To China and Beyond

On Thanksgiving day we are heading to China. It seems so weird to say "I'm going to China." It seems so exotic. We have it all planned out except for three of the ten days of the trip. We can't decide what to do, but settled on deciding once we get there. One possibilty is taking a train to the border with North Korea. We are interested in someday living in China so I am anxious as to how this trip might effect that desire. We will be meeting with an American professor, Lonnie, that has been teaching and living there for a while so I hope to glean some insight from him. We are also spending two days with a British friend, Tania, who taught English here in Japan and is now teaching it there in China. I am interested in teaching English there so again I hope that yields some good information. Plus, we are going to have loads of fun...

Who are you?

Have you ever noticed that the people you feel closest to or connect with are those who open up and make themselves vulnerable to you? Well, I have. Maybe it is simple psychology. I don't know much about that subject, although it intrigues me. Anyway, I have noticed this phenomenon among my friends and family. It is so refreshing when someone is real, an open book, sharing their shortcomings and weaknesses, and giving insight in to their strengths. I believe much growth, relationally and individually, can come from this type of sharing. On the otherhand, it is a stifiling downer when someone you feel you should be close to because of whatever circumstance is closed, simply cordial, and only let's you see their surface.

I think the distance is usually the fault of both parties because once one person opens up, the other usually reciprocates. So I encourage whoever may be reading this to open up to people, and in the same way, open up to God about your thoughts and feelings about life and about Him.

Over the past couple of years it has been very refreshing to experience this phenomenon with my mom as we open up to one another. It has given me much enrichment and insight into my life and hers. Open up and experience the difference.

First time I felt her move

Tonight was the first time I felt our baby move. How awesome of an experience is that? I think she was doing summersaults. We just stared at Trish's belly and every once in a while you could see it move. Amazing!

Hawaii or Seattle?

Decision: The Next Few Years

I feel like I have come a long way from being an indecisive person, but this decision is really weighing on me. I had my mind made up to get out of the Navy, but having a family changes a lot of things. I desire NOT to make these kind of decisions based on money, but at the same time I have to be responsible. If I want to stay in the Navy, I need to give them a decision very soon and probably should have already.

I thank God that I have so many great choices. However, on one hand, that is one of the stressful factors, too many choices. We have the world open to us: nothing to tie us down, money in the bank, education paid for by the Navy, and the Navy will move us anywhere in the States. We truly are blessed and thankful. Trish and me spend a lot of time just talking about all of the possibilities.

We are thinking about two main choices right now. One would be both of us getting out of the Navy early, August 2005, and me going to Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle and getting my Masters in Divinity and Trish finishing up her Bachelor’s degree. The advantage to that is getting out of the Navy, out of this no-so-enjoyable job, and regaining some freedom. I am also really excited about this school and ready to engage in what I think will be a life changing experience. The disadvantage is finances and perhaps less time with family. The other choice is for Trish to get out of the Navy in May and me staying in and doing a three-year tour in Hawaii with Trish and baby as dependents. The advantage to that is geography (we love Hawaii), finances, and it would be easier to have a second child and for Trish to get a degree (she is interested in getting a degree in Radiology leading to being an Ultrasound technician). Then after we leave Hawaii, she can have a good paying job while I go to seminary. The disadvantages are I don’t think I will like the job, I will perhaps have to do shift work, and the big one, it may delay us getting to the missions field by three years. Those are just two of the good choices. Others involve Korea, China, other seminaries, or other degrees.

So if you have any wisdom or advice to offer, I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your prayers.

It's a Girl

So I guess we will finally post that the results of our ultrasound. We are having a GIRL. Let's hope it's right because we will have one confused little boy with all of the pink clothes we have gotten. Oh well, there is an old saying from a T-shirt of a guy we know that says, "Real men wear pink".

29 Hours Later

Yep, it took us 29 hours on trains, planes, and automobiles to get back to Misawa from Ocala. Everything went smoothly, it just took that long. After a a couple plane changes in the US and a 4 hour train ride to a nearby town, our good friend Curtis gave us a ride home so we could finally get to our long awaited bed! Thank God for such a good friend! Now we need some time to rest from the busy time we had at home. We had such a wonderful time visiting with all our friends and family. We do wish for more time to spend with all of them in order to deepen and strengthen our relationships. I feel like relationships are the most important thing in life, our relationship with God being foremost.

Florida Leg

We also thoroughly enjoyed our time in Florida. I was pleased that I was able to see so many of my family members. On Saturday, we had two parties and I wasable to see so many people. We loved staying with mybrother's family and being able to be around my smart, adorable 2 1/2 year old nephew. Ken and Leah are great hosts. Leah even had a basket of goodies awaiting us in our bedroom. We also stayed two nights with my mom, also a great host, and visited an intriguing butterfly observatory with her. We visited the new and intriguing "downtown" area at The Villages a rapidly growing community with my dad and step mom.
One highlight of the trip was a pontoon boat ride down crystal-clear Silver River (where the first Tarzan was filmed) with my brother's family and skippered by Lamar, Ken's father-in-law. We saw lots of alligators (one hissed at us), birds, and had to carefully navigate through fallen trees from the hurricanes. Me and Ken also disembarked the boat for a thrilling experience with a rope swing.

Missouri Leg

Our trip to the Show me State was a blast. In St. Charles, we did a whole lot of eating, shopping for baby stuff, visiting Starbucks, and most importantly visiting with friends and family. On the weekend, we went to Branson and stayed in a cabin on Table Rock Lake with Trish's immediate family (parents, two sisters, and their husbands). We went to Silver Dollar City both days and I was overwhelmed by the myriad of old country themed merchandise, booths, and shows. Luckily they had an awesome roller coaster with the best drop I have ever been on. The other highlight was the gigantic cave below the park grounds. The first room you enter is so big that they fit 5 hot air balloons in there.

Baby Registry

Well today we had the joy of creating a baby registry at Babies R Us. Taking the scanner around the store was such a blast. If you want to check it out, go to babiesrus.com, click on Baby Registry, and then do a search for Dinkins, Trsih.

No Bushes in Seattle

Our trip to Seattle was very enjoyable, but not very eventful, save our ultrasound. The climax of our visit as tourists came a top the Space Needle on a cloudy, but not overcast day (as seen in the picture). We did a lot of exploring in our Chevy Imaplia and just basked in the missed pleasures of the good ole U.S. of A: street signs in English, Whole Foods, Quizno's, Cheesecake Factory, Mexican food, coffee shops, Old Navy, wide streets, diversity of people, commercials, and understanding strangers. We also noticed things we didn't miss: homeless people begging for money, waves of fear walking through the bad parts, tipping, and being conned (yep, conned out of a dollar). We saw so many Kerry signs as we explored Seattle and only spotted a single Bush sign. I think Seattle is one of the more liberal cities.
My visit to the school, Mars Hill Graduate School, proved to be a confirmation of what I imagined, and that's a good thing. I really connect the mission and emphasis of the school. It is a cutting edge school focused on contextualizing the gospel. If you want to check out their web site, it is www.mhgs.edu.

What should we name her?

If you have any suggestions for First or Middle names, please make a comment to this post.

Boy or Girl?

We still don't know. In two days we're flying to Seattle for three days and while we are there we are getting an ultrasound so hopefully we'll finally know. After Seattle we will be in St. Louis for 6 days and in Florida for 6 days. Trish is showing a little now so she's packing the maternity clothes.

Half Way

With the hopes of finding out the sex, the first day of Trish's 20th week we were finally able to get an ultrasound at a Japanese clinic in a neighboring city. However, to our dismay and frustration the doctor said it was too early to tell. By medical science, we know that it is possible to tell so to my best deduction, they just do things differently here. At the clinic in town, they won't even try till 25 weeks. The on-base hospital cancelled our appointment because of a base exercise. So we are thinking about getting an ultrasound during our trip to the States Oct 23 - Nov 8. Trish's sister is who is due five days later than Trish found out that she is having a boy. Yea, so exciting! So I guess the race is on to have the first Bundy grandchild.

Super Soldier

From an article I wrote for our command magazine (with minor adjustments):

The Super Soldier Challenge is an annual event designed to challenge the physical fitness and basic soldiering skills of soldiers in Misawa. Our Navy command fielded one team of four. Three teams from the Japan Ground Self Defense Force also participated, but competed amongst themselves because they were not allowed to handle the M16.

Since Sailors do not necessarily possess basic soldiering skills, we had to quickly attain the needed skills. The Army graciously instructed us and in two brief sessions of instruction, we learned enough to enable us to compete, and compete we did.

On the morning of September 21st we arose early to a gloomy, rainy day. I guess that was appropriate for the Army who says, “"If it isn'’t raining, we’re not training."” It literally rained the whole day. All of the teams started off at 0630 with a four-mile march hauling a 40-pound rucksack. After that, the teams rotated between six different events: the M16 (assemble/disassemble) Relay; the Hand Grenade Toss in which we had to duck behind bunkers and low crawl through the mud to access our targets; NBC Evaluation of donning MOPP-4 gear; Physical Fitness test of push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups for eight minutes; Evaluate/Treat/Evacuate a Casualty; and a Terrain Association in which there were 21 points to locate in 45 minutes in about a 30 acre area. At the end, all the teams ran in a 4X400-meter relay using a rucksack instead of a baton.

The continuous drizzle made for an interesting, slippery, cold, and muddy day. Waiting between events led to shivering so we were eager to start each new event. As the day progressed we realized that we may not win the challenge, but we still made a good showing considering our lack of experience. We finished last in only two of the events and ended up in fifth place.

We all agreed that the day proved to be one of the more physically challenging days of our lives. The soreness for the days to follow testified to our sentiment.

And oh yea, there were only five U.S. teams competing!

Saturday Night HH

Tonight I led my first Bible Study at the Hospitality House since the Weber's left. We talked about confronting people, namely Christians. I have struggled with just what to do when I see my brethren living in sin. My natural reaction is to distance myself from them or ignore the problem, but that doesn't do anybody any good. By not saying something, we are in a sense condoning their actions. Also, sometimes we might feel like we are better than the person, however, we need to realize that we all sin. We need to identify with them in their struggles, realize that we are part of the same body, and confront them in humility and with compassion.

Navy Ball

We attended our second ever Navy Day Ball and it was a blast. We invited along some of our non-Navy friends to join in the fun, and fun was had by all. The ball kicked off with ceremonial bliss. Then came the winded speech by "the Admiral" on base, followed by a delightful dinner and toasts. After that, we watched some Japanese style entertainment consisting of a sword battle scene and and a drum performance. The Ball concluded with a Liberty Call, and we changed into formal attire to end the night with dancing and socializing.

Mt Hakkoda Hike

Mt Hakkoda Hike

Yet another good friend, Kyle, is leaving in two weeks. One very sad aspect of the military life is having to say goodbye to so many friends. On the positive side, it gives us the opportunity to make friends that will some day be spread all over the world.

Kyle is fond of the outdoors and so he has been getting his last fill of Japan's gorgeous mountains. This overcast day, me and Mike Flickinger had the opportunity of accompanying our well-orientated friend on a hike through the Hakkoda mountains.

Is was foggy most of the day, but we didn't mind because it gave the mountains character. As you can see, the leaves are changing and the still green trees provided a beautiful contrast. We hiked about 5 km to the top of the mountain, Iko-date, where there was a 60 meter deep, 200 meter wide crater. It was foggy when we first arrived, but after about 10 minutes the fog subsided enough for us to get a peek at the bottom of the crater. The well-traveled path we took was quite muddy at parts and quite slippery on the planks that lead through the marsh. I believe Kyle managed to stay on his feet, but me and Mike got uncomfortably familiar with the ground.

The hike took five hours and provided a great opportunity for me to bond with my friends, one of my favorite hobbies. Also interesting and random, we crossed paths with a Swedish professional table tennis player, here in Japan for six months of training and playing.

My Turn

Well... I guess I should take a crack at writing something for our "Blog". It's me, Trish, in case you haven't figured it out yet. Today is a typical Sunday, not a whole lot going on here at the Dinkins' house. Paul went hiking with some friends this morning.

This past Friday was the start of my 18th week of pregnancy, which translates to about 4 months. But I still haven't figured out the whole week/month conversion. It's all very mysterious to me still. Anyways, I haven't felt any kicking or movement yet, but the doctor said that will come in the next few weeks. So I am just waiting...

Now that we are going to have a baby I feel like maybe I am starting to become an adult. I almost feel like I am getting old, which I never thought I would be one of those women who are anxious about getting older, but I guess it happens to us all at some time. I went to a Pampered Chef party a few weeks ago and actually had a good time. Then last night I went to a candle party with the same result, I had fun. Next thing you know I will be going to Tupperware and Scrap Booking parties. I feel like 40 is just around the corner.