Ramblings...

I attended my first spouse meeting tonight and it was great to meet the ladies of the 6th. They're a fun group and very comfortable with one another and seem to enjoy each other's company very much so I'm excited to get involved with them as much as I can while still keeping my husband and my boys my top-most priority. I was so glad to have met a gal that attends a church I was told about in Germany (Crossroads) by someone that had just moved from here to there and am ecstatic because they do Ladies' Bible Studies all year long. They are 1/2 way through an Elizabeth George Bible study that I already have the books for (but are in HHG's so not available till we an get our stuff once we have our house) and was planning on doing myself (and still will have to it seems) but they will be tackling a Beth Moore study when this one finishes so I look forward to signing up for that and also getting involved in their Mothers Of Preschoolers program as soon as I can.

This base also has a "Teddy Care" program at the HUGE hospital which is a volunteer program of moms and others going into the hospital and providing appt. care at the hospital for people with appointments and I feel like that is something I am being "called" to try to get involved in. It would be a great way to meet new people and to be of service. They are also talking of getting something like that set up for the fitness center on base and so I could do either or both depending on what sort of committment they are looking for. These were my 2 CHIEF aggravations when I lived in Germany. To go to my OB appts., I had to try to schedule "appointment care" with the Landstuhl CDC (Child Dev. Center) as children were "discouraged" from OB appts. I felt that was rather ironic given the circumstance that led me to attending the appt. in the first place would eventually lead to the birth of A CHILD!

AND, after having said kiddos, it was very frustrating to me to try to use the Northside Fitness Center at Ramstein that had a "Mom and Pop" room which was comprised of 2 treadmills, 3 Elipticals, a Stair-stepper, and an incomplete set of weights with a "special" boxed off area for your child to scream at you while you tried to work off that baby weight that the little bugger caused you to gain in the first place!

So now I get to this base and VOILA! They have exactly the programs I was itching for at Ramstein and Landstuhl. If that's not a big ole' "You ASKED for it!" from the Big Guy, I don't know what is. Thank you Lord, now please put down that 2x4 because, amazingly, I've gotten the message! I'm pretty thick-skulled, but I don't think He could make it any clearer and I'm just sorry I'm such a difficult and unruly sheep for Him to tend to, but I'm forever grateful that He faithfully keeps me in His flock no matter how far I stray.

So, I'm going to see what I can do to get involved with the 'Teddy Care' program as I'd LOVE to be a help where I've needed it so desperately myself before, but haven't had it really--well, once dear SWEET Kathy Lewton left me all alone in Germany last year--and also I know I'll be having to partake of this as Vin will get deployed once he's trained up and I have no delusions that I can go 10+ weeks of him being gone without having some medical "incident/emergency" and I'll certainly take advantage of the Fitness Center's program once they get that started. A program like this only works if it has people/bodies helping out. It's a cooperative effort and if I'm going to use it, I need to be willing to help out too.

Now pick yourself up off the floor Kathy L. and know that you've rubbed off on me in that now I DO like kids--not just my own! No, seriously, get up and dust yourself off because, frankly, it's embarassing. jk! Luv ya.

So other than FINALLY finding some things to be excited about, and the potential of being a homeowner which I'm still "on the fence" about my level of enthusiasm, things are pretty normal.

Love to all,

Shannon:)