This week has zoomed by way too fast.  I am just not sure where the week went.  We continued on in our second week back from summer break, and things have steadily improved.  Thankfully, the temperatures have been tolerable to quite comfortable for working on school work.  We do our school work in one of our tatami rooms (tatami is straw mats).  Because we are in this room, it tends to stay a bit cooler when it is hot outside which helps us to stay more comfortable.  I have one kid studying about Egypt and the pharaohs and another kid studying about the Roman Empire.  Talk about your time line whiplash.  Both boys took math exams and both scoring either a 96% or 97%.  My first grader is little by little making those steps necessary to becoming a reader.  I have complete confidence that he will end first grade a reader.  He is different than the other two kids in that he has not always had a big interest in reading.  My oldest thought it was delightful when his father read him articles from a writer's magazine when he was a baby.  My youngest brings things for us to read and it doesn't seem to matter if we read to her in English or Japanese.  Speaking of the littlest one, I was thinking about how fast she assimilates things.  I told her a new word that I do not think she previously knew two nights ago, and today she was using it like she has always known it.  Never missing a beat.  

In my quest to encourage my middle along in his phonics battle, I found a program that he enjoys and it supplements what we do in school time.  It is called Click-n-Kids.  We do the Click-n-Read phonics part.  I am glad for tools like this to help him learn and grow.

It certainly has been a strange sort of week.  We have heard some good news from one of our supporting churches, and we have heard some bad news from one of our supporting churches.  I have struggled with frustrations and doubt as it comes to various aspects of my daily life.  Each time I pray and ask for God to teach me and to help clarify things for me.  It seems the evil one puts road blocks to try and stop somethings I have been trying to to do.  Yet the same day, we met some people who told us about some ministry they are doing and invited our kids to participate.  This has been the week...up...and down....climbing the hill...falling down into a corkscrew spin.  Maybe that is why the week has been so fast because roller coasters always move so fast!

I took a really nice walk this afternoon.  I needed that.  Walking gives me time to think and pray.  What I love about our current location is that there are trails very close to our home, so I can walk in the woods a bit.  Being out in nature and breathing in that earthy smell is so simple and such a pleasurable experience for me.  Sometimes I stop to catch the sweet smelling breeze and praise the God who created it all.  While on my walk, I happened upon a shinto shrine, and I stopped a bit to pray.  What do I pray?  I pray that God's glory would be revealed.  I pray that the spiritual darkness the hovers over the valley I live in would be lifted and that the light of Jesus would be revealed and understood.  People, very beautiful people all around me, live in this repressive spiritual darkness, and it makes me feel so sad.  I know the reality of it all is that the roller coaster week has been more about the spiritual battle all around us that wages on.  Battles that wage in the lives of people around me, battles within myself, battlefields that involve the core of our family....how people treat each other....homeschool.  I know that God is greater, and I put my hope in HIM.  

If you happen to think about it, pray for our family, pray for our finances, pray for our ministry, pray for the valley we live in, pray for Niigata, and pray for Japan.  If you would ever like to know more, please do not hesitate to send me a message.  I would love to tell you more about this country or what we do.

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My first grader memorized this scripture, and I am praying that this verse is our theme verse as a family:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

A little while back I read a book called Stand by Me: A SouledOut Sisters novel by Neta Jackson. I really meant to write a review much sooner, but with our moving locations and being busy with visitors and summer, I am just now getting around to writing. This light-hearted read is essentially about two women whose paths intersect quite unexpectedly. One woman is a vibrant, white college student who is young in her Christian faith, and the other is a black elementary school principal who has a weathered and strong faith. I enjoyed seeing how these two women interacted because it was not always on the best of terms, but by the end of the book, both women benefit from their relationship to each other. Initially I was not sure if I would enjoy this book, as I do not normally opt on the sort of fiction that aims straight at women only (granted this is a very clean read). I am more a historical fiction kind of gal, but I liked how the author brought the line between real faith and daily life into the forefront of this book. In doing so, it made it feel more like real life. My only real complaint about the book was that the author was a bit redundant in explaining who the characters were a few too many times as though I would have trouble keeping the characters straight. Otherwise, by the book's end I found myself wishing I could keep reading the rest of the story in answer to some of the questions I was left with concerning some of the characters in the book, or even how the two women would continue to grow in the relationship with each other and to God. In short, it is a nice feel good kind of read and I recommend it for what it is.

I received a copy of Stand By Me by Neta Jackson from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for a fair review of this book.

Below is a picture that the homeschool mom in me feels demands a story. However, I know the story already. I am more curious about the story others could concoct for this picture. Part of me thinks I should give background information, but I think that would steer stories in ways that might not happen if I simply say nothing all in the way of background information. With that, I challenge you the reader to create a story for this picture.

Not sure if it is the weather but the children today, oh my. It has been enough to try my patience. I have to admit that I am not going to win any mother of the year awards with today's performance. Thankfully now is rest time, and one of the big offenders is actually sleeping. The most well behaved child is helping his dad gather groceries and getting a special treat in the process. I am supervising another offender who is doing schoolwork while I am trying not to go all Incredible Hulk on anyone.
Hopefully by dinner time all involved will be back in sorts, so we can enjoy the evening. Frankly, the being all out of sorts is quite exhausting for me.

I do realize that it is Labor Day in the States, but in spite of that we decided to start our second term today. Many of the Japanese elementary schools started today and since we tend to run more on the Japanese schedule, it was time for us to start. In spite of the fact that the temperatures still read 92 with a heat index reading 106, it actually did not feel like it really reach that mark. We hit some bumps along the way, but we were able to complete all the lessons scheduled for today!

The preschooler in the house from now on will be given more and more things to do as well. However, Maya seemed pretty tuckered out at nap time.

Skyler is reading Augustus Caesar's World in the photo.
Tomo seemed to adjust pretty well to summer break. He even seems a bit stronger in his reading as well. We will make a reader of him yet! I'm the picture his daddy is reading him his read aloud book. They are reading Henry Huggins. Seems like a great story for a boy who loves dogs!

I have a half hour trip to Nagaoka, and I thought I would try something different.  Today I will blog while on the train while I am en route to orchestra.  This is our last day of break.  I know it is the weekend starting tomorrow, but the school break is over.
I gave the boys a lap book assignment over break.   Japan is really into summer homework, so consider this summer homework, if you will.  I decided this summer the boys should work together on a lap book.  The subject of the lap book was the "Summer Olympics 2012".  A third of the book was information regarding the history of the Olympics all the way back to Ancient Greece.  A third of the book was about the history of the modern Olympics from 1896 to the London Olympics this summer.  The final third of the book covered some of the winners of the London Olympics.  I am not sure how they felt about doing this lap book, but it was sure nice to see the work together.  They actually finished the project today.
Today I did my Saturday cleaning. I know it is Friday, but we are busy tomorrow.  I amalso prepared lunches for tomorrows outing.  We are headed initially to Kashiwazaki, but from there I will leave the kids and Corey at the Mort house, while the women; including Laura, Robin, Chan, and myself, head to a new Costco.
The train is getting closer to my destination, so I had better start paying attention.  I am off to a 2 hour and 15 minutes orchestra practice.-----------

As I read blogs and Facebook Updates, I see that most of the people I know have headed back to school from the summer breaks.  The elementary school near our house will start next week and then so will we.  I should be looking over lesson plans for next week, but here I am on Xanga.  In an effort to take in the last days of summer before...well...September comes (hard to believe it is nearly September), we are filling our days as much as we can.  Yesterday I took a hike up the nearby mountain for a bit of leg stretching, and today I took the kids to another park not too far away also located on a mountain.  We live in a valley, but there are mountains at pretty easy access all around us.  Granted, they are not very big, they are fun to romp up and down.  The park today has a chipmunk park area where people are allowed into the chipmunk enclosure.  The kids really enjoy feeding the chipmunks and observing the antics of the chipmunks.  I was pleased at how patient Maya was at letting the chipmunks come to her so she could feed them from her hand.  The boys love it too.  A couple of times, when I squatted down to help Maya, I found I had a small friend on my back trying to squeeze his or her way into the whole in my backpack (Mental note, sew the whole in the backpack).  Although the boys thought it would be perfectly delightful to bring home a chipmunk as a pet, I thought better of it and kindly encouraged the chipmunk to go back to the ground.

We had lunch and the kids spent a lot of time playing around on the playground area.  It was good to have them outside playing.  Thankfully, the play area on the side of the mountain was well shaded and felt pretty comfortable in spite of the fact that the temperatures were once again in the middles 90's.  All this being said, I am quite exhausted.

Tomorrow we are going to check out some camping gear because it turns out we have both a good outdoor gear store in town and a number of camping sites within a very close distance from our house. We are thinking of taking more frequent family camping getaways, since we are so close to camping places.  I think it would be a great family experience without tons of expenses involved.  The boys like the idea, so we are hoping to give it a go within the next couple of weekends.  Most places will allow camping up until November and then start again in April.  Provided the weather holds out we will go to a park a little further away from our house.

This morning I was trying to finish some things in the house quickly when I had a run in with a sliding door.  I misjudged where the door was as it was neither slid all the way shut or all the way open.  The curtain over the door disguised the true position of the door and ring finger got jammed.  Yes, ouch.

We did make it out the door time to sprint to the train.  Destination...Kamo park.  We couldn't stay long, but I at least was able to show Maya the squirrel (chipmunk) park.  It was fun, but the lesson learned today was to not go when schools are on break because the chipmunks were not very hungry from all the attention.

Our day revolved around the arrival of the kumitori truck.  I got a call this morning...bright and early...like 7:30 early saying he would come by "in the afternoon" to clean out our tank.  A little more to go on would have been nice, but I wasn't going to get more info than that.  We made it home before noon, had lunch, and awaited the truck.

The boys were very fascinated by the purpose of the truck.  We have a drop toilet.  Yes, I know that seems sort of backwards.  The system works pretty well, so that the smell doesn't infiltrate the house and I guess the plumbing just never got changed, so this is just a quirk of this house.  The boys were quite fascinated by the removal of the waste and were quite tickled that the man made his living sucking out such things.  Poor guy.  Seeing how he's going to come here on a fairly regular basis, I hope my kids didn't bug him too much.

Tonight we got some stormy weather.  Lots of lightening flashing, followed by thunder, and then a brief downpour.  The little ones didn't appreciate it too much, but then bedtime is not a great time for such a show.  That round of storm passed, but I noticed the TV put up a warning to be careful of tornadoes.  It has been a strange weather year this year in Japan.  We do get tornadoes, but not very often at all.  However, this year there has been as many or warning for as many for the whole of the other 7 years I have lived here.

I suppose it bears mentioning that I am flying solo this week as Corey is away at Jonathan Training.  On that note, it is time to hit the shower and then the hay.

We have been enjoying the change of pace that summer brings with it.  In the course of the past couple of weeks, we have done various things.  We have gone to a park where the children could play in water or on playground equipment.  The night we went to the park, we were also treated to light displays that included a water, light and music show.  We have gone to the beach.  Maya did so well floating around in the sea water.  The boys also did really well swimming too.  We have hosted a cook-out and been invited to a barbecue.  We have spectated a huge firework display and we have participated in doing fireworks.  We have helped to host a kids' club overnighter as well.

We still have a couple of weeks left before we hit the books again.  Next week Corey heads off to some training for the week.  I am not sure what the week holds for the kids and me.  Tomo's bike is now fixed, so it may be possible for us to take a bike outing from time to time.  We are fortunate to live near a major thorough way that has a very wide path on the side of the street for pedestrians and bicycles. The path is separated from the street be about a 6 in concrete "curb".  I feel pretty sure that Tomo and Skyler can both ride their own bikes safely along this route with me.  This is good for me because riding with an extra 35 kilos worth of kids on my bike gets to be VERY tiring and I cannot carry anything else on the bike but kids in that case.

Naturally we tried to take in as much of the London Olympics as we could, but it seems that I am the most enthusiastic about the Olympics in my home.  Hopefully that will change someday as the kids grow.  We are working on a lap book that covers the Olympics day by day.  This is our summer "study" project.  The boys are working on it together with me supervising.

We have also had the opportunity to talk with the cities head of education about our homeschooling the kids.  To be sure, they would very much prefer us to put our kids in school, but the gentleman was understanding or maybe accepting of us choosing this route.  He emphasized that compulsory nature of education in this country and stressed to us the obligation we have to see that our children get educated.  We asked of we should submit documentation of what we do, but he said no.  He did say that we may get visited by the kids' teachers as our children are still technically enrolled in the local schools.  They are on the roll, but they will just be marked absent every day.  That seems a bit bizarre to me, but that is how it works.  The teachers may stop in from time to time to see that we are doing school and to check on us to see if we have need of anything.  We will have access to some resources, namely, the Japanese language study books for the kids.  We look forward to more openness between the school system and our family here.

Orchestra is still in a bit of a trail period.  Last night it started to feel more like I belong there.  I will make my official decision by September, and it looks like the orchestra will have a concert in November.  My understanding is that the November concert is a more family oriented one and I could gather that from some of the songs that we have been playing in practice.  The other big concert is in June and it seems to be the more formal and classical in nature of the two.

Also enjoying the high school baseball tournaments.  Today I am watching the Niigata team play a team from Kochi.  The Niigata team is struggling, but the game is on hold due to lightening.  Actually, I am waiting on little bit to finish her nap.  Once she wakes up, we will head into Robin's place for a game day time.  

Today is the first official day of the Rising Sun Academy summer break.  I suppose that seems strange to say this when many of my friends back in the US are talking about how their children are going back to school.  We started our break about a week later than the schools around here got out.  With moving and visits, we needed to eat about a week of summer break, so here we are starting our month long break.  Good timing too because with our heat indexes about 105F this week, it makes studying and teaching in a non-air-conditioned classroom quite a challenge.  We find ways to manage, but really enough IS enough, so we are on break!  We are only about a week behind where I want to be and for right now that is perfectly fine.

Skyler is at Bible camp right now.  The house is considerably quieter, and the siblings seems to be a smite at a loss with out the big brother calling the shots.  It is nice to have time with just the little ones, and I am sure that Skyler is having quite the time at camp.  I cannot wait to hear his stories when he gets home.  He is the only caucasian boy at camp, so he really stands out.  He will definitely be challenged in his Japanese skills as it is an all Japanese camp.  BUT the campers and counselors looked like a good crew, so I am sure my closet Japanese speaker will be fine.

Our little foursome, did the recycle shop circuit today looking for a few items to help us finish being settled in the house.  We found a metal rack for about $30 that I can use to store homeschool supplies.  I will need to go to a 100yen store to get containers to separate the items, and I will also be able to put my label maker to work!  We also found a wicker drawer unit, that we intended to stick in a cubby in our room, but it is about a half a centimeter too wide and won't fit.  Even so, we found a reasonable place to put it, and this will hold our printer, copy paper, computer items, and the general like.  Think more office and less homeschool type of items.  We were hoping to have a rack unit to stow in the cubby to neatly store pillows and blankets during the day.  Our bedroom turns into an office during the day.  It wasn't the most exciting outing for the kids but they did fairly well.  We also came home with a fan that actually can cover our living room.  The one we were using in our living room was too small to cover the space.  Just as well, because the classroom will benefit from the old living room fan now.

Some of you have been noticing that I have pulled out my viola and started practicing again.  Here is the deal with that.  Before we moved, we began to think about the kinds of things we would want to do to be involved in the community or involved in a club.  After some brain storming, thinking, and praying I decided to pursue one of my old loves......playing in an orchestra!  After asking around and looking on the internet, I discovered on orchestra group not too far from where I live.  The group in my city is only for wind instruments, so I needed to look beyond my city to find a group.  The two larger cities on either side of our city both have an orchestra.  I decided that the group in Nagaoka made a bit more sense to look into, so about a month ago I sent a message inquiring about the group.  I had to wait almost two weeks, but I got a response about coming to visit.  Last week I went to visit and was able to play with the orchestra.  

The people swarmed me and overwhelmed me with kindness.  They all talked to me as though I belonged there and invited me to participate in extra events.  In truth, I have a month to make a full commitment to the group, so right now I am in my trial period with them.  There is no audition necessary, just a commitment from me and a monthly fee, and additional concert fees 2 maybe 3 times a year.  The monthly fee is very reasonable and not a problem at all.  I have to admit that I am a little worried about the concert fees.  They did tell me that the concert fees fluctuate, so they could be more (but probably not) or they could be less.  I was given a ball park figure that works out to be about $300USD.  Ouch.  Another problem is traveling logistics, which may not be a problem at all, but i can get to the practice/concert place, but the bus that gets me back to the train station stops running about an hour and a half before practice is over.  However, there seems to be a fair number of people who play in the orchestra and live in my city, so even if someone can't get me to my door someone should be able to get me to a train station.  I suppose the concert fee and the travel issues are just matters of trust.  

Practice itself was very fun and also very exhausting.  The days following practice I had a few out of shape muscles that were sore.  It has bee so long since I have played IN an orchestra, so I was definitely rusty.  BUT it is a lot like riding a bike, so I am sure that after a few good practice sessions I will be holding my own again.  There is no practice this week due to a festival happening in the city, so I have a bit of time to study the music and feel more comfortable with it.  I do admit that this is a stretch of my Japanese skills as well which is a good thing, but the diving in heads first means I need to work even harder.

...and that's the tale I have to tell to you.  Now back to Judo because the networks have decided that I want to watch ping pong or judo...so judo it is.