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.

Out and About in the Land of the Rising Sun

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Cherry Blossoms, etc!

Man.... I am so behind in my updates. Which makes me sad because a main reason I keep this blog is so that I can record our memories and lifes' events. It has obviously been a long time since I last posted - I am sorry :(


Thus, to catch you all up, I will post a bunch of pictures and this will be a "photo update" primarily. Bear with me - I have two very active kids and it is the dead of summer! And I am still working!

The first set of pics is from Hirosaki Castle, Aomori during the 2013 Cherry Blossom Festival. What a gorgeous day.

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Since May, we've had Dan's parents to visit and my parents to visit us here in Japan. We had a fabulous time with the Bealls - they first went to Tokyo and then Kyoto before flying North to see us for a week. We made awesome memories!



 

 

 

 



  For some reason, the rest of the pictures I wanted to upload are freezing up. So I will continue my photo update tomorrow... hopefully :)

Spring in Japan

Things are going well here in Japan. We are entering the gorgeous months of Spring - the cherry blossoms are popping out everywhere! This weekend we will go to Hirosaki Castle where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Pictures to follow! Noah is playing soccer and is very good. Elly loves to go to his practices and run on and off the field! Dan's had a time of it with work - he's daily overwhelmed but that is the life of a commander. I am enjoying our new friends here - we had a really fun bbq at our house this past weekend. Things are just moving right along - at lightening speed! The Bealls come to visit us in 3 weeks and we are so excited to show them Northern Japan. It will be really fun to have them here. Then my folks will stop through in June on their way home from China - can't wait for that either.

Moments

Good morning! I have had the hardest time sitting down and blogging lately, for some reason. Maybe it is because there is so much to say that it overwhelms me.

We are doing well here in Japan. I am not sure why Noah's snowboarding picture won't rotate upright but, you get the drift: this kid loves the snow.

We thought that since all 180" we had gotten thus far had melted that spring was on the way.... no such luck! We got aboujt 5-6" last night. The temp has been up and down so much lately that I am sure it will melt but it certainly is beautiful to wake up to the sunlight bouncing off of fresh snow.

I am reading "One Thousand Gifts" right now and if you haven't read it, I highly encourage it. Especially for busy moms who long for night time when you finally have some alone time... Like me. I am learning that God has given us THIS moment - it is to be savored, enjoyed, and we are to enter His courts with THANKSGIVING for all things in that moment of time.

I have started my 1,000 list but haven't gotten far... there is so much for me to be thankful for. Even the mundane can be given thanks - and giving thanks when you don't have a thankful heart is so difficult, but God doesn't care. He doesn't want us to blanket our thanksgivings to Him. He knows our hearts and knows our struggles. So if we can give Him the thanks even in the daily struggles, our blessings will abound. As I said, I am learning an awful lot from this book. And when you are "mom tired" as I am most often, it is vital that we remain thankful and aware of the moment. Moments we will never have again with our babies, our husbands, our daily rituals - for once a moment is gone, it is gone forever. I don't want to look back on my life wishing I had slowed down, for life isn't a race - once run on this earth, it is but a memory. I want my babies to look back on their childhood with me and know that I took time for them, for their dad, for our family, but most importantly, for our God.

Things like my kids singing to each other, the way Elly's hair curls and hangs around her innocent face, the sound of Noah's voice, the soft breathing of my husband as he sleeps beside me, the cat's meows as he talks to us, lying on the couch reading what God is trying to teach me, the mundane of the daily routine, the soft snow outside my window, the phone calls from my mama from so far away, my sister's constant dry sense of humor that never fails to make me laugh, a wave from someone you pass on the street.... my list continues into infinty.

I encourage you to order either the book or the devotional (which is just as awesome) and read it and savor your moments in time with what God has given you. I admit, I struggle to do that most days - I get so caught up in myself, my anxieties, making it one moment to the next. But when I slow down, God blesses me and that moment.

Heading out to start my day as the kids are at pre-school. Enjoy this day and give thanks for it!

Hi!

Sorry I haven't been blogging much! The four of us have had the Misawa crud and it hasn't been pleasant. The kids got it first then Dan and I did and it has done a number on the adults! I ended up getting a sinus infection from it and finally got on antibiotics and I am still trying to convince Dan to go to the doc for the same. Men.... Hopefully he will soon.

The snow is still covering everything here but we are getting some warmer days so its melting a bit. However, it is currently sunny and snowing outside. So funny to me. I never thought I'd get tired of the snow but it is starting to wear me down a bit - I am really looking forward to the early spring when the snow has melted and we get the amazing cherry blossoms everyone talks about.

While we have free heat - and free everything - in our on base home, we don't have a/c.... and the months of August and September have been described as TORTUROUS! Like, you have to have dehumidifiers in every room because of the stifiling humidity and heat. Not a fan of the heat when it is that bad. Thankfully, that only tends to last about 2 months here.

The kids are doing great. LOVE their new school. Noah goes off base to a great pre-school five days a week and Ellyotte goes to the same place 3 days a week, sometimes more if she cries hard enough for it.

We haven't been snowboarding/skiing in a couple of weeks because of all we have had going on on the weekends. I had a baby shower here at our home for a great girlfriend of ours - we had 30 women come! Everyone loves Kara. And this weekend, we have the annual spouses' dining in. Our theme is Hee Haw - so I am in charge of decorations, etc and it has been stressful planning. But will truly be a fun night for the women on base - I can't wait to see how our OSS table and gals do this weekend! Hopefully we will win something for originality ;)

I am finishing up a term and will jump right into teaching another. That has also kept me busy. Despite the busyness though, I am starting to get homesick. Maybe it is the gray, dreary snow days getting to me; I don't know. But I do miss my family and home terribly. Some days are so easy, others are not. Today has been so-so but there is always so much to be thankful for.

My friend back home, Alithia, sent her little man's Flat Stanley to us so that was fun taking him around and taking pictures of him and "teaching him" all about Japan. It is currently back in the mail with lots of pictures and info for Houston to show to his little class. Noah liked helping out with his friend's project all the way here in Japan.

Dan's job is definitely keeping him busy and gone a lot. But it is awesome having his office literally 3 minutes away. And so far, he's not slated to deploy or go on any long trips so we are thankful for that.

This is just a short update as I have to wake up Elly from her nap to go get Bubba (Noah) from school. But I wanted to let you all know we are alive and well here in the Land of the Rising Sun!


 

A Time of Need

Friends,

The below email is from one of our pilot friends here at Misawa AB. He lost his good buddy in the F-16 that went down off the coast of Italy. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/body-of-air-force-academy-grad-captain-lucas-gruenther-found-in-the-adriatic-sea-after-f-16-crash

One week after GAZA's body was found, his first child - a little girl named Serene, was born. Please consider supporting/giving to Serene's college fund in honor of GAZA. He made the ultimate sacrifice in honor of our great nation.

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Weasels,

My good friend, Major Lucas "GAZA" Gruenther, was killed a couple weeks ago in the F-16 that went down over Aviano. The River Rats have started an Air Warrior Courage Foundation fund in his name to help his daughter, Serene, attend college later. She was born about a week after Gaza was killed. Mom and daughter are doing well and are healthy. Please read the message below from the River Rats on how to contribute, if you would like. Just follow the simple instructions. Gaza was a great man, a great husband, and would have been a great father. Thank you for supporting his family.

Cave Putorium!
Thud

Christopher "THUD" Behrens, Capt, USAF
35 OSS/OSK

***In response to the tragic loss of our fellow River Rat and Active Duty USAF F-16 pilot, Major Lucas "Gaza" Gruenther, the River Rats in conjunction with our charitable arm, the Air Warrior Courage Foundation (AWCF) has established a college 529 to accept tax deductible contributions for his daughter's college education.

It is very important to follow the directions below, particularly the "In Memory..." verbiage. All contributions are tax deductible.

There are two ways to give.

1. Send a check to the AWCF, P.O. Box 877, Silver Spring, MD 20918. In a note or on the check say "In Memory of Major Lucas 'Gaza' Gruenther."

2. Using a credit card. Go to our home page at http://www.airwarriorcourage.org/ . On the Home page is a DONATE button. Click it and it will take you to a page with a GIVE DIRECT button. Click it and fill in the blanks. In the COMMENTS block put in "In Memory of Major Lucas 'Gaza' Gruenther".

Please help us get the word out so that we can all support the Gruenther family, part of our River Rat family now and forever, and please give.

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Thanks, and please spread this entry to as many folks that you know who would be willing to help Baby Serene Gruenther and her family in this time of unfathomable loss.

Katie

Back and Not Private

Hi Readers, Well, after the last post - since removed - I recieved a mixed bag of comments. Mostly positive, some incredulous and some downright stunned by what I had shared. I forget that what I write affects so many close to me, so I chose to remove it, stop blogging for a little bit and pray about how to share about what I have truly gone through. I know it has helped people immensely, but I don't want to hurt anyone in the process of being honest. So, I will return with my story, my updates and will be more careful with my words. Stay tuned. Love you all.