What they think...

The girls are upstairs right now playing sargents. I am hearing a series of "sir, yes sir" bellowing down the stairs. I run up to get a closer look to see what is happening and Morgan is instructing Madison how to march. This is what I hear...

Morgan: I am the commander so I am the boss and so you have to do all I say right away or you will be beheaded!!!
(obviously they have heard their daddy at work)
Madison: I think you need a mustache like poppop.
Morgan: But I am a girl! there can be girl commanders you know, you don't have to be a boy.
(that a girl! Break through the barriers! Be all you can be!)
Madison: Yeah I guess that's right, but who would do the laundry and clean the house?
Morgan: My workers! I am the boss! The bad worker boys would have to clean my underwear! Madison: well, I think I don't want to be a commander. Daddy is a commander and he has a lot of work to do and it makes him tired.
Morgan: Well I am a girl commander! I don't want a mustache! And my bad worker boy will clean my panties! March!
Madison: I think I will be the commanders wife.
Morgan: What will you do? You won't have any worker boys.
Madison: I will be busy. I have to sweep the house every day and pick up after my messy kids and then when I go to the base I have to put on lipgloss and smile at people I don't even know. AND I have to help daddy so that his boss will think he is a good worker and will give him a thing for his costume.
(ah military politics, and I think she means a ribbon for his uniform)
Morgan: Don't forget you have to call all the boys SIR!!! Now I am the commander and I say lets march!! (marching) Left, right, left, bow, and clap! Left, right, left.....

I was laughing at this window of wisdom from our military babies. And trying to remember seeing our airmen march, bow and clap!!! Where do they get this stuff? Worker boy?!?! Oh my heavens!

Thai for us

Here is a post I wrote a while ago - before we had our computer up and running - which now mine isn't really running - when it wants to work it will, when we want it to..nah.

Monday, 9 July

Tonight we went to one of our Sponsor, Tim’s favorite spots. The Thai restaurant down the road. THAI ORCHIDEE. I have never had Thai food before and can’t say that I have ever really had any desire to, but I was hungry, had nothing here to cook, and figured why not. So off we went. Tim having 2 daughters himself was up on what to get for the girls that wouldn’t be to freaky. Since Madison has been traumatized pretty much at every meal, we were going for simple on her part. She had the ???? which was some sort of chicken on a stick and you dip it in a peanut sauce. I think she liked it more than she led on. I know she was loving the sauce, I saw her dipping her finger in more than once. Morgan was a bit shy at first, but then was getting dibs on what Madison didn’t eat. Morgan also had a chicken and rice thing, but didn’t like the “dirty rice”, so Mr. Tim and daddy fessed up some of their white rice. I tried the Thai Tea. Yeah…didn’t care much for that. I passed it on to Tim. After getting my meal, I wish I had waited. I think it would have complemented it well. Next time.

So to recap, in our first 6 nights we have had American, Italian, fast food German, traditional German, and Thai. There is supposed to be an outstanding Mexican & Greek place close by too.

Here's Sluggo....

Okay - I have gotten numerous emails asking for pictures of Sluggo and family. Today it has been raining so we went go outside to see if we could find some slugs. We stepped out the back door and had a few to choose from without leaving the porch. The only problem was when I tried to get something by them to give a reference as to their size (per Kelly's request) they would suck in super tight... I took a picture of one by a leaf and then measured the leaf. Here he is...

He is not one of the bigger ones, but average anyway. Here is another of a bigger one!

Paranoid - or need CAFFEINE?

SO- this week the girls have been going to Vacation Bible School at the Chapel on base. We thought that it would be a good oppertunity for the girls to meet some other children that they would be going to school with. It had been our experience that VBS was broken up by grade. Well, not the case here. You had to register by "grade going into" so naturally we assumed that Morgan would be with children going into Kindergarten and Madison with those going into 1st.

Well, Madison was in a class with children 1st through 4th. They said they did this so that the older ones could help mentor the younger ones. Hmmm, okay. Then Morgan was lumped in with pre-schoolers! She is the only 5yr old and the rest are 3. WAIT! Pushy mom is not crazed by this idea. Next, Madison is usually the one who is hesitant about new situations and Morgan goes full throttle into most every situation. As we enter the church I felt like I was smack dab in the movie freaky friday! Morgan freaks out and swears she does not want to go - she is scared, and just does not have any interest in going. Madison is telling Morgan what fun it will be and on and on. I know I had to have a rather curious look on my face.

Side note, why is the first day of VBS so overwhelmingly disorganized?? I have not attended / worked a VBS yet that the workers didn't seem like they were in desperate need of a stiff drink 10 minutes into the day! Kids everywhere, parents everywhere and the workers just dizzy from all the people.

After finding the pew Madison was to sit in, her teacher was there encouraging and welcoming each child. Comforting, she likes my girl! She may be faking the whole thing but she's convincing me that my girl will be fine with this group of strangers.

Morgan still glued and climbing my pant leg at this point is not happy about being here. We find her pew. One little boy is sitting there - he's 3 and sucking his thumb screaming for mommy. Hmmm. I try to encourage Morgan to cheer him up. her eyes said to me "yeah right". I stood there watching this lady check off names for the pre-school classes and waiting to have Morgan welcomed and adored by...anyone at this point. I saw other teachers doing this everywhere and the lady I thought may have been a secretary since she checked Morgans tag and the other boys tag 4 times now - well turns out she is the teacher. Hmmmm. Not getting a warm fuzzy here.

I talk myself into thinking that I am over reacting. I say to myself "Be strong mom. Don't give in. If you do you will start a trend...she'll be fine. She is a leader." SO I ask the dizzy lady - "are you the teacher of the purple group" yes she says...So I introduce her to Morgan tell her we are new and that Morgan is looking forward to meeting new friends. Morgan chimes in with "not any more momma". I don't think the teacher cared anyway. The snack lady started talking to Morgan giving the old "just go and she will be fine" theory a shot. Well when I came back Morgan was fine and so the day went on.

Today - Morgan is ready for VBS - excited even. She climb in her pew - excited to be the first one. I take Madison to her pew. Morgan is alone. Hmmm. Teacher is a few pews back. I smile and say hello. She looked at Morgan and read her tag - checked her name off. Then walked away. I waited a minute. Then teacher was one pew away - Morgan was fine so I said bye - and walked out. Next thing I know I am IN THE PARKING LOT and who is crying at my leg...MORGAN!!! No adult with her - no one running after her - she is alone in the parking lot!!!!! Momma bear - flipping out now! Nothing had happened, she just wanted me and didn't want to stay. We went back inside - a worker said hi and asked if we signed in - I said yes and Told her about Morgan in the parking lot - she asked who her teacher was and so I pointed her out. she went to the teacher and said - "one of your children is upset" she says - she did fine yesterday. hmmmm. NEVER came over to Morgan, said hello to Morgan...nothing. I sat with Morgan for a bit and when the singing started I began to leave. Teacher came over and I asked if all went okay yesterday she nodded. Told her how Morgan found me in the parking lot - alone. Her response was "some kids take off like that". Hmmm... Every bone in my body wanted to say a few things, and snatch Morgan up and go. I asked her if she could tell Morgan about the fun they were planning for the day...She was vague - I was apparently keeping her. I left and sat in the van for a few minutes, waiting to see if Morgan would be joining me out there. Cried and drove off.

I was set to meet Mark about 45 minutes later - so I needed to kill time. Guess what I found tucked away, off the beaten path, a secret place...

YES!!! I will have a LARGE Caramel Mocha please!!! I sat at a table with a book and just had some alone time. It was nice. I kept looking at my cell phone to see if the church would be calling, then I met a lady who was working with the VBS. She was a floater and took my cell # and said she would check on Morgan. If she was anything but happy, she would call me. Ahh the sweet java never tasted so sweet! I felt the caffeine go into my body like Popeye eating a can of spinach. Wahoo! Then I went to meet my man to help him look at resumes for a secretary - which he is in desperate need of!

I went to the church early to spy - and there was my girl praising Jesus alone. Her teacher was a pew in front of her with 2- 3 year olds and there was a little boy jumping on the pew. There was Morgan doing her best to see upfront so she could sing. I sat 2 rows behind the class and when Morgan saw me she ran over and sat on my lap. Teacher never looked, or made eye contact. Morgan fessed to being in time out. WHAT?!?! She said that the teacher had a bell and she touched it so she had to sit in time out in the hall. I reminded her that she needed to listen. Then I quickly thought about VBS and how busy it it going from Craft to Game time to Music to snack and thought "how long did that teacher have her that she needed to resort to a time out?". I told Morgan I was not worried about it - kissed her and decided that if tomorrow she says she doesn't want to go - she wont. We'll both go get a cup of Joe. :-)

Change of Command

On July 6, 2007 Mark took command of the 52 MOS Squadron. We were all jet lagged and a bit nervous. Mark was the most nervous, but I think he is fabulous and will be an excellent commander. Mark was a little nervous about his speech and I was a lot nervous about the girls and I sitting still on the front row. We sat in this order - Group Commander's wife, me, Madison, Morgan, Marita (who is the honorary Squadron Commander and is German). The girls have been VERY active and I was just not sure how the day would go. We prayed - a lot!

The girls were prepped that this was Daddy's big day, so we all needed to be extra special, so when we arrived they gave Daddy extra special hugs and kisses.

Col Mosley is the MXG commander and Mark's boss. With a smile like this - he's gotta be a nice guy!

The ceremony is neat because it is such a traditional and symbolic event. The National Anthem of Germany & the United States were sung, the honor guard presented the colors, the Group Commander says nice things about the outgoing and incoming commanders, then the outgoing commander says nice things. Then the Squadron gives a final salute and then the Group commander takes the Squadron flag from the outgoing commander and Mark steps forward to receive the flag. After that Mark receives a salute from his new Squadron. Here are some pictures of that - sorry about the view, I had the camera on my lap.

So here is what we get to see when we go to Mark's work - he is a humble man - but I know it has to make him smile a little - I was smiling a lot!! He is a wonderful man that I am extremely proud of! I just love him to bits and am thankful to be on this journey with him!

Cochem Germany

Our first weekend in Germany we went to Cochem. Pronounced cock-hem with a throaty, about to hock a lugi sound in the middle.

It is a beautiful town north that sits next to the Mosel. We parked and took a nice stroll through the town and then a steep hike to the castle. The castle is about 100 meters above the Mosel River. It was built in 1027 as an imperial residence and was rebuilt in the 1800's. It is said that the castle does not have the history of other castles because of that. They did rebuild it as close to the original lay. It is fully furnished and the tour is quite interesting. There was a tower called the Witches Tower that was the only part of the castle that was original. It was from that tower that the rest was modeled after.

The girls were ecstatic to be in a real castle. And see all the fancy furniture. The tour was in German, but I had a handy room by room guide to tell me the details of the different rooms.

I will plan on scrap booking the pictures as soon as possible so when you come to see us you can see the pictures, or go take your own!

Don't the girls look sweet?

Look like authentic tour guides right? Look at the shoes! This tickled me for some reason. I think I was oxygen deprived.

Uncle Tim & Aunt Jenny

One of the favorite things the girls got to do was spend time with their favorite Aunt and Uncle. Okay their only favorite Aunt & Uncle, but I bet if there were others they would be right at the top of the list! The girls are so happy that Uncle Tim married Aunt Jenny they have their favorite playmate as their Aunt! Tim came home a day before Jenny - I think so that he wouldn't have any competition. Once the girls saw Aunt Jenny, the rest of us could have disappeared! She is the star of their days! Speaking of Stars...

While they had Aunt Jenny to themselves, they made a play of "The Panda Family"

In Madison's words "the play was about a Momma Panda and a baby panda that love each other and then adopt a monkey baby. The kids were hungry so the momma fed them some of their favorite leaves." Here are the stars of the show

Madison as Baby Panda

Morgan as Baby monkey

Aunt Jenny as Momma Panda

And Morgan insisted that Tim was daddy monkey

Favorite Pictures

On Tuesday June 26 we boarded our flight to Baltimore for a quick trip to visit family before heading to Germany. Here are a few pictures of that trip.

Madison reading the plane safety rules to her Hippo - She knows all about the planes we fly!

Morgan's reaction when we tell her we have arrived in Maryland!!!

Morgan discovers she likes Milkshakes!! Poor Poppop.

Make me a milkshake Poppop!!

Oh yeah! That's sooooo good!!!

A night of Louisiana

So the night before we head out of Louisiana, we met with some friends to eat at Shane's. No one could believe that I had been in Louisiana for 2 years and had not eaten a Mudbug. Honestly, what in the name sounds remotely appetizing? So we went and Eddie ordered the little mud dwellers. I tried to convince myself that they lived like shrimp. But no. They literaly live in the crappy mud and people just go pick them up and eat 'em. SO here I go. Kristy picked out the biggest one on the tray, I think Eddie said he was saving that one. Oops!

So after hearing the different methods of eating these beasts, I ripped it's tail off, shook off the poop, and got this little piece of meat. Such a large critter for so little meat. Seemed like a waste. Eddie told me how you can suck the heads. Then showed me. My question...WHY?!?!

The evening was great. I cried all the way home. Regretting that after over a year of saying "lets get together for dinner" we took the LAST night to do so. Why do we do that? Why do we allow our lives to get so busy that we limit ourselves to opportunities to fellowship with those that truly bless our lives. Those friends that are genuine. That do what they say. The ones that when you need a hand they really do show up, and are glad to do so. The ones that rejoice with you and cry with you.

Instead we wasted precious time trying to figure out why the people we thought were our friends disappeared when Mark deployed and why we were no longer "good enough" to be invited over. Why all the promises of help while Mark was deployed were never met. What a waste. If only we had opened our eyes to opportunities right in front of us! We learned that just because your kids are the same age, that doesn't mean that you have found your circle of friends. Okay, before I get ugly I am stepping off that soap box.

Moral of the story - seize the day! I am sure that if you look, you will find one night in the next 2 weeks that you can get together with another family. Go ahead, look, and pick up the phone and call someone. Maybe call someone new. If you don't hit it off - you will know and not waste time trying to figure it out - and you can spend more time will be spent with those who can support you!

Friends are important. I think God made friends as a way for us to be reminded of his blessings. He wants us to have friends to support us. Even in his word he tells us about sending his disciples out in pairs "so that if one falls, the other will be there to lift him up".

There are 3 types of friends. friends for life, friends for a season, and friends for a reason. Friends for a season are those relationships that change as you grow and develop your relationships. friends for a reason are those that come into your life for a specific purpose. This makes me think of a girl I met in Georgia who had endometriosis. After hearing her story, it fit some of the things that were going on with my life. With that knowledge and being able to have a friend I could talk to, I was able to go to the right doctor and make it possible to improve my health and for us to have Madison. Friends for life...there are not many of these. These friends you can go years with out talking and pick up the phone and talk like you have been talking everyday. They know you better then you know yourself. They can tell by the sound of your voice what is going on in your day. You get the idea...

So here are some pictures from that great night...Oh and the Mudbugs were not the only Louisiana experiences. I was given my own copy of Steel Magnolias and some fabulous fleur de lis jewelry!!!

Bye bye bike...

After some assertiveness on our part, they agreed to crate the Bike at the house on Friday. Mark gave her one more spit shine and I think he made have shed a tear. The inspection showed that there was not a scratch on it! The crating was quite the ordeal. Mark rode the bike up into the crate and sat on it until they had it all strapped in. Then they shoved paper all around until it wouldn't budge. We shall see how it holds up! Here are some pictures of the final send off of our stuff.

Packing Day 3!!!!

Well, from earlier blogs you know how delighted I was that the packing company made our move a last priority and there were not enough packers to do the job in the allotted time. The girls got creative and Morgan found pleasure in a roll of tape and an empty box. She wrapped that box with so much tape that I think it's water proof. The packers were so impressed that they told Morgan she could have a job with them. Most would shy away from the opportunity, but not Morgan! She was ready to go! She was slapping tape anywhere they would let her!

Madison found solace in an empty box turned cave for her Polly pockets.

Packing Day 1

The Packers arrived and were fast to work! They packed the girls room, play room, den, girls bathroom, and living room. There were just two guys but they were hard workers. Mark and I were busy still getting things sorted and pulling things down from the attic.

Madison and Morgan spent the day with Connor. They were glad to not have to be in the middle of things. Poor Connor had an earache so, he had to see the doctor. When Madison & Morgan came to the house, they instantly said "we are bored". I found some crayons and asked the packer dudes if it would be alright for the girls to decorate the boxes. They were delighted! The packers said that in all the years they have been doing this, they have never moved boxes that were so colorful! I am not sure who had more fun. The girls doing art or the packers watching them.

We have contact!

We finally have internet connection here at home! Wahoooo!!

How sad is it that I have become so dependant on this connection to the world? It's like having a friend with me, security in knowing I can send a thought out there and soon, my friend will hear my call and send their thoughts back to me. I can know what is going on in the world, and when it is going on!

Anyway, I will be doing my best to catch up on our adventures. They may not be in order, but I will try to date some of the events.

Glad to be back!

Sluggo gotta go go!!!

Sunday, 8 July
Well it never fails. Every base has presented itself with some sort or creature that freaks me out. Ellsworth had the plague of grasshoppers & jumping spiders. Robbins had the palmetto bugs. Ghedi had the centipedes & stink bugs & birds in basement & bats in the bedroom. Langley wasn’t to bad…I was used to the critters there - oh wait we had a mouse. Barksdale had BIG spiders, lizards, black widows, and other BIG ugly bugs I don’t know the names of. Now we are at Spangdahlem and although I have not found anything that has freaked me out yet, Madison has. It is a rather dangerous creature that varies in size from about 1 inch to 5 inches. It’s reddish brown and a bit scaly looking. The fierce critter moves at the speed of paint drying and it has no legs and I am pretty sure no teeth. It' name…Slug. Are they in our house? Nope. Did one land in Madison’s hair? Nope. Did one bite her, spit on her, touch her, look at her, or stick out it's tounge at her?...nope. All it did was lay there. In fact, it was laying there praying that Morgan wouldn’t step on it, and that Madison would stop screaming. Okay, so that was us praying about the screaming. She is deathly afraid of these dudes. Since it has rained for 3 weeks here, they are out in force.

Madison does not want to go outside and pretty much has a panic attack when I mention going for a walk. It probably doesn’t help that Morgan ripped up a toilet paper tube and threw it on the floor, then yelled “SLUG!!!” Tim (our sponsor) took us out to this great German restaurant called Torshanke (which we will be taking all who come to visit) and on the way home we walked through the town and then took a farm road home. Everyone was loving life and enjoying our long walk until we came to this wooded section of the road that was a little muddy, and wouldn’t you know, peppered with big honking slugs. I tell you what, you could have saddled some of these babies! I was walking along side Madison counting how many she had unknowingly walked past, how many of them she had stepped on, and praying she wouldn’t notice! When suddenly she screams! She is absolutely terrified of these things. Mark ended up carrying her the rest of the way, which was no small trek. Just when we came to the end of this road, Tim points up to the next road. Key word being UP. Madison was not yet over her fear, so Mark being the great daddy he is, carried her all the way up that hill. It was pretty steep, Morgan was commenting about her muscles working hard. Marks muscles were working more than any since he had an extra 44lbs tightly grasping around his neck. We eventually came to a clearing and there was a soccer field that paralled where we were walking. After convincing Madison that slugs do NOT play soccer, she and Morgan ran and ran all over the soccer field.

Poor slugs - I never knew they could be so dangerous!!!

Almost there...

Our internet is connected - it just does not work!
I am mooching again - so need to be quick. I have been taking crazy amounts of pictures and when I do blog, be sure you have plenty of ink in your printer!! You will undoubtly be printing it out, placing it in your favorite reading room, and doing all you can to catch up!

I miss you all terribly. Madison is having a hard time here, so please be prying for her.

More later! You are always welcome to email and let me know what is going on with you!

Just a quick...

Hello everyone!
We have arrived and should hopefully have internet in the next week or so. We have moved into our house and doing our best to adjust to all the differences. The temp when we arrived was in the low 60's so we have been freezing! This weekend has been nice and our sponsor has been great to show us around. We have been to Belgium and Up and down the Mosel. More to come on our adventures. The battery is low and we are mooching a connection off of the Billiting on base while our sponsor is making a phone call. :-)

We miss everyone, but we are holding together and embarking each day with a smile. Mark's change of command ceremony was fabulous and the girls did well sitting through 'daddy's big day'. I promise to post pictures soon!!! Sorry about spelling errors, the computer is in german, so it doesn't seem to recognize any words.

Thank you to all who have been praying for us! We definately feel your prayers coming through!

Battery is going - so I must too!

Love to all!!!

Jen

Countdown to take off...

Tomorrow we have lift off!

I can not believe that the time is here already! Tomorrow we will board the plane to Germany. Leaving behind all that is familiar and embarking on all that is new. Everyone asks us if we will have a few days to adjust and get settled. Well the answer is no. We will arrive the afternoon of the 3rd. The 4th is a holiday and the base will be closed. The 5th is a family day so the base will be closed. The 6th is change of command and will be the day that Mark is back at work. Whew…talk about the fast lane. Lots of things for us to figure out and get together. School, house, drivers licence, rent a car, get food, time change…I know that all these things will come together in time. I just need to learn to be patient and trust. Not try to control, ask Mark a thousand questions, and have all the answers. Those of you who know me are probably laughing right now. Stop it! And I want to work on sitting back and not reacting with emotion and say what first comes to mind. Seriously my friends, stop laughing! I have been reminded of late that this is a character flaw I have. I am sure there are others, but I think I will work on this one. Seeing how Mark is now going to be the boss man, I have to be sure to just smile and stop there. Grab the pearls, and call me Mrs. Clever. My friend Eddie would probably say “finally - now she shuts up!” As my dear sweet Christa says “who is Mrs. Clever?” (that’s the mom from an old show called ‘Leave it to Beaver’)

I am excited for us to move on - to move forward. Our life as a military family is so different from civilian life. It is almost hard to relate the two. People always say ‘I don’t know how you do it…’ Well, we just do. It isn’t always fun, glamorous, or secure, but we do it together and we love our military family. We always know that there will be a family at our next base that is going to know the ropes and be glad to help out. We know this because with military communities, there is always someone who has been there and done that. If not there are the people who know that one day it will be them and they would want the same treatment. The golden rule applies to all and goes without question. You have instant friends. And you always meet someone who knows someone you do! It is a small world. Some of our most treasured friends are military friends.

Well, I have to go for now - I’m sure I will be writing much. As of tomorrow we will not have Internet access for a while. I will try to get to the library or something to check email. But I do not know how long it will be to have Internet in our home. Please send us an email or comment on the blog - We always love to hear from you.

Thank you to all who have helped us get out of LA. We miss you. I know one important lesson I have learned is not to wait to get to know people. Dive in! Don’t wait a year to have dinner - Stop saying we should and just do!!! But I guess if we had done dinner sooner, it would be harder to go. I am sad that Kelly knew a FABULOUS scrap booking store in Dallas and we never did a group road trip!!! Shame on her!

Our prayers are with you all,

Smiling for Him ~ Jen