Typhoon Bolaven

This weekend Typhoon Bolaven hit. It was a Category 3 typhoon for sure, although it was supposed to be a Category 4. The storm was 700 miles wide (the size of Texas!!) and the biggest storm to hit Okinawa in 13 years. The wind was so utterly intense that it was frightening. I went to bed Saturday night expecting the storm to hit early Sunday morning. It was windy and rainy all day Sunday, but the major part of the storm didn't hit until around 9pm Sunday night. The night was a restless one and I didn't sleep for the majority of it. I did wake up and tell my family how I was doing and then went back to bed for a bit. :)

Below are some pictures before and after the storm. There are quite a few pictures of the ocean, but it fascinated me to see the waves coming in so strong. We've seen nothing like it since we arrived. The most devastation I saw after the storm was with the crops. I really feel for the farmers as they have been working so hard on them for the past several months and now many of the fields are broken down.

I have been overwhelmed by the many, many prayers that people offered up for us during the storm. Psalm 91 was a big comfort to me early this morning (a friend on the island reminded me of the passage). We had no power outages (only a couple of flickers) which was a great answer to prayer when others went without on the island. God has been so good in protecting us! Thank you for praying.

                           The view from the window by our front door before the storm hit.

                                  Our Honda Accord that made it safely through the storm!

                                                   The ocean after the typhoon hit.

                                                  The crops after the typhoon.

                                     This has to be devastating to the farmers in the area!

                        Our 'garden' area that is in need of some great help after this storm.

                                                  Our driveway after the storm.

Stormy Weather Ahead!

This afternoon we had church cancelled for tomorrow and school cancelled for Monday due to the typhoon coming this weekend. The weather started turning Friday and Typhoon Bolevan is expected to hit Saturday night/Sunday morning with 138-167 mph winds!! We haven't seen anything like this since we have arrived and it has been mentioned that this could be the biggest typhoon in 13 years to come to Okinawa! The storm measures 700 miles across, so this is massive!

                                                   The view from a hill by my house.

                             The view from the seawall at the bottom of the hill by my house.

The wind is picking up some!

I am all ready for it though and we will see how this turns out by early next week. I'm thankful for a couple of down days though after finishing my first week of teaching. It was a good week, but an adjustment for me since I haven't ever taught before and I haven't worked in a while either. The countdown is quickly ticking down for me until Ben gets home and I can't wait!!! Thankfully the time is now passing by swiftly with so many things happening.

Quite the Learning Experience!

Last Thursday night I was asked if I would substitute teach for 2nd grade for the first two weeks of school. The school is connected with our church and is open just to members and their children. I consented and began this week with teacher's training (which I desperately need!). Tomorrow is our last day of it and I'm realizing that I still need another few days to get into the groove for Monday (the first day of school!!!). I'm sure things will come together, but it has been quite the week of learning and busyness.

We have had classes on how to be a teacher, on Christian education, building habits in the classroom, etc. After lunch we go to our individual classrooms and work on preparing it for our students. I've learned quickly that substituting at the very beginning of the school year is a difficult task. Partly because of welcoming back new students, but also because I'm doing it for another teacher when they already have habits and ways of doing things that I have no clue about! I'm just doing things as best as I know how and the regular teacher may have to adjust some things to her taste when she returns. That is fine with me!

Today I had the welcome help from three students whose parents are also teaching this year. They were hanging out at the school and offered their help. I was extremely thankful and they were a HUGE help to me! Maybe they will come back tomorrow and visit me again. :) I won't send them away!!

I'm thankful for the experience that has come with this week. It has also made me more thankful for my Mom teaching me when I was a child and for my teachers at Bob Jones University during college. I never understood fully the work that went into preparing for students to return to school!

Food, Food, Food

I love food. Enough said. Personally the last picture if my favorite. Veggies are not. :) There is a farmer's market about 5 minutes from our house that I have gone to before, but didn't buy anything. The other day I went there to get some veggies for a game night I was going to. I put together a veggie tray and got carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli from the market.

 BIG carrots!!

 Little cucumbers!!

 Broccoli

And finally my favorite of this post. I went to a Mexican restaurant called Dosmanos (AMAZING food!) and afterwards I went to a bakery across the street from the restaurant. I got this incredible delicate chocolate cake. It was topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream, a chocolate garnish and filled with a delicious cream (similar to bavarian cream). They put the dessert and a little cold pack in my to go bag. It was pretty awesome! All for 200 yen. :) Come to Japan and I will be glad to bring you there to let you experience it for yourselves!

Flowers!

My incredibly sweet spouse sent me flowers today!! It was such a surprise and a beautiful treat to receive. It made me miss him more, but some how made it a bit easier at the same time. :) A Japanese woman delivered them and said they were a special delivery. She then asked if she could take a picture of me with the flowers to email to the sender. I thought it was a cool idea, so I thought why not. Then afterwards I realized I was in my work out clothes and minus makeup. Oh well, at least Ben has seen me like this and will know it was definitely a surprise! Haha!

Dad, do you know what kind of flowers they are aside from the gerber daisies? I wasn't sure what the yellow ones were and figured you would know. :) Thanks!

It's All Over, Folks!

Well, Typhoon Haiku cleared out pretty much by early afternoon Monday. Due to the storm church was cancelled all day Sunday and it ended up being a very quiet weekend. On Monday after we were cleared to get out than I went to dinner at a friend's place and just chilled for the rest of the day. That was nice to have company after it being so quiet for the weekend!

We had a lot of wind and heavy rain, but it wasn't as bad as it was made out to be. It is still pretty gray out there and I look forward to the sunshine and blue skies once again! I realized the other day how long it had been since I had been to the beach and it feels like it is time once again. :) Nothing like the sun, sand and water!

Ben and I have been praying for one of his coworkers to be saved. I heard good news from Ben that his coworker has been reading some spiritual material and asking questions of late. That was a blessing to hear that he is opening up some. We appreciate your prayers for G.

Thanks for your prayers during the typhoon! Off to bed now!

Typhoon Haikui

Bathtub filled - check

Water & food supply - check

DVDs - check

Crafts to work on - check

Typhoon Haikui is on its way! I'm pretty excited about this actually. Probably won't be as much when the wind starts going crazy, but at least I'm ready for it. It is supposed to be here Sunday/Monday time frame. Poor Ben is missing out on all of the fun! :)

Tonight I made the mistake of going to the commissary right before they closed. At least I had a lot of patience to make it through. :) It was kind of funny to see what shelves were cleared almost completely (hotdogs, dish soap, and Captain Crunch cereal were the ones I noticed). Ahh, the priorities of life before a storm.

Today I got the weeds sprayed with round-up before it got all cloudy and rainy. I have been meaning to do that for a while now and they are starting to grow up a bit too large for my taste. One of the weeds is a cousin to a bush and I hope I put enough round-up on it to kill it dead. :)

Haikui, bring it on! I'm ready for you!

Happiness is..,

Wow...two posts in two days. Something is wrong! Haha. Well, I find my thoughts lapsing at times for things to say, but than other times I'm just overwhelmed at the things I want to say. This particular post is not very overwhelming, but just random. :)

Happiness is...

1. Ben called me this morning from on top of Mt. Fuji at around 12,000 feet elevation. That was pretty awesome!

2. An air conditioned gym nearby! :) Today was my first time there, but I will be going back. It is the nicest gym I've ever been to (tanning booth, jacuzzi included)! :)

3. Ice cold gatorade to help hydrate my body after working out.

4. Homemade pizza for dinner. This kind of kills the whole work out today, but I still feel good about it. :) Stretchy mozzarella cheese, extra pepperoni, crusty bread, and lots of sauce just push me over the edge!

5. Healing eyes. Today I went off of one of the eye drops and go back again Monday to get checked. There is progress though and that is a blessing! My vision is getting better little by little.

Well, that is all for now. Off to clean up from my work out and to start the pizza dough. Yummy, yummy!!

A Life Update

Life has been interesting of late. I've been driving back and forth between appointments for the last two weeks. It has been a whole lot busier than I thought it would be.

On July 16 I went to the doctor because my left eye was bloodshot, irritated, and extremely sensitive to light. I wasn't able to get in to see a doctor that day, but had an appointment the next day. At that point the doctor 'diagnosed' me with pink eye and gave me some eye drops to use. That was a misdiagnosis overall as I learned when I went to the eye doctor a week later. I learned that I have a scratch on my left eye and there is a cloudiness over both of my eyes. Plus they are swollen so my vision is a bit impaired right now.

Currently I'm on two different types of eye drops and thankfully it is slowly healing, but it is taking a while. I've been to optometry four times and tomorrow is number five just to get things checked. As long as my scratch doesn't scar than my vision should go back to 'normal' after it heals. It has been quite the adventure.

In other news, my darling husband is currently gone for training. He'll be back approximately in a month, so that is good. I miss him terribly, but I'm excited that he has this opportunity. He gets to do some fun sightseeing while he is gone as well, so that is a highlight for him. I'm just a bit jealous. :)