A visit from Japan

My brother Ben and his wife Summer and daughter Elenore live in Japan. Ben teaches for the Department of Defense as a math teacher on a US Military Base in SOUTHERN Japan about 230 miles from where all the Nuclear issues are happening as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. So they are very much out of harms way, they experience a bit of inconvenience of minor food shortages and needing to conserve their energy a bit but for the most part are unaffected by the disaster.

Nevertheless, the military decided to "voluntary departure" people and send them home for a month or so if they wanted to, and seeing as how Ellie is not yet 2 and Summer is 6 months pregnant, they were in a group allowed to leave almost immediately. My poor brother though was not allowed to leave as he was considered "essential to the mission" and had to stay to teach any children of families who stayed behind. So they endured being apart for a couple weeks. But then Ben's school had spring break and at the time they didn't know when the "voluntary departure" orders would be lifted and so he came over for a little over a week to be with his family. This was a treat for them to be together and a treat for us since we hadn't expected to see them for at least another year (plane tickets to Japan are EXPENSIVE).

And on the morning that Ben was flying back to Japan, they got the good news that the orders had indeed been lifted and they were free to start scheduling their return home. So he left knowing that his wife and daughter wouldn't be very far behind them, so that was nice.

But we really enjoyed their visit. While Ben stayed with us he was my designated lifter of Matthew and they were such a big help, we enjoyed lots of Lewis Family Dinners and activities while he was here. And Ellie had a little dose of what it's like to live with other kids. She LOVED Matthew maybe a bit too much often tackling him with hugs and kisses. And I think she's really going to miss being with her cousins.