I already miss the kindness of Okinawans. Why are Americans so pushy, rude, in-your-face, and easily offended? It is so different from Okinawans. SO different. Just in the first few days back we already had someone flip us off, and another person honk their horn at us. Not once in our 3 years in Okinawa did we receive such love and kindness(being sarcastic here). I just get this sense that Americans are losing it. They are losing their purpose in life, forgetting what it means to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. They are forgetting what it means to love one another. Then again, i have also chatted with some very kind people since being here. All of whom are senior citizens. So, apparently the past couple generations are losing it. We could learn a lot from our elders and from Okinawans. :)
We have also learned a few things during this move. DO NOT rent a house sight unseen. No bueno. We learned our lesson on that one. ALSO, nice cars with all the bells and whistles are overrated. Just saying. There are a lot more things i would rather do with my money than have a fancy shmancy car. Second lesson learned. :) You live you learn.
It's JUNE here in Idaho. JUNE. WHY ON EARTH IS IT COLD?!?! And i thought we weren't supposed to get much rain here in the sage brush desert. It's been cold and rainy the past two days. What is this? I enjoyed the nice crisp chill air the first few days, but now i am missing the heat of Okinawa so that i can go swim in the ocean or pool. It feels like low 60's upper 50's. This is not settling well in my mind for what is to come this winter. :) And Florida is looking pretty good right now for pediatric school options. :) oh yes.
AND this is a random thought. But i was on lds.org and noticed a question that said, "How has being a parent shown you the love God has for you?" I instantly thought of recently giving birth and had to write this down so that i don't forget it. I learned a huge portion of Heavenly Father's love and the Savior's love for me with McKoy's childbirth experience. Let me first say...there are many people who have given birth naturally who would think i am crazy for being glad i had no epidural and did it natural, and for what i am about to say. BUT we are all different and we all have different human experiences that are meant to teach us something, which means we won't all have the same experiences from the same situations. We are all different. So this is my experience. What i learned from natural childbirth is in my top 5 most spiritual experiences i have ever had. I learned a portion of my Savior's love for me and for all of us. I realize how he must have felt going through his experience at the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross. It was painful, it was the hardest thing i have ever done, as i am sure his experience was for us...BUT i knew the end result and i knew what was coming and that it would be over soon, just as he did. It was completely worth it. AND i would do it all over again. I learned what it was to not avoid pain, but to experience it, so that i could learn valuable lessons in my life. AND i did. We learn a lot through experiencing life, through experiencing, pain and trials and hardships. And if i had tried to avoid the pain of childbirth, then i wouldn't have learned valuable lessons. I wouldn't have experienced such a spiritual and bonding experience with my husband and my baby. Then i realized that so many times people in life try to avoid pain, so they turn to addictions....or people try to avoid pain that comes from making bad decisions, so they try to find blame somewhere else and try to convince themselves why what they did is right, when really it wasn't. BUT when we FACE the pain, when we FACE the consequences of bad decisions, when we let life happen... THEN and only then do we learn valuable lessons in life that we wouldn't learn otherwise. Those lessons help develop our character. Those lessons help us progress and become wiser, stronger, and more loving towards those around us. This is just a few things i learned through my childbirth experience. I hope whoever reads this doesn't think i am trying to say they shouldn't have an epidural. If thats what you get from this, then you are missing my point. :)
We spent a few days in Hawaii before coming back stateside. It was beautiful with perfect weather. We drove from the North shore all the way down to the south shore on the east side. It was a beautiful drive. And it was really relaxing. We were able to see the temple and we experienced the Polynesian Cultural Center, where we also experienced our first Luau, and the Night Show. It was money well spent and we REALLY enjoyed it there. And thank goodness, McKoy is a great traveler.
Well, thats about all i have to say about that. I will say this though....i have received all of my homeschool curriculum and i am so excited to get started with the boys. If you had asked me a few years back if i would ever homeschool, my answer would've been a firm, strong NO WAY IN HECK. Life happens, and things change....and now i am excited about it. who knew!!?
