2009, ready to shine

Ring out wild bells! So it's a new year...and we welcomed it with a bang (even if we were party poopers). The Germans know how to party. From midnight until about 12:45 fireworks went off non-stop. The sky was lit-up and Natalee and Jess stared out the window in awe. Kaitlyn slept through the whole thing, despite my best efforts to get her to wake up. I don't know how she did because it was loud and it was fun.

2008 was a wild ride and we look forward to the adventures of 2009. Here's a quick view into our last year (so if you're already bored, then I'd recommend taking a nap at this point).

1. Kaitlyn started pre-school (and now a German kindergarten) and absolutely loves it.

2. I got to visit Red China in April...and even learned a few Chinese words.

3. Jess got her Oncology nursing certification in May. She moved to the Scottsdale-Shea Hospital, but that ended up only being for a few weeks because we moved. There are high hopes that after we get settled in, Jess might find an opportunity at a hospital here (sorry no picture could be located of this beauty in her scrubs).

4. Nat celebrated her first birthday.

5. I celebrated my 30th.

6. I finished my MBA at Thunderbird in August and tortured all of my classmates with an embarrasing ending to the National Anthem (I swear the stupid tassel got stuck in my mouth and messed me up). I will miss my T-bird friends, but I'm enjoying not having homework at the moment.

7. In September I was offered a job in Germany...and we accepted. That meant we had a LOT of work to do to get ready (I only had a month to get things in order).

7a. So we sold the house in one week after we worked hard getting it ready to sell (painting, etc.)


7b. HOA couldn't approve our paint in time and then latter threatened us and made us pay a fine! What a joke.

7c. The VA refused to provide a loan to the buyer for the price and tried lowering it significantly (although we priced ours 10-15k lower than other houses were trying to go for in the area).

7d. Finally were able to sell the cars, furniture, and almost the kitchen sink.

7e. Had to buy everything in Germany including the kitchen sink (German's like to take their kitchens with them, so when you move in...there is literally nothing in the house...no lights, no kitchen, only a toilet)!

7f. Should have bought IKEA stock, because we spent(spend) quite a bit of time there. Here is about a fourth of a basement room piled up in furniture boxes and moving boxes (no they don't have a Home Depot over here).


7g. Had to buy a car without financing it (have a standard probation time on my work contract)...fortunately made enough on the house that we didn't have to walk everywhere.


8. Moved the family over to Germany after being apart for 4 weeks...we felt blessed to be together again so quickly.

8a. Lived for a couple of days with some great friends, the Wheelers (same ones who let me stay with them for a month).

8b. Finally found a temporary furnished apartment that would accept kids.

8c. Got kicked out of the temporary apartment after two weeks because she wasn't supposed to rent it (it was a basement apartment and the ceilings were too low according to code...they were still 7 feet high and we were dealing with it).

8d. Moved into a hotel (daughter of the lady who was renting to us). The good was we had two rooms. The bad was the windows let in so much cold air it was pretty darn cold in the rooms (15 degrees celsius...whatever that is in Fahrenheit. Speaking of Fahrenheit...that sounds pretty German to me!).

8e. Moved into our house nearly a month early and slept on an inflatable matress until we could get our furniture. We were that desperate to move into our house.

8f. Finally received the rest of our shipment the Tuesday before Christmas. We are still unpacking and situating ourselves, but are starting to feel at home.

There are many more adventures to share with you, so if you are still awake...stay tuned for more boring stories from the Fatherland.

Love and miss you all,

Benjamin, Jessica, et. al.

P.S. this posting was delayed a few days due to our phone and internet not working at all this weekend, not because I'm a procrastinator (at least not so early in the year).