Merry Christmas

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Merry Christmas and God Bless from the Troxels.

Last Day in DC

So, with only a little reluctance, I'm happy to be heading home. Washington DC is a beautiful place and has been a great place to visit.

Yet, it's never worth enjoying without Lilah; and yes, we spend entirely too much time apart. This has, however, been everything for my career that we anticipated it would be and now as we have made the decision to move to Japan, we're definitly going to be spending some quality adventure time together. With Lilah taking on the roll of non-employed house wife for the first time, I'm very excited. Of course, there is also the talk of family and that in itself will be an incredible adventure. So many exciting things about to happen.

So Farewell DC! Perhaps we shall meet again.

Ohayo Gozaimasu!

For those who have been waiting on baited breath... we're heading to Japan. I know that there are a million questions that need to be answered, because honestly we're the first in line with those questions.

What we do know is that it will take a number of months to actually get out of here and over there. We are going to do a week or so site visit during the second week of January and then start the arduous task of getting all our house hold items seperated into Pitch, Donate, Store, or Transport piles. There are also quite a few legal issues to deal with, a house builder to coordinate with--yes we're keeping our house and keeping our remodelling plans--there are literally an unknown number of things that need to be done and done as quickly as possible.

And yes, we are very excited!

Lilah's Successful Surgery

Yup, she's out of her oral surgery and doing well. Not much more to say than that... she's doing fine and we'll be making our very big decision on where we're moving to by Monday.

For those who haven't heard, we have two official job offers: one in Washington DC and one in Yokosuka, Japan. Both are senior management positions, both are excellent career opportunities, both have their plusses and minuses. For Japan there is the experience of a lifetime, the chance to learn a new language and culture, more waterfront management experience, and the challenge of tackling a high-profile objective and making or breaking a career on the rocks of success or failure. But Japan is a three year minimum tour and that means not seeing friends or family for a very long time. DC offers the allure of our Nation's capital, the excitement of corporate headquarters and the career opportunities in budgeting and finance, the ability to rapidly rise amongst the ranks, and the better path toward the top echelon of management. But DC is much more expensive and would require Lilah to work instead of focusing on a family and maybe an advanced degree.

As I've told everyone I've talked to about this: there is no easy choice or decision... if there were, it would have already been made. We're up against a deadline for the Japan offer and that means making our decision by Monday.

I guess you'll know when we do.

:j