The Netherlands

Well, what can I say? We've been in country for 2 weeks now and sometimes feel like we're just not getting what we need to get done accomplished:(

We were able to ge a lot of paperwork done on the first day we flew in. Our sponser Juergen took us to the bases that we needed to have new ID cards made, had us talk to the driver license people and housing people and a few other things. We got into our Bungalow Park with some minor problems but the people here have been great. Due to the militaqry not taking into account that we would need our credit limit raised on our card, we've had some interesting phone calls. Needless to say, Ellsworth AFB really can screw you over since they don't have the same urgency at getting the military credit card paid off as quick as we need it. We were finally at a point where it looked like we could be evicted from this place before we were finally able to get them to raise the limit on our card to 15 thousand dollars. Once they actually start making payments on his card we will be ok.

This week we went to get Sheldons sofi card, the NL social security #, and they kept telling us that we didn't have all the right information. The guy even tried to call Brunssum the Nato base, and they said they lost our paperwork "temporarilly"! That didn't help our cause at all. When we talked with our sponser again, he told us we got "screwed over" not only by the sofi people but the nato base as well. We did have all the paperwork that was needed, and them not having our paperwork handy was "not cool". Well, what could we say? We have been trying to get back in to get eh number, but now have to wait until next Tuesday. Once Sheldon get's his sofi number, we can get a Dutch bank account then that will make it possible for us to rent a house and get our cell phones. Needless to say, there have been some frustrating days, but really nothing too bad.

I have to say we have been enjoying the cooler weather the past few days. The area is beautiful! Everytime we are out driving it eminds us of the different places that we've lived in or visited in the US. It's been fun to just soak in the countryside and watch the people.

We are really excited about the ward we are in here. The first Sunday we got here everyone was so friendly. Christian already had boys from the YM inviting him to come and play on their Rugby team. Jori had the YA inviting her to their activities too. We have had dinner invites from other families as well. One family, The Van Empels were not at church our first day there but she was so excited to meet us called and invited us for dinner. We went and ended up being instant friends. They have been just wonderful to us. We found out she has a daughter at BYU so Jori plans to go back and meet with her once school starts. They were even great enought to take Jori to Paris tis last week. They just happened to be going and we wanted Jori to be able to see Paris before going back to school. We wanted to go but have been dealing with all the problems with the military card and sofi number we just didn't feel like we could go. Jori came back so excited about her trip and it sounds like the 2 girls, Jori and Catherina are planning to go back next summer when she gets back in country.

Jori flew back to the states this morning. We ended up having her take the train to the Amsterdam Airport instead of driving her up. We're trying to conserve the miles on the rental car. She was fine with it since she felt more sure of herself after the Paris trip. I guess she went to a couple places while in Paris on the metro there by herself since the other ladies were tired, so she is feeling confidant that she could get off the train at the airport and get inside on her ;0 I really hope she had a good time for the couple weeks she was here. I know the first week the kids were stuck at the Bungalow Park while Sheldon and I went down to Germany to take care of his paperwork, but this last week has been a little better about getting out and seeing things.

Next week Sheldon starts work and I have to start dealing with the schools to get things ready for the boys. I hope things there go smoother than some of the things we've dealt with so far, but no matter what, it has been a good adventure and we are taking things as they come.

It's been awhile!

Wow, a lot had happened the last two weeks so I'll try and catch you all up.

Like I said in the last post we had just seen the doctor and turned our paperwork in. We took the papers to the special needs coordinator and she faxed them in. At the end up that week heard from a Colonel in Germany in charge of the program that the Doctor from Geilenkerchen still was going to deny the orders. She said that was her standard protocol for that area because of the Doctor situation. He then said that their had to be something we could do. Well, she told him if we were willing to waive using their medical facility and go on the economy for the boys medical then we could bring them. We would have to use the Tri Care Europe program. Well, we were going to have to do that anyway because of how far we are from the hospital . We just shook our heads because she was denying us being able to come over as a family and we were never going to be using her medical facility anyway! So Sheldon signed the papers and we we faxed them back and we had everything done by that Friday afternoon. On Monday morning we were told we were approved from the Germany side so we needed to hound the people here at Bolling to sign off on it then we could get our orders. Sheldon went to he special needs coordinator, she signed everything then gave him the paperwork to take to our outbound assignments guy to we could get our orders cut. He of coarse was not in that afternoon but working at a special assignment that day. We tried hard to get someone else to help, but no go. We were told that we could have the the next day, Tuesday and we would be good to go. We were also told that afternoon that we were still suppose to be there by the 15th of August! That would give us 2 1/2 weeks to get there:0 So we have 2 weeks really to get out of here, going overseas, to be in place by the 15th.

Tuesday morning rolls around and we are waiting for the call but haven't heard anything. Finally around 11 am, Sheldon goes down there and the guy's there, just hasn't done it yet:( SHeldon stresses to this airmen that we only have 2 weeks to take care of everything and we can't do any appointments until we have those orders. He stands over him while the kid protests that he doesn't have the clearance from our end when Sheldon shows him that paper and he gets that "dum" look like, oh, I guess that is the paperwork I need. He finally gives Sheldon his much needed papers and he's off. We scheduled TMO (the movers), housing (gave our notice of moving) and set up out times for our pre inspection and final out. I was able to get the pets their appointments for their health check for the flight over. We also turned in our port call paperwork to get our flight information. Not bad for half a days notice;)

We made some decision during this time of a couple hours too. We found a regulation that stated that they had to fly round trip any dependent that is a student in the states once every fiscal year! Since Jori was being fired on Friday, not anything due to her performance but just because of the economy, she would really have nothing to do for the next month and become an expensive sponge for a month or more. We decided that it would be best for us to take Jori with us:) She will stay with the boys at our bungalow park while Sheldon and I go to Germany for his in-processing. It won't be a major vacation for her, but at least she'll get to see the country side of the Netherlands and Germany a little before she comes out at Christmas. She can take back some candy for her friends and pictures! At least we get to see her. It would have been a whole year if we waited until the holidays and that was too long. Jori flies in late Tuesday night just as all the fun begins here. We hope if we work really hard she will get the chance to take in the sights here at the DC Mall too. It would be a shame not too.

Well, I know I have more write but I'll try to catch up when I can. I can't wait to start adding pictures to this blog. I need to do better with that, but right now at least keeping up with the writing will just have to be enough and once things settle down I will get to that.