Tis the Season!

As much as I miss being home this Christmas season it has been fun creating our own traditions! We have had so much snow already this month I would guess around a foot total. Yesterday and today it has warmed up a bit and this has been the first day this month that I have been able to see our yard! I am hoping for the temperatures to drop again at the end of the week so that we will have a white Christmas!

We went to our first German Christmas market on the 8th in the local town. It was so cute, unfortunately it was so cold that day that we didn't stay very long. The langauge barrier is also a little nerve wracking but I am working on it and next month will be taking a German language class.

I enjoyed getting to Christmas shop over here and find neat little things for each person. I am almost finished with my shopping now and I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of what they got :)

I have been working hard to make new friends and last week was great as I got to fellowship with a bunch of awesome ladies at the Christmas party that we had with my bible study group that I go to each week. We had fun games, delicious cookies, and wonderful music.

Other than that not too much has been going on with us but I felt that it had been too long since I had written. Our 3rd anniversary is this week and Christmas at the begninning on next so the next post should be much more interesting.

Oh! I still haven't figured out how to add picture onto each blog post but I found a site where I can upload my photos for everyone to see since I know many people that read this dont have facebook. Just click the link below and you will be taken to all the photos!
http://s1324.beta.photobucket.com/user/StumpysPrincess/library/Facebook/Christmas%20time%20in%20Germany

Merry Christmas!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted because of how busy we have been. We have officially been in Germany for over a month now and things are starting to settle down but we still have a lot going on. As I am sure you can imagine we have been doing lots of unpacking and organize. Nothing makes you realize you have too much stuff like a move does! lol We have also been running around taking care of things on post like picking up our car! Its so nice to not have to plan your life around a bus schedule and I even was able to take my drivers test yesterday so that I don't have to just rely on Daniel when I need to go places.

Not only have I been working hard getting our house in order I have also been working hard on getting things ready for the holidays! Next week I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner for some of our awesome friends and I am so excited. I have never cooked a turkey before so I was able to practice last week and it turned out awesome! I have a great menu planned and I am excited to make it all myself. We also put our tree and some other Christmas decorations up last week so its feeling nice and Christmasy in our house now. I will be done Christmas shopping by the end of this week and will be sending off my packages on Monday.

Luna is loving having a fenced in yard. We dont take her out as much as we like right now because we are working on making sure she knows not to jump the fence. Its low enough that she could but high enough that she doesn't know she could so whenever its nice out we will go out with her and monitor how close she gets to the fence. We also have neighbors with two dogs next door so she loves when they are out at the same time. The other day I was taking her out when I ran over my big toe with the door and our doors are quite heavy so my toe was all bruised up, I couldn't even bend it the first couple days without pain. Yesderday it was feeling so much better even though the bruising was still there so, of course, I ended up dropping something right on the bruise! OUCH!

In other exciting news Daniel told me yesterday that we will be going to our very first ball in February! I am beyond excited! I have been wanting to go to one since he joined the Army. Now I get the fun of deciding what I will wear! And it is giving me extra motivation to get into shape!

Also last weekend we went into the main shopping area of the little town we live in. It was very cute, there were so many cute places and of course we stopped into a backery for some treats. I didn't get any pictures this time because we were in a bit of a hurry as we had more errands to run but it was so neat to be able to see the area. And I will definitely take pictures next time we are there so that I can share!

We Have a Home!!

What an incredibly busy week we have had! I haven't been updating recently because last week was so boring and this week was so busy. But now that it's Friday I am taking a break to keep you all in the loop! We moved into our new house this week and it is just perfect! It's three floors with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms; there is lots of space for visitors so we expect to see some of you soon ;)  The view out the back of our house is absolutely breathtaking; the pictures just don't do it justice. God definitely intervened on our behalf because we could not be in a more perfect location. We live literally right across the street from the school where I am trying to get a job and it is almost impossible to get a house here without children.  Monday was the big day that we moved in. We got up early and caught the bus to our neighborhood then took a walk to the shopette for breakfast since we were so early. By the time we got back to our house the inspector was there waiting. She did a walk through of the house with us so we could document any damages then went over the recycling and trash schedulet with us before filling out the paper work and giving us the keys. Once we were finished we had about an hour and a half before we had to catch the bus back to the hotel so I had thought ahead and packed cleaning supplies so we could sanitize the house while we were waiting. Once we got backto the hotel we watched some tv before getting everything (including all the groceries we had bought for the new house) ready to be picked up and taken to our home. At 5 pm our ride came and we loaded everything up and headed HOME! Once we unloaded everything our ride was kind enough to take us to the next street over to pick up the nice gas grill we had bought from our neighbor. Once we put away the grill we started settling in for the night. We didn't have out furniture yet so we had to sleep on the government loaner furniture that we have in our guest room and it was not comfortable!! We will definitely be looking to replace it so our guest can actually enjoy their stay ;)  Tuesday was a very exciting day as well that started with me being woken by the movers to bring all our furniture. The movers were excellent and things were quickly unloaded. Once they had left I began unpacking, sorting, and putting away. That night ended with us sleeping incredibly well, finally in our own bed! Wednesday I started by working on some unpacking and loading the crockpot for a beef with broccoli Chinese dinner!  Then around lunch time the second movers arrived with the last of our things. After I had unpacked enough kitchen thing I decided to make Daniel's favorite dessert foe his birthday: cream cheese brownies. Because my oven has English on it never even occurred to me that it might be in Celsius so I set the temp and threw them in. About twenty minute later I went to check on them and the kitchen was full of smoke and I had ruined the brownies! I had already had a let down with my birthday gift to him that morning so this almost threw me into a meltdown because I just wanted his day to be perfect. Fortunately I am married to the most laid back man ever and he barely even cared. When he got home from work we had an awesome evening handing out Halloween candy together for the first time ever. We were a bit disappointed that our awesome Power Ranger shirts weren't appreciated by all our trick or treaters. We had 123 trick or treaters in all (yes, I do county tick or treaters,  just like my dad). Thursday was a very exciting day as well. Kristi, my best friend here, and I went to PWOC,  which stands for Protestant women of the chapel. PWOC is an on base bible study group for military wives. Have have participated in PWOC at Fort Lee and Fort Bragg so I was very excited to see what Graf PWOC had in store. We met some awesome women and jumped into a great study of Hebrews that I know I am going to learn a lot from. I woke up extra early to start another crockpot meal before I left for PWOC and sliced my finger cutting potatoes. I was instantly sure o was going to have to go to the hospital for stitches and was panicking because I don't even know the emergency numbers here... turns out it was A LOT more painful than it was actually hurt. As a matter of fact I barely even bled!  After PWOC Kristi and I ventured over to three px for a little shopping before I met Daniel to head back home. Once home we had a late lunch/ early dinner then got right back to the packing. Today I was up early again to catch the bus to get to post then had to grab a taxi to get to Vilseck to get to my appointment to get help with my resume. Like I mentioned early I am trying to get a job at the school across the street from me. I am applying to be a substitute teacher at both the middle and elementary school and I am praying that it all works out! After my meeting I met up with Daniel for lunch then we headed back to Graf. Once at Graf we had an hour before our bus back home so we went to the px at to look around and picked out the Christmas decorations we wanted so we would know how much we will be spending. Then once home I got right back to unpack while Daniel got right to playing the video I got him for his birthday! My kitchen is looking so much better but nother quite there yet, hopeful by tomorrow it will be finished and I can move on to the bedroom so we can have clothes in dressers instead of in bags on the floor :P
I am including a couple pictures of th house plus the view, but we hope that you will all come see it in person, because I promise it is much better that way :D

What an Exciting Week

This week has been a really exciting week for us. At the start of the week we were able to get into the housing office to see what was avaliable for us. Because we have no children we would normally qualify for a two bedroom apartment on post, and if we had come in August like we planned thats what we would have gotten. However, God changed our plans for us so that we came after peak moving season which meant all of the two bedrooms were full. The normal protocol for this would be to make us just continue to wait until a two bedroom to open up, but again God intervened and put ladies in the office who believe in putting us in housing we wouldnt normally qualify for. So after filling out the necesary paperwork we were given to options to go look at and choose from. Both houses were only a street apart but the one we chose was far superior in our opinion. The house that we picked had a nicer yard, which is fenced in so it is perfect for Luna in the back it has a spectacular view. Our house is a huge three story townhouse with three bedrooms, two and a hald baths and a basement big enough for me to have a craft room and Daniel to have a game room! It is so beautiful and I cant wait to share pictures with you when we move in at the end of the month.

The rest of the work week was rather uneventful but the weekend was lots of fun. On Friday I was able to take Luna Baby to the dog park while Daniel was shooting hoops. It was an extra exciting adventure because a friend of ours that had been working with Daniel for 2 years and is a good friend of ours stopped by with his new wife, Kristi. Kristi and I have been talking via the internet for quite some time and have been really looking forward to meeting and enjoying Germany together. It was so nice to finally meet her in person and we definitely get along well! She is awesome :) Then today all four of us went to the Crown Jewel Bazaar to start on our Christmas shopping! It was super neat, there were a ton of venders there selling all kinds of neat European items! Things were very expensive so I only got two presents but I got lots of ideas now!

This week had been such a great week and I hope next week is just as good. I really cannot wait to move into our new house! We have already started talking about Christmas decorations and I am going on a spree to get everything we will need as soon as we are unpacked! I am so excited to finally have a nice place to decorate for Christmas! I am also excited because we are having Kristi and Zack over for Thanksgiving and I will be cooking the meal for the first time ever and I am beyond excited!

We will have our house ready soon so I expect some visitors shortly after! We love and miss you all so very much!

We used to have one of these when I was younger and it was always one of my favorit Christmas decorations so I had to take a picture when I saw one today.

Some beautiful hand- crafted clocks!

Our First Real Outting!!

Today was an awesome day! We slept in late and then spent some time walking around the town right out of the gate to post. I finally figured out how to upload pictures, unfortunately I have not figured out how to rotate the ones that need it so please bear with me! Because it is Sunday must shops were closed, but that was fine because we really just wanted to walk around and get Luna out of the hotel. I tried to take pictures of everything that look interesting or cute so I hope you enjoy them. We also found a cute little bakery and got our first German pastry- a chocolate filled crosssiant- YUM! After walking around for a while we headed back on post and took Luna to the dog park. She was so happy to have a big space to run around in again! Once we finally tired her out we headed back to the hotel. It was nice to get out and about as a family and it is definitely something we plan on doing often. Next weekend they are having a bazaar on post with over 50 Bavarian vendors! I am really looking forward to going and starting off my Christmas shopping! Tomorrow is our appointment with housing so I am hoping to have a good update about housing soon but we will see. Its almost dinner time here so I am off to get things done!
Guten Abend!

Cell phones

YAY! We finally have our German cell phones! It was very weird going four days with no cell phone. Lucily one of our friends gave Daniel a little prepaid one so he could stay in contact with his unit but even so we were both in smart phone withdrawl mode! haha We originally bought iPhones back in the states so that we could just switch out the sim cards and bring them here but we ended up getting a really sweet deal and got two new Samsung Galaxy S3's for 1 Euro each! They are awesome phones and I am really glad we got them. I missed having an android phone instead of an iPhone. We can't call or text the states without it costing us a large sum of money so for those of you with smartphones we will be using kik for messaging. Just download it in the marketplace and create an account then let me know and I will send you our user names! We also have tango for video calls.

We haven't done much yet. Thursday was our first full day here and we mostly spent that getting food and neccesities for the hotel room and took Luna on a walk. Friday we spent the whole morning in Daniel's inproccessing class filling out paper work and getting his appointments. We are so anxious to get housing and we have our appointment on Monday; I cannot wait! Then we had some lunch with friends and rode the bus for the first time. After we got back we headed off post to get phones. The way it works in Germany is that you go in and then they set it to activate which takes about 3 hours then you come back and get the phone. Our phones weren't ready by the end of the day so we had to wait and come back this morning.

Today we slept in until 10:30, which was nice becuase we had to get up very early our first two mornings here. Then we walked up to T-Mobil and got our new phones. We brough Luna walking with us which she loved! Then we came back to the hotel and had some food and spend almost an hour setting up our new phones exactly how we wanted them... did I mention how much I missed having an Andriod phone, because I definitely did! After that we hung out around hotel for a while, and I caught up on the vice presidential debate that I had missed on Thursday. We had to go over to the commisary again to get some more food; the snacks went faster than I expected!  Now that we have had dinner we are just enjoying a night in so we can rest up so hopefully we can do some exploring tomorrow!

On an exciting side note I finally figured out how to add pictures. Hopefully tomorrow I will find lots of neat things to take pictures of to show you all! I am off to shower and hit the bed!

Gute Nacht!

Let's Talk Travel

Well we have finally arrived at our final destination: the hotel. It has been an absolutely crazy and exciting journey! I am going to detail the past 30 hours or so and I was planning on including all of the photos I had taken. Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to do it and our internet is a little slow but I will be working on it and I promise they will be up soon.  :)

At 12:45 yesterday we began loading Dad and Sarah's cars for the long ride to the Baltimore Washington International. We had a total of 8 bags, seven people, one dog and a very large crate! The boys drove in one car (except Tyler, he drove separate) and the girls, including Luna were in the other. Once we got to Baltimore we headed over to a near by mall for dinner and a little shopping. After our time there we headed over to the airport around 7. Once we got there and got the cars unloaded we headed through check in. Our bags were stuffed full and we just barely made it under the weight limit, thank goodness! After check in we spend a little more time together and chowed down on some delicious cupcakes that Sarah surprised us with! Then 30 minutes before boarding time it was time to take Luna to her drop of point. I hated saying goodbye to her; I am such a nervous furmama! Mom, Dad, Kyle and Sarah stood in line right up until we had to go through security. It was so hard to say goodbye but we all did good and were able to hold it together (mostly...). 

Once we were through security we waited at our boarding gate for about 20-30 minutes and then we began boarding. I was so excited, it had been about 14 years since I have ridden on a plane so I was like a kid in a candy store. As luck would have it we were in the very last seat, which meant over head storage for us was practically non- existent but thankfully we were able to make it work. At about 10:30 pm we slowly started pulling away from the gate. This is the point where I became extremely nervous because I hadn't gotten my ticket saying that Luna was on the plane. First I asked the flight attendant about it; she didn't know what I was talking about so she said she would ask. Well she took too long to get back to me so I stopped another attendant to ask her. They eventually finally brought me her slip and went down and checked personally, so I was a little needy right off the bat.  After I knew she was safely on the flight I felt so much better and was able to actually be excited. Finally we started our way to the run way. I don't know if this is how every airport works but the path so the actual runway was so long and windy I thought maybe we were actually in an airplane version of Mario kart. Once the plane took off we read our good bye journal Sarah gave us which was a journal with notes from friends at our going away party. My mom had also surprised us by having my family write notes on index cards that she was able to add in. It was so awesome to be able to read all those messages as we started out our adventure.

Shortly after that I decided I was ready to try to sleep. Right as I was about to be fully asleep they came around with food and woke me up. It looked horrible but I was hungry and it turned out to be pretty good, well at least the part I ate was! Then I was ready to try to sleep again but this time right as I was on the edge of unconsciousness we hit some big turbulence and we had to put on our seat belts. I finally tried again and this time was awoken by a screaming baby, who screamed for quite a while. FINALLY I had some relief and was able to sleep for an hour or two. When I woke up I had my next meal and then whipped out my Disney Princess coloring book for some quality coloring time. At this point it was about 9:30 am (or about 3:30 back home) and I was able to see outside. I got up for a few minutes to look out the window and even took a few photos. Then when I got back in my seat I took advantage of the TV screens on the seat in front of me that allowed me to see from a camera under the plane, it was really neat (and yes, I didn't take pictures). I wasn't really sure what to expect from the plane but it was a bit bumpy and it reminded me of riding in the bus on marching band trips.

Finally we landed and began the process of getting to the buses. We picked up Luna pretty quickly after we got off but due to some technical difficulties it took quite a while to get our bags. Once we had collecting a few things we went through some very unorganized sorting of who was to go where and then it was off to the buses. Too give you an idea of how long it took we landed at noon and didn't pull off on the buses until 2:30. The scenery was beautiful on the way and I was able to get some picture. We decided that to help with jet lag that we weren't going to sleep on the bus so that we would be able to sleep tonight at the hotel. I am sure Daniel was ready to kick me out of my seat but I had to keep waking him, sometimes literally every few seconds. Two hours onto out bus ride we stopped to eat at a McDonald's, it was much nicer than an American one and it was neat to see things in English and German. The rest of the bus ride went a bit better, even if we did end up dozing off once or twice.

At 8:30 we finally arrived at Vilseck, the connecting base to Graf. We had to get some paper work taken care of then we met up with some friends who were so amazing as to have a cell phone waiting for us. Then we waited for our sponsor to pick us up and take us to the hotel. We checked in around 10 and then went to the shoppette to get some snacks and ordered some delivery. We have a really nice suite with a living room, kitchenette, bedroom and nice bathroom. Attached are photos from everything so far! It's off to bed for us now!
Gute Nacht!

To Our Family and Friends

Well today is the big day!  I am so excited it is here yet I am so not looking forward to the goodbyes. I hope that everyone enjoys following our time in Germany through this blog. I originally started this blog because when we found out we were being sent to Germany it was hard for me to find all the information I needed in one place so I thought I would create that place.As the time got closer to use leaving and so many people were saying things like keep in touch and post lots of pictures I realized this would be the perfect way to share what we are doing with all of our loved ones. So I will do my best to keep this updated with what we are doing and pictures of where we are going. I am so thankful for all of the love and support that everyone has given us as we prepare for such an exciting chapter in our life. I hope that each of you will be able to come visit us at some point. Hopefully it will only be a week of two until we get housing so we will be ready for visitors very soon!

It is amazing the amount of stuff that we have to pack for this plane ride. We are allowed two checked bags and two carry on bags each. We are at the limit and we are attempting to stuff them as full as we can! Eight bags later and we still have a box full of stuff that I have to get mom to ship to us since it didn't fit! Only a few more hours and we will be loading up the cars and starting the long drive to the airport. The goodbyes are going to be terrible but I know that a wonderful adventure awaits us.

We are lucky that we have a few friends that got to the base a month ago that are already working hard to make the transition easier for us. We are so blessed by all of the people that God has put in our lives through our time in the army and I cant wait to meet the many He has in store for us. I hope that all of y'all will keep us in your prayers for safety and easy adjustment. I can't wait until we start having visitors and until we see you all again.

Thank you all for being such blessings in our lives.

<3

Plane Tickets, Pet and POV Shipping!

We were finally able to get our plane tickets! Because October is the start of the new fiscal year it took them a lot longer to open for booking so I was very on edge waiting to get our tickets. Honestly, the only reason I was so worried was because I know that spaces for pets fill up quickly and I didn't want to have to worry about coming up with the $1000 to fly Luna over separately.

They emailed us out tickets today and we definitely have a spot for Luna so we are very relieved. We will be flying out at about 11 pm which will be nice because hopefully that will afford us a few hours of sleep on the plane so that they jet lag wont be so bad. :)

Also so information on getting your pet ready to ship and shipping your POV.

To ship you POV you pick the VPC closest to the location you will be when you plan on dropping it off, for us that was during leave. Then your bring your car, a complete set of keys to give them (an extra copy because you have to have a set to pick it up too), five copies of your orders and either 5 copies of your title or permission from your loan holder giving you permission to send it. Once you get to the VPC it is pretty easy, they go over where its going with you and fill out paper work, then do an inspection of your car and you are done.

For us getting Luna ready was a bit nerve wracking because of the confusion with the microchip information. Here is the microchip information: They need a chip that fits ISO standard 11784 or 11785. People will tell you that they have to have a 15 digit international chip but that is not true. There are companies here in the state that have chips that meet the ISO standard that arent 15 digits. Those companies are AKC/Trovan, HomeAgain, and Avid Eurochip. Luna has homeagain with a 10 digit chip so I was really worried, especially since her vet even tried to tell me it was wrong. Another thing with the chip to keep in mind is that it has to have been put in BEFORE their most recent rabies shot. Also rabies shots must be at leas 21 days old and less than one year old!

Once you are sure off all that make sure you have an appointment for the health certificate that will be less than 10 days old the day you arrive. My advise is to do this with an on post vet because not only do they know what they are doing but it is free with a copy of your orders.

To give you an idea of what will happen at BWI (I dont know about commercial flights) you will get to the check in gate where they will check over your papers and make sure they are all there and correct then weight the pet with carrier and you will pay the pet fee. Then about 30 minutes before boarding you will leave them with the pet laoding people and they will put them on the plane. Once you arrive in Ramstein you will go over to the pet pick up are and wait for the vet. The vet will check over your documents then scan the microship to be sure it matches your paper work, get your signature and then you are done!

I am including a link to the Ramstein website with the info about pets, hope this helps!
http://www.ramstein.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=17033

HHG Movers!

Well our movers came to take all of our house hold goods today so esentially everything but clothes a few kitchen things are gone. It is weird having everything gone and now we have a month before we go on leave that we have to live like this. Going into the move I set them up to come so early because I didnt want to be without furniture for a long while in Germany. Looking back I wouldnt have scheduled it so far out because now I know that we can get loaner furniture there so it wouldnt have been a big deal. It is on less thing to do for the move and it makes it seem more real so I am very excited. I can't wait until I have more exciting updates to post.

Housing and Hotel Reservations

Right now I am currently working on these two things and will update as things are happening. I know to get put on the waiting list you have to have concurrent travel orders and a signed leave request so I am just waiting to get our leave approved.

As far as the hotel goes, I emailled them and they sent me a reservation request to fill out and send in. I did that and am now just waiting to get my confirmation back. Here is the link to the contact information about the hotel: http://www.grafenwoehrmwr.com/lodging/lodging_grafenwoehr_info.html#contact

Transportation and Port Call

Well it has been a while since I have gotten much done for the move but now that it's getting closer I have gotten much more done that I can share about. About a month ago we had our transportation brief. At the brief the tell you all about the shipments you are entitled to (household good, unaccompanied baggage, storage, etc.) answer questions and give you a packet that shows you how to set up the shipments online. I started trying to set stuff up online while Daniel was at WLC but I was having issues with my internet browser so we just ended up going into the transportation office and were able to use the computer lab there. This was super helpful because they have someone there who can answer all of your questions, which I ended up having a ton of. Once I did the online portion Daniel had to sign the forms then we had to hand those and a copy of our orders in. I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but you will need lots of copies of your orders! So now our shipments are all set up and the only thing I have left to do on that front is clean out stuff we don't need and separate what is going UB and what's going HHG.

We also did port call around the same time to book our tickets. This is more than likely at the same place you applied for you no fee passport. They only book flights 90 days in advanced so don't try to go too early. Also you will need five copies of your orders for this. If you have pets that will be flying over with you make sure that you book ASAP because they only have 8-10 spots for pets on each plane and it will be very expensive to ship them over on their own. Once we were called back the agent asked us what day we wanted to book and booked out tickets. It was super easy!

A Few Changes

Well not much has been going on in the way of getting things done because we are mostly in just a waiting period but a few things have happened. I turned in my EFMP papers and have been approved for travel. I was originally set to deferred because we were going to Schwienfurt but now we are going to Grafenwoehr so I have been changed to concurrent so that makes me pretty happy.

I am getting so excited about this move. The more research I do the more excited I get. On Monday Daniel is getting his HIV test and we figure out if I need one too then more waiting. Once we get orders we will decide when we want to outprocess here (we are thinking about going early) and then set up travel plans and shipping our house hold goods :)

EFMP screening & Pre-move Brief

Welp, we are few steps closer to the big move! I had my EFMP screening on Monday and I thought it was going to be a big long meeting with the nurses but all you do is turn in a copy of your records, fill out a paper stating if any of the dependents have any type of condition and you are on your way. The nurse reviews it over 7-10 business days and then you pick up your completed form. See easy peasy!

Yesterday we went to the OCONUS pre-move brief put on by ACS. I am pretty sure this only happens once a month. It isn't mandatory but it is pretty helpful, especially if you have school aged children. They give you a lot of really good information about the move and point you to a lot of good resources. Also they gave us a German survival guide and other helpful things so I am glad we went and I would definitely suggest it.

Also, on a personal note we have gotten confirmed location on Daniel's EASIGATE so we know where we are going. However, I am a bit confused because the unit Daniel is being sent to is moving to another base in in August so I guess we will be PCSing to somewhere different than we thought. I am not really sure about how it will work but we shall see. :)

No Fee Passports

Yesterday Daniel and I went to get my no fee passport. This is a free passport that you have to have to move out of the country with your soldier (a normal passport won't work- I have one). Its a super quick and easy process if you have all of your documents, which I did. We got there, signed in, they took my documents, I signed my application, they took my picture and we were done. In and out in less than ten minutes. Our friend whose family is moving to Germany at the same time as us also went to try to get his family passports. He didn't have the majority of the things that he needed so he wasted time going up there and then he has to come back once he gets his ducks in a row. (Although most of the guys like to get out of work so in his mind this might not have been a waste of time!) Anyways just a tip on the things that you will need to bring with you. There is a sheet your soldier will have to get signed at the levy briefing that I already talked about. It will come with a second sheet that gives you all of the instructions that you will need to get your passport, including how to fill out the application correctly. Also make sure that if you have children that the right sheet gets signed by both parents otherwise you will be making multiple trips to get your passport. Just as a guide you will need: the sheet signed at the brief, the application that you fill out online (be sure to follow the instructions carefully!), proof of citizenship- I used my passport that I already had but you could use a birth certificate or social security card (children need both), your marriage license, and your military ID. Overall, a pretty easy list as long as you compile it all ahead of time! I have my Exceptional Family Member Program overseas screening on Monday so I will be sure to update with how easy or tedious it is :)

Armee Frau trifft Deutsch Lebens

Or in English: Army wife meets German life. Four weeks and three days ago I got news from my husband that rocked my world: We have orders to Germany. After about five minutes of asking him if he was serious I finally started to believe him, even if I was still in shock. I went though so many emotion in a matter of seconds: scared, confused, shocked, nervous, sad and yet also excited and grateful for such an incredible opportunity. Now that I knew it was real, I was in too much shock and excitement to keep it to myself long enough to tell my family in person so it was time to make phone calls. I was expecting my mom to cry and my dad to take it in stride, however, my dad seemed the most shocked, my brother was the most upset, and my mom was so excited for us that she couldn't even be a little sad, which makes me glad I told her last. Also my best friend, Sarah, was rather upset at first but we are now too busy planning our European adventures to be upset. Once the phone calls were done I immediately sent emails to other Army wives that I knew were living in Germany. I could tell from the responses that the moving process was going to be very involved so I decided to blog about it so that there would be information out there about the moving process and then things to do over in Germany.

I wanted to write a blog as soon as I found out so that I would be more in tune with my original emotions but my computer hates me and was broken until today so that was not an option. On the plus side things have already started to happen with our moving processes so I have more than just emotions to talk about. Daniel got an email about two or three weeks ago with about 15 attachments and an email that said he had a levy briefing that he would have to attended in a week in a half and he would have to fill all of the forms attached out and bring them with him. This is where I will take a moment to insert my first tip: most of these documents will not open on your computer. I had to go on post because I didn't have the right program to open them with and also because my computer was broken so I couldn't even download the program if I wanted to. Now you might have a husband who takes care of all of his own paper work and you will never have to worry about this or many other pieces of the moving process; I don't. So after I printed and fill out the paper work(and put post- it notes on all of them so Daniel would know what to do with them) and arranged my day to go the briefing with him someone told him that spouses weren't allowed to go; he was wrong, there were lots of wives there. Not only did it piss me off that this guy was wrong I now only had what Daniel thought was important enough to write down, and believe me most of it doesn't even make sense; there is a phone number on there that he doesn't even know what it was for other than it must have been important. So if you plan to be in the know about the move I suggest you attend.

The last tip that I want to add is that when you find out you moving to Germany (or anywhere OCONUS) I highly recommend that all dependents that haven't had a physical in less than a year get an appointment for one ASAP and an appointment will need to be made with EFMP within 30 days of the levy briefing or dependents will not be permitted to travel. You will also need to bring all medical records with you for anyone not seen on post, like me. DO NOT wait until you arrive for your physical and ask for them right then and there; I did this and the receptionist was very snippy with me and only obliged because my records were so short. We have another briefing in 10 days (that I will be going to no matter who says) and I will update after that, or before if anything new comes to light.