Thursday, December 24, 2009

An Austrian Christmas

Leia Mais…

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Catching Up on December Activities

Our week ended by Mom getting to one more Christmas market. We went down to Baden Baden. They say that because the town is so nice you have to say it twice. It was a cute little town that we wished we had more time at - the story of Mom‘s trip. While Mom was here she was a handy lady too. For all of you who know her you wouldn’t expect anything less. She hung hooks in my closet. This sounds really easy but we have cement walls and a small handheld drill. She also fixed my vacuum cleaner with the duck tape that she brought over. I love when she comes to my house whether in the states or abroad. She headed out on Friday with no problems. I was only a little upset to see her go, but she kept reminding me that we had a big trip ahead and only a couple of weeks until I would see her again. Thanks for coming over Mema.

Now onto what we did for the rest of the weekend. Dan arrived home on that Saturday and slept for the better half of the day. The Grau’s invited us over for supper and some cards the same night. It was so nice to visit, (beat Dan and Angie G. in cards) and get Dan up and round. On Sunday, I decided to take the kids ice skating in Heidelberg. I thought I would see how they faired since we will be doing some ice skating in Austria. They had a great time as you see in the pictures. The weather was wonderful. It was lightly snowing. Just enough to make the setting beautiful and get you ready for the upcoming season. I think they would have stayed all day but my toes were like ten tiny little ice cubes. We finished the ice skating with hot chocolate. If Mom were along she would have asked for amoretto in it. (Just kidding Mom). It’s the German way!
We also had a going away party that night for 2 of the John Deere families that were on their way back to Moline. Even though we have only been here for a short time, the John Deere community is very strong over here and it’s sad to see them go.

This brings me up to date on our activities. I’m now in the car riding to Austria. We have been sitting in a stau for the past couple of hours. This is a traffic jam for those who don’t know what a stau is. While we were sitting there, Dan and I noticed there were a lot of cars pulled over on the side of the road. Our friend Seth called as the discussion was going on between Dan and myself. He let us know that part of the year the Germans use more of a water fluid for their windshield. He found this out from his personal experience. His sprayers froze up on the outside of his car. Now it makes sense why people were pouring water over their windshields and their hoods were up because they were pouring antifreeze in their tanks. Lucky for us that Dan had his oil changed and they had already replaced the windshield fluid for us. The gas stations are absolutely ridiculous. People pouring out of everywhere. Good thing we aren’t in a hurry and the kids are doing great. I love vacation. Merry Christmas. Enjoy each and everyone one of your family members and all the craziness that ensues. We will be thinking of you while we’re skiing.

Leia Mais…

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

So This Is Christmas (In Germany)

Leia Mais…

London

Leia Mais…

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

London

Our adventure started very early December 3rd. I was sitting in the car as Mom realized that our tickets were laying on the table, along with all our maps and tickets to the plays. What a disaster that could have been. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 in the morning. The flight from Germany to London was only an hour.

When we arrived we hit the ground running. We were so excited, we ran all the way up approximately 100 steps with our suit case (it was really heavy). The more the story gets told the higher the steps will be. To be completely honest, we slowed way down about 3/4 of the way up we were laughing so hard. A wise women told me, if you have a good laugh you add 7 years to your life. We added a lot of years during this trip. The first day was about 21 hours for us. We went on a red bus tour, hopped off, and saw the Tower of London with the crown jewels. The red bus was to slow for us so, the"tube" was the way we went. This was much faster and we are really good at it. Mom was nice enough to let me eat at the Hard Rock. The nice thing about Hard Rock is no matter were you are in the world they still have the same American style food. I did a little shopping there and we were off to Mom's first professional musical - Les Miserables. She absolutely loved it. It was my second time seeing it and it was still so amazing it brought a tear to my eye. We finally hit the bed around 11:00. Mom said, "a $2 bed would have looked just as good as a $200 bed."

Friday was just as busy as Thursday. We had a nice breakfast and then made our way to St.Paul's Cathedral. This cathedral was originally a protestant church. They modeled some of the work after St. Peter's in Rome. After touring around the bottom and envisioning myself walking up the main aisle marrying a Prince, we climbed all the way up to the top of the bell tower. It was a clear day so we/I could see for miles. Mom on the other hand, could only see the wall because she was to afraid to look out, but she did make it up and I'm proud of her. We also saw the Westminster Abbey Friday. This is where some of the early Kings and Queens are buried, where coronation's and famous funerals are held. I would say this a center piece of London. Our evening again was topped off with American food and a musical. We ate at the Texas Embassy - Mexican food. Our play that night was Wicked. I now can appreciate how much my good friend Aven loves it. The costumes, lighting, singing, acting - just everything. I can't wait to take my kids to it.

Our trip ended Saturday with the changing of the guard and a tour of Churchill's museum. I would recommend seeing this museum also. It was very interesting how things worked in war time. The thing that stays with me the most is that the secretaries couldn't tell their families where they were working. Some of Churchill's own secretaries would work up to 18 plus hours a day with him. I could go on but I hope you get the idea. We arrived home around 1am Sunday morning. We wanted to squeeze every last drop out of the trip. I really enjoyed my trip with my Mom. Thanks for going with me Mom. I love you and hope you had a happy birthday.

Leia Mais…

Monday, December 7, 2009

Leia Mais…

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Whirlwind Of A Couple Weeks

Dan has been busy traveling since his Mom and Aunt Janet have left. Paige has had strep twice and Christian has had the flu. Does this sound like anybody elses life? We've gotten to know the doctor pretty well. Now we need to stay healthy for the upcoming holidays.

We hosted card club this weekend, which thanks to Patsy, we had turkey and dressing sandwiches. I made party potatoes from scratch since there aren't any frozen hash browns over here. I like to say they were made with love.

I tried to have some of my Christmas things up so everyone could see. Unfortunately, the tree kept tipping over. Dan caught it one time. Yesterday I made the game time decision to take the tree down to the basement. Becky reminded me that every year my tree falls. There must be something wrong with me. I still have Christmas spirit though.

Today was a nice relaxing day. Dan helped me book flights, hotels, and theater tickets for London and we finished with Paige having riding lessons. Dan was there to watch.

Next week Mom will be over. We are so excited to have another visitor. In closing I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. As we start into the holiday season, we take time to consider how thankful we are for our family and friends. Even though we won't see everyone, you are close to our hearts. You have helped shape who we are as a family. Remember to enjoy the time you have together.

Leia Mais…

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Germany

To say that we had a good time this week would be an understatement. There wasn't any shortage of laughter or story telling. Dan planned a great trip for us hitting many countries. We spent the first weekend close to home showing them the Heidelberg area. I took them to France and shopped for pottery on Friday while Dan took us the following day on a river cruise down the Rhine River. Looking at castles for a couple of hours was very nice.

Monday we were on the road heading down to Rothenberg ob der Tauber. This is my favorite place to take people. I absolutely love all the Christmas stores they have there. Patsy and I could have spent way more time and money there. Unfortunately we had to get on the road to Dachau but it was closed when we got there. What a disappointment, especially since Dan and Patsy stayed up Sunday watching Schindler's List. After Dachau, we were off to Salzburg, Austria...home of Sound of Music. We also watched The Sound of Music before we went.

Tuesday we went on the Sound of Music tour. What we couldn't see on the bus we walked around the town to find. This led to a lot singing (not all good) in the car. Salzburg was a GREAT town. I would highly recommend the tour and town. Wednesday ,we went to Berchtesgaden - this is in Germany only 15 minutes from Austria. We went on a Salt Mine tour here. This was my idea of a good time since I'm in love with salt. By the way, our tour guide looked just like Grandpa Vic...boy I wish we would have taken his picture, since I have a picture of everything else. The girls ejoyed it because they got free salt at the end of the tour. Little do they know they actually paid 15 euros for it (the entry fee). We were also supposed to go to the Eagles Nest but it had snowed so we couldn't get to it.

Back to Germany on Wednesday to Neuschwanstein. This is one of the most recognizable castles in the world. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to build Cinderella's castle. It is fun to see theses castles and the way they used to live in the 1800's. The gifts of gold and silver they gave to Kings and Queens were awesome. Maybe I was suppose to be a Queen. I would love to have these things sitting around my house.

Thursday afternoon we were on the road to Liechtenstein. This is a small country between Austria and Switzerland. The view we saw here was breath taking. Our hotel was great as it looked right out over the mountains. We arrived right as the sun was setting over the mountains. Who cares if right below there was a cow barn that smelled like...well you can only imagine and a church that rang it's bells on the 15 minutes and more at the top of the hour.

Our final day was in Luzern, Switzerland. We walked around the town and saw some famous bridges dating back to the 1700's and a church that was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. The highlight of the day for everyone was the ride up to the top of the Swiss Alps - Mount Pilatus. We road the train up and were able to really enjoy the beautiful colors of the trees. We went up 7000 feet above sea level. We were almost knocking on heavens doors. No matter how many times we go to Switzerland and see the mountains it never gets old.

Friday evening we drove back to Rauenberg and had a nice rest in our own home. Saturday was filled with just some relaxation at home while Dan took his mom and Janet to see where he works in Mannheim. Sunday, I took Patsy and Janet to the Blackforest for a day of shopping and some light hiking to the waterfall. This is the same area that we went to in late September before the Octoberfest in Stuttgart.

Overall, the week and this weekend were great. We had a nice trip and were able to see a lot of areas in a short amount of time while enjoying some time with Patsy and Janet. They return to the US on Wednesday. Glad to have our first visitors and very happy that the weather was good while they were here. Enjoy the photos from our latest adventure.

Leia Mais…

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Leia Mais…

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Christian



It's true my son is now 10 years old. Dan and I marveled about it all day. Mostly we talked about how we all lived through the first couple of years. He sure has grown and matured in to a nice young man. He has some weak moments, but who doesn't. I think Christian had a pretty good day. He got an iPod Touch which he is absolutely in love with. He has been hooked to it for a couple of days now. I'm glad we could get him something that makes him happy. Paige is also happy because she has his old one.

Christian wanted to go swimming in Karlsruhe at Eurpabad. This was an indoor/ outdoor swimming area. The first thing we had to do was swim in the outdoor pool. How much fun was this when you could swim outside with steam rolling off the water. We all thought we were pretty cool. We went on a couple of slides inside. Now looking back there was one that we didn't see any adults going down. Now I know why. It was like purposely putting yourself in a car crash. Dan and I were nursing sore backs that night.

Now that the week has started we are counting down the days until Dan's Mom and Aunt Janet arrive. Dan has a great trip all planned out for them. Now I have to do the fine tuning. I can't wait to laugh and share all the exciting things to do around here. Stay tuned for the updates. I will do the best I can. We aren't going to internet access for a week. Oh my gosh.....how will I survive?

Leia Mais…

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Schwarzwald (Blackforest) and Triberg

Leia Mais…

Good to have Goals


It's always good to have goals but sometimes they aren't achieved. I'm sorry that I didn't get the blog posted last week. We had another nice weekend. We are getting better at planning our trips now. We started planning on Wednesday and were determined to go to Munich for Oktoberfest. After all the research we decided Munich will have to wait until next year. Please let us know if you are at all interested in attending with us.
Saturday we went to Triberg for some fun on luges. Then we made our way the rest of the way down to Triberg where they have the tallest waterfall in Germany...by the way Christian is now tired of looking at waterfalls. We hiked around for a while then planned to look at coo-coo clocks. We were side tracked by a shop that had Dirndls and Lederhosens. Obviously Oktoberfest was still on our minds so we bought the whole nine yards. Just like the Griswolds. We even kind of looked like Clark and Ellen.
We did end up at Oktoberfest but we went to the second largest in Stuttgart instead of the largest. We had an awesome time. Dan said it was a lot like going to the Luxenberg Octoberfest. We all had a good laugh at that.

This weekend we went to the wine fest in our town (Rauenberg). I think I could have sat there all night and drank the wine. This is more my style. The kids are loving the fests here. It's like a fair every weekend which over time can add up, but like one of our good friends said "You can't put a price on fun." The saving grace was Dan had to be at the airport early this morning. He will be spending the week in South America.

Today we went to the ropes coarse. What a great exercise. We were exhausted by the end of the day. Now the kids are tucked into bed and my homework is done for the week. YEAH!
Enjoy your week everyone and may God bless you in many ways.
Angie

Leia Mais…

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Stuttgart Oktoberfest 2009

Leia Mais…

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Pictures from The Week of Firsts

Leia Mais…

Eine Woch der Premieren

Yes, it's been a week of first for us. As I look back at the week it brings a smile to my face at some of the things that have happened. Paige and her little girlfriend Sydney Grau painted each others faces with lipstick. Let me set this up for everyone. I was busy making spaghetti for supper. Paige and her girlfriend were very quiet upstairs playing. I called up the stairs to let them know it was time to eat. They called down to let me know that they were scrubbing up..."don't worry momma it's not paint." These are words that will send a mom running every time. I ran up the stairs to find to little girls frantically scrubbing their purple/pink faces. I had to shut the door and find Dan, to let him know what was going on and get all the laughter out before I delt with the girls.

This leads to funny story number 2. I had to ask Dan to help finish the supper and throw in some bread. I was cleaning up the girls so they weren't purple faced for school. Asking them what they were thinking and letting them know they weren't in trouble if they learned a lesson. In the meantime Dan was yelling for help. When I got down to the kitchen he let me know "I can't read any of this...it's all in GERMAN"! I'm still laughing at this and it will probably be my favorite saying the whole time I'm here.

Saturday Angie Grau and myself thought we would do our first volksmarch. What is a volksmarch you might be asking? Well it's a hike or walk that cover about 6-12 miles. It usually goes through the woods or near historic or scenic areas. It was so much fun we all had in our hike. Instead of getting a t-shirt at the end, ready for this .......beerstein. At our second stop we took a little break where you could get a beer and a wurst (brat). We thought we would start a club and call it Sticks and Steins. We might make a shirt and put this on it..and beer will never hurt us. Who wants to join the club?

Today since Dan is in America, I thought I would take the kids for an adventure. We went to Bad Durkheim...one of the largest, most traditional fests in Germany, the festivals of festivals. It's over 150 years old. It had everything you could think of there to ride. This might tempt some of you for next year. 150 different wines in 50 different places. So you can drink wine at little stands or big halls or Scubkarchler- where the tables and benches are so smooth from all the people sitting there over the years. What fun we had. Next year adults only. The invitation is out. Hope all is well in your week until next Sunday, God bless.

Leia Mais…

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Leia Mais…

Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Week At Home

I can't believe what a busy week we've had. As I sit here tonight it seems like forever since I typed my last blog. The kids started their first full week of school. I think we survived it okay. The school is a little different here. I know that a lot of the expat wives have told me about the lack of communication with the parents. They raise their kids to be very independent. So last week went something like this. They got told by a teacher that they were there too early and weren't allowed to be on the school propery yet. (Not their choice, as they get picked up by a bus that doesn't want to get stuck in a traffic jam.) Paige was told that she wasn't going to be allowed into school the next day if she didn't have a school ID or a parent with her. (We were never told about such a thing when we registered.) The final thing was a library card. Paige was so excited to be able to check out books. However, she had to check out books on her teachers card beacause she didn't have a library card. I had to fill out two library card sheets IN Deutche! Hello, we are the English class for a reason....we don't speak Deutche or French. Other than those few little hiccups we are looking forward to another week.

I've had my own adventures now that the kids are back in school. I started back to the gym regularly finding the gym closer to my house smaller and quieter. I decided that this was the week I found a hair dresser. I found a place to get my hair done in the Bizmarkplatz (a shopping area in Heidelberg). The name of the place was called Unisex. You decide by the name. It was like a moving piece of art. The people working were very....unique. Tons of tatoos and crazy colored hair. I took my chances because I was desperate and I think I like the place. It was interesting to watch as I was processing. My favorite thing was when a hairdresser stopped highlighting a clients hair to take a couple of drags off a cigarette from her friend outside. (Not happening in the US, very interesting.)

The rest of the week was busy having tea with the John Deere expat wives. Friday was a get together with all the expats for an evening of food and wine. Then comes Saturday.....cards with some friends. Euchre was the game last night. I am not a fan of cards. When asked by everyone if I had a good time, my response would have to be I need a xanex. It was really fun to get together with adults to laugh, eat, drink and play cards. We were also able to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones via slingbox at the party. They all enjoyed themselves so much it might happen again. Shoot,I'm going to need more practice.

Dan is off to The Netherlands this week until Wednesday then over to the US on Sunday. Now that the travel has begun I don't know that we will be traveling very much. However, Dan's mom and aunt are coming in late October with a full week of vacation planned...no destination or plans but Dan has commited to taking off.

Looking forward to another week here in Europe.

Leia Mais…

Monday, September 7, 2009

Leia Mais…

Leia Mais…

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Leia Mais…

Lauterbrunnen, Murren and Schilthorn Switzerlalnd

Thursday, Dan decided I should pick somewhere for a trip this weekend. With the help of our friends, the Van Essen's, and Rick Steves' tour book, we were off to Switzerland. It was about a 3 hour drive. It wasn't bad at all. The kids watched movies for a while. When we hit the Switzerland boarder and could see the mountains, the only words out of our mouths were WOW. WOW! WOW!

We spent the afternoon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were flying by the seats of our pants for the most part. We had no hotel reservation. I found one after a few calls and we were golden. I also thought I would take charge and get some menus for us to order some food at the hotel restaurant. I was a little surprised when the waitress asked if I wanted soup with that. I was thinking to myself, how does she know what I want and to ask if I want that soup with it? Then As I quickly racked my brain for the very little Deutsche I know, I remembered back to McDonalds and menu means...Meal! 75 Swiss Franks (1 SF = ~$1 US) later we had a nice chicken, rice and potato lunch. It reminded me of my Grandma Hoeger's house. It smelled like it and it even had polka music playing in the background. I hope she doesn't get any ideas and start charging for her great meals.

Our next adventure was going to Trummelback Falls...A series of beautiful waterfalls. For only 11SF for adults and 4SF for children, we were off to the falls. We road a cable car half way up the inside of the mountain and we walked up the rest of the way. The falls were deafening at some points and the kids are quick to tell you they were very cold. We could see our breath. It took us about an hour to get through the falls. When we were done, we enjoyed pie and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. After unloading a few things from the new BMW. (Yes I am bragging a bit but, how many times in a girls life will she say brand new BMW), we were off to visit the little town and get some more to eat.

The next morning (Sunday), we had a small breakfast at what I would like to refer to as "Grandma's". (It was free). I was totally bummed out when there was no cinnamon rolls. Instead we were greeted by the normal cereal, fruit, and cold meat sandwiches. The morning activities took us to the Schilthorn (appx. 10,000 above sea level) by cable car up the side of the mountain. These spectacular views and revolving restaurant were made famous by a James Bond movie made in the 1960's. (Google - Schilthorn Switzerland). Dan and I had the "007 breakfast" at a mere 20SF per person. I only had a cup of hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to see snow. We spent a nice amount of the time up there. We made our way down to Murren, a automobile free resort town. This little town is filled with bakeries, cafes, souvenirs and lots of people with walking sticks. We had a nice lunch and about a 45 minute hike down to the next town. It was all we could get out of Paige. It was still amazing with the mountains on each side. We took a small train up to Murren again and the cable car back down to the valley. We shared many laughs and plenty of good memories. Although it was expensive it was well worth the money and we are looking forward to our next trip to Switzerland. I hope you can see the beauty we were able to experience first hand. God is an absolutely and amazing artist.

Leia Mais…

Monday, August 31, 2009

Heidelberg Castle - August 2009

Leia Mais…

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Just Another Week

As many of you have heard on facebook, Dan was in Berlin for the week. He took the train over. It took him approximately 5 hours, with the stops in little towns. While he was gone the kids and I started organizing the house. I also fought with a trampoline. It was my great idea to get a trampoline for the kids so they would have something to do while we were over here. Christian and I put it together for the 3rd time Monday while Dan was at work. By Monday night, I had the net around it so the kids could at least jump without flinging off. I knew something wasn't right when the net started hanging half way down by the middle of the week. I finally figured it out today (Sunday). Triumphantly I fixed the net for the last time and it looks GREAT! By the way, Dan came out when I only had one more pole to go, and asked if I needed any help? AH....NO.

It seems like the week has gone so quickly. We are watching a lot of movies because we don't have cable. We probably won't get that for another week or two. I've been trying to figure out what meat to cook on the stove. We have a beautiful new grill without a gas tank. This, we are also waiting for.

The John Deere wives have been extremely helpful and are making the adjustment very easy on us. They have been inviting us over for suppers, and I have learned to accept even if Dan isn't around. It gets the kids and I out of the house. Lisa Dickson (John Deere wife) came over and helped me order school books off of Amazon.DE. That was a trip. It was all in German. Another reality check was when I was putting a cabinet together I was only able to look at the directions. I had to use Google translator to figure out what they were saying. I think I better get some German lessons soon.

Everyone was happy to see Dan come home Saturday. Today we took the kids into Heidelberg to see the castle and walk around a bit. If you didn't know, Sunday's around here are for family. You don't work around the house. I was scrambling last night to put my last cabinet together so I could put it up and not worry about it today.

My goal is to try and get this web page up by Sunday night. We'll see how well I do. Enjoy and have a great week.

Leia Mais…

Sunday, August 23, 2009

One Week In

Well, we are one week in and everything is going pretty smooth. Dan, like usual, has had almost everything done for the house. We arrived last Monday the 17th of August. We fought jet lag for a couple of days but by the 3rd day or so, we were all doing fine.

We are very lucky that there is such a nice group of people over here (expats). We went to supper at Schmidt's with the Grau family. They have children almost the same age as Christian and Paige. They will be going to the same school and will ride the same van. On Saturday, we ate at the Van Essen's. They also have kids close to our kids age...just a little younger. They took us on a great little hike through a vineyard and up a mountain. All things that we will be excited to show others.

Today, Sunday, was a great end to the week. We met up with some friends and went to a nice park for the afternoon and enjoyed a great meal with ice cream for dessert. We definately can have the dessert because we walk alot!

Looking forward to updating you as often as possible about our new adventures.

The Leibfried's

Leia Mais…

Monday, May 18, 2009

Paige's Dance Recital

We had such a great weekend. Paige had her end of the year dance recital. Of course, I thought she was the best and prettiest dancer on the stage. We were very lucky to have both of the grandparents able to attend and even Great Grandparents Vic and Myrtle Leibfried and Great Granny (Lois Lamey). Even our favorite Aunt Janet was able to come.

Thanks for coming everyone and sitting for 5 hours to watch all the dances. It was also very nice that the guys were able to watch Christian play baseball for a while. There are a few good things about living close to family.

Leia Mais…

Beach Day

Paige's class has been studying about the ocean, so to finish the chapter they were able to have a BEACH DAY. It was absolutely pouring outside...the biggest rain we have had this spring. The kiddos had beach attire and beach towels to read with.

I got to volunteer. My station was fishing for facts. Most of the time I was untangling the fishing poles. It was a lot of fun and laughs. I can't believe that we are almost done with the year.

Leia Mais…

Friday, May 8, 2009

Grandparent's Day

How cool, my kids finally got to have a Grandparent's Day with a real Grandparent! My mom was able to come down. The kids really enjoyed having her there. They split her between rooms. Good thing their rooms are very close together.

In first grade Mom was grandma to a couple of kids. In fact, one time a little boy asked where Grandma was? I had to tell him she was with Christian. With all the activities they kept Mom busy for a couple of hours. Hopefully we didn't wear her out too much.

Leia Mais…

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Baseball Hero


Well, since I am blogging again, I wanted to share with everyone that Christian is our baseball hero. Monday, May 3rd, Christian had his first baseball game. Dan was is Raleigh, NC, Paige had dance at 6:45 so I was the typical American Mom and was trying to be in two places at once.


Our good friend Seth was able to attend the game when I left. The game was tied with players in scoring position. The count was 3 and 2. Christian hits a double and drives in 2 runs. Our team wins their 1st game and Christian is the baseball hero.


If you didn't hear about this on his car ride home.......A: you weren't in my speed dial or B: he didn't have enough time to call you.

Leia Mais…

Monday, May 4, 2009

Here We Are Again

Hi Good Friends and Family. In case you don't know, we have just found out that John Deere is taking us over to Germany for a couple of years. Dan just found out Friday May 1st that we will be moving over to Mannheim. We will be taking a trip over to find housing and a school in the next couple of weeks.

How did I find out? I bet you think that it was told to me in GRAND WAY right? Oh, no.....Dan simply just called me on Friday morning and told me over the phone while I was getting the kids ready for school. It was like we were making plans for what we were going to do over the weekend. Instead it was what we are going to do for the next couple of YEARS.

We are very excited. I know Dan will do a great job over there. It will be a great chance for us to bond as a family, and get to see the world from a new point of view. We have told our immediate families. To say they were shocked is an understatement. As to be expected Mom and Becky were not very happy, but we do think Dan will live to see another day.

The kids and I won't be leaving for another couple of months. We hope to spend most of the summer with our families, visiting friends and hopefully learning some German. HA! I will be updating and letting you know how things are progressing. I am sure there will be lots of adventures on the way for us.
Please keep us in your prayers and enjoy the kids reaction to finding out...we made a little word puzzle game to tell them.

Leia Mais…