Some new pictures

The three little ones were really strong. They carried their backpack all the time and did not complain.
Die Kleinen haben ihren Rucksack die ganze Zeit egtragen und haben nicht gejammert.

Beautiful place!

How cute! Wie suess!

The campers at a nice stream. Unsere Ausfluegler an einem kleinem Bach.

My four cute campers! Teri, Lucy, Leah and Gabriel went to Mt. Katadhin and had a great time camping:)

Meine vier suessen Camper Teri, Lucy, Leah und Gabriel sind zum

zelten gegangen und hatten viel pass

May

The Gogan May letter,

We are finally in he most beautiful month of the year; MAY! Of course I am a little biased because I was born in May, but I still think that no one can argue about the beauty of this month. Even here in Maine the flowers are all out and the trees are budding. We are almost ready to plant our vegetables, but have to wait just a few more days.

We had a lot of fun during spring, due to the fact that we have three birthdays and all the “parties” in school are going on during spring as well.
We had Pages’ birthday; she is 15 now!! Teri turned a year older and I grew a year wiser. Yes I am already in the age where you do not get older, only wiser:)
Thomas had his prom and will graduate in two weeks! What an event. He will go to Husson Collage to play football and to study sports (what a surprise:)).
Mario is doing school for fun next year because he needs only one more credit to be able to graduate.
Page is doing well and is looking forward to summer. I think she believes she will get a break from school. I have to think about that:)

Jesse is a fine young man and became the Deacon’s quorum president. He is still very sweet and loving and he turned out to be a very good helper around the house.

Jeramy will be teenager #5 in a few months and we are thrilled! No, just kidding! One more teenager? Because we do not have enough drama in the house? What were we thinking? Nothing apparently!!! I am sure everyone who has a house full of teens understands what I am saying, and all the others……you will get there and then you will understand:)

Joey is our little genius. He is so smart it even scares him. He is doing 7th grade math and has an 87% avarage. Wow, that is just super. He feels good about it and is a determined little fellow.

Lucy is loving school and playing outside. Lucy plays with Leah and Gabriel all day long and Sami starts to join their group. They are having a great time and enjoy the freedom of having a back yard. Leah is as wild as she can be and sometimes literally runs into a wall because of all the energy bursts she has. Gabriel is still the cutest and loves his daddy. There is no one like Daddy for Gabriel. It is cute to see especially because they look so much alike. Gabriel got sunburned last week and that was no fun because he was crying all day long. Poor little fellow!

Sami is getting bigger. Since he discovered that he has legs and can actually walk he is into everything. He tries to run after his siblings and he runs after Emma. Of course he never catches up with neither one of them, but he tries.

Emma is our puppy. 7 month old and almost 110lb heavy, we still call her our little Emma, but no one understands why. She has a shoulder height of 28inches and needs a lot of space. She is cute and sweet and loves the kids. We had to teach her that the children are NOT her toys, but she can play with them. Her mouth is so big that she carries a tennis ball and a softball around at the same time. A soccer ball fits comfortably in her mouth.

Teri is doing great. He is on summer break since 3 weeks and will be home most of the summer. He will go to LDAC in July but will be home in August and parts of September. We enjoy this because we know this will be the last time we have it so good. We feel super spoiled and we feel a deep gratitude for our Savior and all the blessings he bestowed upon us. Teri still enjoys to study and is super excited that he has only two more terms.

I am at home all day long. Teaching the children, cleaning the house, running errands, studying and doing stuff. I know it is a wonderful blessing for me to be able to be with my children all day long and I am so grateful for that. Since Teri became 2nd. Counselor in the Bishopric and I am in the RS presidency we have some transportation issues sometimes, but mostly we are able to work it out.

We cannot complain; it would be a sin. We are tremendously blessed and we are grateful for it. We hope and pray all of our family and friends are doing as well as we do.
You will hear from us again in summer. Enjoy the spring!!!

With Love,

The Gogan's

Who is the boss?

Well, when we look at the pictures we will notice that Emma is sitting ON Teri. That is actually a sign of dominance and shows that SHE is the boss. BUT, when you look closer you will see that Teri has her leg in his mouth, biting her. So we can only hope that at the end he will win and we will keep the balance between humans and animalsJ
In all reality she is the boss. She is so cute that no one can resist her and of course she thinks we are all her servantsJ

Wenn man sich die Bilder so anschaut dann sieht man das die Emma auf dem Teri sitzt das ja eigentlich ein Zeichen der Ueberlegenheit darstellt. ABER wenn wir etwas genauer hinschauen shene wir das der Teri den Fuss der Emma beisst und wir hoffen jetzt einfach mal das er das Gleichgewicht zwischen Mensch und Tier wieder herstellen kann.
Aber um bei der Wahrheit zu bleiben, Emma ist so suess das ihr keiner wiederstehen kann und sie denkt natuerlcih das wir alle ihre Leibeigenen sind.

Tine is running and we are late with our update. We had so much going on that I never have time to do anything besides my daily routine. Teri had a back injury but recovered quickly. He also had two weeks of from school and that was great. Of course the two weeks passed too fast and he is back to school and so are we. The kids are doing well. Thomas was in the Newspaper again because he got selected for the Maine Lobster Bowl. That is super exciting. Mario is still having fun and is not doing too much. Page is doing a lot. She is doing Zumba and Tumbling and we just had her start Aikido. So she is very busy, besides her school work and her choirs she is gone and doing sports all day long. She likes it and we are glad she has a good time. She will turn 15 on the 23rd of March! Jesse is doing good. He is finishing his sports at the Y and he is still enjoying basketball. Jeramy and Joey are busy with school and sports like all the other Gogan kids. I guess that is all we do. We study from 8:30 until 2:30 and then we clean the house, after which the kids go and do their sports. The same routine every day! I am buss taking care of all the children and I enjoy spending time with all of my children. I love the home school stuff and the kids like it too nowJ Joey is doing 7 grade maths with Jesse and Jeramy. Of course he likes that because he is only 11. He is just very smart and super highly motivated, that is a great help!

Die Zeit vergeht so schnell und wir sind echt spaet dran mit unseren “Update”. Es gibt immer soviel zu tun und ich hatte fuer nichts Zeit ausser meiner taeglichen Rutine. Teri hatte sich am Ruecken verletzt aber zum Glueck hat er sich gleich wieder erholt und es geht ihm schon sehr gut. Er hatte zwei Wochen Ferien aber die sind schon wieder vorbei und er ist wieder in der Schule. Thomas war wieder mal in der Zeitung weil er fuer den Maine Lobster Ball ausgewaehlt wurde. Das ist echt ein grosser Treffer weil der nur einmal im Jahr stattfindet und nur die Besten Spieler aus den Schulen ausgewaehltr werden. Jede Schule kann nur einen oder zei Spieler schicken und Thomas wurde aus seiner Schule ausgesucht. Er ist natuerlich super begeistert! Der Mario macht nicht recht viel. Nur Schule und Freundin. Die Page macht um so mehr. Schule und Sport! Die drei J’s machen das auch. Es sieht so aus als waere das das einzige was wir hier machen. Von morgens bis Nachmittags Schule und dann aufraeumen und dann Sport bis Abends. Der Joey ist super in der Schule und macht die gleichen Klassen wie Jesse und Jeramy. Er ist hoch motiviert und wir werden ihn bald einen Tert machen lassen in dem er offiziel zwei Klassen in Mathe ueberspringen kann. Er ist natuerlich auch super begeistert.
Ich mach was ich immer so mach; meine Kinder betreuen und viel Spass mit ihnen haben. Ich frag mich immer wo die Ziet nur hinrennt, aber jeder Tag ist ein Geschenk und ich freu mich darauf und darueber!

February 2009

I can't believe it, but it is already February. We are super busy like always. Children, school, church, just the regular stuff.

Ich kann es nicht glauben das es schon wieder Februar ist. Wir haben immer was zu tun und die Zeit rennt uns davon. An meine Familie moechte ich besonders liebe Gruesse schicken. Ich ruf Ende Februar an wenn wir den neuen Tarif haben. Im Moment kostet mich eine Minute nach Deutschland 3,20 Dollars und das kann ich mir nicht leisten. Also seid bitte geduldig bis Ende Februar!

Emma is growing like crazy and has gained already 10 pounds since we got her. She weighs now 53lbs and has a little more than 1/3 of her adult weight. I am just happy that someone will weigh more than I do:)

Emma waechst ganz schoen. Sie hat schon 5 Kilo zugenommen seit wir sie haben. Sie wiegt ungefaehr 25 Kilo das ist 1/3 von Ihrem Erwachsenengewicht. Wenigstens wird ein Familienmitglied schwerer sein als ich:)

The kids are doing great. They work hard in school and have a lot of fun with their friends and their sports activities. We still have way too much snow but at least it was not so cold the last few days. Teri is having a great time going to school too. He also would like to be home schooled, but they do not allow me to home school him (ha,ha) I am always doing the same stuff, running in circles and all of that. Every day the same old; it gets old after so many years, but I do not want to complain; I got it good. I have a beautifull family and a wonderful fun husband.

Den Kindern geht es prima. Die arbeiten fleissig in der Schule und haben viel Spass mit ihren Freunden und beim Sport. Wir haben immer noch zuviel Schnee aber zumindest war es die letzten zwei tage nicht mehr so kalt. Dem Teri geht es auch super, dem macht das studieren wirklich Spass. Natuerlich moechte er auch gerne zu Hause bleiben so wie die Kinder aber das darf er leider nicht:)

Ich mach immer das selbe, das kann ganz schoen langweilig sein. Ich will mich mal nicht beklagen, es geht mir gut; ich hab eine tolle Familie und einen netten lustigen Mann.

As you can see in the pictures, Gabriel is outside working hard while Daddy is inside playing with the pupppy:) (just kidding:)

Wie Ihr an den Bildern sehen koennt, arbeitet der Gabriel fleissig draussen, waehrend der Daddy mit dem Hund drinnen spielt (ha,ha hab nur Spass gemacht, natuerlich hilft der Daddy auch beim Schnee schippen)

Gogan January Update

The Gogan update January 2009


Well, it looks like that we have to write another update. We thought that we could keep in touch with everyone by having the blog, but it seems like that we do not ever get any feedback or any mail from our friends. We would love to know how you are doing. It is important for us to know that our friends and family are having the chance to stay in touch with us. So here is the new plan. We will send you an update and then you just go to our blog for the pictures. How does thins sound? Good? Great, let’s do it!
First of all I have to ask Cory and Andre to write us back. We really want to know how our deployed friends are doing and of course we would like to know how their families are doing.
Let’s get the update done.
Well, January started with the birthday of Mario on Jan 1st. He had a great time at a friend’s house whose birthday is on Dec 31st. They celebrated and had a great time. Now he is 17! The next exciting thing was the visit at the State house in Augusta. We went to the swearing in ceremony of the State officers. It was a good experience for the children. We had refreshments at the Governors house and that was very exciting for the kids. We had Eissi’s birthday which she had to celebrate aloneL on the 6th of January and we had Gabriel’s birthday; he turned 3!! Yeah! He had a great time, but on the other hand when doesn’t he? We had Joey’s birthday and that was a very exciting day. I have to confess that I was not strong and did not stay true to what I said. As you remember Rigo died three month ago and well, I said I would not get another dog. Well, I did not, but Daddy and the kids did. So on Joey’s birthday we drove 8 hours through our snow storm to pick up our new dog from Portland. She is cute. She is 12 weeks and we got her and she was already named. We like the name and decided to let her keep the name. Her name is Emma. The kids are doing well with taking her out and feeding her. We will see how long this will beJ
Teri is back in school since two weeks and he likes it. He is enjoying the studies and his ROTC program. They expect a lot of him because he is the only active duty soldier there and they think he knows it all. Off course he does, but he does not have to tell them that, right!?J He has a lot of field training, not really in the field but in the snow. Ah, this reminds me; snow…did the kids complain about not having enough snow while we lived in Germany?? Well, now they do not complain anymore. We have so much snow it is not even funny anymore. And cold weather…brrrrr. Why does anyone call Maine the vacationland? I would call it the snow and ice land. I think we are all getting the cabin fever and I do not know to cure this sickness. I need some civilization, some human live activity, some fun and action, live, just people and animals on the street, or something that indicates that I am still on the planet earth here (ha,ha, I am getting all of Teri’s family mad now, because they are Mainers and think it is the best) Well, I guess it is not so bad, but for anyone who knows a different way of live it is a very drastic change and I can tell you all the kids and I are board out of our mindJ
Thomas is getting ready to finish his school, and today he told me his plans for his future, BUT I will not tell anyone until later in the year. I can only say one thing; I was very proud of him and it has something to do with 2 yearsJ Mario is doing great. Page is getting older and becoming more and more like me – no don’t worry, I was just kidding! Jesse is happy as usual. Jeramy too and Joey loves to be the brain in the family. Well he has to share this title with Mario, so I guess he loves to be half of the brainJ
Lucy and Leah together with Gabriel destroy the house every day and Sami climbs the stairs just to scare me. Emma is still getting adjusted and tries to figure out what she can and can’t do.
Lets see did I forget anyone…..ah, me, myself and I I am doing good. I am busy doing school with 6 of the children. It is a lot of fun and keeps me busy. I can’t wait until spring comes so I can leave the house and run some miles. I run on a treadmill but this gives me the feeling I am a hamster in a cage and get to do my circles. No fun! However, I have no reason to complain; we have it good. We have a beautiful large house, all our children are healthy, Teri is doing great in school, we have more money than we could ever ask for (no this was just a joke, a really big jokeJ.
So, that was it for now. Now it is your turn, let us know what you think of our blog and make sure you go there to see some pictures, especially to see our new family member Emma.
May the Lord bless you and may you continually remember all the great things he has done for all of us.
Love,
The Gogan’s

Emma - the newest Gogan

Hello, I am Emma. I am a Great Dane and I am 12 weeks old. I arrived in Portland on Joey's birthday, which was also the day of the snow storm in Maine. The Gogan's had a great time driving all the way from Old Town to Portland just to pick me up. I had a long flight and was exhausted and cold, very cold. Nobody told me that there is a place where it is so cold. I have very short hair and needless to say that I was in shock after coming from a warm area. Everyone loves me because I am so cute and clumsy. With my gigantic paws I walk like a toddler in size 12 shoes. It looks funny and makes funny noises when I walk. I dread going outside, because it is so cold and there is so much snow, but my owners make me every hour. I saw the vet already and got many shots. Fini was allowed to listen to my heart and she said it sounds loud. I am excited to be part of this family because even that they have no clue what they are doing they are so much fun and there is always someone to play with or chew on.

Hallo, ich bin die Emma und bin die neuste Errungenschaft der Gogan familie. Ich bin ein 12 Wochen altes Doggen Maedchen. Ich bin an Joey's Geburtstag gekommen. Das war leider auch der Tag als wir hier in Maine wieder mal einen Schneesturm hatten. Die Gogan's durften 8 Stunden durch den Sturm fahren nur um mich ab zu holen und heim zu bringen. Ich hab viel Spass und bin froh das ich immer jemanden zum spielen bei mir habe. Ich war schon beim Tierarzt und die Fini hat mein Herz abgehoert. Sie sagt das es sich laut anhoert aber es ist alles in Ordnung mit mir. Bis bald.

Gabriels's 3rd Birthday

Our little cute Gabriel turned 3 on January 15th.

He was so cute. He opened his presents but did not really care for them because he wanted the chocolate we had got him.

He is the sweetest and loves playing with his siters. They taught him how to be a good mommy and how to take care of babies:) (Teri is not too happy about that)

He got a CD player, a Leo Lausemaus book from our friend Eissi in Germany, some books from Grandma G and lots of Goldfish crackers:)

He had a great day and listened to his CD's all day long.