I put the kids to bed and then I sat on the couch on September 22 to pray. We had SO much going on, I was having a hard time processing things anymore. We were in the middle of signing on a new house to rent— a process that involved pages and pages of to-dos,… Continue reading The Saga, Part 2
Category: glimpses
September Saga, Part 1
(This is part of a series that it has taken me a while to write…) I noticed a house while I was zooming by on my bike through a back neighborhood to drop my kids at their swimming class. That I noticed something along the way is a miracle in and of itself, my husband… Continue reading September Saga, Part 1
Please Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
About 10 days ago or so, we moved just up the street. You wouldn’t think that would be a big deal, but it was– packing up 5 people, 6 years worth of hand-me-downs for the kids, a kitchen, an office… all while keeping things running was more of a challenge than I anticipated. The last… Continue reading Please Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Crossing Your T’s
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post and a LOT has happened in the interim. I will probably write about all that later in a series that I’m thinking I’ll call “September Saga”. It was full of challenges, obstacles, God dropping things right in front of us, opportunities, grief, stress, answers to… Continue reading Crossing Your T’s
Smoking Car Syndrome
My first car was one that was passed around the family for a long time. It was a stick-shift which I grew to love, but was pretty old and rickety by the time I was finally graced with the privilege of driving it as my own. Still, it ran. And as a poor college student,… Continue reading Smoking Car Syndrome
Keeping Count
Last time I wrote about writing postcards (hagaki) as part of the way Japanese maintain relationships. Today, I want to mention another way that Japanese maintain relationships, which is through gift-giving. Gift-giving is a major thing here. Obviously, housewarming gifts are necessary when you visit a home (fruit is your go-to gift), but there are… Continue reading Keeping Count
The Hagaki Life
Japanese people, in general, are very thoughtful and considerate of the relationships they have in life. It can be seen in so many aspects, but in the next 2 posts I’ll talk about some of the things we’ve caught on to while living here. The first year my daughter was in preschool (it’s a 3… Continue reading The Hagaki Life
Summer “Break”
I’ve been a little MIA over the last few weeks. Not only have we had a number of projects going on in ministry here, but our kids have been on summer break. You know– that period of time where kids start asking for the next meal’s menu four minutes after they’ve put their dishes in… Continue reading Summer “Break”
Loved
So this is one of the projects we’ve been working on this year in our ministry. It’s a near-to-our-heart project. September 1 is a date in Japan with high rates of suicide– especially among students. A few months ago when this idea came on our radar, we seemed to be surrounded by the theme. Friends… Continue reading Loved
New Name
We have a new name for this blog space! Over the course of time, this site has become more about discovering life as an expat mom raising kids on the field and balancing ministry life in another language and culture. So, instead of the very generic title we used to have, I’ve made it more… Continue reading New Name