Birthday and reality

What a crazy couple of weeks.  I always intended to do updates of the week on Sunday evenings, but as the last few weeks came and went I just couldn't do it.  I remember telling many people as we prepared for this move I would be fine but I worried how the children would adjust.  Instead, now that we are here, they are thriving and I am struggling to find my place.  The homesickness on some days is just so completely overwhelming I can not bear to think of the morrow.  What on earth am I doing in Japan?  Honestly, I never had any desire to see this part of the world, much less live here.  So as the days went by, I knew any post I did would be wretchedly depressing.  Thankfully, life has been very busy!

Our Stanley turned 7 on the 9th and as he anxiously counted down the days I worried about how he would be on his actual day.  All his previous birthdays have been filled with family and parties, this one would be much different.  Thankfully he took it all in stride, and after talking to Laura (his dear
cousin) on the phone, he deemed it to be almost as good a birthday as he'd had in Ohio.  Cake and lego made all well in his world.  As we celebrate these milestones so far from all who we love and and hold dear to us, my heart breaks as you all mean so much to us. 

The day after Stanley's birthday our belongings arrived from Ohio.  Almost 2 months to the day of our departure.  It was a joyous day for the children, but a great sense of finality for us.  Bittersweet.  This last week has been spent unpacking and settling in.  How wonderful it was to sleep in our own beds again, and cook with my old pots and pans!

    Grandmas piano, all the way to Japan!

Each Friday I organize a Japanese adventure day with some ladies I have met on base.  This has been a good diversion for me, as we go and explore a different part of Tokyo each week.  The city is massive and I think it will take us a long time to see it all.  I will post pictures of our adventures soon, I hope to get a good feel for this city so I can show all my visitors Tokyo! (hint hint, come visit!}

Lastly, Tommy and Stanley took part in their first triathlon here in Japan.  They had to swim for 100m, bike 5 miles, and run 1 mile.  They had a blast and I have to say I was proud of them!  Tommy said he felt 'like a champion' and Stanley exclaimed 'I never gave up, not once!'

    Yup, that's me I ran with them!

    Proud!

                            Look who was at the finish line to cheer on the participants!

We'll be ok, so glad we are running this race with the Lord beside us...every step of the way.

Kamakura

I am sure we have all heard those wretched stories of the traffic and congestion in Japan, but this past weekend was the first time Andrew and I truly experienced it.  Like REALLY experienced it.  I have inched my way along 16 many a time, but never like this.  

So we decided to go to Kamakura for the weekend.  There are several famous shrines in this area and ever since I saw a picture of the 'Big Buddha', I wanted to see him.  For some reason I envisioned him being like what Daniel and his friends were told to bow down to, and would be neat for the children to see.   As we set off on Friday morning, with GPS in hand we thought getting there would be a piece of cake.   Boy were we wrong.  Our GPS does not 'see' highways stacked 4 high, and cannot understand why you couldn't just get off and go left.  We missed our exit and ended up almost in downtown Tokyo.  The traffic was unbelievable, our GPS practically useless, highways stacked 3,4 and 5 levels on top of each other, and tolls every time we tried in vain to reroute ourselves.  It was a nightmare.  Truly.  Andrew and I are still married, but times like those should not be repeated, like ever.  Sigh.  Andrew, and I have to hand it to him, figured our way out of it, but it definitely served as a wake up call as to why the train is used like it is here.  Driving is a crazy waste of time if you are anywhere in the vicinity of Tokyo.  Our projected 2 hr trip, took 5 and we arrived.  

                             At the first shrine Kamakura Hanachi ji

                             I just loved this tree...


Was he worth it?  Buddha I mean?  He was.  The kids were really able to see what an idol is as they were in Biblical times.  People were praying and bowing to him, offering gifts and burning incense.  It was really very sad.  We also went to several other temples in the area, most notably Hasadera.  

Hasadera had stunning gardens and overlook areas of the Pacific Ocean.  

It was built in the 8th century, and has an eleven faced Kannon (or goddess of mercy) in the main hall.  It is over 30 feet tall and was apparently hand carved by a very well known priest named Tokodu.  It is the largest wooden structure in Japan and its 11 faces are to help her see in every direction.  We could not sneak a picture, but did manage to get one of this buddha at the shrine for prosperity

From there we went to see the Daibutsu or Buddha.  He is the second largest bronze statue in Japan.  The fact that he is in the open air makes him unusual as most of these idols are in the shrines. 

This shrine was for deceased children 

This cave had about 2 dozen gods in it, with spots to burn your incense in front of each god

The kids were utterly exhausted after this and we decided to head to Yokosuka where we had a hotel for the night.  Yokosuka has a very large naval base and I had heard had way better shopping than our base in Yokota.  It was better, but I wasn't expecting how neat this base was.  I guess I have to admit being on a working Air Force Base is pretty cool, but seeing the destroyers, submarines and an aircraft carrier sitting at the docks was awesome!  I mean going through them when they are past their heyday is one thing, but these are active.  In use.  And we all couldn't see enough.  Loved it.  We were not sure if we were allowed to take pictures of the ships.  Due to security reasons, we arent allowed to take pictures of the aircraft at Yokota.  Otherwise we would have gotten close and taken a lot of good ones.

    At breakfast we saw one of the air craft carriers heading out to sea, and if you look closely their is a submarine docked to the right.  Amazing veiw.

The next day we had designated as a beach day.  I never dreamed when my children first put their toes in the Pacific it would be in Japan!  We had a wonderful day relaxing on a black sand beach very near Kamakura named Enoshima and enjoyed the very warm ocean and surf...

It started out rough but I am so glad we went... Memories galore!