This was the weekend that we were all waiting for ever so patiently.  But...it didn't come as we expected it.  Friday when I picked up Tomo from his early dismissal at school we were greeted with all sorts of information.  It went something like this....There is rain in the forecast tomorrow, so we are canceling undokai on Saturday.  The forecast looks like Sunday afternoon will be fine.  We will plan on having the undokai on Sunday afternoon....  Then came all the other info that through us all off.... You should eat lunch before you come.  The program has been shortened since it is in the afternoon.  In the case of rain, the kids should come to school for afternoon school....  This is where you insert the collective, "Ehhhh?" from all the moms picking up the children.  Yes, it really was an "Ehhh??" moment.  Seriously, if there is no undokai the kids have to go into school for three hours?  I thought I heard wrong.  Nope, my Japanese isn't THAT bad.  Who ever heard of Sunday afternoon school.  The reason the teacher said is that Monday would still be a day off no matter what.  So there had to be SOME legitimate reason to NOT have school on Monday.

BUT worry not...the afternoon was completely sunny and very warm.  We all sport, perhaps, the last pink of the season.  And although the program was shortened and there was no lunch together, it still went very well.  I always love seeing my sons little face full of a big happy grin.

As for our Saturday, it was very rainy during the morning, but we used the time to clean.  If undokai didn't get moved, we would have used Friday night to clean up the house.  We had time to tidy, had a friend over to play, and had worship Saturday night.  Worship was very lovely.  All 5 adults present prayed out loud.  It is so sweet to hear God's people pray out loud.  We had 5 adults and 6 children present.  One of the children read the Bible for us and did a beautiful job.  Oh, and the singing, the two youngest girls sang so sweetly.  I had made some homemade chai and it was just the perfect end to the evening.  

 Hmm..I wanted to put in some pictures, but able to get the photo editor up right now.  Ugh.  I will try again some other time.

Amy Parker writes a bedtime book for the preschool aged child.  In her book, Night Night Blessings, she uses rhyming poetry to convey a night time prayer of a child.  The illustrator, Marijan Ramljak, also creates the pleasant feeling of whimsey in the pastel pictures of this book.  The little child in this book thanks God for all that has gone on throughout the day.  The child also recognizes the importance and bigness of God.

While it is true that it is a simple book, it is very pleasant and appealing to small children.  Night Night Blessings is a sweet book to read at bedtime and a great lead in to nightly bedtime prayers.  I will enjoy reading this to my younger to children.

I received a copy of Night Night Blessings by Amy Parker from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for a fair review of this book.

It has been such a quiet week. Almost eerily so, as half the members of this house have been gone this week. This weekend is also a three day weekend. Monday is a National Holiday, so Tomo is out of school and CAJ is out because of a fall break. My family headed out to a mall today, so that we could actually just get away for a bit. I am a little torn about such outings because our children are not really to where they enjoy such things, nor are all of them really able to carry their weight on the outing, but it was nice to be together as a family doing something that was not at the house.

Corey's birthday is tomorrow as well. He had to come to Japan to have his birthday be a National Holiday. The kids and I picked out a game that Corey has been talking about. This game just came out not too long ago, but it has been a topic here and there among the boys. I decided to buy it, but since I had to have it shipped, I wasn't sure that it would get here in time. Actually, when I ordered, I was told it wouldn't be here earlier than the 13th. Imagine my surprise and delight when the doorbell rang while we were finishing up breakfast. I think that Corey was rather surprised. He did not think that we would get the game for him. The retail tag was pretty high, but I was able to find it for $40 less than the retail price. Shipping is where it got me though, but the kids and I were happy to give Corey something that he really wanted.

The boys were happy too.

Tomorrow they are hoping to get in their first official game of Fortune and Glory. Then to all those who come to game night might expect to see that game set out as an option for November's game night.

I am glad for the weekend. Tomo has been so tired lately. He has to be at school early tomorrow because they are doing the dry run through of their sport's day. Then he has three more days of school. I think that Friday might be a light day for them, but bright and early on Saturday we will all go over to the playing field for his school's annual Undokai '"Sport's day meeting." Then he will have the following Monday off to recuperate from the exhausting Saturday. I know that he will be so glad when it is over.

Made a cake for Corey tonight and I am looking forward to trying it tomorrow for his birthday. Tomorrow will be full of games, yurt building, cake eating, and perhaps a birthday meal out. Should be a fun day. If the weather is nice, I hope to enjoying some time outside too.

Recently I came across a book by Ronnie Floyd called Our Last Great Hope. Since there are so few mission themed books out there, I was excited to see that it was a book on the Great Commission. The idea of the Great Commission comes to us out of Matthew 28:19, 20 where Jesus said, “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Ronnie argues that the commission is “our last great hope”.
The author expresses a sense of urgency in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with all people. I am sure that many people would balk at the idea of reading a “mission’s” book, but really the Great Commission is every Christian’s responsibility. Mr. Floyd builds a case on why this is and what we should do about it. He also shows how his own church in Arkansas is putting the idea of being a Great Commission church into practice. This book seems to be a good mix of both theory and practical applications as well as some compelling statistics. These statistics alone help to convey his idea of the urgency to make the Great Commission our one and only purpose; the things that drives our every thoughts and our every actions.
I think this is a great book for every church leadership to read. It threatens to challenge churches and people to do more to share their faith. It is also a good reminder to the serious Christian who wants to bring the lost to Christ on how to do it and to be encouraged to do it. As I read this book I could really sense the author’s heart to reach a lost world. For this reason, I really appreciated the book. Having read this book, I feel even more determined to reach out to the lost. I certainly feel an increased sense of urgency to share my faith with those around me it as well. This book isn’t for everyone, but if you are up to being challenged, I really encourage you to read Our Last Great Hope.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

As I suspected this week as flown by fast. Here are just a few of the memories from this week.

Visit from our field coordinator.
Polio vaccination for Maya.
Busy but good homeschool wee for Skyler.
New language tutor...as it is the time for the annual fruit basket (everyone reassigned teachers).
Eating ramen and ice cream with teammates and field coordinator.
Boarding students doing school places other than the school building.
Speech Evaluation for Tomo.
Teaching my two students Enlgish.
Tomo hitting his head on the playground.
Making the cookie dough for ice cream and making the base to freeze the ice cream tomorrow.
Trying to burn the granola.
Skyler writing a poem that I really enjoyed.

But my favorite memory comes from my middle child. After a long day of school and an appointment for him, I took him to get a slurpee (a real novelty here in this country). He ate all of it and thanked me for getting it for him. While I was in a store to purchase toilet paper, he says to me, "Let's get something for ....(insert big brother's name here)..."

I said, "Why?"

He responds, "To be nice."

Yes, that is my boy. Always thinking of others. Always wanting to give to others. That boy...Someday... God is going to do something amazing through him.

It has been a busy couple of days and I am not even going to attempt to catch anyone up on it. Things are going well. This is the busy season of the year. Every school, workplace, neighborhood, and anything in between has done or is preparing for Undokai--sports day event. Tomo's is coming up on the 15th and he complains about doing the dance with the pom poms nearly daily. I remind him that "this too shall pass". But who can blame a guy...I mean really pom poms. I try to get him to see the bright side of undokai...the running! He loves running and usually always sports a huge grin when he is doing it.

Painted today with Maya. She surprised me, little miss-into-everything, didn't like getting paint on her hands--go figure.

Took a most lovely bath this evening. It was the first of the season. Yay to warm baths on cool nights.

Corey and Skyler out on a call from a church member. If you think of it, please lift this brother up in prayer because he is really struggling with the stuff of life right now. Skyler is there to be with the man's son in this time too.

Kind of a strange week, this one will be. Come to think of it, next week will not be too typical either. At the risk of babbling any longer, I shall go for now.

Last week did not really go as we hoped. Tomo getting sick was a bummer. He was diagnosed with Hand Foot Mouth Disease. I read lots of info on the disease to figure out more about it and it just didn't seem to match up right so we made several trips the doctor to try to get to the bottom of it. In the end, he just had a very severe case of it. It looked so bad that I was sure that it had to be something else. Now that we can see the scabbing over rather than a peeling of skin, I too feel certain that it was indeed HFMD. Moreover Maya came down with it too and she looks a whole lot more like the typical pictures that are posted over the net for HFMD. So that is that....hopefully. We have had many a talks about hand washing and practices and checks.

In addition to Tomo getting sick, a typhoon flew through our area. We had a very rough couple of hours, but thankfully we did not suffer any real consequences to the typhoon. Other areas had some severe flooding and damage. We did have some flooding but it quickly receded without any troubles. The kids, and I do mean all of them in this house, were fascinated by the high waters on the streets around our house. That day sort of was a washout as far as doing much because things either shut down or closed early that day.

Couple in with that there were two holidays last week, one on Monday and one on Friday. Typhoon forced a bit of a holiday on Wednesday...talk about messing with our groove. Tomo's passport expires today and we never did get a a hold of a document we need for him, but Corey picked Tomo up from school and they are presently trying to see what they can go and what more they need to get. This passport is significant because it will reflect his name change, so a few extra hoops to jump than normal. We will see what we need to do to get it all straightened out.

Thursday Maya, Skyler and I headed out by highway bus to visit Robin in Niigata, and then Corey and Tomo joined us by shinkansen. It was a nice little visit, well other than the part about Maya getting covered in rashes. Today feels like we sort of took of in a run. Parts of the day not going as we expected, but things might just be getting back to some resemblance of a usual schedule.

Thankful that the fever Maya got didn't result in any seizures. Thankful for the trip and for the safety we had on the roads. Thankful that the hot temperatures of summer are finally lowering to a more comfortable autumn feeling.

This is the holiday that got kids off school for the day. Good thing because Tomo still is running his fever. He will have to be out of school tomorrow, but the journey is still out on Wednesday. Because today is a holiday and because Tomo was in tears this morning over a sore throat and fever, I took him to the only place in town that is open today. I am not really satisfied with how that went but the doctor on duty gave us two days worth of medicines that includes antibiotic, but I think that we will end up going to our regular doctor tomorrow. I am thankful that two of the moms that go with three of our teens were here, and they graciously gave us a ride to and from the special clinic because as they found out it is very far from us.

Got groceries after lunch...I think that gathering almost a weeks worth of groceries on a bicycle should count for a day's worth of exercise.

Never did manage to get the special loaves of bread to the intended recipients yet. If it is not one thing, then it is another.

Heard some sad news from some friends in the States. I feel so sad for my friends. I felt bummed about Tomo being sick, but at least I have him to hold and to love. I remember when we thought we lost Skyler for a couple weeks time early in my pregnancy, and all those emotions came back too, but we were so thankful when we found out that we did not lose him.

Time to prepare for my English class for tomorrow and maybe rest a bit. Definitely got to go love on a sick boy.

or
If it's not one thing, then it's another.

I couldn't decide which title I liked better. Nothing today went as I would have planned, but that it life I suppose. I should try to focus on the positives. I did get three mini loaves and two full size loaves of cranberry oat bread made. Some to give away and some for breakfast in the morning.

I had hoped to take a loaf to a friend, but...
Tomo has a fever. I could have taken the loaf without him, but the person we were going to call on would want to see him. I was also going to take him to get new passport photos. He needs his renewed very soon. But even that task is turning into a hassle. His birth certificate is not where we thought it was,so now figuring out what city has that...ugh. We have older ones but documents like that have to be within 3 months when presented in official capacity.

Had some issues trying to download movie for sick boy andone that whole family could enjoy only took about 3 to work that one out. Went to wrap up loaves to give away and...

Discovered the sink is leaking. Apparently it has gone on long enough to cause quite a bit of damage under the sink. Ugh...ugh...ugh! Yes, I am feeling a little grouchy.

We were expecting some parents in tonight, but traffic is really bad so they are gonna be pretty late. Bummer.

If it's not one thing....

Mr. T is sleeping besides me, so I am going to try to do the same since I do not what te night holds for me. Glad tomorrow is a holiday.

It seems this week is just flying by very quickly.  A friends asked me about some plans tomorrow, and I could hardly believe that it is Thursday already tomorrow.  Where did my week go?  Probably one of those so frequently taken trips to the store to get milk.  I am pretty sure the cashier knows me by now.  Maybe I should invite her over for a cup of cold milk. 

The adjustment to the big girl bed is going alright.  She slept in the hallway at nap time, but since I put her to bed tonight she has stayed there.  I just hope that I haven't spoken too soon.  With her being in a pack and play, bedtime routines were a little different than now.  I am so happy that I can get into her bed with her and read a book and pray with her.  Lately I have read an over-sized book about Eeyore to her over and over because that is the one she brings to me to read.  

Today was class for Skyler, Corey, and me.  This week went better than last week.  Not quite so rusty.  It sounds like in two weeks in the big shake-up with the teachers changing.  It has been quite a year with my teacher, but I am very curious who I will have next.  There has been something unique about each teacher that I have had and each has their own merits.

Well, I spoke too soon...here comes Ms. Maya.  Gotta go and put her back in her rightful place.