Germany from the Eyes of The Officer Family: September 2011

It is Saturday morning here in Germany and instead of hitting the books like a mad woman I decided to write a little, who am I kidding, A LOT! Growing up and even now I feel like it is so therapeutic to write down your thoughts, it really puts your life in perspective. I hope those reading enjoy “catching up” with our lives here in Germany and being a part of my therapy sessionJ

First I will start with the fun stuff in life. Taylor started school this week at a very small school, Aukamm Elementary. There are 7 girls in her class and 14 boys. That is a big difference for her; it seems there have always been a lot more girls in her past classes. Not to mention her teacher is a Mr., last name is Miller. He is great and has a strong history of teaching children with learning difficulties which in my mind makes him a saint. Mr. Miller has been teaching for 20 years but he only looks about 35 so he is still “cool” to the kids and so funny. I was nervous for Taylor her first day because she is very sensitive and wants to make that perfect BFF from the start of things. This explains why I was so ecstatic when I saw her skipping out the door holding a little girl’s (Hannah) hand with a smile on her face from ear to ear. Coincidently, we had met her mom and her before on the bus and they had helped us with a small cell phone crisis. At that time the girls barely even looked at each other so they didn’t even realize they had met before. Mommy has also met a few very nice friends at the school. Natalie is one of them and she has a 6 year old and 3 year old so the girls enjoy playing with them. It is a very small community here so it seems like no matter where you go or what you are involved in you will see someone you know. For instance Hannah’s dad is the coach of Taylor’s soccer team so Hannah is also on her team. Speaking of soccer, Taylor has made a phenomenal improvement in her game. Just writing about it gets me excited seeing that this may be a possible sport that she plays throughout her academic career. When Nick would coach her she didn’t really care too much about the game and I felt like we were forcing her to get out there and play. She took a couple seasons off and at practice the other day she was a different little athlete. Never thought I would use the word athlete in the same sentence as Taylor. She was hustling and dribbling the ball with intentional accuracy. I think with age and confidence she will only get better.

We decided after a lot of thought not to start Brooke in German preschool. The only reason we were really doing it was for her to learn the language. When I told her she was not going to do it she didn’t really mind but that’s just Brooke. She goes with the flow and doesn’t complain. The day after we decided this, the Strong Beginnings program on base called us and said there was an opening for part day preschool from 1-4pm Monday – Friday. I decided to try her in this since it was only 3 hours a day and this program specifically focuses on getting her ready for kindergarten at the American school. I felt this would benefit her so much more and she is so smart I want her learning as much as possible early on in life. We went to the school and met her teachers and they are both wonderful women. Also, Brooke is in soccer on Tuesdays at the same time as Taylor and she is enjoying this. For some reason Brooke has always acted older and I feel like she should be playing soccer with older kids. This week Brooke also starts Ballet on Wednesdays. She did so well in her last dance class so we are excited for this as well.

As for Nick, well he has started an extra-curricular activity as well. Nick has started coaching football for the High School team here on base. I believe his title is Varsity QB and RB coach, not sure about the second part of that but you get the point. We went to the church picnic after mass last week and met a woman and her kids in line for the food. We all ended up sitting together and fighting the bees for our food. The bees are so annoying here and they are everywhere. That is about the only reason I am looking forward to the cold weather. As we sat chitchatting she brought up that her oldest son played football and that they were looking for coaching help. I knew immediately that Nick was drooling just thinking about the opportunity. He acted all non-chalant about it, “oh maybe I would be interested”. It was funny watching him knowing that he was doing flips inside from excitement. So to make a long story short, he contacted the head coach and started coaching the next day. Actually they have their first scrimmage this morning and that is where he is now.

So everyone has all their “fun stuff” they are doing and then there is me. I just scheduled my test for the 12^th of November in Houston. Brooke and I will be flying to Houston and staying about 2 weeks or longer if possible. We have not booked our tickets yet but I am thinking around the 9th-21st or somewhere around then. With Taylor starting school and everyone’s activities it has been almost impossible to study but I am praying that once we get into a routine it will get easier. It seems as though every time I sit down the study something happens or needs to be tended to. This house is a nightmare to clean, 4 stories of delivering clothes and hauling up and down stuff. Not to mention the 4 floors and flights of stairs to rid of dog hair. Since I cant seem to relax till it is all done that means I hit the cleaning in the morning and then by the time I get to study its time for picking up Taylor from school and then to evening activities. The anxiety of passing the test is probably the worst. Everyone says, “Oh you will pass, I know you will” but no that is not the case. I have failed and tons of people fail so I will not know that I passed or failed until I get the score and neither will you. I was so desperate this morning I googled, “Life after the CPA”. It brought me to this woman’s blog that talked about how enjoyable life was now to have options. You can actually think, “What do I want to do today?” After reading about her life after the CPA I saw light at the end of the tunnel. That brought me to think, man I need to update this blog, hehe! There is not much more to me right now than the CPA exam, I know boring to say the least. I did get to meet the head football coach who we saw eating out the other night. I was wearing my UTSA shirt and he asked if I graduated from there. I told him yes and he said his son graduated from there. It turns out he graduated a year after me with a major of accounting! I am sure we had at least one class together. After that he said that he was good friends with the Director of Finance here in Wiesbaden and that he could for sure put in a good word and introduce me. That is good news for the future but I have to focus on the present.

So that is our life as we know it at this second in time. I will end this with an awesome quote from my sister’s Facebook page that I wish I had the strength to live by but I am trying.