Today is the day (we're in Tokyo right now). Our bags are packed. Our household goods have shipped. Our passports are ready. We're moving! Aaron has lived here for three years now and I've lived here a year and a half, although I came here to visit for the first time almost exactly two years ago. What a whirlwind this has all been! We've been lonely sometimes, living so far from our family and friends, but together we've grown and learned so much. When we were first married it was just us here. No one else to help or hurt our relationship. Aaron and I learned so much together and built our marriage to be strong. I am so grateful for those first days of ours and that we spent them alone and in love.

A few weeks from now marks the day we found out we were having a baby. That was an exciting day! When we got married and I moved to Japan I never thought we'd be having a baby here. Ask anyone, I was against a Japan baby. I wanted to be married for a few years and really enjoy each other before we added another person to the mix. Life (and Everly) had other plans and I will forever be grateful for that. The day she was born was the happiest of this beautiful life.

And our home, oh our happy little home. What a beautiful place to spend the first year and a half of being a family! As we watched the movers pack our entire life into six wooden crates we talked about all the happy times we've had there. It was a great way to say goodbye to our happy little space.

Now we're in Tokyo, waiting to board our plane back to the States. What a fun experience this has been. We've laughed and cried and said our goodbyes. We're ready for a new adventure. We're so excited to see where life takes us next.

xo Sue (and Aaron and Everly)

Aaron & I had a 5 hour trip to get my visa extended today. We listened to music and laughed together and discussed our future plans. It was wonderful if you forget about the snow falling from every direction. As great as the alone time with Aaron was, this sign really made the whole trip. I'm still laughing about it! It's by far the best sign I've seen here in Japan.

We took Twink to the dog park for the first time yesterday and it was quite the adventure for him. At home he is king of the roost. He's got us wrapped around his finger and he knows it. And he's quite fearless. He'll jump and run and play and bite (although that last one is discouraged). So we take him to the dog park and since it's cold and snowy still there are only 2 other dogs there. One BIG dog that looks like a golden/lab mix (has to weigh more than I do) and one medium dog that looked like a pug (probably about 20 pounds). Then there's Twink who's a little chihuahua (weighing in at just 6 pounds). We walk in there, Twink on the leash, and they both run over to say hi. The pug's version of saying hi is to molest Twink and try to bite him when he wasn't looking. The golden's hi was more friendly but probably more scary because Twink's whole body was about the size of his face. Needless to say Twink was terrified. We learned the hard way that outside of the home Twink is very timid and don't even sniff the other dogs to try and make friends. I'm going to try and socialize him more but since we live in a very secluded place there's only so much I can do. Hopefully more trips to the dog park will pull him out of his shell. Once the other dogs left him alone he had a lot of fun exploring his new surroundings and Aaron and I got some very welcome time together.