Before moving to Germany we were very excited for the opportunity . The opportunity to learn a new culture, to learn a new language, to travel, to spend time with old friends that moved back to Germany from Charleston and to make new friends. For me to it was very special since my family background is German. Excitement fills me because I'm able to see how my family's past generations lived and experience holidays that they celebrated. John too has a European backround, his mother born and raised in Moscow. We will visit his Aunt in Moscow this September. John's great Aunt was a famous artist in Moscow and his Grandfather was a decorated Military leader. We hope to visit the museum where is great Aunt's art work hangs and also visit his Grandfather's grave site.

January 2008: We left Ohio in style. We had so much luggage that Mom and Dad rented us a limo. We traveled from Katie and Dan's house at about 5am just squeezing into the limo among all our luggage. John spent the wii hours in the morning standing in line at Wal Mart to buy one of the few Wii's available at midnight. So in route to the airport John was fumbling around trying to unwrap the Wii and find a good place to pack it. We had a 9 hour layover in Atlanta. We spent most of the time at the children's playgrounds hoping that Mackenzie and Julia would wear themselves out and sleep on the flight to Stuttgart. They slept about 60-70% of the 8+ hour flight.

January was very hard on all of us. We arrived on Monday the 7th. After a long flight and jet-lag in full force we had so much luggage, two sleepy daughters and no Euros. What we did have is a friend waiting for us. Thank God for Stephanie! I had to run outside of the guarded baggage claim, ask Stephanie for a Euro, to get a luggage cart then ask the guards to let me back through to baggage. It worked. Once we got to car rentals we realized we didn't have our car rental agreement with us and we didn't know how to get to our apartment. Again Stephanie helped us with both items! We went through many adjustments. The children would wake up ready to play and eat at 2am for the first 3 nights (it was very difficult to force them to stay in bed), Mackenzie was sick for the first 4 days, Mackenzie was also resisting the change in food saying, "this is not the way pizza tastes in South Carolina". We ate lots of fruit, fruit tastes the same no matter where you go! John started work on the 8th and was working long hours learning about his new position and the product-line he would be supporting. We were counting down the days until we were able to move to our house in Vaihingen a.d. Enz where we hoped life would be a bit easier.

Our very good friends, the Huell's (Sandra, Wolfgang and Jennifer) invited us to stay with them in Kleinbundenbach. This city is close to the French boarder and takes us about 2 hours to drive there. We stay at Wolfgang's parents (Klaus and Gertrude) house. They are the most gracious and caring hostesses; we consider them family.

February 2008: We started the month with a Fasching Festival. Fasching is celebrated before Ash Wednesday; some say to "welcome spring" or to "scare winter away". After our experience, I'd have to agree with the latter. All the children dress up like Halloween and the towns people parade down the street dressed like Witches and Tree-People. The Witches and Tree-People give out candy to the children and play pranks on the adult spectators. Julia cried most of the time while Mackenzie loved it. Afterward we got some Gluwein (hot wine) and hit the townhall for some music and entertainment. We spent the evening with Helmet, Petra and their children Liena and Janic along with Eddie Bauer, all good friends from Charleston. Eddie was actually in the parade.

February 9th was finally here and we moved into our house. It was a Saturday and our household goods would arrive on Monday. Since the owners were leaving most of their furniture - we just had to stop by IKEA and pick-up our mattresses and we'd be set. Early Saturday John and Mackenzie took off to IKEA; Julia and I stayed at the apartment packing and cleaning. We got into the house, fully moved out of the apartment at about 5pm. Ahh, home at last! That next Monday was big for us. Mackenzie started her first day of German Kindergarten and we received our Sea and Air shipments from the States.

The rest of February we spent getting settled into the house. John bought a car - a used Peugeot 306, it's silver and gets good gas milage. Speaking of gas; the price per liter is approx. 1.44 Euro. With 4 liters to the gallon we're paying 5.76 Euro per the gallon. If you convert Euro to Dollars at is $8.88 per gallon! With gas prices in the U.S. under $4 per gallon, gas in the U.S. is cheap! My sister Julie gave birth to her first baby, Isaac. He was born February 21st. We also received news that our good friend, Sandra, lost her father that same day. He had been battling cancer for about 5 years. It's a good reminder that as God takes one soul from Earth he gives another.

March 2008: March 1st is Julia's birthday! Our first birthday celebration in Germany. That morning Julia received her birthday gifts and we took a walk downtown. We started to hear thunder, it was very strange. Then the skies opened up and it hailed for 25 mins. At the end there was about an inch of hail on the ground. Crazy. I had a hard time making Julia's birthday cake. Cake mixes are not the same here, but it turned out OK and tasted wonderful. Julia had a really nice birthday. What we didn't know is that in Canada, John's dad had just suffered a stroke. This being his 4th in as many years. On the 3rd John's mom called and said his dad was really sick and that she was worried. John's dad died on the 4th. John packed and left for Canada on the 5th and was gone until the 11th. We were all focused on Lydia (John's mom); we wanted to give her all the support she needed to face life without her husband. Because of some big snow storms John spent a couple of extra days in Toronto. When John returned he felt his mom was handling the situation as well as possible. While John was gone the girls and I did well alone in Germany. One morning our bunny, Happy, escaped from her cage. The girls were up and in there PJ's - we all went outside to chase Happy down! Our neighbors must have thought we were crazy.

We got our first invitation for cake and coffee from my friend Nadine. Nadine is so kind and speaks to me only in German; which is great for my German learning. I'm so thankful that I met Nadine. She has two children, her daughter is in the same group with Mackenzie , the Dragon Group. And she has a cutie-pie son that is under 1 year old. We had a great time at their house, meeting Nadine's husband Tomas and just getting to know them. We also took a day trip to Bad Wimfen in March. It's an old city with lots of character. The Huell's came and spent Easter with us. We woke up Easter morning to the first snowfall since Ohio. The weather in March was up and down. We'd have days of warm sunshine then snow. Spring was trying to make it's way through. On the 30th the family took a 2 mile bike ride. Julia on the back of my bike and Mackenzie riding her bike with training wheels. On the 31st John took Mackenzie's training wheels off and taught Mackenzie how to ride a bike! Mackenzie is now riding a two-wheeler on her own! Congratulations Mackenzie! In March we also started planning our first vacation to Salzburg, Austria.

Side Note: It was quite noticeable to us that all the children and most adults knew Mackenzie. Where ever we go we'd hear "Hallo Mackenzie". I know we're new here and it's probably easy to spot, "the Americans" but the amount of "Hallo Mackenzie's" we heard was more then expected. We then found out about the German Name List. Germany has a law that you can only give your child a name that is on the German Name List. Mackenzie is not on this list, so it's a name that no one has heard but everyone love to say.

April 2008: April 1st came with no April Fools tricks played; good. On the 4th I had a meeting with Mackenzie's Kindergarten teacher, Barbara. My concerns were: 1) How is Mackenzie playing with the children? 2) How is Mackenzie's German? 3) Is Mackenzie drinking enough? They only supply bubble water and Tea, both drinks being new to Mackenzie. My concerns were put to ease. Barbara let me know: 1) the children want to play with Mackenzie and that Mackenzie plays well. 2) Mackenzie is picking up German quickly 3) Mackenzie choose to drink the bubble water - usually a cup and a half in the morning. This was wonderful news for me. John and I are extremely proud of Mackenzie. She's a strong girl and has proved her strength through-out our move.

On the 11th of April the Koch family grew again. Jeanine gave birth to her 6th child, Natalie. Natalie came a little early but both mother and baby are healthy and beautiful! From the 18th until the 22nd of April we were on our Salzburg vacation. Click Salzburg Vacation to read about it. When I went to pick Mackenzie up from school on the 23rd I saw Nadine sitting on the rock outside of the Kindergarten. Her body language was telling me something was wrong. So I asked "Wie geht es dir?" How are you? Nicht gut, was the reply. "Krank?" Sick? No. And Nadine told me in German that her father died over the weekend. My heart broke for her. Her dad was only in his 50's.

The last weekend of April we spent in Kleinbundenbach. Wolfgang's birthday! Time to celebrate, eat, drink and walk to the tree. (Something you don't see in the U.S. but are very common in Germany: party cellers; and Wolfgang's father, Klaus has a wonderful one!) This night was similar to the many times we've been to Klaus and Gertude's house. We visit, eat dinner, visit some more put the girls to bed then go to the celler for a party. We had a wonderful time! I made my first trip to the tree at 2am along with John, Johiam, Jennifer and Louise. Wolfgang came stumbling up to the tree as we made our way back down. He said he was late because Burnt fell into the bushes. Then next morning Klaus took Julia and Mackenzie on a ride on his lawnmower - they loved it.

May 2008: May is the unofficial kick-off for summer. Our town's pool opened, there are 3 long holiday weekends and the weather is finally warm/hot. We spent a lot of time planning our Ireland and Scotland vacation. It was pretty hard because with Ireland we had to plan a vacation in 3 different cities. Because all the time spent on planning our Ireland and Scotland trip we decided to plan and book the rest of our vacations for the year. We hope to start planning next years vacations this fall. We've arranged to travel to Paris, Moscow, Prague and Barcelona before the end of the year. My good friend from Arizona State, Michele, will be coming to stay with us from the 7th of July until the 14th. Michele and I have planned a "get away" weekend to Berlin, Germany. My parents have bought their plane tickets to come visit us in September. We are so excited!

We made a day trip to Hohn Castle. Spent a lot of time at Vaihingen Enz's Maien Tag Festival. Vaihingen also had a big Maien Tag parade; it was nice to see people we knew in the parade. John has been working long hours but is finally getting some help. We had Nadine, Tomas and their children over for coffee and cake. Our doorbell is ringing a lot now; kids coming over asking "Ist Mackenzie hier? Kann Mackenzie spiel, bitte?" So cute. Mackenzie loves it. We taught the neighborhood kids how to play 4-square. They come to our house often to play, it's great!

Mackenzie has gone threw many crushes. We have so many boys in our neighborhood, they are all so sweet and kind. I guess I can't blame her. But I wasn't ready for our 4 year old to call a 8 year old handsome and ask if she could wait outside his house until he was done with his homework. Funny stuff. Fortunately, she has out grown the crushes for now.

June 2008: We started June with our Ireland / Scotland Vacation; click Ireland / Scotland Vacation to read about it. When we returned, it was nice to see that Mackenzie was missed at school. Her friends all came around her and wanted to play - it felt good for me to see and it must have felt good to Mackenzie too. In June we were spending lots of time at our pool and hanging out with our neighbors. The older kids get out of school the end of July and Mackenzie gets out of Kindergarten the middle of August. So June still has a lot of daily structure.

Germany keeps advancing in the Euro2008 cup. John goes with Wolfgang to the Stuttgart Public Viewing of the Turkey vs. Germany game. Germany wins and advances to the Finals. We watch Germany lose to Spain in our backyard with our friends, Mark, Corina, Luca, Phillip and Felix.

July 2008: The 4th of July was just another day here... no fireworks (the girls were happy about that!). My good friend Michele arrived on the 7th. We spent time in Stuttgart, took a train to Heidelberg, and then flew to Berlin for a girls get-away weekend. While in Berlin we met up with Stacy and Stacy educated us a little on Berlin and what it's like to live in Berlin. All was extremely interesting. Berlin is a very cool city. One thing I didn't like about Berlin is there is so much English spoke there. If we lived in Berlin we would get by without learning German. Seeing the Berlin wall sent a shiver down my spine. Michele and I educated ourselves, shopped, had coffee, ate-out and did lots and lots of walking. It was a wonderful get away. John and the girls while at home had lots of fun too. John took the girls to the Fish Festival in downtown Stuttgart. They went to the pool and prepared a tea party for Michele and I on our return - with invitations and all! Michele's trip was extended for 2 days as there was a mix-up with her flight home. Then end of July held our Paris vacation; click Paris Vacation to read more from our vacation.

At the end of July we got news that my brother-in-law and my niece would be visiting us the end of August. Mike has business in Switzerland and Caryn would be spending time with us. We are so excited!

Side Notes: We've lived in Germany for 6 months now. Mackenzie is still asking "When are we going back to South Carolina?" She's not sad but she understands that we're living in someone else's house and that her real house is on Regency Oaks in Summerville, SC. Julia is funny, I'm not sure how much she understands about living in Germany but when we're at home and playing or watching TV out of nowhere she'll say, "I want to go home." I ask her where home is and she says, "I don't know" and her shoulder go up. Again she's not sad but she must sense something. I have a feeling at the 2 year mark we'll start telling the girls we have to get ready to move back to South Carolina and they'll say, "Why Mom?"

John and I started our in home German classes. We have different teachers at different times. We both feel like we're making no progress. We are tadpoles swimming in a large pond of German. But when we were in France we could put our progress in prospective. We knew so little French, (John has had years of French in the Canadian school system.) John's German is now much better than his French. Being in France helped us realize how much German we do know. I kept thinking - I could communicate with this person in German.

I currently am trying to strategize the next change in my life... Julia going to Kindergarten. She may start in October, just 2 days a week but she will start full Kindergarten in March - 5 days a week, 4.5 hours a day. That leaves me with a lot of time. I'm thinking I'll focus a lot of time on learning German but I'd also like to take a class - I keep thinking a dance class or a spring board diving class would be fun. Just thinking at this point.

I don't see much English - sorry for misspellings or poor grammar...

August till the end of 2008: I have fallen so far behind on the website. I'd like to say it's because I'm so busy but that's only half true. A lot happened during the end of 2008 and not all of it was good. August was long because we didn't have any travel plans; we also had our Visa's sent to the Russian Embassy to prepare for our September travel to Moscow . August was also the month that Mackenzie had her summer break - a whole 3 weeks of summer vacation! At the end of August my niece, Caryn, and my brother in law, Mike, came to stay with us. We really had a great time with them. We had one incident at the Weinfest that will live with us for a long time. We traveled to Neuschwanstein, went to the pool and played around the neighborhood with Caryn. It was a lot of fun. September held our trip to Moscow . Click Moscow to read about it. On our return my parents arrived for a two week stay. It felt so good to have Mom and Dad here! While they were here we visited Heidelberg , Maulbronn Monastery, the Black Forest, Baden-Baden , Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, the Volksfest, had dinner with friends and enjoyed each other's company. (While my parents were visiting us the Stock market crashed and the US banking system was on the brink of failing. I was upset that John McCain, a presidential candidate, just weeks before stated that the economy was "sound". The economic down turn took over all the news media TV / Radio stations and has been the focus of the world.) The weather seemed to be cold during the middle and end of September. It warmed up a little in October but then the cold winter really hit! In October we traveled to Prague , Czech Republic . Click Prague to read about it. Mackenzie also started her Turnen class. It's like a scaled down version of Gymnastics - she really has enjoyed it. Our Halloween was pretty tame. We had lots of visitors to our house but nothing compared to what we get in America . Mackenzie and Julia were Pippi Longstocking.

We learn a new tradition in November - Latrne laufen (walking with lanterns) in honor of St. Martin . The Kindergarten met up at 6pm just as it was starting to get dark. All the children had (candle lit) paper lanterns and we walked and sang songs. It's really a neat tradition, one I'm going to miss. Julia also started Mini-Kindi. She went twice a week for 2.5 hours a day. It was hard on her at first but she got adjusted to it and she was really proud to have her own "school" and "teacher". November held our trip to Barcelona , Spain . Click Barcelona to read about this trip. In the U.S. , Presidential Elections were held and Obama won. I had a hard time voting for a candidate but ending up voting for Obama. Which brings up another sad issue that happened in 2008; I lost a relationship with a family member because I voted for Obama. It seems that America has given me the freedom to vote for whom I choose but within my family, my vote cost me a relationship. Sad but true.

December started off with Mackenzie's birthday. She turned 5 and we had 8 of her friends over to celebrate. Fortunately Wolfgang had business in Stuttgart and Sandra came and stayed with me during the day. Sandra helped me prepare for the party and helped us communicate with the kids. It went really well. We did pin the tail on the Unicorn, we had a Piñata and did musical chairs. Mackenzie really has a great group of kids in her class. The way the system is set-up here, the children are with the same group and same teacher through the 2-3 years in kindergarten. By default the children know each other very well and I saw some interesting interactions - a lot of children taking care of each other. It was so cute! Mackenzie also had a Turnen performance; her group dressed up as bears and danced. It was a fun event.

We made a trip to a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in Ludwigsburg . We went with the Steinmueller's. It was fun but really crowded. We also made a snowboarding trip to the Bavarian Alps and stayed in Obersdorf. We met the Huell's in Obersdorf. It was a lot of fun! Click Obersdorf to read about it. We returned from Obersdorf on the 24th of December and we were invited to the Lichtenberg's house for dinner. We met the Lichtenberg's at church one Sunday. (They sat next to us and at the sign of peace they all said "Peace be with you", instead of "Friede Zeit mit dir". How good it was to hear English at church). It turns out that the husband, Bernd works for Bosch and his wife, Susanne, and children Sabrina and Svenia lived in Santa Barbara , CA for a few years. Christmas Eve was the first time we met outside of church. It was a good evening of food, wine and getting to know each other. Susanne mentioned that she played volleyball and I later (in January) took her up on the invitation to play and still play every Monday and during weekend tournaments. Also, in December I joined the Vaihingen Fitness Center . Julia was on a school routine so that gave me 2 mornings a week that I could get into the gym. I met a friend at the gym, Katrin, and we've been spending time together. Her English is really good and she lets me speak German to her. It works out nicely, she'll speak to me in English and I respond in German. One last item for December is we started to potty train Julia on the 26th of December. It took her a good 2 months before she was completely toilet trained much more time then Mackenzie's one week of training. Nevertheless, it's nice to have a diaper less house.