Didn't see THAT coming!
 

So, some of you have known me for a few years and probably remember that we lived in Germany for a really long time...7 years is forever in military time when it comes to where you live. Anyway, we finally got to move back to the States in July 2010. We moved here with the belief that we'd be here at least 5 years, but also knowing that things change constantly. Well, hubby got a promotion which is great, but with it came the news that we're heading back to Germany! :blink: Part of me is excited because I miss traveling, but another part of me is freaking out. We bought a house here in CO and I'm scared to death of renting it out and having it trashed, but I don't know if we want to sell it since we will most likely be back here if we leave Germany again. Also, the girls have really settled in here. Riley starts 8th grade and Regan starts 6th grade in the Fall. I'm worried about them. Hubby's report date is Jan 10, 2014 with some training in route, so he'd leave here in Oct. We decided that the girls and I would stay here until the end of the school year in May, so we have a year before all this happens, but it's A LOT to think about. ACK!!

{{{HUGS}}} girl./...fella your pain after 20 years of moving int he Navy....I say keep the house and get an AWESOME Realtor......and let the kids relish in traveling and exploring while you are in Germany, they will thank you down the road :)♥

Oh wow Laura... that is BIG news! Congrats, I think. LOL! I can't relate to having to move around a lot, considering that I still live in the house that I grew up in *sigh* but I'm sure that although the girls will have a big adjustment, it's going to be a great opportunity for them to see parts of the world that they otherwise may never see. ((((HUGS)))) You've done it before... you can do it again. :)

holy cow! that is quite the news- but I have to say, I'd love to be in your shoes and heading back overseas. We're dying to go back.

At least you have a full year to get ready and prepare. And this time, after knowing what life overseas is like, you know what to stock up on and what to prepare before you move too.

I agree with Angie. Hugs though - moving is always tough.

LOL, I was going to say, we've been dying to get to Germany and they won't send us. The closest we've gotten was a month-long stay for Adam after he got medi-vaced out of Afghanistan (he was fine). :D

I do feel your pain though. They tried to send us back to Korea last summer with a month of warning. A month! Had it been in Seoul where we'd lived before we might have really considered it but it was a much more remote location so we turned it down. I don't think they were too happy about that, haha.

Oh and we thought we'd be here 4-5 years and it's going to be more like 2.5. Yay Army!

I hope you love it and that your girls make friends. Maybe if you act like, "What an awesome adventure!" they'll get in the spirit, but still listen to them when they cry about the things they're losing. My boys are only 5 & 8, but our move last year was really hard on them, even though in so many ways it was better for them. Just mourn what you leave and love what you get, that's my motto.

Where in Germany will you be?

That is tough. I would have mixed feelings, too. We didn't get to fully experience Germany when we were there because my kids were so small and my husband was deployed or training the majority of the time we were there. I don't really want to go back, but I know if we did, it would be a completely different experience for us...a better one, I think.

It is good that you have so long to prepare for this move. And congrats on your husband's promotion! Are you going back to the same area of Germany you were in before?

Oh, wow. What a change.

renting can be scary, however finding another military family to rent to can be some of a relief. We listed our house for rent through military for sale by owner and had it rented out in less than a week.

We'll be in Stuttgart this time. Before we were in Darmstadt then Wiesbaden.

I hope I didn't sound like I was complaining or ungrateful for the opportunity. It's just a little scary now that we have something so important keeping us here. I'm pretty excited to be able to do some more traveling and now that the girls will be older, they will be able to appreciate seeing Europe a little more. They don't remember a lot of the places we went to before.

We'll be in a different area than we were before. Pluses and minuses there as well. I guess the thing I'm worried about most is how the girls will handle things. I know kids are resilient and in the long run, they'll probably appreciate the experiences we've been fortunate to have. I just hope they don't resent us in the mean time.

Wow, that is big news. I was just talking to a person I work with that is in Germany (his wife has a job there and we've kept him on working remotely). It's such a big transition moving ... but moving to a different continent, is really a huge change. I totally understand your concern. Good luck!

Wow, crazy, I did my student teaching on the Darmstadt military base in the spring of 2006. I loved it there!

Orders to Europe is about the only way we'd "voluntarily" leave Denver (we just got orders here last summer....and we were SO glad to leave Texas)...it's been on the top of my husband's Dream Sheet for his entire 17-year career (I got us both orders to Hawaii, so I figured I did my bit), but the likelihood that he'll get orders there is incredibly slim. And we're Air Force and on 4-year orders....and my hubs isn't Ops, so we're likely to ride out the rest of his career here (promotion, and thus new orders, is unlikely at this point).

If you're going to hold onto your house in CSprings, I'd recommend finding yourself a good property manager - we're still renting out our house in Hawaii (going on 5 years now). Renting out your home is incredibly stressful (since few people will treat your stuff as well as you do/did) in my opinion, but it's a really nice tax break each year, and someone else is paying down the mortgage.....and paying for my eventual dream house/property and my kids' college education since we're not planning on going back to that house. And if you haven't already, make sure you know and have contact information for your neighbors....they'll keep you up to date on those things your property manager might miss.

What's your name? My girls were in the Elementary school there at that time.