Surviving the Move

I feel like we have been in survival mode for the last couple months as we have packed up and moved halfway around the world!  We are just starting to recover from all the changes and getting back into new rhythms and routines.

We survived our first typhoon this week!  It wasn't too bad but lots of wind and rain all day. The next day everything was calm and sunny.   Everyone is commenting that it was the worst storm they've seen here in many years. So if that was a bad one, I feel better about typhoon season, which lasts through November. 

We are not settled in yet, but we are comfortable enough. Still living in two hotel rooms. Still living out of the suitcases we packed back in July. We have a move in date scheduled for Sept. 9th. It should be very nice for us. It's nothing like our Florida house...at all...but from Japanese standards, it's very big and modern. It is a tall, three-story, red, brick home. It has a good size gardening plot in front of the house and enough parking for 2-3 cars. The garden is overgrown and just full of weeds and random garbage.  We've been told that we can clean it out and make it our own so we are all looking forward to becoming gardeners...in Japan.  On the back side of our house is a small yet long strip of grass/weeds with a rusty swing set. This is the little community yard/park for the surrounding 20 houses or so.  Most Japanese homes are very small and built so close to each other that you can barely  walk between them.  The fact that this house has the garden area in front, good parking on the left, an empty lot (full of weeds) on the right and a grassy park behind, makes this location rather unique and very appealing for us.  Not to mention that we are within easy walking distance to the military base.  This is a huge blessing because we wanted to live off base but still be able to be involved with all the on base activities and amenities.  This is a big issue for my three big kids.  Moving into this house will allow them to have a lot of freedom and independent access to the base, our new church, and the local Japanese markets and restaurants.  So, the Lord's timing with our move to Japan, the availability of this house, and the desires of my children are just perfect, it seems.

None of our belongings have arrived as far as we know!  The "express shipment" should have been delivered by the 20th but it's not anywhere that anyone here can track down. So who knows where it is! The majority of our school books are in that shipment and we are trying to start lessons this week.  I only packed minimal supplies and books in our suitcases so we will need to get a little creative if our stuff doesn't show up soon.

We now have local drivers licenses and have purchased a small car. It's a Nissan Cube3. I think these are driven in the States as well. But here, the steering wheel is on the right side and driving on all streets is on the left. Ugh. I haven't tried to drive yet and probably hope to never have to.  Scary!

Ethan is playing football at the school already and he is loving it. His position is defensive tackle and offensive guard. As a freshman, with no prior experience, we're not sure how much game time he will actually play, if any, but he's on the team and enjoying the daily practices.  First scrimmage is this weekend. 

Camryn and Sloan are both enrolled, part time, in the school for a variety of classes. Camryn will be taking pre-calculus, physics, drawing and digital publishing classes at the school. Sloan is registered for a Japanese culture class and a performance choir class.  They will attend the school every other day for 85 minute classes.  So that all starts next week for them. I will still homeschool them for all their core classes, using Classical Conversations as our primary curriculum program.  Ethan and Isaac will be exclusively homeschooling with me.  It should be a good arrangement for everyone, after we work out the A-day/B-day schedules.

And Isaac is currently attending the last week of a kids summer program offered on base. He's enjoying it and meeting new friends, so that has been good to jump into.  He really misses his Florida friends and has been expressing sadness and stress about this aspect of moving.  Poor guy.  He plays at the park almost everyday and has a great time doing that but no immediate friendships have developed for him just yet.  

Travis is working every day now but still waiting for local credentials to be approved before he can begin seeing patients. So I guess he is doing other training and such to keep busy at work. 

I've met some very nice women and just joined the local "officer's wives club."  This will be fun and will get me involved in monthly activities and such. There are also quite a few homeschooling families here. We all met up last weekend for an afternoon. So, my social circles look great. We've also attended a little church the last two Sunday's that is proving to be welcoming and Biblically sound as well. So that's about all I need to feel comfortable...a nice home, new friends, a good church and a few schoolbooks!  (And my husband and each of my children!)