Light at the end of the tunnel.....

Well, we're hoping we're looking at the light at the of the "crazy caterpillar" tunnel, and moving at warp speed!  We were "cleared" to enter our quarters yesterday, for the first time in a long time!  The German "haz-mat" team came through and decontaminated the outside and inside of the house, as well as searched the trees within a certain radius of our home (though I've never been able to find out "how far" they're looking).  I do know, however, that they found several more nests of caterpillars in nearby yards, which they quickly removed!

So, after packing up our hotel, we headed out with the kids, cat and dog, back to our home!  Oh, how sweet it was!  Once we walked inside, we found all of our clothing on either hangers (already hanging in the closets) or nicely folded (and washed) in boxes, in our living room!  It was like Christmas, as the kids searched for "their" blankets and clothes- though another set of pajamas was on the top of everyone's list, as we have used the same set for our entire stay in the hotel (with many washings, of course)!

After our first night, we woke up with just a "few" spots on us today, from the caterpillars, but we're balancing the thoughts of it being in our quarters versus being in the neighborhood, church, VBS playground, etc.  Since we don't have many, and no one has broken out in a full-body rash, we're satisfied happy.

We will spend a few days in the quarters deciding if we are satisfied with the cleaning, and satisfied that we won't get another rash.If we're satisfied, we will receive our household goods on Thursday.  If we are not, we will quickly move to another set of quarters, that the housing office has kept "on hold" for us, throughout this craziness.  So, by the time next week, we should have our household goods, in A house....and we're hoping its in THIS house!  The reason the housing office is holding another set of quarters for us, is because we have been told by the doctors that we could be "more susceptible" than the average person from now on, at reacting strongly to the caterpillar setae.  So, though others may not react, we could! 

I must tell everyone how impressed I am with the Garrison Command team, here in Wiesbaden.  They have take an issue they have never been presented with, formed a team of specialists, considered every possible action and consequence, and then executed it wonderfully.  Some glitches, no doubt, but they quickly overcame them, and got us into our quarters as quickly as possible.  The team consisted of members from the Dept of Public Health (medical), Housing, Department of Public Works, and our Staff Judge Advocate (lawyers).  I am sure there were many more involved that I don't know about, but this team of 5-8 people have met regularly over the last 2 weeks, and usually after their normal duty hours, to ensure our quarters were taken care of, and that we were taken care of!   In fact, I also have to add, that the housing office and DPW also took the time, while we were in the hotel, to water our plants and vegetable garden at the house, since we couldn't, and they would've died (wtih 2 weeks of no water). THANK YOU!

Many have asked me "HOW" we can love Germany as much as we do, with all that has happened.  My answer is quite simple... every place is going to have challenges, whether its deployment, schooling issues, housing issues or caterpillar issues, but that does NOT make for our story!  Our story is based on US, and how we deal with the issues, and what we do with the outcome.  Don't get me wrong - we didn't like having this terrible rash for a few weeks, we didn't want to be forced to move out of our quarters, we didn't want to have to eat out for 2 weeks, and there were days that I truly thought "I can't do this anymore - I need out of this hotel, I need .  However, we have had some wonderful opportunities to travel during our time in Germany, so far, and we have the knowledge that no one here in Wiesbaden planned for us to break out in a rash from poisonous caterpillars.

In an effort to protect our family, the housing office told us we must move out - something, though inconvenient, was greatly appreciated.  They took this very seriously, and that is also appreciated!

YES, we still absolutely love Germany, will continue to travel, will continue to try and learn the language and will continue to enjoy our house and our community....though we'll be on the look-out next spring to ensure we don't receive anymore unwanted guests - those crazy caterpillars!

BEFORE: Planting the front flower bed

AFTER: The front flower bed when we returned from the hotel

Vegetable Garden kids made

 (don't have before pictures, but it was JUST a patch of dirt when we arrived in June)

And we're off.....

Well, after 11 days in the hotel, the decontamination process in our quarters has finally begun!  The German "haz-mat" crew arrived this morning, ready to work.  It is a multi-day, multi-step process!  Today, I arrived at the house at 8am, where I was quickly placed into a lovely, "bio-hazard" suit.  After everyone was suited-up, we went into the house where the crew packed up all of our clothing and other "textile" items into special bags, where they were then transported to a laundry facility that would properly wash (decontaminate) everything.

This is me in my "protective gear" since I had to go into the house and supervise the packing up of our clothing!

Packing up our basement area

The MANY bags of our stuff, heading out to be decontaminated!  We're thankful that we didn't have all of our household goods delivered, or it would've been a longer mess!

Once the clothes were out, the rest of the process was explained to me.

Air samples would be taken inside and outside of our quarters, and would be left to "collect" all day, then the technician would return at the end of the day to collect all the samples, along with several "tape" samples from different surfaces in our house, outside the house and our trampoline. 

We had several of these placed throughout the house, in the front yard and in the back yard.

Today, they would inspect 50 oak trees in the nearby vicinity of our quarters, checking for other nests, removing any found, and treating the trees.  I don't know how many they found today, but I do know that our friends across our cul-de-sac had 4 in the adjacent backyard (to their duplex).  I will find out Monday how many more were found.

On Monday, they will begin to work on the ouside of the house.  I don't know exactly how they will clean it up, but I do know they have a special vacuum cleaner that will "suck the hairs up" and then they will use high temperature steaming, which will de-activate the poison on the caterpillar hairs.  They will treat the roof, outside walls, screens, windows, patio furniture, patio, trampoline, driveway, sidewalk....everywhere outside.

On Tuesday, they will begin inside the house.  Here they will treat all the ceilings, walls, floors, windows, fire place, remaining items in the house, such as suitcases, and other items with hard "non-textile" surfaces.

In essence, they said they work from top to bottom, outside to inside...this will help keep the contaminants OUT of the house once they begin to clean the inside (since the outside has already been cleaned)!

On Wednesday (or Thursday), when they complete the cleaning, the technician will return to collect more samples, and will take them up to Landstuhl Medical Center (about an hour away) which has a lab that will run the samples. 

There's still some uncertainty as to "what" the results will show from the air samples, since this is the first case for this area.  When they "dumbed" it down for me, they said they hoped that the numbers would go down, showing there were less contaminants after thay cleaned, than before.

We will have to await the results before we are allowed to move back into our quarters, and ask for you to join us in prayer, to move back in as quickly as possible.  Everyone is getting tired of "hotel living" and really want to be in our beds, with our furniture and blankets!  There's a possibility of us returning to our quarters a week from Friday, though it seems that the likelihood is dwindling....and may not be until the 26th or 28th!  :(

Right now, though we're growing weary ....we are trying to hold fast in the knowledge that everyone is doing the best they can here on post, and are advocating for us.  Even greater than that, I love knowing that God has our home picked out for us, and I know that His timing is perfect.....and we will get into our house, in His perfect timing!

The Revenge of the Caterpillars.......

Well, the saga continues.  After the 18 nests of caterpillars were removed from our backyard, we stayed in the hotel on post for 2 days, followed by our trip to Berlin.  During those 4 days, our rashes were getting MUCH better, with minimal itching, and no new "marks".  We were hopeful that we had found resolution to the issue, and we could continue enjoying Europe, itch-free!   Well, we were wrong!

The first night back in our house, we awoke with "just a few new marks", but we were trying to convince ourselves that they were mosquito bites from the 4th of July festivities.  Well... after our second night home, I woke up itching like crazy in the middle of the night, and had 20 new spots, on my arms alone.  The kids awoke in the morning, with many more, as well.

I quickly started making phone calls, trying to get help and find the reason for our rash. Unfortunately, Tuesday was a "holiday" here, as it was an extended weekend because of the 4th of July. We were still convinced it's the caterpillars, but thought maybe it was just that we missed some of the hairs inside the house.  So - we cleaned, disinfected, mopped, washed walls, etc...trying to rid the house of the contaminants. 

By mid-afternoon I received a phone call from our housing office that our house was considered a health hazard and that we would need to vacate our quarters immediately - and PERMANENTLY!   We would have to move back into the hotel and find new quarters.  I had to start "house hunting" with the housing officer, and they brought me to the ONLY duplex that had both sides currently empty, so we and the Brown's could still live side-by-side.  When we went to look at it, however, there were some issues that would need to be cleared up prior to our moving in.  There was supposed to have been a possibility of us moving in on Friday (tomorrow), since our household goods from Maryland had arrived, and were scheduled to be delivered Friday morning (to the new house), however, the repairs to our new quarters could not be completed on time.  We now have to stay in our hotel for another 8 days, as they say we cannot accept our new quarters until NEXT Friday, July 16th. 

Many think going to a hotel is a "vacation", but really !?!?!?!??  When you go with 4 kids, a cat and a dog - it's not much of a vacation!  The kids are handling it great though, so we're very blessed.  Knowing that the expenses of the room and our meals are being covered by the Army (our housing office is an even bigger blessing, as having to eat our for 2 meals a day, with 6 of us, can get quite expensive.

Now...imagine this.... being told you cannot bring ANYclothing to the hotel, that ALL  your clothing (and textile) items would have to be professionally cleaned, to decontaminate them, that all you could bring to the hotel were your computers, bath items and anything "non-textile" (meaning non-cloth or fabric), and pets.

Well, we were told all of that, and quickly the fact that were were living in "health hazardous" conditions took on a whole new meaning (and emotion).  My heart was racing - not our of "fear", but from the unknown.  Not knowing if the caterpillars have truly done this to us, not knowing if there's was something "greater" making us ill, not knowing if our children were in harms way.  I quickly started packing to get out to the hotel, and it was actually quite easy since not much could come with us.

We had to go and buy clothing to "hold us over" until our clothing could be properly cleaned (and decontaminated). Typically, a "shopping spree" is awesome, but not when you "have to" find stuff that fits and at good prices!  Anyway, we went to the PX and found everyone 2 pants and 3 t-shirts, socks and under garments, along with one set of pajamas - and prayed that we could have our own clothing back quickly.  Of course, finding all the clothes took us 3 HOURS!!!!

As far as our clothing at home is concerned, we're told they will need to be decontaminated, but  no one seems to know "how" to get them cleaned - so they remain hostage to our old house.

We brought Sally and Princess with us, and they received the first "shower" in the hotel, to clean them of any "caterpillar hairs", and our own clothing that we had worn (to go buy new clothes and to the hotel) were quickly removed to be washed in HOT water and a REALLY HOT dryer, in hopes of killing whatever is on our clothing, that could continue causing our rash.

We have now been in the hotel for 3 days, and our rash is getting better (Praise God), though we're still a little itchy, but with no new marks on us. Unfortunately, now we're all just a little grumpy with not having our stuff (the little we did bring with us), and from wanting to get back into a house again, and from having difficulty finding foods that I can eat (gluten free) in the hotel restaurant and in local places.  I had been making my own foods at home, and now it's impossible, so I've had several flare ups already, from taking in gluten.

I'm frustrated (okay, and a little grumpy) because I now have to start the process of transferring phone and internet service, from scratch.  Unfortunately, the company will not expedite the transfer of service, even though they know we were told that we MUST vacate our quarters, and that it wasn't our choice.

We are uncertain as to how long it will take to get our new quarters prepared, since on Tuesday we were told it would be done by today (so we could move in tomorrow), but now they're saying they need an entire other week!??!

At this point, there are MANY unknowns, as to what will happen to our housing situation.  There's some issues at the new house, there's question on "what" actually needs to get done to "decontaminate" our old house, there's still questions about HOW we go about getting our clothing cleaned, so we can use them, WHEN we can get into a house, what will happen to our trampoline and patio furniture (the seat cushions and umbrella) that cannot be "dry cleaned", but are thoroughly contaminated from living under the caterpillars for the entire month, WHO is responsible for the completion of which tasks, and many more.

The difficult challenge is that this Garrison (post) has never had this health crisis happen before (which is good), so they're trying to figure out "how" to respond, and "what to do", and at the same time we need to get some answers so that we can resume a normal life, in a home.  We know nobody here "wanted" this to happen, but I'm hoping that next year there will be some precautions happening, prior to the caterpillar "season", such as thorough inspections of ALL oak trees throughout the entire Garrison - so nobody has to go through the weeks of rash/itching again. 

I'm happy to report that the Garrison, housing, Department of Public Works and the Public Health Office are all working as a team, to ensure we are taken care of and into quarters as quickly (and safely) as possible!

We are hoping to have some more concrete answers tomorrow afternoon!  Stay tuned....

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave....

This 4th of July was different, in that it was the first time we weren't in the United States to celebrate the day of our Nation's Independence.  We weren't sure how it would go, and if it would be as fun as in the states, but it was great!  Imagine the joy we could experience as we celebrated the morning of the 4th in Berlin.....seeing a Wall broken down, freeing the citizens of East Germany, and embracing the freedoms we have!

We returned  home in time for the 4th of July celebration on post, to include bumper cars, bouncy houses, face painting, fake tattoos, and junk food galore.  To make the day even better......everything except the food was free!!!

We ate, we played, we talked with friends newly made friend, and we watched fireworks with several hundred people. Honestly, there's nothing better than starting a fireworks display, than with an entire airfield of soldiers and their family members, standing for the Star Spangled Banner, saluting or with hands or hearts....SUCH an amazing feeling!  We are truly blessed and honored to have been able to spend this day with our military family!

Overall - it was a great evening! The only thing that could've made it any better would've been to have our friends or family with us - but maybe next year?!?!? 

The Tale of Two Cities .....

We ventured out to Berlin, Germany this past weekend, and I was amazed at this beautiful, and at one time separated, city.

First off, the drive out there, nearly 5 hours, was absolutely beautiful!  Not many "castles" to see, but beautiful, rolling hills, the tallest and straightest pine trees I have ever seen, and beautiful German villages, nestled in the countryside.   The picture I took of these tall pines didn't turn out well, so I went onto google images and found one that resembles these amazing trees, perfectly:

We arrived at our hotel around 4pm, after a late start leaving Wiesbaden (which isn't really surprising)!  :)  We quickly checked into the hotel, and got back into the car to drive to the city center. Before we could even bet to the city center, we were struck by the beauty of the drive into the city (since our hotel was 18 km from the city).  There really wasn't anything "spectacular" about it, yet for some reason the houses, the people, the streets.....there was just "something" that made it beautiful, as we drove in.  Possibly, it was just the thought of life bieng "normal" after a city was separated for 23 years?  Possibly, it was the simplicity of life?  I'm not really sure, but here are some pictures we took.

Our first stop was the Unter der Linden area, where we could "Chart Berlin's History in One Street".  Our first stop was The Brandenburg Gate, which would mark Prussia's capital city in 1791.  Also known as the "Gate of Peace", held a great celebration when the Berlin wall came down.

After the Brandenburg Gate, we decided to walk to the Reichstag, which is the German parliament building.  We were told we could go for a tour in it, and that it was free (which, when there's 6 of us, is always a PLUS).  So - we went over, and found the line to be quite long (almost an hour), but decided it woiuld be worth the wait.  Well, we were really excited when the young lady came up to us to ask the ages of the kids.  When we mentioned that Rebecca was 6, she smiled and said they had a separate entrance for families with children, under 7 - and, get this.....NO WAIT!!!  So, we were all happy, and Rebecca was tickled that her being "little" was a good thing!  :)

The Reichstag is an impressive building with a "playful glass dome at the top, in which a funnel of mirrors sheds light on the workings of democracy below".  We could walk up a spiraling staircase, to the top, and get a 360 view of Berlin.  It was absolutely beautiful from there.....

These are the spiral "walkways" going up the dome - amazing

On one of Alex's XBox games, he conquers this exact building (which is kinda cool that he actually learned history without even knowing it - I love it!).  So this is his "conquering" stance!  :)

After leaving the Reichstag, we started walking to find the actual remnants of the Berlin Wall.  Along the way, we came across a large park, filled with large concrete slaps, of varying heights, and we couldn't figure out what they were.

Well, after researching, I found out that it is the Holocaust Memorial, "cccupying about 205,000 square feet (19,000 square meters) of space near the Brandenburg Gate and just a short distance from where the ruins of Hitler’s bunker is buried.  It is made up of 2,711 gray stone slabs that bear no markings, such as names or dates.  The slabs undulate in a wave-like pattern. Each is a five-sided monolith, individually unique in shape and size. Some are only ankle high while others tower over visitors. The paths that are shaped between the slabs undulate as well. The U.S. Architecht Peter Eisenman hoped to create a feeling of groundlessness and instability; a sense of disorientation."  Well, it worked....we definitely had all of those feelings.

 As we continued our walk, we decided that it was time to eat, so we stopped at a restaurant, and had some wonderful steaks!  As we sat and ate, the end of the World Cup Quarter-final happened, and Germany beat Argentina (I believe) 4-0, so there was MUCH partying in the streets!

Alex even joined in the celbration, as he found a German flag on the ground, as we walked!  :)

(Seems strange to have it hanging from his pants, but there were MANY who wore it this way, and the girls wrapped it around them like a bathing suit cover - very strange)

As we continued, we made our way to see the remains of the Berlin Wall.  It's hard to describe in words, how we felt!  We have feelings of joy that the wall had been torn town, allowing everyone, including families that hadn't seen each other in years to see one another;  we had feelings of sadness at just thinking about what those years must have felt like for the citizens of Germany (east and west); we felt like we had a weight on our shoulders, as we thought about all the many freedoms we have as American citizens, and yet we, as citizens, find time to "grumble" about so much - and yet, in reality, it's miniscule in relation to the World!!!  We are a blessed nation, UNDER GOD, and I pray for our nation, our leaders and our citizens to step forward and make a change (not just complain).  We are a country where so many are given SO MANY opportunities, and these opportunities are simply thrown away, because it takes alot of work, or because people don't appreciate all our country has to offer!  Okay, sorry - enough of my soap box.

Since I can't quite explain the feelings, here are some pictures...

The last stop during our trip to Berlin was to "Check Point Charlie", which from 1961 to 1990, "was the only border crossing point for the Allies, foreigners, employees of the Permanent Representation and officials of the GDR. Today, the checkpoint is commemorated by a border sign and a soldier's post."

We really enjoyed this area, because the entire street, Freidrich Strasse, has turned into a street of history.  All along the sidewalks, lining the street, are large billboards showing a piece of history.  Though we loved it, there was one part that we didn't care for, and took offense to.  There were German men (boys, really) dressed in American Class-B military uniforms, carrying American flags, having people pay 2euro each to have a picture taken with them in front of Check Point Charlie.  We didn't have a problem, necessarily, with being charged for picture, but rather we were offended that they would wear OUR uniform, unshaved and in regular shoes, carrying a tattered, dirty and torn flag, that they had dragging on the ground.  This complete lack of respect for our Flag even made Samantha ask "why don't they care about our flag, and why are they wearing our uniform if they're not in our army?"  When the 10-year old asks those kind of questions, then there's a problem.

Though the wall was torn down, there is still a constant reminder of the life that once was!

(this is where the wall was removed, but they filled it in, and made it a memorial along the roads)