A letter to a friend that explains us and Germany so far..... Hope you don't mind Ronnie

Here is the really long letter I promised. First of all, you told me about David's new job, but you haven’t told me anything about the job. All I know is he is happier! I am so glad you daughters are staying busy – and spending the summer with horses has got to be a dream come true for all of them. Joe and I can’t believe Ashley is 18 years old already. If we were out there, you can bet we would have things for her. All of your daughters have been so great with Ceilidha, and she loves all of them! Oh, and tell Ashley that I will also be spending summer at camp. We are spending a week at a place right below “The Eagle’s Nest” a home of sorts built for Hitler. I guess in the building we are staying in there are portraits of Hitler and even swastikas. Should be interesting. I am in charge of cooking for 120 people, three meals a day. But, since the place we are staying is free, they are putting more money into the girls. They plan on spending $7 p/girl p/meal. That is more that the Soldiers get for TDY!
When you first wrote to me to me it was warm and I couldn’t really feel your pain, then we started to have storm after storm after storm. Today has been like hurricane season. Trees down and REALLY, REALLY cold! The heating system is weird here. Everything is heated via radiator, and water, gas and electric is SO expensive. We end up spending about $300-$500 in utilities a month.
Tell Becca I bet she looks beautiful with “shorter” hair. Sometimes a little “trim” makes you more beautiful than shaggy edges. Oh, and I bet Vicky is just thrilled to be almost down with that novel. It has been at least a year in the making. You will probably want to hire a book editor to read through it first, then send it off to a few publishers. Because she is young, it is a great bonus. People love reading young authors. She is really good (from one writer to another). I even have a few connections back in Utah with Cedar Fort Publishing.
I can’t tell you how much I would love to come out on some of your living history jobs. I really miss dressing up and camping out in your baker tent. Ceilidha misses it too. We were looking at photos from last summer and Ceilidha was so excited. She really misses you, and so do I. I hope you are able to do well with the school system. I know you could not only teach the kids so much, but you would leave a lasting impression in them, like my uncle did for everyone who ever went through his 4th grade Idaho History class. Where he brought history to live by setting up a teepee in his classroom, growing out his beard and wearing buckskins to teach his students about history in an amazingly fun way.
Ok, so now about Germany. What do you want to know? Here is rains, then is warm, then is FREEZING, then warm, then rainy, ect. We live in a three-story apartment building with three apartments. We are on the top floor. We have a living room/dining room, kitchen, under the stairs closet, laundry room, bathroom, three bedrooms and a balcony on the main floor. Then up to the attic area there is one great room and another bedroom, along with a bathroom and lots of storage under the eves of the roof. Then we also have storage in the basement… which is great for us. We have a wonderful view of our town, Hutchenhausen, through the huge floor to ceiling corner windows in the living room. It is very pretty. A weird thing about housing here is that there is no such thing as a built in kitchen. When you buy/rent a house, it just comes with water /gas hookups and you have to provide the fridge, sink, stove, cupboards, ect.
Since we have been here we have visited Torino, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympics; Milan, Italy; A bunch of the castles (which are may and beautiful) in Switzerland; Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, Germany; Neuschwanstein Castle (the castle they based the Disney Castle on); and several other castles in our area.
When we were in Milan Ceilidha met a street mime who gave her a “flower,” the next day she had an imaginary friend named “Little Ceilidha” pronounced “Little Kia!” It is pretty funny, and Little Kia has been with us for the last few months. She hangs out all the time, and had a birthday on the same day Ceilidha did!
Joe is doing well in his training and really likes flying, but if he never flew again he wouldn’t mind too awful much, he threw up on his second flight! LOL
The ward here is good and I am a laurel advisor and Joe is the ward activities chairman, which is great because the Flat Rock Ward has given us a great guide to use for successful activities.
I haven’t been working for any papers yet, because there are no jobs to be had here in my profession. I have been doing a lot of gratus work though for a lot of the brass around post. I take photos of changes of commands and changes of responsibilities. The good news is I know most of the colonels, majors and captains here!
Oh, Joe is really making a name for himself here. He broke the 10 minute two mile last month… barely. He ran it in 9:59. He also just competed in the Army Europe 10-Miler and came in 4th. That means he is the 4th fastest 10-Miler runner in all of Europe! He broke an hour on that one. His time was 59:51. We are really proud of him. And he deserves ever kudos he gets.
Ceilidha is growing like a weed and absolutely loves going to “Jesus’s House” whenever she can. She loves nursery and has great nursery leaders. She is very opinionated and very outgoing. She is a great little girl though, quick to repent and quick to forgive. Every morning she wakes up saying, “Good morning Mom, I’m hungry. Can I have some Oatmeal?” If she asks before I am ready to get up I holler down “Not now, can you wait for a bit?” she will say “Ok Mommy, I can wait. I love you.”
She has quite the imagination too. We went to an Easter party Joe’s unit had and the Easter Bunny was there. After sitting on it’s lap and getting a hug, Ceilidha started looking all over and then started crying. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. When I asked her, she said: “The Easter Bunny ate little Kia.” We had to go back up to the Easter bunny and ask him to please cough up litte Kia. He did, handed “her” back to Ceilidha and gave her a hug. Then everything was fine! Ceilidha also loves going to the library, reading books and playing on the computers there. She is very smart!
About the missionaries. We have them over about once or trice a month, but because this is not a training environment, we don’t have the big dinners we once had. But, we do try to invite new Soldier’s and their families over who have just PCSed in country. It was hard when we first got here, living off the bare essentials until our stuff got here. Plus, Ceilidha loves having people come over to our house. We painted her room and so she wants to make sure everyone who comes over sees it!
OK, this is about it for a LONG letter. My fingers are sore and I just realized I have been typing for the last 30 minutes, or longer!
You had better keep in touch with me! We really miss all of you. Give each of the girls a hug for us and maybe a kiss too. You can just shake David’s hand!

A letter to a friend that explains us and Germany so far..... Hope you don't mind Ronnie

Here is the really long letter I promised. First of all, you told me about David's new job, but you haven’t told me anything about the job. All I know is he is happier! I am so glad you daughters are staying busy – and spending the summer with horses has got to be a dream come true for all of them. Joe and I can’t believe Ashley is 18 years old already. If we were out there, you can bet we would have things for her. All of your daughters have been so great with Ceilidha, and she loves all of them! Oh, and tell Ashley that I will also be spending summer at camp. We are spending a week at a place right below “The Eagle’s Nest” a home of sorts built for Hitler. I guess in the building we are staying in there are portraits of Hitler and even swastikas. Should be interesting. I am in charge of cooking for 120 people, three meals a day. But, since the place we are staying is free, they are putting more money into the girls. They plan on spending $7 p/girl p/meal. That is more that the Soldiers get for TDY!
When you first wrote to me to me it was warm and I couldn’t really feel your pain, then we started to have storm after storm after storm. Today has been like hurricane season. Trees down and REALLY, REALLY cold! The heating system is weird here. Everything is heated via radiator, and water, gas and electric is SO expensive. We end up spending about $300-$500 in utilities a month.
Tell Becca I bet she looks beautiful with “shorter” hair. Sometimes a little “trim” makes you more beautiful than shaggy edges. Oh, and I bet Vicky is just thrilled to be almost down with that novel. It has been at least a year in the making. You will probably want to hire a book editor to read through it first, then send it off to a few publishers. Because she is young, it is a great bonus. People love reading young authors. She is really good (from one writer to another). I even have a few connections back in Utah with Cedar Fort Publishing.
I can’t tell you how much I would love to come out on some of your living history jobs. I really miss dressing up and camping out in your baker tent. Ceilidha misses it too. We were looking at photos from last summer and Ceilidha was so excited. She really misses you, and so do I. I hope you are able to do well with the school system. I know you could not only teach the kids so much, but you would leave a lasting impression in them, like my uncle did for everyone who ever went through his 4th grade Idaho History class. Where he brought history to live by setting up a teepee in his classroom, growing out his beard and wearing buckskins to teach his students about history in an amazingly fun way.
Ok, so now about Germany. What do you want to know? Here is rains, then is warm, then is FREEZING, then warm, then rainy, ect. We live in a three-story apartment building with three apartments. We are on the top floor. We have a living room/dining room, kitchen, under the stairs closet, laundry room, bathroom, three bedrooms and a balcony on the main floor. Then up to the attic area there is one great room and another bedroom, along with a bathroom and lots of storage under the eves of the roof. Then we also have storage in the basement… which is great for us. We have a wonderful view of our town, Hutchenhausen, through the huge floor to ceiling corner windows in the living room. It is very pretty. A weird thing about housing here is that there is no such thing as a built in kitchen. When you buy/rent a house, it just comes with water /gas hookups and you have to provide the fridge, sink, stove, cupboards, ect.
Since we have been here we have visited Torino, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympics; Milan, Italy; A bunch of the castles (which are may and beautiful) in Switzerland; Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, Germany; Neuschwanstein Castle (the castle they based the Disney Castle on); and several other castles in our area.
When we were in Milan Ceilidha met a street mime who gave her a “flower,” the next day she had an imaginary friend named “Little Ceilidha” pronounced “Little Kia!” It is pretty funny, and Little Kia has been with us for the last few months. She hangs out all the time, and had a birthday on the same day Ceilidha did!
Joe is doing well in his training and really likes flying, but if he never flew again he wouldn’t mind too awful much, he threw up on his second flight! LOL
The ward here is good and I am a laurel advisor and Joe is the ward activities chairman, which is great because the Flat Rock Ward has given us a great guide to use for successful activities.
I haven’t been working for any papers yet, because there are no jobs to be had here in my profession. I have been doing a lot of gratus work though for a lot of the brass around post. I take photos of changes of commands and changes of responsibilities. The good news is I know most of the colonels, majors and captains here!
Oh, Joe is really making a name for himself here. He broke the 10 minute two mile last month… barely. He ran it in 9:59. He also just competed in the Army Europe 10-Miler and came in 4th. That means he is the 4th fastest 10-Miler runner in all of Europe! He broke an hour on that one. His time was 59:51. We are really proud of him. And he deserves ever kudos he gets.
Ceilidha is growing like a weed and absolutely loves going to “Jesus’s House” whenever she can. She loves nursery and has great nursery leaders. She is very opinionated and very outgoing. She is a great little girl though, quick to repent and quick to forgive. Every morning she wakes up saying, “Good morning Mom, I’m hungry. Can I have some Oatmeal?” If she asks before I am ready to get up I holler down “Not now, can you wait for a bit?” she will say “Ok Mommy, I can wait. I love you.”
She has quite the imagination too. We went to an Easter party Joe’s unit had and the Easter Bunny was there. After sitting on it’s lap and getting a hug, Ceilidha started looking all over and then started crying. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. When I asked her, she said: “The Easter Bunny ate little Kia.” We had to go back up to the Easter bunny and ask him to please cough up litte Kia. He did, handed “her” back to Ceilidha and gave her a hug. Then everything was fine! Ceilidha also loves going to the library, reading books and playing on the computers there. She is very smart!
About the missionaries. We have them over about once or trice a month, but because this is not a training environment, we don’t have the big dinners we once had. But, we do try to invite new Soldier’s and their families over who have just PCSed in country. It was hard when we first got here, living off the bare essentials until our stuff got here. Plus, Ceilidha loves having people come over to our house. We painted her room and so she wants to make sure everyone who comes over sees it!
OK, this is about it for a LONG letter. My fingers are sore and I just realized I have been typing for the last 30 minutes, or longer!
You had better keep in touch with me! We really miss all of you. Give each of the girls a hug for us and maybe a kiss too. You can just shake David’s hand!

Joe is FAST & can sing

Joe and I have been pretty busy lately helping put on a ward musical of sorts. It is "From Cumorah's Hill" and we are really enjoying it. I have been put in charge as "production manager" and but of us are singing in the choir. For someone who only sees "little black dots on a bunch of lines" Joe has been doing really well. We practice once a week and Ceilidha seems to like coming to practice with us. She sings along and just plays.

Joe also showed us that his other talents are only getting better. Today he ran his first PT test here in Germany and ran his two mile in ... GET THIS - 9:59!!!! He broke the 10 minute mark! He is so excited and we are so proud of him. He is just hoping because he did it that his unit will let him do PT on his own - yeah right.

I have been making cakes and treats lately - and trying not to eat to many of them. I was asked by a lady in our Bunko Group to make an "Incredibles" cake for her 7 year old son's birthday. I did it, and it turned out great. But I realized for all the time, energy and money I put into the cake, I barely broke even. Then her friend came to the party and liked the cake so much she wantes me to make one for her son's party this weekend. So I need to get cracking on making a "Fantazstic Four" cake. Should be fun, I guess.

We went to a unit Easter Party on Saturday and I took some photos there of kids playing in and around the Medivac choppers. The commanders wife wants me to help with a unit newsletter. I told her only if I can photograph missions and send stories off to Star And Stripes or Soldier's Mag. So, if that works out, at least I can do something. I contacted the Church News too and they said they will use me as a German journalist, when or if they have stories here, so don't hold your breath. I guess when the right job comes, I will know it!

Castles, Churches & Concentration Camps

I thought I would tell you all about our latest adventure. Joe had a 3-day weekend over St. Patricks Day, so we decided we wanted to get away from the military area and head out to see some of what Germany has to offer - in hopes that we can find a few good reasons to like Germany. We decided we wanted to stay within a 4 hour radius of Hutchenhausen (where we live) and thought that going to Bavaria would be pretty neat. We did a little research online before we headed out and decided on two major things we wanted to see: Neuschwanstein Castle and Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

We left about 11 a.m. on Friday and got to the town of Hohenschwagau at about 6 p.m. We found a great little (cheap) hotel and settled in for the night. We had a great view of the castle and the next morning we headed out for two tours.

The Neuschwanstein Castle was the real-life model for the Walt Disney Castle. It is considered the most famous castle in all of Europe. It was build by Mad King Ludwig II and is built on a cliff above the small town of Hohenschwagau. Neuschwanstein is on the South side of the town and the Hohenschwagau Castle (Ludwig's child hood home and his parent's home) is built on hills above the town on the north side. The tours were pretty cool and I have never seen anything quite so colorful. The interiors of the castles are completely covered in murals. The H-castle's murals tell the story of the history of Prussia and Bavaria while the N-Castle was dedicated to a famous opera writer named Wagner. Every room is dedicated to his operas and the murals depict those operas. The H-castle was built in the 1500s then destroyed by Napoleon in the early 1800s and then rebuilt. The N-Castle was started in the 1860s and work ended when the king mysteriously died in the 1880s. Only 1/3 of the castle was ever completed. It is amazing though. Reminds me a lot of the Salt Lake Temple. The workmanship and the murals.

The only problem with the Neuschwanstein castle is you have to hike up a pretty steep road for about a mile - and in our case we hiked up on ice. It is beautiful though. Ceilidha calls it the princess castle. We spent all day Saturday hiking around the castle on closed trails in 2-4 feet of snow. Ceilidha road in Joe's ruck sack and I hung on to Joe as he pulled both of us up the mountain. Thanks to that little trip, I am so sore I can barely move. My calves ache and my ankles can hardly hold me up.

On Sunday we left the hotel around 8:30 a.m. and stopped by the little town of Weis. It has a church there "Weiskirche" that is unbelievable. It is considered the "finest Rococo church in the world," and UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1983. We got there right before a church service so we stayed. It was so amazing. The workmanship and craftsmanship was overwhelming. It reminded both Joe and I of a Celestial room - except that hundreds of disrespectful tourists had engraved their names in the back of the 250 year old church pews and others were taking photos during the mass. Joe reminded me that is precisely one of the reasons why visitors are not allowed in our temple.

Minus the rude tourists, the mass was wonderful and the spirit was so strong in what is known as "The Lord God's Ballroom." A name you will understand once you see the interior of this beautiful building. I don't have any photos to show you, because I felt in inappropriate to photograph the interior of a church such as this (especially on Sunday while other are trying to worship).

After church we went to Dachau - north of Munich - where we spent the next 5-6 hours at the Concentration Camp Memorial Site. It is interesting because Joe and I had two completely different experiences. While at the Weiskirche I had prayed and asked my Father to help me have an experience that day that would be uplifting and memorable. At Dachau Joe said he felt the darkness of the building and the feeling of doom and gloom. I felt something quite the opposite. I felt the power of the human spirit, the ability of one person to affect so many lives and the faith people have in something greater than their circumstance. Every story told was one of a survivor. Someone who wouldn't give in or give up. The Survivors beat all odds and not only saved themselves but in many instances saved many around them.

We walked through the 4x4 foot "Special Prisoner" cells - where hundreds of clergy men were held for various amounts of times. These cells were used for executions and solitary confinement. Afterwards we went into the museum portion which was the matineance building, where every prisoner sent through Dachau had to pass through. They told the history of concentrations camps and about how Dachau was the first concentration camp build and how 300,000 people stayed there. After the museum we walked around the memorials to the survivors and those who didn't make it to see liberation day. We walked around the barbed wire fence line, dotted with watch towers. We went through reconstructed barracks and saw the deplorable conditions so many lived through. Then we went to the crematorium and gas chambers. Walking through these concrete rooms, void of everything, and reading signs that spoke of where prisoners entered the building and then disrobed. Walking into the gas chamber was a very humbling and pensive moment. Then you crossed into a room that almost brought tears to your eyes. It was a room that had many times been piled from floor to ceiling with naked, dead, bodies - waiting to be cremated. The last room was the crematorioum, where four large oven stood with doors wide open, awaiting their next meal. The irony if it was that in the back was sink with a sign over it reminding workers to "wash your hands" an to remember that cleanliness is next to godliness.

The redeeming grace was that that particular crematorium was never in full operation. However, just across the way was the original crematorium, where more than 100,000 bodies were cremated. You can still see the ashes in the oven. It is a sombering experience.

Joe told Ceilidha that the ovens were used to burn people. Ceilidha's eyes got big as she looked inside and she said, "Oh, no." At one point while we were walking through the museum they had a video of the liberation and showed footage taken by US Soldiers as they first walked into the camp and subsequent days. Joe was watching it, and after a while Ceilidha said, "Daddy, we can't see this any more, lets go. Please?"

It was a remarkable experience and something that made me ever more proud of Joe. It was the members of the US Military that liberated this and dozens of other camps, Soldiers just like Joe who left home for a year or two to fight for something they believed in, and in doing so saved thousands of lives.

Anyway, I just thought I would share our weekend. Someday I will send photos. Until then, if you wanna see what we saw, go to:

http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/englisch/content/

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/

http://www.hohenschwangau.de/556.0.html

http://www.bibleplace.com/pictures/germany_weiskirche.htm

Tawny Archibald Campbell, "Fair Winds to You."

Castles, Churches & Concentration Camps

I thought I would tell you all about our latest adventure. Joe had a 3-day weekend over St. Patricks Day, so we decided we wanted to get away from the military area and head out to see some of what Germany has to offer - in hopes that we can find a few good reasons to like Germany. We decided we wanted to stay within a 4 hour radius of Hutchenhausen (where we live) and thought that going to Bavaria would be pretty neat. We did a little reasearch online before we headed out and decided on two major things we wanted to see: Neuschwanstein Castle and Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

We left about 11 a.m. on Friday and got to the town of Hohenschwagau at about 6 p.m. We found a great little (cheap) hotel and settled in for the night. We had a great view of the castle and the next morning we headed out for two tours.

The Neuschwanstein Castle was the real-life model for the Walt Disney Castle. It is considered the most famous castle in all of Europe. It was build by Mad King Ludwig II and is built on a cliff above the small town of Hohenschwagau. Neuschwanstein is on the South side of the town and the Hohenschwagau Castle (Ludwig's child hood home and his parent's home) is built on hills above the town on the north side. The tours were pretty cool and I have never seen anything quite so colorful. The interiors of the castles are completely covered in murals. The H-castle's murals tell teh story of the history of Prussia and Bavaria while the N-Castle was dedicated to a famous opera writer named Wagner. Every room is dedicated to his operas and the murals depict those operas. The H-castle was built in the 1500s then destroyed by Neopleon in the early 1800s and then rebuilt. The N-Castle was started in the 1860s and work ended when the king mysteriously died in the 1880s. Only 1/3 of the castle was ever completed. It is amazing though. Reminds me alot of hte Salt Lake Temple. The workmanship and the murals.

The only problem with the Neuschwanstein castle is you have to hike up a pretty steep road for about a mile - and in our case we hiked up on ice. It is beautiful though. Ceilidha calls it the princess castle. We spent all day saturday hiking around the castle on closed trails in 2-4 feet of snow. Ceilidha road in Joe's ruck sack and I hung on to Joe as he pulled both of us up the mountain. Thanks to that little trip, I am so sore I can barely move. My calves ache and my ankles can hardly hold me up.

On Sunday we left the hotel around 8:30 a.m. and stopped by the little town of Weis. It has a church there "Weiskirche" that is unbelieveable. It is considered the "finest Rococo church in the world," and UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1983. We got there right before a church service so we stayed. It was so amazing. The workmanship and craftsmanship was ovewhelming. It reminded both Joe and I of a Celestial room - except that hundreds of disrespectful tourists had engraven their names in the back of the 250 year old church pews and others were taking photos during the mass. Joe reminded me that is precicely one of the reasons why visitors are not allowed in our temple.

Minus the rude tourists, the mass was wonderful and the spirit was so strong in what is known as "The Lord God's Ballroom." A name you will understand once you see the interior of this beautiful building. I don't have any photos to show you, because I felt in inappropriate to photograph the interrior of a church such as this (especially on Sunday while other are trying to worship).

After church we went to Dachau - north of Munich - where we spent the next 5-6 hours at the Concentration Camp Memorial Site. It is interesting because Joe and I had two completely different experiences. While at the Weiskirche I had prayed and asked my Father to help me have an experience that day that would be uplifting and memorable. At Dachau Joe said he felt the darkness of the building and the feeling of doom and gloom. I felt something quite the opposite. I felt the power of the human spirit, the ability of one person to affect so many lives and the faith people have in something greater than their circumstance. Every story told was one of a survivor. Someone who wouldn't give in or give up. The Surviors beat all odds and not only saved themselves but in many instances saved many around them.

We walked through the 4x4 foot "Special Prisoner" cells - where hundreds of clergy men were held for various amounts of times. These cells were used for executions and solitary confinement. Afterwards we went into the museum portion which was the matinence building, where every prisoner sent through Dachau had to pass through. They told the history of concentrations camps and about how Dachau was the first concentration camp build and how 300,000 people stayed there. After the museum we walked around the memorials to the survivors and those who didn't make it to see liberation day. We walked around the barbed wire fence line, dotted with watch towers. We went through reconstructed barracks and saw the deplorable conditions so many lived through. Then we went to the crematorium and gas chambers. Walking through these concrete rooms, void of everything, and reading signs that spoke of where prisoners entered the building and then disrobed. Walking into the gas chamber was a very humbling and pensive moment. Then you crossed into a room that almost brought tears to your eyes. It was a room that had many times been piled from floor to ceiling with naked, dead, bodies - waiting to be cremated. The last room was the crematorioum, where four large oven stood with doors wide open, awaiting their next meal. The irony if it was that in the back was sink with a sign over it reminding workers to "wash your hands" an to rememer that cleanliness is next to godliness.

The redeeming grace was that that particular crematorium was never in full operation. However, jsut across the way was the original crematorium, where more than 100,000 bodies were cremated. You can still see the ashes in the oven. It is a sombering experience.

Joe told Ceilidha that the ovens were used to burn people. Ceilidha's eyes got big as she looked inside and she said, "Oh, no." At one point while we were walking through the museum they had a video of the liberation and showed footage taken by US Soldiers as they first walked into the camp and subsiquent days. Joe was watching it, and after a while Ceilidha said, "Daddy, we can't see this any more, lets go. Please?"

It was a remarkable experience and something that made me ever more proud of Joe. It was the members of the US Military that liberated this and dozens of other camps, Soldiers just like Joe who left home for a year or two to fight for something they believed in, and in doing so saved thousands of lives.

Anyway, I just thought I would share our weekend. Someday I will send photos. Until then, if you wanna see what we saw, go to:

http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/englisch/content/

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/

http://www.hohenschwangau.de/556.0.html

http://www.bibleplace.com/pictures/germany_weiskirche.htm

Tawny Archibald Campbell, "Fair Winds to You."

Little Kia and Sgt. Joe - oh, and CAKE!

We have some GOOD news here. Joe is now Sgt. Joe Campbell - at least for pay purposes. He made the points cut-off. He had 577 and the cut-off was 571! WHEW! As of March 1, his pay will reflect the rank, and today we bought a ton of patches and will spend even more money to get them all sewn on his uniforms - they are at alterations now. He just finished his EMT refresher course so now he has to send in some paperwork and money and he will be good for 2 more years. Sometime in the next week two the unit will pound his rank into his chest and he will "officially" be a SGT. Joe doesn't care if he wears E-2 rank for the rest of his life, as long as he gets the E-5 pay benefits. We also realized with his promotion he will have the highest enlisted rank of anyone in our direct family (Dad, he outranks you and Stan!)

Another funny thing has happened... Ceilidha has an imaginary friend. If you haven't noticed, Ceilidha says her name "Kia" and so her imagionary friend's name is "Little Kia." You can hold her in the palm of your hand, and she just appears every now and then. Sometimes Little Kia is hungry or cold, and so Ceilidha would like some food for both of them. She also finds things like water bottle caps to use as Little Kia's sippy cups or she will use a cup to give Little Kia a bubble bath. Today I sat on Little Kia and Ceilidha screamed at me. Then I had to kiss her better. Ceilidha loses her friend a lot too. I will be in one room packing and in another room I will hear her yelling, "Little Kia, where are you? Where are you Little Kia?" Pretty funny.

Oh, another funny thing is Ceilidha is she loves to draw, but she draws "Scary Grandpas" - not happy, or funny, or smiling Grandpa's - they are Scary Grandpas. It is way funny! LOL And she is always feeding us imagionary chicken and french fries. Just randomly she will say, "Mommy, here is your chicken." or "Daddy, I bought your french fries, here, eat them."

On a bad note, we found my couch cushion (I really wanted a new couch - and the Army to pay for it) - and I still can't find my Cake Decorating kit. That one makes me mad. Once I find it, and as soon as everything is unpacked, I will teach a basic Cake decorating class using all the skills Kim Ence, from Georgia, taught me.

Thanks KIM!!! I hope we have as much fun here as we did with you. I know I'm not qualified to teach anything, but it will be fun to muddle through it together with some friends from here - adn this way I have an excuse to eat TONs of CAKE!!!

We're moving in - and up

We got our household goods on Friday and spent Saturday driving around looking for a couch and another table. See the movers lost one of our couch cushions, so we need a new couch - oh and they tore the back and side of the couch worse than it already was. Also, to their credit, they bent the legs and scratched up my Great-Grandfather's dresser, then they gouged, scuffed and scratched up my Uncle Ron's Cradle (one of my most prozed posessions). Today we found a box and when I opened it I found a previously unopened box of Computer software. It had been torn open and the software was gone, in its place was a bunch of junk from a drawer we had in the kitchen - nice. The door of our entertainment center is bent, the TV has a crack on the housing portion of it, my cedar chest is scraped up, we are missing pieces of Ceilidha's toy box and some of our books are bent out of shape - and we've only opened up half the boxes. I know we will get reimbursed for it all, but knowing the Army, it will take a stack of paperwork 6 inches high and 18 months to get it done.

The good news is that last night we checked out of our Temporary living facility and last night was the first night we spent in the new house. It isn't bad if you don't mind being extremely cold, listening to a church bell ring for 2 straight minutes every 15 minutes - oh, and we live right under a flight path, so planes fly a few hundred feet over our roof as they get ready to land at Ramstein. Oh, and did I mention the ceilings before - or the fact that they don't have shelves, cupboards, drawers, closets or pantrys? I'm sure I did.

Joe is in an EMT refresher course this week, so it is up to Ceilidha and I to get things unpacked - and with Ceilidha's help I think in the next month we will have it done. Without her help we may have it done in a week or two!

For those of you who don't know the Oakley Valley Art's Council is putting on "West Side Story" and my sister Lisa is playing one of the leads - She is "Anita" and Ian, my little Bro, is playing a gangster named "A-Rab." They are both going great and opening night is this week and the play will run for 3 weeks I think. So, if anyone of you happen to be around Oakley, Idaho and want to see my family in an AWSOME play - showtimes are at 8 p.m., so check them out. And Good Luck Lisa and Ian!!!

One month in, two countries down

My friend Shalene, from Georgia, sent me a link to her blog and I liked it so much I decided to make one for myself. This way I can put blogs up about all our adventures and post photos for everyone to take a look at.

We have been in Germany for just over a month now and things have been crazy. We are still living in a temporary lodging facility (TLF) for now and it isn't so great. It is a one bedroom, basement apartment with a fridge the size of a cooler. We have been fighting to get our pay situation straightened out, but that seems to happen alot when you PCS - even in the states.

On Friday we plan to move into housing for the next four years. It is a 4 BRM house in Huechenhausen, a little town about 10 miles from Joe's work. The problem is these houses don't have closets, so they give you portable ones, like the walmart wardrobes. That isn't so bad, but are in the top floor of a house, and the houses here have extremely pitched roofs and they have rooms in the attic area, so you have no wall space. There isn't any room to put up our canopy bed because it won't fit due to the pitch of the roof. - at least there is a lot of floor space. Here they don't have kitchens like we do back home. They have portable kitchens and you can buy a kitchen at the local hardware store - like a Home depot. They are particle board and you just buy the cupboards and assemble them, they get yourself a stove and oven (which are about half the size of american ovens - can't put a large cookie sheet in it or any pan larger than 9x13). The army has to give us refridgerators because they don't really have them here, they are just small ice boxes.

Anyway, aside from housing we have had some fun adventures.

Last week I was hanging out with my cousin and his wife and we thought - Hey, the Olympics are only 7 hours away, let's go to Torino - and we did!

The guys had a 4-day weekend, so we went to Torino and Milan, Italy and then went sightseeing through Switzerland on the way back. We saw a medal's ceremony in the heart of Torino and went to see the Olympic torch and then had some Pizza. Oh, the the pizza in Italy is definately -- well -- unique! They had hotdog and french fry pizza. That is right, hotdog slices in cheese topped with french fries. We also got a green pepper and artichoke pizza when the guys asked for pepperoni.

We saw some great places in Milan, Italy and even saw a bunch of transvestite dancers putting on a show in the town square, in front of a 900 year old castle. That was unique.

In Switzerland we ate tons of chocolate and pasteries and got to see some of the neatest midevil castles. On, and it snowed 18 inches of wet sloppy snow overnight, so we were visiting castles in shin-deep snow. It was awsome - not a single tourist in sight!

We really had a lot of fun, and next month we are planning a trip to Berlin and in May I am gonna get Joe to take me to either Paris or Prague for my birthday!