Photo update

It's taken me a while, by I am finally motivated to update pictures from our week with E. It might have something to do with summer vacation starting, and me not having to teach for a couple months, or it might have to do with the wonderful reminder of our time together Stephen and I got in the mail today. 

Here we are in front of our house in Fresno, before leaving for San Francisco

While we were there we wandered around the Warf and Pier 39. The plan was to visit Alcatraz, but by the time we actually found the right pier to buy tickets, we found out that the next available tickets were for the next day. :/

So, we did some other weird touristy things  like...

... The Rocket Boat! 

I think our favorite part was when the giant tidal wave drenched us all. 

...and...

...Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum!

Now this is a place I have walked by before with never so much as a second glance. I only

 considered going because E thought it would be fun. But you know what, it was really fun. I was pleasantly surprised. 

That evening over a ridiculously large Pizzokie (the best dessert known to man), Stephen tried to get some last minute language study out of our friend. The result was riotous laughter from us all. Stephen decided he wanted to fill out the hotel evaluation, in Japanese. 

If I remember correctly, we complained that there was an octopus in the bathtub. 

It was signed by someone who lived on the moon in a tree. 

As for the piece of mail that reminded me to post some photos...

E sent us a package filled with Japanese snack foods. So far my favorite are the green tea chocolate chip cookie. 

I can't wait 'til next year when we get to see E again. 

The Joys of Hospitality

Our world has been turned upside down this week as a friend from Japan has been staying in our spare room. I first met E. when she came to my college for a month to study English, a few months later, during my trip to Japan, her family hosted a bbq party for my traveling group. So, when I heard that she would be in Fresno for a week I offered up our pull out sofa in our spare room. 

Stephen has been enjoying our guest more than he thought he would. He is taking advantage of the situation to show off the 20 words he now knows in Japanese, and even learn a few more. It has been a fun week for me too, especially since she cooked us Okinomiyaki (one of my favorite foods) and chicken teriyaki on Tuesday. 

This weekend we are driving her back to San Francisco so she can catch her plane on Sunday.  

We are defiantly going to miss having her around.

Photo Shoot

This last weekend, Stephen and I were blessed to hang out with his sister, Jen, and her boyfriend, Jeff. We all made the trip up to the hills above oakdale, Ca to celebrate Steve and Jen's grandfather's 85 birthday. Partying with the relatives wasn't the only highlight of the trip. Jeff, being a photographer, wanted to do a photo shoot with us. 

Here are some of our favorites:

(and yes, Stephen is riding a horse, and wearing a cowboy hat. His step-brother let him borrow the horse and the hat, thankfully we left both safely at his dad's house. )

By the looks of this picture, you would think Steve knew what he was doing. :)

Too bad, I don't have the ones where he was chasing 6 long horn cows around the field.

It's official

Stephen and I just returned from a whirl-wind trip to southern California where we were asked to become part of the Asian Access family. We left last night, and got back about 5 minutes ago. The trip consisted of an interview, and invitation, then a few hours of next steps orientations which was referred to as "drinking from a fire hose". Although I would agree with this analogy, it was helpful to have the big picture laid out for us. Steve and I went home with a game plan, a time line, and a whole bunch of reading materials (one of which we finished on the drive home). Without remembering who is really in charge, this next step (and all the others to follow them) might begin to seem overwhelming and impossible. Praise God, that He has used these last months to be reminding us who He is and that He is faithful. Pray that we would not loose sight of who we are in God's kingdom.

Peace signs up

recently our school had a performance group come and teach our student all about conflict resolution and peace-making. My students absolutely loved the actors and the play, I even had one student bragging that she hugged "mr. H" 4 times at recess. By the end of the program, these community workers had my student's eating out of their hands. One of the more silly, but long lasting things these men and women taught my students was to put their "peace signs up". Whenever they asked for peace signs up, the students were to stop, raise their fingers like peace-signs,  and focus on the person giving instructions. 

Since the program, most of my students have forgotten how to resolve conflict, but they still remember to put their peace signs up and listen when I ask them to. (Go figure.)

A little closer to my own heart, God has finally got me to put my own peace-signs up as it were. After so long of asking for peace, I finally realized that I needed to give up so He could work. God has set my heart at peace in regards to ministry, the future, and the present. It's amazing what can happen when I stop and let God talk for a change. 

off to camp we go

Stephen and I are heading to church camp this weekend. It seems like we just got back from High school winter camp and already it's time to go with the college-age/ young adult group. We had so much fun with our high schoolers last month, but it will be nice to go in the capacity of a camper and not a counseler this time. there is just something nice about being able to sit back and listen to the message with out wondering how you are you to talk to students about it in a few minutes. Stephen has a plan to win all the trivia games since he knows the answers already. I'm sure I'll have to hold down his arm when they are looking for contestants.

Hopefully this time we will come back down the mountain without a new souvenier. Last trip, Stephen and I both came back with a horrible flu that I am still battling a month later.

Catching up

It's been a few months since I last posted so I thought I would give and update of what has been happening on our journey.



The theme for the last few months has been more of the same: patience.

It seems ever sermon; every bible study; every conversation has circled around the same topic. Whether is was intentional or God is trying to tell me something I have been trying to get my mind wrapped around the concept of waiting on the LORD.

At this point we are 5 months into our application process to be missionaries to Japan. It can become so easy to get frustrated with the pace, yet God is faithful and has not left us alone. It seems each time I am at my wits end, God sends someone to remind me that we are not forgotten, we are still in His plans.

Recently God has given us some perspective on the wait. We were reminded of the long journey ahead. Being missionaries to Japan does not bear instant results. We will need this practice in being patient and waiting on the LORD if we are to be effective.


That said, Please pray that we hear a yes or a no soon, and that God gives us the patience to wait on Him.