Bali Bound

Well, we have arrived in Bali safely. My little Priss Pooh has got to be the world's best traveler. Already at the age of 15 months she has traveled about 25,000 miles by plane and is now a member of the Japan Air sky miles club. We figured we should register her too since when we travel in Asia we will fly with them. If we were smarter, we would have gotten her a Delta sky miles membership also but we forgot in the midst of our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye was tough, but as soon as we crossed through security we were able to release a deep breath and say hello to this new adventure and life abroad. I do not mean this in a bad way. We love our home in the US, but God has been preparing us for so long to make this change, that we knew it was the right decision for our family. When you know it is right, there is peace in taking that first step forward with something new. Maybe also I was glad to get on the plane simply because the last week at home was crazy and stressful!

Due to my husband's travel and having more miles than we know what to do with, we were able to upgrade to first class to Tokyo. This was so worth it! Miyako had room to play on the floor and she loved climbing from Kan's seat to mine. She also slept about 5 hours which was super. We arrived in Tokyo and had a rough night. She was up hourly for about 4 hours and then gave us a 2 hour stretch of sleep. Our flight to Bali was a red eye and did not leave until 3 so we rested in the hotel, watched the UK/Vandy basketball game (GO CATS!), and Miyako and Kan were able to get naps.

Our flight to Bali was about 7 hours from Tokyo. Thankfully Miyako slept 6 of those seven hours. The plane was not full so she was able to spread out across two seats and sleep soundly. We got off the plane and I instantly smelled incense. Sure enough at the customs gate, it was burning. I felt like Dorothy when she realized she was not in Kansas anymore. Our drive to the resort reminded me of our honeymoon in Antigua. You see lots of poverty and then all of a sudden you come upon the most beautiful place you have ever seen and you wonder how the two places can co-exist in such close proximity of one another.

By the time we got settled it was one AM and Miyako had another rough night. But right now she is sleeping soundly. I am hopeful tonight may be a little better and I can get longer stretches of sleep. It reminds me of having a newborn and it makes me not want anymore children anytime soon. :)

There are not enough words to describe how beautiful Bali is. I feel so blessed to be able to spend a week here. God knew what I needed to refresh my spirits. We enjoyed the pool today. The ocean was pretty rough so we just got our feet wet in it. We are here during the rainy season and last night it rained all night. We felt like we were in the middle of the jungle. We woke up to birds singing, with Miyako. :) Kan is busy in meetings until Friday so it is just me and Miyako for the first few days. I think our plan will be poolside in the morning when it is not so hot and room time in the afternoon. Come Friday we can spend time with Papa!

Thank you for your prayers and well wishes as we traveled. We are here safe and sound. I am almost afraid to post pictures because nobody will feel sorry for me and the "suffering" I am doing for my husband's job. :) The pictures will come soon.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

It was September of 1999 and I was boarding a plane in Atlanta, Georgia with 5 other recent college graduates to spend a year in Minsk, Belarus. My friend wanted to cheer us up and started singing "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." It is 10 years later and my life is quite different now. I am not single and heading out on an European adventure. I am married with a one year old child and I am leaving on a jet plane. I truly do not know when I'll be back again. My husband and I are headed to Tokyo, Japan for a 2 to 3 year commitment with his job. My husband is Japanese so we are headed back to his mother country. Right now, my thoughts about this move are so blurry. On the one hand, I am excited about the adventure and the opportunity for my daughter to experience first hand this part of her culture. On the other hand, I am very sad to leave such wonderful friends and family. I know my friends and family will be a phone call away, thanks to the Vonage phone system, but they are quite a few miles away via plane, 7,000 to be exact. We have been so blessed to be surrounded by such great people, who love us and support us. But this is a new chapter for our immediate family, and I do look forward to creating memories in Tokyo together. We leave tomorrow and fly to Tokyo. Then it is on to Bali, Indonesia for one week. While my husband works, I will enjoy the sunshine and 85 degree weather with my little girl. Sounds awful huh? I think it will be a great way to recover from the jet lag via the beach. If you think of it, please remember us as we travel tomorrow.

We are home!

I wanted to update quickly and let everyone know we made it home safe and sound. It was a very long day. Miyako did fairly well on the big flight from Tokyo to Detroit. We went through customs and were pushing it to make our connecting flight, only to board and find out we would have to deplane because a bird flew in the plane and got stuck in the cockpit. We boarded a new plane and had to wait for what felt like an eternity for them to come and fill up the gas tank so we could be on our way. These small delays added to mere exhaustion and a state of hunger I had not known in awhile, made us all very happy to land in Lexington. Our homecoming meal of choice for dinner - McDonald's. I know that sounds like such the typical American - coming home from a foreign country (who has McD's BTW) and eating McDonald's, but it just sounded so good. Jet lag recovery has been very rough coming back, a lot harder than going to Japan. The last two nights Miyako has been up from about 11-2/3 crying and upset because she wants to play, not sleep. I wish the job description of mom had included paid time off for recovery of jet lag, but no such luck. As a mom, even if you could sleep, you do not get to when your child can't. Oh well. Hopefully it will be better in a few days.

I have really enjoyed keeping the blog updated. I am sure stateside I will not be as regular, but we do have fun things to post about coming up - this coming weekend is our first Trick or Treat with our little Pumpkin and her first birthday party is on Sunday! Be looking for more updates with these fun activities!

Heading "Home"

Tomorrow we are heading back to Kentucky. The bags are packed, for the most part, and I guess you can say we are "ready." I have had a great last week. The weather has been fantastic and I have continued to meet new people while being here that friends back home connected me with. Today Miyako and I met a new friend and her son (who is one day older than Miyako) at the indoor play area we have grown acquainted with. The ladies were so sad to see Miyako-chan returning to America. They loved her there, but who wouldn't right? We also took a long walk and took some end of the trip shots of our neighborhood.

As I contemplate returning back "home" I definitely have things I look forward to...sleeping in my own bed, watching football all day on Saturday, visiting with my family and friends, and being back at church. However, as I sit here looking at the bright lights of the skyscrapers and Tokyo Tower, I know I am going to miss it here. God has really provided me with some great new friends during my month here. What a blessing. And, the big city has so much to offer. One lady I became friends with has been here for 6 years and said she still has not seen everything yet. I will miss too the public transportation...although it was sometimes hard with Miyako in the stroller during rush hour, it was so much easier just to hop on the metro. I forgot how much I enjoyed public transportation from my time in Belarus.

I can tell you though what the best part of the month was for me...our family was not thousands of miles apart. I think this was the first four weeks since March where we were not separated via a trip to Japan. Since March Kan has flown about 150,000 miles. You can do the math, but that is a lot of trips to Japan. We basically try to have him home for three weeks and then he is gone for 10-14 days. It was so much fun to be here together as a family and to not be separated. There were times when we did not see him much due to his busy work schedule, but to be in the same apartment and know he is coming home each night was a blessing for our family. I do not know if Miyako even realized she was so far away from her "home." Home for her is being with mama and papa so she was pretty content while we were here. I guess we can learn from her too. I feel so fortunate to have this little family, to go home to extended family and friends, and to know one day I will be in heaven with an even greater extended family with my Heavenly Father. I have thought a lot these four weeks on where "home" is, and firmly believe home is with Jesus. No matter where I go or what I do, He is the one constant in my life who never leaves me or forsakes me.

If you think of it, please pray for us tomorrow as we fly back to the States. Miyako has a bit of a runny nose and my throat is a little scratchy due to some fall weather coming in the past couple of days. Pray for us to stay healthy and for Miyako to do well on the plane as we travel back.

A Relaxing Weekend

This weekend has been very relaxing. Friday night Kan had a dinner with work so a lady whose fiance was with Kan came over to our apartment and we made Japanese curry together and hung out. Saturday it was a family day and we did not do much. We relaxed and I watched Midnight Madness on the Sling! WHOO HOO! GO CATS! They sure did look good in the dunk contest. Kan's friend came and took us to Shibuya. So you know in all the movies of Tokyo that you see there is this major intersection where it seems like thousands of people are crossing? This is Shibuya. I had wanted to go there but not by myself with Miyako because of all the people, so we went on Saturday. It is everything and more that you see in the movies. Swarms and swarms of people. I am glad I saw it but do not think it will be a place I frequent. I did cross the major intersection with Miyako in her stroller. I think she had sensory overload from all of the people and bright lights.

Today we had a lovely time meeting with the Dutch missionaries I mentioned earlier. It was so refreshing as Japan can be a dark place spiritually. They are strategically working to bring the Gospel to Tokyo and have great support through Redeemer Pres in New York City. Kan really enjoyed talking with them as well and we simply had a wonderful time.

This afternoon Kan's friends took us to Odaiba. There are two big shopping malls here with lots of places outside to walk around. One of the malls reminded Kan and I of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Tokyo has more shopping than any other place I have been to. I enjoyed the kid store and got several Hello Kitty gifts to bring home for my friends and their little girls! The Japanese are wonderful hosts. One of Kan's co-workers with a car rented a car seat for the month we are here so he could take us sightseeing on the weekends. So thoughtful. Overall it was a wonderful weekend. And how about those CATS? Pulling out the win at Auburn. That was great news to wake up to this morning.

Date Night with Miyako

The sun was bright today and Miyako and I finally made it to the zoo! After taking the train and walking we made it to the entrance after 30 minutes and found it OPEN! The only problem was my little priss pooh was getting tired. And there was a sign at the door "No Giant Panda." What a bummer because I really thought I would have seen a Panda at the Tokyo Ueno zoo. We walked around and saw lions, tigers and birds oh my. There were tons of bird exhibits. Another bummer was after my first picture of Miyako my memory card became full so I did not get any more pictures, and they had a fake panda I wanted to get a picture of with Miyako in front of it. Oh well. I did buy her a stuffed panda and after a short little 20 minute walk through (not a terribly huge zoo and I had an unhappy baby) we left the zoo and took the metro back home for the afternoon nap.

Tonight Miyako and I had a date night since Kan was out late with work. We went to the mall and walked around. I was going to eat in the food court and share a pizza with her (her first by the way) until I saw that Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company was open. The restaurant was connected to the mall and overlooked the Tokyo Bay. Since we were eating at 5, we saw the bay at a beautiful time of day. The sun was starting to go down and the lights were coming alive off the buildings and bridge. I did not get my picture, due to my memory card not getting fixed yet, but I will forever remember it in my mind. Miyako had a kids cheese pizza, and loved it by the way, and I had some popcorn shrimp.

I had never been to a Bubba Gump restaurant before, but as you can imagine they play lots of country music. Now, I am not a huge fan of country. The best time I have had with country music was two years ago at the post Vandy/UK game celebration when my girlfriends and I hit the bars in Nashville. We joked that we were the only ones in the bars singing along without knowing the words considering our choice of music is Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. So, sitting in Bubba Gump's with an almost one year old leaves little room for conversation and you are forced to listen to country music. I found the songs quite interesting. I was thinking about my friends at home and missing them a little bit when a Dolly Parton song came on about Jesus meeting you where you are at and how you are not lonely with him. What a sweet reminder God used to brighten my spirits and remind me I am not alone because I have Him.

We ended our date with a chocolate strawberry crepe - for mama naturally - but I did let Miyako have a bite or two of the dough part of the crepe. Tomorrow we are having lunch with a Japanese lady and her 11 month old son. She is married to an American so I am anxious to see if our kids look alike. :) My connection with her came from the Dutch missionaries. I am looking forward to getting to know her over lunch at Denny's (they are much better here than in the States) and letting our kids play at an indoor playland. Until tomorrow...

We finished

A Quiet Day

Today was a quiet day for Miyako and I. Mama did not feel like sightseeing so we went to the indoor play area. I am not sure how to describe it. It is about 4 rooms with toys for different ages of kids along including a lunch room, nap room and changing table area. The workers were so excited to see Miyako-chan. Today it was not very crowded, only about 4 kids there while we were there. I met a lady who is Japanese and is married to an Australian. Her little boy was born exactly one week after Miyako. I enjoyed talking with her, in English of course. She comes to the play area about twice a week and had been there for 2.5 hours when she left. I told Kan I guess women enjoy these play areas because there is lots of room and lots of different toys for their kids to play with. Most apartments are small and do not have a lot of space for a lot of toys. Miyako and I stayed for a hour before we headed home for her afternoon nap.

Miyako ate homemade spaghetti for the first time tonight, leftovers from last night. I have been hesitant in giving her big people food but felt like I needed to expand and give her more variety. It makes me nervous because I am afraid she will choke. I guess it is the first time mom worries in me. She loved the spaghetti and peas for dinner.

Kan has a late night tonight so dinner was on my own. I picked up a kotsudon from the supermarket - this is one of my favorite dishes here - it is egg, onion, and fried pork in this brown sauce over rice, of course. It is really delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it while I watched the local morning news in Lexington on our computer. Let me just say I am not missing the weather you are having back home. Tomorrow in Tokyo it is going to be sunny and a high of 64 (and one of my friends here said that it is starting to get cold here:). We are going back to the zoo tomorrow in hopes of it being open! Pictures will come next post.