Cup of Coffee and Some Time

WOW, it has been some time since I have been on this thing. A year to be exact. I love to blog. It's nice to be able to get thoughts out of the mind and in black and white (or pink and green if you like to change font colors). I have been horrible at this. I want this blog to be something more than me spilling out thoughts. I want it to be a place where nifty ideas are born; a place where people enjoy coming. I have given some thought to putting my travel journal (lauren street) on here. I have been really bad at keeping that up to date as well, but there is still time to fix that. I guess we shall see what this evolves into. The last time I posted I had just landed a GS job at the Child Development Center on base. That as some of you may know turned out to be a flop. The money was great and most of the people I worked with were great, but it was hard working for a child care center that did not put the needs and the well being of the children first. Needless to say I left there and now I am a stay at home mom or a homemaker for those who would rather use the politically correct term. I have always said that I could not be a stay at home mom but you know what, I LOVE IT! I love waking up with my baby boy and being able to witness all the wonderful things he is beginning to do. I used to be the one updating the parents on the "new stuff" their kid did for the day, now I can't even imagine some one else telling me that my son rolled over or that he can grab his toes. I want to see it for myself! I am just thankful that we are in a situation where I can stay at home and I don't have to work. It allows me to cherish the moments even longer. Speaking of cherishing moments...time to go Greyson is awake!!!

Operation New Job

So I have begun my new job. I have been relocated and reassigned from what I was doing in the beginning. I am no longer working at the Spangdahlem CDC I have been relocated to the Bitburg CDC. I am no longer working as a preschool teacher I am now the lead in the pre-tot room. Change is GREAT. I work well with change and its never really bothered me. What I dont work well with is chaos and chaos seems to be what they call "in-processing." You would think it would be easy to go from building to building getting a piece of paper signed and filling out needed information but apparently for me its not. I dont know why but for some reason I cant seem to get this in-processing thing together and it makes me want to pull my hair out. There seems to be a lack of communication between the offices and squadrons and this seems to be the true root of the problem. Hopefully soon all this will be finished and I can just go to work everyday and spend time with my kids and have a fun day.

Pledge Of Allegiance Controversy Brings 'Hateful' Threats - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Pledge Of Allegiance Controversy Brings 'Hateful' Threats - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

This bothers me.

Im not saying it bothers me because of the town its taking place in (though its noted), and it doesn't bother me that people are sending hateful emails. What bother's me is the comments that people are posting below the article. I work with children everyday on an American Air Force Base. Everyday at 5:00 pm our national anthem is played and in my classroom 3 or 4 of my children will "stand at attention" just like they see their moms or dads do. This is out of respect for our Nation. This is a moment that we can take everyday and remember those who have died for our country. My children, who by the way are between the ages of 3 and 5 years old understand this. These 3 or 4 children in my classroom do not understand why the other children do not stand at attention when the anthem is played. They will tell the other children to stop playing and stand with their little hands over their hearts or straighten their bodies and bring their hand up to salute the flag of the United States. You may say "they do not understand what they are doing. They are only copying what they see the other Airmen are doing." I say your wrong. When these children understand that there are their daddy's and mommy's are gone for months "fighting the bad guys who want to hurt America," or that the "Fourth of July is America's birthday" they are capable of understanding the meaning behind saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

The lack of people willing to stand up for our nation is scary. Our nation as a whole no longer teaches our children to be proud Americans. In some school systems you get sent home for wearing the American flag on your shirt because it "offends someone." Why do we think this is okay? A country that feels like it needs to apologize for existing is a weak country.

Living in Germany and seeing true places of history has made me realize even more how much of a baby country we are. Every super power in the world has fallen. Germany has fallen and the people of Germany are just now beginning to be proud of their nation again. Thats huge compared to how long ago the "war to end all wars" was. Is it time for the super power that is the United States to fall? Will there be enough patriotism left to build her back up? If we do not begin to teach our children about the United States and the beautiful history of her beginnings how are we supposed to carry on her legacy?

Do not tell me that children do not understand the Pledge of Allegiance. That is a bunch of CROCK!!! This has nothing to do with politics this is all about America.

Changes...FAST Changes

Oooookay so as most of you already know I have landed a GS 5 position with the CDC. This I am very excited about. I will get to do what I love. I will be the lead teacher in a room (not sure of what age yet) and hopefully have a team of wonderful people to work with. I say hopefully because I dont have a clue as to who I am working with. I will be transferring from Spangdahlem to Bitburg. This is the part that makes me a little nervous. The other part thats kinda crazy is they want me to do all this by the 6th of July. I just received an email that I have to give my current supervisor my notice and fill out the paper work by the 29th of June so that i can in process by the 6th of July. CRAZY FAST considering most people I have talked to said that it took them about a month to get into the system. I am cool with all of it its just happening alot faster than i had anticipated. On top of all that I am nervous that my leave I got approved at Spangdahlem wont carry over to Bitburg. It is along time but we dont take leave that often and its for family sooooo it better get approved or I will be one angry person. Anywho we are grilling out right now and I am sunburnt after a long but fun day at the Lux Air Show in Bitburg.

And the verdict is...

Soo Chris and I have decided to stay in Germany for the extra year. I have already told the parentals and they are upset but they also understand why we are doing it. I really think this will be better for us both. It gives us more of an opportunity to do things that most people only dream of doing. I know that I will be fine wherever we go. Im a pretty adaptive kinda girl but I will say this, the only thing I am absolutely dreading about our extension is another winter here :( Missing family, I can fix because they are always a plane ride away but I am not related to Mother Earth and therefore I cannot convince her to keep winter at bay while I am here. Thats where we are right now. June 2012 is our new return date. Thanks everyone for your input on this. You all have helped me to feel better about the decision. Especially those of you who have been through this sorda thing before.

Movein on...or not

Well as you know chris and I have about a year left here in Germany. Today Chris received his extension paper work which would allow us to stay here one year longer. Come let us weigh the pros and cons together

Pros

• Finances
• GS Job
• Travels
• We are in a central location to go ANYWHERE we want
• Because of the financial positives we can save money so that we can buy a house
• Easier to receive scholarship money
• Finish degree (yes i can do that in the states but it is cheaper for me to do it here)

Cons

• Gone from family
• Gone from friends
• Cold weather

As you can see the pros outweigh the cons logically. It just sucks to be away from family that long. Although, this gives family and friends a better opportunity to come for a visit to Germany!! *hint hint

Soooo anyway give me your opinions please :)

I cant sleep so I am going to have a word spewing :)
I still have not heard anything about the job that I applied for. I am going to go with the safe bet and say that I didnt get it so I applied for two more positions. At this point I really want to get into the system so that I can have a sound job when I get back to the states. It seems like I always have problems finding a job anywhere we go and THAT is stressful. I know that once I finish my degree things will get better it's just getting to that point that has been so bad. One of the jobs I applied for is at the Red Cross and the other is an office clerk for the Child Development Center. I guess we will see what happens :)
The next couple of weeks will be a little stressful around the Holt household. The base is undergoing a major inspection and so looooong hours are ahead, definitely for Chris and possibly for me too. We both are looking forward to the four-day weekend we get in July :). I think we are going to try to go to Berlin. I looked up tickets to fly and it would only cost us 56 euros. We have not seen Berlin yet and that is a definite must before we leave Germany. We would like to go to Egypt again but I dont know if money will allow for that to happen. I am hoping that a certain friend of mine will be able to make it out to see me before we leave here now that it is less than a year.
Speaking of less than a year. We are trying to figure out where we would like to go next. I want a warm sunny climate. Something like guam, florida or south carolina. I have been looking at the Charleston area and so far have liked what I see. If i get one of these jobs we may opt to stay overseas a little longer since we both will be making a good amount of money.
Well I guess thats all I have to stay. Thought I would write more than that. Peace.