at the Salt Lake Temple and then we went up the mountain to stay with our friends, Richard and Mary Cahoon. They live in the most beautiful house I have ever seen and have a gorgeous view over the valley. Several well-known general authorities live in the neighborhood. This is a picture of the view. Anyway, we had a good time with them. They took us out to see a big copper mine. It was very hot, so I wore a hat. I was glad to have it. We had bought it in Manteca. Sister Cahoon inquired after every single one of the former young single adults crowd in Wiesbaden. She really cares about them. We also went to the Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was very beautiful, of course, and it meant a lot to me that I could visit for the second time. Time passed quickly and then it was 4.30 pm and I was very tired. We went home and I laid down to rest. Three hours later I woke up! It had been wise of Aaron and me not to plan anything big for the night, just to play a game at home and relax. And here I was, waking up at 8 pm. The Cahoons took us for frozen custard (eine Art Eiskrem) and when we returned home, Mary looked through her kitchen cabinets and gave us kitchen utensils that we needed and were planning to buy at Ikea. We got bowls, plates and more from them. On the next day, we said goodbye and headed to Ikea in Draper. We had a plan, we were prepared and we thought it would take three hours at the most. It took us about five and a half hours, even though we were focused on what we needed. We found great furniture that we wanted. We did not find a bed for us. The bed we had chosen turned out to have a grey color and we decided against it. But we found a loveseat and an armchair that we loved! We bought the covers but not the frames because they wouldn´t have fitted in the car. I have a chance to go down to Draper again this weekend, with the Gerratts, and hopefully we will get the frames and bring them home. It might be worth another blog entry. Anyway, we stacked everything in the car and were mightily glad that it fit. The way home was only four hours, we were surprised. It was about 8 pm and Aaron immediately put together the kitchen table and chairs. It is so wonderful to have a table and chairs! Aaron worked hard and had everything assembled by Saturday noon, which was the day after our return. He is really gifted! And he used the screw-driver of his Swiss army knife.

Getting better every day

I gave Aaron a new haircut, using our new hair cutter. It worked really well. Yesterday we went to Porter Park and to Smith Park. It was a very hot and sunny day, so it was very good that we were wearing sunblocker once again. With Aaron working very flexible hours right now, we enjoy our time together. We even went to see "Kung Fu Panda 2" and we thought it was very good. It is probably too scary for little children, though.
I cooked for the first time in our new kitchen; it was pasta with a self-made tomatosauce. I like cooking! Unfortunately, the cook books that we own are in the boxes that need to be sent to us. When they get here, I´ll really take off! Aaron is such a wonderful man. He will eat everything I cook and be satisfied and happy. Even when there is too much pepper on a dish, he´ll say it´s great. :)
Yesterday I got in touch with Mary Cahoon. She and her husband served as a missionary couple in Wiesbaden in 2008 and they were in charge to help the young single adults of our ward. Denise and Elisa, you might remember them. We are going to visit them in Bountiful, Utah, next week and from there we are going to the Ikea store in Draper, Utah. We are looking forward to owning some furniture... To sit on a chair is so much better for one´s back! ;)
Also, I got in touch with Melinda, the former missionary Sister Fitzgerald. She lives in Rexburg with her husband, they got married two months ago. Tonight we are invited for dinner at their place. She is actually my first friend here in Rexburg. And even better: she speaks German. ;)
Speaking of our travels next week, Aaron got his Idaho driver´s license! He passed the written test after studying for five minutes. But then again, he is exceptionally smart. :) For the first three months, I am able to drive using my international driver´s license. Then I´ll have to take the test, too.
We´ve been here in Idaho for 11 days now and I have seen quite a few animals now that I´d never seen before: a bison passed our car in Yellowstone National Park, we saw elks (große Hirsche) there, too. We also saw a marmot (Murmeltier). Yesterday we saw a badger (Dachs) or what appeared to be a badger in someone else´s yard. He was so big! He came towards us and we backed off, then he crossed the street to our church building. I wonder where he lives. Where do badgers live when they are in a town?
This is the view from our bedroom window. We look at the temple and also at our chapel. This seems most unusual to me but it´s good. The Rexburg temple is closed right now for the big annual cleaning but will open again next week. Meanwhile, we are going to visit the Idaho Falls temple this Saturday. It´s approximately 40 minutes away, so it is still closer to us than the Frankfurt temple used to be.
Well, that´s all for now. Have a wonderful day!
Kristina

Auf zu neuen Ufern!

Hier sind wir im Yellowstone-Nationalpark. Aber das war am Freitag... Kurz zurückspulen: Montagnacht kamen Aaron und ich am Idaho-Falls-Flughafen an und wurden von einem sehr freundlichen Kollegen Aarons abgeholt. Er brachte uns zu unserer Wohnung. Sie ist noch ohne Möbel, aber die Küchenschränke und Kleiderschränke (in der Wand) sind schon da, und das ist eine echte Hilfe! Ansonsten essen wir immer noch auf dem Küchenfußboden, was jetzt nicht mehr so angenehm ist. Ich sehne mich nach einem Tisch und Stühlen! Wir waren hier in einem Möbelgeschäft, aber dort hat mir nichts gefallen. Alles war zu dunkel und zu wuchtig, eben die typische amerikanische Landhaus-Mode. Ich setze jetzt große Hoffnung in unseren Ikea-Besuch, der aber erst in anderthalb Wochen sein wird. Der nächste Ikea liegt nämlich 3 1/2 Stunden entfernt, und wir verbinden den Besuch mit einem Besuch bei den Großeltern Johnson in Kalifornien und Freunden in Bountiful. Nach zwei Nächten auf dem Teppich haben wir uns erstmal eine Luftmatratze geleistet, was meinem Rücken gut tut. Aaron meinte zu mir, er würde es aber doch schätzen, bald ein richtiges Bett zu haben. Beim Umdrehen auf der Luftmatratze spürt nämlich der Andere alles davon, und Aaron meinte, wenn ich mich umdrehe, ist es für ihn wie auf der Achterbahn. Ich habe Tränen gelacht, als er das nachmachte. Tja, es ist doch besser, einen festen Schlaf zu haben, so wie ich. :) Hier ist mal ein Bild von der Küche. Ziemlich großer Kühlschrank. Und es gibt einen Gefrierschrank, das ist toll für uns. Ich habe nie einen gehabt.
Für Freitag waren wir mit Aarons Brüdern Mark und Paul und ihren Familien im Yellowstone-Nationalpark verabredet. Sie machten dort Urlaub, und wir wohnen ca. zwei Stunden davon entfernt. Es war eine wunderschöne Zeit mit ihnen. Der Wald selbst ist natürlich beeindruckend; wir werden zurückkommen. An diesem Tag haben wir die Geysirfelder besucht. In den kleinen Teichen sah das Wasser so klar aus wie in der Karibik. Gerne hätte ich darin ein Bad genommen, aber sie sind kochend heiß. Dann füge ich mal ein Bild von mir vor einem Geysir ein. Das Wetter ist ehrfurchtgebietend, weil die Sonne einen sehr schnell verbrennt (wir benutzen jetzt Sonnencreme mit LSF 50, nachdem ich in einer Woche zweimal Sonnenbrand bekam) und es sehr plötzliche Gewitterstürme gibt. Bis jetzt hatten wir immer Glück und waren drinnen, wenn es so stark geregnet hat.
Ich vermisse Deutschland, besonders wenn es ums Essen geht. Aber noch soll ich nicht jammern, denn ich bin erst eine Woche da und habe noch nicht alles gesehen. Aber es ist wohl kein Geheimnis, dass es einfach kein Brot wie in Deutschland gibt. Auch die erste Joghurt-Erfahrung war enttäuschend. Ansonsten geht es uns aber hervorragend. Ich bin erfolgreich Auto (ein Mietauto, Automatikgetriebe!) gefahren, da Aaron seinen Führerschein noch nicht erneuern konnte. Das wird hoffentlich nächste Woche klappen. Das soll´s für heute gewesen sein. Bleibt dran für mehr Neuigkeiten! ;)

A Family Visit, A Visa, A Defense, An Apartment, and Plane Tickets

Those are five items that had been on our to do list for quite some time, and they all happened this week, the last four in the past two days.

To begin with, Kristina and I had a great visit to see her family last week. We were able to spend three days with her mom, during which time we went to the neighboring town of Bad Muskau, to the beautiful park and castle they have there. We had a great time visiting, and playing games. We took a walk one afternoon with Kristina's dad too. Then we drove with Kristina's mom to Dresden via Görlitz to have

lunch with some friends there. We spent four days in Dresden with Kristina's brothers and their families. We went on some nice long walks and generally justplayed with the kids and stuff. One day we went to a fun playground and started playing tag and hide-and-seek with one of our

nieces, then all the other kids wanted to join in. In the end I was chasing about six kids all over this place. It was cute because German kids have a hard time saying "Aaron", so half the kids are calling me Eric or Erwin. I strained a muscle in my leg at one point, which made chasing the girls a little difficult the next couple days. Victor has grown up a lot and was really cute. On Monday, we came back to Mainz, taking the regional trains. It should have take about 10 hours. It ended up taking more like 12, with a missed connection, a faulty train switch, and a pulled emergency brake. It was really hot towards the end, and Kristina and I agreed, next time, we take the fast direct train.

On Tuesday, Kristina got up really early and went into Frankfurt for her Visa Interview, which she will describe in her own entry. I spent the day giving my group another practice defense talk and then working on their comments. I worked on that all day, and by that evening, I was still taking 48 minutes, but only have 30. After learning that everything was in order for Kristina's Visa, I contacted the BYU-I Travel Office, to let them know we could no book our flight. I sent a few emails back and forth with them, trying to find the best option.

This morning I practiced my defense one last time, and this time did it in 28 minutes, so I was feeling better. We went to the university together, carrying a bunch of food for snacks after the defense, and a fan to keep me cool during the presentation. It was quite hot, and I was in a full suit. I thought Maybe this would be good, because the professors on my committee would be hot too and not want to ask a bunch of questions. My presentation went well, and I hit 30 minutes exactly. The committee, on the other hand, really had to stretch to fill the minimum 30 minutes of questioning. But we all made it through and I passed. And that is when the fun began. German universities don't do graduations, so the celebration immediately follows the defense. To begin with, the graduate is given a custom made hat, with mementos of their work.

Then they stick you on this wagon/throne thing and pull you around campus. There were cans tied on the back making a bunch of noise, just in case someone missed the guy in a suit on this big huge chair. It is kind of embarrassing, kind of awesome.

There were two stops that had to be made. First at the statue of Johannes Gutenberg, for whom the university is named, where I thanked him for letting me study here.

Then at this statue of a horse, where I had to climb on top.

After all that excitement, Kristina and I went home and took a nap. That evening we had a pizza picnic with my group to celebrate, which was a nice time just to be together and think about the fact that I actually did it.

Then came the good news that the plane tickets discussed yesterday were purchased. Then I called the managers of the apartment we had applied for. She had said they had a few questions for me, but basically it was when do you want to move in. She said that we will definitely get a place, and most likely a third floor apartment like we requested. That got Kristina really excited, and rounded out nicely a very full, but productive two days.

Now all that is left is to sell as much of our belongings as we can, pack the rest, and leave. It's a combined huge relief.

Interview!

A quick note, I just received notice that BYU-Idaho wishes to interview me for the open Chemistry professor position. Let's just say, I'm flippin' excited.

Ups and Downs

Sorry it has been a while since either of us has written anything. For those who couldn't quite follow Kristina's post, we're really busy. She's got this organic chemistry lab class where she's supposed to be there from 9 to 6, and in her remaining time write lab reports and prepare procedures for what's next and order chemicals and everything. It's more difficult and time demanding than anything I ever had to do. And while she's doing that, I'm writing my dissertation. And somewhere in there someone is supposed to go grocery shopping and wash dishes and do laundry. Honestly, we do as little of that as possible. We've kind of gotten on a routine of only washing dishes once a week.

Along with all of that, and because of it, we've had a lot of ups and downs over the past few months. Sometimes it can flip really fast too. I go back and forth between thinking all my data is worthless and I'm betting the rest of my life on shoddy conclusions (yesterday), and then realizing I know what's going on and my data is actually pretty good (today). Let me demonstrate.

This graph got me down:

It made for a hard day. On the right axis is what I measured (FOTOS) for iso-pentane concentrations divided by what was measured at the observatory at Hohenpeißenberg (MOHp) as a function of the measured concentration. It basically shows that the values I measured for iso-pentane underestimate the actual value by up to 80%. That's not good. Especially since iso-pentane is one of the three compounds I measured in Finland on which my big chapter is based. It is times like these when I ask myself what I'm doing with my life. Then I remembered what I had done wrong. (Non-science types can now skip to the next picture.) I had the timing of my mass spec ion grouping such that I switched ion groups in the middle of this peak. Not on purpose of course, but because iso-pentane has signal at ions in both groups, the total ion signal looked okay, but the individual mass-to-charge signals contained clipped peaks. I thought about how I could prove that, then realized that if I plot as a function of peak retention time, it should be obvious. The ion grouping switch occurred at 3.0 minutes, so those points near 3.0 minutes would be more clipped, progressing upward until the peak is fully within the ion group window. I made that plot today.

This graph got me back up:

See how beautiful it is. That is such an amazing correlation I had to run around showing everyone. It shows that I can explain the discrepancy, and better yet, that the changes I made before going to Finland should result in highly reliable data. All is once again right in the world.

So lots of ups and downs, but it looks like we'll both end on an up.

I'm getting excited about becoming a teacher again. A couple weeks back, I gave the lesson at the home evening activity for the young single adults. (I'm the member of the Bishopric assigned to the YSAs). I decided to talk about how the rules, laws and commandments we chose to follow shape the kind of person we are. To demonstrate that, I explained how in quantum mechanics, the difference between a particle-in-a-box and a harmonic oscillator is not related to the nature of the particle (the kinetic energy term for both is the same), but rather the boundaries within which it exists (the potential energy term, which varies based on the type of potential well in which the particle is contained). Surprisingly, only one person seemed to follow my reasoning, but she was so excited about the concept that it made it worth it. (Don't worry, in the end I switched to scripture references, and then most everyone got my point.) Yeah, I'm excited to be a teacher. I haven't heard anything from BYU-Idaho yet, and plan to write a follow-up email this weekend if I don't hear from them by then.

Well, that's probably enough for now. Class dismissed. Please leave your quizzes on my desk and remember to read chapter four, sections one and two before our next lesson on Monday.