As October begins....

It's been a busy couple of weeks here. Since we arrived in Germany, we knew contract negotiations were going to take place. We had been told that the contract Steven was hired for would conclude at the end of December, 2012. That date kept getting pushed and we heard that we were good to go until the end of December this year. Things have changed again.

General Dynamics is bidding on the contract Steven's on right now with at least 11 other companies. In the last two weeks Steven has been told to update his resume and to apply for as many other GD positions as he can. His fellow co-workers have done the same thing. Some of them have already found other employment. One has decided to go to Bahrain in the Middle East for three months and he owned a 2010 Jeep that he needed to sell quickly. You may not know this about me but I've wanted a Jeep for a long time. We've owned two of them since Steven and I have been married. One we had when Maya was about two. We didn't keep it for long because it was older and hard to maintain. The second one we bought from Steven's brother, Pete. It was a much nicer one, but Steven began rebuilding it and we wound up selling it off piece by piece. Steven has always claimed that he needed to clear his Jeep karma. We even thought about buying a new one for a while but they're so expensive we decided not to. Well, we have one now.

It's a pretty one, too, and only four years old. We got a really good deal and the kids are excited about it. Steven says it's mom's toy, but dad's going to have a lot of fun playing with it.

As far as the job stuff goes...We have no idea where we'll end up. Steven's applied to all sorts of openings...a lot of them here in Germany, some of them in England...and a few of them in the states as well. I am thinking positively...that's kind of just what I do. Steven's got important certifications, he's an excellent employee with skills that employers need and want. He's got a lot of people offering to give him references and we don't require some of the things his other co-workers receive from General Dynamics, mainly the $20,000 a year per kid for DoDDs schooling. Things are going to get a bit crazy here for us in the next few weeks. The companies were all supposed to have their bids in by yesterday and Steven's been told there will be a quick turnaround. We'll be hearing something any day now. Steven's already had quite a bit of feedback from managers on other contracts. It's going to be chaotic, but I know whatever happens, it will be okay. 

The view of one of my favorite roads from the passenger's side of the Jeep.

Hohenecken with the church and the castle above it.

Scott has made a new friend in the last few days. Her name is Nadia. She's nine and she lives up the street. She and her family just moved in a couple of weeks ago. Her mom, Lina, was born in Germany, but spent a good deal of her adolescence in Africa and also in a boarding school in England. (Her parents now live in Ethiopia.) Nadia's dad is in the Air Force. She was born here in Germany and they lived in Hohenecken, which is the village pictured above. They also lived for a while in San Antonio, Texas. Lina mentioned Okinawa, Japan, too, but I'm not sure where that fits in. It's early days yet, but both Nadia and Lina seem like very nice people. I'm hoping we might be able to stay put so that she and Scott can have a chance to build a friendship.

Fall is approaching...

We all went and got flu shots on Monday. Steven came out of the experience without anything exciting to report. Maya and I wound up with sore, red arms and poor Scott got sick. He was feeling yucky Monday night and then woke up on Tuesday with a fever. He's still not 100% today, but he's shaking it off. Darn flu shots.

Church in Horbach

The government shut down has been interesting. It has effected a great number of people on the base, but things have still been pretty normal for us so far. The libraries are closed, which is not a good thing, but we are just waiting to see what happens just like every other American family.

Driving into Linden from Horbach

Steven is pretty awesome. He went back to Mannheim this morning to take the second part of the Microsoft test...and he passed! Not only did he pass but he got a better score on the this one than he did on the first. YAY!  Once and done. I'm so proud of him. He's got his Microsoft Certification! We might have to open a bottle of wine with dinner tonight to celebrate.

We are taking care of Elfie and Kurt's mail and newspapers while they are off enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris this week. I tried to get them to let me tag along...but it was a no go. Steven is off for a week beginning Saturday, though. I'm hoping for a trip to Würzburg, Germany. It isn't exactly Paris, but I'm still really excited to go.

I am charging up the camera batteries and hope to get some fall pictures of the kids. Autumn is arriving and it is beautiful around here.

Hope your October has kicked off in a grand fashion. We'll keep you posted about where we might end up next.