Our New Church

It took some time but we have found our new church home and we can't wait to join in on all the different ministries they have. We have tried several churches off base but it was difficult to find one that spoke English and had sound doctrine. The ones on base were non denominational and gave blanket messages that didn't give us the spiritual nourishment we needed. We finally found Calvary Chapel Okinawa and have been going there for almost a month now. The people are very friendly (a mix of Americans and Japanese), the messages go deep and verse by verse, and they have many ministries reaching out to the Japanese community and military youth. Another thing I really enjoy is that we sing the worship songs in both English and Japanese. I was able to find a few videos our worship leader posted on youtube back in February. It's a Wednesday night service but we still sing the same songs. You can also listen to sermons at calvaryokinawa.com. Just click on the "podcasts" link and "Sunday morning messages." We actually had a guest speaker this week that used to be a member of the church but now travels around Asia with Franklin Graham. Pastor Rick will be back this week though. Right now we are going through the book of Matthew.



In other news, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!! yay 21!!! The downside to this is that I couldn't renew my license until my actual birthday and because the mail takes so long I won't have a new one for probably a month. I now have to convince Dayne to take me everywhere and I feel bad making him go places right after he gets off work. Hopefully it will come in soon. Speaking of coming in though, OUR STUFF HAS ARRIVED ON ISLAND!!! They told me it would be another month on Tuesday. I don't know how they were that off but I'm happy. We will have our dishes, our microwave, our fall clothes, and our holiday decorations. If I don't post this next week it's because the house is in chaos, but I will post pictures after I get everything in order.

Our Thanksgiving

With being so far from home I was worried that this Thanksgiving wouldn't be anything special. I bought all ingredients for the typical Thanksgiving foods. We then got invited to spend Thanksgiving with Dayne's boss. There was another couple there with a 2 yr old, a woman with 4 kids whose husband is deployed, and a single airman with no friends or family around. It was interesting and fun. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, spinach salad, a shrimp pasta, rolls, corn, pumpkin pie, and fudge. Then we played Taboo men vs. women. The men cheated. lol. It was pretty close though. It was really nice to be with other people on Thanksgiving.

Tonight we did our own Thanksgiving since I had already bought everything. We had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and cherry cheesecake. Everything turned out really well for my first Thanksgiving cooking, especially the turkey. Even without family around, Thanksgiving was still alot of fun this year.

Our Thanksgiving at home:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

With Thanksgiving this week, it's hard not to get caught up in thinking of all the food; especially with this being our first Thanksgiving on our own. I've never cooked a turkey before and I'm slightly afraid it will be disastrous. Then there's the media imposing on your Thanksgiving happiness telling you of Black Friday deals and things you must have for the Christmas season. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE, NOT GREEDILY SHOVING OTHERS OUT OF THE WAY IN NEED OF MORE STUFF. I'm not saying I have a problem with Black Friday, I love all the deals you can get but hate the craziness of it all. So many things seem to get in the way and it can be hard not to let them overshadow the main purpose behind Thanksgiving. Despite what may have happened to any of us this year, we can always be thankful for something.

I am thankful:

1. I have such a wonderful husband. He is so good to me and I'm pretty sure I don't deserve it most of the time. Let's face it, I'm a handful. He is very patient, always kind, makes me laugh and smile every day, and continually makes me want to be a better person. Love you, Honey!

2. To have a large family of both blood relative and in-laws that love me. I don't know what I would do without any of you.

3. For the technology that has allowed us to stay connected with family and friends. It really makes it seem like we are not as far from home.

4. That even though we are not in the U.S, we are still in a place where we can attend a great church and worship God freely.

5. For a gracious and loving God who sent his son to take the payment for my sins, desires to have a growing relationship with me, loves me unconditionally, and has blessed me with so much more than I could ever ask for.

6. For the opportunity to travel and learn about other cultures.

7. It is not unbearably cold like it usually is this time of year. I've had trouble being joyful about the lack of holiday feel. How can I not be happy? WE LIVE ON A TROPICAL ISLAND. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for that.

8. For my washer, dryer, and dishwasher. It seems like such a simple thing but it makes my life much less stressful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!


Cute candy turkeys I found online. Maybe someday I'll have a reason to make them.

Traffic: Red, Green, and In-Between

In my last post I mentioned the traffic. Although some things feel very much the same as they do in the States, there are some very distinct differences in the way the signs look and the behaviors towards other drivers. First of all, everything here in Japan is completely compacted: the lanes; the parking spaces; and therefore, the cars have to be as well. The most common cars are the small cubes (ignore the two work vans): The other personal vehicles are motorcycles and tiny two person cars. Our first week here we actually saw a one person car that looked really funny but we didn't take a picture. We haven't seen any since.
Our car is still small but more of a western design. Our '97 Nissan Primera:

As you can see, the steering wheel is on the right side and we drive on the left. We originally thought this would take alot of time to adjust to but once you get behind the wheel on the right side you just automatically convert everything. It seems completely normal now. Dayne's even caught himself driving on the wrong side in his games.

Many of the signs are also different:

Although people do follow the signs here unlike some other countries we've been to, there is some delay in stop lights. Once the light turns red you can usually expect about 3 cars to go through before it is safe to go on green. Another fun fact: because of the limited parking, it is not uncommon to see vehicles parked up on the sidewalk.

My favorite part about driving in japan is the attitude that everyone has. In America we have a "me-first" mentality that translates into people cutting each other off and honking their horns or yelling profanities. The Japanese culture is all about respect and you can see this in their driving. However, this also goes the other way and they just assume that you will let them go first too. It is really common to come to a place where traffic merges and you see them start waving at you. This means "I'm coming in. Thank you in advance." They usually won't wait to make sure you stop because they assume you will out of respect as they would for you.

A few more pictures from driving in Japan:

Gomen nasai

It has been quite a while since I've fully updated you on our life in Japan. Since my last post we have moved into our home, settled into a routine, and learned much more about the island of Okinawa. I'll eventually catch you up on everything but for now I'm just going to focus on our new home.

Although Dayne's work as well as almost everything else we do is located on Kadena we actually live on a Marine base. It's only 4-5 miles away but because of traffic in the morning it takes about 40 minutes to get there. This has been a little frustrating at times but we think it's worth having nicer housing. We live in a two-bedroom apartment with wood floors and alot more storage space than our last apartment. It also has two balconies: one off the living room and the other off the master bedroom. Here's a picture tour:

The Outside of Our Building:


Entrance Hallway:

Kitchen:


Dining/Living Area:


Dining/Living Area with Balcony View:


Back Hallway:

Laundry Room:

Bathroom:

Spare Bedroom:

Our Bedroom:


Since we had to leave the States so quickly, we were not able to file to have our household goods sent at the same time we left. We temporarily moved everything into my parents' shed until they could be shipped over. Once on island we were able to schedule a pick-up time for the middle of October but our stuff will not arrive here until Christmas day at the latest. We are hoping it comes much sooner than that. Until then we have rented furniture and very limited everyday supplies. I've also had to learn to be more creative in cooking. I think once our stuff arrives this will start to feel more like home. However, even without the comfort of familiar items, we still love our new place.