The Adams Army Life

Wow...my last post was in April? Seriously? I can say that a whole lot has happened since April! In my last post we were saying goodbye to Christian for his long and dreaded deployment. We are now 9 months into this deployment, with 6 more months to go! I have to say that we are actually pretty good with all of this! You see, the Army is always talking about "surviving deployment" which sounded pretty dismal and hopeless to me. In my opinion, it's all about attitude. I could make the decision to countdown each and every day that he is away and attempt to "survive" the time, or I could take 15 months to have a good attitude about each and every day that I am blessed with two beautiful children and make the most of each day with them, while also missing my husband in the quiet moments...there actually aren't too many quiet moments around here!
Christian is doing great. He is in Salman Pak, Iraq, which is a fishing community, just a few feet off the Tigris River. It's very quiet there now (they are southeast of Bagdad), so although he does get bored, it makes me very happy! The highlight of his week is mail day, so even if you can drop him a quick note or send a small package, he would be SO grateful! All packages sent to them are just basic priority postage (no international shipping fees), so it's all very reasonable. Here is his address for anyone who wants to make his day:

SGT Adams, Christian
A CO 2-6 IN
Task Force 2-6
COS Carver
APO, AE 09322

Christian did come home for his 17 day R&R in November/December. Some days we stayed at home in our pajamas, and other days we would visit with family or go to a movie. We took the kids to SeaWorld and also had an early birthday party for Lena Jane (#4!). Some great friends in Austin had a party for us so that we could hang out with a lot of people all at once, and that was great fun! And of course we made sure that Christian got lots of good and tasty food - I think we ate at the Grist Mill three times! Christian and I also had a mini-vacation in Austin together (no kids!), which brings me to my last bit of news...we're now expecting baby #3! A lot can happen in just 17 days!
So that's us for now. I will post pics as soon as I can find the time. You can also catch up with Christian and I on our Facebook pages. We are both on Facebook almost daily! Hopefully it will not take me a full 9 months to post again...I'll find some time here and there!
Blessings!
-diane and monkeys

Well, it’s official. The Army just approved my early return to the States. In January we made the decision for the kids and I to attempt a move back to Texas, as Christian will be deployed very soon. He will be away for 15 months (or more?) and when he returns, we are overdue to return to the States. So…instead of the kids and I sitting here and waiting for our move, we are going to go ahead and move back now. It’s not easy to get the Army to approve an early return, but we did get our official “yes” just yesterday. This is such a bitter-sweet decision for all of us (except for maybe Rowdy…he’s just happy to be where there is food!). The German way of life is a quiet one, but it has taught me to be still, which is a lesson I needed to learn. The coffee is wonderful, the chocolate divine, and Lena will never be the same without her German bratwurst! We have loved traveling here. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and England were our destinations. I have completely fallen in love with France (we were not friends at first), but we are neighbors now and I so wish that I can visit my special Metz over and over throughout the rest of my life. Those frenchies are just too cool! Of course, more than anything, I will miss the most wonderful friends that I have been blessed with meeting here. God truly can put great friendships together in a short amount of time, and without these girls, my life would never be the same. I must end this for now, as this is one of the craziest weeks of our lives. Christian leaves here in just a few days.
Pray!
Blessings!
diane & monkeys

Tonight I got an amazing deal on Gemany ebay....a 1930's kitchen sideboard for a whopping $24.10!!!!!!!!! I've been bidding on these for weeks and kept losing, but this one didn't get away. Christian caught my reaction on camera....I was a LITTLE excited!

Here's my purchase...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180224344514&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008


And you can view the "winning scene" here on this page!

Too much fun!

Well, this is an interesting story. Today was Lena's first day of gymnastics. She's been very excited, just waiting for this day to finally get here. This morning we put on her leotard, ate some quick breakfast, packed up some snacks & things (for Rowdy!), grabbed the CAMERA (this was a "first" that I had to capture!)and headed out the door. The village where they have the class is only 10 minutes away, but we left a good 35 minutes ahead of time, to make sure we were there early -I wanted to give Lena some time to look around at her school and get comfortable with things before her first class started.

On the way out of town, there was a light covering of snow. (Yesterday, Mathilde told me that it was supposed to snow today, and I laughed.) So anyway, I gave Christian a call on the way out to ask him about how the roads were for driving. My fancy schmancy BMW rental doesn't have snow tires, so I just wanted to make sure that was okay. Christian laughed at me for being so "snow paranoid" and we continued on to Neubrucke for our class.

As I got closer to our destination, the snow came down harder and cars were beginning to slow down. When I got to the Neubrucke gate, I asked the guards which building to go to for our class, and they pointed me up the hill. The hill was looking pretty snowy, but other cars were plowing right through, so on I went. As we climbed the hill, my fancy schmancy car started to slide and then stall in the snow. I finally got it somewhat unstuck and kept up our trek to gymnastics. After drifting everywhere through Neubrucke housing, I finally ran into the elementary school to ask for directions. "Oh, the guards gave you the wrong directions. The activities building is back down the hill". DOWN the hill?! The hill that I could barely climb?! So now I call Christian again (I had called him several times during the sliding/stuck scenario) and now I'm yelling because we're stuck in Neubrucke housing and gymnastics is down the hill. Poor Christian.

I found a place to park the car (I think it just kind of skidded into a space all on it's own), bundled up the kids, and we began walking down the hill to gymnastics. WE WERE GOING TO GET TO GYMNASTICS!! I had a PROMISE to full-fill!!! We got into her class about 15 minutes late, soaked from head to toe. The other Moms got us blankets and snacks for Rowdy and I got Lena dried off and ready to join her class. Well, poor sweet Lena Jane was a little overwhelmed by our morning and decided to hide behind a trash can and not join her class. Her teacher was very patient and finally picked her up and then Lena warmed up to her. Lena ended up loving her class and was sad when it was over. She's very excited about going back next Tuesday, so yes, it was worth the "trip".

I guess I should mention that we did get home safely! Christian came out to Neubrucke and picked us up. It took him 20 minutes to get out of Baumholder because of all the cars stalled in the snow. Who knew that our biggest snow of the year would be in MARCH!?

Oh, and let me add that after all of this, I left my camera in the CAR!!! I guess next week I'll have to add another post with pics titled, "The 2nd Day of Gymnastics".