Our Holiday experience...

What can I say, our Holiday season has been one to remember. And it all started back on November 21, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I woke up that morning and listened to the little nagging voice I had in the back of my head and did a home pregnancy test. After being told at the beginning of October that more than likely the only way I’d ever get pregnant was through In-vetro, I was honestly thinking “I know I’m not pregnant, maybe if I take this test my cycle will start.” Needless to say I was in for the biggest shock of my life. Almost immediately the test screen was filled with two pink lines. I ran from the bathroom to the living room where my phone was and called Jason. He was standing barracks duty that night, and I was going to be going and picking him up later so that he wasn’t driving tired. When he answered the phone my first words were “I HAVE TWO PINK LINES!!!” “Ok… what does that mean?” “It means I’m PREGNANT!!!!” “YAY!!.... calm down babe you sound like your about to hyperventilate!” HAHA.. Eventually as the morning went the logical side of my brain kicked in, that initial pregnancy test had been sitting under my sink for months now, and I wondered if it was really all that accurate. So later after Jason and I made a quick stop into the ceramic shop I went and bought three more boxes of three different types of pregnancy tests. When we went back to the ceramic shop to finish spending the afternoon I went to the bathroom and took one with me. Needless to say it came back positive too. Later when I got home I peed in a plastic throw away cup and took three more tests, for a total of five tests taken throughout the day, and needless to say all five came out positive.

That night we called both of our mothers. Jason’s mom Penny was in the hospital being treated for Pneumonia, while mine was at home with my father. Both mothers’ had the same reaction; they started crying, and couldn’t be happier for us. Penny’s words were “It’s about time!!” We waited until Thanksgiving day to tell other family, and let most of them know that we wanted to keep it a secret for a little while first, because I was only 4 to 5 weeks pregnant at that time. Three weeks later, and we couldn’t keep up with the “slip ups” on Facebook anymore, and ended up announcing it.

Fast Forward to the week before Christmas, and we learned that Penny was back in the hospital except this time it was due to what they thought was a blood clot from a biopsy on a lump that was in her leg. That happened on Wednesday, Thursday we learned that she had cancer, Friday morning (Christmas eve) we learned that it was stage 4 terminal cancer. Jason and I were hoping and praying that we would be able to go to my first OBGYN apt and find out if I could go home with him before we made plans. However that was not to be the case, and because I had told my mother what our plans were for Christmas morning she was able to get ahold of us at Stephanie’s, (my cousin’s) and told us there was an emergency Jason needed to get a hold of his Uncle Wes. Chaos then consumed our lives, Penny had taken a turn for the worst and Jason needed to get home as fast as he could.

Jason made the decision that I wasn’t going to come with him. His words were “Mom wouldn’t want you to lose the baby just to come and see her die. You stay here and you take care of the baby.” (Someone seems to have stepped into the role of protective daddy rather well in my opinion.) So I ended up helping him pack, and making sure he had an empty water bottle in his carry on along with some “snacks” i.e. Christmas cookies that we had made the day before and some candy. My heart broke that I couldn’t go with him, and that there was a very strong chance that he wouldn’t make it home in time. We raced to the Naha airport where Jason ended up making flight arrangements over the phone with people in Tokyo, and wrote the info down on the pieces of paper that he had to take with him. Which later when we needed to try and find him to let him know that he didn’t make it, turned our lives upside down to say the least. Penny knew that her son was on his way home to her, I had been told that the last time she was coherent that was one of the last things she said.

When Jason got to the states and finally had a layover he got his laptop out and got on Facebook, so it was my pleasure to call people at home and tell them “I found him!!! He’s in Newark New Jersey!!!”. I let him know what was going on, that he didn’t make it in time, but that mom knew he was on his way before she went. She just couldn’t hold on any longer for him, even though she tried. And thus our real life game of “Where’s Waldo?” came to an end.

Last Monday I had my first OBGYN apt where I had my routine physical and they did an ultrasound to check on the baby, and my day, my life took on a whole new meaning. Through the screen showed a tiny little baby floating happily in my tummy, with arms, hands, legs and a big head (just like it’s daddy :p) I saw the little heart beating, and the Dr. let me hear it. My baby’s heart rate is a whopping 150. And then my child did something that amazed me and brought a smile to my face despite everything I was going through. The Dr., the nurse and I watched as the baby did a little wiggle of its arms, then stretched its left arm away from its body and open and closed its teeny tiny hand as if waving to say “Hi mommy!” Ever since I can honestly say that my heart even though it was already lost to the little jelly bean, was completely wrapped up into the little life that is beginning inside of me.

Since then after talking to my boss to request a few days off of work to spend with Jason when he comes home, I have been completely taken back by the experience and lesson that I am going through. Life, the beginning of one, and the unexpected end of another. I am seeing first hand, how one life can change and affect the lives of so many people. How the simplest movement of a child inside its mother’s womb can bring so much joy and promise, and I can’t help but be humbled to be reminded how precious life really is. We can go about our lives being careful so that things do not happen to us, get so wrapped up in a single aspect of our life that we neglect another, and choose not to experience things for one reason or another. But it’s those choices that will enable us to live our lives, shape who we will be in the end, and come into contact with the people that we will inevitably have an effect on. My child will never get to meet its Grandma Macdonald, but I know that my husband and I will tell our child how much their grandma loved them, and how excited she was that they were going to be a part of her family. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Penny will forever watch over all of her Grandchildren, no matter how big the number may grow to be.

Penny-Thank you for giving birth to the wonderful man I call husband, for loving me, and for considering me one of your children. I pray that you are able to rest in peace and know that you alongside Grandma Miller will be watching over all your family as we go on to live the rest of our lives that you have so greatly affected.

First Birthday in Okinawa

My day started rather early... I believe 5:30 to be exact. All because at 7:30 the night before both Jason and I were having trouble keeping our eyes open, so we went to bed. Being in bed for 10 hours is very rare for me now a days, but was still greatly appreciated. Jason gave me a kiss and said Happy Birthday while we were still "waking up" just so he could be the first one to tell me Happy Birthday ON my birthday. But my nephew Xander had told me Happy Birthday a couple days before "practicing".

Once we were up, Jason let me edit some pictures while he cooked me breakfast, 2 eggs and a honey wheat English muffin with a glass of orange juice. It was very good. Around that time my sister called and both she and Xander sang to me Happy Birthday. Listening to Xander's sweet little voice trying soo hard to get all the words out melted my heart and made me miss them just a little bit more. Then while I was "cleaning" the bunny cage Jason got a bubble bath ready for me :) Which is about the same time he took it upon himself to give me 25 spankings with a pinch to grow an inch.. Not that the pinch would really do any good, I think I am forever doomed to remain my whopping 5 feet 3 inches.

I ended up having to clean the rabbit cage again because Mimi has been having issues going potty on the floor.. A lot. So to use up some time I ended up mopping the floor using hot dawn dish soapy water. It made the room smell A LOT better. By the time I was done it was after 9 am so by then things would be open for business. We stopped at the post office to mail off a couple Christmas presents, and then went to Starbucks where we both got some coffee. I got an Iced Pumpkin Latte with a chocolate chip muffin, it was very yummy. Then we went to Kadena's BX to do a little Christmas shopping.

It rained all day, I swear Okinawa is as bad as Seattle when it comes to rain, but then it reminds me that we are on a Sub-tropical Island, which requires a lot of rain to keep it looking pretty green. I joked with Jason that the world doesn't know how to handle my "big" birthdays, because when i turned 18 all the electricity for a 10 to 15 mile radius went out because of a snow storm. So now turning 25 it just had to rain all day :p

Needless to say we just stayed at Kadena's BX mall most of the day. Jason and I looked at the shoes and the fashion snow boots with the fur on top and joked about how my dad would make a comment about them not being good barn boots. We found a pair of clog like shoes with really big heels instead that I liked, and Jason laughed because when stepped into them I grew a good five inches!! Don't worry about me killing myself in them, I walked up and down the row of shoes first to make sure I could do it. I found a long sleeve shirt that looked comfy for Jason and he even commented that it looked nice and I put it in the basket to get for him. My argument was "Its my birthday and if I want to buy you something then I can!" Needless to say he couldn't argue with that.

We ended up going to the auction that was going on down stairs in the concession mall and got a couple Christmas presents there. I wanted to stay and see if they would bring out one of the really big remote controlled helicopters, but Jason was noticing that I needed to get some lunch in me so he made us leave and go to the food court. After I got done eating he suggested we keep walking around.. then he directed me over to the "SPA" and when we walked it I swear I had this bewildered look on my face because the day before when i told him I wanted to make an appointment for a massage he told me they were booked and that he tried. But apparently they only had a slot for a back massage and he signed me up for it. I feel 100 % better now by the way, I'm very happy he was able to get me the massage. And when I came out he had some flowers for me. the only thing I had that was "wide" enough was a empty spaghetti sauce jar, but hey it works right? They smell beautiful and we can smell them from the dinning room table all the way over to the couch.

After the massage Jason and I went and saw "Despicable Me", which was a really cute movie and we agreed that when it comes out on DVD we'll have to get it. After that we went to Sam's Anchor Inn and had dinner. Which I ended up only being able to eat half of it but at least I gave my best effort! I don't understand how the locals can have such big meals and still remain soo tiny! When we came out of the restaurant it quit raining.. and we just went home and spent our night watching Marmaduke and snuggling with Leo. (The good bunny)

Its amazing to think how last year we were finishing up packing up our house with the movers, we were living in a hotel room, I was heartbroken because I had just saw all my family for the last time before we were supposed to leave and I had to give my dog away because of her breeding... Weelp on to another year.

The Holidays are upon us!!

A couple weeks ago I woke up to see a very surprising status update on facebook. My friend Sara had gone into labor three weeks early!!! Needless to say I rushed to the hospital and was able to take a few "day old" pictures of the new little princess. 8 days later we had her "official" first photo shoot. Sophia's pictures turned out to be the second new born that I was blessed to be given the chance to take pictures of. If you are interested in checking out the pictures you can find some of my favorites on my photography web page that Jason helped me to build. www.erinmphoto.com
Other than taking pictures of these adorable little babies, I have been busy with work and discovering every day why I love my job. Yesterday we had our first afternoon class, and when I came into the classroom after completing my recess duty, the littlest boy in my class got a really big smile on his face and he said "Ernn!" His greeting melted my heart and reminded me for what seems to be the millionth time why I love my job.

Life

First off I apologize that I have not taken the time to sit and type out a entry. I have been soo busy this month. Mid September I decorated cakes for my Cousin’s children’s birthday party. Because the oldest son LOVES soccer that’s what I made them.

The same day as their party my friend Becky and I threw our mutual friend Sara a baby shower, so obviously I made the cake for that as well AND I was the “photographer” for the event. It was a blast and the cake turned out great  (If I do say so myself)

After that, everything with Girl scouts has come into full force. I’ve been having meeting after meeting. This past week I had a meeting with the parents and talked to them about what I have planned for the year, and how I would like things to run. I also was blessed with a CO-leader who has past Girl Scout experience so if I need something done she’ll do it for me. Next week our regular meetings start and I’m really looking forward to it. I was recruited to have input for the new overseas camping manual for the Girl Scouts also. Which hasn’t been too hard, just needed to do a bit of research.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new job! It’s such a blessing every day to see that I am in one way or another helping and blessing the lives of these little ones while they learn skills that they are going to need to use for the rest of their lives. They make me laugh with their silly antics, and shout for joy when something “clicks” and they are able to do something we’ve been trying to teach them. No matter how tired I am at the end of the day, I praise God that he’s brought me here to do this job. I now truly understand why my dad would fall asleep on the living room floor at 7 o’clock at night.
As for my photography, I have been blessed with the opportunity to take pictures of a new born baby boy. Also my friend Sara gave birth early to her beautiful baby girl, and I was able to go to the hospital and take pictures of her on her “birthday” and will be doing her official photo shoot on Sunday. I am definitely busy, and I am learning the important lesson of scheduling and not over booking myself to the point I make myself exhausted.

The First day of School...

For most was today. "My" students won't be starting until Wednesday. However today was the first day that I was in charge of "Recess". The First Grade session was ok, the only real problem we had was a few of the kids (mainly the girls) were climbing on the wire fencing around the soccor field. The second graders however... The first thing I personally had to deal with was a little girl who became very overwhelmed because she didn't know what was going on. She had only been on the island for one month, and she hadn't made any friends yet. I was trying to let her know that everything would be ok and that she would for sure be picked up from Recess by her teacher, and the poor thing finally burst out that she wanted her mommy and started crying. Thankfully I had my sunglasses on so no one was able to see that I was fighting back tears of my own. My heart just broke for her, thankfully I managed to keep the tears at bay. And next I had a little boy tell on another little boy for hitting his friend in the head with the basketball. Which after making him realize that he would feel bad if someone hit him in the head for annoying them that he probably made the other child feel bad, and to next time just tell them to "leave me alone", and if they didn't stop bothering him to come get an adult. Next was a little boy who'se friends were getting "beat up" by a group of girls. Alls it was the girls all like the one boy and think he's cuite so they were bugging him.. however again the same method of "if after telling them to leave you alone they still don't, either come get an adult or take them all to the adult." HAHA I walked away from today thinking "I finally know how all of the Teacher Assistants at my school felt!!"

School is starting!!

Last Wednesday was my first day working at my new job! I'm hearing terms like IEP, and cognitive development being used in context with the kids, and I get all excited because I know what they are talking about; I just haven't heard those words spoken at all since I left Geneva. The first couple days was spent just getting the classroom set up the way the teacher wants it to be. My teacher just arrived on the island the Monday before so she was going through all of the "Welcome to the island" stuff that every one has to go through. So our room really didn't get set up the way she wanted it until Friday, however we did manage to get A Lot of work done. Monday we will be going on home visits to meet the kids who will be in our classroom, and talk with their parents and just see them where they are most comfortable, their natural-home environment. I'm really excited about doing this job, and being able to work with these kids, its definitely a answer to prayers that I was able to find a job that is in the working field that I studied in college.

An update on my surgery recovery, everything is going very well. I'm still a little congested, but as long as I keep up with the sinus rinses I definitely feel much better. According to the Dr. I have healed very nicely. And if I ever have any sinus problems again in the near future I am to give him an email and he will see if he can't put me through as a "walk in".

Girl Scouts will start next month, I still need to get in touch with someone to get help with working on a budget for my troop, but I think that once that I have that done I'll probably "hit" the ground running with that. There will be 9 girls in my troop and so far I have figured out what the first three badges that we will be doing are. The rest I thought I would just let the girls pick out on their own at the first meeting. I just have to start contacting people to see if they would be willing to come and talk to the girls about the specific things that are required for the different badges.

Hopefully I won't go multiple weeks again without posting something, but I'm sure you all understand that life can get pretty busy when we least expect it :)

The Rainbow...

“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:16

Last Tuesday I had my Pre-Operation doctors visit, for the sinus surgery that I am to undergo this coming Thursday. While the Dr. went through the list of “risks” and told me what I needed to pay attention to, I will admit I got slightly nervous. The more I thought about it I’ll admit I was put into a rather weird depressed mood. I mean who wouldn’t after being told that “If you feel any pressure behind your eyes get to the E.R as fast as you can; because its blood pooling behind your eye cavity and if you have that back there for an hour you will be blind permanently.” And to top it off there is a 5% chance that the Dr. might accidently cut the lining between the eyes and the sinus’s or the lining between the brain and the sinus’s and the worse case scenario is that I’d die. I walked away from that appointment with a lot on my mind.
The next day I went to Araha Beach at 8:30 in the morning to just relax and have a talk with God. This is the reasoning for the bible verse, because while I sat on the beach I saw to the south a rainbow in amongst rain and storm clouds. I was immediately reminded of God’s promise to Moses that once he saw the rainbow he would know that everything would be ok again. I walked away from the beach that morning feeling so much peace that I haven’t even thought about everything that could go wrong since.
I ask for prayers this week, that I don’t get too nervous the days leading up to my surgery. Also please pray for Jason, he requested to take time off of work to take care of me. While we are looking forward to being able to spend time together, I know as well as the next person that taking care of someone can get frustrating, and Jason is more than likely going to need some patience.

Hello Heat!!

Growing up in PA I don’t think I ever really experienced what a “tropical summer” would be like. Being in North Carolina however, temperatures reached over 120 during the summer and there really was no breeze. I think I prefer Okinawa’s heat thou. Yes it’s really bad and after being outside maybe five minutes you feel like you’ve need to take a shower all over again, but there’s a breeze every now and then that you can feel coming from the north that’s always just slightly cooler than the breeze coming from any other direction. The other good thing is it’s not a shock to one’s system when you step into the ocean. It really feels like bath water, I LOVE IT!!
I’ll be honest and tell you that when I was already working on my tan in March I inwardly giggled. Back home they were still dealing with snow, when the only precipitation I had to worry about was rain! Now that it’s July I look like I’ve been kissed by the sun rather than slapped and assaulted. The last time I was this tan I had to go use a tanning bed and sunless tanning lotion. Now the only thing I need to use is actual sun screen and after sun lotion!! No one is going to be commenting on how pale I look any time soon!!

Wow...

It always amazes me just how busy life can get when you don’t realize it. The last full week of June Jason and I went to Okuma to celebrate our third anniversary and to finally have our Honeymoon. We had a blast!! We rented jet skis, kayaks and went on a glass boat tour, plus we hiked to Hiji Falls. Jason had fun trying to “throw” me off the jet skis, however when he first did it he did not anticipate his wife’s death grip on his life vest and he came flying off with me and lost his sunglasses. The second time he knew it was coming, and gracefully came with. Our kayak trip was definitely an adventure. After about two hours of being out on the ocean, the boat itself started taking on water and was sinking. I got so mad because I’m not a good swimmer, and even thou we had life vests on it bothered the crap out of me being out in the ocean where I wouldn’t be able to put my feet on the ground. The lifeguard came out and helped us back on the kayak when it tipped over the first time, but the second time that happened within the next 5 minutes I had him bring me in and he went back to get Jason and then a third trip to get the boat. It took three guys to bring that little two person kayak back to shore where it only took one person to get it down there. Needless to say we came away with some great memories, really nice tans, and some Amazing pictures!
Since we’ve been home I’ve been running around doing errands, and spending time with my friends. I had two photo shoots recently where I took pictures of Ryan’s wife and boys. Ryan is currently deployed and Stephanie wanted to get some pictures that she could send to him and I was more than excited to take those pictures! Then later that afternoon my friend Becky and her family came over to get “studio” pictures. She wanted “sears” like pictures and even thou her daughter decided she didn’t want to get her picture taken after a while we still came away with some good ones.
My friend Sara and I are taking the DSL Photography class that is offered through Crafty Things on Kadena. And during our first class we learned how to “freeze movement” , and I’ll be honest I immediately thought of taking pictures of Ryan’s oldest playing soccer and Sara’s little one running with the “super baby” cape I’m making. The “teacher” also told us how to take awesome firework pictures, and I have to admit I definitely got a couple good ones.
I have been trying to decide if I want to go ahead and take the Wilton Cake decorating class they have here too, but I figured until I’m done working on my ceramics that I started two months ago I ought to wait until I see what I’ll be able to handle after school and Girl scouts start. I have my sinus surgery at the end of this month so the month of August is more than likely going to be completely out for me. So I’m planning on taking it easy and working on planning what I’m going to want to do with my Girl Scout troop over the next year. Right now I have to finish editing Stephanie and Becky’s pictures, before I get to do anything else today :)

"Rain Rain go away.."

It recently rained for four days straight!! Leaving a rather nice chill to the atmosphere on the island. Its still warm, like low 70's, but it has definitely cooled down a considerable amount. Saturday Jason and I drove up to Okuma, to see where the resort is because Jason booked us a room for a couple days to celebrate our third anniversary. Which I will completely consider the little vacation as being our honeymoon because whats better than being at a resort on a subtropical island!! The trip took about two hours from Foster, and with it raining so hard and the traffic we figured it was pretty good time.
I do have a culture shock story for you.. we recently went to a beach that is near Foster with my cousin Ryan and his family. And while we were there enjoying ourselves a local woman I'm going to say that she is in her late 50s, kind of freaked all of us out a little bit. I was laying reading a book and felt like someone was watching me and I looked up and there this woman was standing behind me staring at me and Jason.. she said something that obviously i didn't understand because it was in Japanese.. but I smiled at her and kind of turned around.. within a couple minutes she noticed Ryan's baby who was sitting in his car seat. With him being blond haired and blue eyed, we really were thinking the worst that she wanted to steal him or something. But still smiled at the lady and just watched her. Eventually she left, but came back and tried talking to Ryan's oldest son who was wrapped up in his beach towel laying down because he just gotten out of the water and was a little cold. After the woman left for the second time we were all talking about it saying, that we really didn't understand what was going on. Someone behind us heard us and told us that the woman was just worried that the babies were going to over-heat. And that she lived near by and takes it upon herself to kind of mother over everyone who visits the beach there. After being told what the woman's intent was, I at least thought it was sweet of her but found it still a little alarming because we were all right there keeping an eye on both of the boys. Shortly after Jason and I left because there was something else we wanted to do, but Ryan's wife Stephanie said that the woman didn't come back, and that she at least didn't notice her again for the other hour that they were still at the beach. Talk about prominent language barrier..

Other than spending time with friends and family there's not much that Jason and I have been doing. I did recently do some sewing to help the guys in my husband's shop. They all received their gear they were to take with them when they got deployed about a week before they were to leave and needed the name tapes sewed on. The seamstress who does the sewing in the barracks said that she couldn't get it done for another week an a half. And Jason being the quick thinker he is was like "hey my wife sews, I'll see if she'll do it for you guys". Jason had me charge them $3 a name tape, and after all of the sewing I did I earned about $300 plus a free Thai massage. One of the guys was given a coupon for a free massage for doing a little personal training, but the ticket said it was for women only. Instead of giving it to his girlfriend he gave it to me for sewing his name tapes on his gear for him.. Needless to say I've spent the money.. on a new lens for my camera as well as a big camera bag that will not only hold my Canon, but my little Fujifilm as well as the different lenses and more stuff if I really want.
This morning I had a interview with the Vice Principal for Zukeran Elementary school, (which is the elementary school that is around the corner) for the position of Educational Aid-Special Ed. The position is to be the teacher aid for the teacher who works with the preschool age children who have moderate disabilities. I was told at the end "We are very impressed with your background and the way the interview has gone. We think that you would be wonderful for the position. If you don't hear from HR by Friday please give us a call. And we are so glad that no one else has hired you yet!" Now it my understanding that what was said were good things to be told at the end of an interview. So now I just wait and hope I get a phone call!!

An Over due Update

I have successfully returned from Girl Scout camp!! I was lead counselor of the group Bits and Bridles and Saddles and Stirrups, which for anyone who could probably get the inner meaning of the names of the programs, was the program where the girls would learn about horses! All together I had 16 girls! Three of which are originally stationed in Korea, but Thankfully they came with a large number of adults and one of the adults were assigned to my group. Which I praise the Lord that I had two other people helping me with all the girls, by the end of the week I was dreading the sound of my camp name. Which was ironically "Thumper". I wouldn't trade the experience I had with all these girls for the world!! I re-learned about everything involved in being a girl scout, and was able to use some of my skills in "reading" people when it came to dealing with some of their problems. For example by day two I could tell that the younger girls in my group were annoying the oldest girls in the group, and once I pointed it out to the other counselor she saw it the next day.

I think one of my favorite experiences was when we were playing a get to know you game, and one of the counselors in my group said that one of her favorite music artists is Bob Marley. None of the girls knew who he was! So we thought of an idea to teach them a good Bob Marley song to sing, because when we would ask the girls if they knew a camp song either no one knew the song or they would start singing a song that's played on the radio. In the end our group song became Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. And needless to say I took a lot of pictures of the girls on the horses and learning the different things that the women at the horse stables had to teach them. Here are a few of my favorite pictures!

The only really downer to my week at Girl Scout camp was at the end of the week I managed to re-injure old injuries. After running around, tripping and falling once, and then walking from the lunch area to the camper area at the beach three times (it was a good 10 minute walk) in an hour the Coreman who had volunteered and was currently with the girls watched as my right leg swelled up and my limp steadily got worse. He had to ask me three times if I was OK before I let him look at it, and after he looked at it he told me what I already knew.. I had re-injured the soft tissue of my knee, and I needed to "take it easy" and see a Dr. Saturday after camp was over I saw a Dr and got some crutches, that I only had to use for two days to help with the annoying pain that happened when I walked for to long. Needless to say I'm better now but I'm still trying to exercise my leg with the rubber band thingys that are used for resistance training.

Other than that and having an amazing week at Girl Scout camp, I received an email from the school system that is located here on the island. I had applied for a position as an educational aid, and received an email while I was at Girl Scout camp about what they determined was my rating. I received a Highly Qualified (85) for two of the three positions associated with an educational aid, but the third position which was specified for working with Special needs children I received a Best Qualified (100). (Insert happy dance smiley) So the last couple of days I have been taking a "Updated" copy of my resume (had to add Girl Scout camp in my volunteer section) to the four schools that I had indicated in my application that I was willing to work at. All secretary's seemed rather happy that I brought them my resume. So hopefully there will be an opening at one of the four schools, otherwise I have to keep an open eye out for something else here on the island.

For now I have been doing some photography, I recently got muslin back drops with a stand. And I have two sessions tomorrow. And my friend and I have been exploring off base at different stores that we've read about in the paper. We found a really nice Three story craft store, and a stationary store/all things paper store. There is a fabric store near me that I really want to go check out, and I'm hoping next month to be able to take a photography class as well as a ceramics class that are offered at the craft store on Kadena. Well that's it for now!!

Nothing new really...

So since the earth quakes nothing new has really been happening.. Except I've sort of started my own little photography business all while still trying to find and apply for jobs in my field. I call my photography biz Erin Marie Photography, and so far I've only taken pictures of babies and toddlers with the rabbits for Easter. Today however I did my first outside shoot for a baby's first birthday.
This past weekend Jay and I tried to go on a whale watching tour, but due to bad weather it was canceled. That was rather depressing because I was really looking forward to it. We ended up driving around the island and seeing different places that we knew we needed to check out. Like White Beach. This weekend I have a Girl Scout Volunteer Training camp to go to, and then the second week of April I will be a volunteer counselor for the girl scout camp. I found out that they needed volunteers through someone I met on my Marine wife support group... (THANKS MISSY!!!) I'm super excited about it, because just thinking about camping and girl scouts brings back SO many cool memories of camping at Camp Timbercrest. I just hope and pray that Jason remembers to take care of the rabbits!!
I do have something cool to share... My cousin Ryan and his family are going to be moving from their little two bedroom apartment to a nice three bedroom apartment in the tower building that is right next to the one we live in!!!! We are all a little excited about this, and are praying that their baby Tristan gets better. Both of their boys have been sick a lot since they moved into the apartment they are currently living in. And this past winter they discovered a lot of mold growing in different places in their apartment. No matter how much they cleaned they couldn't get rid of it. So after we suggested that being around the mold might not be helping, they talked to the doctors who agreed that the mold isn't helping either of the boys and they were able to get doctor's request to move into a better place. I know Stephanie is looking forward to living closer to "family", that way when Ryan gets deployed here soon she'll have us who are literally next door to help her out if we are able.
Well that's all for now. I'm going to be doing at least three more photo shoots this week, as well as finally getting my application and resume sent off to a potential job. Which means I'm going to have to keep looking for other jobs, so I'll have a better chance of getting one!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

At 5:30 this morning Jason and I, as well as the rest of the island were rudley woken up by mother earth in the form of a earthquake. This is the second earthquake we've experienced since on the island and I have to say its also the worst!! Here's a link to the information that was posted on the internet http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010teb2.html#details

We have pets now!!!

After much deliberating I finally talked Jason into letting me get a bunny. We found one at a pet store out on the island but when adding up the cost of getting a new bunny and all the stuff that would be required to take care of the bunny Jason had me look on Okinawa Yard Sales to see if I could find one there. Not only did I find one but I found two who needed a new home because their original owners had a baby, and have the long voyage back to the states in their future. So they wanted their little furbabies to go to a good home. We went and met the bunnies, and agreed to buy them. Yesterday we brought them home and let them get used to their room.

Meet Mimi Bunny

and this is Leo Bunny

And this is how we set up their pen in the "empty" room

So far they've had fun exploring the one room. Whenever they get startled they "run for cover" in to their cage. Its kinda funny to watch.

On to other news... We don' t really have anything new going on besides getting the bunnies at the moment. Jason is busy at work, and is constantly getting "new jobs" handed to him that he says is making his "Fit Rep" look AMAZING!! Which when its time for him to hand in his promotion packet he's really hoping that he'll get at least put on the list of all the Sgt's in the Marine Corps who will be promoted to Staff Sgt.

I recently signed up to take some classes through the Marine Corps Community Services. One is a Federal Government Application, another is on how to write your Knowledge, Skills and Abilities for your FGA, and the last class I'll be taking next month is on Interviewing. Hopefully after taking these classes I'll be able to start applying for a job, and hopefully will be able to get one in my field!!! Well thats all for now.

more pictures

here are the pictures from the aquarium!!

http://s997.photobucket.com/albums/af91/erinmjjones/aquarium/

pictures are finally uploaded!!!

Needless to say we are finally moved in to our new home!! I uploaded all the pictures in to photobucket to make it easier for people to see them.
here's the link to the house pictures:
http://s997.photobucket.com/albums/af91/erinmjjones/The%20house/

And because we have in our wait to get a place gone around and explored here is the links to what we've been doing:

http://s997.photobucket.com/albums/af91/erinmjjones/Japan/

i'll post the rest of the pictures as soon as I can get them all uploaded!!

FINALLY!!!!

OK so to explain from the beginning... As I've told you some how I got here without my area clearance, we found this out at the housing office on Camp Courtney. The woman we saw really lacked in customer service skills, and was in my opinion condescending and very disgruntled. We were told that our names couldn't even be put on the housing list because we didn't have my area clearance. So we fought to get that, got it on the 16Th of December and Jason called to get a second meeting with housing. He called every base that was relatively close and at each and every one he was told that because of the holidays they couldn't get him a appointment until after New Years. Jason also forgot to go to the office at the hotel to extend our reservation until Christmas Eve and was told that we couldn't extend it past the 1st of January. So he ended us getting us a new room in the second building that also couldn't keep us past the 13Th. We went to the second housing meeting and while this woman was much nicer and tried to be helpful after we explained how long we've been on the island and in temporary lodging, she still tried saying that there was no fault in the "housing" because they don't issue the area clearances. In the end she told us that there were no two bedroom homes available in any of the bases that were in a 45 minute driving radius, and that it might be a 30 day wait or longer.
Jason ended up having to get a room in the "overflow barracks" because in all the hotels closest to the base that he works at all the rooms were rented out for one reason or another. After he talked to a few Gunny's, I was encouraged by many people to call the unit's Family Readiness Officer (aka FRO) so she could alert the commanding officers. Apparently the XO-Major got involved and called housing and in Jason's words "lit them up" after the FRO and a few Gunny's also. Then when my husband was requesting to extend his temporary living allowance, Housing sent the Chief Warrant Officer 4 (really high enlisted officer) the wrong paper work, saying that we declined a two bedroom place and requested a three bedroom. Jason explained our story, and in the end the CWO4 called housing back and had a nice little chat. The next day we were offered a three bedroom tower house on Foster.
Obviously we have to take it, so we were told to go to a office that has really weird hours on Foster and get the key so we could look at a room on the second floor. And that this was the only room available. Jason found it funny that the housing office on Foster had 7 packages for open homes, AND the home on the second floor that we were "offered" had someone living in it since 2008. The people at foster called the people at Courtney and set them straight, and then offered us a empty home on the sixth floor in the same building that we were originally looking at. The home is beautiful, and I'm excited to move into it. And like I stated in the title: FINALLY!!!!!
Its going to be a bit of a drive for Jason, but we've already decided that he will take the FunCargo and leave me the Liberty to save on Gas. And we will have to budget $100 from every paycheck so that five days a week he can ride the express way home from work to avoid rush-hour traffic.
Today we went to Naha to the Toys R Us shopping center.. (ps there was a babies r us connected to it too) and then went to the Sea wall by Camp Kinser and checked out the China sea with Becky, Charlie and Aubrey Stanley. I took a TON of cool pics, and technically my first family portrait. Because everything went crazy right when I wanted to upload pictures on to Jason's laptop I still haven't done it. But I do promise soon you will be bombarded with LOTS of pictures!!

No Changes....

Sorry I haven't updated anything in a while. I really haven't had anything to post about. I finally have my area clearance but we are still in a hotel. Because military housing is run by the airforce they don't have very good inter-branch customer service. Because we don't have any kids we only rate a two bedroom home. Unfortunately there are NO two bedroom places available on any of the northern bases. Jason is stationed (works) at Hansen which is one of the most northern bases. So we are on a "waiting" list and are being told that even thou we've been on the island since November that it could still be another month before we get into housing. If I explain anymore about our situation it would just be a lot of complaining about how this "situation" is. And well no one wants to read that.
I finally got in to see a Dr, and have been given the OK to go off my birthcontrol. And we both were able to finally pick up two cars that we are financing until the car back in the states is sold. Jason got a Nissan Liberty, and I got a Toyota FunCargo. They are both really nice cars, and I'm relieved to finally have them. NO MORE CRAZY TAXI TRIPS!!!! I'm waiting to post pictures until after I'm able to get pictures of both of the cars, which won't be until this weekend.. sooo until tata for now!!