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!