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