Lately

There are tons of things I want to write like Christmas, all the fun places we've visited, kids' milestones to mention a few. But, I'll just write something that happened today and maybe a few more recent happenings.

Today at 8:00am, I received a phone call from Jordan. "I have a bad news," he said. I was thinking he probably couldn't take leave while his siblings would be visiting in May. I was completely wrong. The bad news was that either he or his co-worker would be deployed from June for 6 months! My heart sank, but at the same time I felt very optimistic. I didn't think Jordan would have to go. I waited till lunch time to call Jordan to see if they had decided who was going, but they didn't know yet. I wondered all day who would be deployed. Long story short, in the end, they flipped a coin to decide who would be deployed. I don't think that's a normal military procedure, but that's what they did. And the coin had determined that Jordan would be the one. I couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real to me. It didn't sink in till I heard myself saying to my dad that Jordan was leaving and that I may come to stay with them for a few months. I got teary, sad, and worried about the future and uncertainties...


Then about a half hour later at 5:00pm, Jordan received a phone call. It was his co-worker, and he told Jordan that he may not have to go after all because they wanted a higher ranking personnel. But the possibility still remained, so we weren't going to get out hopes up. We decided to enjoy nice family time together so we went out. When we came back around 8:00pm, there was a message on our phone from Jordan's boss. He called her, and she confirmed that someone else was going so he didn't have to go! We couldn't have been happier to hear the news!!! My day started out as a normal day, but within the 12 hours it went from normal to bad to worst and all the way up to a pretty good day. I feel very grateful for the time and opportunities I'm given to enjoy Jordan's presence in our home.


Recently, we had some visitors, Seidi, Danny, and Baby Charlie. We had so much fun with them. We enjoyed the beaches, hiking, and eating lots of good foods. I enjoyed getting to know them better and having private cooking/baking lessons from Seidi. But, I must say that the best part about their visit was to see Yuki and Aisa getting to know them and enjoying their companies. First few days, they were shy and wouldn't get near them. By the end of their stay, Aisa would jump on Danny to play, and Yuki would beg me to take him outside to play soccer with Seidi and Danny.

Aisa become a good friend with Charlie as well (but as for Charlie, I think he was scared of her more than enjoying her friendship). She was fascinated with him and chased him eveywhere he went. She was especially fascinated with his binky. She would pull it out of his mouth and push it back in over and over again. Charlie was such a good sport! We miss them a lot and hope they'll come to visit us again!



Another special recent event was Jordan's birthday. He turned 32!!! Seidi taught me how to make this supper delicious chocolate cake. It was labor intensive, but it was fun to bake with seidi and the cake is so worth it! It's out of this world good! I've made different cakes/pies/desserts for Jordan's birthdays in the past, but I may have to make this cake every year from now!
This is my latest favorite picture of the kids. They are eating onigiri (rice ball) together after a short hike. I love Aisa's big smile-enjoying Yuki's company and the food. Also, check out Yuki's fashion statement, wearing his hat sideways. He is getting very opiniated with his clothes/fashion nowadays.
Speaking of fashion, one of the first clothes I bought in Japan is the black shirt I'm wearing in Jordan's birthday picture. I thought it was cute, but nobody else did. Jordan didn't like it. My sisters and mom didn't like it, either. My mom even told me that the shirt looked like something an old lady would wear. But, I didn't care. I liked it anyway. But the other day, I was at a park wearing the shirt, and an woman in her 60s told me that she's wearing the same shirt. She unzipped her hoodie, and there it was the same shirt! I was like, "cool!" but all I could think was "please zip up your jacket so that no one else sees that we are wearing the same shirt." My mother was right after all....maybe that shirt was meant for an older person...