Guten Tag!

Hello from Germany! We made it! I'm sorry I haven't updated. We arrived Monday morning, Germany time, around 9 a.m., and honestly feel as if we've been just going non-stop since then!

Let's take it back to the beginning now. We had a nice trip with my parents in a huge rented 15-passenger van to accomodate all of us, our animals and our suitcases comfortably on the trip to the airport. Thank the Lord my parents were there with us at the airport... it was crazy, trying to check in and get all the animals okayed. They were such troopers and I am so glad they were there. The flight itself was alright. It was a little bumpy so I, of course, was worried about my babies getting sick or something, but I was able to sleep for about 3 or 4 hours and it didn't actually feel like the 8 and a half-hour flight it was. When we landed, we were reunited with the babies, who did very well!! They were definitely unsure of everything and had been very nervous when separated at first in Atlanta, but as soon as they saw us again in Frankfurt they calmed down. We had no issues getting them through the customs, and out to the meeting point to meet our shuttle driver.... there came our first issue. No shuttle driver!! Oh dear. So I called Kelli, and she had not heard from them either, but we found the numbers for the company and she was going to have the Germans she was with call to find out where the driver was. About 10 minutes later he showed up and we were on our way!

Our first whole day was spent with Kelli as she tried to keep us awake and show us around the city. It was odd to just land and start going all over the place, but that is the best way to adjust to the time change. We checked into our temporary lodging and did some exploring. She showed us lots of the sights of the city, including a stroll down the Hauptstrasse (the main street, all pedestrian area) where at the end we could look up the hillside and see Heidelberg Castle. Beautiful! We can not believe we are living in Germany. That night, we went to dinner with Kelli, Lira (our new boss) and her two children at a German restaurant we walked to down the street. I found a new favorite meal already! Kaiserspatzle. Mmm. I probably spelled it wrong but just know that I already ate it two nights in a row at two different restaurants. It's that good! Lira and her kids are very sweet too. They only got here a week before us, so they're going through a lot of the same stuff we are. They are in our building right now, a pretty cool little apartment. It includes the use of a car -- our very own Renault Scenic... manual transmission, hatchback, ugly.... but Carl's seriously having a blast becoming a German driver!

Things overall have been going very well. All week we have been going to different appointments and working on my inprocessing. We ran into a bit of an issue trying to get Carl's ID card, which slowed us down a bit, but got it solved and we have been moving right along ever since. Kelli has been a great sponsor and has not only gone with us to many of the important things and helped figure out random stuff, she's also allowed us the time to just get settled and do whatever we need to do. I have met everyone else in the office here as well, and today Carl and I (I am sure he was really excited) attended my first staff meeting. The staff is really friendly and have so far been super helpful with everything, including trying to find Carl a job! We visited the education counselor the other day about getting him signed up for some classes, but the school he wants to attend only has classes at Ramstein Air Base, which is about 45 minutes away. We are weighing all the options now as far as he goes. But, for now, his job is being my chauffer! :-) I can't drive a stick shift and frankly I'm afraid of the German drivers right now, so he's just driving everywhere and we're doing everything together.

We've definitely decided that learning the language is going to be important. We have shopped at a few German stores and bakeries and figured out how to order or whatever, but it is an uncomfortable feeling. Tuesday night, we went to a restaurant down the street (again, we just walked because it's so close!) and our waitress only spoke German and French! We had our little German-English phrasebook and dictionary and she was so friendly and helpful, together we all figured out enough to enjoy a great meal, and we all learned some new phrases in the process! That same morning when we got up, we walked the dogs to the bakery down the street and they had a little 'doggy parking spot' out front where you can tie them to the building while you go inside! Believe it or not, that is unusual.... most places just let you bring the dogs inside! How cool is that?! It's so perfect and cool I still can't believe it!

Our biggest thing this week has been househunting. Right now, we are staying in a nice temp. apartment and the government is paying for our housing and meals, up to 90 days. We wanted to wait to move into a place at least until our car and some of our stuff arrives. (If we find a place before then, we'll get loaner furniture from the government until our stuff gets here, but we'll lose the use of our loaner car from this apartment). One of the funniest things so far has been discovering German tv! It is hilarious... so far, we've enjoyed watching such gems as the Simpsons, Spongebob and the Golden Girls... all dubbed in German!! It's awesome!! We have AFN- American Forces Network- which shows American shows, and one AFN radio network, if we need a taste of home. It is still odd for us to watch Good Morning America at 2 in the afternoon! We are loving it though. It's been overwhelming, yes most definitely, and yes, I've cried a few times (only a little) when I've had those "oh my gosh, what are we doing?" moments, but for the most part, it's been amazing. Absolutely amazing to look around and realize where we are, how beautiful it is, and what a true blessing this is to be able to live here and experience this.

Back to the househunting.... so, we think we've found a place! We decided to start looking in case the 'perfect' place came open, we didn't want to miss out on it. Well, amazingly enough something even better than perfect came open. I'll post more about it once we have confirmed it is ours. We have looked at quite a few, but the minute we saw this one we had a feeling. We were able to see inside of it but were behind one other family in priority for it (with Army housing here, the first family to request to see it gets it locked in for them for 24 hours and they get first pick if they want it). Today we found out they didn't want it ( I have no idea why!!!) Anyway, here's a preview: If we get this place, we will have our very own free-standing house (most housing here is either a rowhouse, duplex or apartment), with a two-car garage, workshop, 4 bedrooms, basement with wine cellar, backyard, patio, and... a garden and vineyard!! We thought places like this only were found in the movies, not really a place we could live in! We have decided if we are going to be living in Germany, we may as well go all out and get the once-in-a-lifetime house to go with the experience too!

We are still having trouble adjusting to the sleep schedule, and I'm having a little bit of trouble with homesickness, but, overall, we are doing wonderfully. The doggies are loving it here, and so is Churro.

All is well in Deutschland!!