Homecoming!

It is with great pleasure that I write this blog. I have been waiting 6 months for this. On Wednesday, I anxiously drove to the airport and waited for my husband to return from his deployment to Afghanistan. I spent that day trying to keep busy so I wouldn't get nervous. I hung this awesome banner I had made and put up the flag.
I tried not to get to the airport too early because I knew I would probably be pacing back and forth.

Fortunately we had some friends and some of John's co-workers show up to welcome him and the others home.

He was one of the first people to get his bags and come out into the waiting area. I wasn't expecting to, but I started to cry the moment I hugged him for the first time. I think they were tears of joy AND relief! I don't know if I have ever hugged anyone tighter in my life!

I finally was able to let him go to greet his friends! It was such an amazing experience, I am so very thankful to have John home safe and sound.

Zeke was extremely happy to see John when he came home. He would not let him out of his sight!

Thanks to all of you for your love and support during this long deployment! We are so happy to finally be back together!

Happy Easter!

This has been a long weekend! It was jam-packed full of things to do!

It started on Thursday with our church's production of "The Living Lords Supper". Basically it was about Jesus' last supper as well as the history behind Leonardo DaVinci's painting. Each of the disciples also had a monologue telling a little more about who they were and how they became a disciple. They did a fantastic job. I am a little partial however because I directed the entire production! It was my directorial debut! Ha ha! We all put in a lot of hard work and I think it was well worth it. Here is a picture a photographer friend took of the men in the same pose as the original painting. She edited it to look like a painting.

We had a few more weekend events going on to include FOUR church services Easter Sunday. Since I am on staff at the church I had to be there for most of them. Thankfully I wasn't required to attend the 6am service. I think my boss knew there was no way I could be out of bed and ready by then! I also sang at a few of the services. Here is a picture of me and the girls!
And one of my friend Jessica and me.

As you can see, I am keeping busy while John is away. The countdown has begun and I am very much looking forward to finally having him home in a few weeks! Hopefully the next blog you see from me will be filled with pictures of our reunion!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Mischa did!

Marine Drum and Bugle Corps

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching the Commandant's own Marine Drum and Bugle Corps as well as the Silent Drill team. It was awesome!

They performed at a high school football field and there were so many people there.

I have to admit, some of these pictures are from my friend Beth who has a MUCH nicer camera than I do!

The band was outstanding and incredibly precise.

Here are a few Marine WWII veterans that were honored at the ceremony.

Ah, the Silent Drill team! I had never seen them before and they are so amazing!

The announcer did inform us that those are 10.5 lb, fully operational M1 rifles with fixed bayonets. I wonder how long they had to practice with the fake ones before they were allowed to use the real thing???

Here are me and a few of my girlfriends. What can we say, we love Marines!

Semper Fi!

A Whole Lotta Shakin Going On

I would very much prefer not to relive this weekend again. On Saturday morning I was violently awakened by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Wow. It was said to have lasted 30 seconds, but it felt like time had stopped. I know all you Californians out there probably would have been much cooler than I was. Fortunately this Texas girl had heard somewhere that you are supposed to stand in the doorway during and earthquake. I had enough time to wake up, realize what was happening, go stand in the doorway, and still endure a few more seconds of rattling. It was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. The ground should not be moving! My poor dogs were panicked. They had no idea what was going on and didn't let me out of their sight for the next few hours. Over the next 2 days we had TEN more! Fortunately I only felt one, but it was a 5.0 and of course it happened during the middle of the night the following night. I am clearly not a fan.

Here is a link to a video on youtube that recorded our big quake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfbprlCgpGw

As most of you know a few hours later Chile experienced and even larger earthquake! Is God trying to tell us something...hmmm...

That quake triggered tsunami warnings for all of the Pacific, Okinawa included. An hour or two before is was supposed to hit us they evacuated all of the people who lived along both coasts of the island and anyone 30ft or below sea level, and put the bases on lock down. Fortunately the "tsu-mini" and we called it, hit us with waves only 4 to 6ft high. Whew.

I am pretty much over this whole island-living thing! Luckily the Okinawans are very prepared for all of these natural disasters that come their way and we all live in concrete homes that are built to withstand tsunamis, typhoons, and earthquakes.

It was a wild weekend, but I am so thankful for God's protection over us, and even more thankful that we are more than halfway finished with our tour here! Don't get me wrong, we have had many experiences to last a lifetime, but I am ready to go back to America, preferably somewhere inland!

Out and About

Life has been really busy lately. You would think with so much stuff I have going on, time would fly by, but these past few months feel like they have been the longest months of my life! Just a few more and my wonderful husband will be home!

I've been keeping busy with some girlfriends. There is nothing worse than doing nothing on a weekend while your husband is away, so I have been out and about in hopes of making time go by more quickly.

I recently had my first Japanese karaoke experience. As most of you know, karaoke originated here, so I HAD to try it while here! In the States you would usually go to a karaoke bar or something similar where you put your name and song on a list then wait forever for your turn. Here it is quite different. It is best if you go with a group and you get your own little room! Depending on the size of the group you will have different sized rooms. They fortunately have a large book of English songs. You type in the number on an electronic keypad that coordinates with the song you want to sing, then off you go!

Now the girls that I went with and I are all singers.

Most of us sing on the praise team at church, so we could have gone on for hours! It was such a blast!

What makes it more fun is the absolutely ridiculous Japanese videos that play along with the sings we sing.

I had my first experience with Indian food last weekend. It was great! My good friend Heather and I went out to try a place we had heard was good.

If you have never had Indian, basically you pick the curry you'd like (the plate we got allowed us to choose 3 kinds), and seriously the biggest piece of naan bread I have ever seen in my life! It was so good! I could eat 3 of these!

This weekend for Valentine's Day I have quite a few friends whose husbands are deployed so we decided to all go out to dinner together. We went to a pretty popular "American style" steak and seafood place called Sam's by the Sea. The staff there all have to wear these ridiculous sailor outfits (I feel so sorry for them!) however when we asked if one of the waitresses could take out picture, they handed us all hats to wear! Ha ha!

It was a great night. I really thank God for bringing me so many friends here to help me get through this rough time of John being gone. I think I might be miserable otherwise. Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I can't wait for my Valentine to be back home with me!

Bullfight...Sort of.

This weekend I had my first Okinawan bullfight experience. It was very different than I had imagined. During my undergraduate years, I went to Spain and studied there for a semester. The bullfighting experience there is quite gory and involves a crazy man (in my opinion) and one bull in a ring. In Okinawa there are two bulls who "fight" each other. They have handlers who hold onto a rope attached to the bulls' nose the entire time.

The bulls basically push each other around. The looser is the bull who gives up first. I think this one we went to was more for show than the real competitions they often have. Apparently they hold real competitive matches with judges and possibly a little betting on the winner.

Of course there had to be quite a few performances by kids. The Japanese love being entertained!

As many of you know, I HATE clowns and anything or anyone dressed up, it just creeps me out. This guy was no exception, but Laura was brave enough to take a picture with him!

At the end, we went down into the ring where they brought out an old bull and you could take a picture next to it OR sit on top of it. Of course I couldn't be a wimp, I had to get on! Only in Okinawa!

Here are my friends Laura and Sabrina with me and the host, the creepy clown and of course a girl dressed up as a cow because, well why not?

Texas Part II

I am so sorry my blogs are not quite Japanese-y. I do venture out, but it is to do everyday things that don't seem blog-worthy. So I apologize if you are reading this blog to see all of the cool things we have done in Japan, and you see posts about the zillion times we have been to the States! When John comes back we will do a few more touristy things, I promise, but for now, I guess it is the "Andrea Show". Ha ha!

Hopefully you all had a chance to see the snow madness we got in Texas. I am still shocked over the amount we got, and the havoc it caused in that town! Here is my younger brother, Jacob's huge snowman!

I have to post a few more pictures of the trip. Here are my cousin's girls who greeted me at the airport when I got into Dallas.

The next few days we spent at home because the roads were so horrible. Fortunately, my brother Daniel has a 4-wheel drive truck and was able to trudge through the snow so we could see them on Christmas. Here is my nephew, Cade who is too cute for words!

I love this boy!

Finally I was able to go with my dad up to Oklahoma city to see my grandmother and some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. As soon as I walked in here house I saw this and immediately staked my claim to it! My dad had the same idea but I called it first!

See, my gramma is a fabulous seamstress and always has a quilt in the works, so when any of us go over there and see something we really like, we have to put our name on it before someone else does since the family is so big! Luckily gramma saw how much I was in love with it and let me take it home. It is so fitting for our home and our life here.

For some reason my cousin Chris and I thought it would be funny to wear my grandpa's suspenders, and Jacob found some old sweatbands and tube socks!

Back at my mom's house I had a fun time playing with her new West Highland White Terrier or Westie, as they are known, his name is Cooper and he's adorable but made me realize how much I do not want to ever have a new puppy!

On New Years Day I had lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousins, then it was back to Dallas to get ready to head home.

The night before I left I got to have dinner with some of my best girlfriends. It makes me sad that I can't be around them all the time I really miss them.

Now I am home safe and sound. The flamingos are out of my yard and I am working on my very last class for my master's! Woo hoo!