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