Sayonara, Okinawa. Hello, Midwest!

Approximately a week before Thanksgiving, we learned where our new adventure in life would be taking us. The night / day Dan was going to find out (my night, his morning), I thought to myself, "Maybe I should bring my phone upstairs. Maybe he'll call me at lunch with the news of where we are going." I decided that no, he'll call me when he can, probably after work. Went upstairs, did our bedtime routine with the girls, and went to sleep.

The next morning (it was a Friday for me, I believe), I woke up and grabbed my phone. I had several missed calls from "Withheld" and I knew before I had even listened to the message that I had missed Dan's calls. Darnit! I got on Skype and called his cell phone and he was finally able to tell me where we were going, after I was done apologizing a gazillion times for not having my phone on me.

Dan put in a "by-name request" which is basically asking for a certain recruiting station. We asked for a RS (recruiting station) in our home state and there are several recruiting sub-stations (RSS) within the RS. Not only did Dan put in a "BNR", he also had to fill out some paperwork in class, listing what regions we'd like, and what recruiting stations with those regions.

We got our by-name request -- RS Hometown State. We were hoping for somewhere in the region but did not realize how many states the RS was in charge of. Oh and to make things a little bit more complicated...Within an RS there are many RSS' but also PCS', which stands for permanent contact stations. PCSes are smaller offices than RSS'. We will not be at a PCS but it is an option when they are deciding who will go where.

Next month we will be heading to the upper Midwest! We weren't expecting this particular state but as I've said to many people, it could be so much worse. We could end up in the very southern tip of Texas. Nothing against Texas but it would be far away from any of our family. I'm excited to live in the Midwest though adjusting to the frigid temperatures will take some getting used to. YIKES!

I've already been on the hunt for gyms, running groups, Lutheran churches, barns (!), and activities that I can do with the girls while Dan is at work. In the town where we'll be living there is a zoo, a dog park, a waterpark in the next town over,  an indoor play place (this will be great when it is super cold), and we'll be right near the a large river. Not to mention Evelyn will be able to play in snow. The only time she's ever seen snow is when we were in Tokyo in February with my friend Jess, and it didn't really stick to the ground.

The very best part about being stationed in the Midwest is that we'll be within several hours of some of our family members! Some of our other family members live far away (I'm looking at you, loved ones in Missouri, Illinois, New Mexico, Nebraska, and the Carolinas!) but it'll be much easier to visit everyone else with the flights being shorter in length and significantly cheaper.

As I right this, it is 15*F in our new city with a wind chill of 1*F. This is significantly warmer than when I was looking a few days ago later in the day (so closer to the middle of the night for our area of the Midwest) and it was -12* with a wind chill of -32*. Right now in Okinawa it is 66*F with light rain showers and I have the heat on. Brrr!

Bring it on, Midwest! We're ready for a new adventure!

Evelyn's third birthday.

This November Evelyn turned three. She had a joint birthday party with her Daddy before he left for his school in October, and then on her actual birthday, we trekked up to the Churaumi Aquarium after her 3 year well visit.

She wanted to see the "dolphin show" right away but I was able to explain that it wasn't for another hour and a half, so we took our time, meandering from tank to tank, admiring the fishes in all different colors. When Jackie came to visit in July, we went on a hunt to find Dory and Nemo, so that hunt continued again during our October visit as a whole family and yet again during her birthday visit. Nemo wasn't where we was last time though...hopefully he's okay and just chillin' in a tank behind the scenes somewhere.

We ate at the cafe next to their magnificent whale shark tank for lunch. We shared a serving of taco rice, and then I went back and got her a cupcake to celebrate her big day. Thank goodness I spotted a woman seated at the table next to us eating a cupcake otherwise I never would've thought to get her a sweet treat at the cafe. I sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and then she ate her little cupcake with the whale shark on top.

After our lunch, we looked at the sharks, the whale shark tank, and then headed for the exit. We stopped in one of the gift shops (there is no choice - you have to exit through the giftshop. Sneaky, sneaky!) and we were on the hunt for a pink whale shark stuffed animal. Evelyn had remembered seeing a pink whale shark during Jackie's visit, and we told her "maybe next time" during our October visit. Unfortunately the big giftshop at the exit of the aquarium did not have what we were looking for.

After making a pit-stop at a vending machine for a drink, we took the escalator down to see the other exhibits. They have the dolphins, turtles, and manatees down close to the ocean, and the main aquarium sits up on a hill, looking out over the ocean. Anyway. We browsed the turtles for a bit and then it was getting close to the dolphin show's start time, so we walked over there. Their dolphin show reminds me of Shamu's show at Sea World, just on a smaller scale and with dolphins instead of whales.

One neat thing that the Churaumi Aquarium does with their dolphin show that, in my opinion, blows Sea World out of the water is that they have their dolphins whistle along to traditional Okinawan music. The whistling heard in this video is similar to what the dolphin's replicated. They played music that featured the Taiko drums and singing and during the whistling parts, the dolphins sang their own tune.

All in all, Evelyn seemed to have a good birthday even though we were unable to locate Nemo and the pink whale shark. Below are just a few pictures from our day.

Take note of the pony in her pocket in the photo above. She wanted to bring the whole set that Grandma Mary sent her for her birthday (barn included) but I told her she could bring only one. She tucked it in her pocket for safe keeping.

Jackie's visit to Okinawa.

This summer, several days after she finished her first year as a medical student, our friend Jackie flew out to Okinawa to spend time with us. We were super grateful that she came to see us. It isn't a short flight nor are the tickets inexpensive.

We tried to show Jackie a lot of Okinawa; we brought her to places where we have brought our other visitors -- the aquarium and the glass bottom boat tour. We also brought her a couple other places that our other guests did not get to see -- the Ryukyu glass factory, the mini-zoo / egg farm, and Kokusai street.

We all really enjoyed having her here with us but Evelyn really had a good time with her. She was sad for days after we dropped Jackie off at the airport and she still calls the guest room "Jackie's room". When Evelyn was going through her phase of giving us names from Monsters Inc, Jackie was her partner in crime. Evelyn was Mike, Jackie was Sully, and I was...Randall. You can read more about my nickname here, if you are unfamiliar with the story.

Jackie was visiting over Independence day but unfortunately Dan had duty that day so he wasn't able to spend the day with us. On the way up to the aquarium, we stopped by to say "hi" to him. After the aquarium, we were debating what to do for supper when Evelyn fell asleep in the car (she missed her much needed nap time). We drove to Yoshihachi's, and ordered out. We drove back to our house, ate the sushi, and then started on our way to Torii Station for fireworks. We were able to get pretty close to the show but Evelyn was afraid so we started walking back to the car as the show continued.

Let's see, what else did we do...We took her to one of our favorite sushi places, Kami Sushi, in American Village. She also tried Japanese curry for the first time at Coco's Curry. Coco Ichibanya ("Coco's") is a chain restaurant on Okinawa but also on mainland. Apparently there is even a Coco's in California! We got ice cream at Blue Seal, and she was able to experience a Japanese rollerslide. We spent a couple hours at Araha beach and also showed her a sunset at the Sunabe seawall. I took her to one of my favorite yen stores (like a dollar store but so much better) and we also took her to FamilyMart (convenience store) to try some different Japanese candies.

I took over one hundred pictures while Jackie was here and she took quite a few, too. I realized after we dropped her off at the airport that we hadn't taken a single picture where she and I were both in the frame. Oops! Getting many cute photos of Jackie and Evelyn makes up for the photos we didn't get together.

Introducing Cora.

We watched my due date come and go, and there was still no sign of Cora, despite some of my best efforts to help move things along. I tried eggplant for the first time in my life! Not only did I consume eggplant (which was not bad), I ate eggplant in spicy curry. Eggplant, spicy foods, fresh pineapple, walking 200+ stairs on the morning of my actual "due date" and then walking five miles later that evening. Days later I ran a mile with a friend and then walked another four. Cora, much like her sister, was comfortable in my womb and wasn't ready to come out.

I was due to be induced on Monday, the 23rd. When I called Monday morning to see when I needed to come in the woman on the phone informed me that there were two medical inductions that they needed to do before mine and two other women had come in, already in active labor. Call back around noon. We went out and about, then I excused myself from lunch with Dan, Evelyn, and one of Dan's friends to call L&D again. They were still super busy and couldn't promise me that they'd be able to get me in that day. If they were able to, however, they'd call me.

I think I might've cried. I honestly don't remember. We went home and I went upstairs to take a nap with Evelyn. Around 3:45 my phone rang and they asked if I could be there at 5:00. We got stuff ready to go, and then I texted our friends that were going to watch Evelyn. Not only were we on pins and needles all day, waiting to see if I'd be able to be induced, but they were essentially on call all day as well.

We took a few final pictures of us as a family of three and then I stalled as long as possible while saying goodbye to Evelyn. She was starting to get upset which was making me upset and I was already anxious about leaving her. I didn't doubt the care she'd receive with our friends Amber and Kyle but I was just anxious over all because I had never been away from her for more than five hours consecutively.

The induction started around 6pm. The first couple of hours crawled by with frequent visits from the nurses to readjust the heart monitor on my belly. They ended up adding another one because I think initially, they thought she was coming off the monitor and the monitor started picking up my heart rate instead. I'm not really sure, though. As the night went on, the nurses came in more and more frequently to adjust the monitor on my stomach and to look at the monitor that was keeping track of the strength of my contractions, my pulse, and Cora's heartbeat.

 Cora's heart rate kept going down after contractions no matter what position I was in -- sitting on the yoga ball, standing next to the bed, laying on my left side, laying on my right side, sitting up in bed... For quite some time they'd ask me to flip sides while laying in bed after every contraction to see if that would help Cora out but unfortunately it didn't. They trying lowering the level of Pitocin I was receiving but then had to re-up it again when my contractions started being more than five minutes apart. They tried giving me a bag of saline, and I ended up with an oxygen mask. They tried really hard and exhausted their bag of tricks, trying to give us a chance to see if she could be okay as my labor continued to progress. No matter what they were trying, it wasn't helping her heart rate.

They tried two more things, one of which was a shot of terbutaline to try and slow my labor. The shot didn't work. Despite their attempts, the doctor apologized to me, saying he was sorry but they needed to do a c-section. They started unplugging everything and I was rolled through L&D.

Once we were in the OR and I was under general anesthesia, it took the doctor under one minute to get Cora out. That seems incredible to me! They discovered that the cord was wrapped around her neck. Once she was out and the cord was removed from her neck, all was well.

The doctor later came in and apologized that my labor ended in an emergency c-section but I was and am at peace with the outcome. Cora was delivered safely, healthy and unharmed despite her rough time during labor. That is what matters most to us.

Cora was 7lbs 5oz at birth and 19.5 inches long. She weighed a bit more and was a little shorter than her big sister. She was born with an almost full-head of strawberry blonde hair that leans more towards red than strawberry depending on a variety of factors. It was and continues to be thickest on the back of her head. It looked as if she had somehow gotten a haircut in the womb because it was perfectly straight across when it rested on her little neck. Not one hair looked significantly longer than the next. We are so happy she is here with us!

New beginnings.

Hi, readers! Welcome to my new blog. Chances are (unless you've stumbled onto this blog by accident) that you were directed over this way from my last post at my old blog. I've been considering making a new blog since late this past summer but finally decided now is the time. Why? Let me tell you.

Have you ever procrastinated on something so much that when you ended up turning around and facing your simple task that it looked huge and intimidating? Something that started out so tiny and do-able ended up producing a little bit of anxiety so you thought, "I'll do it later." Something like...one dish in the sink. One dish, you think (and maybe a fork or spoon, too). I'll do it later. Then you tell yourself "I'll do it later" several more times and you have a whole sink full of dishes with no place to shove your fourth-to-last clean spoon. Oh, that hasn't happened to you? Me either...

My something that I continued to put off was writing blog posts. Blogging is not my job nor do I make any sort of income from it from advertising other blogs (my blog was much too small for that) but I felt a duty to blog to keep our families, friends, and friends of our families up to date on what was happening in our lives. Specifically what was happening with our daughter, Evelyn. Keeping a blog was a simple way for me to keep everyone up to date without having to CC twenty people each week in an email. It was fun, and I was glad I was able to do it. My blog was also another way of keeping Dan in the loop while he was gone for so long.

When Dan came home, I started updating less and less. 2013 came and I made a small effort to keep family and friends in the loop with our lives, specifically with updates on growing Baby #2. I just went and counted and see that I wrote approximately 35 posts from the beginning of the year until now. That isn't much when I look at how many posts I have written throughout the entirety of OIO, which is sitting at 507 posts right now. We'll say that maybe 50 of them are drafts which I never posted, but still...that is 450 posts since late 2010. My blogging had dwindled quite a bit.

I decided this summer that I wanted to continue blogging but that I would have to either give my blog a new title, or start a whole new blog entirely as we weren't going to be living on an island forever. We'd be moving relatively soon. As time went on and the gap between my last update and the current time grew and grew and grew, I decided I would just start fresh.

So, here it is. My new blog for our new beginnings. By the end of this year or very early in 2014, we will be moving. We will be leaving Okinawa, the place we have lived together the longest, and the place where both of our babies were born.

Where are we going next? We're not quite sure. Everything has been a little uncertain since Dan was put on the "list" for recruiting duty in December 2012. I am not a professional at dealing with uncertainty, it makes me quite anxious, actually. I think this whole past year has been God showing me that I cannot control things, even if I really, really want to.

Late spring or early summer we learned that Dan would be going to school in October to learn the ins and outs as well as the ups and downs of his new duty. While I was glad that it was a class date relatively soon, it still seemed like lightyears away. Time ended up going quickly -- especially the end of September and the whole month of October.

This blog and Dan's new job are not our only new beginnings, though. Our most exciting and life-changing new beginning is that we are now a family of four and have been since September 24th at 7:50am when C joined us. Thankfully Dan was able to take almost a whole month off from work so we could learn our new roles and adjust to the new family dynamic before he had to leave for the States.

I decided that "Raechel Writes" was a good title for my blog and it is not limiting like "Our Island Outlook". No matter where we move, I can keep the blog. Hopefully the blog name in itself will act as some sort of small inspiration for me to keep writing. I used to really enjoy writing and did it quite often. I haven't really written since high school, though. Well, nothing much besides oodles of papers for college classes, emails, and then the past three years I've been okay at writing blog posts. ;)

I have a pretty big writing-related goal, and "Raechel Writes" is an inspiration to not let that fall by the wayside. The goal? I'd like to be a published author. I've had a good idea for a children's book floating around in my head for the better part of this year and I haven't really jumped on it yet besides several preliminary sentences. I need to, though, before someone else gets the good idea. I'm sharing here, on my first post of my new blog, to keep myself accountable. Before Dan returns around Christmastime, I want to have my children's book written and ready to submit to different publishers. Eek! It is scary to put that out here.

Thank you for following me over here to Raechel Writes. I'm once again looking forward to keeping our family and friends in the loop but also hope to keep up with the blogs I used to follow when I was writing at Our Island Outlook.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11386203/?claim=4bxp3wk9bud">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>