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! =)