HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I
have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the
poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I
gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails...And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
I Corinthians 13:1-8,13

In only 19 weeks our family will be on a plane heading to our new home in Wiesbaden, Germany! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. Everyone says it is beautiful there, and from what I've seen in photos.....I'd have to agree. If you read back in some of the previous posts, we were planning to move to Stuttgart, Germany a couple years back.......but that did not happen. The timing wasn't right.

Another opportunity presented itself, and we jumped on it. Unlike last time, things are right! They couldn't be better......I truly believe it was God's intention all along!

I will try to blog often to keep everyone abreast of how things are moving along......right now we are interviewing property managers because we are going to rent our home here in Maryland while we live in Germany, we have two days of briefing this month where we get bombarded with information about moving, and we need to look into new insurance and health care plans.

Each thing brings us a step closer to Germany!!!!

I'm Back! Happy Veteran's Day!

I was thinking of my old blog not too long ago, but as quickly as the thought came it was gone. Then today, I open my e-mail and low and behold Rimona wrote a comment and the ball got rolling again.

It's all kind of like dejavu. It's Veteran's Day, just about the time I originally started this blog 2 years ago. Eric and I got to spend a well deserved and much needed day out, just the two of us today.

We went to Fort McHenry today. A fitting place to go on a day to celebrate our veterans. For those of you who aren't familiar with Fort Mc Henry here's their website: http://www.nps.gov/fomc/ But basically it's the place where our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, was born. We watched a movie telling the story of the War of 1812 and all about the battle at Ft. McHenry in 1814. Then we all stood and sung the National Anthem while observing and paying our respect to the American Flag waving in the breeze outside the Fort. Then the most amazing thing happened. We went out for the ceremony where they hoisted the 60lb 15 stars and 15 stripes flag. Eric got to be a part of it all. He helped take down the 48 star flag, along with 5 other veterans, and raise the other flag. Now how many people can say that they raised and lowered the American Flag at Fort McHenry? Awesome job honey!!! You are the man!!! I'm ever so proud of you!!! It was a beautiful day and a beautiful memory. I still can't get the thought of the British General Ross that was pickled to be preserved to take him back to the UK, out of my mind. :)

To top it off we went to Fells Point and had the most delicious lunch at the BOP!!!! Whick was featured on Dinner's, Drive Ins and Dives. Delicious!!!!

Well the children should be home soon. I look forward to many more post and hope to get many new visitors.

Take Care.............

Sometimes it just isn't fair............

Okay.........time to bang the highchair (as my husband would say)!

I get all excited and nervous about moving my family to Germany and here I am........still in the US. Guess where the husband is for 3 weeks? Germany!!!! Just not fair!
I'm sure he's busy and doesn't have much time for sight seeing and such and he sure sounded tired today......(Get some sleep Honey if you are reading this). But he's not here, taking out the trash, fixing the meals and washing the dishes, washing the clothes, putting away the clothes, cutting the grass (it is Spring), taking the kids to activities and to and from school, and all the other million things that go on in everyday life here.......Oh wait a minute, most of those things I do anyway. Just a few of "the man" jobs are now my job while "the man" is away. Can you guess which ones?
So while my husband is dining out for every meal, sending his clothes to the drycleaners to be washed, walking around Frankfurt Germany or where ever his travels may take him........I only can hope that he is wishing we were there to share in the moment with him. Missing the sounds of 3 young children arguing over who's going to take their shower first, whinning because they don't want to go to bed at 9pm, and don't forget the mysterous silence when they are out of sight which when found they have managed to ransack a room and cause total distruction! I couldn't imagine not seeing them running around me asking me a million questions. I would feel lonely.

So while my husband is out being a worldly traveler, I guess it is me who is the lucky one after all.
I get to gaze at the angelic faces of the kids while they sleep (of course they take turns camping out in my bed while dad is gone) and it is me who gets all the hugs and kisses, and it is me who gets to go to Philadelphia for a day of adventure with the kids! I am the lucky one...........I am blessed. I mean that, no sarcasim. I am blessed with 3 happy, healthy children and a husband in Germany missing us.
But that eating out and laundry service sure does sound nice............. Love you honey!!! Come home safely.

Thank You......

Everyone who has been supportive and understanding during this crazy time. There are many family members and friends that are so happy to not see us go and for those who wish we were gone.........oh well!!!

I must admit that I have mixed feelings. I've come to appreciate all that I have here a little more. A wonderful home, my family, and the convience of living in an English speaking country with everything I need (and then some).

Who knows if I will ever get to travel abroad? Right now it is not financially possible. Luckily for my husband he will be able to go to Germany on business and will be leaving soon for 3 weeks. Not a fun situation for me......but good for his career and that helps the family.

Right now the kids are celebrating Spring Break, but the weather is nothing like Spring. Cold and damp. I was looking forward to doing some gardening this week with the kids, but instead my flowers are sitting in the kitchen because it was getting so cold there was frost. No early Spring planting this year.

Well wish me luck........I have applied and interviewed for a part-time job. Should hear something after the Spring Break. I'm looking forward to working in the educational field. For several reasons........Most important, is the scheduling is perfect when trying to be a full-time Mom; second, most of experience for the last 10 years has been volunteer work and substitute teaching in the classroom setting; and finally, the kids will all be in school full time this September and that extra time for me can add up to extra spending money!!!!

The other thing I'm working on is starting up my own Creative Memories business. In case you don't know, Creative Memories is the Company that helps you capture life's little (and big) stories so they can be enjoyed time and time again. It's Scrapbooking!!!! Feel free to contact me if you're interested.........there will be more in my blogs about my business.
www.mycmsite.com/christinacox

Well I need to get going...... motherly duty calls!!

No news was not good news..........

I apologize for my lack of blogging as of late.
Things have been very busy. Some days were mundane, to say the least, and some brought new experiences and revelations.

Well here goes the bad news........ We are no longer moving to Germany. We have choosen not to be in the waiting game any longer. The stress level was too high here. This was a very hard decision for us. Not done very easily. We've put a lot of time, work, and emotion into the idea and notion that we would be moving our family to Stuttgart come July this year. Now that is no longer an option.
It required a whole new train of thought to get use to the idea of moving and now I must retrain my thoughts to the idea that I am not moving. Easier said than done.
Goals were short and simple when thinking of moving. It was simple to just say purge out the things you can't take or don't want and not sign up for things that would conflict with the moving process. Now I don't have to get rid of things like foam stickers or my fishtank and Now I have to plan for summer vacation here. As much as I'd love to take the kids to Germany, we can't afford to fly a family of 5 there. It was much simplier when the employers paid for it :)

The good news, I don't have to learn German :) ha,ha,ha. I don't have to find homes for my fish and our gerbils!!! My Mom is extremely happy!! I can crop with my gal pals all I want.

So it's back to where we started. Our 11th Anniversary is coming up this Wed. I surprised the H. with a romantic get away a couple of weeks ahead of schedule because we needed it.
We had a great weekend with the kids at the circus not too long ago. We had seats really close up.....what a great time we had.

I plan to stay in touch with my blogging friends in Germany. I hope to visit there soon. If all goes well my husband will be going to Frankfurt in May for business and I will join him for a week.

Bye for now..............

Take time to smell the roses.......

Or a carnation in this case.

Just a pretty picture and a pretty thought. Reminding us to slow down and enjoy life.

Children get enjoyment from such simple things.

We can too!!!