Leaving August

Come morning, our entry way is once more filled with assorted bags, helmets and shoes; the kitchen counter a jumble of lunch boxes amid breakfast fixings - we're back in the swing of our regular life!

Our suitcases are empty, and the last waft of American dryer sheets has faded from our clothes. Tonight we're catching our breath after the first English play time with neighborhood friends after the summer holidays. We miss each of you! And are so grateful for the time we had together with many of you this summer. 

We're grateful!

- Ryan's summer studies ended well, with a clearer focus for his final semester of masters work. 

- CAJ is back in full swing, with a theme of Love God, Serve Others. We even had a special concert last week from Christian artist Michael W. Smith! Many students don't know who he is, but the staff were happily snapping pictures. 

- We were concerned that the long summer away from pre-school would mean a hard transition back, but instead, there were many smiles and hugs and excited reunions; we're all growing up! 

Please pray with us:

Baptism for V, with some of our "cloud of witnesses"

- Ryan has a full month ahead with many student events, and a week of hands-on learning for the whole high school, which he plans with the high school principal. Please pray for wisdom and attention to detail in planning. Please pray that students would learn about servant leadership, and experience God, the world, their classmates and themselves in new ways through the curriculum Ryan plans. 

- I'm leading the Moms in Prayer group for our preschool along with another mom, and feel the weight of the former leader's absence, and my lack of vocabulary. On the one hand, a friend commented, "wow - you remembered your Japanese when you were in America!" but on the other hand, I struggle to describe how praying for your child on his way to school is different from hanging a good luck charm on his backpack. Please pray for me as I lead this group of wonderful and inquiring women. Pray especially for Yuko, who is curious about Christianity. 

- Please pray for our children's spiritual, emotional and intellectual health. We know we're asking a lot of them, functioning in multiple languages daily, and between a variety of sometimes conflicting cultures. Pray for their development of truth, values, sense of identity, formation of friendships, as well as language development. 

A prayer from this month:

"Let me use disappointment as material for patience; 

Let me use success as material for thankfulness; 

Let me use suspense as material for perseverance; 

Let me use danger as material for courage; 

Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering; 

Let me use praise as material for humility; 

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance; 

Let me use pains as material for endurance." (John Baillie, 1949)