Lot's of changes!

Well it seems like these last few months have just flown by and we haven't had the opportunity to really update everyone on all our big changes. We figured a blog would be a good idea to keep family and friends up-to-date on all the changes we've had over the last few months and then let you know how things are going with Kamea and Okinawa. We'll try to add some pictures and video of both our growing family and the sights of Okinawa but for those of you on Facebook, we have a lot of pictures already posted there.

So a quick recap, we were deployed when we found out in July the wonderful news that we'd be adopting a newborn in Michigan in just three months. We were so excited and then found out not only would our family of two (plus two cats) be growing but we'd also be moving halfway across the world to Okinawa, Japan. Well, the deployment flew by and it seemed like all of a sudden we were driving across the country to see the birth of our daughter! We had an amazing time in Michigan visiting with family and friends and then the most wonderful day, Kamea Rose Christ was born October 16th!

Shortly after she was born we drove back to Washington and began packing up the house and left in December for our Christmas vacation and move to Japan. We spent time in California with family and friends and Colorado skiing with family. Kamea began smiling and sleeping through the night, yay! Our cats, Dodger and Tiger, were a little traumatized with the move but they soon settled in our temporary home in California while we waited for Kamea's passport. Only a week late, we got her passport and were soon on our way to Japan. Oh yeah, forgot to mention the other crazy news.....only two days after getting back from Michigan after the adoption we found out that I was pregnant!!! We feel so blessed and are so excited, we can't wait for Kamea's little brother or sister to come along.

The move to Japan went well, with only a few minor issues such as the airlines losing the cats in Los Angeles then in Tokyo pulling me off the plane in order to take care of the cats documents just before takeoff....fortunately I made it back and we were all in the air on our way to Okinawa. Once in Japan, spent the next few weeks getting settled in, buying new (old) cars, learning how to drive on the left hand side, getting really frustrated living in a tiny hotel room for weeks and then finally moving into our house on base and unpacking all of our stuff.

We're still unpacking boxes but they're becoming fewer and fewer and since the move into our house Kamea is now a giggling and laughing little baby who LOVES to roll over, only to her left but she's on the go now! Also, Kamea began day care a few weeks ago and is smiling every time we drop her off and pick her up, she loves seeing her new friends and playing with all the toys they have there. She created her first piece of art too, all the babies did glitter artwork one day and I think she has a very artistic eye already, hahaha!

Lastly, just before we left California we had the chance to have a 3D ultrasound done and it was amazing, we found out that Kamea is going to have a sister.....Craig's a little worried he's going to be so outnumbered but he'll be fine! We have started doing all our ground training at work so we can begin flying and get fully mission complete here so we're getting busy again but very happy to be settling in at our new house, it's just tough being so far away from all our family and friends.

Next post will be shorter, I promise, and we'll post some more pictures of Kamea and Okinawa. We'll talk to you soon!

Craig, Catherine, Kamea and baby girl!