Getting Settled

It's been three months and then some since I first arrived to Germany as a newlywed. It's truly felt like one big honeymoon and every time I leave my apartment and walk down the winding streets of downtown I have to pause and say, "wow, I really am living here."

And living we've been doing indeed. Over the past several weeks, we have been getting more and more settled in Wiesbaden. It's no longer some place I'm going to hang out in for a few months, but it's starting to be a home. We have found a great church with amazing friends, and I have gained new independence by obtaining my driver's license. That's right - I passed the test with flying colors and now only need a car to get out on the open road. Although it's very easy to get around here without a car, as I can't drive Jon's manual car (nor would I want to drive a SUV in the city), I really want to get a small car to tool around in. I'll keep you updated on the real "beauty" that I end up getting. Although my sights are set on a yellow mini cooper with a white top and racing stripes, I don't think that's going to happen.

Back to our new friends, we have been attending Immanual Baptist Church here in Wiesbaden where we've met some other Americans and some fantastic Aussies from Melbourne. The pics are at a pot luck dinner we had after church two weeks ago to welcome our new interim minister from North Carolina. I somehow got roped in to help out with the praise team and a Gospel concert coming up soon, but I'm happy to get involved with something I like doing.

It's been strange to stay in town for the past three weekends in a row, but it's been great to be around here and take part in the fabulous wine fest downtown, just 200 meters from our building. The festival was a two-week long party with over 100 different Riesling wine tents with products grown in the wine region within an hour of Wiesbaden. They had several music stages and we had a blast going there often with friends from Jon's work, the Aussies, or even just the two of us. I was sad to see the festival end on Sunday, but as it's Germany, there will be another festival around the corner - next week actually.

We've been on the go so much that it's been really great to be in town on the weekends and completely relax, be productive, or run 16 miles on Sundays. Yes, Jon and I are officially training for the Athens Marathon that will be in....., Athens (go figure), Greece on Nov. 4th. We have both been intrigued by this marathon as it is THE original marathon and what better time to run it when we're already in Europe. Plus, the training here in August and September is in quite milder weather than running in the insane heat and humidity in Texas.

Last Saturday night, some of the squadron wives had a ladies night for a farewell celebration for two of the wives moving back to the States. It was a night filled with dancing a lot of laughs and an overall outstanding time. I realized how much I missed my time with just the gals and we hope to have get-togethers like that a lot more often. Of course I would like most of all to have a get-together with all my amigas in the States, but that will come soon enough. Hopefully I've caught you up on some of our happenings lately. I miss you all and hope the final days of your summer are fantastic!