strangers to friends....

We have a great neighborhood. Our home is a semi-detached townhouse and we have three units so there are six families including us....and we have made good friends with Mia's piano teacher Yumi (and her husband and little one, Mizuki) who live in the apartments directly behind us. I wasn't sure how this 'Block Party' was going to go as hanging with your neighbors is a very American thing to do but not very Japanese at all. Mia helped me with the invitation which we slipped into everyone's letter box and then a typhoon came through so I was sure we were going to have to cancel but the weather cleared beautifully. We hoisted our table outside put our food out and waited.....and as you can see EVERYONE showed with loads of yummy food.

The tooth that was wobbly for WEEKS....

finally came out....it had died in there and could be flipped straight out....gross!

since they don't have a dog they are training one....

fighting the heat with water....

Tanabata Festival (Star Festival)

Once upon a time....so the story goes...there was a princess Orihime (織姫, Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, Sky King),who wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川, Milky Way). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星, Cow Herder Star) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.

The festival was imported from China to Japan by the Empress Kōken in 755. In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry on small pieces of paper, and hang them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. (all from Wikipedia)

The brightly cut origami paper twirling in the wind on the bamboo branches outside department stores and grocers over the week of July 7th caught my attention and I was wondering what it was all about....at my language class they told us the story. I love the idea.....a wish tree. Especially since it falls on my mom's birthday and for the time being we too are separated by the heavens.......

Here is a pic of our version of the wish tree. If you look closely you can see the wish of my doodlebug (aka Mia) ~ "a dog, a cat, and a tiger" ~

Our golden days are over...you know the ones......blissfully long pajama mornings with sweet sleepy eyed wee warm bodies, the freedom to go to the zoo or visit a friend just any old day, days where we never must cross our threshold unless of course we wanted too.....now our days are shaped by soccer on Tuesdays and Thursday, art class on Mondays, piano on Saturdays, Japanese class on Thursdays and of course school daily....tiresome really. I put off these running about days for as long as I could....and as a result Nykolas is now having to catch up on the years of soccer he hasn't practiced....but I wouldn't trade my six golden years with my kids for anything. I was thinking today on the train, as I watched people with their eyes closed trying to block out the world because no matter how much they 'spin their wheels' it's never enough, what are we living for anyway? I know, I know..soccer, art, piano, school, language...all ever so important in shaping a person....but at the end what matters? What is MOST important that I want my kids to have deeply imbedded in their hearts as they leave our home? With my dear mom's passing three years ago and with my fast approaching 40's (ouch) I am keenly aware of the brevity of our years. I mean really I was just 16 last year, how am I almost 40!!!!

Today as part of our school we were reading some of the last words Jesus taught his disciples before his death. Matthew 25: 31-46. In the end, the separating of the righteous and the unrighteous Do you know what really matters? Not your education, not the number of languages you speak, not who has the most friends, not who drives the fanciest car, not who has the best job, not who provides the best for his/her kids, not who can read or who cannot, not who was at church the most, not who has a little 'nest egg' tucked away for higher education or even a home BUT the ones who fed the hungry, who clothed the naked, who befriended strangers, who cared for the sick, who visited those in prison......that is what I want my kids to have deep in their hearts....that is what matters....everything else is chaff that the wind blows....no meaning, no purpose, no eternal value.....

My sister, whom I adore, connected me with a blog of a girl, an American, who went on a month long teaching/mission trip in Uganda and stayed....and at the tender age of 21 she has taken in 13 orphan girls. So many things went through my mind as I read of her life....how much she has given up as she has tied herself to the soil of Africa......but in the end as she is before the throne of Christ she will hear "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." That is what I want to hear....

People are often surprised when I voice my contentment at living so far from home. Don't get me wrong there are days I ache in longing to hug my grandmother, to be with my dad, to tickle my nieces and nephews, and laugh in hysterics with my amazing siblings.....but overall I LOVE the daily reminder that I am a foreigner in this world that this isn't home for those of us who believe in eternity. So much of western culture, well, of eastern culture as well...is about the striving for things or education or whatever......but our little bubble, not being from here and not living at 'home' anymore either makes for the lovely nurturing of different, removed, set apart, foreign.....all good things in my opinion.

Don't worry, I am not planning on jumping the next plane and heading for Uganda....(but don't dare me!) for now we will befriend stangers and keep our eyes open for those in need.....we have a beautiful niche into the strangers around here, being strangers ourselves......and we have accomplished making our neighbors who initially were strangers into dear friends.....and as God continues to open our eyes and move our hearts maybe we will settle somewhere where we can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty and serve the sick and imprisoned. My littles still surprise me at the occasional comments made of their short time with needy strangers turned friends in Naga City...who knows maybe.....

ice lollies in the shade...trying to beat the heat...

cuter than a button!

Reading her favorite books....our family picture books....she has loved them to shreds....

Take me out to the ball game.....

My sweet friend Michiko and her husband Kiyosho set up a day at the ballpark for us! Hooray for the Buffaloes!

Noa the helper...

Noa is constanly pushing her stool over to the sink and 'helping'. The other day our sweet neighbors brought freshly caught squid....I had no idea what to do with them! But with Uncle Evan's quick searching on the internet he found us a great site for cleaning squid and then Riza knew exactly what to do.....Squid Adobo and Calamari! YUM!

walkin to football practice....

my doodlebug....

This girl is ALWAYS wanting to make a craft, paint, colour or create something....one day she just made this mask all by herself....I thought is was pretty darn cute!!

new classmate for a day.....

I found this big guy on my morning run last week.....I get a lot of sidelong glances as a jogging foreigner anyway but with the addition of my rider suctioned to my hand, I received full on stares.....the kids were delighted so it was worth it!