Citizens of May

We're traveling! Today, we'll get on a plane and head toward where most of you are - America! We've been planning for almost a year, and we're excited to see all of you. I wanted to wrap up this month while my thoughts are still centered in Japan. We will update throughout our travels. Thanks for your prayers for us today and in the next few weeks as we fly and drive many hours with young, wiggly ones.

This was a week of goodbyes. Even though we're only traveling for two months, we still brought intentional closure to this season, in preparation for engaging with our lives and family in the states. Two of our friends will move when we are traveling, so those were harder goodbyes. Both we, and our children, are Third Culture Kids; we live a rich, full, global life, but also feel the intense pain of being stretched across continent, ocean, and culture. 

See you in 2 months!

We will miss graduation for the class of 2015!
The seniors gathered for a special picture with Ryan in the school plaza on Friday

Rice planting with neighborhood friends

40 year celebration t-shirts are now 25 years old!
This year we celebrate 65 years at CAJ!

Recently, E started asking me, "Are we American?" "Well, yes, we have passports from America, and we belong to America as citizens. But we also are permanent residents of Japan." I try to explain this tension he already feels so deeply, below the level of his awareness. I am loath to watch him struggle. Yet, I am mindful that he is practicing the struggle of every eternal soul. 

We do - and yet don't - belong on this earth. We are free, eternal souls, wallowing in sin, illness and death. 

We find ways to compromise and balance. Recently, we reached a new compromise that helps us wrestle with the tension of our various loyalties. Pre-school and elementary aged children are not allowed to ride bikes when commuting to school. (From the moment he leaves his house, a child is the school's responsibility, not the parent's) But, the 4 of us are not allowed to ride one bike (we learned this only recently, after the picture from this winter). This is disconcerting - how do we travel to pre-school when we cannot all ride on the same bike, but E is not allowed to ride his own bike (although he is pretty good at it!)? We've worked out a compromise. We bike to CAJ, where he is allowed to park his bike, right next to Papa's bike. Then we walk the rest of the way to pre-school. This turns our 2km commute into about an hour process. But, we also practice the balance of cultural values, national laws, and personal freedoms.

Field trip!