Let the Games Begin!

Yesterday was a very exciting day! Erin participated in her first Awana Games with our church - Faith Baptist. Erin is normally reserved when around a group of other children, especially when it comes to sports; although, I think yesterday was a turning point for her....YIPPEE!





She was very excited about getting to the Soutside Gym on Ramstein AB to see her friends and get a little competition going with the other Awana groups! While we told her it wasn't about who won, but about having fun, she was set on getting a medal around her neck by the end of the morning.





Her team, comprised of 10 children, did an awesome job! She participated in every event and had a great time in the process. We hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed watching her!

May Your 2009 be FABULOUS!

Well, today is New Year's Eve and we will soon ring in 2009. We hope and pray each of you find this to be the best year of all! We plan on staying home tonight; although, we may trek up to the castle to see the village fireworks. Of course, that depends on whether we can stay awake! Erin has been home from school since December 19 and she is about to go crazy...poor thing. She has been quite bored with just mom and dad around the house; although, we are thankful that Libby is a good sport and goes along with Erin's antics!

Next Monday I start my new job and I'm ecstatic! It has been so long since I've worked outside the home and it will be nice to be back in the "adult" world and receive a real paycheck! I will work on Ramstein (the base where Christian is stationed) and we are hoping to sneak in some lunches together. We aren't able to go out on "dates" because we don't have anyone to watch Erin for us. Sadly, it seems teenagers don't like to babysit while in Germany...go figure!

Christian has been busy with work, as usual, and he will probably start working long days as there is a big inspection coming in March. He still isn't fond of his squadron, but we are stuck here till 2012, so we will make the most of it!

If you get a chance, we would love to have an updated picture of your family. You may know that we have a photo board where we post pictures of family and friends. We look at this often, so any updated picture you can send...thanks in advance!

I'm signing off for now...Happy 2009 to you!

Merry Christmas from the California Crew!

From L to R: Jacob, Connor, Cole, Amber, Brady, Riley and Courtney

Merry Christmas -- Frohe Weihnachten

Life is good. We are preparing for our first Christmas in Germany and we even got ourselves an ugly German Christmas tree! It looks a lot like a Charlie Brown tree, but it is 12 feet tall!! I have posted a picture of the tree for your viewing pleasure -- feel free to laugh! We hope to look back on this Christmas and remember our German tree with fondness! But, next year, I am going to get the biggest and best artificial one from the U.S.!!

This past Saturday I had fun going to the German Christmas markets in Speyer and Michelstadt and was quite pleased with myself for coming back with euro in my wallet! The markets are in beautiful villages/towns and allows one to experience a true German Christmas season. We are here till August 2012, which means there are still THREE Christmas' for you to come visit! We will even be your tour guide...no charge!

Erin and I were able to fly to Maryland for my Grandmother's birthday party this month; although, thanks to the "lovely" Space-a program, we didn't make it to the party. Although, we were able to FINALLY catch a flight into Baltimore (three days after our original departure date) and showed up at my aunt's house an hour after the party ended. Even though we were late, it was great to see some family. Our trip was short-lived (a total of 48-hours) because we had to catch the one flight back to Germany that had seats available. We landed at Ramstein at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Needless to say we were a little tired when we got home.

This has been a sad week...my very best friend, Michaele, lost her father, Michael. Michaele couldn't have asked for a better father and I know he was a HUGE part of her life. He will definitely be missed! And, anytime I go to "the boat" I'm going to think of the time he took Michaele and me there, gave us each a wad of cash and told us to go water it...make it grow:-) That time, Michaele came back with money, but I came back empty-handed!

I will write more later -- it is way past my bedtime.

Love and Merry CHRISTmas to you all!

Keely

A new beginning...

Out with the old and in with the new! Unfortunately, webbhouse.net is no longer on the air, so we moved to a new way of communicating with you, our friends and family. Once I/we figure out how to work this blog, we hope to post lots of information and pictures for you to see.

Our family is gearing up for the holidays, or should I say, Erin is gearing up for the holidays! We don't have our tree, yet, but we hope to get one as soon as Erin and I return from our trip to Maryland. Of course, we may not get there...aaargh! Today, we tried to get a "hop" to Baltimore AND Dover, but we didn't have much luck. So, tomorrow we will start the process all over again! The only problem with going to Dover is we travel on an Air Force cargo plane...fun for Erin, but not so fun for mom.

I think that is it for now. I am off to learn how to work this system!

Our love to all!