So Long, Farewell...

Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!! : (
Ok, as I sit here in the Frankonian "Frankenstein" Inn, I'm literally almost in tears. Hanz and I began our European journey here exactly three years and one month ago and I just can't believe it has come to an end. I still remember the day that Hanz came home from flight school with our first assignment (I was asleep in bed b/c I had worked the night shift) and he said, "Wake up. You're going to want to hear this. Guess where we're going?" I woke up, sat straight up in bed and said, "Ft. Drum" (this was the one place I did NOT want to go!). He told me, "Germany". I jumped up and down in total excitement and then called my mom. I told her where we were going and her voice started to shake. I immediately started crying b/c it hit me. I was going to move, for the first time in my life, out of Alabama to halfway around the world! Now that I look back on these past years, I honestly feel like I've almost lived more in that amount of time than in all my other years put together. It's so hard to explain and I know it won't make sense to most people but when you move off to a new place, especially new culture, you are forced to grow, in ways you can't even imagine. When Hanz deployed, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to survive, but I did. I have come to realize that whenever you think you can't do something, you can always prove yourself wrong. My favorite Bible verse has always been Phil. 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength". Boy is that true. So long story short, this chapter in my life is a hard one to say goodbye to but I do look forward to the next one. I'll definitely miss the food over here. Hanz and I always talk about what we would eat if we were back in the States but this morning we were laying in bed and talking about which American restaurant we'd want to eat at first and we couldn't really think of one. All we could think about were the ones we would miss from here! It was soooo crazy!

The things I'm really going to miss about here are as follows:

1. My friends

2. the Autobahn and trains

3. Frau Wagner and German medicine

4. fresh food! no preservatives! Did I mention German beer?? ; )

5. stores closed on Sundays and no cutting grass(believe it or not)....(it really does make you rest and I have definitely come to appreciate that)

What I'm not going to miss

1. getting gas on post

2. staus (traffic jams...they last FOREVER!)

3. language barrier
4. EVERY store closing at 1800
5. the Euro

Ok, so here are a few last pics from this past week. We passed our final inspection!! YEAH!! We were able to hang out with a bunch of friends but not all (you know who you are and I'm sooo sorry). : ( I wish we had had more time but everyone is always welcome in Savannah!!

Thanks for the memories!! Ok, now I'm really crying! : (