Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by our new blog. This will be a place we hope you'll bookmark and visit often throughout the next three years -- as I said in the title, we're moving to Germany! We want to share this wonderful experience with all our family, friends and loved ones.

This move has been in the planning stages for quite some time now. We've only officially known for a few weeks- since it's an Army move, nothing's completely official until I have those orders in-hand! We've been working on it since early this summer, however, when Kelli, my former boss at Fort Campbell, contacted me to say she had an opening at her new post in Germany and wanted to hire me! How could I turn that down? I almost did, to take a job in Colorado (somewhere else we really wanted to live) but then common sense took over, along with the wise words and well-wishes of many family members and friends who reminded me an opportunity like this just doesn't come along very often. So, I said yes, and the planning began.

So far, there have only been little bumps in the road. I tend to turn everything into a big bump, but that's okay. :) It's all working out. I have dealt with starting dates, moving dates, the transportation office, the travel office, the passport office, several different airline companies, the personnel office, and soon the port for shipping our vehicle. I won't go into too much detail here since that's all behind us and it's working out. My biggest concern, of course, was getting to visit some family before the big move, as well as making sure my dogs and cat could fly with us on the plane! Basically, to make a long story short, it's going to work out that way (and hopefully nothing will change over the next few weeks before we go!)

Neither of us has ever been to Europe. Growing up, my family always travelled all over the place, and as a result I've been to I think about 41 states and three countries, but never Europe, which was always fine with me. I LOVE to travel. I am a little nervous about my first trip over there actually being when I'm moving there for three years, but I have faith that it's where we're supposed to be. How else can I explain it, with everything we've been through over the past year, and I still got this job? It's God's plan.

Being so close with my family will make this move the most difficult on me I think. I am not sure how I'll deal with the 7-hour time difference between my family and me, especially since my mom and I talk on the phone at least once a day, sometimes more, and always email during the day. The best thing, however, is that I know we'll have lots of visitors. No one has an excuse... if you can afford the airfare, you've already got a place to stay when you get there!

Right now we are dealing with the car issue. We had wanted to trade in Carl's truck and get a smaller, more fuel-efficient car to take with us. That didn't work, thanks to the American public who has completely paniced about gas prices and sent the value of trucks and SUVs plummeting. Now, we're working on trading in my Trailblazer for something smaller as well. I'll keep you posted. Otherwise, we'll be taking the Trailblazer (which I love and don't want to get rid of, but know that it's the best thing).

Scout and Churro have an appointment Wednesday to get all updated on their shots. Noelle was updated in January so she's ready to go! I got a great deal on a large used airline crate here off of Craigslist, and Churro just got a new one, so now we just need one more for one of the dogs. We have been confirmed on our flight, and so have all three of the furry kids!! Yay! I even got a window seat -- and that better not change! The three furries will be travelling as "excess baggage" in the cargo area. I am very sad about putting them through that, but I have been assured by many people that the airline we are flying on is absolutely the best for flying animals. It's temperature-controlled where they'll be too, so that makes me feel better.

We are so excited about this upcoming adventure and also excited about sharing it with everyone through this blog! I'll update again soon!