I realize that it has been a month since I last posted, and a lot has happened in that month. Things have been kinda busy around here, complete with disappointments and triumphs. We started December excited with the possibility/plan of going to Hawaii over the Christmas holiday to spend some time with relatives that Jason hasn't seen in almost 20 years. As we were going to fly Space A through the military, we knew that it was a long shot and would be very difficult to fit coming and going into the time table we had. Alas, we were not able to make it to Jawaii for Christmas, nor Tokyo for our anniversary/New Year's. There will be other chances, but it would've been nice to go this time around.
Instead of travelling, we participated in many activities on-island. With church, we went to an orphanage and a home for special needs children to deliver some presents and handmade toys, and sing Christmas carols. The orphanage we went to is for children who have parents in jail for abuse, drugs, debt, etc. The children were so cute, but unable to be adopted to foreigners. However, before we left there, Jason and I stopped in the office and got information for an office here around the base that does have children eligible for foreign adoption, although as far as the ladies in the office knew, none of those type of adoption has occurred in several years. We still haven't called and gotten more information. I kind of want to wait until Jason switches back over to a day shift and things kind of quiet down.
We spent Christmas with some friends and doing a program at church (which we hadn't been to all the practices for since we had been planning on being somewhere else), which turned out great. We both got the chance to call back to the states and talk to family there, all the while wishing we were with them rather than all the way over here.
Our anniversary was spent on a "tour" of Ocean Expo Park and the Churumi Aquarium, the 2nd largest aquarium in the world, behind only the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which both of us have also been to. We have already been to these places multiple times, but we went with our friends who had family visiting and we didn't have to drive. We followed this excursion with some of the best burgers in the world and a little time watching the children play at the park (we went as a large group there as well). I filled many more days with babysitting despite being on vacation from my nannying job.
On New Year's Day we hosted lunch/dinner for the Young Single Adults at church and were joined by a family who's father/husband is deployed, and our ever-present friends from across the street, who are like family to us. I was so happy that all the food I had made was eaten so I didn't have to put away leftovers!
Jason went back to work the following week, and now we are at this last week. I spent most of it with children while Jason started back to working nights. Our heaters have been doing some funky stuff, but it isn't annoying enough yet to call maintenance to come have a look, although that may not be too far into the near future at the rate we're going.
As the holidays have come to a close, so does the time of year when most people really concentrate on spending time with family. As neither of us really had much of an opportunity to do that this year, we missed it. Perhaps we've taken it for granted all these years, but this year it really hit home that we were away from our family. A 6-hr drive is no longer an eternity to go visit Jason't mom (from where we were living in AR), and we would gladly have done it. Now to see family, we have to plan a month-long trip and divide it between both of our families and pay $3,000+ for both of us to go. Luckily, Jason's mom is planning on coming this summer with his Nanna and at least youngest brother, maybe both of them. Our friend is going home in May a few weeks before her husband can go to visit family, and she would rather not fly with both of their children alone if she can help it, so I'm trying to get a ticket to go with her, and then possibly wait to come back until Jason's family comes back--that way I'm not flying all that way alone and I can spend more time with my family, some of which may not have too much longer left on this earth. I'm hoping they can all hold on until I can get there in May.
I've also started going to a "Quilt of the Month" group, and hope to finish the first quilt top this weekend (I didn't have enough time to complete it before our time was up). When its done, I am hoping to post pictures of it and the ones to follow!
I guess that's enough of our adventures for now!
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