Travelin' Girl

It's really hard for me to believe that it's only been about 2 ½ months since my trip to Japan. It feels longer. MUCH longer. However, here I am with a long overdue blog on my travels.

My adventures actually began before I even left the U.S. I was able to spend a fabulous 4th of July weekend relaxing with some of my former roommates before my L-O-N-G plane ride. Me, Bethany, and Amanda met up with Rachael in Lake Geneva, WI. Rach was housesitting and needed some help. :) It was a sweet time filled with lots of laughter, good food (including puppy chow of course....haha), going out on the lake in the boat and almost throwing up, an intense game of phase ten with a boy named Max, fireworks, and more laughing. I am so blessed to have these girls in my life and we are trying to take advantage of the time while we all still live somewhat near each other.

what's missing in this picture?

at Egg Harbor for lunch...sooo good.

Bethany, demonstrating her musical talent!

my attempt at being creative

Rachael with the golden hair.

happy 4th!

Rachael...being the wonderful friend that she is, was the poor soul who had the job of taking me to the airport way too early on Sunday morning. I'm pretty sure we were up late Saturday night and I'm pretty sure my head was on the pillow for less than 2 hours before I had to get up and get ready to leave. I was so nervous to fall asleep for fear I would somehow not wake up and miss my plane! Thankfully I jumped out of bed as soon as my alarm went off (why can't that happen everyday?!) and the traffic in Chicago isn't too bad at 3:30 am so we got to the airport just fine and in plenty of time. My stomach was a knot of nervousness and excitement but I could not wait to get on the plane and go back to sleep. Unfortunately my plan failed. I didn't sleep very much at all and it was freezing cold on the plane.

Once I got to San Fran I met up with Rob (Ben's best friend) and we had barely enough time to grab something to eat and board our next plane for the largest portion of our trip. Neither one of us slept very much on that flight either, which ended up being to our advantage later on. Once we landed in Nagoya I was beyond tired and when I have reached that point of tiredness and my brain is no longer fully functioning....all I can do is giggle... a lot. An exhausted, giggly Charissa in an airport in a foreign country where people don't speak your language makes for an interesting combination. Everything was funny to me. It was great fun. We figured out where to re-check our bags after a kind Japanese woman who worked there helped us. I'm sure it was obvious that we needed help. I should also mention that I think we were the only Americans in the airport because it was a week day... and it was ridiculously hot. We had about a 4 hour layover in Nagoya and spent that time sitting at our gate, walking around, and doing mad libs in an attempt to fight the sleep that was trying to overtake us. We finally boarded our last plane and were so anxious to just get there! The flight wasn't too long, although by that time I was really struggling to stay awake. We were greeted by a lovely sunset as we landed in Fukuoka and it hit us that we were just moments away from seeing the Graves'!!! It was actually torture waiting for our baggage because we could see Ben and Kristi through the door, but they couldn't come to us. It was a small flight though, so we didn't have to wait long for our bags! At last we were together in Japan. It was unreal. Our travels weren't over yet though...we then had a 2 hour drive to get to Sasebo where Ben and Kristi live, but we were just happy to be with our friends. We slept so good that first night and had no jet lag at all the entire trip, which was a huge answer to prayer because we wanted to be able to enjoy our time there to the fullest!

a fan that was given to us in the airport. we needed it.

Rob was overjoyed that I was taking his picture. Can't you tell? :)

Trying to stay awake

Just before landing in Fukuoka

weary traveler with happy friend :)

to be continued.........

Fred and Ginger

It is my dream to be able to dance like this....





I just love them.

I was tagged...

Sorry Reagan for not doing this sooner!! :-)

7 Random Things....

1. I was not able to swallow pills until about 2 years ago.  I’m usually a pretty healthy person and haven’t had to take much medication for anything. A couple years ago I had an ear infection and the doctor prescribed some massively large pills which I struggled to get down…but I did it. My whole life has changed now that I know how to swallow pills. :-)

2. I went to England and Ireland when I was 13, and Gautemala when I was 15. Both trips were taken by myself, but I met up with missionaries once I was there. To this day I can’t believe that I actually did that. I was super shy back then.

3. I was a surprise to my parents. After my two older brothers were born my parents decided they were done and my mom had her tubes tied. A couple weeks following the procedure she went back in for a check-up and told the doctor she was feeling a bit like she did when she was pregnant with my brothers. She soon found out it was because she was pregnant with me!

4. One of my favorite memories from childhood is hanging out with my dad in the garage while he did woodworking stuff. He would have the classical radio station playing while he worked, and to this day whenever I hear classical music I can smell sawdust…or whenever I smell sawdust…I think of classical music. :-)

5. I am obsessed with Ireland and have always wanted to live there. I also think it would be kind of fun to have red hair and an accent. And yes… I do know that not all Irish people have red hair. :-)

6. I have a mole on the wrist of my right arm. Today I think nothing of it, but growing up I was so self conscious about it that I didn’t even like to raise my right hand in school for fear that people would see it.

7. When I was in grade school my friends called me “casper” (as in casper the friendly ghost) because I was so pale.

I'm tagging:

Liz

I can't think of anyone else who hasn't been tagged yet. and my list of friend links seems to have disappeared with my layout!:-(

The last few months (a picture blog)

Hey all! :) I have been horrible at keeping up with this thing. I never really know what to blog about so I thought I would just do the last few months in review through pictures again.

I attended the wedding of Matthew and Leah (one of my former roomates) It was fun and probably the most unique wedding I have ever been to!

Bethany's surprise birthday party at the Japanese Steakhouse. Yum!
Doesn't she look cute in that hat?

a random barn on a fall drive through the country

I went to Lake Geneva, WI to visit my friend Rach for a weekend. What fun!

A cool boat on Lake Geneva.

Iceskating with some friends in Rochester, MN. I was a little wobbly since it was only my 2nd or 3rd time iceskating.

Visiting the Hickman family in Minnesota. I love that family.

I've had fun hanging out with these two. Tiffany and I have known each other since 2nd grade and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding 2 years ago. She now has a sweet little boy named Preston. :)

Girls weekend with some of my former roommates.

Oh how I miss these girls.

Lots and lots....and LOTS of snow and ice....which means lots of shoveling.

Christmas tree!

Christmas with part of my family.

Short but sweet visit with Charity in Waterloo.

and this is one of the things that has been occupying a lot of my time as of late. Scrapbooking! :)

It has definitley been a busy 3 months full of weekened trips and fun, sweet times spent with friends and loved ones. I am blessed beyond what I deserve and so thankful for the people that God has put in my life. Lord willing next year I will be venturing out of the country to a place I've NEVER had any desire to visit until one of my best friends moved there...and that place is Japan! :) If you think of it please pray that everything would work out regarding time off of work, finances and getting my passport renewed so that I can go.

Since it's the last day of 2007 I have been thinking back on the past year and remembering all of the fun, crazy, wonderful, surprising, and challenging things that have happened not only in my life but in the lives of my friends and family. I am constantly reminded of the faithfulness of God and His love and care for us as He unfolds the plan and purpose for our lives even though it can sometimes be puzzling to us. There have been times this past year when all I have been able to do is throw my hands up in surrender or frustration and say "What is going on?! What are You doing?! I don't understand!!". Each time I am gently reminded that I don't need to know the answers to those questions right now. I need to be still and know that He is God. We will always have unanswered questions as long as we are here on this earth but my prayer for myself and for you my friends is that as this year comes to a close, no matter where we're at in life or what challenges lie ahead of us, that we would not forget that we know Who holds the future.

Much love to you all and Happy New Year! :)