Hello all,
It has been busy month. Mark and I were finally blessed with a house! We now live in a 3 bedroom townhouse. We have a house filled to the brink with our worldly possessions, one big dog and a lot of LOVE! As soon as everything is put away I am sure it will be heaven.
I have been waiting to post until we moved, but who knew it would take so long? We moved most of our household goods ourselves; we put everything into a large van that we rented on base. We then paid the on base movers to move our larger furniture. There was no way Mark and I could have moved furniture down the stairway of death in our old house and then up the curvy stairway of our new house.
 |
| The Stairway of Death |
The new house is now getting into order, we even received our name plate:
 |
| It should read M. Enriques |
The Asian Bazaar was this past weekend, we purchased 2 beautiful pieces of furniture; a bar and a matching stair chest. The stair chest, also called a tansu chest is a very common Japanese piece. I fell in love with the chest as soon I saw it.
 |
| Ruby and Bar |
 |
| Tansu Chest |
A few weeks ago Mark and I hiked Mount Takao, it was a beautiful hike and I have posted pictures below. There were many temples along the hike as well as stautes of goblins. The goblins, also known as Tengu are said to inhabit the mountain and play tricks on visitors.
 |
| I do not know why they have knitted caps on... |
 |
| View from the top! |
 |
 |
Takaosan Yaku-ou-in Temple, Built 744 AD |
And I almost forgot about Dog Days! Really, I totally forgot until I was uploading pics for the blog... anyways.... Dog Days is an event where the public pool on base allows dogs to come swim. We all know swimming is Ruby's favorite sport, closely followed up by napping and ball fetching. It was a big success until Ruby decided it was potty time right there by the pool, but it is okay, she wasn't the only one.
 |
| Mark and Ruby racing for the ball. |
 |
| About to get slobbered. |
 |
| Ruby always looking sad. |
Right before we moved on base, Mark went on a short trip to Guam and brought me back chocolates! What a good husband.
Softball season is over, flag football season to begin! Mark is very excited, Ruby and I are excited for the cool evenings, warm jackets and thermoses filled with tea, hot cocoa or coffee to keep us warm while we get to cheer him on!
Some of you heard about our bat fighting incident. We had a bat fly into our bedroom, and Mark dressed in full gear attacked the bat and threw him out the window! Not really, he gently whooshed the curtains until the bat flew out the window. But the pictures of him in full gear with his flight helmet on are really great. My hero, the bat whoosher.
 |
| The Bat in question |
In other news, I have been looking for a job teaching English, or more so waiting for one to fall into my lap (had an opportunity today!) I was voted in as the Outreach Chair and Retreat Chair on a board at church. I was a little intimidated at first, but now I think this is the right place for me.
Lastly, Mark and I became very ill last week. We both went to the urgent care clinic, a week apart! Mark wanted to blog this because got his first I.V. ever and was very proud of it. It was only normal saline, he was a little dehydrated from the stomach flu. But we are all better now. Mark and I both recovered from the flu by eating a recipe Mark learned from Auntie Di. It was a garlic, ginger and ground pork soup. Simple, but very good for sick days.
Here is the recipe I used:
1 Garlic Clove Chopped
2 Inches Ginger Root Chopped
12 Cups Water (or Chicken Broth)
0.5lb to 1lb Ground Pork, Ground Turkey or Cook Shredded Chicken
Cook meat with garlic cloves, drain. Boil water or broth, add ginger and meat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
The recipe is very simple, the ingredients (the garlic and ginger) have been known for centuries to help the immune system fight illness.
 |
| Mark and his I.V. |
And finally one really cute picture of Ruby "holding" sushi:
Well that is all from our side of the world,
Much love and hugs,
Mark, Jessica and Ruby
