Week 19 - Work Work Work

This was another heads down week of long days and nights at work.  It was also a really, really rainy week here.

Due to not getting out and some other things, the kids had a harder week this week.  They are all definitely missing home and friends.

This week we finished uploading all of our pictures that we've ever taken to Google+.  The Internet at work is so fast, that it only took a week to upload over 80 gb of pictures and videos.  Now that all of the pictures are up there, the kids have really enjoyed looking at them.  There  are pics and videos that we haven't seen in years because they were on one computer in Kim's office.

Now that they are available on the web, all of the kids can easily get to them and they can be shared with family and friends.  It is amazing how fast the Internet has changed almost every part of our lives.  You really realize how dependent you are on it when you travel outside of Luxembourg and you can't use your data plan.

In 2015 Europe is going to get much easier as the EU just past a law that will make it much more like the U.S. for cell phone plans.  Today, every country is different.  So as soon as we go 20 minutes in any direction we would be paying huge $$$ for data.

This was my first activity as a young men's leader this week.  We played ultimate frisbee at a school near to the church.  For most of the boys this was their first experience with ultimate.  We all had a blast and everyone got involved.  It was great for my boys to get out of the house and run!

On Saturday I took a break from work and headed out to Bastogne.  Bastogne was a key battle in WWII because it was part of the Battle of the Bulge.  Basically, the bulge went out to Bastogne and the Belgium resistance fighters and the U.S. soldiers got totally surrounded by the Germans.  It was really cold, but they held off the Germans for weeks.  The weather was bad, which prevented air drops from re-supplying them.  At the last minute the weather cleared and they got resupplied from the air with food and ammunition.  Hitler really wanted Bastogne, but they were able to hold them off!

Later they pushed the Germans back all the way to Vianden, where the last battle occurred in Luxembourg.  A few unlucky U.S. soldiers died there as the war was ending in the Luxembourg/Belgium area.

The war museum was amazing and very, very well done.  They took you through the Battle through the eyes of four people.  A German soldier, U.S. soldier, a young boy and a teacher.  It was pretty sobering.  It reminded us a little of the LDS museum in San Diego.  If you're ever in the area it is worth stopping by.

Afterwards, we had a good meal and got some gelato!  Kim had the best flavor.  Their passion fruit was amazing...

On Sunday after church we had some visitors and headed to another museum in Diekirch.  This was basically room after room of all of the small details of the war.  They have everything from hospital kits, to mess kits, to matches, to ammo, to guns, tanks, fuel, radios and even an enigma machine.

It was unbelievable to us how much effort it takes to go to war.  There's a lot of steel, with the sole purpose of throwing steel at people to kill them.  Seems like such a waste.  We still cannot comprehend how Hitler was able to start a war that killed 70 million people.  Hard to believe what we humans will do to other humans.

After that we headed past Vianden and onto Trier.  Trier is the oldest city in Germany and is where my Dad served for part of his mission.  The Romans built a huge gate, baths and an amphitheater.  We also went into the main cathedral and they were having mass.  My Dad would have tripped out as he loves organ music.  So organ music in a German cathedral that he visited when he was a young man would have been too much!

Should be a very important week at work.  We've been working on an investment round that should come through and allow us to keep going.  Knock on wood!