August heat!

We give thanks for a full and lively summer! The kids and I (Nelle) were able to connect our kids with many of their cousins, help them re-connect with their American roots, and spend some time away from home at a cottage by the ocean (also with cousins and grandparents).

 Ryan had a much different summer with an intensive advanced Japanese language course, but we expect (results pending!) this will finish off his masters degree and he will be able to move on to other studies and priorities in the fall! He’s grateful to have the coursework finished and looks forward to seeing how it improves and assists our life in Tokyo and at Christian Academy.

Christian Academy is in its first full week of school, and our Japanese schools start up the week after. We’re thankful for full classrooms, happy kids and equipped, qualified staff.

Our community: as the calendar shifts from summer homework and park outings to English classes, school trips and work commitments, we stretch thin. We're excited to re-engage with our Tokyo church and school community, and with all of our various neighborhood connections. Please pray for strength and wisdom as we begin the fall season. 

Our family: please pray for our family in this next season, as we continue to seek wisdom as parents of Third Culture Kids. We want our kids to stay connected to their American roots and family, while also being very comfortable and at home in our Tokyo life. Please pray for balance in their bilingual, bicultural education and all of the daily juggling that demands. Please pray for their hearts and minds as they learn to bridge and stretch between their worlds.

Our baby: our littlest turns 1 this week! He has an extremely rare, unnamed physical disability that we don’t fully understand. He will always need technology to live a normal life. We’re grateful that we are in a country with an in-tact medical system and with access to good technology. Now that he’s one year old, we have a month full of tests, new stages and new benchmarks. Specifically, he will likely get between two and four prosthetics, ear drainage tubes and/or hearing aids and a kidney exam in the next few months. Please pray.

x