The Basics

Quick version on what has happened and what we’ve learned so far: 

1.  Tim passed his driver’s test (Yeah!!)
2. The German’s tax is 19%.
3. They don’t sell DP on the German Economy.  We've been told that we could buy a case of DP for $4.00 walk off post, stand on the corner, and probably sell it for double. (Although I’m sure that’s not kosher.)
4. Although a lot of people walk around post, few make eye contact and say hello.  I did a little experiment one day and out of the 10 people I passed and tried making eye contact with to say hello, only two did the same.  It was mainly the younger soldiers who avoided any type of greeting/eye contact. 
5. No right turns on red.
6. Useless piece of info….the rugs in the children’s part of the library cost around $500 a piece!  We were scolded and offered this piece of information when we entered for the first time with our shoes on.  There was apparently one sign, among the fifteen, hung on the door asking you to remove your shoes.  We won’t miss that one again! 
7.  Do not trust the hours written in the phone book of any office on post.  I went to Self Help three days in a row, at different times, based upon what the phone book said only to find he was closed every time I went.
8. We received our unaccompanied goods on January 31^st!  Having real sheets/blankets on the bed make them look 10x more comfortable than they really are. 
9. Ryan started Kindergarten at the school on post on February 1^st.  It’s a few blocks away; about a 10/15 minute walk…depending on how far behind Colin chooses to lag.
10. Ordering pizza in Germany, but at an Italian restaurant, turns out nothing like you thought it would.  This is very disappointing when you thought that it was going to be the redeemer to a pretty failed attempt at a day.  
11. There are about five different bus drivers.  They all drive different.  There’s one that’s really hard on the brakes.  A few will just roll by a stop if no one is waiting, so make sure you press the button if you want to get off!  One likes to whistle, and he’s also more gentlemen-ly than the rest.  I like him.  He always helps the moms off and on the bus with their strollers that are loaded with kids/groceries and he occasionally stops to pick up a random walker in between the bus stops.
12. I passed my drivers’ test!  (YEAH!!)
13. Most stores (including on post) open up around 10 or 11 AM and close at 6 PM.  A majority of stores are closed on Sundays.
14. Our van arrived on/arround February 15th.
15. The remainder of our household goods surprised us by being here early, and they were delivered on February 24^th.  We could have gone longer without many of our other items, but it is SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO amazingly wonderful to have our bed!  It makes you want to cry when you get in it, it feels that good. 
16. Although I'm far from fluent in Spanish...there have been a few times that Spanish has naturally flowed out of my mouth instead of German. Oh...and on that note....Ryan takes Spanish twice a week in school.  Does anyone else find that odd?
17. Tim for the field on March 2^nd and is there till the last week in March.  (Sadly, he is not getting to enjoy our bed for the next few weeks.)
18. Recent discovery:  Most of the stores downtown have escalators in them.  You can take your strollers on most of them, but a friend and I did find one in particular this past weekend that does NOT.  As my friend moved her stroller forward the entire thing shut down.  The gentlemen behind us and the fifteen people behind him all starred at us as the gentlemen pointed to the sign on the side of the escalator that apparently said no strollers.  Oooops.  We successfully found an elevator and took it to the next floor up.  As we walked around the corner we felt horrible, but were still laughing, seeing an 80 year old woman walking off the top of the broken escalator.

Housing: Part 1

Hello Dear Family & Friends!

Yes, we are still alive!  We just got internet two days ago!!!!  

About a week after we got here we were eating breakfast at guest housing on a Thursday morning when Tim received a phone call informing him that they had a house for us!  It was MUCH sooner than we had expected (we had even bought a hot plate the night before so we could cook a few hot meals in the hotel).  Tim did the walk-thru inspection on the house around 1 PM on Thursday and we were supposed to be checked out of the hotel by 11 AM on Friday.  It created a huge frenzy!  

The ARMY provides some of the basic furniture which was already in the house.  We have a kitchen table with six chairs, a couch, two chairs, three single beds, and one double bed.  What they don’t provide are any of the sheets/blankets/pillows/etc…for the beds.  No towels either.  We still were about a week and a half shy from receiving our unaccomapined goods, which had these items in it, so we had to make a trip to the PX Thursday evening to purchase all of the basics.

The other problem we ran into was trying to figure out how we were going to get everything over to the house.  It was on the other side of post.  Normally, this would be where Tim’s Sponsor would come in and help take everything over, but the unit just left two days earlier to go to the field for a month.  The only people that were left were all the new guys who either had no driver’s license or no vehicle…or neither.  While the bus works for getting to and from the Commissary/PX it wouldn’t have been very helpful due to it’s route.

After we made our trip to the PX for linens, we got back to our guest room, ate dinner, then decided we would go ahead and walk over to the house and take a few suitcases with us.  (I REALLY wanted to see it and we figured the boys could use the time out of the guest room.)  We planned on dropping off the suitcases, looking at the house real quick then catching the last bus back to guest housing for the night.  Tim said he would maybe walk one or two more loads over Thursday night, and then get the rest Friday morning.  No sooner had we started walking then it started raining.  I guess we should have checked the weather first.  It was only a light mist but still enough to get everyone pretty wet.  It’s probably about three-quarters of a mile from the guest housing to our house.  The boys were troopers and we kept a good pace but by the time we got to the house the boys were pretty wet.  Tim said, “I’ve got good news and bad news.  Good news, we made it!  Bad news, you’re staying here.”  I didn’t really argue although I knew what that meant for him.  Tim made four more trips by himself to get everything out of guest housing.  Then he made one more trip, about half the distance to the Shoppette to get us food for the morning since we hadn’t planned on being there. 

On Friday I made two more trips to the Commissary/PX to try and get some more basic items to get us started.  Tim also had to make another trip to the Loan Closet to pick up a playpen for Blaine to sleep in and a few basic dishes to use.  I think over our first weekend here we made another three trips to the Commissary/PX as well.  You can only buy as much as you can carry, so it means A LOT of trips.

We got housing a lot quicker than we anticipated but we are very thankful that we even got on post housing.  We’ve been in the house about two months now and we finally got our internet hooked up, so check for updates as I will be posting something semi-regularly to try and answer the many questions I know you have.  :)

Photo Shoot: {Matt & Sarah}

Before we left Texas I was able to get one more photo shoot in for some dear friends.  This was the third time I've taken pictures for them, but I think the first time I've posted on it. 

Matt, Sarah, Connor, Cameron, and Avery (the dog).

We met Matt & Sarah right after we moved to Texas.  They were currently the leaders of our Connection Group at church and Matt was also the Minister of Discipleship.  Within a few weeks of joining the church and visiting the Connection Group (aka Sunday School) they had us and another family (also our good friends now) over for supper.  I remember telling Tim that night when we left that I already knew I was going to have a really hard time leaving Texas.  

Needless to say our friendship started that night and continued to grow.  I hate that we had to leave them behind, but I know that God has allowed us a friendship that will last a lifetime.  Among many things Sarah became my birthing coach and my fashion consultant/personal shopper (I gave her money on a few occasions and she bought clothes for me!), Colin's Sunday School teacher, and a great encouragement!  One of the best things though is that she loves the Lord and seeks his face regularly.  And right behind that she loves people deeply.

Matt was not only a good friend to Tim, but to me and the boys!  He watched the boys on multiple occasions so I could join in on the Girls Night Out while Tim was deployed.  His leadership in our class also brought many great conversations and great studies.

And then there's Connor and Cameron.  Sarah was pregnant with Cam when we first met and I was able to do some of his newborn photos.  Now he's walking and talking and he is such a cute little boy.  Connor has been one of Ryan's greatest fan's and Colin's best friends!  You can go here to Sarah's blog to see her post on their sweet friendship.  Connor has one of the sweetest hearts of a 3 year old I know and Tim says Connor gives the best hugs.

We were even blessed with some great clouds that evening which made for a perfect backdrop!

I think this has definitely got to be up there with one of my favorite shoots so far.  I love how they turned out. I had so many favorites it was hard to choose just a few to share.  Sarah did a lot of the "prep" work for the shoot.  She knew what she wanted and she brought her own props.  That made it SO much easier and that much more interesting.  She would also pin things on Pinterest and I would get to see what she liked and the style she was going for.  And since we lived the next town over she even went out driving and found a great location!! 

I can't explain how much I cherish your friendship Matt & Sarah!!!!  Thank you for being such a great example of how to love God and love others!

Good Encouragement

Over the last few months I've been thinking of how I want to use this blog.  I want to make it more consistent without it interfering with my role as a wife/mother.  I really like using it as a journal about my family and I want to continue that.  There is so much more that goes on in my heart and my head that I wish I could put down.  I love to be challenged; especially as a mom.  I love to read articles that speak to the heart of staying home and being content and joyful in that calling.  I love to read articles that will make me think, and make me consider doing something completely "crazy" against the natural movement of most.

For as long as I can remember one of my biggest desires has been to be a stay-at-home mom.  I knew it was a calling worth fulfilling.  Just because the desire is there and I know it is worth it, doesn't mean it has come easily.  I struggle daily with my own selfish desires.  I struggle with wanting more time to myself to improve upon my talents and interests.  Some say there's nothing wrong with that.  What speaks deeply to my heart are the women who speak of serving their family joyfully and wholeheartedly.  Sacrificing some of what they want for pouring their souls into the lives of their children.  For what greater calling is there?

I know there has to be a healthy balance of taking care of me so that I can take care of my family...but there is a part of me that wants to swing more on the side of taking care of me.  I seek the encouragement of women who are on that same path, maybe a little bit farther ahead.

Saying all that, there are a few blogs I check regularly that spurs me on to love my calling.  Some posts seem to stick out more to me than the others and I want to remember those for myself and to share them with you.

So for encouragement #1:

A few months ago my friend Sarah recommended this book to me:

find @ Amazon

Before we left I downloaded it to my Kindle and I only have to find a converter so I can get it charged and start reading it!  We had a few conversations about the book as she was reading it and I look forward to the challenge as we raise 3 boys!

I came across this short video today and it reminded me of the book and the conversations I had with Sarah.  I pray that Tim and I are able to instill in our boys this definition of being a man.  Although I'm sure it gets more complicated as they get older, what a simple way to start! 

Our First Week

This afternoon marks our first week since we reached Bamberg.  While the boys FINALLY seem to be adjusting to the new time, Tim and I still seem to be having difficulty.  We might go to sleep for a few hours then wake up in the middle of the night for hours, or we just stay up till an insane time (3AM).  The lack of sleep is definitely making the days harder to bear.  Prayers for peace and little brain stimulation from all that is new and yet to be learned would be much appreciated.  We want to rest in the knowledge that God is our Provider and to trust in His plans.

There has been frost in the mornings when we first go out, and on Friday some storm clouds blew in and dropped some snow.  It blew over in about 10 minutes and nothing stuck.  We are very thankful that there is no snow yet.  The 30 degree weather plus winds of 10-20 miles, at times, is enough of an adjustment to start with.  Tim was told that at this time last year they had a foot and a half of snow and it was in the negatives!  I don't know what we'd do it we just moved here under those conditions!

The guest room we are in has a mini-fridge and a microwave.  I think we were put in the "over-flow" room because most of the other guest rooms have a full oven/stove.  We are very grateful that they made space for us, otherwise we could be off post. We heard that being in a hotel off post would be even worse than what we have now.  The main complication that our room is bringing us is lack of food.  So far we've managed.  We planned on eating at the DFAC but I learned last week, the hard way, that they aren't open for dinner.  Why, I don't know.  We ate there twice this weekend though and I sympathise with the soldier that has to eat there everyday.  I almost cried during our first meal there.  Literally.  I had to hold back tears.  Probably in part that we hadn't had a real meal in about six days.  I was really hungry and crazy disappointed.  I was thinking it might be like our high school cafeteria food.  Pretty sure it was worse.  Or I have a jilted memory of what our school's cafeteria food tasted like. Oh well.  The second time around wasn't quite as bad.  Tim says that's all it takes.  One meal, and you are used to it.  I think I just had my expectations too high.

We made it to the Commissary this weekend and were able to pic up a few items, but our freezer can only hold so much (plus it doesn't really keep things frozen...just slight there of).  We've eaten lots of PB&J, hot dogs, and microwavable pizza.  I picked up some frozen dinners for tonight and some friends two buildings over offered their kitchen for use when needed.  The boys and I managed another trip to the Commissary this morning and I picked up some hamburger helper and stuff to make tacos.  Now I just need to make another trip back to the PX to buy a pan.  :) 

The boys are doing well considering the confined space and the limited amount of time we are able to get out since Blaine doesn't handle to cold so well.  We ran thru the thrift store this morning and picked up some "new" toys to help keep them entertained.  So far it's working.  Since I no longer have a phone, I figured I had better invest in a watch.  I picked up a $10 one at the PX this morning.  Paid for it.  Asked the cashier what time it was, then went to set my watch.  The battery was dead.   I proceeded to walk about 10 feet back to the jewelry area and asked the lady behind the counter if she could pop it open and tell me what kind of battery it was so I could buy another one.  Nope.  They aren't allowed to open it up.  She said I'd have to take it to a jeweler...which there isn't one on post.  Lovely.  So, I'm going to attempt opening it up on my own tonight.  Nothing's easy, right?! Now that we have the on post bus system figured out hopefully we can get out a little more.  Due to our fridge size I see a daily trip to the Commissary in our future. 

We still haven't enrolled Ryan is school yet. While everything on Post is with a 1 mile walking distance, and the Elementary School is about 1/2 mile, I don't feel excited about walking him and two other little ones at 6:45 in the morning.  If we take the bus we'd have to ride about an hour before it makes it back around to the school. It's still up for discussion, and homeschool is still on my heart.  With homeschool we'd have a late start as well, but we could continue thru the summer.  Enrolling him in public seems pointless until we get our van; which is still a few weeks out.



Blaine has become a "professional walker" the last few weeks and has also seemed to turn that 18 month corner, although he's only 15 months.  You know...the I'm getting closer to 2 and wanting to do what I want to do so I'm going to scream and throw fits.  It seemed to happen overnight.  Almost always seems that way. 

We've been watching a lot more TV/movies than normal plus the boys get time to play computer games.  I packed stuff to help keep us busy in our unaccompanied shipment of goods, but that's still about a week or so out.  Now that we have the on post bus system figured out hopefully we can get out a little more.  Due to our fridge size I see a daily trip to the Commissary in our future.   The PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) meets on Wednesday mornings and I hope to be able to attend soon.  I just have to figure out childcare for the boys first.  There is also a week long class they offer to spouses that takes you out into Bamberg to learn the city shopping/eating/bus system/etc.  The first class offered is in March.  Tim will be in the field the entire month of March so it should be a good time to go.

There is another couple from Tim's unit that we have made friends with and I think we are debating a trip to Nurnberg this weekend.  We just have to figure out the local bus or train system first.  I don't understand how it works but he came with orders saying they would have to live off post.  The only thing I can guess is that they are short on 2 bedroom apartments on Post.  He's doing his best to find something close to post so his wife can still walk to the Commissary, but the pickings are slim.  He said he called one the other day that was about 1 block outside the gate and the lady told him another guy called 10 minutes prior and said he'd take the apartment without even looking at it.  Tim went to housing last week and we are 3rd on the list for a 4 bedroom.  We haven't been given any sort of time line as to how long the wait is.  Tim goes back on Thursday to check in so hopefully we will hear something more.  We are very grateful for the on-post housing.  With moving overseas I really didn't want to have to deal with finding our own apartment and then figuring out all the utilities.  We are grateful for having that whole area of our lives taken care of; despite the wait.

Well, I think I've done enough blabbing for today.  I know I've promised pictures, but Blaine's naptime is over so doesn't look like it's happening now.  :)

Getting To Germany

Well, we made it.  Can't say that went as smoothly as we hoped, but we survived.

Our first flight was 9 1/2 hours from Dallas to London.  We scheduled a night flight hoping the boys would sleep for a majority of the flight.  We were hoping it would make the flight it self a little more bearable and hoped it would give them enough rest for the remainder of our trip.  I was second guessing myself a few days prior in our decision for a night flight but I'm glad it is what we choose.  I ended up giving Blaine a pinch of Dramamine and he slept for about 6 hours on the plane (I probably could have given him a tad more).  Ryan slept for about 5, and Colin probably slept the most for about 7.  Tim managed about an hour and I maybe got about 10 minutes.

When we got to London we had about three hour layover before our next flight into Frankfurt.  For me, I think the reality of moving to a different country started to sink in at this point.  While I know most are excited for us it really wasn't what we wanted.  Thankfully, everyone got some sleep on our next flight.  It was rest that was definitely needed.

Frankfurt had to be the worst part of the whole trip.  We picked up all our luggage, 13 pieces to include all the car seats (I'll comment more on this later!) and headed to....who knows really.  I'm not sure we really had a clue.  When we arrived we were expecting someone to meet us somewhere, at some point to tell us what to do next.  Getting off the plane at Frankfurt was as far as we had planned.  We weren't told anything that would happen after that point.  We weren't sure if we were staying the night in Frankfurt or getting on a bus to Bamberg.  So, we looked at Tim's orders and it said if there was no liaison to greet us to go to the USO.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, we were in Terminal 2.  The USO was in Terminal 1.  We have two carts full of luggage, one in a stroller, and two more very tired and hungry kiddos.  The kicker was that you had to take the Sky Train to get to the other Terminal.  You can't take the carts that carry your luggage onto the train.  If you've ever been to ride one of those things you know how fast the doors open and close.  We had to hand throw all of our bags on, and hand throw all of them off.  Thankfully there were some good samaritans who helped us getting off the train, otherwise some of our bags would have kept going.  We had about three more levels down we had to go before making it to the USO.  We made it down two when we couldn't find an elevator (for all of our luggage) to go down to the bottom floor.  That's when we just parked it.  The boys and I found a bench while Tim went down to the USO.  About 15 minutes later, he returned.  The USO was already closed for the day.  Oh joy!

So, we finally did option 3 on Tim's orders and headed to the hotel that was adjacent to the airport.  This was another trip with all the luggage and then more waiting while Tim got us checked in.  And of course, the luggage carts weren't allowed in the hotel either, so we made about three trips up with bags.  We landed in Frankfurt at 4:55 PM and we made it into our room a little after 8 PM.  That's 3 hours of wandering around the airport!!!!  If only we had know earlier that the USO would have been closed, we would have gone straight to the hotel.  By the time we made it to the room we were both so tired we didn't want to walk anywhere.  So we sucked it up and ran up a nice room service bill to which half we didn't eat.  We hadn't eaten since...I don't remember when, but we weren't as hungry as we thought we were.

On Tim's orders there was listed an after hours number listed for the USO that he could call.  We tried dialing that number about 20 different ways.  We called the front desk and asked them how to dial it.  Nothing worked.  We gave up.  We were tired and frustrated and went to bed having no idea where we were supposed to be the next day or at what time.  First thing Tuesday morning Tim went down to the USO and FINALLY got some answers!  We had to hang around for a few more hours before our bus ride to Bamberg.  We were able to find some breakfast and purchase a few more snacks for the bus.  There were TONS of soldiers/families waiting to be bused to their assigned post.  They did one post at a time and we were one of the last to go.  We loaded the bus and were on our way around 11:30 AM.  We made a stop in Schweinfurt to drop off a few soldiers then drove to Bamberg.  When we got off the bus two other soldiers from Tim's unit were there to load our bags and get us to where we needed to go.

In retrospect we definitely would have packed differently!  There's a part of me that doesn't feel so bad cause I saw single soldiers with four bags a piece.  We were a family of five with 10 bags, 3 car seats, and 4 backpacks.  Still.  We had a lot of smaller suitcases.  Had I known, or thought about, how much we would have to carry them around, I would have gotten larger suitcases.  With flying overseas you have a higher weight limit as well.  I probably could have fit all of the boys stuff into one large suitcase...instead of the three small ones.  We packed about 10 days worth of clothes for everyone and we could have possibly gone down to 7.  I packed each of the boys a blanket for the plane and we probably could have done without as well.  I brought toys and coloring stuff for the boys on the plane, but since we had a night flight I probably could have brought less and just put the remainder in the suitcase for them to use once we got here.  There's that part of me that wants to do it over so I could do it "better", but the other part of me really doesn't want to make that trip again until 3 years from now when we are coming back for good.  Looks like I have some suitcases to sell between now and then!

We are currently in guest housing and will hopefully hear something about permanent housing tomorrow.  I'm not too hopeful on getting out of here soon though.  Everything on post is within a 1 mile distance.  The Commissary though is at the furthest point from where we are and I'm not sure Colin would make the walk very well.  There is an on post bus system that operates 7 days a week, so we plan on trying that out this weekend.  Right outside guest housing is a playground which we utilized twice yesterday.  Thankfully the weather hasn't been extremely horrible yet!  Yesterday is was around 40.  No snow.  We are so thankful for that!  It has allowed us to get out a bit and walk to the Shoppette a few times to get a few needed items.  I think it's supposed to drop down to the 30's with some light rain/snow this weekend.  I'm going to need to locate some snow boots for the boys soon!

Tim has had to jump right in and start with 5:30 AM wake ups.  Thankfully no PT yet though.  He did some more in-processing yesterday morning but then was able to have the afternoon off.  I believe he has a full schedule today.  Yesterday, he also received the news that we were dreading.  Tim deploys to Afghanistan in the beginning of June.  Tim was certain he'd deploy once he found out what unit he was assigned to, I just wasn't thinking it would be so soon.  I was thinking September/October/November time frame.  Although we both knew it was inevitable, my heart aches and I just want to skip ahead to the end of the deployment.  The only good thing is that it will be a 9 month deployment instead of a full year.  I was hoping he would tell me six, but I'll still take 9 over 12.  

The trip to get here was exhausting in itself and then getting the news of Tim's deployment the morning after just puts a heaviness on our first few days here.  Our bodies are still adjusting to the time difference and our stomachs are still adjusting to the food difference.  I think adjusting to the difference in weather will be one of the hardest!  We don't have a full kitchen in the guest housing so we plan on eating in the DFAC for most of our meals.  The boys finally slept a whole night last night (still sleeping actually) and I hope to get a simple routine going with them to help keep us sane while we are waiting for a house.  Hopefully tonight Tim and I will be able to sleep through the night!  I'll try and post some pics soon!

A Five Day Breather

Well, December has come and gone...way too quickly.  Last I wrote on here we were waiting for us (the family) to be added to Tim’s orders so that we could, hopefully, travel together to Germany.   The Lord answered our prayers and we got the orders and we are currently at Tim’s parent’s house a few days shy from our flight to Germany! 

I really want to remember the last month though, so I’ll try my best to recap….

Since we figured we’d be traveling during Christmas we invited both of our families to join us for Thanksgiving at our house!  It was the first holiday we have hosted!  I was SUPER excited!  We honestly thought Tim’s parents and my parents would come, but that would be it.  We were blessed to not only have our parents, but my sister, one of my brothers, and Tim’s sister and her three kids!  It was a FULL house!  But we loved every minute of it! 

Tim has been wanting to fry a turkey for the last three or four years and since we were hosting he was determined that we would make it happen!  With all the people we had though we bought two turkeys.  Tim fried one of them and I baked the other.   They were DE.LI.CIOUS.

After Thanksgiving was over we re-focused our attention on tying up all our loose ends while still waiting on those orders.  They FINALLY came in the afternoon of Monday, December 5^th!!!  Tim went down to pick them up right away and had our moving date set up.  On December 21^st we were packed and they loaded it on December 22^nd.  We did the final walk-thru for our house on the 22^nd and drove out of town on the 23^rd headed to Tim’s parent’s house for the holiday.

The time between the 5^th and the 21^st was spent sorting, packing, shopping for last minute items, squeezing in play dates, dinner dates with dear friends, and Christmas parties.  The last week also included three trips to the doctor which resulted in four ear infections and two eye infections.  Oy-vey!  There were other bumps along the way...but we managed to get what we needed done! 

Checking out the Christmas Lights at Blora.

Andi, Ryan, Colin, Milly

Connor came over to play!



Dinner with our friends.

Blaine, Milly, Colin, Connor, Andi, Ryan, and Cameron.

The most amazing friends ever!!!

Matt, Sarah, Tim, me, Jenny, & Sidney

In all the craziness and non-stop action of moving/holidays it’s been hard to let the reality of leaving our friends really sink in.   God blessed us beyond what we prayed for with their friendships.

Christmas Eve seemed like the first time we had a chance to breathe..for a few minutes at least.  After some heart searching and discussion with Tim over the last few weeks we decided that we wouldn’t be doing “Santa” with our family.  In the past we’ve neither pushed it, nor dismissed it, but Ryan is older and wiser and starting to ask questions and was also greatly influenced by his friends at school at the “reality” of Santa.  (I would LOVE to go into more detail about why we choose this route..but this article here explains it best.  I HIGHLY recommend reading it!)  All that to say, we finally set down with Ryan and Colin about 5PM on Christmas Eve in the church office to tell them that Santa was not real (short-version) and what we want them to remember most about Christmas.  My mother’s heart was warmed (true sarcasm) when not but three hours later after we get back to the house Ryan exclaims, “We have to hurry and get to bed before Santa comes!!!”  Ha.  So glad to know my son was listening! That’s ok though.  We have a whole year now to remind him and to impress on him the reality of our Savior’s birth!

On December 26^th we packed back up and headed out to visit with Tim’s Mee-Maw for a few days.  Unfortunately, she had a trip to the hospital about two months ago and she hasn’t been doing the best since.  I’m so glad we were able to make that trip to see her, but it still makes it hard knowing that it (honestly) might be the last.  She’s a fighter and she always seems to rebound after a fall back, but things never seem to go back to the way they were before.

We made it back to Tim’s parents on the 29^th and then Tim and I hid away the evening of the 30^th at a local hotel.  We debated catching a movie at the theater, but we ended up staying in the room, ordering in dessert, and sleeping!  It was great to have some time to relax and unwind.

My parents ended up driving in last minute to spend the weekend with us and the boys since we weren’t able to make it out to see them.  Their visits always seem too short, but we are very thankful that the drive and the lack of time doesn’t hinder them from coming to visit when they can.  Mom even brought super hero capes and masks for the boys, which they of course loved!

In other random news of December Blaine finally started walking more than he is crawling and Ryan learned how to tie his own shoes!

Now December is over and 2012 brings on a WHOLE bunch of new and un-charted territory for us.    There are still many unknowns.  Decisions to be made.  Some big.  Some not so big.  Some need to be made by others first before we can make our own.  There is still the big unknown of another deployment for Tim.  The unit Tim is joining returned from their last deployment in the Fall of 2010, which means that they are due to go again soon.  We are doing are best to take it as it comes and trust in the knowledge that God has our best interest at heart (Romans 8:28), but sometimes the inevitable still weighs on you.

I'm getting excited about seeing what our new "home" will be for the next three years.  I'm nervous I brought too much stuff.  I'm hopeful for the time we will have to grow closer as a couple and as a family, but fearful of the effect of another deployment.  I'm looking forward to fewer bills and a simpler schedule.  I'm nervous about driving.  I'm both nervous and excited about navigating the German shops.

We are thankful for these few days of rest in between all the traveling.  We are scheduled for a night flight and are hoping the boys will get some good rest so they are ready for all the traveling/waiting around that will come the following day.  We would appreciate your prayers for healthy bodies, safe travel, and extra grace for all that comes to adjusting to a new home.

We hope you had a great holiday season visiting with your family and friends!