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!!