Japanniversary

Today is our anniversary. No not our wedding anniversary, our time in Okinawa anniversary. Today we have been here for 3 years. In fact for a good portion of the year, we were positive we'd be moving at the end of this month. I was planning on having the kids miss Halloween because I was so sure we'd be moving during the holiday! It wasn't until May when we discovered we'd be staying until next May. It's still a big deal, because 3 years is a long time! So here's a look back at our little family three years ago just after we moved to Japan!Three years ago, Chilis was still a big deal! Coming from the boonies in Alaska, where they'd just barely built their first Chilis in Fairbanks, we felt really special to have one on base! We could go as much as we wanted..... umm, yeah, Chilis is kind of a last resort now! Too much of one thing gets annoying! Anyway, this is our little family celebrating Tim's birthday. I think during that evening, there were at least 5 other families doing the exact same thing. By the time we left we were sick of hearing the Chili's birthday song! We'd only been in this house for about two weeks. We still didn't have any of our stuff. We were able to find a costume for Rylissa at the BX, but nothing for Corben, he's actually wearing a set of Batman pajamas we bought at Target on our way here! In this picture Rylissa is 2 1/2 and Corben is 3 1/2.
This is our first Thanksgiving here. We still didn't have our household goods, so I improvised and tried to make a fantastic Thanksgiving meal, with basically nothing to cook in. I think we finally got our stuff the next week. We were told when we moved here, that you can't assume you can get stuff whenever you want. If you see something you like, you need to buy it, because chances are you won't see it again. The picture on the wall, was one of the first things we bought here, we fell in love with it. I haven't seen another once since we got it. I'm sure they're out there, just not in the places we've looked. I'm glad we listened to that advice!

Our first snowless Christmas. Christmas lights just aren't the same when they aren't reflecting off the snow!Our first Christmas, we'd made some changes to the wall, and had dishes this time around!

Three years have gone by, we now have a house full of furniture, so much so, we don't have room for anymore! My two that were so little when we moved here are now in school, and Tayzia is now almost the same age Rylissa was when we moved here. We've had one baby since being here, and will have another before we leave. We're about to celebrate another of Tim's birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but this year we all have costumes, and ways of preparing meals! We've owned 4 cars since being here, 2 lawn mowers, and our nice grill we bought just before leaving Alaska, has rusted out so bad, we'll be leaving it here! We've been in two different church branches, though we've been in the same house the whole time, and have spent many days throughout the year at the beach. We've survived a Category 5 Typhoon in our cement bunkers called houses. I have bats that live in my trees, geckos that made homes in my house (I love that by the way). I've had the opportunity to go diving in the East China Sea, and watch Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band perform just feet away from me! It's amazing the amount of things that we've seen, done, and experienced in just three short years! We only have 8 months left of our island life, and while it's sad to be leaving, we're so excited to start a new adventure!