2008 has been quite a year for us. In it we have been given many opportunities to trust the Lord, and in all of them, He has been faithful. This year saw the passing of Yoko's grandfather, in January, and her grandmother, in November. In both cases, she was by her grandparent's side as they passed away. After the passing of her grandfather, it became clear to us that the Lord was leading us to Japan. So started an 8 month process of praying that the Lord would work things out for us to come here, and as always, He did. It was amazing to see how He provided a way for Yoko to finish her Graphic Design degree, renters for our house, and a visa for Erik. We came to Japan to be close to Yoko's family and share the Good News with them. Yoko's mother, Hisako, has welcomed us into her home with open arms. Since she is a Christian, it has been wonderful to encourage each other. Yoko's dad lives 5 minutes away by train. We have enjoyed our weekly dinners with him and are encouraged by his openness to us sharing about Jesus. Please remember him in your prayers.Here are a few events that happened this past year:- -January- We started the year in Ohio visiting Erik's adopted Grandparents.
- -January- Erik's parents were in Costa Rica when his mom had a heart attack. She received excellent care there and has since fully recovered. The Lord gave Erik great peace during this time (this was the same time Yoko was in Japan with her grandfather).
- -February- A friend in Washington passed away.
- -May- We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Being married to your best friend is a wonderful thing.
- -June- Yoko completed her graphic design internship at Yavapai College and received her degree.
- -May- We visited friends in San Diego.
- -July- We visited friends in Oregon.
- -August- Erik left Yavapai College after 7 and a half years of working there.
- -September- We came to Japan
- -September to now is in past entries in our blog.
This year had it's fair share of sad moments and joyful moments. No matter the situation, one thing remain the same and that was the Lord's love. We are so thankful we serve a God that does not change. Our verse of the year was James 4:8a and 10: "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." As these verses promise, so God has done. We look forward to what He has for us in the coming year, and sharing our journey with you.Christmas this year was very enjoyable. It stared on the 23rd with a Couple's Christmas Dinner. We had great food and fun entertainment.
On Christmas Eve we had dinner with Yoko's mom and her mom's friend. Her friend had never heard the Christmas story before, so it was a joy to share that with her. Below is the Christmas cake we enjoyed. 
Christmas night we had dinner with Yoko's father and again were able to share the Christmas story. Saturday, Yoko's brother and his family came our apartment for pizza, cake (below) and presents. We had a fun time playing with our two nieces (below). They are quite shy and have not completely warmed up to us yet. 
Here is Yoko's mom, Hisako, our sister-in-law, Yumiko, and our 2 nieces, Mao who is 3 and Riko who is 5. They are watching the movie Chicken Little. 
Christmas for us will be celebrated a little differently this year as Yoko has to work Christmas day. On the 23rd, we will be joining some friends for a couple's Christmas dinner. On the 24th, we will have a small party with Yoko's mom and a couple of her coworkers. Then on the 27th, we will be with Yoko's dad, brother and his family. We are not sure what we will be doing Christmas Day.The Japanese Christmas tradition is KFC, Christmas cake, and a few presents on Christmas Eve. We will be having Christmas cake (we will provide pictures) but no KFC. Christmas day doesn't hold any real significance in the true reason for the day. It is instead a reminder that New Year's Day, the time when Japanese families get together, is a week away. We look forward to sharing the true reason for Christmas with those we will be celebrating with.Other than Christmas, Erik is currently on winter break from school. Yoko is working during the day as students are also on winter break. Yoko spent Saturday morning at a kimono class that her mom attends. Yoko has never worn a kimono and will finally do so New Year's Day. Normally when a girl turns 20, she wears a kimono to a "coming of age" ceremony that is held in January. When Yoko turned 20, she was in the U.S. at school and missed out, so she will get to relive being 20 all over again.
For those of you who don't understand romanized Japanese, the title to today's post is: Study, Work, and Shop. That's what this week has consited of so far. Shopping and preparing for Christmas, working at the cram school, and studying Japanese for end of term tests.We added more pictures to our Fall Colors album. We have enjoyed taking pictures and sharing them with you. Fall in Japan has been beautiful.
How often does it happend where you see something that is picture worthy, and you don't have a camera. We might have had that moment the other day, but we happend to have a camera with us. Isn't this picture something. They look so innocent, but if they had opposable thumbs, who knows what kind of mischief they would be getting into.Our past week was a rather "normal' one. We still are using Japanese 95% of the time, but our conversations are not that deep at times. We are thankful for the fitness club (the site is only in Japanese, but you can still see what is available to us) we belong to as this week was rainy at times. We got out an took some more Fall pictures. Check back in a few days for those to be added to the existing ones. We have enjoyed Fall a lot as the weather has been good, and the colors were great.
Sunday morning Yoko decided that she would only speak Japanese with Erik. This sudden inspiration came about after she had gotten together with a Japanese friend of hers who helped her American husband learn Japanese by not speaking English with him. This is good for Erik, however, it came as a great shock to his system. It was so sudden and without warning. As a result he came down with a headache (don't you feel sorry for him, or maybe you should feel sorry for Yoko having to put up with Erik). A half an hour before going to bed and a half an hour in the morning is reserved for English; this is to make sure we know what the other really needs to communicate.At church on Sunday we were blessed to have Linda McCrary visiting. She is a singer from California who has a wonderful voice and a tremendous story. Recently we have had several guests musicians visit and touch our hearts with their music. Kirk Whalum, who plays the sax, and Airick Arqese, a rapper in the group Chrstiside Souljahs were here a few weeks ago. The church/cafe has been celebrating its 4 year anniversary at the current location with guest musicians.The church/cafe is hosting a couples' Christmas dinner on the 23rd. We will be attending it with some friends from church. Christmas here is a time for couples. The couple aspect is so strong that single people often say that they will be doing something with a "date" when they are not.
For most people, with age comes wisdom. However, in our case, we are becoming less wise as we become older. Saturday, Yoko had the last of her wisdom teeth pulled. Erik's were taken out some time ago. Now don't go jumping to any conclusions : ) Thankfully the Bible tells us that we can ask for wisdom, and the Lord will give it to us. Now, either Yoko is the toughest woman ever or she found the best dentist ever, because she had anesthetic and teeth pulled in a half an hour without swelling or pain. She even had lunch right after the operation. If only all our trips to the dentist could go this well.We are glad that you have been enjoying the pictures of the fall colors. We added some more, so be sure to check those out. We are trying to get in the Christmas mood, but it is taking some time. Around where we live there are Christmas lights, but not like what we are used to. If we were planning on staying here a while, we would buy decorations to put up, but we don't want to leave Yoko's mom a bunch of stuff to store. We did bring our Christmas music which starting to sound throughout our apartment. Nothing like Mannheim Steamroller and Trans Siberian Orchestra to get one in the Christmas spirit.
