Nine Months in Germany--14 or 15 More to Go...or will it be 26?

Today is our 9-month anniversary of our arrival in Germany. Technically, we left on August 9th, but with the travel time and time difference we arrived on August 10th. We can't believe it's already been nine months and how quickly we will be approaching our "year" mark.

I don't often blog about James' work but since things at work have been effecting the family lately, I am going to do just that!

It has been five weeks of pure drama! The day after my parents went home, James came home from work and told me that his boss "unofficially asked him if we were going to extend the third year" and told him to "go home and talk about it with your wife and come up with your decision because you will be asked officially in two weeks." Not that this is new subject matter, we talk about it probably on a daily basis...but it literally made me sick to my stomach in a matter of 30-seconds to think that this decision was actually upon us.

So, we talked about it and decided that we should probably extend the third year. We have the option of coming home one month early, so we would try to return to Maryland around July 9, 2010, (but not any earlier). If anything, we were driven to make this decision this way because we want to get out and see more of Germany and of Europe. Well, James never got the opportunity to make anything official... because all gears shifted about ten days later and now the focus is on something else entirely:

You may recall that James' work is going to relocate in the summer of 2009, July to be more exact. They were going to move down to the Kaiserslautern area which would most likely mean we would move too. Well, that looks like it is not going to happen. But, they absolutely have to vacate their building by July 1, 2009. So the question is, where are they going to go? Unfortunately, this isn't a problem that is easily solved. So, they are working on one possibility but are doing a cost study on it that will take 3 to 4 months to complete. The location would be close enough that we would not have to move, Thomas could continue school at the international school and we could stay in our ward, so for me and the kids, everything would essentially stay the same.

I should also throw in there that about 2 1/2 weeks ago, there was even mention that they "might just shut the whole place down THIS summer and send everyone home"...it has been a major roller-coaster ride, to say the least.

So, there are no definite answers right now. There are some days when James hears about all the transition that will have to go on if they move to the one-and-only other option that he says he's not sure he wants to stick around for that...and perhaps they will send everyone all home next summer when the lease in Darmstadt is up, so we'll never have the option. And then there are days when I think about extending another year and that seems so L-O-N-G. Because I really do miss the US (thankfully, I'll be on a plane heading there in three weeks!), and everyone there.

But, then I look out my back yard and around the neighborhood that I live in and realize how hard it is going to be to give it up. Yes, we live in a duplex (as opposed to a townhouse) so we are still attached to another residence but we have a bigger back yard and the playground right next to us and a little soccer field above that to kick a ball around. There are lots of walking trails that we have been using lately and last weekend, we discovered that we could walk to the woods in 10 minutes...walk...not drive in the car and then walk. It's more of the neighborhood that I think James and I have always wanted to live in (except we don't understand 90% of what is spoken to us and the houses are shaped peculiarly and in the summer you really hope that the adults don't lift their armpits because they don't use antiperspirant!...but those are just pesky details!)

I'll keep you posted when I know something more!

Until later,

Emily