this-n-that

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHASE!!!! Today he turned the big 2-4!! :) Unfortunately, he had to spend his whole day in classes and studying at pathfinder.  BUT tomorrow will totally make up for it! He gets to come home tomorrow night (and I have to take him back Saturday evening).  I've got a fun birthday dinner surprise and tons of awesome presents for him to come home to.  He also got a little surprise email from my mom.  They made a funfetti cake (Chase's fave) in honor of his birthday and emailed him this picture:

Love from my family :)

He only has one more week to go so keep those prayers comin'!!

We've both been thinking about our wedding a lot lately and how wonderful it was.  Our photographer finished the slideshow from the event and posted it on Facebook.  I have literally watched it 5 million times and cannot get enough.  The pictures captured such joy in EVERYONE'S faces.  My mom just mailed me the disc so once I get it I will try to post the slideshow on here for all you who don't have Facebook (love you, Nana). :)  Speaking of our wedding, I got this picture from my mom and thought I'd share it:

Ain't that the truth?!

In case you can't read the print, it says: "...and do you promise to leave your home, family, friends, and all that you've ever known, to move across the country - or to the other side of the world - at a moment's notice without complaint, and to take care of everything, everything, everything while he ships out for months at a time?"  I'm not gonna lie, I kinda wish Father Dave would have said this at the wedding instead. haha! Cheers to all the military wives.

And more importantly than Chase's birthday or our wedding..I have to tell you about my HUGE achievement this week.  I graduated from the PEP course here in Bamberg!! LOL.  It's a course they put spouses through when they first move here to get them familiar with the area and give them tons of information about the post and the economy.  However, you're supposed to do it the first couple weeks you live here but since I got here right before the holiday season they didn't offer a course until this week. So I had already discovered most of the places they took us to see but it was still a blast and I learned some new things! I had to miss the first day because our wardrobes were being delivered so I had to wait at the house until they arrived.  So I showed up on Tuesday and the first thing the instructor said was to turn to page 14 of the handbook, wait til she said go, and that whoever finished the quiz on the next page first was to shout out and they would win something if they answered everything correctly.  I was like great I missed the first day so I'm obviously not going to win.  Guess who won the quiz/prize??? THIS GIRL! haha. Hell yea I know my German numbers.  The same exact thing happened the next day - we started the day with another pop quiz; except this time it was on German days of the week.  Emily takes the win again! Haha. I showed those other spouses who was boss! (To be honest, I only knew the days of the week so well because my iPhone was in German for the first 3 weeks I had it so I HAD to know them if I wanted to know what day it was lol) Then, there was no quiz today but we did have a raffle....AND I WON IT!! I mean I never win things and here I am going three for three in PEP.  Man, it felt good! I came out with a pink shopping bag (you have to bring your own bag when you go shopping most places here), a pocket size German phrases book, and a  "Best Places to Visit in Germany" book! Oh and of course, my diploma:

That's what I'm talking about!! But in all seriousness, it was an awesome week.  I met a lot of new people and learned some really good tidbits.  For example, you can use American lamps without a transformer over here, you just have to match the light bulb to the German voltage - thank goodness we can have light now! Haha.

Well I am loving Germany more and more every day.  Things are just great - I'm exploring the area, finding new places, and meeting new people.  And I really can't wait to get some visitors...so please come!! Seriously!! Well I'm off to wrap presents and bake a cake for Chase for tomorrow. :) Tschüs!!