First Christmas and New Year's in Okinawa

Well this holiday season sure was different from what I'm used to! Typically I would be in Indiana in a 3 story house with about 10 or 12 other people, MOUNDS of presents under the tree, homemade candy everywhere you look, cousins and aunts and uncles I haven't seen in a year, Nana's blackberry cobbler and Memaw's noodles. And for New Year's I would be back in Statesville at mom and dad's with friends pouring in from different states, eating all of mom's snacks she loves to prepare for my friends, playing DDR, catching up on girl talk with all my girls (and Jordan because he's one of us), ringing in the New Year with champagne toasts, sleeping all over the house wherever we can find room, and taking a million pictures the next day! What amazing memories I have of those days and how blessed I am to have my friends and family who have helped make those special memories. Even makes me want to cry as I'm typing this. (Darn these hormones!) But there was a very big part of me missing last year even among all the family, friends and craziness. My husband John was finishing up his 1 year tour in Iraq and I missed him and ached for him daily. Throughout that very difficult year without him, I remember telling everyone, including God, that I would go anywhere the military sends him, just as long as we could go together. It was actually the day after Christmas last year that I got a call from him where after about 10 minutes of catching up he said, "...What do you think about Okinawa?" I remember coming back with, "What do you mean?.....To LIVE there??" And when he said "yes", all I could say was, "Baby, I'll go anywhere you go. If this is what you want, I'm with you." And 1 week later, he had orders! It's been a crazy year with him coming home, re-adjusting to married life, finding out 3 months after his homecoming that we were expecting our first baby, morning sickness, packing up our apartment...again..., not leaving when we were supposed to, more morning sickness, living with 3 other crazy marines, living in a condo on the beach, and FINALLY arriving in Japan in November...5 months after we were supposed to get here. But hey, what's life without a little excitment and un-predictability? (is that even a word?) I'm finally starting to feel a little bit settled (it's been so long I'm not sure how it's supposed to feel!) But the nesting has definitely kicked in and since I could have this little guy any day now, I feel like I can't sit still and always need to be on top of the laundry, dishes, etc. *sigh* And to add to that, I've had horrible insomnia recently making it impossible for me to fall asleep before 3 am usually. I guess my body is preparing me for sleepless nights. But anyway...back to the holidays. We went to a Christmas Eve party at a family's house across the street from us. John works with the husband and they seem really nice. There were several other families there too that we are getting to know better. So far it seems so different here. Much more family oriented and much less drunken rowdiness! And so far I haven't heard of even one divorce in progress which is...a miracle! So then John and I spent a quiet Christmas in our little apartment together. I missed my big family get together but remembered how lonely I was last year without John and it made me thankful that we could spend this Christmas across the world together. :) It only took about 10 minutes to unwrap our presents. haha. Then we spent the rest of the day watching movies, taking a nap, I cooked a lot for lunch, and then we made some cookies together that night. For New Year's Eve we went to some other friends house (but pretty much all the same people). The wives talked and held the babies. The guys played cards and sang karaoke. We ended up staying there 'til 4 am! But it was a great time and I'm so thankful for our new friends even though I missed my best friends back home very much. Well...I think that's about it. I'm just rambling now and I feel hung over from not much sleep last night. So maybe I will go put in some more laundry and then take a nap? yeah right! Oh we have our maternity pictures tomorrow and I'm so excited! Well I guess I'll end with wishing you all a very happy and blessed 2009!! Much love!