Sunny September

It was one of those mornings. When the hot cereal burns to the pan; when the bathroom mat gets peed on moments after it comes off the clean laundry pile; when the baby cries and cries; when we forgot to bring socks downstairs with the rest of today's clothes; when I bump my head on every door frame even though I know I have to duck. And so we sat, sniffling, to take a deep breath before heaving all four of us onto the one bike, and the page falls open to this: "Faith is like grabbing on to that branch [when you've fallen over a cliff]. We just reach out for God. And he is the one who saves us. Our strong God is the one who rescues us--not our strong faith. Because faith isn't just you holding on to God. It's God holding on to you." Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones

kin mokusei

I wish I could send you a whiff of our yard right now! Fall is such a glorious time in Tokyo. The kin mokusei, orange osmanthus is blooming by our mailbox and it smells heavenly, mixed with the scent of smoky burned leaf piles, katori senko mosquito-repellant incense, and hot sun.

Family of 5!
photo credit: Rachael Alexandra Willson

The kaki persimmon tree near the kitchen window is drooping with orange fruit. Yesterday, Ryan and E picked over 60 kaki and put them in a basket outside our house with a "please help yourself" sign. They were gone within an hour! We love being in a place that is so markedly seasonal - hot, sticky peach season gives way to nashi asian pear, which cools into autumn kaki time. Hints of winter mikan oranges are on their way!

We're grateful:
1) Christian Academy has entered its 65th year! We're delighted to be part of the rich heritage of this place. But we're also looking forward to growth and new things to come. Read more about CAJ's 65 years on our Head of School's blog.

2) Ryan is teaching 2 classes of Bible, while overseeing the whole department. His new co-teacher is a veteran teacher, a graduate of CAJ, and has made a fantastic start. We're so grateful for good colleagues! Ryan is also teaching Industrial Arts again, which he is thrilled by. I (Nelle Caitlin) am still part time in the Academic Counseling office, and enjoying 1-2 days at home to catch up on the rest of life.

Loaded up for play time after youchien

3)  Work for Japan Harvest continues this year, although it is tricky to find time in between all of the other urgent moments! I love being able to contribute to the greater missionary community through sharing ideas about the nature and needs of missions in Japan. Please check out our pilot online version!

4) We made it through the second half of this month without Grandpa! We're very grateful that Grandpa Ethan Pettit was able to spend half of August and half of September with us, arriving two days before V was born, and then continuing on through the start of school and youchien pre-school.

So much else is going on, it's hard to pick and choose between all the stories; we hope you enjoy this snapshot of our month, and we love hearing back from you!

Every once-in-a-magical-while, this happens!

But, there is also a lot of this . . .