My first blog

So I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I have wanted to keep a journal about our experience in Japan, but it just hasn't happened. So, here goes- I am going to try blogging to keep everyone up to date with our lives in Japan.

What an experience it has been so far. We have seen and done so much that I don't even know where to begin. I hope this blog helps to share those lifetime experiences and capture them in photos for all of you. I wish I had started from the beginning.

To start- I want to share something that we did on Halloween. Matthew's preschool, Yokosuka Co-op Preschool hosted a fundraiser called the Harvest Festival. It was geared towards preschool aged children on the base because there is never anything for that age group. Hours and Hours of work went into this event. I had a few responsibilities, but none as fulfilling as taking around our guests for the night. We had invited the orphans of Kobo Cottage to this event. Kobo is an orphanage near Yokosuka that has been operating for over 50 years. It started off to take in Amerasian children (children from American sailors and Japanese women) . Now it is all Japanese children who may or may not have parents. Some do but the parents are not able to care for them due to drug use, abuse, etc. Most do not have parents.

Anyway, they were guests at our event. Through donations, we had 30 Halloween cosutmes for them to use. They arrived at the event and from then on, Patrick and Matthew went into action. They escorted them through all the games, tried their best to communicate with them, gave them prizes that they had won, and best of all, at the end, they sat down and ate pizza with them (after helping to pass out their plates and drinks). It was truly amazing to see these boys in action. I didn't ask them to help me- they just did. Patrick had won a big balloon, and he gave it to the man from the orphanage and asked him to take it back to the orphanage to have for all of them. I am not sure what made our boys act so special that afternoon, but we are certainly proud of them for all they did.

The next thing (after the event) was home to go trick or treating. I stayed to pass out candy while my astronaut and Darth Vader went with Daddy trick or treating. In an hour and a half, I went through 16 bags of candy. My neighbors, who started earlier than us, stopped passing out after they went through 30 bags in an hour. The base opens up for all the Japanese to come on and trick or treat. Thousands come through to be a part of this Halloween tradition that we have. They come to your door and after politely saying hello, take only one piece of candy. The American children stick their hand in and grab moundfuls. It is amazing how different children from different cultures can be. We can learn a lot from the Japanese.

The whole afternoon and evening was a memory to last a lifetime. I hope this blog has captured that just a little bit. Please continue this journey in Japan with us.