Day 21

I am thankful for skype. It really is so much better to see a person's face than to just hear their voice. I love skyping with my parents and Patrick's parents, skyping with Patrick when he is away from us, and skyping with my girl Ashli every week to watch gLee. I especially love having skype on my iphone so I can talk to people anywhere in the world!!! This morning I had an email from Patrick saying he had 5 minutes to skype so I whipped out my phone, parked in a lot, and we chatted!

Day 20

Today I am thankful for my childrens' music teachers! As I write this, Evelyn has started playing the Star Spangled Banner (from ear - no music sheet and she was not taught this...but has learned enough to know which notes are correct), Jingle Bells (she does have music for) and Star Wars theme song (again, by ear). When Gavin gets home, he will join her and they play together. They have created a band named 'The Rockin' Bulls'. I am NOT a musical person - but I love hearing them play (and play well). Patrick is thrilled they each have a musical passion since he played trumpet most of his life. Thank you Ms Brooke and Mr McFadden for encouraging my kids and teaching them a love of music!!!!

Day 19

This on is easy....today I am thankful for HEAT! You heard me, just having heat in my house finally is consuming my gratitude today! Twice a year, every year the base goes through a 'no heat/no cool' period. This year was scheduled Oct 15-Nov 15. Towards the end it started getting really chilly. Even with space heaters I found myself sleeping with sweatshirts and socks (a total no no in my book) and the kids had at least 4 blankets on them at all times. I counted down the days until Nov 15...and then nothing. We got another warning saying it could be another week! So each day it has been getting colder and colder until today...I walked in from running errands and did a happy dance in my warm house!!! I called my neighbor to celebrate as it truly is a wonderful thing to have HEAT! It makes me realize how lucky we are that we can turn it on and off whenever we want...while others don't have any. I am very thankful for this simple pleasure.

Day 18

Today I am thankful for beautiful fall days in Japan. The colors of the trees are amazing this time of year! It can rival the most picturesque areas in all the world. Today we ventured out to the roller slide park and Okutama mountains for a wonderful adventure. The roller slides were super fun and the kids kept running back after they were done shouting "AGAIN! AGAIN!" They wore themselves out!!! Next stop was Okutama area. I wanted to go to a sake factory to get Christmas presents and to walk along the majestic river front area. It was perfect! The kids loved it and we spent hours enjoying the scenery. An additional gratitude was running into a friend from base. She speaks fluent Japanese and totally helped order all my sake for me...even asked for boxes (which were not really part of the deal). I am so grateful she made the process so much easier :-)