Heading Home

I don't even know where to begin this blog. I guess the only way to start is to simply say that our family is heading home to Portland. 

This wasn't anything planned for our family. We had circumstances that led to this decision and we feel a peace about going home, trusting the Lord that this is what is best for us as individuals and as a family. 

I'm not sure what will come of this blog. This next step is our lives will definitely be an adventure and I'm sure there will be much to talk about. Just keep checking in and maybe you will see an update every now and then. 

Thank you so much for going on this journey with us. Your prayers have meant so much to us and we ask that you continue to pray for the Japanese people as you feel led.  Thank you again!

Love and prayers,

Amy

Genki!

Finally!! I feel like we have all been sick for the longest time, but I believe that because of your prayers we are finally 'genki' (fine, healthy). Thank you!

I wanted to share with you that we have started a new church...well, Caden did...kind of. As you can see from the picture at the left Caden started a Lego church. The men all actually stopped battling to attend a service. I love how the knight gives his sermon while holding a sword! That will captivate an audience. Are you taking notes Pastor Keith??

Now that we are better it has been back to studying in full force. I have a refreshed ambition to do well in school and I need that in order to keep on truckin'. All our vocabulary has been falling into place, but as far as kanji goes it's a losing battle...for me.  Dana is outstanding at kanji! He has a way of remembering each kanji by putting it with a sentence. It's hard to explain over an email but it makes total sense. His sensei was so impressed that in the middle of Dana explaining his technique his sensei asked him to stop so he could grab a paper and pen to make notes. Dana was encouraged by that! For me, kanji wa totemo muzukashi desu. That means, kanji is very difficult. Thankfully all my Japanese friends agree with me. 

Many of you are biting at the bit to know how Dana's meeting with M-san went. Well, it went awesome! Dana and I, as well as many of you, prayed about this meeting and the Lord definitely showed up at their meeting as well. Dana came home and said he had never presented the gospel like that. M-san wanted to meet with Dana about prayer. M-san has a very dedicated prayer life, but he's Buddhist and he's praying to the wrong God, therefore, he doesn't feel fulfilled and he's wondering why. It is completely apparent to us that God is calling M-san to him. So, the first thing Dana did was explain to M-san who the God we pray to is. He also took him through what the Bible says about prayer and how Jesus prayed. M-san was very responsive, but continued through the conversation to try to make a connection between Christianity and Buddhism. It will take time, love, care, and prayer for M-san's eyes to be completely opened, but I have a confidence that it will happen.

There is another encouragement from M-san's family. We went over to M-san's house that night to visit and be educated on a holiday that was on that day. While we were sitting and talking, M-san's wife, Y-san, pulled out the Manga Bible that we had given them. This Manga Bible takes you through the life of Jesus. She held it up and told us she had been reading it and that she finds herself wanting to know more and more about the man she is reading about. My face lit up so much I think I could've outdone the sun. I told her that if she ever had questions that I would love to answer them and if she wanted any more material I would be happy to get them for her in Japanese. She invited me to come to her house some time to learn Japanese flower arrangement (she is certified) and also to learn Japanese calligraphy. I am definitely taking her up on that!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Please know that you can write to us any time. We appreciate all of you and keep you in our prayers. Until next week....

 

Bowling, Birthday, and Bugs

Do you think that Robin's name was mentioned when Dana found this ball? Oh, yeah! The past two weeks have been full indeed. One of those things was Caden's 4th birthday. We made a two day party out of it. The day before his birthday we had a small party for him at our home and his friend No-kun came over with his mom and dad. You can see No-kun in the photo below with Caden as he blows out the candles on his own personal cheesecake. 
The next day, on his actual birthday, we invited our friends, the S-sans, to go to an arcade with us and then to bowling. We all had a great time! Now, Dana and I really enjoy bowling and get rather excited when we do well, so naturally we were kind of weary of how to control ourselves since we weren't sure how the Japanese celebrate personal victories...yes, I would say picking up a spare of any kind is a personal victory. K-san and T-san were in the beginning of the order of play before Dana and I went and we were oh, so relieved when T-san picked up a spare, jumped in the air like a cheerleader and ran toward us ready to receive high-5s. This continued throughout the rest of the game. Caden had a great time as well and became quite the little bowler. 
Language study is going, that's really all I can say. Language school is definitely getting more difficult but Dana and I are hanging in there and trying to encourage eachother as much as we can. We've recruitted some extra help, like Ashton. You should see his kanji...amazing. Our senseis are so patient with us and so is our language helper M-san. They are all so amazing and keep us truckin'. You know, Dana and I are finding that our differences from eachother are coming in really handy here in Japan. Where he is weak I'm strong and where I'm weak he's strong. The perfect pair, huh?

The past two weeks have been filled with lots of sickness, mainly from Ashton. He's got a cold he just can't kick and this weekend I got sick with some kind of wicked stomach bug. Caden was very concerned about me and wanted to know what kind of bug I caught. He told me he had seen a bug earlier and was sure that it got in me and made me sick. How cute is that?! This evening Caden began having diarrhea and now Dana is feeling sick. Now that I'm feeling better I'm sure I will become nurse Amy. If we just had Dr. Holly here we'd be set. 

Prayer requests:

1. It just really feels like everything is happening to keep me from getting deep into language study. Please be praying for our family's health so I can be more focused on school.

2. On Tuesday Dana will be meeting with M-san, our Buddhist priest friend from the states. He called Dana and wanted to meet with him and talk about prayer. He even went out and bought a Bible. Please pray for Dana as this time comes near and that M-sans ears and heart will be open. 

3. Also, be praying that I can get on top of this blog again. I want to make sure you all feel as involved as you did when we first arrived. 

We love you all so much and appreciate each of you and the prayers you send off on our behalf.  Check out our website at www.outreachokayama.com. We update this website on the first of every month with more info on our ministry and pictures. 

Love and prayers,

Amy

Pictures

A boy very blessed with many presents!

I finally caught a photo of the top teeth!

The Shadburne Boys

No American Idol? Are you kidding me?

So, I think this is the first time I've really contemplated coming home. When we saw online that American Idol had started it's new season and we were able to see clips of some of the rejects we could tell it is going to be a good season and are deeply saddened that we aren't going to be able to watch full episodes. What we sacrifice for the lives we are called to....

We had a fabulous time in Shizuoka. We stayed in a resort called Tsumagoi. It was a beautiful resort with a ton of activities to do, but we were so busy we didn't get to do them. Dana was able to go to an onsen, which is a public bath. That's right, he got naked! Going to the onsen is actually a Japanese custom that you do with your friends. Dana won't usually get to go to an onsen because of his tattoos, so he decided to take the opportunity with all of our missionary colleagues. I was invited to go with all the ladies but I opted out. I just really didn't want to make anyone jealous....:) Instead a couple of gals and I went and sat in massage chairs. It was so relaxing. Afterward we decided to put our feet in these machines that massage your feet. Big mistake! I completely spaced the fact that my feet are like double the size of the Japanese women's feet here and my feet were nearly crushed and disfigured by the machine! They're the size of the Japanese women's feet now!

Caden and Ashton had a great time at Tsumagoi! While Dana and I were in sessions the boys were being well taken care of by a volunteer group from the states. They used their Vacation Bible School material to teach the older children during the day. On the last night of our stay there they had the children perform for us. It was so cute! Ash's class didn't do anything since he's so young, but Caden's group sang a song and danced to it. Caden did very well, and didn't seem shy at all.

We are back in language school and I have found myself really pumped to be back. Being on vacation for 3 weeks was just too long. I had my first test and I did well...84/100. Hey, that's pretty good when most of my points were docked for using hiragana instead of katakana. At least I was speaking correctly! Dana was fortunate and did not have the idea of a test hanging over his head, though he did have a surprise oral exam when we returned. He got 100%! He's jumped right in with ease, as always.  The highlight of my week so far has been this morning. I dropped by Starbucks after dropping the boys off at hoikuen to pick up coffees for Dana and I. I made small talk with the girl helping me but I'm always a little hesitant because I don't feel like I know enough and I want to get what I do know just right. Well, they ran out of receipt tape as my order was going through and were having difficulties replacing the tape, but I couldn't leave because they needed my signature. So, the girl and I spoke to one another in Japanese for a whole 10 minutes! I couldn't believe it! She was asking me what I did for work and when I told her I was a student she asked what I studied, where, and it just went on from there. It gave me such a confidence boost that I do know enough for a conversation, even if it's only 10 minutes. Dana blows my mind everyday with how much Japanese he is speaking. He's made phone calls in Japanese!

Praises:

1. Safe travel to Shizuoka.

2. Our Japanese is coming along! Yay!

3. We are overall healthy, though Dana is battling a cold presently.

4. The Lord is with us!

Prayer requests:

1. Whatever the Lord puts on your heart this week for us.

Love and prayers,

Amy

Happy New Year!

Wow! Is it really 2009 already? It's hard to believe how fast 2008 flew by, but why wouldn't it have felt that way? In January our oldest son turned a whopping 3 years old, and about to turn 4 in 20 days! In March our second little one came a long. In April we were appointed with the IMB. In June we quit our jobs. In August we moved to Virginia for 2 months for training. In October we finally moved to Japan and then November and December just flew by. Where did the year go?

This week was a tiring one. Both of our boys were sick this week with what we thought at first could only be chickenpox but turned out to be some funky virus. Both are better now but Caden's appetite is still trying to catch up. Ash recently received his top front teeth and this week I noticed that his two teeth on either side of the top front teeth are coming in as well. That mouth will be full before we know it! I'm sure he's more than excited because that boy is constantly hungry. I don't know where he gets it from. :)

We had a good week spending time with the S-sans. I think I already posted that we had them at our house on Monday for dinner and then we were invited to their house on Friday for dinner. It was a very laid back evening with us making our own personal pizzas. T-san also cooked mochi, which is rice cake. Imagine dough that has been chilled in the fridge. For New Year's the Japanese make udon and put the mochi in the udon broth and let it soften. I am a huge texture person and don't really care for mochi unless it's mochi ice cream. Then it's firm and filled with delicious vanilla. Thankfully Dana had told T-san that I wasn't a huge fan of the mochi so she wasn't going to be insulted if I declined the offer. However, I wanted to appear to be up for anything new and so I did try the mochi and I also did not finish it. Not firm, no vanilla, no good. Dana had seconds. 

On Tuesday M and Y-san came over with their kids No-kun and Em-san. We had a great time together and the boys get along really well. They brought us a gift: a huge bag of Peanut M&Ms!! I've never loved Peanut M&Ms more in my life! The bag is almost gone. Its been really good to munch on while I drink my Vanilla Caramel coffee. Thanks Kellers!! We are praying that we can really make an impact on this family. M made many references to God and how he really feels like God is blessing us and watching over us here in Okayama. Please pray that we can convey that He wants to do the same for M's family. 

Tomorrow we are loading our family onto the bullet train and heading for Shizuoka, which is outside of Tokyo. We are having our annual meeting with all of our colleagues here in Japan. We are very excited to meet those that we have yet to meet and finally meet those we haven't had to the chance to meet yet. Okay, I just read that and have been laughing about it for the past 2 minutes because I realized it said the same thing in it twice. I think you know what I was trying to say. Wakarimasu ka?

Please pray for:

1. Safe travel as we go to Shizuoka.

2. For our study time while we are not meeting with our senseis.

3. For the friendships we have been building here.

We love you all and appreciate you so much!

Love and prayers,

Amy

Christmas Pictures

Leaving the goods for the big guy!

Watch our Spider-Man!

Spider-Man has bigger problems than Sandman!

Enjoying the view from his new seat on the back of mommy's bike.

The aftermath....