The Big Move Overseas

It really wasn't that bad... our big journey overseas. Good flight, great children, incredibly helpful and supportive sponsors and nice accommodations... while we began the hunt for a car, a village and a house.

One month later we have all three and are moving in. Ben's attending German Kindergarten (a post in and of itself, in fact it could be a mini series :)) and doing great, Marc's had a few training flights in his new aircraft, I've been working on my German lessons on CDs, Liam has begun his quest for pommes fritts (he wants what we're eating and is protesting baby food in hopes for something he can hold and gnaw)... and we're starting to build our lives here! God is faithful!

Here are some photos of our adventure:

Keeping the focus on what a cool adventure this is going to be... here we are the morning of our big flight.

We had a wonderful send off including Dan, Jack, Melissa, Aunt Lorraine and Nan Nan...

And our gracious and loving hosts for the past 6 weeks, Grandma and Grandpa (taking the picture for us)!

Everyone situated in our seats. 4 in a row in the middle, totally full flight and very little leg room. Marc and I are starting to get nervous.

What a blessing! The kids slept the whole way. And although it was too uncomfortable for me to, at least we didn't have to worry about them. The meals were good and we even got warm towels before landing. There were a couple movies you could watch for free and it was mostly quiet.

We're here! Waiting for our bags and the dogs in the pax terminal.
And the car time begins. I had prepared myself for the trip over but I hadn't realized how much time we were going to spend in a car looking for a home. Once again we were so blessed... our boys were great. Easily entertained and very patient.

And it did take a little while. But at least we really got to know the area :)

We stayed in a small TLF (temporary living facility) apartment with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a dining/living area. And it was right next to a dog park, which was very convenient for Cooper and Chloe. Here we are working to make life as normal as possible... getting back into a routine and our normal way of life.

A quick thrift store trip helped provide some entertainment while we waited for our move in and household goods delivery dates.

And we got creative with some things that could work double duty. Here we have a laundry basket/bassinet/wagon.

So nice to have a brother to play with!

And so nice to have puppies to help any place feel like home. Cooper knows where to go to find someone who is a little more lax on the rules and has a little more space on his bed! I found this when I went to check on Ben one night.

Ben decides Germany will be OK since they have ketchup here, and McDonald's... which we visited during our driving to find a home (but are trying to avoid now that we're more settled and want to explore the local restaurants).

And we explored all the neat things Ramstein AB has to offer... our favorites so far are the bowling alley where we can meet daddy for lunch and then play a game, the library and the base pool, that has a great mini water park for kids.

And we're so thankful for new (but really old because we were together in Spokane two assignments ago, but the kids don't remember that) friends that have made us feel right at home!

Next we'll have to post about our new house and village! Off to open some more boxes!