Exciting Morning

Last week, Erik asked me to take today off work so I could attend one of his office functions. I was a little (just a little) bit reluctant to take off. But I knew a JAG Corps. General would be visiting his office this week, and he mentioned there were going to be some awards. I assumed Erik was getting an award, so I took the day off and went to his office. I sat through a presentation for the office and then they recognized three people, and I was one of the three! They called it a Hero award for my community service efforts, and General Chipman gave me a coin. The coin is pretty awesome (in an effort to use the word cool less, Graham suggested I use “awesome” or “fantastical”) as you can see in the pictures that I have added. I would have been excited if the award had been for Erik, but I must admit that it does feel fantastical to get an award of my own.

Fantastical Coin

Moving to Germany!

Hello!

This is my first post on the new site and I have some big news to share. We have received our orders that will send us to Heidelberg, Germany in mid- July! Angela and I are very happy and exicted for the chance to live in Europe. This opportunity was one of our biggest reasons for joining the Army, and we are lucky for this to go as we had hoped.

Heidelberg is a college and tourist city in the southeastern part of the counrty, and from all reports it is a good place to live. The city looks very cool in the pictures online, and is in a river valley. We will be living in the Army Apartments. This will be a bit small for the family, but everyone that has been there, says that you move past the small apartment in a short time and really enjoy the chance to travel.

We will be in Heidelberg for 3 years, so you have some time to plan your trips over.

I will be with the 18th Engineering Brigade, and will act as their lawyer for the time that I am there. This job is a staff officers slot that will bring me some new responsabilities, and place me in the unit full time.

Learning to blog

The plan with this blog is that Erik will also be blogging, and it will be a whole family page. However, I'm the only one that has done it so far and I'm still getting the hang of it. My first attempt at a post was not actually a post, but a copy of our holiday letter. My second attempt was a bit out of control. Erik pointed out that it was a little long and novel like, not to mention that there was an entire paragraph devoted to a doughnut shop. (I thought the Pioneer Bakery paragraph was one of the best parts.) I must blog the way I speak. Going on and on with more detail than necessary, run-on sentences and paragraphs that seem to never end. I think this entry is a good start.

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas excurion to Indiana. We were actually gone for 10 days! On the 19th we left Augusta for our drive up to Bath, it was in the mid 70's and very sunny. By the time we arrived, we had declared ourselves cold weather wimps. Erik and I were eating at Greek's, one of our favorite restaurants in Muncie, when we heard the weather forcaster say it was 3 degrees, -23 degrees windchill. Needless to say, we are not that wimpy, just had to adjust to nearly a 100 degree drop in temperature. It was really great to see the giant star lit 100 feet above my grandparents house as we arrived.

Erik and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Rosenberger for a few days for Graham and Tess to each take a day of individual time with my parents. Tess baked cookies and did crafts with Grandma Suzy and Grandpa Brack (affectionately known as G.B.) and then played dress up with Ann and Grandpa Bill. Graham played Big Game Hunter, Baseball and Fishing on the Wii with Grandpa Bill and even beat Ann bowling (don't feel bad Ann, Graham is the Wii Bowling Champ here too.) With G.B. and Grandma Suzy he made stockings for all of the big kids (Erik, Auntie Elissa, Murrell, and I) set-up his very elaborate train set, where he named the tunnel that they built "The Lion Tunnel." He and G.B. took a grand adventure into town, where they did some business at the bank and enjoyed McDonald's for lunch.

Erik and I visited our Alma mater, Ball State. It was clear the University had grown exponentially since we had last been there. McKinley now has a big tower, David Letterman has a new building, the Football stadium has been totally renovated and added on to (this must be why they were so good this year.) The bitter cold and whipping winds were still familiar though.

Erik and I also got some yuchre in with Paul, Ethel, Alex and Robby which is always spirited.

We spent one evening ice skating at Miami with my mother which was a lot of fun. Tess's ability is selective, if she wanted to catch up to someone she could manage, if not she just wanted to be pulled along. Graham was the read dare devil of the group though, he was the bravest skater on the ice! G.B. didn't actually make it out on the ice, but we quickly forgave him when he treated us to Skyline Chili. There was a slight mis-hap on this night. When we parked on High Street in Oxford (which is all brick) the was freezing rain. Just as we entered the restaurant 3 UPS workers sitting in the front of the restaurant said someone had just run into our Jeep. Fortunately, we had all just stepped into the restaurant and no one was hurt. As we pulled into the drive at the Brack's everyone was gazing at the beautiful white lighting and reindeer in the yard, as we slowly slid off the lane because it was so slick, we couldn't get back onto the drive and had to park in the yard until it melted.

We celebrated Christmas mass at Liberty, which was very nice. It was really great to see the church have so many people in the pews! Christmas Eve with The Brack's and Grandma Maxine was a lot of fun. A warning to all: Grandma is a Sequence Hustler. Christmas Morning we headed over to Bill and Ann's and enjoyed a hearty breakfast, only to celebrate Rosenberger Family Christmas at noon. We all had very full tummies!

We joined the Hendrickson side of the family in Boonville on the 26th. Lynn fixed a nice meal and we opened gifts, met Alison's Isaac and Vance's Megan. We also got to visit with Vinson for a while the next morning.

We were up early in the morning so we could get doughnuts from our favorite place, The Pioneer Bakery. They are so delicious and fluffy! I don't know what they do to make these so wonderful, I did ask the lady behind the counter if she made them. She said, "the owner comes in late at night and starts them, then me and another lady come in and finish and sell them." These really are the best doughnuts anywhere, if you are evern in the Boonville area you should patronize this baker. Though it can be tricky, as there is no sign indicating there is any kind of business in the the tiny, house-like building, or any kind of advertising whatsoever. They open early and close as soon as they sell out.

We spent an evening visiting with Erik's friends from H.S. Erik P., Grant and Grant's wife Sandy. On Sunday we spent some time with the Scales family. They are so enjoyable! Then on to El Maguey for lunch with Bobby, and back to Lynn's for a mean game of Monopoly!

Graham and Tess thoroughly enjoyed their visits to see Grandparents, and returned home safely loaded down with goodies.