The Happy Couple

Happy Anniversary to our son, Jesse, and our daughter-in-law, Elina - married 6 years today! May God grant them many more wonderful years together!

Love,

Mom & Dad

Naples . . . at last!

So it begins . . .
We arrived after 4 and 1/2 hour flight from Norfolk to the Portuguese Islands known as the Azores, where we took a break and saw Sherman for just under two hours. There were 9 other dogs on the flight and all the dog owners were able to let there dogs out of their crates to go potty and get drinks and then spend some time together where we reassured each other that everything would be just fine! We all boarded the same plane again (a military charter) and headed to our final destination for Naples, Italy, which took another 4 and 1/2 hours. Put it all together and our trip was about 11 hours.
We had a posse of two chaplains and their wives sitting in a row of chairs waiting to greet and welcome us right as we walked out of the customs area. And even the CO of base had a personal welcome as he headed out to visit some of our folks in Bahrain. The "posse" had gifts for us and Sherman too! So incredibly kind! They swept up our luggage and Sherman's crate and we all headed back to the base to our room to unload and take Sherman over to Chaplain Luff and Paula's house. They kindly offered to take care of him until today (Friday), which is when a temporary "pet apartment" became available at the Navy Lodge, and I'm writing this first blog entry from my computer in this apartment. We are so blessed!
Since Wednesday we have met a number of the chaplains here; we've had dinner a few times with new-found friends and today we began the long process of Area Orientation, Intercultural Relations, and House Hunting. This includes things like getting a driver's license in this country, learning the laws here; pay changes, when to expect our furniture, medical coverage, mail, etc. The classes and paperwork take a week - all day long . . . each day! One of the days we take a tour of the area; getting to know how to use the transportation system, shop in the stores, buy gasoline for our car, and so on.
We still have vet appointments and a driver's test to take; a car to buy and so much more! But all is well!
The weather is nice. The people are lovely. And most importantly, "Papa" and I get to spend every day together! We're walking all over the place and bone tired because of the time change and jetlag, but no complaints here!
It's great!