Mom

My mom is the best mom in the world. I know many of you will argue that your mom is better than mine, that is your opinion!

My mom taught my sister and me the best thing in the world, love. Love for God. Love for family. Love for friends. Because of her love for God, I learned the importance of a relationship with our Savior and have chosen that for myself, too. Because of her love for our family, I learned how to stick with my family through thick and thin, in good times and challenging times. Because of her love for friends, I learned that friends are actually family who have a different blood line.
God has blessed me greatly through my mom and my family. I could list hundreds of things my mom has done for me, but really, none can top love!

Thank you, Mom. Thank you, God, for a wonderful mom!


Mother's Day, 2006

Baking with kids

Today I had a special baking class with three moms and four daughters. Two of the moms are from Gospel choir and one of them is an English teacher at a cram school. We had a great time making sugar cookies and decorating them! The girls had practiced introducing themselves in English, the youngest girl did the best.
(I didn't quite get this picture centered:)




Cutting in the butter turned out to be a lot of fun!
























But decorating was the most fun! We used Foodoodle pens and colored icing. They were very creative in their decorating!

Golden Week

Here in Japan the first week of May has several national holidays in a row and so it is called Golden Week, or GW for short. Of course, all of these people with time off from work causes traffic jams and over-crowded trains!

This year I didn't go anywhere for the whole time but did go somewhere different each day. The first holiday is actually April 29th. This year that was the day of our JBC annual retreat day. People from all of the JBC churches gathered together for a day of worship and fellowship. It was a beautiful day!
Here is Elijah enjoying the day...


Then on Saturday, May 3 I went on a one day walk with Mrs. Shindo, from our English Bible class, and her husband. I agreed to go not really knowing what was going to happen, just that it was going to be a long, one day walk. That was correct, but I didn't realize it was going to be hiking through the mountains! I should have known! There are not 36 kilometers of flat land in this part of Japan. Although it was a long hike it was a lot of fun!
The azaleas were blooming beautifully so here I am on the walking path to the station before the hike...


And, some of the people on the one day walk at the beginning on the flat ground...




Our view from our lunch spot...




Mr. and Mrs. Shindo on the train on the way home...


The next GW adventure was on Monday when Paul Ewing, Mitsuru Higashi and I played background music at a coffee house evening for a fellow mission group. The three of us had never played together before so it was quite an adventure just learning to play together! It was the first time in awhile that I had played for such a long time so I took a break on a song to take a picture...








Tuesday was more music. The band "Audacious" from England is touring Asia and the opening concert was in Nagoya. I went to the concert with a group from Tsu, including Serena...

New Blogs Found

So, I haven't blogged much in the past week and a half but I have found a bunch of new blogs to read! This takes less mind use on my part and provides more entertainment not just for me but for all of you who read my blog and use the links to read other people's stuff.

By the way, I am back to running again! And in that, I have been enjoying spring the past couple of weeks. First, we had the cherry blossoms. As they started falling, the dogwoods started blooming. Now the azaleas are also starting to bloom. Of course, with all the rain we've had the trees and bushes and everything around is turning lovely shades of green.

God is so creative! I love that we get to enjoy His creation and through this encounter can praise Him. As I look around at the budding earth, the blue sky and white clouds (sometimes gray!), to the hills in the distance, I see God's marvelous works and can't help but praise Him. The amazing thing is, we praise THE God who made all of these things, not the creation itself.

If I am running at the right time, which I seem to be doing every time for the past two weeks, I hear a man standing by the pond of the park, where there are great acoustics, singing some chants. I have no idea what he is saying or to what god he is praying or singing, but when I hear him I get bold and actually sing out loud, too! I am sure the ducks and turtles enjoy it. It is a strong reminder for me to pray for my friends here.

Just some ramblings for today!
(The picture is red azaleas in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto taken three years ago.)

If only...

From my Oswald Chambers flip calendar for April 13...

Cast your burden on the Lord... Ps. 55:22

If we will only roll back on God the burdens He has placed upon us, He will take away that immense feeling of responsibility, replacing it with an awareness and understanding of Himself and His presence.

A Pink Weekend

The weather this past weekend was beautiful! After the winds and rains of the past week or so it was a lovely weekend for cherry blossom viewing. As I drove to church on Sunday morning I felt I was driving in a pink world!

Here is the view I saw walking from church to my car.



Here is an up close look at the tree.

After church I met up with several ladies from Gospel choir for a cherry blossom viewing picnic. Here we are enjoying food and conversation while gazing at the cherry trees!


And on our way home...

Small Talk

My favorite restaurant in my area is Small Talk. It is owned and operated by Akihiro and Ayako Naka. I was introduced to the restaurant by Akihiro's mom. She is a member of our church. I am now a regular there! I recommend anything on the menu. I think there are only about 2 things on the menu I have never tried.
Akihiro has been working on a website and so has been taking pictures at the restaurant. Last Saturday night when I went I got to be a model. Here are the pictures that turned out...




If you want to see me on the home page, click on the link to the right of my posts and then click on the About Us section of the Small Talk web page.