Pottery Shopping

A couple weekends ago I went to Poland with Elizabeth and Megan. It was a long weekend, so we took Sunday and Monday to do some shopping. We found many great pieces of pottery that we "needed"!! I did my best to not splurge, but still ended up with some good stuff!

I totaled up my bills after we got home and realized I had spent more than I probably should have.... but it was fun nonetheless!

God's Way of Making Life Easier

This weekend was so nice for me. I went with Elizabeth to Graf to visit a family that is near and dear to us. The Forrester's lived in Schweinfurt for 18 months and then headed 2 hours away to a different post. They are wonderful role models of what a Christian family should look like. It is my dream to have a family like their's some day.

Elizabeth is leaving us real soon, so she wanted to visit the Forrester's before she heads out. We made the trip down last night and made it in time for a delicious supper. Then we watched (I slept through) a movie and then headed to bed. Today was a great day of relaxing and enjoying each other. We went to chapel this morning and spent the rest of the day at their house. We simply sat around and talked, but it was just so nice. Before leaving, we sat together and prayed for Elizabeth and her big move. Kevin also prayed for Jay and me and our sweet reunion that will be happening soon. Myra said a beautiful prayer and then it was my turn. Well.... I got one sentence out and lost it. I managed to get another sentence out and that was all I could do. From that point on I had a constant drip of tears. Thankfully Kevin closed up saying such precious words about my dear friend.

I tell you what, I know that Army life means friends are constantly in and out of your life, but man.... it really stinks! Elizabeth has been an absolutely wonderful friend to me, especially this last year while Jay was gone. She was my go-to-girl for everything. I could tell her anything and know that she would listen. I could call for advice and she would give it. I could always count on her to give me a great story, because her days were full of them. I could count on her to keep me busy so I didn't have any spare time! Elizabeth kept our house up and running when we were in the states for R&R. She even kept our tree alive that has been trying to die for the last year. Elizabeth and I spent several nights eating at Tres Pesos.... so often that they know what we order by now.

She has given me opportunities to travel (Belgium, Venice, Italy, Poland, Czech, Piza, and several places around Germany). This is Brussels.

She has come over to help me make invitations when I was in a time crunch.

 She has crawled out my window to rescue my groceries, even despite being all bruised up.

She has tried clothes on for me so I know what they look like.

Over the past year, we have come up with many reasons why we should be friends. I think the best one is that we have the exact same glasses perscription. It's great when one of us forgets our glasses and we are driving. We just share the one pair we have! She has truely been my rock this past year. She is my gift from God, his way of getting me through this deployment. I really don't know what I would have done without her.

Our friend Angie has called us peanut butter and jelly. I think that's too funny! But I'm lucky to be in a pair with just a great person. I was talking with another friend of ours on Saturday. She told me that such close friends are hard to come by and that I was lucky to have Elizabeth. Boy, was she right!!

But, God has bigger plans for Elizabeth. She is heading to England to touch even more lives than she already has. She is starting a new Club Beyond program up there. And since England isn't too terribly far away.... I booked our plane tickets tonight. Jay and I will be going up to visit already in January! I know I can't go visit that often, but I'll take every oppotunity I can get.

Elizabeth, thanks for being who you are, thanks for being a wonderful (and unfortunately short) part of my life! I thank for you all that you've done for me and all the things you've blessed me with! I'm really going to miss you!

Yeah for Wonderful Ladies!

I just have to say.... I am SO BLESSED with such wonderful friends around here. When I first knew I was coming over to Germany, I was a bit nervous about being around all new people. But wow, has it ever been great! I am surrounded by ladies who are just fantastic!! If I ever feel alone, I can always count on Elizabeth to keep my company or Angie or Beth to share their families with me.

We began a tradition over a year ago to have a girls' day every few months! We wanted a time for us ladies to get together, chat about life, and simply enjoy each other's company. Well, today we had another girls' day. Nine of us got together and chatted all afternoon.

We also ate a bunch of delicious food!

We had an item swap. Everyone brought stuff they didn't want anymore. Then we all took new things home with us! One woman's trash is another woman's treasure!

To end the evening, we watched a classic... "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." We had a good time laughing at the clothes and hair styles back then!

The sad part to the day.... it will be our last girls' day with Beth. She is leaving us in a few weeks to head to Washington. It may also be our last one with Elizabeth. She is leaving us in November. This is the sad part of living in the Army. Eventually, everyone leaves. We haven't had to experience the leaving part yet, but we have had good friends leave us. But these are my closest friends! I pray that God continues to bless me with good friendships where ever we are!

Beth and Kyle.... I sure am going to miss you! Thanks for sharing your kind hearts and for being a blessing to me! (And for sharing your kids with me!)

The End... It's Coming

The past few weeks haven’t been too eventful. I’ve been spending most of my time at school. I’ve had some great classes that I’ve been able to be in. Two days this past week I was the lower elementary special education aide. I love the position. The aide sees many kids throughout the day, so her schedule never gets boring. So, every 30-45 minutes, I moved to a different classroom to work with a different kid. The day went by really quick for me. I’ve also been spending lots of time in the office. Our school has a huge inspection coming up in the month of October. If we don’t pass it, principal, registrar, and office manager could all be fired. So I’ve been helping get papers into order, file them in binders, and lots and lots of alphabetizing!!

The exciting part of the week… our troop met to make posters to hang up for our guys. What this means…. THEY ARE COMING HOME SOOOOOOON!!! Our advon guys returned home this weekend! I go to the ceremonies simply to see the wives sprint out on to the floor and jump into their husbands arms. I love it! It puts tears into my eyes. I just can’t wait until I’m the one running down into Jay’s arms!

Here are some of the posters we made. They are all hanging up and looking good! Now we just need those buses to drive through the gate!!