Finally - an actual update!

I have been so lazy in my updates lately and for that I apologize! Things are going great for us here in Japan. The summer was thankfully NOT overwhelmingly hot like last summer apparently was. We did get a portable a/c unit for our master bedroom and the windows stay open with fans in them all over the house 24 hours a day. The humidity is also quite awful - we have 2 dehumidifiers and seriously 10 fans through out the house!!! But in a few days, the highs will only be in the low 70s and the lows in the mid 50s. Bring on the fall weather! I've never seen leaves so vibrant as I have here in Japan. Fall is exquisite. We are very excited!

Last week, we surprised our kids and took them on a 4 day trip down to Tokyo where we went to Disney Sea (unique to only Japan and SO magical!) and then explored Tokyo one day. We absolutely LOVE that city. The people might be the nicest in the world. We had a friend who went down on the bus with us and left her bag on a subway with two iphone 5s, her wallet, money AND military ID in it. By the time she'd made it back to our hotel (the military hotel the New Sanno), someone had turned it into the Tokyo police, who in turn sent it to the hotel. The hotel expedited it up to Hachinohe where she had to sign for it to be returned to base (since the military ID was in the bag) and the bag got back to Misawa about the same time we did. This happened in the most densely populated metropolitan city in the WORLD!!!! WOW. We are blown away by how wonderfully sweet and honest and accommodating the people of Japan are on a daily basis.

We had a ball in Tokyo as a little family - it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Dan's overwhelmed with his job but mostly with the doubled up masters classes he's trying to get through so that he can be finished by March. It is so difficult for him to make time for the massive amount of work required for his MSIR through Troy University. He goes several nights a week with no more than 1-2 hours of sleep... not exaggerating. Can't wait for this degree to be completed!

I am still teaching for Troy and just completed mid-term week - so now I have dozens of essays to grade! I do love the option of teaching and being able to it from home. Especially now that Noah is in Kindergarten and Ellyotte is in the Child Development Center during the week. We have gotten everyone on a GREAT schedule! Noah is so happy in his class - he's bigger than all the other kids by at least a head. And all the years of GOOD pre-school programs have put him on an advanced level already. He's reading, can write minimally and is learning Japanese AND Spanish each day of the week. He comes home speaking in either of the two and drilling me on the words so that I can learn to talk to him (even though I already speak Spanish) in his two new languages.

Misawa may be the best kept secret in the USAF. We have made such precious friends here and are just constantly happy - yes, daily stresses do exist but just being here as a little family and with the kids being at the fun age that they are, we have more flexibility (not being tied down to naps and schedules as we used to be - esp on the weekends) to go exploring this gorgeous, mysterious place!!

We do need some prayer - we have had our house on the market since March 2012. We finally got renters in it back in February and they were a good family - they painted it, put new carpet down and we were encouraged that they wanted to buy it at the end of the lease. Long story short, we stopped getting rent money.... Thus, the family was evicted. Now we are facing some legal battles and also having to make a lot of repairs to the home. Thankfully we have a great realtor/property manager/friend who is really doing a lot to help speed up the process of getting it "sell" ready and back on the market. Please pray that we get a buyer and SOON - this mortgage payment is not something we expected to have to cough up again each month at this point.

Thanks friends! Hope you all are well.