S I X month milestone

It's been just about six {6} full months now that we've lived here in Germany. Six. I can't decide if I want to say, "Wow- six months already?" or "Geez, this has been the longest six months e v e r." I met a mom this weekend who gave me some good insight. She said in figuring out how long it takes to get your feet firmly on the ground- double the amount of time a normal move takes to get settled. Makes sense. This place may be beautiful {in the Spring and Summer} but, wow- it's tough on newbies.

I feel like we might finally be getting in a groove and figuring this place out. Not without a lot of tears and growing pains. I hope one day to look back and see how much we have learned and grown personally.

It it always a little {or a lot} comforting to hear others say how hard it is to adjust here. More than anything, it helps me to not feel like I've lost my mind.

Looking back on this last six months, even if we started off slow- we have been a little busy. We haven't had our first big trip, but we have taken a handful of day trips and are excited for more. We've almost made it through the school year and a great track season. We've figured out how to pay all of our bills- might sound minor, but I'm putting it on my list so I can have one more thing to check off. While we don't completely have our bearings and still use our GPS to find places, we are slowly figuring things out.

I think more than anything, Jim's job has kept him busy. He's made two trips back to the US {Texas and Alabama} with a side-trip to Illinois. He's been to Paris once and is heading back in a few weeks. Plus, two full weeks in Croatia. That's a lot of traveling alone in six months for a guy who doesn't normally have to travel. On top of this and a few other big tasks at work, he's back in school.

He made the plunge to get going on his Master's Degree. We figured in the time we're here, it's a good time to get it wrapped up. He's enrolled in the Graduate College of the University of Oklahoma. Here, they send over professors from Oklahoma and with work assigned before the class even begins, they fit a class into one week.

One long week.

Jim finished his first class, going Monday through Friday- four hours each evening. Then, all day Saturday and Sunday along with a couple tests he completed from home. Not a fun week, but he did it... and got an A. Needless to say, I am quite proud. We always thought I'd go back for my Master's degree first. After watching him go through his class, I am a little less anxious to get started. I think I'm just fine waiting a little while longer.

One down, eleven classes to go.