Sayonara Japan.. and a new chapter of life...

Hello faithful blog readers. I am sorry there hasn't been anything for you to read in a while. Let's just say that as soon as our stuff got packed away, headed on a slow boat to the Pac Northwest, life here has kind of stopped as we knew it. I think once your home is pulled apart and packed away, your mind is gone with it. That's how I have been feeling lately. We are so close to getting to Washington, that I have mentally pulled away from Japan and started looking forward to a new life in the states. As you know from my blog, we have embraced Japan and we will always have wonderful memories of this great country that we have called home for two years. But...... to be completely honest, I am a USA girl and that is where I belong. Brian returned last week from a conference in Bremerton, WA (about 10 miles from where we will call home) and he said when he stepped off the plane in Washington, the first thing he noticed was the smell of crystal clean air. Ahhh, I can almost smell it now. To be able to read the signs and understand the language. To be able to step into a store, try something on, get the right size, take it to the cash register, purchase it, and have it put in a bag for you to take home right then and there.....simply satisfying.

We have found a home, purchased a car, and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our baby girl. She will make her grand appearance sometime in early September. We are all so excited to meet her. We have all sat on the couch and have felt her move and kick us. The boys love this. It is so much fun to have the two boys at the ages they are because we can talk about the baby. They understand everything. They are not toddlers anymore, so they have had fun watching me grow and watching my belly move when she's active. The picture I have added is her for some of you who have requested belly shots, but for the most part it is for us to have and look back and remember. She was of course, "Made in Japan" and hopefully someday, this blog will be printed out and given to all of our children. Since we will not have any pictures of her actually in Japan, I thought that at least she can see that she was with us during the last 7 months of the tour here. Hence, the pregnancy shot at 7 months pregnant.



We do have so many changes coming up in our lives, but I am confident that the boys will adjust as they always do. New faces, new places, new neighborhood, and new friends...but this is what they have come to know, and I have no doubt that they will prevail.

So, as we end this chapter and start a new chapter of our lives, I can only hope that it is as exciting as this past one has been. I'm not sure I will be posting this week, so this may be the last post from "Our Journey in Japan". Thanks for sharing this adventure with us over the past two years. It's been quite a ride. SAYONARA JAPAN...HELLO USA...we're comin home!!!!!!!