7

Yes my friends.. that is how many days we have left until Dezi and family are here. Are we excited.. Indeed we are!! :) Things have been great.. Thanksgiving was nice. I just realized that I do not have a single picture for you guys from Thanksgiving.. So sorry. Thanksgiving Day I went to the FD for a couple of hours to eat- and then I came home. The next day we spent the day at a friend's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.. it was so nice! We had our first snow here.. It is not still here.. we are still waiting for the big snow! Things are going great. Nate is in Okinawa right now- And I am going CRAZY! I do not want to go through this deployment.. Please pray now.. and do not stop praying. Pray for all of them over there. Pray that my husband comes home to me again! Pray for all of their safety and guidance. I really just wasnt this nervous last time. But.. I am this time! At least Dezi will be here!! Ill leave you with a couple of snow pics..

Oh. and I am HALFWAY finished with my Masters.. and I have recieved an A in every class so far! :)

I stay behind...

I do think that these are the last of pictures that I have to post! A few days before Halloween we were with Abbey and Ryan-- and we carved punkins'... haha! Well.. I didnt.. but they all did! So, I just thought I would share those pics with you....

Nate's

Abbey's

Ryan's

So.. I was looking at pictures on my computer today- adn I stumbled upon the ones from June.. when I was leaving my family. At that moment.. I felt real homesickness... I might say.. this is the first time I have truly felt it. Sure, I get sad.. and miss everyone a ton. But I am use to being away. It was looking at those pictures and realizing it really has been that LONG since I have seen family. Granted.. I went longer when in Mississippi- but knowing that I am not coming home... yea, makes it that much worse.

Holidays coming up--yikes. Thank God that we have great friends .. Abbey and Wade. It is only by the grace of God that we met them. They are our "Rubio's" in Japan! We have truly been blessed. We are with them all of the time.. and it is great. They are amazing- and God could not have placed better people in our lives.. truly, we all just.. click.

So, Britt is coming in the summer.. did you hear that?

BRITTANY IS COMING TO JAPAN!!

So excited for that! :) Miss you all!!

-C

Excited much???

CLICK ON IT TO MAKE IT BIGGER.. YOU WILL SEE WHY WE ARE EXCITED! :) ABBEY AND I ARE BEYOND READY!

Salmon Festival

We attended the Salmon Festival... however, we went to a different one than we meant to! :) But it was fun, nonetheless! :) Good times! You will see many pictures below from it. All this is: you go to the festival, buy tickets to catch salmon.. and then you have 3 minutes to catch a salmon from this pool of saltwater, with MANY other peope.. with your bare hands. Catch this though- It was FREEEZING cold. :) I was actually sick, so I did not do it. I will do it next time though. Nate had gotten sick.. and then gotten over it. Then, I got sick- and he got sick again. I kept it for a good two weeks. I am happy to report that we both feel great now. We bought a humidifier, so that should help! :)
It is truly amazing.. all of the new things that we have been able to experience in our short time here. We have done more in the 5 months (yes .. you read it correctly) that we have been here.. than so many peolpe do in their short time here. It is sad. There is so much to experience.. yet, so many people, just dont. We are planning a trip for the summer when he returns from the desert. We can not decide between Thailand and Guam. (My vote is Thailand!) ..
It hit me the other day.. that Nate is actually going to leave here. I am going to go through another deployment. It seems crazy. .. and to be completly honest with you- I am scared. Scared to death of how I am going to do this without all of my firefighter wife friends from Columbus. We made it through that deployment so.. awesomely.. but we had eachother. It just.. isnt like that here. It really isnt. I have so many more friends outside of the Fire Dept. Which is FINE.. I love it! I will be with a few of them regularly.. but it i just so different.. Okay, enough of my pity party.
The Shaw's are really excited to come.. and we are so ready for someone to be here. It is going to bring a taste of home back to me.. and it really scares me. It scares me that I am going to get extremely homesick now. I have to tell you- since daylight savings time hit.. UGH!!! We did not do Daylight Savings time here.. so it has really put a damper on me... :)

I am trying to update better!!
-C

Zipping up Baby! :) It was SO COLD!

Cave'ing...

I know I take forever to write in here. But these are pictures from Oct. 18 when we went about 3 hours away and went cave'ing. It was Ab's birthday- and we had a great time. After the caves we went to this place that was amazing. Breathtaking! We had to walk about 800 steps down and then 800 steps back up. Needless to say.. we were pretty tired! :) But these are the pics.. Look for larger update at bottom.

We are at 39 days today (Japan day) until Dezi and the Shaw's get here. We are beyond ready. Nate is ready to see his family.. and I am so happy that they are coming. The time is quickly approaching. These are just some short bullets on what is up with us:

• Nate is going TDY for a week in December before the family gets here
• I have been subbing a lot.. and sub until Christmas now, I pray for a job.
• I will finish my Masters this summer.. Doing great. 4.0
• We are so thankful that the Lord put the Wade's in our lives.. they were an answered prayer for me.. since we first got orders
• Girl Scouts is going well
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

International Scout Day

These pictures are from International Scout Day on Base. There were SO many Japanese Boy and Girl Scouts! It was so fun! They played a lot of games and then exchanged SWAPS.. which was the funnest of all.. all that is is little gifts.. they make exchanges.. with tons of people. All walking around on the football field doing it. They have one bag of the SWAPS to give away and one bag for the SWAPS that they give. After ISD was over, we had 2 Japanese girls do a homestay at our house. We also had 4 of my girls come and stay with us! That was fun! We ordered pizza and took them bowling! It was a ton of fun! :)

*The girls at the bowling alley*

*Of course, they had to have junk food at the bowling alley:)*
Nate and our 2 Japanese Girls

*Owiey and Minami*

*This is a Japanese game at ISD**Girl and Boy Scouts*

*MY TROOP*

*Hey*

Hey you all! I have more pictures to post soon.. and I will maybe get around to it tonight! We had International Scout Day last weekend. It was a lot of fun. Nate and I hosted a homestay and we had two Japanese girls in our house. We also had four of our Girl Scouts! :) Fun!! So.. I have pictures from that. This past Saturday we went on a trip about three hours away and went caving.. then we went to some place and hiked.. CRAZY.. but I will save the details for the entry with pictures! All is well here-- Yamboree has passed at home! :( Nate has been busy at work.. he is getting ready to deploy PLUS he has a TDY for a week (The week before his family comes) As matter of fact, he returns to Misawa the SAME day his family gets here.. Wouldn't it be something if they were all on teh same flight.. and if he flies on a commericial aircraft, that is quite likely! :) I have been subbing A LOT! Today school is out due to Teacher Workday! I was so happy! My school (Masters) has been going well! I am on my fourth class now! :)

Shaw's will be here in less than 2 mths and we are so excited. Britt is going to come and spend May-July with us (I am not positive about this.. but if I keep saying it like it is a for sure thing- then maybe?? :)) Then next year sometimes hopefully my familia will head this way! Other than that.. nothing new!

Ill be back soon with more pictures!