Long Time

Jackson after his tball game
My parents and the boys in front of the Bavarian Alps, at Edelweiss in Garmisch, Germany
Jack and Jacob up at Eagle's Nest, in the distance is Salzburg Austria, the views were amazing
Chad and the boys in The North Sea in The Netherland's
The boys at Keukenhof in The Netherland's

It's been over a month since my last post. Life's been busy to say the least! My parents came to visit for 12 days and we made the most of the time they were here! We went to Garmisch for a night, drove over to Eagle's Nest the next day. Came home and took a rest for a day and then we got up and headed to The Netherland's! We all stuck our feet into the FRIGID North Sea. The next day we went to Keukenhof which is a beautiful garden with over 7 million flowers and bulbs. We got there the next to last day they were open, they're only open for 2 months, so I'm so happy we got to make it up there before they closed for the year! (Next year I plan to go up in April with the kids and a friend or two and spend more than just 2 days!!). We stayed in Haarlem which is the home of Corrie TenBoom and next time I plan on going to her home, it'll be a great history lesson for Jacob! We came home and debated going to Rothenburg odt, and decided we all needed a break from the van and just stayed home. The next day off to Triberg, which is in the Black Forest. My parents bought a Coo-coo clock, which was the main reason for going there, but we got an extra treat by seeing the tallest Waterfall in Germany! We walked up to it and it was GORGEOUS! I still need to download the pictures from then!

We were home Wed. and Thursday, which Jacob has his last tball game on Wed (moved from Friday since it was a 4 day weekend) and Jack's on Thursday. Friday, my mom and I were up at 4 am and by a little after 5 am on the road with friends following in their van, to go to Poland! Mom loved it and of course I did too. I am tired of going there when it's hot though! The way down took us 5 hrs. We were stuck literally about 1 mile or LESS just outside of the town we went to shop in, because of an accident, which a fatatilty was involved. Thankfully our friend (the husband) asked the truck driver behind them for another route into town, so after sitting in the traffic for 45 minutes we got out of it and headed to town to get some shopping done and boy did we! My mom and I both got a ton of stuff. We finished up, went and grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home. We were on the road about 3:15 and got home with 2 stops at 7:30!! Pretty good timing! :) It was a great trip. Saturday (the next day) we took my parents to the airport.

The time went by so quickly and it was so very hard to say goodbye to them. Both boys just cried their hearts out, and that just made it that much worse for me and Chad. We hadn't seen my parents in almost 2 yrs (2 yrs would be in July since we moved here). I'm really hoping my mom (who retired in Jan) will come when the baby is born. It's killing her to think she'll miss out on one of her grandchildren being born. She's never been in the room for the birth, but she's at least been IN the hospital and if she DID come it sure would be easier to have her home with the boys. We'll just see...right now she's not planning on coming, but I'm hoping she will. I know my dad will not be able to. He works for Goodyear and after the 11 weeks strike getting vacation is not so easy and they're limited to the amount they can take at once (which is why they only got to be here for 2 weeks vs the 3 we all had hoped for).

The pregnancy is going pretty good. I have no real complaints. I am borderline for gestational diabetes. I saw a specialist on Friday and they have me doing a blood check 1 hour after I eat until June 11. I'm also following the diet, which isn't bad at all. I completely cut out pop (Pepsi) and that's been fine. I haven't gained any weight in the last 3 apts I've went to, which is nice. Hoping I don't gain too much more. I've only gained 6 lbs, but I had WAY too much weight on me in the first place so it's not necessary for me to gain really and my ob is happy with how everything is going.

Chad had knee surgery on Thursday. This has been almost 3 yrs in the making. He hurt his knee his first time in Iraq (2004) and he was actually put on nondeployable status when we moved here to Germany, but the "powers that be" felt they knew better than his Ortho and sent him to Iraq vs leaving him behind for a couple months to get surgery, of course because of him favoring his left knee for so long he now has damage to his right knee and his ortho believes he'll need surgery on that knee in the next year or two. But he did finally have the surgery and he's doing AWESOME. He's not complained ONCE! He's been doing great at finding a balance between keeping his knee elevated and walking around. He's really doing so much better than I thought he would, this soon! He's on convelesant leave until June 17 although it may be extended, because his ortho doesn't want him returning to work until he's been in Physical therapy for at least a week, and he said no physical therapy until after the 17th, so we'll just wait and see.

PWOC starts back up this week. I'm excited to see it started back up. They're doing a children's study this year too for school age kids, so everyone can attend! The kids are doing a Kids Beth Moore Study. Jacob's excited about it. I hope he enjoys it!

Well, I guess that's it! I have a headache and I'm exhausted. I've been passing out before midnight lately so it's a late night for me tonight.

God Bless