Happy Birthday, Grandpa!
We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
These past three months have been the most intense of our lives. Starting with Katrina, life has been in almost constant upheaval and flux...but we have so much to be thankful for this year, and we want to take the time to acknowledge that! Though we are unable to return to our house in New Orleans, we do have a house in New Orleans. Our belongings were spared. Even the scooters are still there, untouched by flood or thief. Houston isn't our first choice for living environment, but we have a nice apartment there and wonderful friends who have lent us the necessary furniture to make it livable for the short run. Although Jennifer's dad didn't evacuate the Gulf Coast for the storm and his house was flooded, the damage was relatively minor given what could have been, and he has a safe home. The hospital he used on Keesler AFB was badly damaged, but soon, he will be able to begin the chemotherapy that his body badly needs to fight his cancer, so (although it will make him feel worse in the short-term) we are very thankful for that. Markus was able to spend some valuable time with his mom and sister recently, despite the circumstances. Jennifer and Ellie have been able to make multiple trips to Virginia to visit friends and family there. And Ellie...the most wonderful blessing of all!

Happy Birthday, Mimi!
We love you!

Dear Santa, I've been a VERY good girl! Love, Ellie

Also...
Happy Birthday, Aunt Ulla!

We have learned from family in Germany that Kurt Klingbeil, Markus's father and Ellie's grandfather (with us on our wedding day in the picture above), has passed away. This afternoon, Markus boarded a plane for Cologne. Unfortunately, Ellie and Jennifer could not join him (no passport or birth certificate for Ellie yet). Although Kurt has had numerous health issues over the past few years, he had been doing relatively well lately, and his death was unexpected. Kurt had a good and generous heart, and he will be missed. Take this opportunity to check in on friends and family, and let them know you care. If you're the praying kind, please keep Markus, his sister Ulla and his extended family in your prayers. Thank you!

The white smoke has risen.
The grey-haired men have reached a decision.
The word is QATAR!

What a trooper! Ellie had her 2-month shots today, four of them in total. Yowch! She was amazing. She didn't cry until injection #2, but for that and the remaining two shots, she was so unhappy that Jennifer got teary too. Ellie recovered well, though. She stopped crying before the nurse had even left the room and then slept for much of the day. Poor wee one, but what a trooper! If only Momma handled shots that well...
It's hard to believe she's already two months old, and she is growing like mad! She weighed in at 11 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 23.25 inches in length, putting her in the 75 percentile for her age. Big girl!

Still no word on our move, except that Malaysia is out of the running. Although we had listed that as our first choice, the head honcho in Brunei did some behind the scenes wheeling and dealing with Malaysia to get them to drop out of the fight for Markus. Brunei seems extremely keen on having Markus there, but so does Qatar...the battle continues. Given the lengthy time difference between the two, their hours for doing battle are limited. Who knows when we'll hear the final word?

Well, P-Day has come...and gone. No word on where we'll be headed next. The suspense lingers on...

It has happened. We have discovered blogging. Life may never be the same again! After spending endless fascinating hours reading friends' blogs and websites, we decided it was time we join the general stampede to publish info on the net...so here we are!
We may actually be a day early with this. Tomrrow is P-Day. No, that's not what we meant! P-Day is "Posting Day", the day we (theoretically) will find out where our next posting will be with the all-seeing, all-knowing Pectin (Shell). The top three choices are Miri (Malaysia), Qatar, and Brunei. Norway is in the running, but it's unlikely we'll end up there. The final choice is up to the grey-haired men in The Hague, not us...but we promise to let you know when we know.
For now, we are biding our time in Houston (our post-Katrina home), freshly returned from a trip to Virginia to visit friends and family. Markus was able to join us for a long weekend, and we all had a great time! Virginia is beautiful right now, bursting with the fall colors we sorely miss here in the South. (Once Jennifer figures out how to post photos here, you can see those fall colors for yourself!) The trip meant special time for Ellie and her Mimi (Jennifer's mom). Also on this trip, Ellie got to meet her great grandmother in Virginia Beach and spend more time with her great grandfather in Alexandria. Jennifer was able to see two of her best girlfriends (hooray!). When Markus arrived, we trekked into D.C. to meander the Mall and tour the International Spy Museum (but we aren't allowed to tell you what we saw or who was there...top secret!). The one thing we can reveal is that Jennifer knew spying truly was not for her when she saw the "rectal kit" (we'll leave that to your imagination).