So it's Christmas

Well everyone it's Christmas time again! I hope this finds you with those that you love around you and the happiness that brings you. James and I are spending Christmas with each other this year, just the two of us. So far it's been very uneventful and pleasant. We bought our first Christmas tree about three weeks ago and had to wait a little over a week to decorate it as we were being sent lights to put on it from my family. (thanks again for sending everything) But now it's decorated with all the ornaments I've collected over the years from friends and family and the ones I "made" for James the year we were dating (first time we've been able to use them!) I'll post a picture of it 'cause it's a really pretty tree now with all it's trimmings, we are proud of it anyways and think it's a good first tree! Plus there is a HUGE stack of present underneath it, woo hoo!!! ;) Okay, so that's not really the important part but is does show how much our family loves us even from far away! We miss you all and wish we could spend this time with you.


this is an old pic of the tree, before the HUGE stack of presents! I'll update it later...


As this year comes to a close we have a new addition to the family (Luke August Leonard) who was born on Dec. 3rd with another one soon to join us (Abigail Elizabeth Camealy, Kris, forgive me if that's not right...). We are excited about her arrival as well in the next few days and look forward to the day we meet them both! :) Also as the year comes to an end, we face a deployment though there is still nothing official it's looming over us like a hurricane or tornado before it lands. All I know is neither of us want it to happen but both are confident that God will keep us through it, even knowing that, I still have no peace with the situation. Please keep us in your prayers regarding this, as always we need them and they are much appreciated, thank you.

In other news, this past year we've had the honor of family coming to visit us! Aunt Carol and Uncle Ralph (James' side) came in mid Feb. and stayed for a couple of weeks while we were still living on the other side of Germany (close to France). They did some travel on their own time and we went to a few places with them when James had time off from work. Otherwise we tried to show them a good time around K-town with all the yummy food we had access to! I think they enjoyed themselves, we sure enjoyed having them! :D Then in October (after we moved to the eastern side of Germany) we were blessed with a visit from mom and dad Jardin for a few days. We too tried to show them a good time while they were here, took them to the Bavarian Alps and right before the left showed them around our old stomping grounds in K-town, even showed them the house we lived in! It was really great to have them here too and we were sad to see them go.

Also this past year James and I have tried to continue our travels, it was a little difficult however since we had a move mid year. We did get some travel in though, we went to Paris earlier in the year then after the move we went to the Alps I believe 3 different times, went on a couple of tours while we were there. We also in November made it down to Greece! Not many of you may have known that simply 'cause it wasn't a long planned thing for us, we planned it literally a few days before we left! But we had a good time while we were there, saw some neat things and walked around places that the Apostle Paul walked, so it was pretty cool!

All in all, despite the army and being so far away from everyone we love, it's been a good year. The new year doesn't look as promising as of now but God is good and that's what I'll be leaning on so in the end it doesn't matter, we'll be cared for! In light of that how blessed am I to be His daughter and to have the gift of His holy Son as my salvation. That's what really matters this time of year, not how much "stuff" we get or the food or the resolutions that we won't keep. Christ left His glory in heaven to be with us, that's all the gift I'll ever need and thank God for Him!

Celebrating (from afar) Jesus with you all this holiday! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Years! To them fam. we love and miss you guys tons, give everyone love and hugs from us! Merry Christmas!

Decisions

Okay, I know some of you have been praying along with me during the whole school deal with me and I just wanted to first thank you all for your prayers and all the support and encouragement you've offered up for me; second I guess you all should know that I've decided not to do school this term (i know, who's surprised) for the simply fact that James and I (and the army too) have no idea about their deployment status and until we know something concrete I'd rather be able to spend as much time with him as possible. I still don't know if this was the right choice but it's been made and I don't really know what else to do.

Um, in other news, as some of you know I went home about a month ago on a surprise visit and surprised most everyone in my family. It was great and I had a really good time with everyone. Got to see and hang out with some old friends and got caught up with them a little bit but as with most trips home these days it was WAY to short and I wasn't looking forward to coming back to Germany (well I was looking forward to seeing James again of course but that goes without saying). While I was there, in fact it was the day before I left to come back here, I finally got the tattoo I've been wanting since I was about 17 or so and I LOVE it!!! In fact I like it so much that I really want to get another one! :D (btw, my tattoo says, my beloved my friend, I really need to get James to take a better picture of it now that it's all healed and such)




Also the Monday right after I got back (1 October) James got promoted to Captain which was pretty sweet. Then that following Saturday James' folks came into town for a little less than a week. We jam packed it full of adventures, not including the ones they unfortunately had with the airlines BOTH ways, while they were here. We were like four energizer bunnies, we kept going and going and...well you get the point. Anyways, we took them to the Alps and went on a tour while we were there to the castle that Disney's Cinderella Castle was inspired by so that was an interesting tour. It only had I think 14 rooms complete and one of the rooms was made, intentionally, to look like the inside of a cave...dude was on crack! Weird! On our way home from the Alps we drive pretty much through the heart of Munich and there is a concentration camp there called Dachau that Roy (my dad-in-law) really wanted to see. So we made a stop by and boy was that an experience, I don't believe I've ever been so disgusted in my life. I literally felt sick to my stomach reading all the stuff that went on there and actually seeing were it took place, absolutely disgusted! I mean it's one thing to know about the concentration camps and see films and read the history on it but it's another thing ENTIRELY when you are present where things went down, wow. I think the most eerie thing about that whole visit was they had this huge bell, almost like a church bell, right in the center of the camp and as we were walking towards the exit it started to ring. Now when you see a huge bell like that you'd think it'd sound much like an old church bell, nice and kinda cheery if not welcoming. Well this bell was much different, it had a very low sound to it, like it was mourning or weeping, very strange and quite unnerving. I've never heard a bell ring that low before and nor do I want to again.
But aside from that our trips with the 'rents were really good and we were sad to see them go.

Aside from that, nothing else new to report, just dealing with the craziness that is the army and taking it one day at a time!

Again, thanks for all your prayers, I/we need them still and as always you all are in ours. Love you and miss you.

Sweet Retreat

Last weekend James and I went on a retreat with the chapel we go to here on post(base). We went to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort again (we spent my birthday weekend there) and again practically paid nothing for it! The chapel supported all that went, 50+ people and for couples it was only $20, crazy cheap for pretty much a 4 star hotel/resort place!!

Three of the five chaplains we have went on the retreat with us and kind of "directed" things, Chaplain Jackson (James' Battalion's chaplain), Chaplain Keough (the one that James and I both really enjoy) and Chaplain Chang (he's a Presbyterian, hehe). They had three different classes to choose from, Intimacy in Marriage (chaplain Keough and his wife Amy), The Five Love Languages (chaplain Jackson and his wife Heather), and a class for spouses who's husband/wife is deployed (chaplain Chang and his wife, not sure what her name is).

James and I picked the Marriage one 'cause we really like Chaplain Keough, he's hilarious! Anyways, there were only two sessions for the weekend, one on Friday evening and one on Saturday morning. Friday's was a group thing, everyone was in one room and Chaplain Keough and his wife Amy went through the book His Needs, Her Needs (great book btw) and touched on the five most important needs of Him and Her, five needs for him and five needs for her. Amy took the wives and Pete (CH. Keough) took the husbands. If you haven't read the book I definitely recommend both you and your spouse to read it and talk (really talk about it afterwards, good stuff! Anyways, it was a good session and they gave us "homework" for the evening, which was basically pick your top three needs, write them down, and share them with your spouse. James and I found that we were already meeting the top three for each other so it was more of a reminder to continue in our actions, yay for us! ;D

Alright so the second session, Saturday morning, just the marriage group this time, was good too. It was more of the same from the evening before but focused more on the differences between men and women and letting each side know that's how the other operates and to keep that in mind when dealing with each other in every situation. It was a really great retreat.

James and I walked away from it with a better understanding of each other as well as a better appreciation for each other, good stuff! We had a lot of free time during the weekend and there is a really pretty lake (the Eibsee Lake) near the resort that had lots of walking trails around it, so James and I decided to go for a walk and take some pictures (not many). You can also swim in this lake but it was a little too cold for that while we were there. But it's BEAUTIFUL! Mountains surround it and the water is crystal clear with a greenish blue color, very calming.

At the resort the have both a pool and the biggest hot tub I've ever seen. So we took advantage of both. It was kinda funny, we started off in the hot tub, keep in mind the hot tub is outside and the pool is indoors right next to the hot tub. So right, we started off in the hot tub, we were in there for a while, then both of us got too hot and decided to get in the pool. The pool water was a nice temperature so it wasn't a shock to our bodies. We got bored of the pool (and the dad and little boy that kept following us from each) and decided to go back outside to the hot tub, forgetting that it was cold outside and that we had just come from a slightly cooled pool, yea, it was COLD!! Needless to say we raced to the hot tub and practically jumped in to warm ourselves up! It was fun though and we were pooped by the end of the retreat, good times!

I love and miss you guys tons!!

Something Neat

I read this during my devotions a couple days ago and I really liked the picture of it, so here it is.

From the book The Heartache No One Sees by Sheila Walsh

Romans 8:33-34 Who shall bring charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

While Satan would stand at our right side and condemn us, Christ stands at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. What a miracle! What a gift of grace! Can you get a picture of this in your mind's eye? It is a picture worth carrying with you at all times because it is the truth of what is happening in the spiritual realm.

See yourself standing with all your faults and failures, and Satan is whispering into your right ear:
"You did it again!"
"You'll never change."
"You're a hypocrite!"
"God couldn't love you!"

Then picture Christ, standing beside His Father, praying for you:
"I love her, Father."
"She is my heart."
"I paid for her sin."

Never forget that Jesus Himself stands beside His Father calling out your name. You might want to write out that passage or commit it to memory so that the next time waves of condemnation wash over you, you can deflect the lies with the Word of God.

You can say, "Be quiet, Satan! Listen, do you hear who is praying for me?" That will send him fleeing from you.

That is the reality of the situation in heaven: Jesus interceding for us. The reality of the situation here on earth is that Satan is constantly standing at our right hand, lying to us and about us, spitting the ice-cold venom of hatred at those God loves. Recognize the source. Remember who he is and resist him in Jesus' name.


Anyways, that's the gist of it. The imagery made me cry. I to often forget what Christ has done and is still doing for me and that picture helps remind me that I do have someone that loves me so much that I can stand before the throne of God with all my faults and wrong doings while He prays on my behalf, pleading my case before His Father. Amazing!

School?

So I've been thinking a lot lately...I know, not the best idea for me...but as much as I HATE the idea of it, I'm actually trying to get into school. If I can get accepted I'll probably start in October of this year, working towards an English degree with maybe a minor in marketing. Not at all what I wanted to go to school for but unless I want to venture out on the German economy (which I'm not gonna do) it's the best choice I've got. Plus I figure, I like to write so why not learn how to write well (something I suck at), so I dunno, we'll see. I kinda feel like it's what I'm supposed to do and I'm terrified of doing it, just like everything else, but I'm being pushed in this direction and I can't fight it so what else can I do! No, James is not pushing me, nor is anyone else in my family, I believe God is the one pushing but I'm not really sure. If He is the one then hopefully I won't fail at it, that's a little comforting. It's still really scary for me though, I mean, it's taken me SEVEN years to finally get to this point! Anyhow, just thought I'd give anyone that still reads this a heads up as to what I've been up to and as always I'd appreciate your prayers on this matter, I'm REALLY gonna need them to keep my sanity trying to do this! Oh and the classes are only 8 weeks long which is nice, I don't like the whole drawn out semester dealio, way too long! Well that's all for now! Much love to you who read this! :)

a few Paris pix

One of my gargoyle friends on top of Notre-Dame, isn't he cute!?



Aww, in front of the Arc de Triomphe. We went on top of it too, great view of the whole city!



I think my favorite one of the Eiffel Tower. (we have a lot of Eiffel Tower pictures!)



A neat church on top of the highest hill in Paris, the Sacré-Coeur. Apparently you can climb the dome and get another great view of the city.



Notre-Dame at night, pretty!

Paris

Well, we are off to Paris tomorrow! We'll be taking our car there, the drive is about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours (not entirely sure which). But regardless it will be cheaper for us to drive there rather than take the train as well as a little faster. We will be staying on the outskirts of the city in a Holiday Inn believe it or not and taking the metro to all the places we want to see, so it should be fun! James and I are both REALLY looking forward to getting away for the weekend, we both are in much need of some away and together time, so I'm excited. Yay!

just to let you know

i'm a work in progress. it's a painful and sometimes unbearably slow progress, but a progress none the less. some days i feel like its moving at unrecordable (is that even a word?) speeds and other days (like more recently, say the last few years) i feel like i've digressed into something i was a long time ago that i hate. i have good days and bad days just like everyone else, my good days are very good and my bad days are just horrible, and yet i have no real reason to complain. funny how that works. i realize life could be so much worse than it is, i mean i have what i need, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in my belly and an incredibly patient and loving husband that puts up with me and all my issues and believes i am capable of anything, believes i could do anything i want if i just put a little work into it. God bless him, even if he doesn't feel it or believe it all the time, i truly do love him in every way possible and am so very blessed and thankful to have him in my life.

i wanna be different, i wanna be so different than what i am. i don't want to wake up in the morning (should i actually happen to fall asleep), look in the mirror and see this sad person that i am staring back at me because i know deep down somewhere that's not who i really am. i want that confident and secure woman who didn't care what others thought or said about her and didn't care what others thought about how she looked or didn't look and who knew who she was and what she wanted, i want that woman back. i struggle every day, every day is a new or, more often than not, repeated battle with the enemy and the lies he spews that are so easy to believe. and i am sad to admit it but everyday he gains more ground that i don't want him to have. i feel like i'm fighting so hard but i keep loosing and my strength is waning. my body aches as a whole (soul, mind, heart, physical body, etc.) and longs for much needed sleep. that scares me as the Word says there is no rest for the wicked, am i wicked? seeing as how everyone is born in sin, i guess i am.

someone who was once a friend to me said she had a vision of me one night. in her vision i was on an altar and there was a fire burning all over the altar including over me. she said that even through the fire i willingly stayed on the altar, unmoved and at peace. every time the fire passed over me i was unshaken, i calmly bore everything God threw or rather allowed to come my way on that altar, is what she said. it seems like there was more to it then that but i don't remember. i can honestly say that i sure feel like i'm on that burning altar, however, i'm certainly not taking it as easily or as unmoved as i did in the vision.

i don't know what i'm doing wrong but i'm trying so hard to do everything i humanly can to fix it. yes, i understand that i may not be able to fix it, that God may have to do all the work but as a believer i can't just sit back and do nothing saying 'okay God, it's all You now!' i have to at least do my part whether it helps or not. it, this, won't last forever, i realize that too. in light of eternity it doesn't even matter, it's just a blip in time, so knowing that why do i care so much? is that my humanity, my sin?

i want nothing more than to be a servant, a servant to my husband, my family, my friends and anyone else God should place in my path, but most of all i want to be a servant for Christ and so far i've failed miserably at all or so it feels. yes, i have other dreams and interests but none above these. maybe that's why i have such a hard time "choosing" a career to go to school for, but i think it's more that i'm too scared of failing at that too. funny, i want to fly but i've clipped my own wings. they grow back every so often and i find the courage to do something and right when i'm about to take the plunge, i clip them again.

so what's my problem, a lack of faith? a lack of trust? a lack of belief? yes. but how do i get those back? i'm in the Word, i pray, i have quiet times most days and am reading different "self help" (for lack of a better word) books that are written by fellow believers. i also, as you all know, have asked for other believers to pray for me! what else can i do? and is what i'm doing not right? i wonder (part of what keeps me up at night, my stupid thinking brain!).

now you wonder, if you haven't already, why the heck is she saying all this stuff? my answer: just to let you know, i am okay, there is no need to worry about me. this is part of how i work through things, though i would still appreciate any prayers you may have or want to offer up on my behalf. thank you.

OH and now we are thinking Paris instead of London...? we'll see!

London???

so we may be going to London this weekend...nothing set in stone but there's a good chance we may go! it will be nice to get away from here and spend time in a country where they speak english! ...to be continued...

ps. thanks for all the thoughts and prayers not just regarding my last post (though those are appreciated too) but just your prayers in general, thank you.

Army life

Well, it looks as though we will be moving yet again (this will be about move #6 for me in the last 3 years). James was told (doesn't have it in paperwork yet so things can still change) last week that he'll be moved up to the Battalion level (one level above where he's at now) staff job starting as of 16 April, so basically yesterday. However he has to stay at the Company level until sometime next month. He was supposed to get orders by the end of last week, we still haven't seen them...the battalion that he's "joining" is moving across Germany, 4 to 5 hrs from where we are now to a place called Bamberg. We are told it's in the Bavarian part of Germany. So it looks like our moving time could be as soon as sometime next month or as late as July, we won't really know until he actually gets orders in hand, right now it's just word of mouth.

I know God has His reasons for moving us AGAIN and so I take a little comfort in that, however right now it's all way more uncomforting than comforting. Moving with the military is such a pain in the buttockus (yes i know that's not how you spell it) 'cause they always end up breaking something. Don't get me wrong, I could care less about all of out material things, it's just the process of claiming the broken items is a huge headache for me and I'm STILL working on the stuff from when we moved here last February! AND I have to get that done before we move again and then I'll just do it all over again 'cause I know they are gonna break more stuff! GRRR, I really hate this! It's not just the move it's how the army works overall, there's no logic involved what's so ever! I just hope James' job gets less stressful for him when he actually gets to work in this staff job, 'cause we are both really hating right now. Plus there's the looming fact that he could deploy at a moments notice for not just a year now but 15 months or MORE is the standard! Whoever made that decision and still wonders why they can't keep the leadership in the army is a damn fool! *SIGH* And there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it. Satan is having a field day (more like years) with us right now.


On top of all this because we are so far away from everyone we love I was unable to attend the funeral of a very much loved great uncle of mine. He was the only living relative on my mom's side of the family, aside from my mom herself, and was kinda like a grandfather to me and I couldn't be there with my family. This sucks! I have to stop 'cause if i keep going I'm really going to loose it. Please pray for us and hopefully God will hear your prayers 'cause He doesn't seem to hear mine...

Piracy

SO, I've decided to become a pirate...I figure it can't be any worse than the army! Plus I could get some pretty sweet swagg! :D

Ah fun with cameras!

James just got issued some new gear and after putting it together and playing with it he decided I should try it on...these are the results...

A few more from Rome

This was a cool door that James and I really liked in the Forum, it was attached to a building of course but I don't know the name of it...go figure right!
That building that's behind us and to the right a little, next to the building with the collums, was the cool door building...we are sitting on some of the random ruins that are all over the Forum.

Aww, us with the Colosseum in the back ground and some random guy.

Me attempting to be "cute" as we take a sneaky photo of the Roman Guards in the background so we didn't have to pay them!

This is also in the Forum, yep you guessed it, next to the cool door building! James has a good eye! Anyways, enjoy!

It's been awhile

So, it's been awhile since I've really posted something here, I guess it's about time I did, huh? Alright, well we've been kinda busy, frustrated, happy, traveling, visiting and so on...Over the Christmas holiday we flew to GA to spend Christmas with my folks. While we were there I got to see both my brothers and their wives and my niece and nephew. After Christmas we went to Warner Robins to visit with James' side of the fam. We got to see his folks of course and also enjoyed time with one of his sisters (Seana, the one in the Army) as well as time with his Aunt Carol and Uncle Ralph. It was a lovely time in both places but MUCH too short. We didn't realize how much we missed the states and neither of us wanted to come back to Germany, but we are here nonetheless and will continue to make the best of it while we are!

Since before the holidays there have been rumors of the company James is with having to move this summer and therefore James and I having to move with them...Well it's true, they are moving (if the army ever gives them orders to) but because James will be promoted to captain this summer or sooner or later we will not be moving with them. We were very excited to hear this news because neither of us wanted to move. HOWEVER, since he'll be promoted, he'll be sent to (possibly) another division/company/unit (I don't know what they call them) and unfortunately the unit he's being sent to (possibly) is also moving! Not only are still we moving (possibly), we'll be moving sooner than expected, grrr (Mayish). I wouldn't mind it so much if we'd been in our house for longer than a year (by that I mean a year and a half at least!) and we'll have only been in this place for 1 year and possibly 2 months before we have to move. I also wouldn't mind it as much if they'd stop breaking our stuff as they're packing and moving it so we wouldn't have to deal with the headache of claiming it all! *BIG SIGH* Oh well, that's how it works in the Army!

(take a step back in time with me...i didn't finish this post until after Carol and Ralph left, but let's pretend they are still here for the sake of me not having to change this part of the post that i wrote already...)

On to more exciting things! We have family visiting us right now, yay!! Aunt Carol & Uncle Ralph arrived here the morning of the 16th of February and will be staying until the 27th (I think, whatever this coming Tuesday is) of February. The Saturday after they got here we went by train to Heidelberg and walked around the city and saw the sites. A very picturesque town. There is a neat castle/fortress thing there that is partially in ruins and partially rebuilt in what looks like a Victorian style. I didn't take any pictures of the rebuilt part 'cause it just wasn't as pretty as the rest of the place, even being in ruins!

We've taken them to a couple of our favorite restaurants, a nice little Chinese place and another place called Alt Landstuhl which has a most excellent steak like dish that I can't spell the name of but it's SO very yummy! They seemed to enjoy both places and want to go back to the Chinese place before they leave.

(now present day...picking up the post from where i left off...i know, i'm a slacker but it's after 3am, gimme a break! ;-)

We did go back to the Chinese place and it was good! The Monday before Ash Wednesday we had another adventure with them. They wanted to see Koblenz, which is about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour train ride from here. Before I go on, you all know what Marti Gra (sp) is right? Well the Germans have their own version of that here, in fact they celebrated it soon after James and I first arrived here last year, it's called Fasching (sp) pronounced fahh-shing it's kinda like a mix between Halloween and Marti Gra for adults here. What we didn't know was that ALL of Germany celebrates this holiday, stupid us, we thought it was just a Kaiserslautern thing. We found this out on our way to Koblenz that fateful Monday morning...We arrived at the train station about 20 mins. before the train was to depart. We got our tickets (Carol and Ralph had theirs already) and proceeded to the proper train tracks. We should have gotten the hint from all the people (adults mostly, a few teeny boppers) dressed in costume, with their cases and bottles of beer/wine/other alcoholic beverages waiting with us that maybe we should wait for the next train...nope...The train came and those of us that could, Carol, Ralph, James and myself included, rushed to grab a seat or place to stand. Unfortunately by the time we were able to actually get on the train, all the seats had been filled, as well as the isles, stairs, halls (where the bathrooms were) and doorway area of the train had been filled. So what did we do, we got on anyways and were pretty much packed in like sardines, but the fun doesn't stop there, oooh no, it gets better.

Apparently the conductor (or whatever the driver of the train is called) didn't realize the massive amount of people he/she had on this train, because it continued to make it's stops for the next twenty minutes or so it seemed. Among those stops there was one particularly "fun" one that involved two people getting off the train and a handful more trying to get on the train...sadly I was right by the door that had opened for this particular stop...the two people getting off the train wasn't nearly as bad as the FIVE+ pushing their way onto it. Needless to say, as they were pushing their way onto the train, I was being smushed up against at least three people I didn't know, not including the ones that were doing the smushing. As this was going on the folks from the other doorway side were yelling in German at the people trying to get on the train saying it was too full and to wait for the next train, and then THEY started pushing them back out, I almost went with them, and so the pushing and shoving went on for a couple of minutes until finally (thank God) those that were trying to get on decided it would be okay if they waited for the next train that was supposed to arrive in 7 mins.

RIGHT, so we ride the some more make more stops where no one gets on or off, until Aunt Carol starts to feel faint from all the heat 'cause of all the people. We decided we'd get off at the next stop and wait for the next train if need be, simply hoping it wouldn't be as packed. Apparently the stop we got off at was THE stop because the train emptied, it literally took about 3-5 mins for everyone to get off the train. It was quite a sight to behold, all these drunk people dismounting a train, wearing ridiculous costumes and it wasn't even yet ten in the morning. Since the sea of people got off the train we figured we'd get back on and hopefully reach our destination without further obstacles, which we did.

Once in Koblenz there were a few stops that Uncle Ralph wanted to make (I don't remember what they were, I think all the people scared it outta me). As we were making our way to one of them, we kept seeing groups of costumed people just standing around and the groups only got bigger as we went along. At this point James and I are both fairly uncomfortable, large groups of people, okay, large groups of crazy dressed up, drunk people, not so good. We wandered some more before we realized we weren't going to make it to where ever it was we were trying to go because there was a parade going on, hence the groups of people. We decided to try and make our way back to the train station, now that was fun! If you like swimming through large crowds of drunk adults and teeny boppers, with glass all over the ground, for a few miles. Thankfully we made it back home in one piece.

What we learned that we'll pass on to people who might visit us, don't come in February and if you do, come AFTER Ash Wednesday!!! (and before the summer, as we won't have a nice air conditioned place for you to visit)

All in all our visit with Carol and Ralph was a welcomed and pleasant one. We enjoyed having a piece of home with us while they were here. Sadly though they are probably the only family that will get to see the place we live in now, as I said before we'll probably be moving. Then again nothing is ever sure fire in the Army, at least not for us right now, so who knows!

Aside from that and the *schizophrenic weather* we've had, we've just been dealing with the everyday changes as to what's going to happen with us, we're still in limbo and have been since last summer. I hope they tell us soon seeing as how if we're supposed to move and be there by 1 May, I'd like to start trying to find a place to live, but we can't even do that without orders which of course we still don't have! GRRR!

*schizophrenic weather* in a single day (this past Monday actually) within minutes we experienced, nice and sunny to raining to snowing back to sunny to hailing to snowing to sunny again and to finish it all up a rainy/snowy/haily evening that left us with a couple inches of snow Tuesday morning and no I'm not making this up! SCHIZO!!!!!!!!

So as we deal with the craziness that is our lives right now, please keep us in your prayers as you are in ours. And a special request, because of all that's going on I've not been getting much sleep if any. As it is already it's now 4:3o am and though i'm EXTREMELY tired and sleepy (two different things for me) I cannot fall asleep and will probably be up until this evening. Anyways, if you think about it, I ask for your prayers to help me get some much needed and much much wanted sleep. Thank you! I'll try and get some pictures up from our visit to Heidelberg soon, toodles!

Pictures updated!

well i updated my pictures link, there are a lot of our pictures from Rome up now but i haven't added any comments as to what some of them are yet 'cause i'm too lazy at the moment. i'll be adding more pictures soon so keep checkin' back!