Japan!

We have made it to Yokota Air Base! Our trip here yesterday went exceedingly better than we could have ever imagined! We were in the upstairs of the plane....that's a HUGE airplane!!!!!! I've never been on a plane that big before. We were lucky to be in a exit row, so we had tons of leg room. The airlines in the US need to take some lessons from Japan Airlines! It was the best flight I've ever been on. Once we got to Japan we easily got our luggage & through customs. The airport was not nearly as crowded as we had anticipated. Then it was time to find our bus to bring us to Yokota, which with good directions from the base we went straight to.
Probably the worst part of the day was that we had to wait 2 hours before the bus left (it runs on a daily schedule) and then it was a 3 hour bus ride! Needless to say we were tired of sitting!!! We got here, got checked into the hotel on base & got some dinner.
Now, we are experiencing the jet lag at it's best! We were both awake at 4:45 am! Not my idea of a good time.
Today we are going to try to get our local cell phones & figure out the lay of the land a little. I'll keep you posted!

The Big Adventure!

The last few weeks have flown by faster than I could have ever imagined! We had a lot of fun getting to see friends & spend as much time as possible with our families before we left. I am so thankful for the wonderful relationships God has blessed me with!
As is typical with most things....they never go quite as you have it all planned out in your mind. Well, getting ready to leave Arkansas was no different. We left on Sunday morning, so on Friday mom & I began washing clothes to get everything packed back into our 3 suitcases each. When I got home that night I put a load of whites in & went back downstairs. Mom & Dad got home about an hour later and the washing machine had stopped, with clothes & water inside. Front loading machines are great until the door is locked with your clothes inside & you are moving to Japan! I didn't realize they were stuck until Saturday morning. Mom & Dad decided to not tell me until then. Fortunately, through some tag-team effort we were able to figure out how to get the door open & drain the machine. Rebekah was great to help me finish the laundry at her house!
Our last night at home was spent with our families. Kenny had dinner with his Dad & his wife. Mom & Dad took me to Faded Rose followed by a stop at Copeland's for cheesecake to go. We then went to Rebekah's house for a good game of cards. (Ben was gone too, so it was just the 4 of us.) Just like old times!
We are having a blast in Hawaii!!! There will be pictures & a post to follow on that later.
We will be leaving here on Friday morning to head to Japan. This will be a long day for us! About a 9 hour flight, a 2-3 hour wait in the airport, then a 3 hour shuttle ride to the base. Please pray that everything goes smoothly for us...that we will get all of our luggage, find the shuttle, and somehow overcome the language barrier.
More to come later!

3 Weeks...

So I'm sitting here at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel having a great little getaway with Kenny. (He had to come here for a meeting for work.) I love being here, and I am having a blast. At the same time though I am filled with a whole other mix of emotions. We only have 2 more weeks left in Arkansas, in the United States for that matter. I wish that I could push pause on life right now. The exciting news is that Caroline Elise Lowery joined our family on Monday!!! She is absolutely precious. I am so thankful that I got to be here to see her, and that I got to spend some good quality time with the WHO. Hayes even told me that he is going to move to Japan with me.
This coming week we will begin saying our goodbyes to friends & family. I get a little teary eyed just thinking about it. While this will be hard, I know that God has such great things in store for us! I am totally excited about our new adventure, but scared to death all at once.
If you think about us, we would greatly appreciate your prayers as we are beginning this new chapter of our lives.
I know this post is a little random, but most of my thoughts seem to be random these days. Sorry! =)

What a year!

One year ago today, I married my best friend! In some ways it seems like this year has flown by but, in other ways it has been a long year. I told Kenny that if we made it through all the craziness of this year, we can make it through anything!!!! For those of you that don't know...Kenny was in severe back pain when we got married. He ended up having surgery in January, 3 days after our reception. The surgery postponed our original move date of March. The same day he had surgery, my Mimi fell. I had him in surgery & her in the emergency room. Not a good day to say the least! For a while we thought we were losing Mimi, but she is doing very well now. After we got through all of that, we helped keep Bek's kids for a week while they were out of town. This summer Kenny went to Hawaii for a week, came home for 5 days then had to go to Alabama for 6 weeks. All of this time they kept telling us that we were moving about every 2 months. Once Kenny got the clear to fly again (6 months after surgery), he got crazy busy at work. I don't think he's stopped much since then! Finally, the movers came about 3 weeks ago, & we are Japan bound in 1 month!
Like I said, it has been a crazy year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can't imagine having gone through this past year without my husband!
I love you honey! I am so incredibly proud of you! I can't wait to see what the next 50 years have to bring us.....

6 weeks....

Wow, now that is a crazy thought for me...I'll only be an Arkansan for 6 more weeks! Things have settled down quite a bit for us since the movers came. We have just been hanging out at Mom & Dad's house wondering what we should do. Kenny calls our apartment here "the dungeon". The folks have been gone some lately, so it's been kinda nice to take over the upstairs & dream of the day when we can have a house like this.
October has been a fun month of memories for me this year. Remembering the day that Kenny officially proposed to me, going to register with my mom & sister, & coming up on the 20th our 1 year anniversary! It was a crazy whirlwind last year, but we wouldn't change a thing!!!
There will be more to come soon as we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the latest addition to the WHO. Baby Caroline will be here by the end of the month, & I am so excited to meet her!!!

What a week!

It has been a hectic week so far for us! On Friday we packed our suitcases to move to mom & dad's house on Saturday. Do you know how hard it is for a girl to pack for 2 months?!?!? Saturday & Sunday we moved Sasha out to Roland & finished getting the house ready for the movers. First thing Monday morning the movers showed up to pack our house. It was absolutely amazing!!! There were 4 of them & they totally just did a divide and conquer. They did in 5 hours what would have taken me a week probably. By 3:00 our entire house was pack up in boxes. They came back yesterday morning to load up the crates. By noon yesterday everything we own, except for the suitcases we packed, was beginning it's journey to Japan!
The movers were great! I'd heard several horror stories about them coming, but everything went perfect as far as I'm concerned. Let's just hope it's all in one piece the next time I see it!
We will now be in the downstairs apartment at my parents house until we leave on Nov 22! We are extremely thankful for them letting us stay here & borrow one of their vehicles since we're down to 1 car.
God's timing has been perfect as always with everything. We sold the house & the truck at just the right time. He is good!

Moving Ahead

Great news....we closed on Kenny's house today!!!!!!!! This is a huge relief for us! Now the only major thing we have left to sell is the truck, & we pretty much have it sold. We should have everything complete on that transaction by the end of the week. God is good! Everything happens in His perfect timing.
We have movers coming to our house on Monday, Sept 28 to begin packing our house. They will have everything out of here by Sept 30. We will be moving to mom & dad's house the weekend prior to that. We are so thankful to have a place to go live!
After so many delays, it is crazy that this move is finally happening. Ready or not, here we go!