Our new pad... for the time being.

A view of the bed

My closet, Kitchen storage, Reno's storage and desk.  Underneath the desk is our pull out kitchen table.  

Our little kitchen

The biggest room here... the bathroom with heated towel rack.  Rick loves that!

A view from our front door looking into the entire room.  

Settling in... for now

Well we had another moving day yesterday.  Our third in seven days!  We still have one more.  Our house should be ready in 10 business days.  We have decided to live on Robinson Barracks which is near the downtown part of Stuttgart.  Although it will be a 20 minute drive for Rick to work; we just feel that it is better to be closer to the action instead of the base.  Many people look at us like we are crazy but yesterday we went on a hospital tour and we actually got to see the area... so worth it.  The base is up on a hill so it overlooks Stuttgart.  It's surrounded by vineyards that are open for you to walk through and we can take Reno.  Our tour guide, Rosie, was telling us that we could go and hang out on the base and for New Year's you can see the whole town and have a great place to watch the fireworks so hopefully we are living up there by then but maybe we will just have to go up and visit.

I have had the pleasure of sitting in on some of these Army briefings.  Wow!  Is all I can say.  Some actually have some good information, but others really should take a course in public speaking... boring!  Today we have a 2 hour delay due to snow, but this morning Rick and I are going to check out the education center and see about some of the online programs they have available for me.  We are also having to go to the finance office so that we can start to get reimbursed for our other hotel rooms.  Friday we are going to try and take our driver's test.  We have been studying every night!  Hopefully all the studying will pay off although we do have to sit through a four hour class on Friday before we can take the test.  On Tuesday, I have an appointment to find me a job!  There have been some rumors that they need some SPED teachers on the schools around here yet I can't find it listed anywhere.  The man I am meeting on Tuesday works to help spouses find jobs.

Rick and I went and visited the USO the other day.  We got to rent some movies and we signed up for our first trip.  We are going to Rotenburg on Sunday.  It's a medieval town that is still fenced in.  We are going to go and see their Christmas market and enjoy their white Gluewein.  Yum!  It was on 40 euro each so we decided to go for it.  We might do some volunteering at the USO; it seems like a great way to meet new people.  The base's logo is, "I am glad I live here." So you know we have to get involved somehow.

Last night we were able to walk down to the little commissary here on Panzer and buy some groceries.  There is a German bakery here so we are going to pick up some fresh bread today so that we can have sandwiches for lunch.  It's been hard eating out on the economy (buying food off base) all the time; it can just get so expensive.  Last night I was preparing our dinner (Chicken Enchilada Casserole... yum.  Are you surprised that my first meal has to be Mexican?) and we heard a loud crack.  Yep, cracked the baking dish in half.  Ha!  At least we could salvage the meal and it was delicious!

I think Saturday we are going to walk down to the mall near the Marriott. I need to get some different shoes and maybe some warm tights to wear with my shoes and Rick needs some other shoes as well.   It gives us another chance to go walking around.  At one of our briefings the other day they gave us a pedometer.  Yesterday I had almost 7,000 steps.  I'm telling you... walking galore!

I will post pictures of our new pad later on.  I hope you are all getting ready for Christmas!

Us at the Stuttgart Christmas Market!

And it begins...

Well as most of you know; we have made it to Stuttgart, Germany. Let me just say that I know in a few months life will be great but at this moment everything is harder. For example, it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to post a new blog. Trying to decipher all this German is rough. We tried to study the language, but we obviously have a lot more practicing to do. Everyone has been really nice to us so far. The Marriott staff has been fantastic and thanks to my brother we are able to stay under our allotted per diem rate. We have been here since Wednesday and so much has already happened. We have placed our name on a waiting list to get a house, we have already moved hotels (from Mo. Hotel to Marriott), got our German cell phones, checked out Panzer Kaserne and Patch Barracks, got our military IDs registered, I have applied for a job and am working on updating my DODDs information, and we have gone to the Stuttgart Christmas market.

Rick is on his in-processing work schedule so that means that his hours are a little different each day. Next week we both have some in-processing to go to and I plan to go and check in with some people about some employment opportunities. Wish me luck! We have to start studying for our German driver's license which seems to be a little intense. I plan to try and get mine done this coming week. Once that is out of the way we plan on purchasing a little European car for me. In the words of Ashton Kutcher in Just Married I will be Flinstoning my ass everywhere which should be a goofy site. I will make sure to post pictures for sure, that way you can all have a great laugh at my expense. : )

Today I think I am going to try and walk down to Panzer and wash our clothes. We are also going to try and see how far Patch Barracks (where Rick will be working) and Robinson Barracks (where they want us to live) are from each other. They have free shuttles/ buses from base to base so hopefully it can work out. Robinson is closer to downtown Stuttgart which would be nice. I don't want to become a base rat.

Rick and I have done so much walking in the last couple days! We are both sore. I had to take a hot bath this morning just to give my muscles a break. I hope to keep up the walking as it would be a nice way to balance out all of the pastries the Germans eat, and man are they good. Who knows maybe I could come to Germany and loose some weight! Ha!

Reno has been great in the hotel! First couple of days there was some barking but she seems to be doing better about it. We try and take her on a long walk a day. Today her and I walked for about 2 miles at around 5 this morning (yep still have a weird sleep schedule). There were a couple of guys who were walking home from the night; they must have enjoyed a beer garden! Here in Germany dogs can go anywhere. The other day we saw about 5 dogs in the mall. You can even bring your dog in the restaurant with you as long as they lay down. We are going to start practicing with Reno in the bar downstairs so that she doesn't have to be in the room all the time. Yep that's right we will sample German beers and train our dog... can you say Americans?

Well, I better get going if I want to get everything done. It should take at least 30-45 minutes to walk to Panzer... told ya lots of walking!

Miss you all!

Love,

Damasa

Surviving Christmas!

Well Christmas has come and gone and I survived! I got to talk to Rick (my husband) on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. It was a great surprise! He was busy learning how to weld so now when he gets back home I have another type of "honey do" I can add to the list! Maybe he will get good enough and make some great wall art!

I was able to visit with family and friends, which was great! I was able to update them on what Rick is doing in Iraq and was able to just catch up! I am really impressed with the level of support, concern, and prayer that our support system is giving to us! I can honestly say that this deployment would be so much harder without it.

Although, Rick has had times where he wasn't able to come home for the holidays (because of work) it does make it different when you know that they are in Iraq and that they are really not getting to celebrate Christmas in any fashion that they are used to. It just kind of makes you sad. I am pretty proud of myself though because I only cried a couple of times! I have become a huge sap these days; I am not saying that I feel sorry for myself or Rick because I don't. It's more about pride and honor. I just can't explain to you how proud I am of Rick and what he is sacrificing for this country. I think most military wives would agree!

Well back to Christmas... we survived! Like I said I got to talk to him and that was a great gift in its self. He also got to talk to my mom, brother and sister so now they can all say that they have talked to someone while they were in Iraq. I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and families! I am looking forward to the new year! I think it will really help my mind game when I say, "he will be home in October of this year!" Oh that just sounds shorter!

Life back at home without my husband...

Well I am back in town for the holidays, and it's bitter sweet. It's so nice seeing everyone and getting to have something to look forward to, but it's also a reminder that I am going to be spending the holidays without my husband and that he will be spending his in a chow hall somewhere or the gym. : ( Not really the best way to celebrate!

My family has been really supportive of us. Everytime I drive down the main street of our hometown I see the yellow ribbons that they have hanging out on the doorstep supporting him, again it's just another reminder. We have been busy getting care packages together so that he will have things to open around the holidays. We have been trying to stagger them out so that he won't get them all at once. My hope is that he gets a smile on his face, and knows that we are thinking about him.

My husband's family has never really known how to be suppportive of him during a deployment. They think that just because they talk about him or wear a necklace that they are supporting him. It starts to get really irritating when I find out that they have not called or emailed him, yet they want me to make sure they have all the information. What for? Just to give him false hope? It's moments like this that make me feel tired of trying.... why do we have to go and see them when we come into town? This is not a relationship it's an obligation. My hope is that during this deployment I can start to let it go, and not focus on the negative part. I don't want this to be the part that consumes me.

Honestly, I am a little bit scared for the next year. It hasn't even been a month yet and it feels like forever. My husband and I still have not gotten into a pattern yet. I feel like I am living with my cell phone. I have already missed a couple calls and the guilt is horrible. He is not giving me a guilt trip by any means it's just that I want to talk to him and then I miss the time he has a chance to call. He could call more but he doesn't like to call in front of other people so right now he is waiting until the other soldiers go home to call. Well, as you can imagine that doesn't really leave us much time to talk so we talk about every 4 days. I think that it is easier for him because his whole life has changed. It's like being on vacation, you don't think about home as much because you are learning your new surroundings, but for me, everything is still the same just a big void from where he was. I think that he is trying to give me a chance to see everyone and be everywhere. He doesn't realize that being in communication with him helps me have a better time because I don't have to worry about what he is doing, because I am already in the loop.

I guess overall, it will get easier. Hopefully, I will stop tearing up everytime I see or hear anything about deployments, soldiers, military, etc. Hopefully I will start sleeping better in our bed, and handling the stress of doing everything on my own.

Although it's been hard being home and being reminded that he is missing, the extra help from my Mom and sister have been wonderful! It's been nice to have someone else to count on instead of just adding to your own To Do List.

Deployment

Well it sure has been a long time since I have written, and I guess a part of that was because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. My husband left on December 2nd. We tend to forget how emotional it is to say goodbye to someone who will be gone for an extended period of time. It was as though there was a dark cloud looming over us until we actually had to say goodbye. I live on an Airforce base and work on an Army base, and before my husband left I went along my day not really thinking about who was having to say goodbye to their soldier that day, that night, that week, that month. I now look at things different. Who is having to go through this? Who is getting the honor of welcoming them home? It seems like a revolving door. One night it is one family's nightmare the next night one family's wish.

My husband got to Iraq safely and now it's the game of getting ourselves into our new routine or as I like to call it our new normal. I think the beginning is really hard although I think I have done pretty well. It's hard to come home from work and not have him there to talk to. It's hard to have to wait until he can call you. I think that AA was on to something when they say, "take it one day at a time." I feel like thatis what I am doing. I keep telling myself that this will all be worth it when I get to welcome him home. Just the thought brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. It makes me want to be strong and it makes me wat to make him not worry about me and how I am handling things. I want his mind to be clear on what he needs to focus on, keeping himself safe and completing that mission.

It's hard that he left right before Christmas. It's hard that he won't be here to celebrate, but I am glad that I get to go home and be with my family and friends who have been a tremendous support system! I am so blessed to have all of them in my life!

One thing that is good about the deployment is that I don't feel guilty for occupying all my time with work and maybe going back to school to get my master's. I think that this will help me stay busy and my hope is that this will help pass the time, and in the long run help my career. I think about how he and I dated long distance for 3 years and part of the reason that we were so successful is that we were both very busy. I was mainly busy with school! So, I think that is what I will go back to do doing. The Army has a great program for military wives to continue their education where they will pay for the majority if not all your schooling so in that case I better take advantage of the situation.

Well, I don't have much else to say. I don't know how to verbalize how I am feeling. I am proud, sad, lonely, happy, etc. It's hard to put into words.

I think one way to survive this is to have something to look forward to every month. So this month I am going home for the holidays. Next month my friend Nicole is coming to visit, I better figure something out for February. : )