We made it!

Our Tuesday, August 2nd, started off early in the morning for Jake. He took the dogs to the airport at 4am to put them on a 7am flight to Georgia with a connection to Germany. He then dropped off our car to get on the slow boat.
Our flight left around 2:25pm that day. We checked 7 bags and 2 car seats and carried on a backpack, a pillow pet, a stuffed animal, and a blanket for each kid. As well as Daxlee's carseat that felt like it weighed a 100 lbs.! That thing is a beast!

The kids had a bunch of little prizes in their backpacks that they weren't allowed to look at until we took off. Gage didn't sleep a WINK they entire 9 hours and 55 minutes of the flight! Crazy kid. I love this picture of him and Molli. They look so much alike. :)

It was a verrrrry long flight but I kept reminding myself that we drive 20-some hours all the time to visit family and in one day, we can drive more than 10 hours. So, this flight really isn't that bad comparitively. We were able to get up and walk around in the cabin and had snacks and meals, movies, and other activities to do along the way. I learned how to knit from Mama Atwood before leaving, to keep me entertained. I didn't knit a single stitch on the flight!!! Since a good portion of it was at night, I tried to get some sleep. Didn't happen. There was a group of Albanian exchange students that kept it lively the whole time. One of the Stewardesses made the comment that they almost landed in Ireland to kick the students off because they were so disruptive. Who knows how true that was.

I figured out what an incredibly small world it is though. First, the guy sitting directly behind me said, "Are you guys LDS?"

I answered, "Yah, how can you tell?" He then pointed out the fact that Jake was wearing a University of Utah t-shirt and that we just "look like Mormons". He is LDS too and is in the military returning to Germany from a meeting in Texas. He gave us some useful information about the base and helped us find the USO at the airport (however, we still got lost and it took us an hour to find it and meet Jake's sponsor and our shuttle, but that's another story we can get into later on).

Second, Gage and Molli were sitting in the very last row on the side. A couple hours into the flight, Gage unlatched his tray and it fell, shaking the seat in front of him. The German lady that was sitting there, startled and looked at me. I apologized and explained that he didn't know that would happen. She offered to switch them seats so the kids were in front of her but I felt it would be useless since it would just put them behind another person. I told her they are fine where they are and they will be more careful.

They next couple of hours, I was on edge keeping a careful eye on Gage and Molli to make sure they didn't kick the seat in front of them and weren't too loud. They did really well. There wasn't any excessive releasing of their tray or anything. The next thing I know, the Germany lady takes out her ear plugs and says, "Can I please trade them seats? It's just too much."

I was pretty irritated. I said, "What are they doing?" I was surprised because I had been watching them the whole time! She said that they just keep shaking her chair and such. I replied that if they switched then it would just put them behind someone else and that's not fair to those people if they are such a problem. She continued to want to switch.

{Okay, I'm not proud of the next line but I have to include it none the less. Just keep in mind, I was highly emotional and tired. I had been watching the kids the whole time to make sure this didn't happen!}

So, I started getting the kids out of their seats and said, "Fine, I will move them but I think that is very selfish."

She said, "WHAT did you say?" I repeated myself.

She immediately put her head phones on and said, "I'm not going to sit here and listen to someone tell me I'm selfish" and refused to move.

It was then that my brain kicked in and decided I probably shouldn't have said that. So, I apologized and insisted that they switch seats. I wasn't happy about it but knew it was the right thing to do.

Well, for the next hour, my brain became clearer and I realized how rude I was. My guilt kicked in the way it usually does, and finally, when I saw the German lady was awake, I decided it was time. I turned to her and apologized profusely. I explained that I was moving and all the other items that might have contributed to my onryness. Thankfully, she was understanding AND forgiving! We began talking and I found out that she was there with her boyfriend and a group of kids from Trier Germany. They go to Dallas, TX every year on an exchange program, for a week. She teaches English and English Geography at a high school there.

We started talking about the military and she mentioned she has a friend from high school who married an American that came to Germany for the military. That friend now lives in Oklahoma and just built a new house....

that's when something clicked! I knew this person!

I said, "Wait a minute. Your friends name isn't Benita Cloward is it?!?" Surprised, she answered that it is!

I told her how Benita or "Bita" as I call her, is one of my best friends, from San Antonio, friend. Becky Jones (my friend) is Bita's photography assistant and travels all over to do photoshoots with her. Bita came to San Antonio last year and we went to Cowboy's Dance Hall where I took a video of Bita riding a mechanical bull!

WHAT A SMALL WORLD! How is it possible that the lady I literally sat next to AND chewed out on a plane to Germany, grew up with one of my friends from Oklahoma!?! Crazy.

I decided it was a blessing. Heavenly Father blessed us to have her by us to give us a little comfort. She filled me in on the German way and some speaking rules. We swapped emails (since that's the only form of contact I have) and I now have a friend in Trier to visit. :)

I really feel blessed and know all things happen for a reason.

Back to the pictures. Below is a picture of the lights of London as we flew over. It was beautiful because the sun was just barely beginning to rise but it was still dark enough that the lights glowed.

We arrived at the Frankfurt Airport at 7:15am Wednesday morning. Customs went smoothly and thankfully, the LDS guys stuck around because we realized we needed carts for all our luggage but didn't know how to use them and didn't have any Euro yet. He paid for our carts and showed us the way. He gave us directions to the USO and was off. We still took an hour to find it, which included 3 rides up and down the same elevator before realizing there was no way around loading all our stuff on a shuttle just to unload it again 1 terminal away.

Our sponsor and shuttle driver were there, patiently waiting for us. I took the kids on the shuttle for the 2 hour drive to Spangdahlem AB while Jake's sponsor Dave Luke took him to pick up the dogs (that took HOURS of miscellanous, unnecessary paper filling out and walking back and forth to the Customs Vet and etc. However, we received our most expensive, labor intensive part of our journey, safe and sound - our two dogs).

The shuttle driver filled me full of great information as we drove and suggested we try to stay awake as long as possible to adjust to the time difference. It was 9am on Wednesday and we hadn't slep since we woke up at 9am USA time! When we arrived to our lodging at 12, I felt like a truck rolled over my eyes! I was SOO sooooo very tired. The kids slept the entire shuttle time and were still asleep when I unloaded them into our lodging. They continued to sleep until 2 pm before we had to force them awake.

Jake arrived with the dogs at 2 and between incoherent conversations, a commisary trip, and dinner, at 6pm we decided we couldn't take it any longer. We HAD to sleep. Jake told Gage he was in charge, started a movie for them, and he and I went to bed.

I woke up to it being light outside and was grateful I slept through the night. However, to my horror, I found that it was only 8pm! I told the kids to go to bed and went back myself.

A few hours later (12 am) I woke up. I was wide awake and apparently so was Jake, Molli, and Daxlee. There was no going back. We stayed awake all morning long (except Daxlee who went back to sleep at 1 am thankfully).

I tried to go back to bed around 2am. I climbed into bed with Jake and snuggled up. He simple stated, "I'm homesick." I agreed immediately. Here we were, trying to fall asleep unsuccessfully, in the early dark hours of the morning, on the otherside of the world, amidst a language we didn't speak, without a car, a house, and were clueless to everything else around us. It was very, very depressing. We knew that once the sun came up we would feel better but we had that completely alone and lost dark feeling. It was not cool.

We gave up trying to sleep and decided we needed to contact the outside world.... that was still awake. In other words, someone in America. Luckily, both our parents were able to Skype at 3 am our time. It was so good to hear their voices and to be apart of something familiar for a while. It was a blessing and re-energized us.

Since then, everything has gone upward. The kids and I didn't go back to sleep that day until lunch time and were out for a couple hours. Luckily we were still able to go to bed that night and slept until 4:30am. Last night was even better.

The jet lag has been HORRIBLE (that's not an exaggeration either). It's like a sleeping pill you just can't shake off, feeling groggy and clouded all the time. We decided that if you get a flight that uses up your daylight hours and arrives when it is time for Germany to sleep, it won't be as bad.

Now, we are feeling great! Here is our temporary house called a TLF (temporary lodging facility). It's 3 times the size our TLF on Lackland AFB in San Antonio was and we even have our own washer and dryer. It is European like but has a few American amenities (like a large refrigerator and large washer and dryer) that make it great.

It was foggy and rainy the first couple of days which didn't help our jet lag but I can't believe how beautiful it is here! The drive from Frankfurt was amazing. It's like Starvalley Wyoming green with big rolling hills everywhere and farm fields. Little villages dot the land and are so very quant and eccentric with colorful houses and flowers everywhere.

We have to wait to get our driver's licenses until Tuesday and don't have phones yet. It will be good to have those as you don't realize how much you depend on those things until they are gone. We have had great people here give us rides to the Commisary, Post Office, and to look at houses. We know what kind of Sponsor's we want to be when the time comes that's for sure!

As we drove around yesterday, I felt like I needed to pinch myself to make sure I was really living here. The little villages are so beautiful! The people are great and most of them speak enough English to get by. This is going to be a FUN 3 years!