Your Life

From The Healing Path by Dan Allender president of MHGS and one of my professors:

"You are the only you this world will know, and something about your life is meant to make something about God known in a way no one else can do."

Lenny

If you know Lenny from Of Mice and Men, then you know how I feel sometimes about Roxy. Only I control my urges to squeeze her too hard. Do you blame me? Look how cute that bundle of cuteness is!

Engagement Story

We submitted the following for a contest at a Jewelry Store (except for pictures):

We met while serving in the Navy and attending a language school in beautiful Monterey Bay, California. We ended up in the same class to learn Korean. Fate was on our side and after our training we were both assigned to serve a three year tour in Misawa, Japan.

One year later I was deployed to Okinawa, a small island of Japan, and my crew was going to be relieved by my husband's crew. That means that my husband's crew would come down on Friday afternoon and I would leave on Saturday morning. I had been waiting for so long and I only hoped this was the night.

That evening we got dressed up and strolled around Sunset Beach, took in the beautiful scenery together, and then had an amazing dinner accompanied by live soft jazz . We relished every moment because we knew this would be our last time in Okinawa together.

After dinner we went star gazing on a rock wall that lines the coast, and after a quick nap for me, it was time for our next outing! It was about 5 a.m. and we were driving to a surprise location. Every New Year’s Day, many Okinawans flock to high points and other scenic spots around the island to watch the first sunrise of the new year. One of the best spots on the island is at Katsuren Castle. Although is was destroyed in a battle in 1498 the original foundation sits atop of a hill with a gorgeous view of the coast.

After sitting on a blanket and being surprised with my favorite breakfast, a custard filled chocolate dough nut, we watched the unobstructed sun rise from the ocean. In the midst of the romantic setting Paul read me a poem he had written and framed, “Together.” Then he handed me a small photo book. All the pictures were of our favorite times together from the previous years. On each photo was a superimposed letter that spelled out "Will you marry me?" .

Of course I said “YES.” He pulled out a ring and on one knee, slipped it on my finger. Paul did not have enough time to get my “official” engagement ring. So he bought a solitaire cubic zirconia so I could at least have a ring on my finger to show off! It was the day I looking forward to for over 2 years. It was about 7 a.m. when we were finally engaged and my flight left at 11 a.m. It was the most romantic 16 hours we have ever had together! The flight home was sad, but I had a good diversion.

I showed off that ring like it was a 4 carat pink diamond! I was so happy. We were married 41 days later in Hachinohe, Japan. We had our wedding in between our deployment times since our time together was limited. The night we returned from our honeymoon we got the phone call we were dreading, “Paul, you’re leaving tomorrow morning at 9:30. Be ready to go.” So the next morning I said goodbye to my husband for the first time. It was hard to say goodbye, but we realized it was only for a season. Now, two years later, we look back and can laugh about our unfortunate circumstances and intriguing story!

Morning Jog

I was elated to find Meadowdale Park just two miles west of our apartment. It has a mile long path that winds up and down through a dense forest and surpirisingly leads suburbia to a protected beach on the Puget Sound.
It makes for an enjoyable run with nature: a variety of trees and foilage, streams, and friendly people participating with you in your enjoyment of God's creation.

Anticlimactic

I have been blessed with so many opportunities and I have enjoyed sharing them with you on my blog. I feel now as if I will be entering a less interesting life as far as blogging and picture sharing go. However, I hope that does not diminish your desire to check my blog because I will post as much as I feel is noteworthy. Of course everyone loves Roxy pictures so I will continue with those.

With that said, I haven't left my apartment in 36 hours. I've just been tackling my enormous reading load (I think about 3000 required pages this semester) and organizing our cluttered apartment. I look forward to a five-mile run in the morning to a park filled with tall, skinny redwoods and a path that leads to a beach. Trish and I have signed up for the Seattle Half Marathon (13.1 miles) on Nov 27 so I am preparing for that.

This picture is from our balcony.

6 month update

6 month update
Originally uploaded by Dinkins - Made in Japan.

So we took her to a clinic near here for her check-up. She is doing well and is 19 lb 2 oz (95 percentile) and 28.25 inches (99 percentile) so we have a big girl who is out-growing her myriad of clothes fast. She also bravely endured five shots, one of which was a tetanus shot. OUCH! So now she has an excuse to be crabby. In other reflections, she is sitting up pretty well, but still has to be watched. She still needs a lot of attention and so now we are moving into having to just let her cry sometimes as to not spoil her. It is hard for my sensitive heart.

No Groove

Our house stuff finally made it here today from Japan so our house will be in disarray for a while. At least we have a bed amongst the clutter.
I had my second class and orientation today and all my expectations were affirmed: exposure to diversity, syllabi full of reading and writing, alive community, and an adventure waiting to be lived out. I keep hearing that I'll be growing through a lot of painful change personally. I hope to share with you in that.
This weekend we'll be going on a Mars Hill retreat and then we have a convocation and picnic on Sunday. I look forward to meeting and engaging with my new community.
So we're still not in a groove, but hopefully soon.

Just for a laugh

If you ever visit Seattle, you can take the Argosy Cruise. Check out the description I found at http//seattle.citysearch.com:

The Mansion
The tour boat slows as it approaches the most famous mansion on Lake Washington, Gates' sprawl of a home. It's hard to see much detail through the landscaping, but your guide will fill you in on how Bill can pick any artwork in the world to appear on his video walls, and how the light bulbs know when he's in the room. You'll motor away with a certain satisfaction, knowing that no matter how rich a person gets, some joker can still plunk down a few bucks to stare at his lawn furniture. Chalk one up for the little guy.

100

This is Roxanna with her great-great-grandmother, Nanny. In October Nanny will be 100 years old. I am so blessed to have a relative live that long. She still lives in the same house in downtown Orlando for the past 50(???) years. We are so proud of her. So Roxy is her newest offspring (I think, there are so many). How amazing, both of them were born in '05.

8 Years From Now

This is Grace, my cousin, with Roxy. If you can tell from the picture of Grace with my grandfather, they look very similar as babies. I had probably seven people independently tell us how much Roxy looks like Grace.

So this might give us an idea of what Roxy will look like in eight years. We'll see.