Well, chris left saturday for selection again. He should be starting on tuesday. I'm really excited for him, but extremely nervous. Last time he made it all the way through, but didn't get selected. I know he'll make it through, I just hope the cadres see in him what I do. Please pray for Chris. He needs all the sleep he can get and all the strength as well. Also please keep me and the kids in your thoughts since we're going to be missing Chris. Thanks everyone!
The Brown family.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
An update
Well a lot has happened since my last blog. We've been here now for about 7 months now and are pretty much settled in. The one thing I hate about moving is trying to find new places for all of your stuff. I haven't been able to do that completely. The main floor is complete, so that's good.
Angie is now over here with us and it's been great having her here. We're all having a lot of fun and we've been able to travel and little bit. We've gone to Amberg, Nurnberg, Bamberg, and Munich. Chris, the kids and I were all able to take a free trip to Edelweiss in Garmisch for a marriage retreat. That is right in the alps. It was so beautiful.
When we went to Nurnberg it was just Angie, Jenea, the kids and I. We took a day trip while chris was in the field. We went to see the Kaiserberg Castle. We weren't sure if the weather was going to be nice, but it turned out to be. It was a little cold, so we bundled up the kids and headed out.
Jenea was also here when we went to Munich. We took the train there. The kids loved that. We got our own little room so they could get down and play all they wanted. We decided to go on a sunday. We didn't think about it until we got to Munich, but all of the stores are closed here on sundays. So needless to say we didn't get to shop much, but we took a ton of pictures and had a lot of fun. We are definately going to go back because there is so much more to see.
We have some friends from Campbell that live in Bamberg. We haven't gone there to explore the city yet, but we've been there to visit them a couple of times.
It's been really great so far. We're really excited to travel a little more before chris has to leave. It's going to really stink when he leaves, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?! Angie and I are going to be planning a trip or two home while he's gone. We're not really sure when, but we will look everyone up when we get there! I hope everyone is doing well!
-The Browns.
Monday, October 29, 2007
My first blog
Hello,
Well, this is my first blog. I've never done anything like this, but I know a lot of you (my friends and family) want to know what's going on over here in Germany with us, so I wanted to start a website that you all can go to.
So I guess this first blog will be about our trip over here. On August 6Th my mom, Ken, Carol, Angie and the four of us headed out for St. Louis Missouri. We had to fly out from there since that is where we dropped our truck off at. It was either that or drive all the way back to Nashville. When we got into St. Louis it was really hard to find our hotel. Chris and his family got really bad directions from someone at a gas station and went WAY out of the way. We ended up finding the hotel first so we called them and told them how to get there. We ordered some pizza and just hung out for the rest of the night. It was kind of a somber night since we all knew what was going to happen the next day.
That next morning, we all got ready and packed up our bags again and headed to the airport. Our plane didn't leave until around 11:30am so we had a little time. It was nice not having to rush. Our families were able to get a pass to walk through security with us and wait at the terminal. Kayla slept most of the time and Sean had fun playing with Aunt Angie.
The time came and we all had to say our goodbyes. We were able to board sooner than our tickets said since we had so many things. We had two kids, two car seats and four bags all to carry onto the plane. Oh and a stroller! Of course we were crying. It was so bittersweet. We were going on this great adventure to another country, but just knowing that we wouldn't see our families was heart breaking.
Well, we got onto the plane and got the kids all situated. We were just flying to Dallas from St. Louis so we were on a smaller plane. Chris and Sean were in one row of two seats and Kayla and I were in another row. The flight went really well. When we got to Dallas, I called my mom to see how they were doing and they weren't even out of St. Louis yet. It had been about 2 hours and traffic was really bad.
After getting to Dallas, we found our terminal and got something to eat. RIGHT before we were about to board for our flight to Germany, Sean had an explosion in his diaper. I mean EXPLOSION! Chris had to change all of his clothes. So instead of getting on the plane when there wasn't too many people on, we had to get on and try to dodge everyone with all of our things.
The flight from Dallas to Frankfurt Germany was about 9 hours. Kayla did pretty well and I thought Sean did well too, but Chris would say different. After a while, Sean was getting really restless and trying to get away. Next time I think, we'll make sure we take him and let him walk around every once in a while! I felt like the plane ride was so long. I didn't get much sleep. the kids slept OK, but Sean stayed awake a lot and watched Spider man 3! I think he watched that movie about 3 times!! :) Of course, as soon as we got to Frankfurt, the kids were actually sleeping hard.
Chris took some of our things and got off the plane first while I waited with the kids. We were the absolute last ones off and Sean did not want to move. He wanted me to carry him, but I was already carrying Kayla in her car seat. Chris hadn't gotten back yet, and I was trying to get going. Sean would just cry and fall on the floor, he didn't want to move at all. One of the flight attendants finally asked if I needed help and tried to carry Sean out. We put him in the stroller and got all of our things and started toward customs. We had no clue where to go and couldn't read any of the signs. Normally we would just follow the crowd, but it had taken us so long to get off the plane, no one from on flight was even in sight. So we made our way down the best we could. We couldn't find an elevator to take us downstairs to customs so we had to take a stroller, Sean, Kayla in a car seat and all of our bags down an escalator. The workers at the airport were just watching us and talking to each other. No one even tried to help us. It was so stressful and Sean was crying the whole time.
We finally made it through the passport place and got all of our luggage. Let me just tell you. We had 10 bags total. We had 6 check in bags, which were big and 4 carry on bags. We had Sean in an umbrella stroller and Kayla in her car seat, then we also had to carry Sean's car seat. We got one of those platform things to put our luggage on and Chris pushed that while I took the kids and car seats. We went through these doors, that did not look like the right way, and finally there was the Army place that we had to go to. Finally, people who wanted to help us. We had JUST missed the bus, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next one. That was no big deal.
Once the bus came one of the soldiers helped us carry all of our things to the bus which was a little ways away. We got on the bus and had to drive about 45 minutes for 64Th replacement. That is were everyone goes after flying in and then they get bused from there to their base. We were at 64Th replacement for a few hours and then we had to get on another bus to Vilseck, which is where we were going to be staying. It's about 20 minutes away from Grafenwohr. I was really depressing to find out that we had another 4 HOUR bus ride to Vilseck. We grabbed the very back of the bus, so Sean could lay down and sleep. The kids eventually fell asleep, so Chris and I took advantage of it and tried to see too. The bus driver was crazy though and I practically fell off my seat a million times.
Once we finally got to Vilseck, Chris had to get briefed and our sponsor took us and all of our luggage to the hotel. We got a hotel room with no stove, so that meant that we were going to be living out of the microwave and fast food. Our sponsor was great. He helped us with anything we needed. Since we got into Germany in the morning here, we made ourselves stay awake to hopefully get ourselves accustomed to the time difference.
It's been about 2 1/2 months now and we are in our own house, well a duplex, but it's huge. We were very blessed and got a house 6 days after we got here. That's very unusual considering most people have to wait 3-6 months before housing comes up. We still aren't completely unpacked, but I'm finally getting around to putting pictures on the walls. It's looking little more homey in here now.
Well, i think that's a long enough first blog, huh!! I'll write more later!!
Well, this is my first blog. I've never done anything like this, but I know a lot of you (my friends and family) want to know what's going on over here in Germany with us, so I wanted to start a website that you all can go to.
So I guess this first blog will be about our trip over here. On August 6Th my mom, Ken, Carol, Angie and the four of us headed out for St. Louis Missouri. We had to fly out from there since that is where we dropped our truck off at. It was either that or drive all the way back to Nashville. When we got into St. Louis it was really hard to find our hotel. Chris and his family got really bad directions from someone at a gas station and went WAY out of the way. We ended up finding the hotel first so we called them and told them how to get there. We ordered some pizza and just hung out for the rest of the night. It was kind of a somber night since we all knew what was going to happen the next day.
That next morning, we all got ready and packed up our bags again and headed to the airport. Our plane didn't leave until around 11:30am so we had a little time. It was nice not having to rush. Our families were able to get a pass to walk through security with us and wait at the terminal. Kayla slept most of the time and Sean had fun playing with Aunt Angie.
The time came and we all had to say our goodbyes. We were able to board sooner than our tickets said since we had so many things. We had two kids, two car seats and four bags all to carry onto the plane. Oh and a stroller! Of course we were crying. It was so bittersweet. We were going on this great adventure to another country, but just knowing that we wouldn't see our families was heart breaking.
Well, we got onto the plane and got the kids all situated. We were just flying to Dallas from St. Louis so we were on a smaller plane. Chris and Sean were in one row of two seats and Kayla and I were in another row. The flight went really well. When we got to Dallas, I called my mom to see how they were doing and they weren't even out of St. Louis yet. It had been about 2 hours and traffic was really bad.
After getting to Dallas, we found our terminal and got something to eat. RIGHT before we were about to board for our flight to Germany, Sean had an explosion in his diaper. I mean EXPLOSION! Chris had to change all of his clothes. So instead of getting on the plane when there wasn't too many people on, we had to get on and try to dodge everyone with all of our things.
The flight from Dallas to Frankfurt Germany was about 9 hours. Kayla did pretty well and I thought Sean did well too, but Chris would say different. After a while, Sean was getting really restless and trying to get away. Next time I think, we'll make sure we take him and let him walk around every once in a while! I felt like the plane ride was so long. I didn't get much sleep. the kids slept OK, but Sean stayed awake a lot and watched Spider man 3! I think he watched that movie about 3 times!! :) Of course, as soon as we got to Frankfurt, the kids were actually sleeping hard.
Chris took some of our things and got off the plane first while I waited with the kids. We were the absolute last ones off and Sean did not want to move. He wanted me to carry him, but I was already carrying Kayla in her car seat. Chris hadn't gotten back yet, and I was trying to get going. Sean would just cry and fall on the floor, he didn't want to move at all. One of the flight attendants finally asked if I needed help and tried to carry Sean out. We put him in the stroller and got all of our things and started toward customs. We had no clue where to go and couldn't read any of the signs. Normally we would just follow the crowd, but it had taken us so long to get off the plane, no one from on flight was even in sight. So we made our way down the best we could. We couldn't find an elevator to take us downstairs to customs so we had to take a stroller, Sean, Kayla in a car seat and all of our bags down an escalator. The workers at the airport were just watching us and talking to each other. No one even tried to help us. It was so stressful and Sean was crying the whole time.
We finally made it through the passport place and got all of our luggage. Let me just tell you. We had 10 bags total. We had 6 check in bags, which were big and 4 carry on bags. We had Sean in an umbrella stroller and Kayla in her car seat, then we also had to carry Sean's car seat. We got one of those platform things to put our luggage on and Chris pushed that while I took the kids and car seats. We went through these doors, that did not look like the right way, and finally there was the Army place that we had to go to. Finally, people who wanted to help us. We had JUST missed the bus, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next one. That was no big deal.
Once the bus came one of the soldiers helped us carry all of our things to the bus which was a little ways away. We got on the bus and had to drive about 45 minutes for 64Th replacement. That is were everyone goes after flying in and then they get bused from there to their base. We were at 64Th replacement for a few hours and then we had to get on another bus to Vilseck, which is where we were going to be staying. It's about 20 minutes away from Grafenwohr. I was really depressing to find out that we had another 4 HOUR bus ride to Vilseck. We grabbed the very back of the bus, so Sean could lay down and sleep. The kids eventually fell asleep, so Chris and I took advantage of it and tried to see too. The bus driver was crazy though and I practically fell off my seat a million times.
Once we finally got to Vilseck, Chris had to get briefed and our sponsor took us and all of our luggage to the hotel. We got a hotel room with no stove, so that meant that we were going to be living out of the microwave and fast food. Our sponsor was great. He helped us with anything we needed. Since we got into Germany in the morning here, we made ourselves stay awake to hopefully get ourselves accustomed to the time difference.
It's been about 2 1/2 months now and we are in our own house, well a duplex, but it's huge. We were very blessed and got a house 6 days after we got here. That's very unusual considering most people have to wait 3-6 months before housing comes up. We still aren't completely unpacked, but I'm finally getting around to putting pictures on the walls. It's looking little more homey in here now.
Well, i think that's a long enough first blog, huh!! I'll write more later!!
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