Many of our friends have asked why we are going back to Germany, so I thought I would answer all your questions here. For those that don't know, when Chris and I were first married, we were stationed in Baumholder, Germany for three years. Riley was even born there at Landsthul, the major regional medical center over there. We really enjoyed our time over there and traveled quite a bit, but there were so many more places we wanted to see. We considered extending our tour but Riley was still an infant and I wanted to be a bit closer to family when he was young. We knew Chris still had ten years left in the Army, so we figured we would just go back when Riley was older and could appreciate the culture more. Not to mention be a bit easier to travel with. When we were told we had to leave San Antonio after our three years here, we tried to get back to Germany then, but the Army wasn't having it. Instead, we ended up in Kansas and that is when Chris deployed to Iraq. As most of you know, our whole life changed in April 05 and we have been trying to get back to normal ever since.
The next part of the story is that I have worked on and off for the Army's Child,Youth and School Services (CYSS)Chris and I got married. My first job for CYSS was as a Center Director in Baumholder and the Trainer that worked with me was Bonnie Phelps. She is still in Baumholder and is now the Chief of CYSS and that is who I will be working for over there. We have remained close friends over the years and she is wonderful person. The job I have taken is back in Baumholder working directly under Bonnie as her Program Operations Specialist. She made it really hard to turn down the job. She knows Chris and I are a package deal and she has made it clear that his medical needs should always come first. That even means if I need to come back to the States for Chris to have a surgery, I can work from my laptop or take an extended leave of absence. It really will be a great work environment for me. I am excited to be back at a Garrison where I can have a greater impact helping other Army families. My job right now at the Region has been an amazing learning experience, but I feel more like a paper pusher and I want to be more involved then I feel I am now.
Now let's talk about Chris. He wants to stay in the Army so he can finish out his 20 years. He has been accepted into a program the Army has called Continue on Active Duty (COAD), that will allow him to retire with his 20 years. He spoke with his Branch that is in charge of assignments and they are also putting him on orders to Baumholder. That means we will both be our own sponsors. For those of you that don't really understand that, the bottom line is that we do not have to live in a small, apartment on post. We can live in a nice big German house on the economy and have plenty of room for guests. One of the Doctors from the Burn Unit at BAMC is now working at Landsthul and we have already been in contact with her. She has agreed to manage Chris's care and thinks he will do just fine. She also has some contacts at the large Burn hospital in Germany. We are only 25 miles from Landsthul. As it is, we drive 20 miles each day just to get to BAMC, so there really isn't much difference. Plus, traffic over there is much better and there's no speed limits!!We also spoke with Dr. Pederson, the hand doctor here that Chris has been working with to reconstruct his hands, and he has a colleague over there that he said can do the same surgeries he would do. He said he hated to say it, but he might even be better than him. Imagine a doctor admitting that! This is also the most excited and involved Chris has been since his accident. The unit here has not made him do any kind of job since he was injured. He just goes to his appointments and comes home. He is actually looking forward to being back in a regular unit and getting a bit back to normal.
Riley is very excited. He was a bit apprehensive about going in the beginning, but as we talked through things, he became very excited. He wants to go to Scotland to try to find the Loch Ness monster, go to Paris to see the Eifel Tower like he read about in a Magic Tree House book, and see the Queen's desk in England like in National Treasure 2. He is also very excited about learning to speak German and has already been counting things in his "new" langugage. The Department of Defense operates all the American Schools overseas and he will go to a regular english speaking school on post.
Sadly, Chopper can not go with us to Germany. He is a boxer/pit mix and pits are restricted breeds over there. So if anyone knows of a nice family looking for a 2 year old pound puppy, please let me know.
Jas may go with us. We are still not sure. We do have a nice place for him to go if we decide not to take him. Chris is trying to get approved to get a service dog that helps him with his ADL's (activities of daily living). If that happens, then we will be starting from scratch with a new puppy.
Wow, is this a long post or what? Depending on when I can get my orders, I am probably leaving the last weekend in May. I will leave Riley here with Chris to finish school. Once I get settled over there, I am going to come back and get Riley. My cousin is getting married in the middle of June in New York and we will probably leave straight from the wedding to fly back over to Germany. While we are over there, we plan to keep in touch with as many people as we can on SKYPE. Email me and I will let you know our contact information. I hope this answers a lot of the questions most of our friends and family have. We think this will be a really good thing for our family. It's time for change and although it is far away, we think it will be a great couple of years for us and everyone is welcome to come visit!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
