Thursday, February 28, 2008

Noah Speaks...

Noah turned six months old on February 22nd. He's now making attempts at feeding himself, helps his mom and dad with clothing and diaper changes (he understands "feet up, Noah" and "hands up, Noah"--pretty amazing!!), and survived his first real in classroom English lesson with some of my old Japanese students. During the classroom experience, he was very patient and EXTREMELY good...a perfect little angel...especially considering that a mob of fifteen 4 and 5 year olds surrounded him after the lesson with many exuberant "ooohhh"s and "ahhhh"s. They would smile at him and he would grin right back.

Here's a video of him saying his first word:

Photos to come!!!

Good Night!

Amanda

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Overseas...again????

Chris and I were discussing the course of his naval career last night and where it might take us--Hawaii (already "booked"), back to Whidbey Island, Annapolis, D.C., San Diego...and then I turned the conversation to mutually-agreed upon, unmentionable territory...ANOTHER overseas tour. Did I just "go there?" Did I open a can of worms? Maybe...maybe not. ;)

As many of you know, I wasn't thrilled, initially, about the prospect of coming to Japan. Three years ago, I had completely different school plans laid out for myself and because I was hearing the undeniable "tick-tock" of a certain biological clock (Chris', not mine :) ), it meant that I was running out of time in achieving them. Actually, the words "not thrilled" do not begin to accurately describe our reaction to coming here...devastated was more like it. Well, God certainly had different plans in mind for us--my career included. But, I've realized that's not a bad thing. Despite my boredom in being in Misawa, Japan has given us Noah and has allowed Chris and I to both complete school. It also paved the way for my career to take a different course, which in turn, allows me far more flexibility, opportunity, and comes with an extra special perk--the potential of being able to work out of my home. :)

(Arrgghhh, I got sidetracked...sorry. Back to future station possibilities)

Several of our friends have had the opportunity to be stationed at various overseas locations in Europe--Rota (Spain), Naples (Italy), Sigonella (Italy), and locations in Belgium and Germany. They all loved it...but who wouldn't love Italy, right??? :) So, I thought, "Why not?" I've lived in North America, lived in Asia, adding "Europe" to that list would be extra-special, super-duper cool! So...let's see...I would then be just be four continents away from having achieved residency status across the globe!!! :) Ha, ha!!

So, we're seriously entertaining the idea. Chris thought he could get us to any of those locations in five years--during his department head tour. I think it would be pretty cool to live in one of those places and use it as a springboard to various destinations in Europe, as well as maybe Africa.

Egypt, maybe? Because I've always wanted to see the pyramids....


Love to all,
Amanda

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Out of Sorts...

Maybe it's the yucky snow that's sitting over a foot high on my lawn...maybe it's all the crappy drivers that cut me off on a daily basis...or maybe it's because I only have 9 channels on my television and can only watch just so much of Dr. Phil and Britney. Ahhh, wait. I don't want to admit that I keep up with Brit-Brit's erractic, highly delusional, bipolar behavior. Back to the weather...let's just say it's the weather.... *sigh*


Regardless of the reason, I'm finding myself becoming desperate to leave this joint. Remind me not to put Misawa, Japan, on any list of "Top Ten Places to Live" anytime soon. I'm really bored, and frankly I'm beginning to wonder if I've grown so accustomed to military life that I start getting a little antsy when I can feel the grass growing under my feet (figuratively speaking--I haven't seen grass in months). Yes, Noah and school keep me very busy, but there's only so much you can do within the confinement of your home and getting ANYWHERE--even to the metropolitan area an hour south of here--cost the equivalent of ordering 25 Tall White Chocolate Mochas at Starbucks, which BTW, is the only reason I'd want to go to Morioka anyway...to drink some Starbucks. Speaking of Starbucks, the base finally got a clue and started offering Starbucks coffee! So, scratch Morioka off my "to do" list--there's no reason for me to go there anymore when I can get my coffee fix here.

I digress... :)



So, I'm beginning to put a list together of things I want to accomplish, career-wise, when we finally get to Hawaii. Whenever I'm feeling a bit blue, contemplating future plans and ambitions is always a picker-upper-- "Numero Uno" being that I put the finishing touches on the degree I've been working on for the last year and a half. I should only have one class left when we PCS in Feb 2009--yippee!! Second, I'm hoping to chase the dream of starting my own grant proposal writing biz. That should be fun. The third and fourth kind of fall into the same category--volunteer work as a member of a board of directors--but in different arenas. I'm looking at being on the BOD of both a charitable organization and an association. Time to put all that knowledge I've been gaining in the virtual classroom to work in the real world. It would be awesome to do both. Actually, I think it's the fact that I'm getting all this "nonprofit management knowledge" and have no way to apply it that's really giving me the itch to leave Japan. Aside from my importnat roles as mommy and spousey, I'm feeling professionally useless. That's got to change...and soon.



Anyway, here's a new pic of the little guy. He'll be six months old this coming week. My little precious one! He's working on his "M" sounds, so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer before I hear the word "ma-ma" fall from his lips. :)



Later!



Amanda















Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Just the two of us...




Usually, I'm the one behind the camera taking pictures, so it's rare that Noah and I get a photo opportunity together. Chris managed to get a couple last night of us cuddling together on the couch. He's such a good boy! (and so is Noah!) :)
Love,

Amanda