March 4th D-Day

We got up at 0500, got us & the kids dressed, and we hit the Autobahn around 0550. The kids were super sleepy, but in a good mood { for once lol}. We arrived at the Airport in frankfurt at 0650, and quickly returned our Rental car. We it took us 45 minutes to get from terminal 1 to Terminal 2, and another 45 minutes to get our Tickets. At american airlines, they wanted to see mine & bells Visa { i told her at least 5 times to please NOT open the enverlopes lol.} we got our tickets, and went to our gate, security check went smooth and we had about an hour left until boarding. The kids did great, besides haileys little meltdown because she didnt get to run around, and bells CONSTANT stuborness.

When it was finally time to board the plane, i was in SHOCK that the plane was like SUPER small and had no individual  TV's in the headrests, DARN IT i was SO banking on the movies for bells and hailey. Oh well, Hailey fell asleep soon after takeoff, and bells started watching a movie on my Ipad2. The two of them are handled easily WHEN seperated,  but together its a TOTAL disaster, so i enjoyed the non violent, Fight free hour, that hailey took a nap.

Sadly it was only one hour, and as soon as hailey opened her eyes the two of them started arguing and fighting over simply EVERYTHING. And all i could think was.... "OH LORD this is going to be a LOOOONG flight" lol excatly four hours into the flight i had to seperat Hailey in bells, because they were just too wound up, and in each other’s Hair.  On top of that i had to pee like EVERY 5 MINUTES!!!!!!!!... i haven’t had the "frequent peeing issue" all through my pregnancy but it started TODAY { perfect timing huh???}

This was the worst/ longest/ most nerv wrecking flight EVER. I will NOT visit Germany any time soon SORRY folks lol..

After a while I decided to just listen to music, to drown out any fighting / arguing……….
I was so glad when we FINALLY landed in Fort Worth, Dallas, that I honestly thought about kissing the ground J

We got to the custom line and there were about 250 ppl in line in front of us :-o but thanks to my awesome husband being a Service member we got to skip them all and go straight to the front of the line. We went through imigration { which was super easy}

And then waited to for our next flight. We got to Kileen right on time, we wanted to rent a car right away but they said since tom is under 25 they would have charged us an additional 27 dollar PER DAY for a rental. We took the free shuttle to the Hotel, it looks crappy from the outside, but its actually pretty nice and clean on the inside!. We went to bed at around 2100 and fell asleep right away!. Now its 0300 in the morning and we cant sleep no more lol. But we should have this jetlag beaten  in no time!.

We are officially Homeless

yesterday { March 1st} we handed over the keys to the apartment we lived in for the last 2 + years. The Housing inspector came around 10 am and it was over quick. By 1030 we pulled up at the lagerhof just to find out that check in isnt until 1400 ... well CRAP.... tom had to go back to work so he dropped me off at the PX, the Lady at the front desk said they might have our room done by 1230 and to call back around that time. My preggo butt had blood pressure issues so tom came back to the PX and drove me and lil H to the hotel, we waited until our room was done and at 1235 we FINALLY got to check in!.
our "room" is actually a suite and really nice { besides the fact that B and H have to share a room which doesnt work out well.

Today we went and had some pizza with the Girls, and tomorrow we will have another little "going away party" at the local bowling alley. all our bags are packed and ready to be loaded up in the car tomorrow night!. We will be leaving Bholder around 5am. We cant wait for this new chapter to START!!!!...

Rip offs

We had to Rent cars for the whole month of february,
we usually go with "buchbinder" and paid 180 euro a week.
Well buchbinder doesnt have a drop off at the Frankfurt Airport,
so we had to go with Sixt in ramstein.
We told them we need a car to fit 4 ppl +luggage & carry ons
in the car. They said its 220 euro a week. I thought thats A LOT
of money but we had no choice. A few days later, T went to
Sixt Ramstein to get the car.
He ended up paying 220euro for the car + 40 euro "insurance"
{eventho that insurance is pointless since its a 1000 euro deductible,
and we would have to pay scratched etc our selves anyway. On top of THAT they charged us 100 euro "in case we dont fill up the car when we drop it off"
They want to refund us 3-5 days AFTER the drop off, BUT we will be gone
by then, and they can just claim some kind of BS, and we cant prove anything.
WELL, today was the first time ive actually seen the car, tom went and
picked it up by himself and got home so late last night we didnt
go anywhere. ITS A DAMN CITROEN PICASSO, the trunk is barely big enough
to fit ONE suitcase!!!!!. After i bitched about it for close to 20 minutes
{poor husband} he called Sixt and they said this car is an "upgrade" from the
one we were actually supposed to get, YEAH RIGHT... MY ASS...
They told us they have a bigger car for us and we can switch but its an extra 100
euro on top of this. so we basically pay 460 euro for ONE week.
we cant keep this one because we wont be able to fit ANYTHING
in it...
i am so over all of this, and cant wait to get the heck out of here!

Feb 26th

OOPS its been a while since i updated this blog, i am sorry but i have been SUPER busy these past few days!.
Yesterday was our goingaway Party and it was SUPER Hard to say goodbye to everyone!. My Mom made some kickass food {oh how ill miss German cooking} and it was dekorated real nice!. Almost everyone that was invited came, and we had a blast!. My Friend Nicole And my cousin Anne made a Video for us, and EVERYONE in the room cried lol. { job well Done Girls} We stayed until 1830 and then visited some more Family. We got home around 2130 and went straight to bed lol. I have a book full of little messages from the attending guests <3

Today we spent all day cleaning, packing, and throwing stuff out!. Tomorrow the movers come and get our U.A.B {unaccompanied baggage}Tom will also pick up our rental car {we cant drop of the one we have now at the airport it stinks}. Tuesday the Culligan Guy comes and picks up our watertower + bottles and we have to get another set of housekeys done since we lost one {ooops}
Wednesday is our last day in this appartment, we will clean out the fridge and clean the oven and on thrsday we will hand over the keys!!!!! I hope this last week goes by QUICK i just want to leave this place

Applying for on-Post Housing.

This has been the most Frustrating Part of this PCS so far. in the Middle of January we FINALLY got Toms Leave Form. We needed that Leave Form in order to get on the waiting list for on post housing. Well we started applying for housing on the Ft hood housing page right away, uploaded all the infos and hoped we will be put on waitinglist. After a few days i checked the online page again, and we were still on no list. So T called Hosuing, noone answered we tried for a few days until we finally got a hold of someone!.
She said that we cant use the online application and she would send us the forms that needed to be signed. That was right before the movers came on Feb. 1st...... well a few days later we still had no forms, so T called them again!. this time they sent them to us while we waited on he phone!. Tom printed those forms asap and we filled them out and mailed them back {email} to housing that was on Fev 14th. on the 16th housing wrote us that they never received the part with the signed Documents and we would have to redo that, which i did!!!. T called them again yesterday to make sure they got our paperwork, since they did not give us a confirmation email!.
after 3 hours of trying to get a hold of them T finally talked to Housing Division JUST to be told that we will be on an "inactive WL" until THE DAY WE GET THERE!!!!, Why in the FUCK did we go through all this pain if we are not put on WL until the day we get there anyways! i am SO frustrated!!!!! Waitinglist {according to the housing page} is 0-1 month for an E5 / 4Bdr House! we are only authorized 10 days in the hotel.... what am i going to do???????

GOOD DAY!.

 

We received our Visas Today WOOOHOOOO  it took a little over three months for everything to get approved and sent to us!. I am super Happy that it worked out for us!!! 

I also got my ID renewed and for the first time EVER the picture is accaptable <3 

 on tuesday we will try to cancel our Cellphone contracts, we tried today but the Telekom lady was down at Re-integration. 

Feb.15th

Things are FINALLY starting to go smoothly!!!. Today T scheduled our final housing inspection for the 1st of March, Housing also gave us our TLA {for our hotel} now we can bring that to the Hotel on post and book the Room for March 1st to the 4th <3
He also got an appointment tomorrow morning for Finance! We will finally fill out our paperwork for our DLA { Dislocation Allowance} I hope it will hit our bankaccount before march 4th!.
We have 11 WORK DAYS left until we leave {18 all together} EEEEK time is FLYING i love it!.
This is all for now i might blog later again after i talked to T

february 14th 2012

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY Everyone AND Happy Anniversary to my Wonderful husband of 4 years i Love you sweetheart!.

My Husband got our Flight Itinery today woooohooooo We will leave Germany {from frankfurt Airport} on March 4th at and we will arrive in forth Worth Dallas at 2:30pm :D we have a pretty long layover BUT i dont care we will catch a flight that evening from forth Worth Dallas to Kileen TX which is right outside Fort Hood. NO DRIVING for us which is PERFECT.

Since we have our Flight Itinery now, we can now schedule our Final inspection for this appartment!. Everything seems to be falling into place nicely *knock on wood*

February 10th 2012

WooooHoooooo i am happy to say that i am DONE with the visa Process!!!.
This morning we left baumholder pretty early, our appointment was at 07:45am so we left at 0500. We didnt want to risk being late for the interview!. WELL we got there at 0535 lol so we had TWO HOURS till our Appointment!. We sat in a Mc Donalds near by and had some breakfast!. Then FINALLY the embassy opened at 07:30 and we went inside. Our number was called pretty quick, we turned in our Passports { mine and Annabells} and then had to pay our fees { there goes another 808 dollar boohoo} after that we had to go get stamps and sort through our documents, we were then called to the first counter, the lady had me lable the enverlope with our address and stick the stamp on it {4.25 euro} she then asked me to hand her the Documents and copies of our Tax returns for the 3 most recent years.... She then explained what the Visa will look like, and that we are NOT allowed to open the individual Visas.... It took about 35 minutes to go through it all and check the paperwork!.
After that we had to wait for our Actual interview!. I was SUPER nervous, because i've heard that they ask you tons of questions about your spouse and how you met etc, while i know "EVERYTHING" about my husband, i dont feel comforatble being questioned like that KWIM?. Well then it was our turn for the interview, She had us swear that all provided information are correct and truthful, i had to give my fingerprints, and THEN the questions started.... i was prepared for everything.....but then........ SHE ASKED ME TWO personal questions lol 1) When did you get maried.... 2) WHERE was he born lol.... she then asked a few more questiond { if we ETS or PCS, When his DEROS is, If i have sole custody of my Daughter Annabell} AND THAT WAS IT lol I was sick to my stomach for DAYS leading up to this day, and then THIS?? Oh well lol..... She said that i should recieve my Visa within the next 14 days WOOOOOHOOOOOO

January 27th 2012

I just recieved the BEST news since my BFP in December!. Like most of you already know, my husband came down on orders for Ft. Hood beginning of March. In order for me to PCS with him i have to have a Visa / Greencard!. He came back from his second Deployment end of October, and mid November we applied for my Visa at the Embassy in Frankfurt. We are now 38 days away from our PCS Date and i was worried SICK the last couple weeks because i havent recieved my final interview appointment!!I contacted the embassy on January 14th and they said the Petition is still pending so I started to put in paperwork with housing, that way i may stay here even after my husband left for Ft Hood, but it has not been approved so far!. But TODAY i recieved this email!.

Dear Mrs. Bxxxxxx:

Thank you for your email. An invitation letter for your final visa interview was mailed out yesterday and should be delivered within the next few working days. Attached to this email please find a copy of the letter.

Best regards,

Immigrant Visa Unit
US Consulate General
Frankfurt, Germany

You have NO Idea what this means to me! Its like a HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I spent one year without my Husband, i am High Risk Pregnant, with two kids, i have no idea how i would have managed all of this { clearing quaters, getting to frankfurt, flying to Ft hood} without my husband! ... Im a Military Wife i would have managed somehow but it would have been a PITA and i am grateful that i have my visa in time to start this journey together with my husband as a Family!

January 6th 2012

I just recieved an Email a few days ago { after i required about my Petition status via email} that my Petition is still "in progress". We decided to go ahead and get our { me and my daughters} Medical Part done!.

we left early in the AM since this Doctor does walk Ins only. We got there right as they opened and were the first ones there {YAY}. The lady at the reception took our Decouments:

1 Passport Picture
Vaccination updates
my Pregnancy Statement
and our Case File # { which is written on the Pink sheet that you recieved at the embassy}

we then had to pay 165 euro for the two of us!. After that i went to the Lab for urin and blood sample { thank God my lil one didnt have to give any samples}. After that we got to see the Doc. She listened to our lungs and we had to do a sight test. We also had to fill out some paperwork { medical history, any previous surgeries etc etc}
I had to list all my Piercings & Tattoos and that took longer then the rest of the Medical that day.
Bells was missing one flu shot, we went to the clinic here in Baumholder and faxed the proof of vaccination to the Dr.. She then mailed the Medical stuff to the Embassy!.

November 14th 2011

We woke up at 0500 today and got the kids ready for our Drive up to Frankfurt!. We went a different route this time, {which was a BIG mistake} it was supposed to take a lil longer to get to Frankfurt but would save us about 40 km { avoiding Autobahn as much as possible}. Well everything went GREAT till the halway point, from there it was ALL constructions & Traffic jam!. We were supposed to be there no later them 09:30 ( our appointment was scheduled for 09:40) We got to the Consulat at 09:29!. We got to skip a major line right outside the Consulat because T is a US citizen {YAY} We got a Ticket {for me} and three visitor passes for T and the kids. Once inside we had to remove our jackets and belts etc just like at the Airport!. We went to the next building and waited for about 30 minutes till our number was finally called! {while we waited we got our Pictures taken at one of the photos machines}. up the stairs we went to have our paperwork checked! {Part one - the I-130's and the G 325A's}. We had only a few minor things wrong with the paperwork ( now i am happy that we wernt to file in Person!) We are missing one Paper, that we will have to Fax to the Consulat first thing tomorrow!. We had to pay $840 right then and there {OUCH} to have our paperwork submitted / reviewed. After we paid we went downstairs, and waited another 30 minutes to talk to a different lady she reviewed the second part of our Paperwork { the DS 230's} and again we had a few things missing / wrong we fixed it and made Copies of our Passports {The Picture page} after that we waited ANOTHER 30 minutes to talk to the same lady again! She finally gave us our Case number and more info sheets and one last form to fill out {Affidavit of support.} Tomorrow, we will also Fax our "pink sheet" to the consulat, which means that we are ready for our Interview and we have all req. Documents!.  They said part one {The petition} could take up to 4 months :( i am praying things will go fast!!!!....

Everything went pretty smooth and everyone is really nice!.
My Best advice for this trip!. bring ALOT of change ( the Photo Booth and the Copy machine dont give change back!!!!) and bring a book! ;)

Since alot of my German friends are about to PCS i thought it might be helpful to post a detailed list of what you need.... Ill just post whatever i needed for me and my daughter Annabell!.

Forms:
2x I-130 (Download here )
2x G 325a (Download here )
2x DS 230 (Download here )
2x  I-864 (Download here) - but you will also recieve this form at the consulat

 I had to file TWO Petitions one for ME and one for my Daughter { T's "stepdaughter"} since she needs a visa as well. I did not know which of the followin g Documents i needed for the first part so i took all of them along:

Passport(s) ( + copy of the Picture page)

Birth certificates ( Translated and you need one copy of your Sponsors BC for every petition- so i needed TWO (2) of my husbands and then mine and my daughters)

change of name paper ( i had the translated version with me but they wanted the GERMAN original)
Police Reports ( german fuehrungszeugniss AND the MP Report)

Biom. Pictures ( of the sponsor and everyone that petitions for a Visa)

Marriage Certificate ( international)

Shot Records ( you will recieve an info sheet with all the req. Shots BUT if you go to your local Military health clinic they will know what shots you need).

I honestly cant remember, what documents they made copied of and which i didnt need for this part, but it seems that every "case worker" does things differently so just take ALL of the documents above along!.  better safe then sorry.

Once upon a Time.....

..... Before i met my Husband i NEVER thought i would move to a different state, let alone another country, But meeting my husband changed my whole life around!. Now every Woman that met her soulmate says that, but my life changed in more ways then just emotional!. My Husband is in the US. ARMY and when we first started dating i NEVER imagined it to be so hard, i knew he would be gone for a year at the time, plus his Training in the Field and TDYs throughout the Year, but i never expected it to be so challenging!. Now 4 years, and three daughters {plus another little miracle on the way} later, i am facing the probably biggest challenge of my life!. We are about to PCS {Permanent Change of Station}. Fort Hood will be our new home for the next 2 + years comming March 4th. In this blog i will share MY experiences during this journey!. And i would like to start at the very beginning, my husband recieving orders..... 


My Husband was still deployed, when i found out he came down on Orders........ i really didnt want to open the email....... because i KNEW it would NOT be the Duty station we wanted LOL. Well after staring at the screen for almost an hour i opened it {while i was on the phone with my husband} and all i could really say was {sorry my cussing}
OH.MY.FUCKING.GOD.................{hubby"WHAT"}............OH.MY.FUCKING.GOD...... {Hubby"oh boy.. i know what that means".................................. FUCKING.FORT.HOOD...... WE.ARE.GOING.TO.FUCKING.FORT. HOOD.TEXAS....... DID YOU HEAR ME TOM:????????? HOOD :-o...... TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!! ='(((


jup that about sums it up.... Ft Hood was Nr1 of our " i NEVER want to be stationed at...." List. LOL.
We put on our Dreamsheet
1. Fort Carson CO
2. Fort Lewis WA
3. Fort Knox KY
and for overseas: Hawaii.....
I KNEW we werent going to get any of the Above mentioned Duty stations, we Talked to Branch and they said they do have a spot in Carson & Lewis But Tom would have to wave his Dwell time, which was out of the Question!.
Now tat a few months went bye, i am actually excited to go to Ft Hood { not so much about the heat...... or the venomous insects etc} but i know a few REALLY nice ladies down in hood <3