New Apt. Pictures...Before & After...

So, over the past few months I have been working on decorating my apt. I painted the entire place about a month ago. It was a lot of work but not having all white walls anymore made it worth it. It's still a work in progress, but it feels more like "home" now.

I have had some people ask to see pictures of my place...so here you go.

The entryway...

The kitchen...still loving the yellow, ok not really...




The living room...I am loving my new curtains, and pillows (thank you mom, dad, & david)!





Below: Guest Room...

Moments of Stupidity

So, I did a big "oops" this week. It all started a few days ago. My co-workers Buddy and Jen were letting me borrow their van because my alternator had broken on my Toyota Surf. They were out of town all weekend and were coming back on Monday. It looked like my truck was going to do be done on Monday too and so I took their van to the gas station to fill it up. For some reason I thought their van was diesel. Before I started pumping I was going to call them but I couldn't find my cell phone. Well about 5 minutes later their car had died about 20 feet from the gas station. It was NOT diesel. I didn't really have any one's numbers with me. But I did finally get a hold of some friends. I felt horrible and I wanted to cry (I didn't though). Praise God Buddy and Jen laughed and were very gracious! I used to make fun of girls who did stuff like this, serves me right! =) So now, my truck is out of the shop but Buddy's van isn't. I am hoping it comes out of the shop today. So that's my very, very big oops this week.

Middle School Girl's Sleepover

Last night I had a M.S. girls sleepover. This was my first bigger event at my apt. As always I loved having students in my home. We had a handful of M.S. girls and then a couple H.S. girls as staff. We started the evening off with dinner and then walking down to "American village." At American Village we had a picture scavenger hunt. It was so much fun to run around with the girls, being silly, laughing and just having time with them. Below are a couple of pictures from the scavenger hunt. After the scavenger hunt we came back to my apt, decorated Christmas cookies and watched Christmas movies!!!

Don't Waste Your Life

This past weekend, I went on our High School Small Group retreat. This is the first High School retreat I have been on here in Okinawa. Our theme was "Don't Waste Your Life." It was wonderful to go away for the weekend and just get more time with the students. We camped right next to the beach, which is always an adventure. =)

Here are some pictures from this weekend. Check out the the pier below...although that picture is not from this weekend. It is the pier a bunch of us jumped off of on Saturday!!! =)

Roller Slide Park

Last week Chris and I took some Junior High kids to a Japanese park about 10 minutes off base. This was one crazy park. It was a large park, with several slides through out the park. We spent several hours there, going down slides and playing take on the "fort". I will say this, half of the slides in the park would be illegal in the United States.
Check out the "drop" slide!

Engagement!

Alright...here is the longer version of David and my engagement.

On Monday after a pretty busy day, David and I decided to drive north about a half an hour to go watch the sunset on the beach. Honestly, I was pretty stressed out about some stuff, so I wasn't the most pleasant person to be with. We had gone to that beach a couple days before to go snorkeling with some friends.

We arrived about 30 minutes before the sun was about to set, so we walked around a bit and explored. The beach is surrounded by "jungle" and right off the beach is a bunch of lava rocks sticking outside the water. David kept telling me to walk through the water with him and explore the rocks. A couple times, I thought, why is he being so bossy. =)


After walking around a bit he asked me to dance with him in the water. After dancing for a bit, he told me he had a question for me. He told me later, that when he said that my entire body tensed up. =) Right as he was about to ask me a question, he blurted out that he had dropped something in the water. So for about 3 minutes he had me leaning over looking for something in the water. I kept saying, no you didn't and finally asked him if he dropped my car keys. He said, no it was something smaller. I kept thinking about my dad who lost his first wedding band in the ocean. When I looked up after not seeing anything in the water, he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I hugged and kissed him and then realized, I hadn't given him an answer. I said, yes of course. =)

After talking for a few minutes he asked if I wanted to see our photographer. Chris Cohoon, my co-worker had been taking pictures the entire time. That's why David kept telling me to go here and there because he didn't want me to see Chris.

I am so excited to marry this amazing man of God. This entire relationship has been such a crazy God story. From how we met, how we started dating and even now the engagement. Now we can begin the crazy, hopefully fun process of planning a wedding.

Homecoming Banquet

One of the fun things about coming into a new community is getting to join in on all of their "traditions". Last night, we had a Homecoming Banquet. Parents and other volunteers helped us provide a nice dinner for the students going to homecoming. We had it set up as if they were going to a nice restaurant and the cost was only 10 bucks. They had their choice of grilled steak or chicken. We even took pictures of couples in the court yard if they wanted. We held it at chapel 2 on Kadena. I was assigned to take pictures! It was fun, although I found myself wishing for a better camera. =) We had about 60 students come and everyone seemed to really have a good time. Enjoy the pictures!

Day in the City

Last week as most of you know, I flew to Chicago for my grandma's funeral. I am so glad I was able to go back for it. I flew in on a Sat. night and was the last of the family to arrive. By Sat all the cousins from all over the world were there. My cousin, Hannah came in from Hungary. Sunday afternoon we had the wake and Monday morning was the funeral.

I will share more about that later, but these pictures are from Tuesday. After a two really long and emotional days, my family, David and I spent the day in the city. It was a beautiful fall day! We had so much fun together just talking and laughing.

See You At The Pole

The international youth event, "See You At The Pole" was the other day. Some of our core students planned a breakfast at the youth building at 6 am. They invited both Middle School & High School students and did a quick devotional and then sent them to their schools to pray. I was able to go to both the MS and HS school and take pictures.

It was fun to remember when this event was really something new when I was in MS and now over 10 years later its still going strong. And now I have been able to participate in it in 3 different countries, Germany, USA and Japan! God is so much bigger than our country! =)

Beautiful Island

One of the blessings of living here in Okinawa is the beautiful scenery in the sky. I have seen some amazing full rainbows, colorful sunsets & sunrises, huge beautiful clouds, and much more. I have yet to get a good picture of the rainbows, but the other day I was able to get some pictures of the sunset down by the sea wall. Our Lord's creation is pretty amazing.

Pictures of my new place...

My new place is coming along. I still haven't moved in, which is fine. I will try and move in sometime this next week. One of the AC units needs to be fixed and they are going to replace the stove. But, here are some pictures of the apartment, still in process. I am looking forward to painting the walls. But again, that's going to have to wait another couple weeks. =) The key with the picture off of my smaller balcony is to see if you can see the ocean at all!! ;)

God does a switcheroo!

About a week and half ago, I began to try and get a 3 bedroom apt with a certain housing agency. It was right outside gate 1, of Kadena Air force Base. It was a good size but like most apartments it had wood paneling walls and was pretty dark. I took it because I felt like it was my best option, although I didn’t love it. Anyways, as I began to work with the agency, everything moved very slowly. Because I am civilian they were making me go through the “normal Japanese” process. Basically, I would be paying about 4 ½ months rent, for insurance, deposit, and agency fee. Also, they said if anything went wrong with the apartment I would have to pay for it. This would include AC units, which can be very expensive.

On Monday, my co-worker, Buddy made a call with his housing agency Peace because he didn’t feel at peace about the other place. He told me they had two apartments available in the location I wanted and the price range. I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to look. And I found one that is great! It is only a block south of the first apartment, still very close to Kadena and only a little ways from the Sea Wall. It has white walls, is very bright, and the agency has been wonderful. Peace Housing only asked for 2 ½ months for fees and rent. And they have been so helpful! Also, if anything breaks or broken they send someone out to fix it. And in less than a week I have signed the papers, got the keys and even moved in some of my stuff! I am not living there yet, but I should be by next week!

I can see God’s hand in this. He knew that first apartment was not right. Praise God for his goodness, even in small things like apartments!

The "Sea Wall"

Tonight the couple I am living with, Ed and Lauren and I went down to the sea wall to have dinner. We sat on the balacony of the cafe and watched people walking along the wall. We could even see some people snorkeling and diving in the water. From my new apt. I will be able to walk down to the sea wall. I am excited to be living this close to the water.

“They Like Jesus But Not The Church” By Dan Kimball

This past week I began reading this book. I must admit, I wasn’t all that impressed with it at first. But once I got past the first chapter, I found myself enjoying it more. And honestly its even been convicting and saddening at points.

The book is written by a pastor who is sharing the upcoming generations in America view of the Christian church. Of course he is not saying all their views are correct but I believe he is right we need to take a serious look at what they think. One of the main reason’s he has written the book is because of the alarming rate of American’s in their 20’s dropping out of churches.

Today I read about the emerging generation’s seeing the church as negative and judgmental. This is what convicted me.

We in the church often love to debate on secondary issues of the Bible. Of course this can be good and growing. But just like young children who are quick to pick up criticism from their parents, young believers are quick to pick up on our criticism of each other in church. “Younger Christians see our critical and judgmental hearts, and then we wonder why they leave the church and turn to Buddhism or other options.” –D.K. So my question for myself must be, how do I talk about issues in front of my students? Do I come across judgmental? Or am I speaking in love?

My new car!

Upon arriving in Okinawa, I was given a vehicle. And on Friday we went to do all the paperwork to put everything in my name. With the military you never know, if its going to be a simple process or not. But everything went smoothly and I now own a Toyota Surf. No idea what year! =)

My first driving experience...

ok, so today Chris and I went to the driving class to get our licenses. The written test was only 20 questions and we were in and out of the class in an hour and half! Considering the one you have to take in Germany is all morning and you actually have to study to pass, this was wonderful.

Tonight, I drove to the BX (kind a like a small department store) and back home! I must admit I was pretty nervous about having to drive on the other side of the road, but I made it with out any major problems. Of course I did the typical, turning on the windshield wiper's instead of the turn signals but considering it was raining I didn't look too silly. Ahh, the adventures of living in Japan.

Living in Asia

Never in my childhood, did I ever think I would live in Asia, let alone Japan. But here I am! God is good. Since arriving almost a week ago, I have felt nothing but supported by those in community. Chris, Buddy & Jen and I all arrived with in days of each other and so we are all adjusting together. We are all looking for a place to live, getting over jet leg, meeting the new chaplains, and feel a little overwhelmed at the same time. But we are all way excited to be here and for this next year of ministry.

My Final Weeks in the States...

My last two weeks in the States, were wonderful. My last week in Texas I was able to spend some great time with the Lord and spend some time just preparing for my next place of ministry, Okinawa. My sister also came home early from camp and I got almost 3 days with her! =)

My last 5 days in the States were spent in Denver, with David and his parents. It was wonderful to just have time to relax and be with them. We spent an evening in Boulder and an evening in Estes Park. I love Colorado dearly, and pray that someday, I will be able to live in that beautiful place. But for now, Okinawa is where I am to go.

Flying To Japan

After a couple weeks of drama over when I should fly to Okinawa, I now have a date and tickets. Once I was given a date, and started trying to buy tickets online, the prices started rising. Seriously for about an hour I couldn't find anything under $1,500 !!! But after a lot of a frustration, prayer and a night of sleep I looked again and found one for under $800. Praise the Lord.

I leave on the 23rd of August straight from Denver (I will be with David's family for a couple of days). My flight is straight from Denver to Tokyo. 15 hours! That's almost the same amount of time as going to Germany and back. Hm! any ideas how to pass the time and not go stir crazy? =)

Dave...

Most of you know, but some of you don't. I am dating someone. The entire story is really amazing and completely God. If you want to hear the details feel free to ask. But to keep it short, we met while he and his roommate Billy visited Germany in March. He is from Colorado and just joined Malachi. Since flying to the States we have been able to spend lots of time together, which is a blessing after 8 wks a part. While in Denver we were able to hang out with my friends, his friends, and even his family. Now we are in Texas hanging out with mine! More pictures will come I am sure but here are a couple for now. =)