Survival

This week has been one of the busiest I've experienced in a long time! Monday through Friday I've been at church from around 5-9pm. Ben has been working late as well since I've not been home in the evening until later. He hasn't been getting home until 7 or 8 each evening so he is about as tired as I am! :)

VBS - Bug Zone was a success! We had one night that was 'bring a friend' night and two boys brought eight of their friends! It was a pretty neat thing to see them get excited about bringing their friends. At least three children got saved this week and others made spiritual decisions. It was a blessing to see!

We usually had 8-9 kids in our Butterfly class (5-6 year olds). They were quite energetic and kept us on our toes each night! We had a schedule that we kept to throughout the night that allowed the kids to make a craft, play games, listen to a Bible story, puppet shows, skits, and a tasty snack each night! The week was well planned and it went really well. I'm thankful to have been a part of it and to have the opportunity to get to know the kids and their families even better.

 The setup for the puppet shows...Dr. Von Cricket's Lab

 My little buddy, Benjamin! :)

 Our classroom

 The main wall that we decorated in our class.

 Bug Zone! Being Transformed by our Big God!

 Singing songs with the kids as we started the evening off

 One night our story was about Ruth and Naomi and the snack ladies made a beautiful wedding cake!

 Sam before making a craft.

 Andrew with his bug jar! :)

 A Stick Bug :) that we found outside and brought to show the kids.

 My fellow teacher for the week...Jaylene. :) We had good times!

 Weighing the coins for the night. We raised money for a missionary family and got over $200 for the week to help them on their deputation journey.

The kids letting the Stick Bug walk on their arm. :)

Thank you for your prayers as we went through this week! I'm thankful for the encouragement and help that many were each day. I'm thankful for this weekend with Ben and a great cookout with some friends from church this afternoon!

First Ultrasound!

This morning Ben and I got to have our first ultrasound done. It was really exciting! Sadly our baby didn't cooperate in moving or doing much at all really. We weren't able to get to hear the heartbeat or anything today, but we are going back in two weeks for another ultrasound. The doctor was really nice and took his time talking things through with us. I'm not sure if he will be my doctor the whole way through as I heard something about him possibly PCSing. We'll see though!

The pregnancy became 'real' today as we saw a little 'dot' that is our baby and a 'shimmer' that according to the doctor was the heartbeat. We are so thankful for our little one that is growing by the day!!

I appreciate your prayers for this week as I start VBS tonight. I was at church all day yesterday decorating and preparing for this week with my fellow teacher. I'm thankful for being prepared, but still covet your prayers as we teach God's Word to the children!

"Egg-ventures"

First of all I should probably say that the typhoon that was expected earlier this week never ended up happening. It decided to be a wimp and skip over Okinawa. Ben was a bit disappointed to have to go into work, but I have a feeling we'll have another opportunity or two in the future. :)

In other news...this morning I decided to have a lovely breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and orange juice. Well, things changed after I heated up the eggs in the microwave (I had boiled them a day or two ago). A tip of the day would be not to heat them up for longer than needed. Needless to say, I didn't heed this advice this morning.

Mistake #1: Opening the microwave door. Mistake #2: Taking the bowl out of the microwave. Mistake #3: Wondering why one of the eggs was making a squealing sound and moving. Mistake #4: Prodding the egg that was moving.

Results: Two hard-boiled eggs blow up. Eggs end up in my hair, on my face, on my clothes. I scream (of course) out of surprise. Drop the bowl. Shower. Return to kitchen and realize that egg is just about everywhere. Clean the kitchen (ceiling, counters, walls, calendar, microwave, appliances, floor, table, etc.). Light candles to rid kitchen of smell of eggs. Decide that I'm not hungry anymore.

Hope that the rest of the day is not as exciting. Yes, I give you permission to laugh. My husband laughed at me...you can laugh at me. :)

Typhoon Guchol

Coming our way today is the first typhoon that we will experience here on the island. Typhoon season is from June through November and we had one earlier this month that decided to skip us. This one apparently is going to come tonight through early tomorrow morning.

We are making sure our windows and doors are secured; our outdoor items are stored securely; and that we are ready to settle in for a bit with some very strong wind and rain. You can check the storm along with us at:

http://weather.kadenaforcesupport.com/

The current TCCOR will tell you where we are with this storm and the timeline will show you a picture of where the storm is headed. Lord willing we won't have any or much damage from this. Ben is hoping though for a day off of work, but we'll see! :)

A Little Schmid is Coming!

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby in January 2013!! This has been exciting news for us personally, but it is wonderful to be able to share it with our family and friends this Father's Day weekend. Ben was super excited to be able to celebrate this holiday for the first time as well!!

We have our first ultrasound on June 25th and already know our due date as January 27th. We'll see if that stands after next week. :)

I told Ben that he was going to be a Daddy with this onesie from a Japanese clothing stand. I thought it was a fun way to announce it to him and it definitely worked! :) We appreciate your prayers for us as we prepare to be the parents that the Lord wants us to be and to continue to be the husband and wife to each other that the Lord wants us to be.

- The Schmid Family of Three :)

Vacation Bible School

The last week of June we are having Vacation Bible School at church. I'm teaching the 5-6 year old Butterflies with another woman from Maranatha. :) We are full of ideas that include lily pads, butterflies, bugs, and outdoor scenes in general. Its taking a bit of time, but we are getting everything prepared for the big week. We will only have one day to decorate our classroom, so it will be a pretty busy weekend!!

We appreciate your prayers as it has been a very busy week for Ben at work. He is working overnight tonight just to get some things ready for his upcoming trip to Fuji. This has been an exhausting time and we are looking forward to having a weekend soon! :) Thanks for praying for physical strength and mental clarity for Ben as he deals with a large work load.

We finished up revival meetings tonight with Evangelist Dwight Smith. It has been a wonderful few days and very convicting and excellent messages. I wish we could have them for the rest of the week, but I'm thankful for some quiet in the next couple of evenings. :) Evangelist Smith will be with us all day on Sunday as well and I'm thankful for having the opportunity to meet him and to hear him preach some strong messages.

Showers of Blessing

It is hard to believe that we have been here for over two months now! Quite a bit has been packed into those days and I'm thankful for so many things. Here is a list (yes, I love lists!) of things that I'm thankful for since arriving (this is not complete).

I'm thankful for...

- my faithful and loving husband that has been there for me the whole way!!
- new friends
- wonderful family that has prayed for us throughout this journey
- fantastic sponsors that helped us acclimate to the island
- volunteer opportunities
- our household goods arriving without hardly a scratch
- Teppanyaki and Korean BBQ
- my massive couch that makes me feel comfy no matter where I am in the world
- naps on said massive couch
- natural highlights from the sun :)
- access to a beach year round
- the beauty of the ocean (I never knew it was so multi-colored) that never ceases to amaze me
- my Kindle (finished several books since arriving)
- my new church (new friends and opportunities)
- my previous churches (supporting and caring friends)
- our awesome camera that has helped us document our time here

I'm extremely thankful for so much more than that, but it would take forever to list everything! :) This is it for today, but I hope that this encourages you to take a look at your life (even the past couple of months) and see what blessings the Lord has showered down upon you!