Okinawa Life (July 13, 2012)

Jake and I are happy to announce that we are expecting baby Fackler in February 2013.  I am currently in week 10 and have been experiencing some pretty tough “all-day” sickness.  Everyone assures me that this stage will end soon and I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I had my first doctor appointment yesterday and they said everything is going well.  Please keep my health and that of our baby in your prayers.  Jake is doing a great job taking care of me and sometimes fending for his own meals when the smell or thought of food turns my stomach.  Due to the heat/humidity of Okinawa, I have not been able to get out much and spend most of my days relaxing with a book or napping on the couch.

Recently we spent one hot weekend volunteering for the USO for the Flight Line Festival at Futenma Airstrip.  For two days we served free brats and burgers to those visiting our tent, with Jake as the Grill Master the one day.  The Japanese were always amazed that the food was free.  They couldn’t understand why we were giving it away.  We had a donation box on the table and they were most generous with the money they gave.  The Military Police on duty at the event frequented our tent for shade and ice cold water.  It was a long two days, but both of us said at the end what a joy it was to serve others during the event.

   

This past weekend we went ocean kayaking for a few hours.  We were able to explore some of the land masses that appear during low tide and saw some really cool tiny bright blue fish and star fish.  Kadena Air Force Base was close by and most of the afternoon, there were different types of planes flying overhead on test runs.   Some evenings we go to the pool on Futenma to swim laps and relax in the cool water on the hot days.  For the most part, we have slowed down on some of our adventures, but this weekend we have our very first guest arriving on island!  My brother Rosco is in Tokyo for business and is flying down later today to spend the weekend with us.  We plan to show him the best of Okinawa in his short visit and I hope to be able to keep up with the schedule we have planned.

Until next week,

Natasha and Jake