WE HAVE A HOUSE!!! As I'm typing, Alan is off completing the contract on our new home. We went practical when it came to choosing our new home. In the end we had to narrow our choice down from four houses that we liked and it was a really hard decision. We decided that the house in Kollweiler was the best choice for us.

It is 10 minutes from base, big backyard and extra room for visitors (hint, hint;))! We are waiting for the new kitchen to be completed, so we won't be able to move in until November 5th, . The baggage we sent early is already here in Germany, so it won't take long to get delivered. We should get the rest of our stuff mid December and until then Base will provide temporary furniture for us. I am already arranging our furniture in my mind, excited to get settled in!

Last Saturday we were feeling really burnt out from house hunting and though the kids had been such troopers, they needed a break.  We went and had lunch at a cute place called Schloss hotel, a little secret in the mountain. They had some of the best water we have ever tasted, no seriously, so good! After lunch we went up to Burg Nanstein, a castle in ruins. We had a great time exploring and try to imagine what it looked like in its prime.

The girls had fun running around the castle playing pretend. The girls and I hiked down trail from the castle to a park that was at the bottom and Alan meet us there with the car. It was a much needed break from the vigorous house hunting and the girls finally got to see a castle.


Sunday we tried out a church call Frontline. I don't think I realized how stressed I was until during worship, I could feel it melting away. It just goes to show how deep our need for Christ and fellowship goes. The church was pack, people were stand along the walls and doors were open with people outside listening in. We got there just in time, at first they told me that childcare was full, right when a gal came up and said she had room for one more baby. Feel like I God was reserving a spot for Eloise, He knew we needed the rest. The couple we sat by during church just came from Manhattan KS, felt like it was a sign, that this church is home for us;)

We needed to stay in town today to complete the housing contract, so we decided to stay local and play at the dinosaur park in K-town.  Oh my word, the girls had a great time! It had a really tall tower that had slides coming down from all sides. The girls were everywhere, running around, exploring the park.

Fingers crossed, but hoping to finish a few housing details up in the morning and then we can leave the area and start seeing more of Germany. Thinking Eltz Castle and then possibly Trier Germany. So cool to live in Europe, the possibilities are endless!

Check out more photos from our fun day Here

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!.....So I was casually checking out at the commissary when I all of a sudden a restriction box popped up when I scanned my coffee, asking me to wait for the cashier to assist. Say what? I have a ration card for coffee! I may not always drink responsibly and I have been known to drink and drive (frequently) but it is a necessity! I know I can go off base to buy coffee (expensive), but that's not the point.  Hopefully I will stay under the allotted 21-lbs per month.....Okay, so it's not that bad and I'm done venting!

We are on information overload! Alan has had in-processing meetings everyday. They also had a spouse meeting that was supposed to be informative and give the DL on Germany. I walked away from that meeting feeling more overwhelmed then ever. I was told the way I great people and eat can be considered rude. Before getting here, I learned a few phrases that I thought would be important for interacting and building relationships with locals. One phrase was "Wie geht es dir" which means "how are you," well apparently it can be considered rude to ask that to someone you hardly know. Also, table manners are quiet different, as well as restaurant norms. Did you know that refills aren't free, neither is water? It is not encouraged to bring children out to dinner with you, but don't worry you can bring your dog lol.  I'm not saying all of this to complain or to say I don't like it, it's just an adjustment. I think it is important to respect the different social norms, there is good reason behind each tradition. For example, you are to place both wrists on the table while eating, even if you are not using one. Back in the day, setting your hand on your lap was a sign of mistrust and you could be concealing a weapon. The reason for waitresses not coming to your table frequently to ask if you need anything, is not because she's a bad waitress, rather she doesn't want to interrupt your conversation. You are to hand the tip to your waitress verses just setting it on the table, that way you can personally say thank you. The reason you don't ask how you are doing is because in the US it usually is an empty question and you really don't want to know the answer. In Germany, when you ask how you are doing, it should be because you genuinely care and want to hear in detail how their day is and you wouldn't ask a stranger that. I also think small talk isn't as popular here. Every custom has something different it is known for, there is a good reason for this and I find that it is because in general, the Germans value tradition and relationships above all.


We have had little time to explore and only just got a van yesterday. Saturday we did drive into Queidersbach to look at a house and check out the village. We got there early afternoon, which is not the best time, most places to eat were closed between 1-5pm. We got a little lost walking around trying to find a place to eat, only to walk 2 miles to find that everything was closed that we could see. Not sure if that is normal or just the bakery and restaurant we wanted. We did find a nice little trail into the forest and found some goats for the girls to pet. After that, we drove to Landstuhl to eat at a cute cafe and bakery. The ladies that worked there were lovely. Now that we understand a little better about eating out, we know why the table next to us stared at us and the waitress never brought us refills or the check:-P. Lunch was delicious, but the cakes and pastries from the bakery were absolutely scrumptious!

We have looked at several houses and many of them had amazing views of rolling hills and the forest. One house had a winter garden, it was great, but the house was very dated and if the piles of dead bugs in the windows weren't a turn off, the dead mouse was. Though, I would not mind having the landlord, he was so sweet! Our favorite house at this point is a cabin style home, called the 'organic house', though I am pretty sure it is not organic:-P  I really like that house, it has so much character, but it is a little bit of a drive to base and older so higher utilities. There is another one that we are highly considering and Alan's favorite, that is newer and really close to base. It is a little more then we want to pay, but I think we would save on gas and utilities. We have one more house to look at tomorrow and then I think we are going to make a decision. I really want a house soon, we are getting tired of TLF, literally, because Eloise isn't sleeping well and Maddy is a drifter from room to room.  Holy Smokes house hunting is stressful, especially when half your landlords don't speak the same language as you. We spend every free moment surfing websites and every other moment visiting houses. The on going debate here is cuteness over practicality....We will see which one wins over the other!

Overall, the girls are doing great, I can watch them growing closer together everyday with the way they play and talk to each other. Today they were coloring a pumpkin and they kept saying how beautiful each others were and how proud dad was going to be of them. There are moments when you can tell being in a small space gets to them and I know its time to go to the park. Alan is tired and is working really hard to make sure he gets everything done that he needs to. There are so many details he needs to take care of. As for me, I think my biggest stress is the housing situation, I'm worried about finding the right one and not getting stuck in one that's going to eat our money. I also really just want a house so that we can start exploring Germany outside of base more and start our life here.

Prayer requests for our little family are: that we find a house that is a good fit for us and in a nice village. Pray that the girls get back on a good sleep schedule and that they are able to meet some friends soon. Pray that we can get back into school and incorporating learning from this great opportunity we have being surrounded by history. Pray that Alan is able to prioritize and get done everything that he needs to, with minimal stress, quickly and efficiently as possible. I also want prayer that we find a great church family and friends that will be a positive influence on us. 

We miss you all and send our love!

Guten Tag or Guten Morgen depending where you live:)

Guten Morgen blog world! Onto my 6th cup of coffee, in my defense the cups are small;-) My blog page thinks my German is better then it is. Somehow the language on my page switched to German, guess that's one way to pick up the language. I just hope I push save (Speichern?) and not delete.

        We not only survived the flight here, but the kids enjoyed it, at least for the short time they were awake. We arrived at the airport at about 10:30 pm Tuesday the 14th. Things started out with a mad rush and didn't end until we sat in our seats on the plane. After unloading our stuff from the car Bea LaBonte sat with the girls and I or more like she held down the fort while I chased Eloise around. Not sure what we would have done without Bea, she was our guide through the airport and helped juggle the girls, pets and ridiculous amount of stuff.  After checking in we went down to USO to hangout until our flight. Unfortunately, pets aren't aloud in USO, Alan and the girls waited out side. The two big girls thought it was the greatest thing in the world, since the USO is heavily stocked with all sorts of complementary goodies. I think the guy working the counter got to know the girls pretty well or at least the top of their heads and their little fingers. I tried to put Eloise down in the family room, but her happy gibbering was not so welcomed by the mom of a sleeping toddler : / Time flew and before we knew it, it was 1:30 am and we had to get the pets to their destination. It was then that I realized we were missing two carry-on bags. So Alan did the mad rush with the dogs and I went back to the check-in counter. After much debating, computer searching and walky-talky chatter, they insisted that I must have checked them on the plane by the number of bags we had..... Well, that's fine and dandy, but all of the girls stuff was in those two bags (diapers, panties, etc.). I was told to run down to USO (with the kids, by myself, down one floor and on the other side of the airport from our gate, minutes before boarding) and grab some necessities for the girls before they closed, which they didn't have....AND then I lost Alan (we have no phones mind you)! Girls were riding in the cart and got in a big fight, I try to console Aria, when I realize Maddy and the cart are going full speed down the steep hallway. I understand that I probably looked crazy holding a screaming child and a baby, chasing a racing cart down the the hall with a child whooping with joy. The people watching weren't a big help either, as they stood there watching and pointing out the chaos instead of helping;-P At last Alan, my hero shows up to save the day! Somehow, we all made the plane just as they made the final call for families to board.  I have never seen such a packed plane...ever! We were 20,000lb over weight!  The airline decided to unload luggage and leave half of it behind and we are talking about a plane FULL of men and woman deploying who now won't have anyone of their belongs until next Monday/Tuesday (20th/21st). After taking off half the luggage, they decided to call off all of the families who I'm guessing were just hopping on for leisure travel. I feel awful for those families and the one next to me.......but it happened to be the family in our row, so we had two empty seats in our row to stretch out on. Maddy and Eloise slept almost the entire time and Ariana woke up as happy as can be with two hours to go.  Alan was amazing, I slept almost the whole time, laying across three seats. Every once in awhile I would peak my eyes open to see Alan helping coo the baby to sleep, taking someone potty or changing diapers and putting them back to bed. Somehow, I missed breakfast, but no worries, Alan made sure everyone had food. In my defense I did offer him my spot, but he refused it until the end:-P

      After arriving and collecting our baggage, surprise, our two carry-on bags aren't there and either is Alan's bag with all his uniforms. So it turns out that in our mad rush to unload, we left the two carry-on bags and the highchair in the floor storage of the rental car, whoops! Again, Bea comes to the rescue and is going to send them to us. Now to wait until next week to get Alan's stuff. Two guys that Alan works with came and picked us up, brought us to our temporary lodging facilities (TLF). They also took Alan shopping to grab the necessities.  Just to help make us feel at home our TLF is located on Kansas street and parallel to Virginia drive:-) 

        While Alan was out running errands, the girls were having a blast in their new rooms until.....Maddy locked herself in her room!  Had to call the office to send someone to get her. Maddy is so good at making the best out of every situation! Well locked in her room she made cards to send to her cousin Amariah. 

   Alan was gone all the next day at in-processing (without his required uniform on :/). The kids and I just spent the day relaxing. Is it weird that I somewhat enjoyed the jet-lag? The girls pretty much slept all day or calmly sat around either curled up in bed or the couch.  The girls have been just so positive and excited about the new changes. I love watching how well they play together, they really are best friends! The girls and I walked to the park and then to the commissary. We got some of the best Italian bread I have ever had! It was exciting to cook a meal with cooking instructions all in German:-)  To my amazement, it turned out at least eatable.

   Looks like Ariana is still trying to get over jet-lag, 11:30am here and she is still out like a log.  Today's goal is to find a cheap family vehicle. House hunting can't happen until late next week. As it turns out, we have to wait to get a list of places we can rent from and ones that are blacklisted.

 Keep us in your prayers as we look for a car today! 

Alright, so here goes nothing, my first blog!

Farewell Ohio and hello....Baltimore?! We've packed up all our stuff, with a majority of it who knows where, I can only hope not sinking in the bottom of the ocean. We loaded up/jammed everything we could possibly fit into a rental van and headed off to Baltimore. Eww on a side note, Alan and I might have been converted into van lovers. Anyway, back on track. We arrived last night to the house of one of the most hospitable woman that I have ever met, mommy LaBonte, my SIL's MIL. Two homemade dinner options awaited us, new Frozen memory book, tattoos and coloring books to entertain the girlies. Oh and to top it all, she gave Alan and I the master bedroom. Starting to think, the little thank you gift I got her might not be enough to let her know how thankful I am. Hmmm, now to come up with a new gift idea;-/ 

Today is Columbus day and the weather is dreary, what I consider a perfect day to stay in jammies, drink coffee and snuggle on the couch with a good book all day...Not what I did today or ever really; I'll tuck that away and put that on my bucket list for when I'm an empty nester 43783276 years from now. 

Click below for more photos of our trip 
Our Trip to the B&O Railroad Museum

Today, Alan and I took the girls to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad museum.  We had a great time! Ariana and Eloise's favorite part was the kid zone with legos and toy trains. Maddy's favorite part was the scavenger hunt. She was given a card and had to find the stamping stations hidden all over the museum.  






Overall, great day! Now to get everything organized for our flight tomorrow night. We are going to the airport tonight just to double check that we are good to go, especially when it comes to the pets.