Visiting Sarah, The Baby, and A Full Time Job

When a month goes by between posts, there must be a good reason; however, we won't give you any excuses. Now on to the latest update: Yoko's still pregnant, we're still in Japan, and we still love each other. Actually, there is a lot more than that to report. The baby is growing well, but we still don't know what it is. Our last check up showed us a healthy but uncooperative child. We have a check up coming soon, so we hope to have a real idea of what we are having. So far, the majority is saying it is a girl. Yoko's is keeping fit with ballet, stretch and maternity aerobics classes. She is still working 2 or 3 evenings a week for 3 hours at a time. Other than the continued itchiness, she is doing quite well.

We made a short trip to see Sarah (Erik's sister) and to celebrate her birthday. We took her a lot of food that she isn't able to get and made a Mexican food dinner for her. During the day we walked around where she lives, Suwa. It is located on a lake which makes for a nice setting. There are quite a few hot springs in the area, and along the edge of the lake there is a place to sit and soak one's feet. On a cool spring day, it was quite enjoyable. We have a long holiday coming up the beginning of May and will be able to see Sarah again as she will be coming to see us.

April first was the first full day for Erik at his new job. He is a full time English teacher at the Airline Business College of Narita (ABCN) and English House (EH). The two schools are under the same parent company and in the same building. He will be teaching 4, 45 minute college classes Tuesday - Friday. These classes are from 11:00 - 3:00 will an hour break in the middle. After the college classes, and on Mondays, he teaches kids ranging in age from 3 - 15 and adults. Most days begin at 10:30 and end around 7:30. The school is a 5 minute walk from where we live, so he gets to go home for lunch breaks.

This job is truly a blessing and an answered prayer from the Lord. In the process of applying for full time work, we sent a letter to to ABCN in December stating that Erik was looking for work. With all the possible work places we were looking at, we forgot about ABCN, and the end of January we heard from them. They wanted Erik to come in for an interview. After the interview and a short teaching demonstration, they offered Erik a full time position on the spot. After a night of prayer, we accepted it. The way God works in truly amazing. The job search process was not moving along at all and out of of the blue God dropped this in our laps. Just another demonstration of His faithfulness, and if we put our trust in Him, he will direct our paths.