End of an Era?

Bittersweet.

On the one hand, it is so exciting to see God move people to new situations/places. On the other hand, it is hard to see them go.

We have been so blessed by so many guys and gals that come here to minister. Some are here for a short time; others for a while. Well this week we bid "Goodbye" to 4 guys!

Rob will play semi-pro baseball (how cool is that?!). Follow his antics here.
Daniel and Sosimo will be ministering in Korea. That's cool too.
Josh and family will be living/ministering in Tsukuba.
God bless each one of you and lead you by His Spirit!


Rob, Sosimo and Daniel(holding Mika) say goodbye.

3 Years!

Our church celebrated its 3rd year anniversary today.

While we were not there from the very beginning, we were there when it met in the Ruiz's living room. Amazing how God has continued to use and bless people through Pastors Tom and Tim.

To celebrate, we had a church potluck:

Breakfast in Japan

Without a doubt one of our favorite meals of the day is breakfast (the food, not the time).

However, in Japan, you cannot always get a good western style breakfast (still trying to get used to fish, rice and soup for breakfast).


It seems that the few places that offer the "most important meal of the day" are lacking. They either only offer "toast and coffee" and/or they don't open till 10 or 11:00. There has been many a time that we lamented the lack of an IHOP or even a Royal Host.

So you can imagine our excitement when we heard of an actual Pancake House nearby in Yomitan Village.

Since today was one of the few holidays we are both free, we decided to take advantage of it.



The food was really good too! The only problem was, the girls (in one of their "hungry" moods) ate most of our food. Oh well, next time we'll order more than two plates.




Since we were up in Yomitan anyway, we drove by Cape Zampa to see the cliffs and the lighthouse. Great views, but it was really windy and cold. It's a good thing Emi wore her "Eskimo" jacket.



Near the cape is this rest area. For some reason they have a bunch of goats!



Next to the rest area is this big hotel that has the biggest Shisa we've ever seen.


You can tell how big it is compared to Emi.

Well it was fun to see the sights, even though Mika slept through most of it!

Baba's Birthday・ババの誕生日

昨日はデビーのお母さんの誕生日でした！
ひろこさんは２５才です。（本当？）

It was Debe's mom's birthday yesterday. She's 25 years old again (really?)




Her sister and niece came over and they both brought dessert!
ひろこさんの 妹 と 姪 を 訪問しました。　両方は ケーキを 持って来ました。

So we brought the birthday cake to church.
だから、教会に ケーキを 持って来ました。

Mika Speaks?

Man the girls are both growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday when they came home from the hospital.

Mika understands many words, but only speaks a few. Still, she often tries to communicate like this:

Mystery CD

We received this nice CD in the mail.

Actually, there were two identical CDs in there.

what is interesting is that 1) we didn't order it, and 2) there is no note or anything to indicate who it was from. It is always fun to receive a gift!

Well, if this is from you, thank you very much!

Churaumi・美海

After lunch in Nago, we headed up to Expo in Motobu.

Every New Year's they have a special event displaying Okinawan culture.

At no charge you can eat andagi, observe Tea Cermony, make a traditional toy or kite and watch Taiko drumming and Lion Dance.

Of course, the aquarium is an additional charge... but the kids are free until 6 years old.



It's a pretty cool aquarium; apparently it is the world's second largest.

This acrylic glass is the world's largest. Pretty impressive!

Ufuya・大家

We went up north to Nago and Motobu on Friday.


We had lunch at this cool Okinawan restaurant called Ufuya.


We came at the perfect time and got the best seat in the house; right next to the waterfall.

New Year's Party

Most people have a New Year's Eve party, but we decided to have a New Year's Day party.

There was our annual "Soup and Game Night" at church on the 31st.

However New Year's Day is usually pretty quiet, so a small party was in order.

We played a few "traditional" games (adapted slightly).

Fukuwarai is a game where you make a face:


This was not bad, but here's what it should have looked like:


Karuta is a game usually played with poems written out.
This version used celebrities.


Emi and Mika played their own version:

For the "other" entertainment, check out the video here.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!

It is the "Year of the Bull" (or cow).

Hope yours is a blessed one!