Reflection on my tour in Germany

This is my third tour as a Overseas Military Services Coordinator and I have to say Germany is a really busy sight!  I absolutely loved Okinawa, I was busy there, but not too bad.  I worked with some really wonderful people In Okinawa.  United Kingdom was good, I got a do a lot of traveling all over England with my job which was really nice.  On weekend, I traveled to Rome, Dublin, Amsterdam, Scotland, Wales, and Belgium.  Germany is a different story!  I am traveling a lot during the work week with briefings all over the country and in Belgium and the Netherlands!  Not to mention when I travel, I maybe gone a week at a time and have briefings, four of those five days.  Also, the Army schedules TAP briefing (4 hours) and DTAP briefing (2 hours).  That makes for a long day.  But, just like every country and every base that I have visited, I have met some wonderful people.   Germany is certainly no exception.  The service members here in Germany have been so nice!  With all the briefings that we are doing weekly, I can certainly see that the military is downsizing.

I have been so fortunate in my VA career to travel all around the United States, Okinawa, United Kingdom and Germany.  I am thankful for every moment that I have gotten to experience something new and exciting.  I never dreamed when I started working for the VA Medical Center on April 4, 1980, that I would have such a fulfilling career.  I am so proud to be able to say that I have helped a lot of service members, veterans and their spouses and children.  My motto when I first started with the VA is still the same after 33 years, I want to treat veterans, service members and their families the way that I wanted my Dad to be treated!  Daddy alway thought I could get anything done when it came to the VA.  Fortunately, Daddy was like me and believed that you should treat people the way that you want to be treated, so he always got really good service at the VA.  Did I have anything to do with that?  He thought so,  and maybe I did, but it sure made me feel special him thinking that I could do it all!

My career of helping veterans is certainly my way of saying THANK YOU, for your service and for all that you have done for our country.  And thank you to the spouses, children and parents that have supported our service members and veterans!

Wilhelma Zoo, Stuttgart, Germany

Traveling to various military bases in Germany give me a great opportunity to see all the sights in and around the base.  I had a briefing the first week of July in Stuttgart.  Stephen, Jennifer and Morgan all went with me.  We stopped at the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart.  It is a very nice zoo.  If you ever think the admission fee from the Little Rock Zoo is expensive, just listed to this, for three adults and one child it was 49 euros.  In case you didn't realize that is $65.00 in US dollars!   Oh well, it was great.  We got to watch them feed the sea lions.  They also had a feeding and bathing the bears.  There was a fun obstacle course at the zoo that Morgan enjoyed playing on.  I didn't get too many pictures because I dropped my camera and all the pictures were a big blur.  Thank goodness the camera is working now.

Where have I been?

OK, I got the messages....you're right I have been to busy to post.  A great deal of traveling and briefings for work, then fitting as much as possible into my outside of work time!  So, let me see what all have I done since I last posted?  Stephen and I went with Jennifer and Morgan on a RTT tour "Paris Premium", it was great.  Morgan was so excited to see the Eiffel Tower.

My little princess in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

As you can tell from the photos it was cool in Paris, not cold, but cool.  I think that weekend was the last time I have felt cool air.  It has been unusually hot in Germany this summer.  I am certainly used to the hot weather in Arkansas, but I am also used to the air conditioner.  There is very little air conditioning in Germany.  Even on the base there is no air conditioning.  The best solution I have found other than taking a cool shower is get in the car and drive around!  Everyone keeps saying enjoy it will only last a couple of weeks, then we will be wishing for warm weather again.

Let the company begin!

Stephen, Jennifer and Morgan arrived on June 26th!  It is so great to see them!  Stephen is staying until September 4th.  Dusty arrived on July 4th, Jaime and James West will be coming on July 11th, Jonathan will arrive on July 18th.  Jennifer, Dusty, Morgan, Jaime and James will all leave on July 23rd.  Jonathan will leave on July 31st.

Just found out today that Angie and Billy, my good friends from Eclectic, Alabama, will arriving on July 31st, to stay until August 27th.  Stephen and I will be going to Rome from August 31 - September 2nd.  Stephen will leave to go home on September 3rd.  My friends Sylvia and Butch will be arriving around September 5th to stay until about September 26th.  I should not get bored!  My weekends will continue to be filled with travel and fun!  I have explained to everyone the regretfully, I am getting paid to work during the week, so they will all be on there own!  Stephen and the kids seems to have a full agenda!  I expect that when Angie and Billy are here, they will keep Stephen busy also!

Since Stephen and I will not be at home to celebrate Morgan's birthday with her, her present was here waiting on her.  Sage - her American Girl Doll.  Together they are two American Girl's in Germany!

Morgan has already met her first friend - the neighborhood cat!

In Germany everyone takes their dog everywhere!  Morgan absolutely loves that.  At least once a day I hear her say that she wishes I would have brought Jazmin with me!

She also made friends with Elke's "eaglet"
which after our visit to the zoo in Stuttgart, we have determined is a hedgehog!

Rothenburg od der Tauber

I had a briefing in Ansbach, which is about 45 minutes from Rothenburg, so naturally I had to stop for a tour!  Rothenburg is an awesome little village, such a well preserved medieval town.  There is a very famous clock there, but of course my luck, it is being renovated!  But, I did take some great photos!  I sat at an outdoor cafe (which were everywhere!) and had a cup of iced coffee, it was wonderful - it was made with coffee and ice cream! Yum, yum!

This is the "gateway" into the city.

The building as so beautiful!

The buildings have these neat little name signs hanging outside of them.

The architecture is beautiful!

Elke's 50th Birthday Party

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Elke's 50th Birthday Party at the park by our house.  It was a lot of fun!  Well, from what I could tell it was fun!  There were a few people there that spoke English!  A great deal of the time I didn't know what was being said, but that was alright - I could tell everyone was  having a great time!

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Elke's daughter got her this autographed poster of her favorite German singer.
It said "Happy 50th Birthday Elke"

You can't tell from the photo, but Elke is wearing Depends adult diaper and a large bib while maneuvering
around an obstacle course in her wheelchair.