This Jumble!

It seems like lately I have just been completely overwhelmed with everything!  It's already nearly halfway through February and while part of me is certainly willing the year away so that we can move on to the next chapter, the other part of me is reeling at how quickly the time is actually passing.  The fact of the matter is that this is our final year in Okinawa.  I am extremely excited to embark on our new adventure (which should be around September...  Is it really only seven months away?) but I am also in shock and denial that it is actually going to happen.  I have thoroughly enjoyed Okinawa but I am so ready to be out of this tower apartment of ours.  With the military dictating our lives the way it does, it seems like I have grown addicted to the constant moving and changing and we've been in this apartment (which has had the worst living conditions of anywhere we've ever lived) for longer than we have lived anywhere else since we moved out of my mom's house in 2004.  I am going stir-crazy, to say the least.

We have made a lot of [big] decisions regarding our final half-year here on island, perhaps the biggest of which is that we are only going to keep A enrolled in Yochien through the end of the current Japanese school year, which ends in mid-March.  My little girl will bid "sayonara" to her beloved senseis and tomodachitachi early and will have essentially an extended summer break before our big move and her beginning American Kindergarten at our next duty station.  This breaks my heart but I feel like it's the most reasonable solution.  She would not be able to finish out her "B-san" year at Yochien and much of the remaining five months would be spent on holiday anyhow - what with the built in spring and summer breaks approaching.  Not to mention the Yen rate is out of control and doesn't show any signs of turning around.  This decision will save us a decent amount of money each month until we leave.

I have been and plan to continue preparing A's bento lunches, but I have not taken photos of them recently - mostly because they haven't been anything remarkable.  Today's bento contained a hot dog, pasta, boiled broccoli, a mikan, a quarter of a Fuji apple, edamame, a couple of carrot hearts, cherry tomatoes, and fruit jellies.  A miniature feast!  Looking back, I should have photographed it as well as the fresh produce loaded bento she had last Friday, which she loved.

If you're military, I'm sure you understand how we have been on pins and needles awaiting new orders.  I am a "planner".  The military does not like people like me.  I can go with the flow, but I don't prefer it.  I like to have some sort of estimation of where I will be a year from now.  Up until here recently, I did not have any and it was driving me insane.  I have not yet held our new orders in my hands as my husband is in Korea doing training currently but the rumor is that our next duty station will be in Germany.  This is extremely exciting news as going to Europe on the Marine Corps' dime has always been sort of a pipe dream for us.

I have been Googling like mad trying to find as much information as possible on this new location, and I have been shopping like crazy to get us ready for the trip.  It will be C's first traveling, and probably the first traveling that A will really truly remember as an adult.  It's been a very exciting time.

Hoping that all is well in blog-land.  I have been keeping up with my "frequently visited" blogs and am loving all of the Valentine's silliness floating around.  M will not be home for V-Day this year but I plan on sharing the holiday with a few friends, and of course my kids.