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