Opposition is not a fault in the plan that God has for us. Rather, it is an important part of this life to strengthen us and our desire to make right choices. We have been given agency so we can choose for ourselves to be obedient or disobedient to the commandments that God has given us.
If opposition is to strengthen us then I must be getting very strong with this move.
First I want to share with you our great adventures and the fun we have been having here. The kids were very excited about the snow when we first got here. So they had tons of fun playing and enjoying it. They made snow angels, snowball fights, went sledding. It has been tons of fun for them.
mid air snow!
Courtney likes to throw it too!
Trampling and laying in it. 
Mel's our Angel!
They have had a great time with the snow and playing hard in it. Out of the 2 weeks we have been here it has snowed all but 4 or 5 days of it. Yet, it doesn't get very cold. It hits below freezing so that it can snow but then by the afternoons it warms up and is ends up being mid to upper 30's. It melts it off the walkways and roads.
Along with playing the first week a ton in the snow. We picked out a house. It is a 4 plex it is a 4 bedroom and it will be perfect for our family, As long as our bed fits in the master bedroom :)
Here is a picture of our Front door. We got an updated unit with AC and everything.
So we picked out our house and checked into the base, a lot of it was busy work. Dave's Co-worker Ssgt Tatum took us to a wonderful restraunt called Cheese Roll. YUM! Here are a few pictures from our first Japanese meal. The sitting area was tiny. This first picture is about 1/2 of the total eating area in the room.
The chairs were little and the stools were like kid size. But it was way fun. Yes, Landon is pretending to be asleep. The nut.
The cheese rolls were a hit. Marissa loved them.
Melanie gives her approval.
Courtney is on board.
Landon got shrimp (his favorite food) He was happy.
Dave was mighty satisfied. We ate Soba noodles (with a spicy kick) Delish. Just look how excited Dave is to eat it.
We also ate a delicious bowl of Ramen. No not American Ramen. This is so much better tasting.
These are the cheese rolls. They remind me of mozzarella sticks, but instead of being breaded they are cheese in a wonton wrapper. fried up in deliciousness. You can dip them in sauces or just enjoy them plain. It was fun to try and really good.
The next day we took our Drivers test. Which was really a very long class learning the street signs and laws. We then took a written test that was open book, open neighbor. Then got a little card that says we can drive in Japan. Then the real test came. I don't have a picture because It was my first time, but we both drove on the left side of the road.
My heart was pounding the whole time. It was easy except it wasn't. If you pay attention and just flip everything you have learned in the united states then your just fine. Left turn can turn on red, Right turn, has to yield to oncoming traffic, etc. The hardest thing to get used to is the turn signal. They have switched it sides and so every time you go with your gut you end up turning on your windshield wipers. They call it the new-be hello wave!
I'll post later more about driving and their Roads here. It is pretty interesting.
Following getting our license we bought a car so we could get around in Japan. The Lemon lot (which is a used car sells area for private military sellers) had no vans in it. So we went off base to a local used car dealer and bought our vehicle. It seats all of us, but it is not a van and not a mini van. It is a smaller mini van or a large car. I will post a picture later. Right now it is covered in snow. It is really nice though.
We then had to attend a briefing about the base and the surrounding area. So Dave and I dropped the kids at Dave's co-workers (they were saints in all of this.) which was amazing for the kids because they went sledding and bowling without us. The meeting was an all day event, but we learned lots.
Even the meeting was exciting.
Thursday we moved into our house and got some groceries. We also got some loaner furniture delivered and unpacked our suit cases for the last time :)
Friday was a great fun adventure day. We got to attend a cultural city tour where we rode on a bus and they took us to 2 nearby cities so we could figure out the area and feel more confident in going out on our own.
One of the first things we did was vending machines. The Japanese love vending machines and they are everywhere. Even on a road in the middle of nowhere. 
This was one we tried. It was white grape juice. The only thing with it was it had chunks of grape in it. A little odd, but Landon was a huge fan.
Next stop was a wonderful lady helping us learn a few key words and phrases in Japanese so we could survive. She also taught us about different surrounding areas and what they had to offer.
We then we went to a local mini mall. Where we ate lunch and had an enjoyable time figuring out how to order food. We got some yummy chicken and soba noodles and a green melon drink.
We didn't have a ton of time to look around but defiantly a place we will return to go see.
Off to a new city of Hachinohe
We visited a shrine. Learned a little about there religious beliefs and saw many fish, got a fortune. Another place we wanted to spend more time. We only got about 5 min here to explore. We will have to return to explore a little more.
At the shrine they taught us all how to wash and be cleansed before you enter the grounds. Here is Marissa Participating.
Last stop was the Fish market. We are right near the Ocean and Hachinohe has a huge fish market. They have tons of samplings you can taste. We tried dried squid, soy cucumbers, green apple cake (thingy) We didn't try everything, but we had a great time and started venturing out a bit. Landon was very adventuresome, he tried everything we tried. Some of the girls needed a little coaxing.
Squid with eyes and all. And the whitish yellow stuff are the fish guts. ewe gross. 
Landon held a live crab. It was a hairy crab and we decided to buy him for a dinner. Landon was very proud of himself. Non of the girls wanted to hold it. 
Then there was this man. He was amazing. He has a little shop and he cooks a delicious treat for everyone. I don't remember the name of them, but basically it is a pancake with custard in it. Yummy. They were so good. We even bought some to take home with us.
Overall it was a great day. It was a fun adventure.
This week were also suffering with jet-lag. At about 5pm We were all exhausted. That is about midnight in the states. We were running hard and playing hard. We woke up most days about 3am and couldn't sleep anymore.
We had so much fun, but work was also involved a lot in this first week. The kids were bored at times and so were Dave and I. We worked hard and played hard. That first 5 days was tons of fun. Many little adventures, but we feel very blessed to be here and experience all the wonderful things Japan has to offer.
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