**KONICHIWA**!!

I think all of the phone calls have been made to family by now, and official orders have been cut... so we can announce that we are moving to Okinawa, Japan in July!! It is a far cry from our original plans, but after the last 48 hours I haven't been this sure of something in a long time. This adventure is too unbelievable to pass up...even if it means staying in the military for another 3 years. We'll be living at Camp Butler in Okinawa for 3 years where Michael will have a non-deployable base job. He will probably be helping get the Marine Corp base moved to Guam while we're there (which is what our best man (and Michael's college-roommate), Marcel, started on the Navy's-side 3 years ago when he was stationed in Guam!) I feel as though the last 6 tumultuous months have been leading to this. As much as I have cried and complained about all the changes we've had to undergo, God has had a plan for us and didn't let us know what that was until now. Hopefully, He will continue to lead us in a path that is right for us regardless if everyone else is happy with it or not. To add to our amazing news...we found out yesterday that Michael is no longer being extended in Iraq!! What a huge surprise this was! I had prepared myself for him not to come home until May, but they have decided to send the MTT team home as originally scheduled. I guess this proves that if you stick with something long enough, that eventually good karma has to come your way. Michael and I are so excited about this next chapter in our lives--we finally get to see the world!! God has big plans for our next 3 years together... we just have to bring them to fruition. Less than 2 months and Michael will be home--WHOOP!!

Our old house

Not that she's just a little bit indulged...but while at Petsmart yesterday I found a little squirrel toy for Pigdog. It even has a replaceable squeaker! She is a true "squirrel hunter" here on base so I thought it would give her some satisfaction of finally catching one. I had to hold the toy though b/c she runs too fast for a picture when she has it in her mouth. She's a real fast runner.These pictures will probably be boring for everyone else, but I didn't want to clutter up Michael's email...these are pics of our old house that are being renovated by the Privatized Housing coorporation.

This is from behind the house.

Looking at our old bedroom and the kitchen window with the new addition of a garage!
From "Ben's yard".

Looking straight on as if from Gordon and Regan's old house (you can still see our flag pole holder in the tree!):

From "Earmuff's house":

I had to hold the camera through a fence and Piglet kept pulling on her leash, also in my hands, so that is my excuse if they are blurry!

WHOOP!!!

I'm done with the GMAT!! I finally took the test yesterday morning and got a score that I was really pleased with! After a little over 3 months of studying I can, at last, put the books away! Michael sent me these flowers as a "congrats its over with" celebration! He's the best...

Just FYI we may have a big announcement in the coming days/weeks? Remember...Michael has been gone for 5 months now. :)

(So don't go there)

Piglet's new best friend

Piglet decided that Sara was going to be her new best friend while we watched a movie. I guess its appropriate since she thinks that Mat (Sara's husband) is her boyfriend.She'll never give up her "real" best friend tho...Bailey-cat.

Documentary

Last night Fox News aired the War Stories by Oliver North, "The Homefront to the Frontlines", which featured 1st Battalion 6th Marines. I had mixed emotions about watching it, but I'm so glad I did and that I taped it for Michael to see when he, eventually, gets home. I don't think 10 seconds could go by that I wasn't tearing up or getting emotional...those were my friends and their husbands--OUR lives being chronicled. What a neat documentary to, someday, show our kids. It makes me much more grateful to the fact that we don't have kids right now because being a husband and wife is hard enough during a deployment, let alone trying to raise kids while worrying about your husband in a combat zone. When they were speaking to Major Jones (head of the Military Transition Team), I kept hoping for a glance of Michael...no such luck. I have a feeling that they taped his interview while he was at the big camp and not where the MTT team is training the IA at. After speaking with my friends at work who also have husbands in 1/6, we all came to the same conclusion...time for them to come home! All of us thought it was a well put-together documentary and it accurately reflected deployments on the homefront. It was nice for the media to finally give some face time to military families and actually honor the sacrifice they make with some recognition... instead of just saying "thank you for all you do" with little sincerity behind it.