New House, New Car, Yuu Beach, and More

Alrighty, so we picked a house! And it's NOT the one we posted pictures of! LOL! We will get better pics when we move in this Thursday and Friday, but until then, here's a couple of pictures of the outside of the house and the view from our driveway. We will be given temporary furniture from the base until our household shipment arrives, probably in November.

God is good. We decided not to take our chances and rather jump on a house that we really like now. Turns out, it's in a great area with close proximity to lots of stores, restaurants, and of course, work. We have a miniature yard, 2 toilets (rare!), and 2 driveways with space for at least 3 cars (super rare!). We LOVE IT!

We also bought our car! BIG RED as we like to call him. He is a 2003 Mitsubishi Colt. Drives like a champ and is easy to spot in parking lots.

Today, we were brave enough to venture out to town all by ourselves! Both Joel and I took turns driving and I think we did a fabulous job! We figured out how to get to Yuu Beach which is about 25 minutes away from base, and under 15 minutes away from our house. Beach season is over for the Japanese (meaning you're not allowed to swim in the water any more this season), despite the fact it was a GORGEOUS Saturday today, about 80 degrees (in October!) and sunny as can be. We were 2 of about 10 people on the beach. It was AWESOME. We will be making this a regular hang out during warm weather for sure.

On a random note, we went out to another fantastic sushi restaurant and had some salmon that was to die for. We will definitely be regulars at this establishment. :) There's also a French pastry shop right outside the base gates. Joel especially will be tempted constantly due to his love of sweets, LOL.

Also, Joel has a job interview on Monday! Be praying! It sounds like it would be a perfect match for him. Good thing he brought his suit over with us.

Oh, and I like my job a lot. I realize that I haven't talked much about it, but I am having fun with my coworkers and really enjoy the type of counseling work that I will be doing here (especially the 7:30-4:30 work hours - SO awesome!)  In fact, I have already successfully taught a 2 hour class to 45 brand new Marines on substance abuse and have to teach it again next week. I put together a program on the fly and I think it went really well! Hopefully the class will work as a preventative measure for these guys as my job is to basically keep people from being stupid when I can and to minimize the damage for those that already have. :-p

Finally, here is a picture of my favorite thing on base.