NEW ZEALAND!!!

It's official - I will be fulfilling my long time dream of visiting New Zealand this November! We have been planning this for months but finally bought our tickets a few days ago so I can say with confidence that we are really going! Our good friends Derick and Lisa have been thinking about going there for a long time too and so we are embarking on this adventure together!

Ever since The Lord of the Rings came out in December 2001, I have been captivated by the diverse beauty of the landscape down there. It's not a huge country, but it has something for everyone - big cities, rolling green farmland, majestic snow-capped mountains, crystal clear lakes, white sand

beaches, rain forests, caves, volcanoes, thermal springs, and opportunities to encounter animals like

penguins, whales and dolphins! We've been doing a lot of research and are overwhelmed by how much there is to do and see! We are taking a full two weeks off to explore both islands, but we are only going to scratch the surface of all there is to do there.

We will be flying into their international airport in Auckland, then taking a domestic flight down south to Queenstown - the extreme sports capital of the world. There we will rent an all terrain vehicle and slowly make our way through the south island, taking a ferry to the north island and eventually ending back up in Auckland. We're still in the planning phases, but some things we know we will definitely be doing include exploring Fiordland National Park. While we're there we may also take a tour of the glowworm caves. Then we'll drive back to the east coast to see some penguins and whales, and make our way north to Christchurch where we'll catch the TranzAlpine Railroad through the South Alps (listed as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world!!)

For me, these are all just fun stops on the way to the main event - visiting the movie capitol of the country: Wellington! We will be stopping by Weta Workshops and looking through their museum of props and memorabilia while we're there. Weta is the company that did the special effects and created the creatures, weapons and elaborate sets for movies such as Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Avatar. This is something of a pilgrimage for me as these movies inspired me to go to film school!

Now that I have my new camera, you can bet we will have hundreds of stunning pictures to commemorate our trip! Be sure to check back in November for some shots of our vacation of a lifetime into the land of movie magic!

New Camera!!

James sent me a surprise gift last week - a brand new, professional grade digital camera!! I love the one his grandfather Earle gave me shortly after we were married and have enjoyed using it, but lately I've been feeling like I've out grown it. I need something with more manual options and much larger images for my clients to print from. This Canon EOS 7D is the new top-of-the line camera out there. We have been looking at it and budgeting for it for a while and had planned to purchase it this fall after James returned from his deployment. But of course, my husband likes to spoil me and will take advantage of any opportunity to surprise me. So he ordered it without me knowing and had it shipped here! I've already used it quite a bit and the images are BEAUTIFUL! I'm still learning how to use it properly, but I know it will come in handy this fall for paid photo shoots and all of our traveling!

Keeping Cool...

Lucky us! We happened to move to Misawa right before a very unusually hot and humid summer. After living through a summer in Phoenix where the average temperature was a blistering 115* during the day and it never properly cooled down at night, I never thought I would complain about heat again. But lately I've been dreaming of moving back to the desert. At least there it was dry and they had air conditioning...

It's been in the 80's and 90's with anywhere from 50-90% humidity. Most of the base, including all of base housing, does not have air conditioning so we have been suffering quite a bit. Thankfully we already had a couple of box fans that help at least move the hot air around a bit, but the BX and commissary sold out of all cooling aids weeks ago and so people have been scrambling to find ways to keep cool. Mostly we have to keep all of the curtains closed and the lights off during the day and then throw the windows open at night to let the cool air in. (Although, I don't really like opening the windows if I can avoid it. These tropical conditions have caused the bugs to grow to even more alarming proportions and I don't want to let them inside! But I won't go into that... Don't want to scare anyone out of coming to visit. =^X )

Opening the windows causes a whole other host of problems as the moisture and heat settle in the house. Our towels never properly dry after we take a shower, and the sheets feel damp and stick to me at night. I bought a bunch of products at the Japanese home store designed to absorb moisture in our closets to keep our clothes from getting moldy and they completely filled up with water within a week or two. Something had to be done if we wanted to protect our possessions, so I ordered a big electric dehumidifier online and had my mom help ship it out here. It works incredibly well. It has a 40 pint tank in it (which is A LOT of water) and I had to empty it 3 times in the first 36 hours as I moved it around the house. The only bad thing about it is that it works so hard that the vent on the top of the unit shoots out hot air whenever it's on... so I can only use it at night otherwise it feels like I've got a space heater on in the room. But that's when I've got the windows open which lets all of the sea mist in... It's a vicious cycle.

My natural inclination in this heat is to lie down and sleep all day. The white noise of the fans and dark rooms do not help my productivity! I've had to get very creative about staying cool while in the house. Unfortunately, there is only so much time I can spend wandering around in the grocery store! In addition to working on air circulation and drinking a ton of water,

I've started taking multiple cold showers a day and keeping a bucket of cold water under my desk to soak my feet in when they start to swell up. I've also been making little popsicles in my ice trays with fruit juice and tooth picks like I used to when I was a kid so I have something cold but healthy to munch on. And of course, avoiding using the stove, dishwasher and doing laundry during the day is a must.

Needless to say, I am REALLY looking forward to the fall!! It would be great not to feel sticky and miserable any more.

Back into Leadership

Our Sunday night Bible Study is starting a new scripture study on the book of James. It's a refreshing change after doing several topical books. We decided to rotate leaders each week, and I eagerly volunteered to write the intro and questions for chapter 1. Some of the other people in the group were apprehensive about coming up with questions on their own. But since that was something I did weekly in college and taught other IV leaders how to do, I was excited to get the ball rolling.

As I was preparing for the discussion, I realized how much I've missed doing this. I've always enjoyed personally wrestling with a block of scripture and allowing God to show me the hard truths it contains. I love asking tough questions and challenging people to really think and feel. Must be the filmmaker in me - always seeking to inspire! My favorite books of the Bible to lead discussions on are the ones that kind of smack you upside the head, and James definitely falls into that category. We only covered 18 verses in an hour long discussion, but in that hour we talked about everything from the difference between trials and temptation and how to overcome them, to pride and gossip and other specific temptations we as military spouses deal with, to discovering more about God's character and how focusing on His goodness will always overshadow even the worst of situations. Multiple people cried as we shared about our lives and struggles - which I think is awesome because it means that God was really working in those people and making them feel something powerful!

The experience of leading that discussion on Sunday has made me hungry for more. There really isn't anything more exciting or fulfilling than seeing God work! Thankfully, I've already got a gig lined up. I've been asked to co-lead a Bible Study for Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) this fall with our D.O.'s wife Becky Jantz. She has been something of a mentor to me this summer and so I am excited to be working with her. We're going to be helping women learn how to study scripture on their own, using 1 Peter as our material. We start the 2nd week of September. Till then, I suppose I'll just have to keep diving into the Word on my own. =^)

Babies & Bellies

I got to add a whole new category of portraits to my photography website this week! Misawa is known as a "2 Baby Base" because so many people are pregnant here. With so many pregnant people around, there is a big demand for maternity photos and baby portraits. I have little to no experience with either of these huge genres of portraiture, but figured I should learn quick!

I found a young couple here on base who was willing to serve as my guinea pigs. He is a crew chief for the other fighter squadron on base and actually lives just a few streets away. They were a lot of fun to take pictures of, and the portraits turned out great! It was kind of overcast and windy at the beach, which made for really a really interesting setting. Nothing more impressive than a stormy sea (or in this case, ocean)!

If you would like to see more, please check out my photography blog!

Drum roll please...

James has FINALLY been named! For the next three years, he will be known as SCANDOL. It stands for Supernova Cockpit and Near Death on Landing. The acronym was inspired by a couple of his flights from MQT. "Supernova Cockpit" refers to one mission where the air conditioning wasn't working in his jet. "Near Death on Landing" is for his final certification ride, which actually happened while I was out there visiting. They had some really bad weather roll in at the last minute and they had to divert to another city and land in blinding rain with very low amounts of fuel. Jon was actually supervising that mission and was kind of responsible for overseeing the weather situation, so they considered naming James ABEL because his brother tried to kill him. haha. But they decided against it. Initially, James was kind of disappointed. Since he's probably one of the least scandalous guys in the squadron, he didn't think it suits him very well. But after thinking about what the acronym means, he's starting to own it now. I'm just thankful that it's easier to say and sounds a lot cooler than his past names. B^)

Towada Flower Farm

On the second day of Corrie's visit, we mostly stuck around Misawa - exploring the fun Japanese shops and feasting on scones at my favorite Cafe. Then she and Matt drove down to Oirase Gorge and Lake Towada with a few of the other people who came out here with them from Korea. I opted out since I'd already been down there and had a few other things to take care of.

However, I wanted to make their final day in Japan count, and so I asked my friends Sharon, Beth and Kendall to go with us down to Towada City to see the flower farm I keep seeing pictures of in other people's facebook albums. Unfortunately, there is not nearly as much blooming this late in the season, but we had fun wandering around outdoors. There were a few ponds with coy fish and ducks, and plenty of giant blue hydrangeas and other unique Japanese flowers to keep us entertained.

They had some bunnies we got to feed! SO cute!

I made sure to bring my tripod so we could get
everyone in a few pictures!

Below are some shots of the unique flowers
they had there. I've never seen more beautiful flowers
than they have here in Japan!

As we were leaving, we passed a big water fall
that provided an excellent background for more pictures!

After the flower farm, we went shopping in some of the fun stores down there and bought some souvenirs and gifts for super cheap. Then Sharon took us to a cafe owned by one of her Japanese students and we enjoyed a really delicious meal. They all really seemed to enjoy getting to know Corrie and helped provide hours of stimulating conversation. Around that time we needed to head back... but the adventure didn't stop there!

Corrie and I went and picked up her husband Matt, and I took them out to a near by Shinto Shrine so they could get the iconic shot of them under the red torii gate. They were very impressed with the beauty of the area and the traditional architecture. After that they went out to dinner at the best restaurant in town while I met up with other friends. Tomorrow I will be dropping them off at the Misawa Airport so they can make their way back to Korea. It was a very quick trip but I think they got a full dose of all the best Japan has to offer in this part of the country. Hopefully our pictures will help inspire more people to make the trek out here!