Permanent Change of Station (PCS)

I am finally getting a few minutes to sit down and tell you about our latest adventure.  We have now moved!  I am writing this from the couch in our temporary apartment on Ramstein Air Base.  I am going to try to add some pictures to this post too, we will see how that goes.

From the beginning...
I have probably already talked about this, but it was time for Rick to reenlist and our options were not looking very good.  It was looking like he was going to have to deploy again.  As this was an option, we had come to terms with it.  Then, I met some people and we networked well enough to get him a better station.  We were offered the option to go to Landstuhl Germany.  Landstuhl was a great location, I was stationed in the area from 2007-2008 as a civilian.  The only thing we wanted to be sure of is that he was going to be stationed with the hospital.  This was more important to us than a lot of things as that would somewhat guarantee no deployment.  It was confirmed!  We got the news in late October.  Rick left for Warrior Leadership Course (WLC) November 1.  We had no time.  I started doing whatever I could, which wasn't much.  I started applying for jobs, looking for houses, and telling our friends still here that we were coming back.
Rick came home from WLC at the end of November.  He didn't have orders, so we were just waiting, and waiting, and waiting.  He did not get orders until the last week in December.  For those of you who don't know, without orders, you aren't going anywhere!  This started making me very nervous because the orders could have never come, then we would be back where we started. 
Finally, we were added to the orders on 4 January, so we could start really moving.  We met with all the people we needed to meet with and were on our way.  We set appointments up for the movers to move all our stuff, ship the Jeep, visit family, where to stay after our stuff was gone, the whole 9 yards.
The weekend before the movers came, we went home to visit our friends and family.  We decided we would leave H with our parents for 2 weeks (one week at each house).  This was very difficult for me.  I have left her for 2 weeks before, when she was 6 months old, but I didn't like it then and I didn't like it now.  The last time was because of work, this was a choice.  I am glad we did it, but is sure was hard.
We went back home and started the insanity.  We did pretty awesome though, we cleared everything on our first time, no need to redo anything.  The housing office loved us, the Jeep shippers told us our Jeep was pretty much in pristine condition, and the movers were really nice.
We said goodbye to some really great people, loaded up the Jeep and went back home.  It was a little easier to leave Knox because I was going to see my baby.
It was difficult leaving my job!  I have never had an experience like this, joblessness.  I am terrified, but I know God has it in his hands because I have asked him to.  When we moved to Knox, I was unsure of the whole thing.  I kept applying for jobs outside our organization because I didn't feel like I belonged.  When I left, I felt like I was leaving family.  I had found my spot and had become extremely effective.  I was the go to person on different subjects and I was loving it.  To go from that to the thought of being a stay at home mom (SAHM), was/is very difficult for me.
We picked H up from my parents in Madison.  This was bittersweet.  I love listening to their experiences with her and knowing how much they love her.  It was very sad to leave them knowing we wouldn't see them again for a long time.  It is always the hardest for me to say goodbye to my dad.  I cried for 20 minutes in the Jeep leaving. 
I knew that we only had a few days left.  Our sponsor got our flights changed so that we would fly into Ramstein Air Base rather than the commercial airport in Frankfurt.  I was bitter about this, but had come to terms with it and embraced the fact that we would be in country a little early.
My short trip back home was action backed.  I had to say goodbye to my best friend.  It was pretty difficult.  Her little girl Aspen is such a wonderful little lady.  I love her very much.  She was having a difficult time understanding why her mommy and Ms. Sara were crying outside.  I told Laura I couldn't go into her house, it would be too hard for me to leave.  It was pretty difficult leaving the driveway.
Then Monday I had lunch with my mom.  This was also very hard.  I started crying then too, and we were in Walmart!
Finally, the day had come.  We were leave, first from Madison.  We got on the road as scheduled, but the weather was worse than thought, so we were running very late when we got to the airport.  They held the plane for us.  It was difficult, at best, to get H's seat in correctly.  The flight attendant was wretched, and H was totally terrible.  She had been woken up from a nap, and was not liking anything I was doing. 
When we got to Chicago, we taxied for about 20 minutes, it felt like we landed in Rockford and drove the plane to OHare.  Then we had to beat feet to the next plane.  We got to the gate and walked right onto the plane.  Again with the seat!  But this time, Rick sat next to her, it was bliss.  She was pretty happy, played and laughed.  The loud noises were because she was so happy, not screaming because she was mad...whew.
When we landed in Baltimore, we had to get our bags and recheck them.  The cart thing was broken, so one of the security guards got a cart from on the sidewalk...for free!!!!
We went up to the USO and they directed us to where we could check our bags in...after that, it was time to eat!!!!  We ate at a famous local seafood place located in the airport.  It was pretty good, but everyone knows I do not eat seafood.  I do like Calamari, but otherwise, it is pretty limited.  We did get the calamari and it was wonderful, H ate about 1/2 of it!  That was pretty funny.
By the time we got done eating, it was time to go to the plane.  They load the plane 1 hour prior to departure, I thought this was crazy, but then I got on the plane.  It was the biggest plane I had even been on in my life.  This thing holds 400 people!!!  We got stuck in the kid section, but there were plenty of soldiers peppered through it. 
Terrible side story.  This couple was two rows behind us (3 soldiers in the row between) and the mom is talking about how the little girl is "pissed at me" because she wasn't letting her do x, y, z.  The dad is all mad and yelling at the kid, which just makes it that much worse.  Ugh!  After we got here, it was a little more understandable.  This little girl had fire engine red hair and was about 2.  Her parents didn't seem to really have a clue as to what to do with her, so everyone was getting frustrated.
H did wonderful on the flight...she fell asleep before we even started moving.  It was bliss.  I had to wake her up before the final decent so that she could get changed out of her PJs. 
Finally we landed...then the craziness began.  It was a big old CF (sorry, I won't spell that one out).  The whole time I was thinking about how I could get a job there to help improve the process and thus the experience.  It took us 2 hours from landing to leaving the airport with our sponsor.  This was crazy.  We were supposed to go through customs, that didn't happen.  I thought we were going to be in the holding area forever, it looked like people had been there for a long time.  Then they called Rick's last 4 (everything is run on SSNs, but they can't give the whole number, so it is just the last 4).  Praise the Lord SFC Cooper was here waiting for us!!!!!  He even brought another soldier so that we wouldn't have to make two trips.  This other guy had a carseat in his car for his kid that is only a few months younger than H.  It was funny to listen to him talk about H's seat though, it was pretty intense for him. 
We got checked into our room and found out it is actually an apartment! 
Yesterday I ran around with our friend Jutta and looked at the outsides of houses, but got a better feel for where these places are.  We have 2 appointments tomorrow to look at houses, I am pretty excited. 
Rick has had a good couple days at work and has already started proving to them how high speed and squared away he is.  I'm so proud of him.
The next post will be about H, or being a SAHM...