April alive!

Inaba sensei!

We walked up the stairs to the new classroom on the first day of this new school year and guess who was smiling at the top of the stairs? Mrs. Inaba!! After a tearful goodbye last month, we are so thankful to be surprised by another year with this lovely woman, who has worked hard to communicate with us pesky foreigners, and to encourage and teach our quiet son.

First day of school!

April is the start of the new school in Japan, which feels perfectly fitting as the island dresses in fluffy pink and white cherry and plum blossoms, and the breezes blow warm. Everyone feels newborn after the winter.

Happy Easter!

Under rainy cherry blossoms, we celebrated resurrection, baptizing two young children from our church, as well as one teenager and several adults. Since 2002, our church has celebrated 82 baptisms.

Table full of friends

Flying carp flags over the playground!

For me, the start of this new year brings waves of reflective gratitude. My grandfather, who routinely called himself the world's most grateful nonagenarian, taught me that it's the contrasts in life that make us thankful. The wash of stress from last year - all the new challenges, new vocabulary, new grief as I forced myself to leave my stressed-out crying son in his teacher's arms. Now I am flooded with gratitude. We wrestled long and hard about whether to put our kids in Japanese school. Would they be too stressed to learn? Would they be bullied for being different? Would they ever be able to say goodbye without tears? Would they regress in their English ability? Now, we can joyfully say that our son and daughter are learning Japanese, playing happily with non-English speaking friends, connecting and engaging with Japanese culture.

And - what I did not at all expect in this country of 1% Christians - our public school has a growing, steady group of praying Christian moms! I am so grateful for Lisa, Lena, Hosanna, Seiji, Misaki, who are our daily playmates. And we continue to pray for Keito, as his mom begins to engage her curiosity about Christianity.

I can draw on the mailbox, right?

After much deliberation, we are also grateful that our summer plans are settling into place! We're visiting many of the churches, families and homes that have nurtured, supported and loved us throughout our lives. We are so excited to see you all in person! Between the end of May and the beginning of August, we will be in Seattle, Atlanta, Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga, Denver, Grand Rapids, Chicago and possibly Philadelphia and further north, if time allows. Can we connect when we're in your area?

8 months!

All this travel makes us thrilled and nervous. We have plans in place to have our house, jobs, pets, car, plants tended to and used when we are gone. Please pray for those we leave behind here - it's a long time to be away from our relationships, our neighborhood, and our church. But we value the opportunity to share our excitement, our vision and our hopes with many of you in person.