Workouts

Sooo... I want you all to keep us really accountable on this! We've both been good about exercising regularly this week. Jeremy has been running every day again and I've been doing arms, abs, and cardio workouts while he's been out. We really want to keep this up! We're hoping by the end of the summer we'll meet our goals.

Roaches...

are back. We greatly despise them, as all other pests. After not seeing any after October last year we figured they were all gone until Jeremy found a young cockroach last night. Japanese houses are not conducive to pest-free homes, with their paper thin walls, wooden frames, tatami mats, line-dried clothes, gardens/potted plants, sliding doors, and no air conditioning (except through poorly positioned wall units) - and thus the windows are always open. Ours is no exception. We were warned last summer before we even arrived that there were many spiders, large mosquitos, gnats, cockroaches, and the occasional centipede. We are NOT bug people!! Neither of us can take care of them without screeching and squealing. Oy. Pray for us...

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day from us in Japan!! We love and miss you all!

Aww! My first Mother's Day flowers! They're now sitting in a juice bottle vase in the windowsill, haha.
*edit*
Sorry! :-) I received the flowers as a "future mother" gift (my guess is they had leftovers!).

(Part of) Kitanagato N.P.

Jeremy and I took a picnic lunch to the northern coastline in search of a beach or park somewhere... I was hoping to find a scenic spot I had visited once before, and we happened upon it! Unfortunately, there were no picnic tables or benches around, so we had lunch in the car before going out to explore. Jeremy tested the water and said it was cold. Despite our flimsy shoes, we managed to climb over the rocks and through an arch to a much tiny "secluded" beach, and after climbing a bit more, to an even smaller one. The sand was so fine and soft and the water was so shallow and clear. The waves were light because of the many rocks further out. We can't wait to go again in the summer!

Pictures from today

We went to the annual Hagi-yaki festival today (the famous, local pottery) at the Hagi City Gym - it is the last day of the 5-day event, so we weren't expecting to see so much! There were many vendors, the artisians from the pottery shops around the area. One lady stopped to explain to us (in English) how she made a specific bowl I was admiring. I would have loved to have been able to buy it, however, like most of the pottery, it had amazing quality and beauty, and also quite expensive! We did come away with some souvenirs though. :-)

On the walk home we passed this TINY house. How cute!

And lastly... we don't know what is going on here, but it's amusing enough to post!

Fashion Sense

I'm adding a new link... for those who are interested, this highlights the fashion style here in Japan. It's so true! These are styles we see everyday, even in small-town Hagi.

Tokyo Style Trends

Wedding 5/3

It's Asami and Philip's wedding day!! They had a beautiful ceremony and reception. Jeremy and I stayed after church to help set up if they needed us, which they didn't, so we left the church briefly to visit the top of Mt. Tatoko. We heard there were some good views and the road the church is on is also the road that winds up to the top. We were surprised to find a whole play area with a cement "bob sled" slide and various "log" jungle gym stations. We didn't have time to stick around and play, but we did take a few pictures of the views.


I was surprise at 2pm (when the wedding was supposed to start) at least a dozen people hadn't arrived yet (including the flower girl and boy!). They arrived just as the stand-in girl began tossing petals. I was also surprised at how many people flew into Japan to be at the wedding. One from Canada, one from Indonesia (who is also Canadian), two from England, a few from Hokkaido, and several others who drove a great distance. Asami is a special person and she married a special man! They had foot washing at the ceremony which is such a beautiful thing. I've seen it done one other time at a wedding and it made me cry. :-) Many of the guests are not Christians and had never been to a church, heard Christian hymns, and probably never heard the Gospel (though most Japanese know that "Jesus died for our sins", but have no clue what that means). I tried to center my thoughts on this and pray for them during the ceremony instead of focusing on my embarrassment of having neglected some friends who were also there.





(PS: If you think there's a big size difference between Jeremy and I... Asami is quite a bit shorter than me, and Philip is quite a bit taller than Jeremy - she wore 6" platform heels under her dress and still didn't quite make it to his shoulders, hehe!)

Jeremy and I were glad we got to reconnect with some friends we "lost" touch with because we're bad friends. I'd always feel sad and guilty for not calling them, but feel embarrassed as it had been so long and not reconnect with them and then feel more sad and guilty. It's a vicious cycle. BUT tomorrow we're going to visit with one friend, and hopefully visit another friend later this week. We also made some new friends at the reception. Please pray we can stay in touch with them this time, and thank you Jesus for second chances! We had a lovely time!
(Our friend Reiko, her husband, and their newborn son.)

And off-topic, but fun randomness... just now, while discussing dinner, Jeremy says:
"I like acorn squash. No. I LOVE acorn squash. I could marry acorn squash... if I wasn't already married. No... I wouldn't marry it, but if I could have concubines, it would be my concubine."
I guess he likes acorn squash! LOL