How long does it take to 'feel at home' in a new place? For some it may be when all the boxes are unpacked. For others it might be when all the pictures are finally on the walls. Well, our boxes have been unpacked for quite a while now, but we still don't have all the pictures on the walls. However it seems we're finally starting to get into some rhythms, and that definitely helps with 'settling in' and 'feeling at home'....Noah is now 3 months old and growing bigger and developing his personality every day... as you can see in the above picture. We just said goodbye to Brian's parents, so now all the grandparents have met him in person and visited our new home (will post a blog about these visits soon... and TONS of pictures :) ).
We survived our first PCS season at church... 'permanent change of station' for those of us non-military folk. Our church loses about 1/3 of the congregation every year due to rotation schedules in the military, so we're no longer surprised when a new friend has to suddenly leave in a couple months... but it's still definitely hard to say goodbye. Justin now says the phrase "on a plane to America" at least a few times a week in reference to friends that have left or are about to leave.
Brian has been taking formal Japanese language lessons for about a month, but he has been studying on his own ever since we arrived. I (Julie) will start a beginner's Japanese class this month. All we can say is please PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! :) It's essential for us to learn Japanese, so we need to stay motivated!
Justin is amazing us with his growing imagination and verbal skills. He started a mother's day out program in September and LOVES his 'new school', as he calls it... here are a few pics from the first day...
Can't wait to go!
walking with Daddy to his classroom
hanging out with his friend, Taylor, from our church who is in his class!So now we have about a week to catch our breath before we go back to the Philippines for a friend's wedding and then enter the holiday season... tons of fun events to look forward to and new memories to be made! We're so blessed to be here in Okinawa and we felt at home so soon after we arrived... but it's funny to think about going to Manila in a couple weeks because it still kind of seems like 'home.' But I think God has blessed us with so many amazing friends and reminders of how he has changed us in every place we've lived that they will all still feel like 'home' in a way.
2 comments:
I'd say it takes about a full year to really feel like a new place is home. I'm sure it will be strange to come back after your trip to the Philippines and realize that everything is familiar and homey. We don't even have a permanent place to live yet, so I know that having a "real" home will help us feel more at home here in WA. Thanks for posting pics of your growing kiddos. We miss you!
I forgot that Justin was going to All Soul's. I hope that he loves it! I've been listening to the podcasts. Is he going to start posting them every week? We miss you guys and hope that we can see you all again. Good luck on the Japanese studies!
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