Toguchi Beach

Today was a holiday, so we thought we would go to a new beach: Toguchi Beach.
This was our first time and it was very nice.

It had beautiful ocean:


Lots of trees and flowers (These are Lilies):


Some cool caves:


An added bonus, a children's park:

Passover

We had a Passover Meal. This was our first time to have one. We were looking into all of the symbolism and stuff and really felt led to have an actual meal.

If you just read about or listen to something, maybe you will retain like 10% of it. Actually partaking in something will have a much greater impact on you.

We were blessed by it; hopefully others were as well!



Mika looking for "bread"


No lamb, but two kinds of chicken

Happy Resurrection Day!

A little late:
some pics from our busy Easter.


1st, we had the empty tomb.
Trying to explain what Easter is really about, we felt this was a good way to show it. We put Jesus in the tomb on Friday and told the girls to wait until they see what happens on Sunday.

So on Sunday, they see this:



The empty tomb! We even had Jesus standing in triumph on top.
I thought they understood until Mika grabbed Jesus and started stuffing Him back in the tomb!

Okay, so we're still working on some things...

Then we had a sunrise (Sonrise) service on the roof. Perfect weather.


This was followed by breakfast down in the cafe. Too busy eating to get any pictures.

After breakfast we had about an hour before the regular service, so we ran the girls to a park.



While we had a regular service, the kids were back on the roof looking for eggs (plastic, of course).



It was a good day, although quite tiring...

Foot Washing

Why is Emi washing Mika's feet?

Well, it is part of our Passion Week devotions.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, which marks the last week that Jesus spent on the earth.
We have been doing a special devotion time with our girls. Since they are so young, we are trying to "do something", rather than just talk about it.

So for Palm Sunday, the girls had made Palm leaves. On Tuesday, we talked about "The Widow's Mite." Wednesday: Foot washing, and how we ought to do things for other people.

Friday was difficult; explaining crucifixion to toddlers. We elected to make a clay mountain with "Pipe-cleaner" men. We ended with Jesus in the tomb and the words, "Let's see what happens next..."

Man, this parenting stuff is challenging, but fun too.

The New Wheels

We changed our car.
Had to do it.


Although the old car was a huge blessing for two years, we had to say "goodbye" to it.
Because of the engine size of the old car, the inspection (every 2 years) is really expensive (almost $1000)! Add to that the cost of fixing a nasty oil leak and it made more sense to replace the car.

So now we drive a Suzuki. First time, but it seems nice.

Only problem: can I really drive around in a car called a "CULTUS"?