42 Days and Counting

“Time is too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear,

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice,

But for those who love, time is eternity.”

- Henry Van Dyke

I love quotes and this one touches just about everyone. Right now the first two lines stand out to me quite a bit with moving in just 42 days!! We are waiting and waiting and the time is also going by very quickly at the same time! We got our plane tickets to head to Seattle at the end of March and are all set for the movers to come the week before. Ben is trying to decide if I should leave the apartment when the movers come or if I can handle it okay. :) I will be a bit stressed, but thankful when everything is all set. Our movers are coming on the 22nd and 23rd of March and there is quite a bit to do before that time!!


Right now my goal is to sell/give away some items that we are not going to need when we are in Japan. We have one big item out and two others heading out the door soon. It is nice to be in a position that helps us cut things out of our inventory that we don't truly need. A very thorough 'spring cleaning' in a sense.


I am super excited for this upcoming weekend. Ben gets Monday off for President's Day and I'm VERY thankful for an extra day with him. He only has a few more weeks of Logistics school, but any time that I get with him is precious. Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!!

Mi Familia

This post is all about those who mean the most to me. My family. I figured it would be good for you to know who is behind the person that I am today. There were definitely other influences in my life, but my family is one of the most precious gifts (aside from my Salvation through Jesus Christ and my husband) that God has given me to date.

I grew up in Illinois as the middle child of seven. Four boys and three girls. You can do the math on how a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house worked for that equation. :) It was a definite adventure and I loved it! My Dad worked as an estimator for a Print Shop and on the side a Professional Wedding Photographer. That is where my love of photography comes from! My Mom worked and still works as a full-time Chef, Maid, Driver, Coach, Teacher (taught all 7 of us kids at home!) and Child Care Provider. We often teased that our front door was a revolving one because of the mass amounts of activity going on! It probably should have been, now that I think of it. :)

My parents are a huge blessing to me! My Dad, Tom, passed away in 2003 from kidney cancer. My Mom, Carol, is a pillar of strength for my family. She has a smile and laugh that would cheer anyone's soul. My siblings are all "E's". :) Emily, Edward, Eric, Elissa, Eliot, Esther, and Ethan. I love them all dearly!!

 This picture if one that I love because it just shows everybody all lined up! :)

 Awesome affects! This is me with my siblings.

 Me and my honey! Otherwise known as Ben. :)

The best siblings ever!!

A Flying We Will Go

We are in the process right now of trying to get our plane tickets from D.C. to Seattle the day before our flight to Japan and that is proving to be harder than we thought! We have so many options, but we are also probably too picky. :) We want to leave at a certain time of day, have layover options in certain cities (in order to see family), be careful about the cost, and not be paying a lot for baggage, etc. Whew! If only we had our own private little jet to fly on! Anyone have one that we could borrow? :)

It will be interesting getting around places with all of our luggage. We both can have two 70 pound bags, a carry on and a personal item. I see carts in our future or a very achy back! It is a blessing to have that much luggage allotted to us, but realistically those are all of our own possessions that we will have for about two months. So choosing carefully is really important! A lot of our carry on luggage is going to be military professional gear (uniforms, boots, books, etc.) so that takes care of a bag and a half, maybe. :P

Thanks for your prayers as we prepare for these big days ahead of us! Time is passing by quickly!!
Elissa