Lonely in Japan

Well the time has come. I have been dreading this week for months now. Kyle left for red flag training in Alaska, meaning me and the kids are all alone here in Japan till July. It was a tough goodbye. I don't know who it was harder on, me or Kyle. At least I get to be with Connor and Abby, and continue to watch them grow and learn. Most likely while Kyle is gone he will miss Connor crawling and Abby talking (fingers crossed). On top of that he will miss Mother's Day, my birthday, Abby's birthday, Father's Day, his own birthday with us, and the 4th of July. At least he is not deployed and this is only for about 2-3 months. We are starting to get a glimpse at the sacrifices we will have to make while we live this type of life. I have so much more respect for all of our servicemen and women, AND their families! We all sacrifice for our country's freedom.

To stay distracted from the fact that a huge part of our family is missing, we have stayed as busy as possible. Abby has a new found love for sidewalk chalk. I don't know if she gets more chalk on the cement or herself. Needless to say she loves it and begs everyday to go outside to add to her growing masterpiece that decorates our front walkway.

We have slightly turned into movie junkies. Every night the kids and I cuddle while watching a Disney movie. Attention spans usually don't last the whole movie, and I strategically put it on right before bed as to help them wind down. In the morning we always wake up and finish where we left off the night before to finish off our movie, and help us wake up still. They have been such troopers putting up with their tired, burned out mom. Usually Kyle will come home in the evening from work still energized and charged to see the kids (cause he hasn't had to deal with all the tantrums, screaming, and whining like I do all day). Of course they love having dad come home from work, and I love having a tag team partner. Now my tag team partner has turned into good old Disney and his amazing kid flicks :)

This week was the Misawa cherry blossom festival to kick start golden week. This is apparently a very important week here in Japan where you go visit family and pay your respects to ancestors. We walked to the local park to check out some of the festivities. With yummy food and traditional Japanese cultural dancing we were thoroughly entertained. 

Still trying to stay busy to keep our lonely selves occupied, I signed the kids and myself up for a Mother's Day cake decorating class. I figure Abby would love it cause she is after all my little artist. It might not be the prettiest cake but it will be made with love. And let's face it, it will entertain her for about half an hour and I get cake... Double win! Happy Mother's Day to me! 

We have also been having a lot of fun with the other families from the squadron. We are lucky to have a bunch of other pilot wives with kids right around Abby and Connor's age live on our same street. It sure make for a lot of fun at park play dates, and it's nice to have so many friends near by that TRULY understand our situation being a "single parent" cause they are too! We all just have to stick together to get by.

We finally got callings at our church (of course right as Kyle leaves). We are joint teachers for the Sunbeams, or the 3 year old class. Now typically this would be fine and we would be excited and happy for this calling, but I am alone with 9 three year olds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And to make matters worse I have 2 kids of my own under the age of two and get no relief or break during the week (minus fun Thursdays thanks to Yoko). So last thing I want to do is go to church to watch MORE kids! I know this makes me sound like I don't like children. I do, I love kids! They are just a very difficult group of kids. I have already had a nervous break down at church trying to corral these little ones, while holding connor (who is screaming cause he needs to be nursed but I can't), and somehow teach them a lesson between giving them snacks, taking them all to the bathroom, etc. I think the Primary presidency has gotten the hint that maybe his was not the best place to put me for the time being due to my circumstances. Hopefully something will change so another break down from me won't happen again, and church can once again be an enjoyable experience :)

I realize this post sounds pretty negative. I am not negative, only sad. It has been a tough week. We are all trying to adjust to Kyle being gone, but let's face it, change isnt easy. As hard as it is to keep up with my two kiddos all by myself I am so grateful I have them. They give me purpose and meaning to my everyday. Even though I feel alone all the way across the pacific, I realize I am not and have two of the cutest best friends to spend all day with. I love starting every day off with cuddles in bed and then ending the day with cuddles on the couch. My two gremlins are my everything.