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Life Update

Sooooooo it's been a hot minute y'all. And that hot minute has been a long, stressful, overwhelming 4 months. I am going to do my best to give you a summary without dragging on.  So I've been living in Okinawa for 4 months. Annnddddddd it hasn't quite been all the hype that I was hoping it'd be. Between starting a new job when school had already started and trying to enjoy the island while under tight restrictions, it hasn't quite been smooth sailing.  Going back allllll the way to having arrived on island my in-processing hit some roadblocks. I had some issues with my CAC ID (government ID) that prevented me from having access to encrypted emails, that was one trip to the CAC office, then issues with my ID showing restricted access to base. This resulted in a back and forth with security forces with my sponsor/coworker/work mom that did end up giving us fun memories. Within my first 3(?) weeks of being here, I already made acquaintances with our Chief of Staff ...
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My faith is tested...

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Psalm 111:7- “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.” All my life I have been a Christian follower. I was blessed to grow up in the church and a church family that truly nurtured my walk with Christ, whether I saw that or not. (Dad was a youth pastor and mom worked as an administrative assistant/bible study leader, and still does, so not going to church wasn't an option). I had seen God's work and hand in my life variously through the years, but this opportunity was a truly defining and concrete validity of God's faithfulness and fulfillment of His promises.  BUT Y'ALL. This whole process has been a test of my patience. And if I'm being honest, a test for me to trust in Him and His faithfulness. How fitting was it that I was participating in Lysa Terkeurst's Trustworthy Bible Study of 1&2 Kings with my LifeGroup during this season of change and I will preface that this study was started BEFORE any whisper of a job op...
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Let's go to Japan!

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Y'all. Traveling is EXHAUSTING. And this was WITHOUT a husband and children. So for those that have had to travel with extra humans, I applaud you. 👏👏👏👏 Seriously. So to start the day off the parentals and I left to go to the airport at 5:30ish in the morning. This was hard for me because I have been out of a rhythm of getting up that early since March (thanks 'rona). Saying goodbye to my sweet girl Hazel had to be one of the hardest things I did. The idea that she does not know that I won't be coming back is ABSOLUTELY HEARTBREAKING. So Nathaniel you better take real good care of my sweet girl! Give her all the kisses, belly rubs, pets, scratches, ALL OF IT.  So we make it to the airport and it is dead y'all. Which made parking easy. Get checked in then it is off to go through security, alone.  CUE THE WATER WORKS.  Y'all I thought saying bye to my dog was hard, saying bye to my parents was even harder. Moving to Abilene was one thing but moving across the worl...
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Why Japan? Why DoDEA?

Well to put it simply, that was the location when the job was offered to me with DoDEA (Dept. of Defense Education Activity). And you're probably wondering how did a single, Texas girl like myself even consider teaching overseas? The idea was put into my head a few years ago from my sister when she had mentioned she wanted to eventually teach with DoDEA. Fast forward to spring 2019 and a random May night, I searched for "teaching for DOD" and up popped the website to apply.  From there I completed the (lengthy) application, not really expecting anything since I was still a rookie teacher, and I knew going in how difficult it would be to land a classroom job. 2 months later I got numerous referral emails, which basically was an automated system that forwarded applicant information to principals that requested applicants for specific, open positions. I got referred tons of times but nothing came through until August of that year. I had received an interview request for a GT...
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