And we're moving to Japan

Ryan got word that we're headed to Japan. He finishes his assignment in West Virginia in May, then we head to Pensacola for a few months, then it's off to Japan. We'll be in Japan for 3 years. I'm excited, but a little nervous about getting everything together and moving the two of us (and Frank the cat) overseas...

After Ryan told me, I called our families to tell them. Most of our relatives acted excited, but I'm pretty sure my mother will be hiding in my suitcase so she can go too. It will be weird to be *that* far from family/friends/American soil. A plane ticket from Mobile to Misawa, Japan runs anywhere from $1300-2100. Ouch!

I'm trying not to get stressed out yet. Mrs. Pam (family friend and Army wife) will be hearing from me a lot between now and then, since this is my first military move. Oh, what an adventure!

"The best is yet to come, and babe won't it be fine..."

This is our cat, Frank Sinatra. He is about four months old. Other than being absolutely adorable, Frank is very entertaining. He's not a big fan of snow, but seems to be fascinated with the blinds in our living room. I never thought Ryan and I would become "cat people," and I still run from other peoples' cats. My parents have 2 cats, and I'm sure that one of them is Satan himself. However, I play with this fuzzball a lot more than I thought I would.
Ryan tried to get us a dog right after we got settled in our house, but because of strict laws in Virginia, (we had to go to VA to find pets, we live close to the WV/VA state line.) we couldn't adopt a dog under eight months old. Frank was one of about eight kittens from a friend's cat's litter. When Ryan took me over to look at the cats, Frank was the only one that would come to us; the other kittens ran away, hiding under the couch.
Frank's name was Dump Truck, which is very appropriate now that we have him. His first few nights with us, all he did was howl. Ryan came up with the name Frank Sinatra, since he liked to sing so much. His coloring is one of my favorite things about him. He looks like a black-and-white tiger! He's befriended most of our friends on base, with the exception of Sears, who is allergic. Just thought he deserved a post of his own, since he gets all of our attention. :)