Cuteness

The other day I was babysitting & I had to capture this moment on camera. Even cuter in person!

Take Off Your Shoes

I took this shoe shot the other day when I was at church during youth group. All the shoes lined up in the entryway caught my eye and I was reminded of how we are blessed with many youth.

Youth Kids

These are some shots of our youth kids @ a fishing outing last year. Taka was imparting his wisdom on how to be "fishers of fish." His big catch was the poisonous blowfish. One of the youth's father came along and one boy's little sister came...that's the other shot you see.

Our Apt. & Car

Here's a shot of our apartment building & cute Subaru Vivio (the gray car that is parked on the end, by the short wall). Our apt. balcony is the one on the first floor on the end. That's where we hang our laundry!

Mission Possible

Sunday,June 17th, we had an orientation game for The Edge team (4 college students from the States who are here to serve with our church this summer).The game was kinda like an amazing race adventure, though I've never seen the show I assume it's similar on a smaller scale.Anyhow,they were split into 2 teams & given a map, list of challenges,& the cell phones they'll use this summer. Tasha (Pastor Tony's oldest daughter) & I were in charge of the 1st stop on the map.We had to wait in the restroom at Shimonoseki Station& once a team arrived, we taught them how to use Japanese public toilets (ceramic holes in the floor). They also learned the importance of carrying tissue because this restroom does not have toilet paper (not uncommon). Tasha did an excellent mock demonstration (people coming in to use the bathroom were a little puzzled by seeing 4 foreigners standing around, looking into a toilet stall...some were laughing.) After the demo,they each had to show they could squat & talk through it (since they weren't actually going). We awarded them a certificate for potty-training& they raced off for their next stop...they had to find Colonel KFC & take a picture kissing him or standing with an older Japanese man (bonus points...some tried but no one would stop).After that they had to find Titus who was in the mall in a dress and wig. You'll see the photo below. He had a phone number on his back that they had to call. There is another photo of Taka, the secret cameraman hiding to get it all on video. There's also a photo of secret agent Aki having an undercover ice cream cone with Jenn:) It was a fun day:)

Photos from April

Below are some random photos. Back in April we went strawberry picking with one of the cell groups! We paid for an hour and could eat as much as we wanted. Some of the ladies bought some to go as well (thus the boxes). Aki, always one to want her money's worth, ate more strawberries than she had eatin in her entire life! They were soooo good....In the photos you'll see Taka in the "field" of strawberries; Noriko and Yoko excited about their strawberries; an artisitc shot of the beautiful strawberries; and a shot of Hitomi picking strawberries & also of her baptism. (If you ever wondered what a Japanese bathtub looks like, now you know:) Will write again with more photos from our life here. Stay tuned....

Our First Blog (aww....)

Greetings from Japan! We're finally joining the blog world in hopes that it will help us share more often about what's happening here in our everyday life.... this way we can include more random/fun photos:)