Busy Days

      Daniel is away for his first deployment. It's a short one, which I'm thankful for. I find myself the busiest I have been since we've arrived and that's a welcome blessing. I love being busy with activities! But don't worry - I value my downtime at home just as much! There are a few things I want to catch you up on while I have a chance to catch my breath here.

      First, as I mentioned, Daniel is away for a few days. We didn't make a big deal out of it, because it was such a short trip, but at the same time, it kind of hit us that this is actually happening. It was sobering. We spent time in prayer together and before Daniel left that morning, he made a family breakfast for us. It was a sweet time. I am thankful for these challenges, because it is only through these that we can grow and be made stronger. As the months progress, his trips out will be longer, so I am thankful for the shorts trips.

      Next, our home goods finally arrived! There was a lot of miscommunication between Daniel and the moving department as we were leaving, so our stuff didn't actually get shipped until AFTER we left for Japan! Many of you know that we had two piles: a "long" term pile (slow shipping, we wouldn't see it for weeks), and a "expidited" pile (should arrive quickly). As it happened because of the moving mess, the expidited pile got shipped after the long term pile and now they have promptly arrived here in Japan at the same time. And today, it's all being moved into our apartment. Yes, Daniel is still away, but I decided to go ahead and get started. We've waited a long time for our stuff to arrive and I just want to get this show on the road. A sweet friend from my Bible study group is going to come over and be with me as the stuff gets moved in. She's a verteran (she and her husband are about to retire from the Navy) and so knows exactly what to do. What a blessing! And she will also help out with Skyler. I'm not sure how it will go, but I'm just glad it's finally coming.

      In an effort to spend family time together before Daniel left, and to TRY to teach me how to use the train system, Daniel and I did a bit of sightseeing this past weekend. We went to a place called Kamakura that has many shrines to visit. We only hit the main one, but it was an interesting trip - and I came no closer to understanding the train system. I now understand just how simple and efficient Moscow's metro system was - I hope I didn't take it for granted while I was there.

 

      Daniel, Skyler and I also went to a Sumo tournament not too long ago. It was a blast! And we had a secret surprise: the Emperor showed up! What a moment!

 

 

 

 

      There are many more pictures on facebook, for those of you that do that. Please check it out when you can. There are also many, many videos (perhaps too many?!) of Skyler as she is growing, developing and learning about her world.

      We thank the Lord for His continued faithfulness as we are still adjusting and transitioning into our new life.

A Day Out

      Daniel and I decided that we needed to get off base and get out in Japan. Sunday was nice and sunny, but pretty chilly. I was concerned about Sky, but we bundled her up and Daniel strapped her on in the Baby Bjorn for extra warmth. I'm not exactly sure of the location, but it was close by and we had a great time. We're looking forward to more days like this! I'm even feeling adventurous and planning on doing stuff like this when Daniel's gone! Yay for me.

Christmas Day

      Daniel and I got up early on Christmas morning, but it wasn't because we were too excited to sleep (I think those days are long gone). We had to get out on the ships early if we wanted to interact with the sailors before breakfast was over and the new shift started. Daniel and I (ok, mostly Daniel) spent the last few days baking lots and lots of chocolate chips cookies. That was some fun family time.

 

So it was just after 7:30 am when we headed out in our borrowed car, loaded down with chocolate chip cookies and two pump pots of hot chocolate. The sailors on the first ship we visited were finishing up breakfast and you could tell they were not enjoying life at that moment. It was hard to be friendly and offer cookies (it seems such a trivial thing at that moment).

Many turned us down. This was only the first ship and we had six more ships to go! Soon I realized that we got the tired sailors who had been up working the night shift. The fresh sailors coming on for the shift change were a lot more friendly and, well, awake.

I was more encouraged. I mostly just followed Daniel around and let him be the face of this project and introduce himself as their new chaplain. It was sweet. By the time we got to the last two ships, the shift change had been completed and the sailors were "in hiding" in various nooks and crannies of the ship.  So, we took advantage of this and got some fun pix of Sky in the Captain's chair on the bridge.

In the end, we had a good time going from ship to ship. It was the first time that Daniel was on all seven of his ships, and it was perhaps the ONLY time that I ever would get to! Not to mention Sky! So it was fun experience.

When we finished with the seventh ship and the cookies were gone and the hot chocolate was drunk and Skyler had fallen asleep, we headed home.

We hope your Christmas was a good one!