Okinawa, Japan

We went to a dental conference in Atlanta (pictures to come!) where Justin attended a meeting about our next assignment. They announced at the meeting that we would be finding out where we were going by April 16th, if not, sooner. But with the Air Force, I don't really hold my breath for them being early on anything. Well on April 2nd, Justin called me from Florida (another dental conference) and said we would be finding out by the end of the day. This was at noon. I started getting really nervous. I told him not to call me again, unless he knew. I knew if I saw him calling, I would start to freak out and I didn't want to freak out unless he really knew. Well he called by 1:00! I answered and he asked where I thought we were going. I said, "I don't know! Just tell me!" Well when he said Okinawa, I instantly started crying. We talked about us going to Japan all the time, but as soon I knew it was real, I was scared. I didn't actually think it would happen, and it did. I had a slight panic attack. I tried to catch my breath and think about all the positives about going to Japan. This was going to be good, right? We were at the beach with our friends when I found out, and I just started calling all my family and spent the entire afternoon on the phone. I got a little more excited as the day went on. 

Lucky for us, we already have friends that live there. We also found out that our other friends got the same assignment! So we will be able to go through this experience with all of them, which I feel extremely blessed for. If I have to live in Japan, at least I don't have to be alone!

Okinawa is a small island south of mainland Japan. It is a tropical island with BEAUTIFUL beaches. I'm excited to have another three years of warm winters and no snow. It is one of the best places in the world to go snorkeling and there are tons of places to go hiking and exploring. we have heard the Japanese people are very nice and that it is very safe.

Never in my life did I imagine that I would live in Japan, but for some reason we feel like this is where we need to be. It was never our intention to even put it on our ranking list. After a lot of discussion, fasting and prayer, it ended up being number 2. How did that happen?! We are still nervous for the unknown, but feel lucky for an opportunity that not everyone gets to have. Our kids are really excited. Of course they have no idea how far away it really is, but they talk about going to Japan and how fun it will be. The one big downfall is being so far from family. We have lived away for the past five years, but not that far away. It will be hard, but we will be begging for them to come and visit!!! We know that it is temporary though, and before we know it, we will be back in the states. So we are going to live it up!!

I mean, who wouldn't want to spend three years in a place like this???