"0-6-hundred... what does that mean? Oh my gosh it's early!" - Good Morning Vietnam

Hey everybody.

Boy have things been busy around here lately!!! The last two weeks have been especially insane because Jason has had to go into work at 6 am. Since we only have one car at the moment, this also means that my eyes are seeing something that they HATE to see - a clock that reads 5 AM! *eek* It's been ok for the most part; I've just been reading and working out before I have to go to work.

Work is going well... I'm still getting used to the job and wishing I knew all the answers to the questions I'm asked. That's the Katie way, of course. I'm sure it will come with time (hopefully not too much time though!).

So my cousin Erica always used to say that only cool people have stalkers. Well, I am pleased (kinda) to tell you that my husband and I have arrived. We have a stalker. A very old, senile stalker. You see, my sweet husband offered to give this lady a ride one day as she was walking up the hill in our neighborhood. She declined, but asked if Jason was a soldier and if we lived in the area. Jason told her that we lived a few streets up and to have a nice day. About a week later some strange things started occurring on Martin Behaim Weg... There began to be packages delivered about every 2-3 days on our doorstep. The first day it was just a men's sweater laid over the fence. Then it was a couple women's sweaters and some used rags. Then it was a light fixture. After that was a whole bag full of sweaters, a beer glass, a stein and a wrapped bottle of cheap cologne. The final gift appeared to be a few more sweaters, but we left it setting on the doorstep over night and did not bring it into the house. The following day when we returned from work we realized that the gift from the previous day had disappeared. As strange as the gifts were, having one taken back was even stranger. A few days later, on Saturday, we had a visitor on our doorstep, instead of a gift. We invited Theresa in for a visit and coffee (that's her name, evidently). Over the course of about one and a half hours she told us about 6 stories... about 10 times each. She seemed very nice though. We invited her over for lunch this coming Saturday. We haven't received any gifts this week, which means that she could have forgotten about us or is just saving them all up for Saturday. Any thoughts on what I should make for lunch? In all seriousness, we're just hoping that we can learn some things from her and are able to give her some company - she seems very lonely...

On another note I have made a dire mistake: I experimented in the kitchen and made a good tuna melt sandwich. Why was this a mistake you might ask? Because now my husband is obsessed with them and we are having them every other day it seems. I like them and all, but seriously...

Also, we know about 15 couples who are expecting babies (including my dad and step-mother). If you could keep all those pregnant people in your prayers... Jason and I know a couple who had twin boys last week. The boys are doing well, but the mom is still in the hospital and has had some complications. We're hopeful that she will be released on Monday though. Their names are Justin and Grace (and Caden and Cameron for the boys). :) And no, I haven't been drinking the water....

So how are you all doing? It seems like forever since I've talked to most everyone.

Hope you all are well. Love & hugs,
KT

Merry December 26th...

Hi.

I know, I know... Long time, no post. Sorry. "issues"... everyone has them, even me.

Speaking of "issues"... My husband has some too, clearly. http://zebrasnotpermitted.blogspot.com/

Otherwise, had a wonderful "first Christmas" with Jason. Looking forward to having some new friends over for games tonight. (Praying we don't play Monopoly....) Had a wonderful visit with mom. Miss everyone a ton.

And one final note... You know what they say about payback.....

Noel Poll

And again folks, we have another dispute that needs your disagreement solving skills.   Help me out, would ya please?  

Pharm Tech Humor

A quote from "House, M.D."

Dr. Whatshisname: "If you need some condoms, I have some I can give you..."
House: "Where did you get those? Your wife?"
Dr. Whatshisname: "No, a drug rep... Evidently they have antibiotics in them somehow..."


lol. Struck me as funny. :)

Chaplain Yarman...

This one goes out to my darling husband...

A quote from Chaplain Yarman this morning:

"You can go to your college...
You can go to your school...
But if you don't know Jesus...
You'rejust an educated fool..."

Haha - I love Chaplain Yarman.

And now, HHEEERRREEE'S KATIE!!!!!!!!!! (Surprise everyone)

Hey everyone!  

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted... Needless to say there has been a lot that's gone on in this past month.  At the time of my last post I was keeping a huge secret from basically everyone I know (except my accomplices).  You'll recall that my family was in Walt Disney World... Well, actually - I'll just tell you a little story... Disney style... 

Once upon a time there was a princess who loved her prince very, very much.... (had to get that in...).  She loved him so much that after they magically fell in love, got engaged in a parking garage, and got married, she couldn't wait to begin her life with the prince.  He swept her off her feet and carried her away on a big, white, flying horse to Farawayland just to be with him.  Being together was a dream come true and they were so happy to be well on their way to HappilyEverAfterLand.  As wonderous as this was for the prince and princess, there were some in Originalland who were going to miss them very much.  Indeed, many were downright sad and angry that the prince and princess had to go to Farawayland at all - they wanted them to stay in Originalland forever!  But despite all the heartache that their adventure was causing, the prince and princess had no choice but to go to Farawayland to learn all that God wanted to teach them during their journey to HappilyEverAfterLand.  Alas they arrived in Farawayland and were enjoying their new castle.  The queen (For those who don't know - Stephanie literally means "crowned one"... She brings it up often...) was still sad that the prince and princess were in Farawayland, but she was learning to enjoy Originalland without the princess.  Although she decided that a trip to the Magic Kingdom was certainly in order to help soothe her aching heart. 

Then, one day, the place where the princess used to work had a dramatic dilemma.  Dr. G - a healer of the land - needed the princess' help!  He sent his faithful CA, Maiden Lisa, to request the princess to come to the rescue of GCC, island of Originalland.  Maiden Lisa begged and begged and Princess Katie had pity on the lady.  She sent her away and told the maiden that she would take the case to the prince.  The prince and the princess deliberated about the dilemma of GCC, island of Originalland, and decided that the princess must help.  But it was quickly determined that for this to be a successful, fairytail-esque rescue, not a single soul could be told.  

After a week of preparations and pretending that life was normal in Farawayland, the prince began the journey with the princess.  He could only take her so far; she had to cross GreatLake on her own to get to Originalland.  Their goodbye was a bittersweet one.  The prince knew that the princess was the only one who could rescue GCC, island of Originalland, but he was going to miss her very much in Farawayland.  

So the princess traveled a long, long way across GreatLake all by herself.  It was a long journey, but Maiden Lisa and Master Larry were eagerly waiting for the princess to arrive at the gate in Originalland.  

One by one, Princess Katie greeting her loyal subjects of Originalland.  They were all very surprised to see her, but they were glad that she came to rescue GCC, island of Originalland.  The rescue mission took about 3 weeks.  During that time the princess had many trials - some of them very, very sad... In the end, the princess was happy she was able to be there, despite the wicked wind that blew from the south...  

She made the return journey to Farawayland and was greeting by a very happy prince.  Her castle was laden with chocolates to celebrate her return.  And the prince and princess continued their journey to HappliyEverAfterLand... 

Not Nearly The End.... 

:)  My wonderful prince just came in and called me a goofball.  :)  Goofball Princess - that's me.  

I tried to have my camera ready to shoot some pictures as I surprised everyone.  It was quite fun.  You could basically just say "WHA....??? HUH???? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??"  And you'd have the gist of the pictures.  But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... 

Aunt Kimmie - pretty surprised, obviously... 

Sister - just wanted a hug.  No reason to ask questions - just give me a hug!! 

Ben... huh??? 

Hey - has anyone ever told you that you look like my sister??? 

And the best of all - lol... Mom - saying hi to my Aunt Julie, who dropped me off... 

When mom realized that I was standing in front of Julie... 

Mom choking me... 

Still choking me - We had plenty of time to take pictures - I nearly died.  (I love Ben's smile here...) 

Still choking me...  and sobbing... 

Dad was happy to see me too... 

It took grandma a while to notice me - she was too busy spoiling Ginger, the dog.  Ginger was even smelling me and jumping up at me and Grandma still didn't see me until everyone was pointing at me.  

Then she was happy too... 

Grandma and Ginger - BFF...

Poor Grandpa - came over to have his computer fixed... It didn't get fixed that night... 

And I got to meet my Amy and my Abby at El Toro.  Thanks to mom for working that out.  Amy was a bit freaked out. :)  

Abby recreating her shock... 

And the 2nd Sunday of my trip, right before all the lights went out in southern Ohio, Abby was getting her ears pierced. 

She was a bit nervous... 

Paying close attention to what the girl was doing... 

Checking the markings... 

Breathe Abby... 

Ear two... 

Growing up so fast... God help us all... 

That's it for now folks.  Hope you enjoyed the story.  Love you all! 

Kate 

Busy week :)

Guten Tag! 

So how's everybody doing?  I've gotten some updates from a few of you, but not all - just wondering how my loved ones are! :)  I've got a few pictures here: 

This is after my husband worked so hard to make me a storage thing for our bathroom... He was... "irritable"... 

He did it out of love... I assure you.  (clearly he loves me a lot! :) ) 

Working hard... 

I took this picture on my walk the other day... I love these two buildings.  They are in the courtyard of the castle in Lichtenau. 

Just your average German restaurant.  There are so many window boxes full of flowers!  It's amazing because almost all the flowers have been in full bloom our whole time here!  There's so much color!!

Jason also has some pictures posted up on his site (zebrasnotpermitted.blogspot.com).  Some of the zoo and some from his dad's wedding.  

The Carter Clan is in Florida this week...  And I'm not there.  Those of you who know me and how much I love Walt Disney World should know that it's not the easiest time for my heart right now.  Jason got a long briefing on the glorious-ness of Walt Disney World during breakfast this morning... And while I was doing the dishes...  And I had to stop myself before I completely drove him crazy.  :D  

Busy week this week!  It's getting to be that way more often, which shows me that our lives are getting into a "pace" now, which is good.  Jason's been really busy with school lately; he's working so hard - I'm so proud of the success he's having with it!  College can be quite annoying though, especially when you're working, working in the military, and in a foreign country.  He's doing good though - better than he thinks!! :D  

Today we went shopping for a desk for our office.  I'd seen a desk when I went out with our friend Michelle and today I took Jason back to the shop so he could see it.  The SLIGHT problem was the language "thing".  It is a ma-and-pop antique shop.  The pop speaks zero English, the ma claims to be "learning English".  LoL - It was a riot!  The husband took us out to his workshop and he's just talking away to us in German.  I am convinced that you learn a language very quickly in that setting.  Just the two times I've been to this shop I've learned more German words than I knew before!  

Tomorrow I start actually taking a German class on post.  I'm excited.  It's a two-week class and then, after that, I can go to Ansbach at their community center and take another class there.  I'm hopeful that I'll be able to learn enough to help while shopping and ordering food at restaurants.  One plate of "Parma Ham" is enough for me!  **rolls eyes, don't ask...** 

Also tomorrow starts the P.W.O.C. (Protestant Women of the Chapel) ladies Bible study!  I've really been praying for this kind of Bible study for a long, LONG time and I'm so thankful that they have it here!!  At first I didn't think they had anything like this, but evidently they were just taking the summer off.  My new friend Christie told me that there are a ton of ladies who come so I'm excited to get involved with that.  

Jason's posted some pics up on his site: zebrasnotpermitted.blogspot.com

Hope you all are doing well!  Much love and many hugs to you all! 

Kate