Suesse's New Hair Do!

I guess it's that time of the year. Everyone needs a good summer cut...even dogs. Suesse got her summer cut and is really back to looking like a puppy. I always say I like when she has a short hair cut because everyone thinks she is a puppy and then they just excuse her bad behavior and say "she's just a puppy."
Suesse is looking super pretty getting ready for Kyle to return. He should be back home within the next couple of weeks! I can't believe that this deployment is coming to a close! YIPEE!!!

Happy Independence Day

Yesterday with my friends Lacey and Fran we went over to Kessler Field and watched the USO Seven Dust concert. After the show we watched a few of the fireworks and headed home.
I am so thankful to have such great friends to go and do stuff with. This deployment would have been really difficult if not for them.

Is it REALLY July?

This is the month I have been waiting for!
This month Kyle is going to return, and hopefully sooner than later!!!
I can't believe that in about the last 14 months, I have only seen Kyle a total of 18 days. (14 months is about 430 days...talk about a long time) Before Kyle came home for his 18 days of Rest and Relaxation in May we had not seen each other in a year.
I look forward to his return and having at least a year together before he takes off again.
Please keep him and the other soldiers in your prayers as they prepare to come home...if I can excited I can only imagine how they are feeling!

Time for some rest!

Beth at the Brandenburg Gate
At part of the Berlin Wall. (Please excuse my happy face and great hair, it was rainy, humid, and windy)

Well, the travelling is complete...at least for now. Tomorrow I hop on the train with Jill to the Frankfurt airport and she is headed back home to Washington. We spent the weekend doing a whirlwind of a trip in Berlin. It was a crazy weekend, between Gay Pride and the EuroCup 2008.
Today we are pretty much just relaxing and going out for dinner. I think we deserve a day of rest. After Jill takes off I have a week until the a parents arrive, and then sometime VERY soon, the husband will also be coming home. I can't wait!!!

A Crazy Week

Things have been crazy the last week. Jill flew in on Wednesday, June 18th. Since then I have thrown a baby shower for Lacey, driven to visit Wurzberg, Garmisch, Linderhof Castle, Neuschwanstein, Dachau, and Munich. It has been nuts. Tomorrow we are jumping on the train and doing a day trip in Rothenburg then we are off to Berlin on Friday for a couple of days. It is crazy but we are having a great time.

Anything But Cleaning

Well, I am getting ready for Jill to come and visit. I really hate cleaning and will do anything to get out of it.
Today, I convinced myself that before I did the floors I needed to give Suesse a bath. This was a really thorough bath. It included an ear cleaning and a good brushing of the teeth. I must say, that getting her ear cleaned and her teeth brushed are two of her least favorite things. I was having to pry her mouth open and put my hands in her mouth to brush her teeth. She knows that if fingers/hands are in her mouth she can't bite down so it is really the only way to clean her teeth, but man, it was really difficult to get my fingers in there, she as a strong jaw and was determined not to open up. But, this dog has had some nasty breath, so a good brush was the only way!
Now that the bath and torture is over she is sitting her licking herself like a cat. I keep telling her I just cleaned her and to knock it off, but she does not listen.
Suesse's bath time, is always a time for me to remember just how much I miss Kyle. He is usually in charge of the dog's bath...it is more of a shower when he is home. I would never get in the shower with the dog, but he takes full advantage of it and takes a shower himself, so not only do I come out with a clean dog, but a clean husband as well. I am usually just laughing because it is funny to see the dog and Kyle taking a shower together.
I included a picture just to show Kyle that I do bathe the dog when he is away and to prove she survived.

Happy Father's Day

Well, once again I have been a slacker when it comes to gifts for my dad. His birthday is June 2, and today is Father's Day and both days he is ending up without gifts from me. Whoops, sorry dad. I guess this just means that I will need to find something really amazing for him while he is here in Germany visiting in a couple of weeks. But, Dad always says that calling him is the best gift, so I guess maybe I will just call him. ;)
Today I have thinking about my dad. I feel very fortunate to have such a loving and caring father. Someone who I can call and talk to anytime, someone who will always be there for me. My dad calls me a lot in the evenings (which is morning for him) while he is driving from farm to farm, and usually it is just to chat. I really appreciate that he thinks of me and calls. I also appreciate his listening ear and great advice.
I appreciate that my Dad brought my brother, sister and I up in a God-centered home. I loved that we ate dinner together around the kitchen table every night. I love that he was always there at every sporting event, I always knew that if I looked out in the crowd mom or dad were going to be there.
I love my Dad and thank God for him. Kyle and I hope that one day we can be as great parents as mine for been for me.
Oh yes...I discovered that my dad and I need to have a real picture taken of the two of us. The one of just the two of us was taken at Christmas, we stole my sisters camera and wanted to take a silly pictures of ourselves. The other one was taken before Kyle and I moved to Germany and was taken by a 4 year old, Ezra.

Summer Vacation

It's finally here...Summer Vacation. I can't believe that I just finished my first year teaching. At times I wasn't so sure I would survive, but I made it. I look forward to a new class and a new school year. However, in the meantime you can be sure that I am going to enjoy my summer vacation. I also realized what a great career this is, I get the entire summer free!!!
My summer is full of excitement. On Tuesday my friend from back home Jill will be visiting until July 2nd. Together we will be travelling all throughout Germany. My parents will then arrive On July 8th. We will be spending about a week in Germany, then a week in England to visit family. My parents will be leaving back to Washington on July 22nd. I am not sure I will be joining them to England as this is right around the time Kyle will be coming home, only time will tell. However, if I don't get to go with them, Kyle promised to take me.
It is crazy, I can't believe that Kyle is coming home! I am so excited, we are looking forward to having some quality time to spend together before I go back to work in August!
ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

And more R&R Pictures

While on R&R Kyle and I took a hike. It was foggy and rainy but we hit the trail anyways. The fog made for some awesome pictures. This will probably be the last of the R&R pictures...I just tired to pick out a few of the best. I have many pictures to share with those who are interested.

Chiemsee Pictures

Here are some more pictures from R&R. This is from Chiemsee. This lake is known as the Bavarian Sea. It was beautiful and we had a great time.

Irony

Last night I went to the play And the Came for me, Remembering the World of Anne Frank, which is written by James Still. It was a production put on by the community theatre on post. I was invited by the school counselor to attend with her and I had nothing better to do and thought I had nothing to lose. When I agreed to go, I knew nothing about the play.
Schweinfurt was a community that the Nazi's governed over and the US military post here was where they had their facilities. The Abrams Center, which has a small theatre in it, was where the play was held. Back during the WWII era this was a Nazi officers club.
So here I am sitting in a former Nazi's officer club, watching a play about the holocaust with Eva Geiringer Schloss, Anne Frank's step sister who is a survivor of the Holocaust and also in attendance were German's and Americans.
I really didn't realize the irony in all of this until I got home and was talking about the play with my family. I hope that this is one of the many unique opportunities I have while living here in Germany.

Silly Story

Kyle said that I posted embarrassing stuff about him, and that I needed to post some embarrassing stuff about myself on here. So, this is my attempt, I will be sharing a story of how it happened through my eyes, and then how it happened through Kyle's eyes. At the end of the story you will see two videos of what happened, I will let you decide who is seeing things correctly.

Beth's Story:
Kyle and I took a row boat on Chiemsee lake. Once we got got a ways from shore Kyle decided that he needed to throw our dog Suesse in. I wasn't necessarily pleased with this and didn't understand why she couldn't just ride along, and had to be thrown in. But, Kyle much to my dismay threw Suesse in the lake. I was watching her and laughing having a good time until she started going under. I informed Kyle in my calm voice that Suesse was drowning and he needed to pull her out. He couldn't reach her, so since she was drowning he had to jump in a save her. He was such a hero.

Kyle's Story:
Beth and I took a boat on Chiemsee Lake. Once we got a ways from shore I decided that Suesse needed to cool off and take a swim. She is a dog and she can swim. Beth thought this was a dumb idea and didn't want me to do it, but I did it anyways. Besides, if she didn't like it she would get over it. I threw Suesse in and I was so proud of her, she was such a great swimmer. Beth in the meantime is freaking out and screaming that Suesse is drowning. You must understand that Beth can't even see Suesse, the dog is behind the boat out of her view. I can see her, and Suesse was really doing just a fine job, she is an awesome swimmer. I ask Beth to calm down and told her Suesse would be fine, but being the stubborn person she is she was determined that Suesse was going to die. That of course would have been all my fault. So in all the frantic she was causing I jumped in with all my clothes, shoes, and wallet. Suesse really scratched me up and it was all for nothing, she did not need my help. Also, Beth was so frantic in her screaming that other boats came over to make sure everything was okay.

Video One:
Event one...is Beth really frantic or just informing Kyle Suesse is going down? You can see that this is when Kyle jumps in to save her, but sorry you mostly just see my feet in all the action


Video Two:
After the camera had been turned off in all the action, Beth is laughing/crying at her hero and dog...everyone is so happy. Notice the boat is going farther away from them, the dumb boat would not go the direction I wanted!!!

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday was the day I have been dreading for the last 18 days. Kyle headed back to Afghanistan yesterday afternoon. Luckily it is only for a couple more months. I kept trying to remind myself that it wouldn't be long until he was home again, but it really didn't make saying goodbye any easier. It was a long and lonely trip home from the airport. However, I was kept company by an old couple from Toronto on the train. They were very confused and having all sorts of troubles with their travels, and I did my best to help them, but I wasn't really in a helping mood.
Today it was back to work for me. I am definitely ready for summer, my classroom is a sauna. The exciting news is that my principal informed me last week that I will continue in Kindergarten next year. Kindergarten isn't my first pick for grades to teach, but I guess there is never a dull moment, and it keeps me on my toes. Plus I get to move across the hall to the cool side, so that is good news!
I am posting a couple pictures of Kyle before he left. Don't mind me, I am a sad girl in the picture, but Kyle is still smiling. He forgot a smaller bag to put his stuff in, so he took my shopping bag out of my purse. I called it his "man purse" he looks very cute with it.

I realize the one thing that I miss most about Kyle is the laughing. When I am with him, I am always laughing. I got to laugh really hard one day during leave due to his stupidity. He was home alone while I was at work, so I never really knew what I would find when I walked through the door. One day he was using LED lights and very strong magnets and putting them in ice cubes. While we were sitting on the couch that evening he was showing me just how powerful his magnets were. He could put one on one side of this arm and another on the other and they would still pull towards each other. Since he found success on his arm, he then began putting the magnets on his face. He put one on the left side of this cheek, then one of the right side of his check and was amazed that the magnets were pulling towards each other. It was all fun and games until the magnets started pulling towards each other and came together in the front of his face, smashing his lip in the middle. When they fell off his lip, I was laughing hysterically when I hear him say "Beth, am I bleeding?" Sure enough Kyle's lip was split open, it actually looked more like it exploded. This caused me to laugh even harder...I am not a nice person, I didn't even offer him ice or something to help the bleeding, I just laughed. His lip looked awful the rest of leave. He came on the field trip with my class to the wild park and he started hiding his lip because of all the questions he was being ask. I just wish I got it all on video tape...I cannot explain just how extremely funny this was, but hopefully you can get an idea. Oh Kyle...got to love him!!!

Saying Goodbye to Suesse

Sad and trying to smile at the airport