Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas Morning
Despite being stuck in TLF for Christmas, we had an awesome Christmas with the kids. Believe it or not, we had to wake them both up at about 9. Of course they were very excited to see all the presents Santa left for them. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!
Kids Christmas Party
Bo's squadron had a Christmas party for all the kids. Of course Santa was there and had a gift for all the kids. Bailey wasn't feeling so great but she still wanted to go. They both got games, Bailey got Guess Who and Brycen got Perfection. They both had a lot of fun.
Christmas Party Picture
Here is the picture of us from the Christmas Party that I promised...I know..I am a little late! =)
Monday, December 15, 2008
Weekly Update
The Stokes family update...
Last week was a crazy week. Lots of appointments and errands to run.
Last weekend we ended up in the emergency room with both kids around 2:30 Saturday morning. The doctor that saw them said everyone gets sick when they get here. He put them on Bendaryl and Zyrtec and sent us on our way. Even though I insisted that Brycen needed a round of steroids for his asthma, the Dr. did not agree...so around 5:30 Sunday morning we were BACK IN THE ER with Brycen again, thankfully with a different Dr. and that one agreed that a round of steroids was what he needed. They are both doing much better. Bo and I were sick as well, but thankfully we are all feeling much better! Oh and European Electricity 101...do not plug the breathing machine in when you are half asleep...we plugged it in to the adapter plug instead of the transformer, it ran for about 30 seconds and then we heard a loud POP and it started smoking! Luckily our friends had one we could borrow until the one we left at Nana Stokes's could get here in the mail!
I took my driver's license test on Wednesday...and I failed =( You can only miss 15 questions and I missed 18. That same day our van got here, so we were all pretty excited about that!
The kids started school on Thursday. It was a VERY rough day for Brycen, poor little guy was so nervous he didn't know what to do with himself. He cried and cried and begged us not to leave him. Bailey went right in to her class with no problems and very quickly made friends. Brycen had a much better second day and so far they are both liking their new school!
I re-took my license test on Friday and I passed! YAY! I only missed 5 this time. Now Bo doesn't have to play Driving Miss Daisy anymore. The autobahn ain't all it's cracked up to be! Basically it is just like the interstate at home, and despite what everyone thinks...there IS A SPEED LIMIT. There are some stretches that don't have a speed limit, but for the most part, it isn't much different than the interstate.
Saturday we went to Bo's Christmas party for the squadron. It was at a really nice German hotel. We tried a few new foods...potato dumplings, savoy (sort of like greens and cabbage mixed with a sauce-not sure-but I liked it). I have a picture that I will add later, I have to get it off the little camera. The kids went over to the Riggsbee's house, they had a teenage boy babysitting their kids. Brycen was so excited about a boy babysitter..before we left he went to the fridge and said "I am getting an apple and a pepsi to take to the boy babysitter". Then when we got there I asked him if he wanted his blankie, he said "no, I don't want him to see it, but I still like it". It was so funny!
Sunday was a sunny day, well not "Florida Sunny", but sunnier than normal so we went by our house to take a few pictures. We get to move in on the first. We are all really excited. This little place we are staying in seems to get smaller everyday!
Our House! The building to the right of the picture is the meat/cheese market...
This is the back of the house, on the other side of those bushes is our courtyard. I took this from the front of the church.
This is the view from the front of our house. I was standing in front of the meat/cheese place with my back to our house...
This is the church that is beside/behind the house...
This is the clock/bell tower at the church...check out the windmill on the hill...
Last week was a crazy week. Lots of appointments and errands to run.
Last weekend we ended up in the emergency room with both kids around 2:30 Saturday morning. The doctor that saw them said everyone gets sick when they get here. He put them on Bendaryl and Zyrtec and sent us on our way. Even though I insisted that Brycen needed a round of steroids for his asthma, the Dr. did not agree...so around 5:30 Sunday morning we were BACK IN THE ER with Brycen again, thankfully with a different Dr. and that one agreed that a round of steroids was what he needed. They are both doing much better. Bo and I were sick as well, but thankfully we are all feeling much better! Oh and European Electricity 101...do not plug the breathing machine in when you are half asleep...we plugged it in to the adapter plug instead of the transformer, it ran for about 30 seconds and then we heard a loud POP and it started smoking! Luckily our friends had one we could borrow until the one we left at Nana Stokes's could get here in the mail!
I took my driver's license test on Wednesday...and I failed =( You can only miss 15 questions and I missed 18. That same day our van got here, so we were all pretty excited about that!
The kids started school on Thursday. It was a VERY rough day for Brycen, poor little guy was so nervous he didn't know what to do with himself. He cried and cried and begged us not to leave him. Bailey went right in to her class with no problems and very quickly made friends. Brycen had a much better second day and so far they are both liking their new school!
I re-took my license test on Friday and I passed! YAY! I only missed 5 this time. Now Bo doesn't have to play Driving Miss Daisy anymore. The autobahn ain't all it's cracked up to be! Basically it is just like the interstate at home, and despite what everyone thinks...there IS A SPEED LIMIT. There are some stretches that don't have a speed limit, but for the most part, it isn't much different than the interstate.
Saturday we went to Bo's Christmas party for the squadron. It was at a really nice German hotel. We tried a few new foods...potato dumplings, savoy (sort of like greens and cabbage mixed with a sauce-not sure-but I liked it). I have a picture that I will add later, I have to get it off the little camera. The kids went over to the Riggsbee's house, they had a teenage boy babysitting their kids. Brycen was so excited about a boy babysitter..before we left he went to the fridge and said "I am getting an apple and a pepsi to take to the boy babysitter". Then when we got there I asked him if he wanted his blankie, he said "no, I don't want him to see it, but I still like it". It was so funny!
Sunday was a sunny day, well not "Florida Sunny", but sunnier than normal so we went by our house to take a few pictures. We get to move in on the first. We are all really excited. This little place we are staying in seems to get smaller everyday!
Our House! The building to the right of the picture is the meat/cheese market...
This is the back of the house, on the other side of those bushes is our courtyard. I took this from the front of the church.
This is the view from the front of our house. I was standing in front of the meat/cheese place with my back to our house...
This is the church that is beside/behind the house...
This is the clock/bell tower at the church...check out the windmill on the hill...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Yesterday it snowed all day!! Bo went in to work for a bit while the kiddies and I slept in. I was not feeling well at all yesterday, I am thinking I may have a sinus infection-what fun! I am feeling better today but still not 100%. We headed out late yesterday afternoon so I could take a look at the car Bo checked out the other night. We are definitely buying it, we gave them a deposit today. We won't get it until the 19th because that is when they leave here headed back to the states. There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground when we left our room so of course the kids wanted to have a snowball fight. We picked up a sled at the BX and before we came back to the room, we let the kids go sledding on a hill behind the baseball field. I would have taken some pictures but it was about 9 at night and I figured I would wait and take some when went during the daytime. Even Bo got on and went for a sled. The kids absolutely loved it. We had planned on taking them again today, but when we woke up this morning, most of the snow was gone =(
We think we have found a house, we are supposed to meet with the landlord tomorrow to sign a contract. It won't be available until the 1st of January so it looks like we will be spending Christmas in TLF. Tomorrow we are going to find a mini tree and a few decorations. I will take some pics of the house tomorrow and post those. Neighborhoods here are very different than back in the states. They don't usually have front yards and there are stores and things all mixed in with the houses. You open your front door, there is the sidewalk and then the street. If we get this house, the village butcher is right next door, and the baker is about 2 blocks away. There is a beautiful church right behind us. We won't have a grassy yard, but we have a pretty big courtyard, part of it is pavers and the other part is like a rock garden. The house is really big and Bailey will have sort of like her own little apartment upstairs. It even has a mini kitchen up there-we already told her that is off limits! There are lots of rooms in the basement for storage. We really like it a lot!!
We think we have found a house, we are supposed to meet with the landlord tomorrow to sign a contract. It won't be available until the 1st of January so it looks like we will be spending Christmas in TLF. Tomorrow we are going to find a mini tree and a few decorations. I will take some pics of the house tomorrow and post those. Neighborhoods here are very different than back in the states. They don't usually have front yards and there are stores and things all mixed in with the houses. You open your front door, there is the sidewalk and then the street. If we get this house, the village butcher is right next door, and the baker is about 2 blocks away. There is a beautiful church right behind us. We won't have a grassy yard, but we have a pretty big courtyard, part of it is pavers and the other part is like a rock garden. The house is really big and Bailey will have sort of like her own little apartment upstairs. It even has a mini kitchen up there-we already told her that is off limits! There are lots of rooms in the basement for storage. We really like it a lot!!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
While we were getting ready for church yesterday we looked outside and it was SNOWING!! :) Here are a few pics of the little flurry, it didn't stick, but it sure was pretty. Bailey isn't in the pics because she spent the night with our new friends, the Riggsbees. It was such a light flurry you barely see the snow in the pictures.
We were invited to go to church with our new friends. From what they described, it sounded similar to what we are accustomed to at EBC so we were very excited to check it out. We liked it a lot! It was very laid back, very comfortable. Brycen was very resistant at first but I managed to get him to stay in the children's church. Bailey wanted to go to the main sanctuary so she and her 2 friends sat in the front by themselves. We really liked it a lot. After the service was over we were introduced to several different people. We met the pastor and while he and Bo were talking, Bo said "God is good" and he said "all the time, all the time"...instantly I thought of Mark because I remember him telling a story about someone who said "all the time, all the time" every time someone said "God is good". It was like a wink from God. It was such and awesome moment because I really feel like God is holding our hand and leading us right where we need to be. It is such and awesome feeling when you can REALLY feel God moving in your life. At every turn he is there, everything is falling in to place so perfectly that it can only be God!! After church we went to Pizza Hut! YUM! Not exactly like at home, but still very good! We checked out a couple of houses that are available for rent, one house was in a very cramped neighborhood and the other was just plain scary.....very old and the yard was creepy! We topped off the night with steaks on the grill with the Riggsbees.
Here is the church we went to... www.frontlinecommunity.org
Monday the house hunt was on again. We got a late start since we slept in, we looked at 2 duplexes, both look very nice, but they are kind of far from Ramstein. We have an appointment to look at one of them on Saturday, it would be available to move in on the 15th. We are going to get an earlier start tomorrow and hopefully look at some more. Bo had a basketball game tonight with the squadron and then he is looking at a work car...hopefully it will pan out, it is a dirt cheap BMW, almost too good to be true. The kids and I are having a quiet evening here in TLF getting laundry done and playing Wii! Hopefully tomorrow we will have good news on the car and we are hoping by the end of the week the van will be here.
We love and miss everyone!!
We were invited to go to church with our new friends. From what they described, it sounded similar to what we are accustomed to at EBC so we were very excited to check it out. We liked it a lot! It was very laid back, very comfortable. Brycen was very resistant at first but I managed to get him to stay in the children's church. Bailey wanted to go to the main sanctuary so she and her 2 friends sat in the front by themselves. We really liked it a lot. After the service was over we were introduced to several different people. We met the pastor and while he and Bo were talking, Bo said "God is good" and he said "all the time, all the time"...instantly I thought of Mark because I remember him telling a story about someone who said "all the time, all the time" every time someone said "God is good". It was like a wink from God. It was such and awesome moment because I really feel like God is holding our hand and leading us right where we need to be. It is such and awesome feeling when you can REALLY feel God moving in your life. At every turn he is there, everything is falling in to place so perfectly that it can only be God!! After church we went to Pizza Hut! YUM! Not exactly like at home, but still very good! We checked out a couple of houses that are available for rent, one house was in a very cramped neighborhood and the other was just plain scary.....very old and the yard was creepy! We topped off the night with steaks on the grill with the Riggsbees.
Here is the church we went to... www.frontlinecommunity.org
Monday the house hunt was on again. We got a late start since we slept in, we looked at 2 duplexes, both look very nice, but they are kind of far from Ramstein. We have an appointment to look at one of them on Saturday, it would be available to move in on the 15th. We are going to get an earlier start tomorrow and hopefully look at some more. Bo had a basketball game tonight with the squadron and then he is looking at a work car...hopefully it will pan out, it is a dirt cheap BMW, almost too good to be true. The kids and I are having a quiet evening here in TLF getting laundry done and playing Wii! Hopefully tomorrow we will have good news on the car and we are hoping by the end of the week the van will be here.
We love and miss everyone!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Christmas Market at Heidelberg
On Saturday, our new friends took us to the Christmas Market at Heidelberg. We had an awesome time. We made sure that we all dressed really warm-lots of layers for everyone! I had on 4 shirts and a jacket, and I wore tights and under armor pants under my jeans. Layers, layers, layers! The Christmas Market is sort of like the Seafood Festival or the Mullet Festival, only it is all about Christmas! They have little wooden huts set up and they sell all kinds of things, gifts and food. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, let me tell you, it is nothing like the one in Destin LOL! "American food" does not taste at all american here! Even the pepsi tastes different. Eurpeans don't add sugar to everything like we do. We ordered chips and salsa and the salsa was like ketchup with some kind of spicy seasoning in it. Eating off base will definitely take a little getting used to! For supper we had these things called Doner Kabobs-they were AWESOME! They have this big thing of pork that they do on a rotisserie kind of thing, then they slice it off and put it in a bread pocket, sort of like a pita, mine had all kinds of veggies in it, cabbage, cucumber, onions, Bo's of course had meat and cheese LOL! They were so good-that is something we will definitely be eating again! Funny thing is I don't even think they are German, I think they are a Turkish thing. Oh well, German...Turkish..whatever..we will be having more!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
We made it!
Hello!
I decided this whole blog thing might be an easier way to keep everyone up to speed on what is going on with us on the other side of the world!
I guess I will go back to the weekend and fill everyone in on all the craziness of us leaving. Saturday before we left we got renters for the house, this is a huge blessing! We really feel good about the family renting the house and we know they will love the neighborhood.
Saturday night I had to take Bo to the emergency room-he had strep throat! What a great start to our big adventure! A big shot of penicillin in the hiney and some pain meds and they sent him on his way.
Sunday morning was of course very sad, but exciting at the same time. It was hard to see Bailey so upset but she settled down pretty quickly when we got to the gate to wait for our flight. The kids were so excited about flying again. When we got to Atlanta we barely had time to take the kids to the bathroom and then it was time to board the next plane. In Baltimore we had to get our luggage and then check in at the "secret ticket counter" LOL! The travel office at the base didn't tell us where to go in Baltimore so we just followed all the army guys that were on the flight from Atlanta. I called it the "secret ticket counter" because there are no signs that say "military flights" or anything indicating what it is. After we dragged all 7 of our suitcases and got them checked in we still had a long wait for our next flight. We got a bite to eat and then found the USO lounge, it was great, we got to relax for a while. They had snacks and drinks and a big TV viewing area, internet access, pretty much everything to make a long layover as comfortable as possible. After hanging out there for a while we headed to our gate and had to go through security AGAIN, waited a bit at the gate and then we were off....at least we thought we were...something was wrong with the plane and we had to wait for it to be fixed so we ended up sitting on the plane going nowhere for about an hour (but it felt more like 3). The kids went to sleep pretty much right away. Bailey woke up about an hour before we landed and we had to wake Brycen up when we started landing. Bo and I both slept most of the time.
We got into Germany around lunch. I thought customs would be a pain since we had so much luggage but they only searched one suitcase. Bo's sponsor was waiting to pick us up. It was FREEZING! He took us by the shopette (base convenience store) to pick up a few things. We went to TLF (Temporary Living Facilities) to check in. They put us on the 4th floor-NO ELEVATORS-7 suitcases-lots of fun! There was a little snow on the ground so the kids got to have their first snowball fight-they LOVED IT! They both had snowballs waiting to ambush Daddy when he got done checking us in. We pretty much slept the rest of the day! That was not such a good idea because none of us went to sleep until about 3 in the morning-our body clocks are all out of whack.
Tuesday Bo went in to work to get checked in and then came to pick up the kids and I around 12 for lunch-we were all still in bed. We had lunch at Chilis and hit the BX and the commissary for some groceries and back to our room for supper. It is more like a mini apartment than a room. We have 1 bedroom, a bathroom, a very small kitchen and in the living room there is a pullout sofa and a chair for the kids to sleep on.
Bo took his driving test yesterday and passed-YAY! We were a little nervous about this because there is a high failure rate and some people end up taking the test 3 times before they pass. Up until yesterday, his sponsor had to drive us around everywhere. Since he got his license, his supervisor let us use the work van so we can get around. We are hoping our van will be here next week, it is already at a port here in Germany so it shouldn't be much longer! I take my test for my license on the 10th. While Bo was taking his test and getting some other things taken care of, the kids and I set off on a mission-to get internet access! We are staying on Landstuhl and right behind us is the big hospital that they send all the troops that are wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. We walked over there to the TMoblie shop to get a web-n-walk stick, you plug it into a USB port and you can get online anywhere. While we were at the hospital we saw quite a few wheelchairs, guys on crutches and things like that. It was really a rude awakening for me-I mean you see and hear about it on the news but to see for yourself in person is another thing. It really made me think about how thankful I am and how blessed we are that Bo has come home safely everytime he has been deployed.
So today is Thanksgiving and we thought we would be lonely and miserable but God is so good! A guy from work had a bunch of people over for dinner today and they asked us to come. I didn't really want to-I actually just wanted to go to the chow hall at the hospital but Bo twisted my arm a bit and I gave in. I am so glad we went! It was great. They have a daughter the same age as Bailey and their middle daughter is Brycen's age and has high functioning autism too! The more we got to talking the more things we had in common, it is almost freaky. I noticed a Third Day CD on their entertainment center and mentioned to her that I liked them also. That opened the door to an awesome conversation about God, church and where we are in our walk with the Lord. It is so amazing how God puts people in our life-just when we need them! Bo and I have had many talks about this assignment and how we can really feel God has His hand on all of this. The way things have all fallen in to place it can only be God's work and today was just more confirmation of that. They have invited us to their church and it sounds similar in many ways to EBC. It is a young church (I think they said 3 years old) and they meet in a warehouse, but it isn't about the building. We are so excited about checking it out! Bailey was of course very shy when we got there, but by the time we were ready to go, she was asking if she could spend the night-our little shy girl is already making new friends. Brycen is enjoying having Mommy and Daddy to himself tonight and is trying to sweet talk his way into sleeping with us...even though it is midnight and he hasn't shown the first sign of slowing down yet!
I have taken some pictures with my little camera but I can't find the cord (imagine that) and the card doesn't fit in the computer, so as soon as I figure out a solution to that little problem I will post some pictures!
On Saturday we are going to a Christmas Market with the family that we met today, I will be sure to take the big camera so I can post the pictures.
We miss and love all of ya'll!
Keep checking back for updates! =)
I decided this whole blog thing might be an easier way to keep everyone up to speed on what is going on with us on the other side of the world!
I guess I will go back to the weekend and fill everyone in on all the craziness of us leaving. Saturday before we left we got renters for the house, this is a huge blessing! We really feel good about the family renting the house and we know they will love the neighborhood.
Saturday night I had to take Bo to the emergency room-he had strep throat! What a great start to our big adventure! A big shot of penicillin in the hiney and some pain meds and they sent him on his way.
Sunday morning was of course very sad, but exciting at the same time. It was hard to see Bailey so upset but she settled down pretty quickly when we got to the gate to wait for our flight. The kids were so excited about flying again. When we got to Atlanta we barely had time to take the kids to the bathroom and then it was time to board the next plane. In Baltimore we had to get our luggage and then check in at the "secret ticket counter" LOL! The travel office at the base didn't tell us where to go in Baltimore so we just followed all the army guys that were on the flight from Atlanta. I called it the "secret ticket counter" because there are no signs that say "military flights" or anything indicating what it is. After we dragged all 7 of our suitcases and got them checked in we still had a long wait for our next flight. We got a bite to eat and then found the USO lounge, it was great, we got to relax for a while. They had snacks and drinks and a big TV viewing area, internet access, pretty much everything to make a long layover as comfortable as possible. After hanging out there for a while we headed to our gate and had to go through security AGAIN, waited a bit at the gate and then we were off....at least we thought we were...something was wrong with the plane and we had to wait for it to be fixed so we ended up sitting on the plane going nowhere for about an hour (but it felt more like 3). The kids went to sleep pretty much right away. Bailey woke up about an hour before we landed and we had to wake Brycen up when we started landing. Bo and I both slept most of the time.
We got into Germany around lunch. I thought customs would be a pain since we had so much luggage but they only searched one suitcase. Bo's sponsor was waiting to pick us up. It was FREEZING! He took us by the shopette (base convenience store) to pick up a few things. We went to TLF (Temporary Living Facilities) to check in. They put us on the 4th floor-NO ELEVATORS-7 suitcases-lots of fun! There was a little snow on the ground so the kids got to have their first snowball fight-they LOVED IT! They both had snowballs waiting to ambush Daddy when he got done checking us in. We pretty much slept the rest of the day! That was not such a good idea because none of us went to sleep until about 3 in the morning-our body clocks are all out of whack.
Tuesday Bo went in to work to get checked in and then came to pick up the kids and I around 12 for lunch-we were all still in bed. We had lunch at Chilis and hit the BX and the commissary for some groceries and back to our room for supper. It is more like a mini apartment than a room. We have 1 bedroom, a bathroom, a very small kitchen and in the living room there is a pullout sofa and a chair for the kids to sleep on.
Bo took his driving test yesterday and passed-YAY! We were a little nervous about this because there is a high failure rate and some people end up taking the test 3 times before they pass. Up until yesterday, his sponsor had to drive us around everywhere. Since he got his license, his supervisor let us use the work van so we can get around. We are hoping our van will be here next week, it is already at a port here in Germany so it shouldn't be much longer! I take my test for my license on the 10th. While Bo was taking his test and getting some other things taken care of, the kids and I set off on a mission-to get internet access! We are staying on Landstuhl and right behind us is the big hospital that they send all the troops that are wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. We walked over there to the TMoblie shop to get a web-n-walk stick, you plug it into a USB port and you can get online anywhere. While we were at the hospital we saw quite a few wheelchairs, guys on crutches and things like that. It was really a rude awakening for me-I mean you see and hear about it on the news but to see for yourself in person is another thing. It really made me think about how thankful I am and how blessed we are that Bo has come home safely everytime he has been deployed.
So today is Thanksgiving and we thought we would be lonely and miserable but God is so good! A guy from work had a bunch of people over for dinner today and they asked us to come. I didn't really want to-I actually just wanted to go to the chow hall at the hospital but Bo twisted my arm a bit and I gave in. I am so glad we went! It was great. They have a daughter the same age as Bailey and their middle daughter is Brycen's age and has high functioning autism too! The more we got to talking the more things we had in common, it is almost freaky. I noticed a Third Day CD on their entertainment center and mentioned to her that I liked them also. That opened the door to an awesome conversation about God, church and where we are in our walk with the Lord. It is so amazing how God puts people in our life-just when we need them! Bo and I have had many talks about this assignment and how we can really feel God has His hand on all of this. The way things have all fallen in to place it can only be God's work and today was just more confirmation of that. They have invited us to their church and it sounds similar in many ways to EBC. It is a young church (I think they said 3 years old) and they meet in a warehouse, but it isn't about the building. We are so excited about checking it out! Bailey was of course very shy when we got there, but by the time we were ready to go, she was asking if she could spend the night-our little shy girl is already making new friends. Brycen is enjoying having Mommy and Daddy to himself tonight and is trying to sweet talk his way into sleeping with us...even though it is midnight and he hasn't shown the first sign of slowing down yet!
I have taken some pictures with my little camera but I can't find the cord (imagine that) and the card doesn't fit in the computer, so as soon as I figure out a solution to that little problem I will post some pictures!
On Saturday we are going to a Christmas Market with the family that we met today, I will be sure to take the big camera so I can post the pictures.
We miss and love all of ya'll!
Keep checking back for updates! =)
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