From Christmas to New Year's!

We had a great Christmas here in Japan! It was filled with new traditions, some old ones, and lots of Skyping with family. We were able to exchange presents with family and watch them open and vice versa. Skype is wonderful! We always say that it's God's gift to missionaries. 

Christmas Eve was a wonderful day as well. We went to the park and Dana did face painting. 
As we drove there we prayed that the Lord would use us and that we would maybe even speak to someone who spoke some English. We were a little nervous about going there and doing this because we didn't know how it would be received. So, we also prayed for boldness. We parked our car and got out just as the lady in the car next to us was walking up to put her 2 year old in the car. She read the sign that Dana was holding and asked her son if he maybe wanted one. She began speaking to us in Japanese but we couldn't understand everything. We did understand her asking us where we live and where we are from. When we told her we're from America, she said in perfect English,'Oh, what state are you from?' We were very surprised. We told her Oregon and she lit up. "I spent 2 months in Oregon. I love it there!", she said. Smiles illuminated our faces. To be able to talk to someone about Oregon was surreal. She told us she teaches English and wants her son to be able to speak English, but he only understands English right now. We are finding that to be very common here. If only one parent speaks English then the children will understand, but will not know how to respond so they don't speak it. We gave her our business card and told her she should come to our house some time so we could talk and our boys could play. Her son likes Thomas, too. We told her that maybe Caden could get her son speaking English if they become friends and she was very excited about that. 

The picture above is of 4 boys that came and got their faces and hands painted. At first they were kind of acting like it was too much of a little kid thing to do, but soon they were fighting at the bit to get Santas and Rudolphs painted on their cheeks. We were able to give them Christmas CDs with the gospel message on them. We are hoping that their families will hear these CDs as well. The park was dead other than that because it was a little chilly and Christmas Eve. We were thankful for the answered prayer of meeting someone who spoke English and for the 4 boys we met there. 

On the evening of Christmas Eve we were surprised by two visits from our neighbors. One from K-san and T-san. They wanted to wish us a Merry Christmas and even brought us a gift. It was a beautiful 5 frame picture frame. We had also bought them a Christmas gift since we have become friends with them. They think our Starbucks mugs are huge and laughed the first time they saw them so we bought each of them a huge Starbucks mug. They told us they will never use them but thought it was funny. Our other visit was from our neighbors the H-sans. They are our neighbors that live around the corner and have the two boys who play with Caden. She made cookies and they also brought us styrofoam wrapped apples. We have great neighbors!

The day after Christmas we met up with a couple that we had met at the store our first day alone here in Okayama. We met them at a restaurant here called Mr. Donuts. We were so impressed that they remembered our names and so embarassed that we didn't remember theirs. They were very forgiving and we asked them to write their names down so that we wouldn't forget. We had a great time with this couple. After our visit we invited them to our house some time and they were very excited about coming over. The best part about them is that they are very loud and goofy. Just my kind of people! We are really hoping that this couple will soon consider us friends.  

Today we have a family coming  over that we met through our hoikuen. The have two children, No-kun (4) and Em-san (5 months). M is the husband and he is an American from Ohio. His wife is Y-san and she is Japanese. He is very interested in spiritual things and is especially interested in Dana. He says that it is humbling to be around someone who is so sure of what they believe in and wants to know more about our beliefs. We went to their house last week and saw their shrine in their tatami room. When Dana began asking about it M told him that he is an ordained Buddhist priest and that he had spent 6 months with monks in order to become one. I find it interesting that he has devoted so much time and energy into Buddhism yet still seems to be unconvinced. Just goes to show how every other religion is unfulfilling.  I am so thankful to have a religion that is unlike any other because it is a relationship above all else. 

Please be praying for:

1. The woman and her son that we met at the park. Please pray that she will call us and a relationship will be formed.

2. For the 4 boys that Dana face painted and that they and their family will listen to the CD and their ears would be opened to the message.

3. For the family we met with at Mr. Donuts. They are the Sh-sans. Pray that we can meet with them again soon.

4. For M and his wife Y-san and their children. Please be praying that he will continue searching and questioning and that we could point him to the truth that is Jesus Christ. 

Thank you so much for your prayers of support and encouragement. We are continually blown away by what God is doing around us and through us. Please know that your prayers are being answered and we feel so lifted up by your prayers everyday. 

Love and prayers, Amy

Merry Christmas!

Well, I wish we had as exciting news as our family and friends in Portland! We are so bummed to hear that you have received so much snow and we're not there to enjoy it, though it sounds like it's so bad that no one is enjoying it.  Two white Christmas' in a row, wow!

This past week and a half has been uneventful for the most part, which has been good because we've been able to focus even more on our language study. Language study has been getting more difficult and more time consuming. The vocabulary is growing and growing and that can get a little overwhelming, but little things keep us encouraged to keep going. Also, our senseis are very good at making us feel successful. I find myself feeling more and more like a child in class. You get to feel that way when you get a huge smile on your face from receiving a Hello Kitty stamp on  your homework for a job well done. 

Caden is doing better in his hoikuen. He is making more friends and the children, especially this week, are accepting him more and more. We met with his sensei this week to check on how he is and she said that he is very involved in what the other children are doing despite the language. Ashton's teacher sat with us and had some questions about his eating habits. The Japanese feed their babies very different than we Americans and it's going to take some time for me to get used to it. They are very surprised at how much he eats. He's eating almost 3 bowls of food at lunch and then they have to stop, though he could keep eating. I told them it's because he's an American. We tend to eat a lot.

We are revving up for Christmas though we know it will not be the same. Caden is very excited about Santa coming, but he wasn't so sure that he would come to Japan. Well, Santa must've understood his worry and showed up at his hoikuen to visit with the children and pass out some early presents. We've posted a picture of his visit below. Does Santa look familiar at all?

Today, our Christmas Eve, we will be going to a very popular park here in Okayama. Dana will be offering face painting and we will be passing out tracts to those who get involved. Please be praying for the people that we meet and that it will be something fun for all the children. 

We pray that you all have the best Christmas! To our family, we miss you immensely and I know we will be hopelessly waiting for you to arrive at our door. May the Lord bless you all this holiday season! 

Merry Christmas,

The Shadburnes

What Would Lottie Moon Do?

First, we would like to thank each of you for your contributions to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. As many of you know the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goes to support over 5,000 missionaries with the International Mission Board, including us. Without this support our work wouldn't be possible. So, it is literally because of you that we are able to be here. Thank you!

This week was such an exciting week. Dana and I were able to share the gospel with our language helper, M-san! We were running our regular errands with her on Tuesday and were on our way home in slow traffic. We were at a light and looked over at a Buddhist temple not far from our home. The temple is beautiful and there is a large stone with four sides that has writing on all sides in kanji. We asked her what it said and she told us it said,"We are all equal under one god." That started us into a conversation with Dana and I asking some questions about Buddhist beliefs. We asked her questions about what god the Buddhists prayed to and what they believed happened when they died. Now, when we first met M-san she told us she was Catholic so I asked her, as a reminder to myself, if she was Catholic and to my surprise she said,"No". So, I asked her what she believed in. She said many things and then some things that she has made up herself. I asked her what she believes happens when we die, to which she answered,"I believe you get to decide where you go." I asked her what she believed her choices were and she didn't really know how to answer. Instead, she began asking us questions. She wanted to know how someone gets to heaven and why people go to hell. Before I knew it I was explaining to her what sin was, why God sent Jesus, why Jesus died on the cross and that He died for her sins whether she decides to believe in Him or not. This just lead her to more questions, which is understandable. It was nearing the end of our time with her and she had to head home, but she thanked us for answering her questions and we told her to please ask us questions whenever she has any. Our prayer has been to be able to share our faith with someone in English. Prayer answered!

The next day I had a language lesson with my sensei, O sensei. She also works as a tour guide part time in a famous garden in the city and she invited me to go there on New Year's day because it's the only day out of the year that admission is free. She told me that she wasn't working that day so she and her family were going to go as well after they went to the temple. She went on to tell me that every year the Japanese people go to the temple to pray for the next year. She said that you  have to wait a long time to enter the temple because so many people go on this day. She said the following day she and her family will be going to another temple where they pray for their children and their education. I asked her who it was that she prayed to when she prayed. She thought for a moment and said, "God." I asked,"Creator God, or someone else?" She thought for awhile and shyly said,"I don't know. He must not be that special if I don't even know who he is." She talked for a little while longer about the temple and the tradition of it all and then I asked her if she ever noticed a difference in the things she prayed for once she prayed them. She quickly replied,"No."  I then shared with her how faithful God is and how He has answered my prayers. I then told her about how Ashton was sick and the doctors here in Japan didn't know what to do for him because they didn't know what was wrong with him. I told her how our family prayed for his health and that our friends and family back home were also praying for his recovery, and I believe it is because of Him that Ashton is better now. I also told her that I didn't have to go to a temple to pray to my God. I could pray to Him in the seat of my classroom if I wanted to. I then said, "My God is very faithful." And she quickly responded,"I believe He is." Unfortunately she redirected our conversation back to the lesson but I was so encouraged to be able to share that with her. She seemed to be very open to what I had to say.

On Friday we were able to meet with a couple in our neighboring city, Kurashiki. They have spent some time in the states and know English and are also believers. It was great to be able to encourage one another and also establish a friendship with them. At the end of our visit we took them to the train station and sat down to visit until Dana had to go to language study. As we sat around a table and talked a very old man at the table next to us seemed to want to talk to Dana. Dana turned to him and started a conversation in the little Japanese he knows. Once that ran out Dana asked our new friend if he would translate for him so he could possibly share his story with him, but surprisingly our friend was very reluctant since religious talk is a taboo here, but our friend very quickly changed his mind and dove in.  The man asked Dana what he was doing in Japan and Dana told him that God changed his life and that he came to Japan to tell the Japanese people that God can do works in their lives as well. Dana then shared with the man his testimony and the man listened very intently. At the end of his testimony Dana asked him if he had ever experienced the joy that God can give and the man answered, "Yes. I do love God. I'm a Buddhist." Unfortunately Dana had to get running to language class since he was already 10 minutes late because of talking with this man that Dana excused himself, but before we could leave the elderly man told us that the reason he wanted to talk to Dana was because he looked so happy and he wanted to know why. Encouraging........

Please prayer:

1. For our language helper, M-san. Also, for O sensei and all of our senseis that we see each week. 

2. For our attitudes and our focus.

Please praise God for the wonderful encouragement He gave us this week. We have been so excited with what has happened this week and know that this isn't it!

Oh, young grasshopper

Caden had his play and he did so well! He played a yellow grasshopper and he knew exactly what he was suppose to do. My favorite photo is of him hiding from the wasp that came to get all the little bugs! He was giggling behind that stair the whole time. Adorable! All the kids did so well and the teachers did a fabulous job of teaching them what to do. Our only complaint was that the program was 3 hours long! I love watching kids perform, but my goodness that was a long time. Afterward we took Caden out to lunch to celebrate. 

Ashton had his first week at hoikuen. When the hoikuen takes a new child they want to ease the child into the school so they only take babies for one hour the first week and then increase the amount of time from there depending on how the child does. So, Ash began by going from 8:30-9:30. Ashton did so well that he was staying until 11:30 by the end of the week and then today he stayed until 4, which is when we pick up Caden. His sensei couldn't believe how good of a baby he is. I'm so thankful it's working out so well but Dana and I miss him during the day. It's bizarre not having him with me all the time!

This past week was a hard one. Dana and I hit our first wall in our language study. My brain just didn't want to cooperate on my Thursday lesson and I was getting frustrated along with my sensei. Dana's Friday lesson went about the same way. We knew our stuff but we just couldn't get any of it out for some reason. The great thing is that we were able to be there for one another and know that this was something that would eventually happen, and it will happen again. You just gotta move on! We each had lessons today and they went great! 

On Saturday evening we went over to T-san's house and had dinner with her and her family. She made Chinese food and it was tasty! Oishi des ne! When we all gathered around the table to sit down we noticed there was a somewhat new high chair at the table for Ashton. We thought that was so sweet of them to put their daughter's old high chair out for him. When we thanked them T-san told us that her parents, whom we met once in passing, had wanted to give it to her because after meeting us they knew we would be over some time and would need it for Ashton. We were blown away! We met her parents our second week here and we didn't even begin going to eachother's houses until our 4th week here. That was nice to hear that older people in Japan approve of us! While we visited with T-san, A-san and K-san they informed us that K-san would be going on Christmas and New Year's vacation for two weeks and they would like to do something with us whenever we are free. I'm not sure what we will end up doing, but we are so grateful that their family has welcomed us into their lives the way they have. I asked T-san if she would ever like to go to Starbucks just the two of us and she said she'd like to, so you can definitely be praying for that. More than anything I don't want them to ever feel like a project, but please be praying for us to have opportunities to share our faith with them. We want them to know nothing is more important! I genuinely care for this family and they are such a blessing to my life. They are so transparent and really seem to care about our family and I am so thankful for that. I am so honored that they consider our family their friends. I am also so grateful for how great our kids get along. Before and after dinner Caden and A-san played so well together. I have not seen him play with a child like that since we've been here.

On Sunday we were invited to H-san's house. They had come over to our house with their two boys once before and we visited while the boys played. We were excited to be able to go into their home and share a cup of tea and coffee with them. When we arrived the oldest boy immediately began putting a bag of his trains together for Caden as a present. We couldn't believe his enthusiasm for this gift! Caden was so excited! They all had lots of questions for us, especially about Christmas. They commented on our decorations and wanted to know what we did for Christmas. Many of the questions centered around the gift giving and they wanted to know who bought for who and what. I wanted to stress to them the true meaning of Christmas to us. I didn't want them to think it was just about gifts, so I butted into the conversation and told them why we celebrate Christmas and that it is to celebrate Jesus' birthday. They seemed to know what I was talking about so I didn't elaborate much more than that, but it felt good to share at least that with someone. At the end of the visit we exchanged our phone numbers and told them to call anytime. We had a good visit and I look forward to seeing what happens with this family.

It was a hard but rewarding week for us . We are so thankful to you all for your support. We are so thankful that the Lord has provided us with the S-sans and the H-sans and their hospitality, a great hoikuen for both of the kids, and our family and friends back home.

Please be praying for:

1. Language school....need I say more?

2. All of our health during the cold/flu season.

3. Continue to pray for us through the holiday season. Being without family during this time of year is difficult. 

4. Please pray for our family. The holidays are a hard reminder that we're not there. Please pray that this season can still be joyous!

We love you all and until next time!

Hoikuen Play

This is one of Caden's friends who always runs up to me to give me hugs and try her English on me. As you can see this is when she spotted me behind the camera.

This was Caden's first friend at the hoikuen. On the first day we asked if he made any friends, and he answered,"Yeah, the big one with the chubby face."

Caden may not know Japanese but he and his partner nailed every dance move, unlike the other partners!

We were so happy to see him involved and having fun!

Kurashiki

Wii to Kurashiki

Week 5 was looking alive! Man, I love hammin' it up every now and then. I am telling you folks that this week was crazy busy for us, and that was a good thing. We should've known by how the week started that it would be a good one. Last Sunday Dana was invited to a festival at the local university just a 5 minute walk from our house by his new friend Y-san. Y-san is in a band that was playing at the festival along with many others. Afterward, he and his girlfriend, M-san, came over and we all enjoyed Wii. It was so good to have some people over and let loose and play some games. If you know us well you know we love our games so this was really fun for us!

That evening our leader, Tak and Lana, arrived to spend a few days with us giving us more training for our job assignment. As you can see from the picture below we didn't have any fun. All work and no play....well, you know the rest.
A desire that Dana and I have had since arriving was to somehow get involved with our neighbors, but we weren't sure exactly how we were going to do this. We have really clicked with a couple of our neighbors, whom we have told you about previously, and both families have young kids. So, I got the idea to have a craft day that both the children and parents could be involved in. We decided to try out the idea on our neighbor T-san and her daughter to see if it would be something they would be interested in. Interested they were! So, the day after Thanksgiving we invited them over to do some Christmas crafts. T-san and her daughter, A-san, arrived with cookies and their own supplies for the afternoon. We had a fun time making snowflakes, paper birds with Santa hats, and snowmen. We are hoping to do this through the month of December and get into more Christ centered crafts for the holidays.
A-san has really shown a love for Ashton. She has no cousins or other siblings so it's fun for her to be around a baby. She jumped at the chance to feed Ash. She was much more into that than the crafts.
After the craft T-san invited us to her house for dinner next Saturday evening. We were so excited to get an invitation to their home. Their family had said they would like to have us over, but you don't know if people are just saying that to be polite. We definitely feel like we have become friends with the S-sans and are so thankful that the Lord has blessed s with such wonderful neighbors. 

We are learning more and more of the language everyday, which is a good thing because I think that's what's suppose to happen, right? Dana is so eager to know more that he gives himself more homework than he needs  some days, but the Lord has blessed him with the ability to retain it so far. Though we are each learning different things at this point it has been exciting to be able to feel like we are also teaching each other as we share what we did in class that day. Caden is speaking some Japanese already. I heard him holding a conversation with himself today. It was very interesting 'Japanish'. He already has a favorite Japanese cartoon character that everyone at his school enjoys. His name is Anpanman. He is a Japanese treat here which is a bean paste inside bread (kinda). Anpanman is a superhero that save starving children by letting them eat his head. There is a baker who will then make a new head for Anpanman. I must say I was a little disturbed at first that the children eat him, but then I thought, "What a sacrifice?!" Ash is feeling the need for mobility! He is beginning to push himself around the house to get to things but he definitely has been creative about how he does it. He pushes himself backward across our hardwood floor. I'm a little frightened about what walking is going to look like! He is doing so good health wise. Thank you all for your prayers! 

Today God really showed Himself! We went to Kurashiki, which this amazing old city (I've posted pictures below this blog), to walk around and do some Christmas shopping. On our way there I really felt the need to share with Dana something the Lord has been working on with me since orientation. Every since orientation  I really feel like God has been telling me that He wants me to learn to play the guitar, and since we've been here He's basically been yelling it at me. So I shared that with Dana for the first time because I've been wanting to make sure this is from God. I also shared that I have some reservations about it and I've been telling God 'no'. I don't know where I'll find the time for it, where and how will I do lessons, and how does this really fit into it all? Dana told me that if God is telling me to do this, I better do it. So, I decided to jump on board with God, but where will I get a guitar. Well, where we decided to park was right next to an outdoor 'flea market' that was taking place. We decided to look around and one of the men was selling a decent looking guitar (from what I could tell) and it even had a case. I thought it would be too expensive but we decided to ask. He said it was 3,000 yen, which is about $30. I looked wide eyed at Dana because I couldn't believe how cheap it was, but the man must've thought that I thought that was expensive because he immediately said, "2,5000." We looked it over and then bought the guitar. So now I have a guitar.....now what?

Please pray for

1. Me and my guitar, Woodle. (love you mom)

2. For our 'dinner date' next Saturday.

3. Caden is in a school program! Please pray that he will have fun! He will be a grasshopper. His program is on Thursday morning, Wednesday night for you.

4. Continued prayer for us during the holidays. I'm having a really hard time missing family with many a tear shed over the past few days.

Thank yo all for your support and prayers. We appreciate you so much!

Kurashiki Too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, we survived our first Thanksgiving away from home. Though the holiday did feel different than it normally does we did everything we could to make sure it felt as close to Thanksgiving as possible. Dana made sure the table had foliage and name places, but I was a little disappointed he and the kids didn't put on a parade for me with Dana as Santa as the finale. 

We were even  blessed with company for our meal. I made two pumpkin pies (thanks for the recipe, Dad!) and we took the extra pie to our neighbor, T-san. She was appreciative and wanted to share her meal she had just cooked with us, so we turned the tables a little and invited her and her daughter over for dinner. It was their first Thanksgiving and we were honored to be sharing it with them.  We had much to be thankful for this year, including making a good friend!
Here at the Shadburne household we have a family tradition of putting up the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, but we decided to be a little early this year, so we did it immediately following dinner. Caden helped decorate this year but his favorite thing to do was to put on the finishing touch with the star. (Or was that Spider-man?)
Ah, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! It has been so much fun to have our house decorated and Caden is so excited that it is the Christmas Season! Now to find Santa......

Ashton Update

I wanted to update you on how our little guy is doing. My leader and I took Ash to the doctor on Tuesday and saw our new family doctor for the 2nd time with Ash. Of course Ash was feeling pretty good when the doc saw him so he didn't look sick at all. Given the symptoms he had all weekend the doc thinks that Ash was having a reaction to the antibiotics. I must say that I kindly disagree with that only because his symptoms didn't start until 4 days after he finished the antibiotics. Ash hasn't had diarrhea since yesterday and seems to be doing better except for the 'crabbiness'. To Dana and I the symptoms seem to match up with teething so today I decided to feel around his gum line to see if I felt anything, and sure enough, he had a tooth coming in on the top. That explains a lot and I must add it is actually comforting to know that his symptoms are normal. So, I've prescribed Orajel and Tylenol until this ordeal is over. Please continue to pray for him and his comfort level. Thank you for all your prayers!

Barefooting

Kyo wa samuii desu ne. It has definitely been chilly here and so Dana went out and bought me some socks. I feel a little like a Ninja Turtle, but other than that overwhelmingly cool feeling they are so functional here in Japan. I never thought I would come to appreciate being able to wear flip flops with socks.  Now, let me make it clear that I don't go to the store wearing socks and flip flops, but it comes in so handy when I'm wanting to just slip on shoes to step outside for a quick sec. 

This week Dana and I had a great experience 'barefooting'. Barefooting is us going out and using the little language we've learned for the week with native Japanese. We went out to a mall near us and decided to just window shop and see what would happen. We came to a shop that had amazing traditional decor and we decided to go in and check it out. We were greeted by the store owner and she was one of the nicest people. She was completely taken by Ashton and vice versa. We were amazed when she spoke her first sentence and we understood it. "Kyo wa samuii des ne." That means "It's cold today." That was a sentence Dana had just learned this week and we both got very excited to recognize something. So, we repeated it back to her in agreement and then were amazed again when we understood the questions she then asked. By the end of 5 minutes we had had a small conversation in Japanese! I wish I could say that it was more elaborate or longer, but I'm keeping it real so that our accomplishments in the future are still mind blowing :)

Please disregard that Ash looks frozen in time. He really did like her.

We had our neighbors, T-san and her family, over for dinner last night. We had such a fantastic time with them. The evening was filled with my favorite thing: laughter. At one point T-san told us that her daughter had gone to a Catholic school for kindergarten and had played Mary in their Christmas program. She said it was Catholic like us. We told her we weren't Catholic and she looked a little confused. She said that the Christmas program her daughter was in told the same story as the one in the New Testament we gave her. We couldn't believe that she had actually read what we gave her. We told her we read the same Bible but there were different beliefs. We were so encouraged to know that the Manga Bibles we had given our neighbors were actually being looked at.  Our neighbors told us they had a great evening and would like to have us over some time. We are looking forward to it!

Also, Dana went out for noodles with a man he met the first day we were here in Okayama. His name is Y-san and he is going to Okayama University that is only 5 minutes from our house. They had a great time and they also went to a festival at the university that Y-san was performing in. Afterward he and his girlfriend, M-san, came to our house and we got some Wii in. It was so much fun to just have a relaxing afternoon playing video games. We are hoping to get back together on Tuesday before M-san has to head back to Osaka. 

Caden had another good week at hoikuen. He is learning more Japanese though I think he's too shy to talk to Dana or me in it. We say things to him in Japanese though and he will respond to us as if we are speaking English to him. Aren't we tricky! Ashton is still sick. I wish I had better news when it came to him. Now I don't know if he's had the same thing for the past 4 weeks. His nasal congestion is completely clear but now he has a low grade fever, diarrhea, and is very lethargic at times and cranky. We are taking him to the doctor on Tuesday and I will be asking the doctor to run some tests to see if there is an infection somewhere. One of our supervisors has offered to go with me to be able to better explain my concern in his native language. 

Praises:

1. That Dana and I are picking up the language and actually enjoying the process.

2. That Caden is learning Japanese and enjoying his new friends.

3. That we are making friends with our neighbors. The Lord has really answered our prayers with our neighbors.

Prayer requests:

1. Language....as always.

2. For Ashton and his health.

3. For the Japanese people. That the Lord would prepare the hearts of those we will come in contact with. 

Thank you so much for your prayers. We definitely feel lifted up every day here and it has been such a blessing to see our prayers be answered right before our eyes.

Love and prayers,

Amy

Ashton Udate

Many of you have asked me how Ashton is doing since his doctor visit on Monday. Thankfully our language helper found us a great doctor who speaks good English. He wasn't so sure what Ashton had but he did give him antibiotics because the back of Ash's throat was red, most probably due to drainage in the morning. Since we started the antibiotics I haven't heard him cough once. Praise the Lord! Thank you all for your prayers! 

The weather has turned very cold here and it seemed to happen overnight. Makes it feel like being back home. :) We have had some people tell us the winters aren't that cold while others tell us it's very cold. I'm definitely leaning toward agreeing with the people who say it's very cold. The temp has been in the 40s and a bit windy. Our house isn't insulated so our home gets very cold unless we are running the heater at all times. It can get very spendy here in Japan to run your heater a lot. So, it's lots of warm bathes and cuddle time under a warm blanket. I wanted to include the picture at the top of what we are having to bundle Ash in just to go run some errands. 

I hope this blog sees you all well! Until the next update! 

Welcome to Our Blog!

Hello everyone! I am very excited to bring you to our new way of communicating with you every week. I have been wanting to set this up for some time and have finally gotten around to doing it. So, each week, instead of sending you an update via Yahoo! I will be sending you the link to this page. 

This week was another busy one. I guess I can stop saying that now and just let you assume it, eh? It started off great with a very special little girl's birthday! Our niece, Pemberly, turned 1 last Sunday. All I can say is thank God for Skype. We were able to see her on her big day!

We also started a new church. The First Baptist Church of Starbucks. Since our job is to start home churches outside of our own home we decided not to get used to having worship in our home. I came up with the idea of having worship in our local Starbucks every Sunday at the same time every week. That way we can be witnesses even though there is the language barrier. Our prayer is that we will see the same people every week and that they will begin to ask questions over time. This weekend Dana introduced himself to 3 of the employees there and they were incredibly friendly.  We are hoping to see these same employees every week. 

We got another week of language school under our belt and Dana and I already feel like we've learned quite a bit. It's retaining it that sometimes fumbles us. Dana is able to now tell you what some things are and the color that that item is. He can also introduce himself and each one of us. I can now introduce myself, tell you where I'm from, and order off a menu. I wanted to start learning food items since I do the grocery shopping. Our teachers are wonderful and very much want to work with us through the next 3 years. 

Caden survived another week at his hoikuen. His teacher is so wonderful and has Caden's best in mind. She always finds a way around the language barrier with both us and Caden. She came up with the idea of taking pictures of Caden throughout the day so she can show us what he did since she can't tell us. She asked us to bring her a memory card and she can give us the card each day and then we bring it back the next day. Caden is enjoying hoikuen but the language is the only thing that makes him not want to go some days. Everyday I ask him if he learned a new word and he always tells me, "I don't know Japanese yet." However, this week in one of my lessons, I was taught the word for juice, jusu. I realized I had heard Caden ask me for that but I didn't know what he wanted. When I got home that afternoon I asked Caden if he knew what jusu was and he said,"Yes, you drink it." That proved to me that he is picking up Japanese but maybe is too shy to share.

Ashton is still drawing in the crowds. He is actually still not improving with his cold and so we are taking him to the doctor in the morning. I am thinking he might have an infection that will require antibiotics if he is to get any better. He is still smiley and upbeat though!

 We do feel like we had some breakthroughs with our neighbors. Two days ago we spoke with T-san (I originally told you her name was K-san, sorry about that one) and she once again answered some questions for us. As the conversation was wrapping up she told me that if I ever wanted to come over and just talk I am free to come over whenever I'd like. Wow! That made me feel very good to hear her say that. She offered to also show me how to make some Japanese meals. I am definitely taking her up on that. Also, we invited them to our house for dinner next Saturday night. They will be our first dinner guests here.

Today a family in our neighborhood came over for a play date. We were planning to go to the park but it had rained all night and so it was wet outside, so we stayed in and let our kids play trains. They are a family with two children, ages  7 and 5. The husbands name is H-san and the wife's name is S-san. It was wonderful having them over, though it was challenging communicating at times. They know quite a bit of English for the most part but we did have to take out our English-Japanese dictionary and we were surprised when they took out their Japanese-English dictionary. We were actually touched that they thought of bringing it. It turned out to be H-san's birthday so we of course sang him Happy Birthday. We gave his children glow sticks so I picked up an extra one, handed it to him and said,"Happy Birthday". He got a good laugh out of that one. When they left they invited us to their house but we have not decided on a time yet. 

Prayer requests:

1. Language school will always be a huge one!

2. Ashton's doctor appointment tomorrow. Please pray he will begin to improve.

3. Be praying for our new friendships here. Other foreigners who have been here for a year or more have been blown away at the response we are getting from the nationals here. I only say this to encourage you that our prayers are being answered in mighty ways!

4. Please continue to be praying for our family in the states. As we walk the streets of downtown Okayama the department store windows remind us of the Christmas season approaching and the reality that we will not be with our family this year. Our family means the world to us and it breaks my heart to know that Christmas will not be the same. Please pray for our families as they spend the first Christmas with us not around the tree. For my parents Caden and Ashton are their only grandchildren and this will be especially hard on them. 

Again, thank you all for your unending support. Please write in back in response to this blog if you would like. I absolutely love getting emails from back home!

We love you!

Love and prayers,

Amy