From sequoias to swim lessons

I am welcoming myself back to the blogging world! ;-) I have taken a little of a hiatus, but am making a promise to myself that I am going to be better about blogging about our new home here in Germany and all the new and exciting things that surround us. We have been busy lately with getting our house in order (still...does it ever end!?!), exploring the area, Jackson's preschool, both Jason and I doing a bible study at church and now both of the kids are enrolled in swim lessons twice a week. Whew! Needless to say, when we have quiet time we are enjoying every minute of it!
Here are a few pictures of a hike we did not far from where we live. There are 9 sequoia trees that were planted around 100 years ago. They were massive! It was a perfect day for a hike and a nap, or so thought Ella...

Here is a little collage of pictures from our day.

Now off to swim lessons...

if you know me, I do get a little tense and nervous when my kids are swimming and in the water. So, what better way to make mommy feel more comfortable when the kids are in the water than swim lessons!

I signed both the kids up at the Aquatic Center on Ramstein. It is the indoor/heated swimming pool where we take the kids to swim during the week. Jackson was so excited and couldn't wait to start. I took a few pictures of him, but as for Grace I didn't get any. As you can see Jackson had so much fun! I can only pray that my kids will learn to love the water and swimming as much as I did. They both loved it and I know it will be a great start to swimming for the two of them.

Jackson would not go to sleep without Emma when it was time for nap. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them sleeping together. Notice Emma is using his dinosaur as a pillow-so cute!

Getting settled in...

We have officially been in our house for two weeks now and are finally getting settled in. There are just a few boxes left of items that I have no idea what to do with until our last shipment get here. We have more bookcases, wardrobes (for those of you who don't know...German houses don't have closets), and our new sectional sofa which I am VERY excited about!! I got the curtains in the mail yesterday and have them up, but I am not sure if I like them or not. But the good news is I got a great deal on them, so they will probably be keepers. We have been busy getting to know the area where we live by exploring the local markets, bakeries and stores. I still have yet to venture out very far, but I promised myself I am going to this week.
Jackson started preschool today and loved it! I am so happy that he took to it okay the first day. His teacher is named Mrs. Maria and there are 3 boys and 3 girls in his class. I just can't believe he is in preschool...how time flies! He is enrolled at Faith Baptist, where we also have been going to church. I am so happy that we found a great church that is connected with Jackson's school. So far we really like everything the church has to offer. There are a ton of kids, good sermons, great music and good studies for adults. I am starting a new Beth Moore study next week with my friend Laura which will be really good for us!
Germany is absolutely beautiful!! We picked up our new car last week and drove through the wine country. I don't think I have ever seen so many vineyards! We have so much to explore in the years to come.
Friday can't come soon enough when we finally have phone and internet. I will be sure to post some pictures from the past couple weeks soon!

Our new home sweet home...

We have officially signed the papers and have a house to live in. We are very excited! It's in a village called Weilerbach which is not far base, Jackson's preschool and the autobahn. Although it is a bit of a drive for Jason to school, I think he is okay with that. It was important for us to be close to the major base because Jason's base is scheduled to close in a few years so he will be transferring anyway.
We get our household goods shipment on Tuesday when we move into the house. It will be so nice to be surrounded by our personal belongings once again.
Here is the house...

The front of the house...

Walking in the front door on the middle floor...
the front living room with fireplace (which I am really excited about!)...
the main living room...that is government furniture. the kitchen/dining room that goes to the backyard...
laundry room...I love how big it is!
this will be the kids playroom...the office which is upstairs between the bedrooms...
kids bathroom...
other side of kids bathroom...
Jackson's room...
from the office leading downstairs...
master bath...
another view of master bath...
another view of master bath...
master walk-in closet...
master bedroom...
view from master bedroom window...
one of the downstairs bathrooms....
this will become the craft room for me and the kids...
this will be the game/man room...it has it's own entrance. ;-)the other side of the game room where we will put an entertainment center...

great big backyard for the kids to play...so nice!
the side entrance to the game room...
a raspberry bush on the side of the house...I see lots of raspberry jam in the future!
the back of the house...
Jackson made friends with the realtor's son....
the fireplace! I am so excited to put it into use this fall!
Come and visit us...we would love to have visitors anytime!

Our first days in Germany

Jason and Jackson took the train to a football (it's soccer in Europe) game in Kaiserslautern with our good friend, Lon, who was transferred here a few years ago. Jason said it was unlike anything he has ever been to before. Jason said, "The fans were crazy and love to cheer on their team!" Grace and I didn't go, but the good news is I think we found a house for us to live in. I will be sure to keep you posted on any news. ;-) Lon took us to lunch at a quaint cafe just out of Vogelweh. Eating here really made me feel like I am in Europe. We ordered a meal plate which consisted of coffee, juice, a bread basket, salami, turkey, brie, kiwi and condiments. It was so good!

The inside of the cafe where the food is ordered.
A sign from the outside of the cafe. I know we are going to get our fill of carbs here! The bread here is baked fresh everyday and oh so yummy.
We are still in the process of getting settled. We have our drivers test on Wednesday. The test is very difficult and only a certain percentage pass the first time. So we have been studying and testing ourselves like crazy! Thankfully we only have to purchase one car because we shipped our other one from Okinawa. We know what we have in mind, but the problem is finding one that is reasonable. It is not like in Oki where the cars are very cheap! Let the search begin...
Our good friends Tom and Laura arrive in a few days, so are anxious to see them. Keep checking back here for more updates!

Full Circle

We are here! After an uneventful flight (we were upgraded to economy plus) we are happy to finally be in Deutschland after a fun filled summer with family. The kids did great on the flight. Thankfully they slept about 7 hours of the flight...yes, it was such a nice treat! Emma was so glad to see us when we landed. I am not sure how she did, but I don't think she will want to do another overseas flight anytime soon.
We fought the jet lag and stayed up waiting for our hotel to be ready to check in. Ramstein is very nice! They just built a new shopping mall, BX and hotel which is still in the opening process. Since we have Emma we can't stay there, but we do have a great place not far from that. It is pretty much a 3 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and our own washer a dryer. It has a dog park behind us, which Emma loves! This is the place we will call home until we actually find a place to live. As far as the househunting process goes...it is a process. There aren't many "big" homes out there. As soon as they are listed, they pretty much get taken. So hopefully we will be the lucky ones and jump right on the listing as soon as it's posted. We are able to stay here at the apartment...errr....hotel for the next 60 days. So, we are able to take our time and look for exactly what we want.
Everyone is doing great adjusting. We went over to one of Jason's friends house who he met when he was student teaching here 8 years ago. Kelly is a mother of 3 and opened her home to us yesterday. She has a chicken coup with 14 hens, 2 roosters, and 5 baby chicks. The kids love seeing the animals! We had a great dinner and the kids played on the trampoline until almost 9! Unfortuntely, Grace is sick so we needed to get home and tend to her. She has a massive cold, fever, cough and just feels terrible! It's so hard to be in a new place, sick and miserable! I pray she starts to feel better so we don't have to find a pediatrician after only being here 3 days...
As to the title, Jason and I have come full circle back here in Germany. As many of you know this is a very special place for us...it's where we met! It is so fun to be back here together, married and with children. I only hope and pray that this place gives our family good memories, just as it did for the both of us 8 years ago.
I promise I will post some pictures. ;-) I will make it my mission today as long as Grace is feeling better.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we adjust to our new home. With so many changes still coming our way we are going to need them!
Auf Wiedersehen!!

Texas...been there...done that...and loved every minute of it!!!

We made it to the States the middle of June and were able to spend 3 1/2 weeks in Texas with my family. We had a great time!! We got to meet the newest member of the family, William John Bertram. He is such a cutie! The cousins loved spending time together doing all sorts of activities from riding bikes together, playing in the dirt, swimming, to painting rocks. They made some great memories. This is the one chance for us to get together with our families during the year so I soaked it all up. Even though the Texas heat was almost unbearable at times, we sucked it up and had a great time. Jason and I took Jackson to Schlitterbaun (the best waterpark!) and we all had a blast. The faster the rides were the better. He is definitely an all dare devil boy...which I am not sure is such a good thing! ;-) I can't believe how fast the time went by. I know is no time at all my parents will be in Germany for a visit then we will be back in Texas again. I would of posted more pictures...but I have so many it's almost overwhelming to know where to start. Plus, I just spent over an hour getting pictures up on facebook and I am spent for the night. I am going to try to be better about blogging now that I have a good internet connection here in Michigan. We are now with Jason's family and loving the 60 degree weather! I'll be blogging again soon...