Ready for Japan?

Jake bathed & ready?......check

House clean?.....check

Laundry done?.....almost

Flight, shuttle, and ride arranged?.....check

Packed?....Ah, crap! (any volunteers?)

Tom and I are getting ready to leave for Japan in a couple of days. We're very excited and very busy. We're taking Jake to my cousin's house tomorrow (where he will be staying until I return). We both have different flights, but both flights leave Seattle and arrive in Japan within an hour of each other. If I had taken his flight it would have cost me almost double. I'll console myself with the money I save! We can't wait to see and experience the Japanese culture and see some friends that are there. Keep tuned for updates!

My Uncle Brent

A couple of weeks ago at church I witnessed a beautiful occurrence that really reminded me of my Uncle Brent. My uncle was an amazing man that unfortunately passed away a few years ago. My uncle is my Dad's youngest brother. He had down syndrome and one of the biggest hearts in the world. I remember hearing that when he was born they recommended to my grandparents to put him into a special home for his special needs. That of course did not happen, that is something that would never happen and something my grandparents would have never considered. My uncle actually helped the entire family. I think his beautiful example for us made us all better people.

In our ward we have a young teenage girl that has down syndrome. At church a couple of weeks ago I noticed something that was unbelievable. This girl has a hard time speaking and uses a little sign language. One of the girls in her age group took it upon herself to learn the Young Women Theme that they recite every week in sign language to help her. This was not something we was asked to do, she just did it to help someone that needed it.

I'd like to thank everyone out there that takes a little time out of their own lives to help someone else in need just out of love. I miss my uncle and thank him for his wonderful example in my life!

Chicken Gyros

Since I've been staying home with our dog, I've been trying to work on my cooking skills. This has always been something that I've wanted to improve. I feel like I've come a long ways in the past year and a half. Since I got married, I've been collecting cook books. My husband used to make fun of me, because I kept buying cook books but never used them. I've recently found out I can find a lot of really good recipes on the web, no purchase required.

A while ago my cousin Janssen made a blog about some recipes she had made that week. A lot of them sounded really tasty, including the Chicken Gyros (pronounced Yero..for those of you that don't know). Tom introduced me to Greek food when we got married. I'd never had a Gyro before. Now I love them. This recipe was amazing. It's pretty non-fattening too (not including the pita). As a warning, it is a little time consuming but pretty easy. It takes straining the yogurt (to get the excess water out of it) and peeling and grating a cucumber. The straining is what takes the most time.

If you like greek food or Gyros I totally recommend this recipe. The recipe also has a link for homemade pitas (which I did not make). They're suppose to be really good, maybe I'll make them next time.

For the recipe click here.

Here's a picture of me holding my Gyro.

Japan

A little while ago, Tom had the opportunity to volunteer to go to Japan for about 6 weeks to do a temporary stint on their help desk. I've always been supportive of anything that he felt he wanted or needed to do for his career. I also think that it is always a good career move to volunteer for anything that comes across your desk that is even remotely interesting to you. So, Tom put his name in for the experience. We've been knowing this was coming for a while now.

The only thing that has kind of made it strange was that I was always unsure weather I was going to accompany him. There was a part of me that would have loved going to Japan, but there was also a part of me that really wanted to find a job. If that happened, it was impossible that I could have asked for time off to go with my husband to Japan so I kept postponing the decision.

Recently I've come to the decision that there might be a reason that I'm not aware of that I haven't found a job. I just need to have faith that if I make the right decisions, things will happen in the best way for my life. So, Tom and I are looking for a ticket for me. Originally we were planning on riding in the same plane. Unfortunately, by the time we found out what flight that would be the ticket price was through the roof (it's a direct flight). So, we're probably going to buy a one-stop ticket for me on another flight. This will mean I won't be with him and it will take me longer to get there. But, we'll save a lot of money doing it this way.

Tom's leaving on March 1st and I'll leave somewhere around there too. He'll be there for about 6 weeks, but I'm only going to stay a month. We have some friends that have agreed to watch Jake for a month. That is a really long time to babysit a puppy. I kind of feel bad that I had to ask them for this favor, but I know I can trust them to take care of him while I'm gone.