Update

Thought I'd update on Jack. The rash is gone! :) So no need to go the dr tomorrow. We had a great weekend! Saturday we went downtown, got the boys their costumes! Oh they are going to be so cute! Jacob will be a knight (in shining armor) and Jackson will be our little Cowboy (yeehaw!). Then we went up to the castle that over looks the city (at night it's so beautiful, it's lit up...!) We then went downtown to St.Michael's Abbey/Monestary, I got some pictures there, it's so dark inside so a lot of the pictures just didn't turn out very well unfortunately, but I did a get a few good shots! They have this tomb that supposedly you rub part of it and then crawl through if you have any medical issue's it'll take them away. The boys both crawled through and I got some cute pictures (they have no medical issue's and we don't go in those types of beliefs anyways...) then we went down to The Dom (pronounced Dome) and I got some good pictures there. The main thing I wanted was of the Nativity scene. It's this huge wooden piece. During WWII of course Hitler wanted it, because of it's value. The people of the church and city knew that he wanted it, so everytime the Nazi's came through they hid it under the church/streets! It's huge and wood, so you know it's heavy and must have taken many strong men to carry this thing and they did it many times! When we got home, we had soup! I made home made vegetable soup. It was so good! Then we took the boys to the carnival after dinner. It was a lot of fun. They do it so different here than in the states. Each ride at it's own ticket booth. Not like in the states were you can go up to a ticket booth and buy say 20 tickets and those tickets work for all the rides there. The boys got to ride 3 rides alone and then we road a little roller coaster, Chad and Jacob...Jack and Me. Then we all got on the ferris wheel. From the top we could see the castle all lit up and St.Michael's Abbey...just a beautiful view. The boys passed out on the way home! Oh and we found the biggest pretzels ever there!!! Oh my gosh! Ok most American's may not know this, but American's do NOT know how to make pretzels...they just do NOT compare to Germany's! A normal German pretzel is about the same size as the one's you find in the states, although they are often a little bigger...these were about 4 American pretzel's, in ONE! Insane! We split is, between the 4 of us. Chad bought two..and we had the other one today, the 4 of us! LOL The boys love them as much as Chad and I do, and we LOVE them! LOL So anyways...

Today we went to church, came home, lunch, put the boys down for their nap, then at 4 I left for Awana (I'm the Spark's secretary so I had to be there early), Chad took Jacob at 4:30. The Sparks and T&T are in the old gym, which is about a 2 minute walk from our home, if that! The Cubbies meet at the chapel (about a 5 minute walk!). We figured with tonight being the first one of the year, it'd be a little crazy, but it wasn't! It went so smoothly. It was wonderful! The kids had so much fun, the adults had so much fun! When I was leaving the gym, Chad was just getting back from picking up Jacob and they saw me...they were all running to me (well the boys were running, Chad was smiling and walking towards me!). We took our time and walked back. The boys ran all over the place, just having a great time. We were about 1 building over from ours and they have tons of leaves on the ground, so the boys played in them running around, jumping, falling, just having so much fun. I wish I would have had my camera (next time I will!). We had to practically drag them inside, after standing out there letting them play for 45 more minutes!

On a little side note...after Chad dropped Jacob off at Cubbies, he took Jackson to the park and they played the whole time ( 1 1/2 hrs) just the two of them. This brings so much joy to my heart. For so long, Chad and Jacob would go do things together, alone, because Jack was too little/young. Chad and Jack have rarely had any one on one time, so knowing that at least for the next 2 or 3 Sunday's they will have this time together just brings me so much joy. I know that Chad will hold on to these moments. I told him when he gets back from Iraq that at least once a month he needs to take each boy individually for a day of just "Daddy and me" time. Take them to a park, for a walk...just things for them alone with each other for a few hours. Two Saturday's a month, and this will give me individual time with each boy too.

It's so important to Chad and me, that the boys have great relationship with him. They NEED him, and with him being in the Army, life can get crazy and hectic at times and doesn't always leave a lot of family time, so we have to grab onto the time we have. I've really not been thinking about it too much lately, but reality is starting to really set in that he's leaving...soon. I know that God will be with him, and that this time around his job will be a "little" "safer"..he's still going to be in Iraq and still going to be in one of, if not the most dangerous area's of Iraq, but I know that he believes and loves Christ and that I have no control over any of what's about to happen to Chad in the next year (as if I ever have control!). I know that Chad will do his best to keep himself and his soldiers safe, and that Christ will be with him every step of the way. Through all this faith, I am still human. I am still a woman, who's husband is leaving her for the next year, and I will miss him like crazy. I need him. Our children need him, the Army needs him too though. I know that the first month or so is really rough, then we'll start to get into our routine and things will get easier. He should have R&R, so he'll be home for a few weeks about half way through  his tour, which of course will mess up our routine, and saying goodbye will be that much harder (but we'll deal with that, because we will WANT him home for as long as we can have him...whether it's 1 day or 21 days...what ever the Army gives, we'll take it and recieve it with joy!).

Well, it's LATE,LATE,LATE in Germany (2:25 AM) and I better get back to bed...because Chad goes back to work in a few hours after being home for 16 days and he's sure spoiled me, letting me sleep in!

God bless