ShenanINGRAMS

We stayed in San Angelo, TX for 6 months for Joe to finish his military language training (the part where I got out of the Air Force) and then moved ourselves to Fort Meade, Maryland. It was another Army Post, so the housing was terrible. We literally lived in ghetto housing, and I'm not trying to be offensive. When you see pictures of "the ghetto," usually the buildings are red brick, 3 stories high, windows missing, etc. That was what we lived in. The buildings were actually condemned, but we had to live in them because they had no room in the better housing, weren't finished building the rest of the housing, and we couldn't afford to live off base. We had noisy neighbors! The police came to check on those neighbors a few times, but not because I called. They were just rambunctious people. We lived there for 15 months. Several people came to visit us. We went to Niagara Falls with my parents, where CAylea almost choked horribly on salad. I had to turn...

We decided to move ourselves from California to Texas. Usually the military will pack you up and ship your stuff, but we didn't want to wait, so we did what's called a "dity" move. (Do IT Yourself) We rented a U-Haul and took off. With 3 hours, our U-Haul had overheated and broken down on a major section of the interstate in Southern California. We took it in to a local dealer and they said they fixed it. We went to visit Ken and Amy (best man at the wedding), who were station in Los Angeles at the time. We were following a truck that had a couch in the back. Teh couch flew off the back of the truck and we hit it going around 60 miles an hour. Joe couldn't swerve. We were in HEAVY interstate traffic outside a major city. Teh U-Haul promptly shattered the couch. We were towing my Nissan Maxima behidn the U-Haul. It was fine, thank God. Our U-Haul had a bench seat, so Caylea was in her car seat, facing backwards of course, but up front because we had n...

We spent the first month of our marriage living in the Air Force dormitory because we had to wait on the approval to live off base. We finally got into a small 2 bedroom apartment together, with used furniture, and started playing house. I found out in August that I was pregnant. I took my DLI final exams, which are notoriously difficult, in September, amidst throwing up repeatedly. The testers even felt sorry for me and kept a trash can by my desk. One particularly gnarly old Puerto Rican laughed at me as I threw up outside into the small trash can. All I did was look at him and he got very quiet. I guess "the look" runs in our family. I graduated and Joey put me on a plane for San Angelo, Texas, to finish my training. I had learned the langauge, now I had to learn the military aspects of my job. We knew that we could get joint spouse assignments to Fort Meade, Maryland, but we also knew that we wouldn't actually live together until Caylea was over a year old due to Joe ...

Okay, the good news is that we found our house, signed the contract, and we move in on the 16th. The bad news is, we got into an automobile accident. I know, most of you who KNOW us are just sure that it was Joe's fault (especially since I failed the test and therefore can't drive yet), but the truth is, he was completely innocent!!! Here's the story: We picked up OUR Passat today and turned in our rental vehicle. It was so nice to have something of OURS, even if we can't live in it. I got our GPS and plotted a route to look at 23 more houses and we took off. By the way, kids under 12 have to be in booster seats. Chloe and Josh are PERFECTLY happy with that, though. So, we take off and we're doing great. We look at house after house after house, all to no avail. Too old, too big, too much $, too far away from base, etc. We finally decided that the one house we loved and saw yesterday (cows up to the fence) was worth the extra $ to have (it was just slightly over wha...

We called Joe's parents and they talked to me on the phone. I was informed that his sister, Cathy, didn't like any of his previous girlfriends and that I should expect her to not like me either. I didn't care. I talked to her on the phone, told her who I was, and we have been friendly ever since. She says I didn't give her a choice, just showing up like that. :) His Mom said, "What kind of ring did you get her?" Joe said, "I haven't gotten one yet." I could HEAR his Mom...."YOU MEAN YOU ASKED HER TO MARRY YOU WITHOUT A RING AND SHE SAID YES? YOU GO GET THAT GIRL A RING TODAY, SON!" She didn't know that I wasn't "that" kind of girl. It didn't bother me. Rings are symbols, that's it. He talked to my parents. We originally planned a 2 year engagement because Joe's Korean class was a year longer than my Spanish class, and we knew he had to go to Korea for a year after that. My Dad said, "Do you love each o...

I joined the Air Force on January 3rd, 1995. I had already been in college a year and a half, held 2 jobs at once and maintained a decent GPA, but God was telling me to move. I didn't know it was God. I just thought I needed to get out of my parent's house. I won't apologize. That's how I felt. When I got to basic training I immediately went to church and found them lacking a person to play the piano. I volunteered, tried out, and got the "job." It was free time away from the other 50 menstruating women that I was subjected to, and I honestly enjoyed it. There is only one piano, so I was in a pretty visible position. The choir had 30-50 people in it, depending on the Sunday. Joe was in the choir. He knew me, I knew him not. We graduated basic and, unbeknownst to me, he was in my "brother" flight, which meant we were on the same time table. We both got assignments to Monterey, California and the Defense Language Institute (DLI). He was ...

TDY= Temporary Duty We spent the first weeks of December packing up our belongings, shipping our kids to various friends' homes for their final goodbyes, and making our rounds to say goodbye to the great friends we made while there. I won't mention them all, but they know who they are and how special they are to us. We left Montgomery, Alabama on 21 December 2007. We went to Texas to visit my (Tori) family for 2 weeks. We got to Nana and PaKenny's house on the 21st, spent my birthday there with them, then drove to LaMesa, Texas to visit my brother and his family. They just moved out West and bought a beautiful, huge house. They also have a Doberman Pincher named Askim. When people say, "What is your dog's name?" my nieces and nephew can say, "Askim!" Say it out loud and you'll understand. We had a great visit and played a lot and ate a LOT. My sister in law is a great cook. I'm not jealous. :) We got back to Mom and Dad's in ...

I figured out how to do an actual "blog" thanks to my friend Abby. Joshua lost his first tooth today. He is 7 years old, so he's almost 2 full years later than his sisters in losing a tooth. Should I give him more money for holding out longer? :)

We've been in Germany for exactly 10 days now and, until today had NOT eaten any German food. Our first meal off base was McDonald's because I have a phenomenal, perfect husband who, after getting hit by a crazy German lady, decided to give me and the kids our favorite comfort food. Our 2nd meal off base was Korean food, again for the kids and a little for Joe, and our 3rd was Mexican food. I LOVE Mexican food. Mostly, these outings were due to us being famished and otherwise unable to find "real" German food. They have plenty of schnitzel stands, but we didn't want German fast food. After the snow melted, we decided to go find Real, the German version of Wal-Mart, pronounced Ree-all. It was a bust. We found it, but it was more like a giant Dollar store (quality) with Dillards prices. Anyway, we came back to our village, even though we don't live there yet, and found our landlord's restaurant. They fed us really well. Joe had the schnitzel with mushrooms a...

When we woke up this morning and opened our windows, this is what we saw. No wonder this move was so difficult and I had so many pieces of luggage! Thanks for the warning that those of you who have been to Germany told us. "It never snowed at all while I was in Germany." "It snowed a couple of times, but it never stuck." "It snowed one day on July 3rd, but that's not normal." "It only snows in North Germany, up in the mountains." "Ramstein hasn't seen snow in 3 years." HA HA HA Joke's on me, right? Fortunately, a friend of a friend let us know that it was snowing the week before we got here. That's why I had 7,856 pieces of luggage. I had to prepare for Texas winters, which are notoriously cold in the morning and around 75 in the afternoon...Florida winter, where it is a rainy 42 one day and is 82 the next...and Germany, which we had NO CLUE was going to be like this in April. Questions home schooled children ask (I...

We went to Faith Baptist Church today. The people were very friendly and the kids enjoyed their classes. A couple had us over for lunch afterwards. They have 4 girls. The 2 older ones are Caylea and Chloe's ages, and their 3rd is a tom-boy, so she and Josh got along pretty well. After lunch we went on a traditional "family" walk with them. We walked around their mountainous neighborhood into the side of the mountain where there was a play ground with lots of bugs for Chloe and Moriah to pester. Joshua and Lydia took off up the side of the mountain, which was okay since there are no leaves on the trees yet and we could see them. We took a different path back that took us through more woods and before we knew it, it was hailing. It wasn't large, by any means. It was what we Texans call "sleet." The kids thought it was snowing since it was white, but we explained to them that snow doesn't hurt when it hits your head. The funny thing is, I just bought a wint...

Okay, so I've learned a few colloquial phrases that I THOUGHT I was pronouncing correctly. I wondered why eyebrows kept being raised, but you all know me well enough to know that I just keep on keeping on until someone turns me by the shoulders and points me another way. So, I've been saying, "My name is Tori," except in German, of course, and getting those weird looks. One landlord today FINALLY corrected me and I didn't even feel sheepish. I just said, "Thank you," and moved right along. (My shoulders turn easily.) You should see my Amer-Asian husband speaking German. It's pretty funny, and my kids just follow along like ducks in a row, repeating every incorrect thing I say. They're so perfect. :) We think we have found our house in a great location...plenty of trees to climb, cows come right up to the back fence, and the streets are quiet enough for the kids to ride bikes. Now if they'll just lower their price...seriously. Renting is SUP...

We made it to Germany!!! We arrived at the airport after driving through downtown Atlanta, which was recently hit by a tornado. It looked awful, but the roads were all clear. I never ever ever ever want to live in a city that big! One of our bags was overweight, so I had to rearrange things, but we got them all on the plane without losing any bags, without running over anyone, and without losing our children. That's always an accomplishment in itself. We got on the plane after many tears with Joe's family. The kids were so excited! We were waiting to taxi away when my kids' "Please come visit me, Ms. Flight Attendant" bell and light came on. I told the kids to settle down and quit pushing buttons because they were thoroughly enjoying the wide variety of music channels on their newly found ear phones and sleep masks. The flight attendant came over, we apologized, and she went on. Well, the light went on...and the bell went on and on and on. So, I had the kids sit v...