A long drive for lunch...

Ahhh, weekend! It has been a strange and hectic week, so it was really nice to wake up this morning and realize we didn't "have" to be anywhere today. Not that any other day is a burden (and the variation on what we do and where we go makes the day to day an adventure), but it was nice to have a day that we could set aside solely for our family after our crazy week of new everything.

So, after pondering what to do today, Dan and I decided we *needed* to have the World's Best Japanese Katsu Curry. And this is found at our very favorite restaurant on the planet, Kitchen House Akai Ito in Misato. Never mind that it was a 2 hour drive to get there. Or that we accidentally missed a turn and instead of turning around and correcting the mistake, we attempted to jog back to the highway (forgetting that Japanese roads are inconsistently marked and NEVER lead to where you anticipate!) We bundled the kids up into their car seats, grabbed our very generalized map of the area, and headed south for the day. TOTALLY worth it.

Dan was the happiest man on the planet at that very moment... 

It was a great trip "home."  The owners, Iku and Yuko had no idea we were coming today, so it was really fun to walk in the door an see their surprised but extremely happy faces. In our four years in Misato, they became our Japanese parents of sorts. Iku became one of my closest friends and encouragers during our stay there, and went with me to all my prenatal visits when I was pregnant with Kai and we have him call her Iku-baa-chan (the equivalent of "Granny Iku" in Japanese). We introduced them to Niko, ate amazing food, had coffee made with a siphon, and just relaxed.  It was FANTASTIC. 

For me, it was so comforting to see a face I love so much after such a horrible disaster to the region. While our town is far enough inland that the tsunami didn't really affect them, the evidence of the earthquake was still definitely there. There were huge rips in the wall paper (and presumably sizable cracks underneath them). The glasses were new (I noticed because they were bigger than the old ones... I always teased Iku that I needed at least 3 of them because I drank it too fast, so she would pour my water into a beer mug because they were bigger!) The top of the toilet tank was cracked (and 3/11 was written in marker over the crack, a reminder of that day) and a light fixture was missing. All these little reminders that even here, so far from the seashore, they had not been unscathed that day, but life had gone on and they truly were OK. We got the opportunity to talk on the phone with Iku about a week and a half after the earthquake, but there is nothing better than physically hugging them and seeing with your own eyes that they are alive and well.

So maybe a crazy-long drive (including a bout of getting a little lost on the way home as well) was a silly thing to do, but honestly, I don't think you could have talked us out of it. Our bellies were happy, our hearts were happy, and our family was happy. You can't ask for much more than that! おいしかった!

Life vs. Vacation

Today was a "housekeeping" day for us. Number one priority - laundry. And holy SMOKES did it cost more than I anticipated!  Dan and Kai went to the coin laundry down the street and did two large loads and dried them all together and spent ¥2000 ($25.68)!  Yowza! We'll figure out if it's cheaper to do smaller loads more frequently (apparently there are a few different sizes of washers for varying prices) or if we should just do one enormous load in the monster washer... But at ¥100/10 minutes of drying, I don't know if we'd save any money... we definitely don't have enough room to air dry the clothes. We have jeans hanging in both bathrooms as it is! But it's all a part of the adventure and my washer and dryer at home will be all the more precious to me upon our return.

We have been watching a bit of Japanese TV, particularly kids' shows. Kai is fascinated (and it's really good practice for me because they are topics I can reasonably follow). It's amazing how extremely contrary the television show personalities and concepts are to their day-to-day culture. The typically shy, reserved, and quiet people are replaced with loud, goofy, and outlandish portrayals on television. The silliness doesn't seem to bother Kai one bit, although there are more than one confused glances shot my direction as he watches the costumed grown men dance across the screen!

Whilst flipping through the channels, we happened upon the overtime period of the Broncos-Bears game from Sunday! Never would have guessed to find that on TV at 11 a.m. on a Friday morning in the middle of Tohoku, but there it was... and we had missed the game due to traveling. The Broncos' 50+ yard field goal to win the game was quite exciting (particularly since Dan withheld information on who had won the game). It was fun to have a random taste of home, and with a team we actually followed as well!  Dan (an avid Vikings fan) made the suggestion to me (a hardcore Packers fan) that perhaps we forget our differences and choose a more "neutral" team (such as the Broncos) for the sake of our marriage. ;o)

We received the handouts concerning the center today, so we have something to physically hand to people with information in Japanese, including all the contact information they would need. I think this will make a big difference. Now we just need to get these fliers handed out. We will probably hand some out outside the train station (directly across from our hotel), in our neighborhood, and around town. We're looking to take advantage of the fact that we really stand out here. People are curious why there is a gaijin family wandering around town... let's let them know!!

Anyway, I'm going to keep it short tonight. I'm falling asleep as I type... Niko decided that 4:30 a.m. was a good time to get up and play, so both Dan and I are pretty shot. Tomorrow is the weekend, so we may do some exploring... we took a short drive (primarily to get Niko to nap, since he's being the nap refusal king lately) and got to see some of the countryside. It was really nice and Kai enjoyed the scenery too. Now the only scenery I really want to see is the contours of my pillow. Hopefully we'll have something a bit more interesting to write about tomorrow! Goodnight, world.

Showers of Blessings

What a productive and blessed day!  It is always amazing to me how much a day can be different than the day before... I really shouldn't doubt the power of prayer, but I am always humbled by the grace and mercy of our Lord.

This morning began with a Skype call with my mom, filling her in on some of the details I left out of our blog (if you can believe there are actually more details after reading all my wordy ramblings!) It was so good to hear her voice and see her smiling face. The boys were both happy to see her and it was good for me too. Sometimes all you want is your mommy, even if she's an ocean away! An hour after we finished our call with her, we got the opportunity to Skype with Pastor Wordell, our main contact for this project here in Japan.  He was calling from Hong Kong as he travels for business. We had a great opportunity to touch base, ask questions now that we have our feet on the ground here, and structure a bit more of the game plan for the center. It was a really great call and Dan and I walked away after our 40 minute conversation feeling more direction as to what, where, and how. There's still much to be decided as things come up, but we've got a better grasp on what they think would work best and we can adapt as necessary!

Pastor Wordell filled us in on what the LECC mission has been doing up here so far since the disasters. Shortly following the earthquake and tsunami, they rented a 2 ton truck filled with relief supplies to distribute. They made a total of three supply deliveries up here. The church has committed to sponsoring 13 children that were orphaned on March 11 through an established scholarship fund (each child receives approximately $1540 per year until they graduate from high school). They also were able to donate about $65 to every student at the girls' high school in Kessenuma to help with small costs of personal loss in each girls' family. There also were families on Oshima island (a large island just off the coast of Kessenuma that took much of the brunt of the tsunami) that are living in pre-fab housing (similar to FEMA housing after Hurricane Katrina). The small size of the houses doesn't allow for much storage space, so several large storage units were purchased and shipped up here for the community's use. In the process of these actions of love, Pastor Nidaira and Pastor Wordell were able to make good contacts up here and opened up doors for continued relationships in the community with the church.

The biggest ongoing project now, though, is the distribution of donated quilts from America and Canada. The Lutheran Women Missionary Society (LWMS) organized a quilt donation project for the people in the heavily devastated areas. As of right now, we have 45-50 quilts at the center sent in by individual congregations, 120 down in Tokyo, and 60 more on their way! I busied myself with folding and sorting for a few hours...

I was blown away by the outpouring of love and generosity by these women. As a knitter, I know the amount of time that can go into a project... but to have well over 200 quilts that these women made for the people of Japan... wow. What a fantastic outreach opportunity for us and the volunteers to follow - and each quilt has a label with the LECC logo as well as the QR code for more information on the church so they can find out who donated the quilts and why. The quilts that I sorted through today were of all colors, patterns, sizes, and quilting styles. A few jumped out at me especially; one with butterfly fabric had stitched in the words, "To Japan with love". Another child's quilt had a very silly alien motif in really colorful and fun patterns. Another's quilting had words like "courage," "perseverance," and "love" worked into the design. Absolutely amazing work! It was incredible to think of the hours of time these women put into the projects to help strangers! Thank you, Lord, for your faithful servants. May they be blessed over and over for their service to You!

Another high point of the day was our walk to the center. Up until today we had driven the van back and forth between the hotel and the center in the setting up process. However, this morning we decided to bundle up and all walk together and take in the smaller details of our neighborhood. There are so many little shops, ranging from produce vendors to ceramic shops, to a small fish market (Kai has made it known quite clearly he does NOT like the fish smell. He still can't help his fascination with the various types of fish sitting in buckets on the sidewalk though!) There's a local supermarket along the way too. We make it a point to say good morning to each person we encounter along the way (often followed by some surprised expressions after hearing Japanese come out of our very foreign mouths!) And this afternoon we stopped in and bought a few apples from two ladies in one shop and bought a few more supplies from the supermarket. It's slightly more expensive to shop this way (rather than going to Aeon for all our shopping), but the boost to the local economy is just as important. It also allows us to make a presence for the center and let people know we are here. To me, it was so wonderful to feel the fresh, humid air on my face as we took in the familiar sights and smells of rural Japan. We could not have asked for a better location to come and help!

As another day comes to a close, I am filled with gratitude that we have been given the privilege of doing God's work in a country that we love so dearly. It's far from home and it has it's own challenges, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Please continue to pray for our family that we can help LECC make a positive impact on this community by meeting their physical needs so those after us can meet their spiritual needs!

Highs and lows

A fact of traveling is that not every day can be a good day. I don't know if I'd classify today as "bad" (we've had far worse in our travels, that's for sure!), but it was more of a challenge on an emotional level. It's hard to even put a finger on what went "wrong" exactly, but it was a lot of head butting... probably due to the fact that there are constantly 3 differing opinions on what we should be doing at any given time and there are varying levels of patience for the boys from each of the parents on this team. We're struggling to find our groove and settle into a rhythm that works for all 4 of us. Granted, it is only our second full day in Kessenuma, but I think all of us are ready to get past this liminal stage and grasp on to some structure. That may be a few weeks coming, however...

We spent the day getting the community center set up for our use. The church bought a rice maker, hot plate, and microwave for the volunteers' use, so we opened those and arranged them. We also went to Aeon (it's the Japanese version of Target or Walmart) and bought supplies to serve our visitors coffee or tea and cookies, as well as bought ourselves some food to make dinner at the community center so we don't have to eat out all the time.

We also got Kai's tent set up at the center. We brought along a little tent for the boys to retreat to when they have "had enough." One thing I remember very clearly from living in Japan with a baby was that he got a LOT of attention. There were times when it was obvious to us that Kai needed a break, but this tended to cause the (primarily older) women to coo in his face even more, in an attempt to get him to smile/stop crying (it usually didn't work, but that didn't stop them from trying!) Our hope is that we can provide a space for Kai and Niko that is "their room" that they can control and escape to as necessary. Hopefully we can lay Niko down for naps in their on occasion as well.

After we ate lunch and did a little more set up, we attempted to find the ¥100 store (their much cooler version of a dollar store). Apparently there is only one in all of Kessenuma and it proved to be rather hard to find. It took us 3 tries, but we got to see much of the city in the process! (In our own defense, Mr. Sato gave Dan the "easiest to explain" directions, but it was a really long, round about way of describing it and there were 3 major options we could have taken... we unfortunately took the correct option last!) Due to the long drive, both boys fell asleep and we opted to sit in the car and let them nap before going into the store. This was a blessing, as Dan and I finally got to connect for the first time without trying to wrangle the boys or fight off sleep. We were able to discuss where we felt the trip was going and how we might change tactics to make the family a happier group. As I mentioned before, I hope that we can fall into a bit of a routine soon. Because we are the first group here, there is no established schedule (part of our job) and the word hasn't really gotten out that we're here. The group from Tokyo (which, unfortunately, is supposed to come the two days that Dan has meetings in Tokyo for work) will be going around the city, spreading the word, but for now no one knows we're here. We are also waiting on getting some fliers that WE can hand out... we aren't able to even tell people where the center is. Dan and I are starting to get some ideas formulated to see if there are some suggestions we can make to the church to make our time here more useful so that the volunteers that are coming later will have a good foundation of people to help!

The day ended on a fairly good note... had to exercise some major self control not to spend all our vacation cash at the ¥100 store! Oh my word... I LOVE that place. We at least got a few fun things amidst the "boring" necessities we needed as well. We each got to pick out a little bowl for our cereal (they're supposed to be used for miso soup, but they'll work better than the tea cups we've been using the last 2 mornings!) Kai was so excited about his purple bowl that says "Purple is grape's color." Mine is this really pretty bowl with simple sparrows on it... I love it! Kai helped me pick out a yellow bee bowl for Niko, and Dan's is a really fun bowl that has a frog face "peeking" out the side. We'll definitely be using these for snacks for years to come! :o) Kai also picked out a super cute spatula that is shaped like a smiling fish for our cooking needs. We paid for that one ourselves also, so I guess the next volunteer will need to buy one, but this one is most definitely coming home with me. It's pretty much amazing. We've found that Kai really likes to help "shop"... he likes to pick things out and put them in the cart/carry them himself. I guess if it curbs tantrums, I'm totally fine with it. He chose the sponge for washing dishes here at the hotel (shaped like a smiling octopus/squid... I'm sensing a smiling object theme going this week). That part of shopping has been fun. We're probably going to come home with a lot of 4-year-old handpicked swag.

We came back to the hotel for a really sophisticated and health-conscious dinner of add hot water ramen bowls (sometimes fast and easy is where it's at...) and then Kai and Dan attempted a game of hide and seek in the hotel room. Kai thought Dan's feet peeking out from under the curtain was the funniest thing all day.

And now Dan and I are hanging out in the extra room while the boys slumber peacefully in the bedroom. You may all mark this day on the calendar... Dan and I made it past 8 p.m. today! That being said, I'm guessing we won't make it much longer... been awake since 5 a.m. with the boys. Oof. That takes a toll. But we are starting to get back to "normal" in this time zone and we can hope to have some together time "after hours". That, too, will help with the family-working-together-ness challenge, methinks!

Ahh, pillows are calling my name and eyes are getting droopy. Probably shouldn't have followed the ramen with a bunch of Mejii chocolates, but we're only here for a month, so... ;o)

Published articles about our trip

There were a few articles written about our family and what we are here to do... if you're looking for even more to read (I know I get a bit long-winded!)

Christian Aid and Relief volunteers head to Japan

WELS family assists with relief to Japan

Kessenuma at last

Yesterday and today were spent with Haga-sensei, the pastor in Mito (Dan's grandfather's old church). The drive took about 7 hours (we tried not to pay too close attention, actually... counting hours seems to make it feel longer!) but Dan and I could not have asked for better company. Haga-sensei was fascinating to talk with and he got good English practice and we got our Japanese brains revved up for the trip. As a Japanese pastor in a 99% non-Christian country, he had very interesting perspectives on Japanese culture and history. We talked for nearly the entire trip! He has 3 boys of his own (the youngest sounds like a very lively 6 year old), so he and Kai became friends pretty quickly as well. I loved watching Haga-sensei chase Kai around the parking area we stopped at for a stretch break.

It was great to cross into Miyagi during our drive and recognize the exit names. We even got to point out to Kai the city where he was born. Both boys did really well on the drive (Niko slept for a lot of it) and by the time we arrived, we were already for dinner and bed! We ate at a restaurant at the local Aeon and did a little bit of preliminary shopping for breakfast items. Dan laughed at me as I walked through the grocery store with the grin on my face getting bigger and bigger... it was awesome to see all the familiar snack foods that we can't get in America! We're going to have to pace ourselves though... Dan did get us melon-pan (a sweet bread treat) for breakfast our first morning and I savored some niku-don bento (it's a pre-made lunch of grilled meat on top of rice from the conviencence store). My mouth was SO happy!

The boys are doing well with the time adjustment so far. We've had 2 mostly full nights of sleep. Niko is having the harder time with it of the two, mainly because he naps during the day, so in the middle of the night he wants to play. However, we've been able to keep that to only about an hour at a time (usually 2-3 a.m.) and hopefully those will start to taper off quickly. Kai is refusing naps during the day, so he has a few meltdowns intermittently. I guess if it helps him get on a regular sleep schedule, I'll count it as a victory where I can. (Ha-haaaaa!!! He just started snoring. It took about 40 minutes of him fighting it, but looks like he's going to get a nap after all! Yay!)

This morning we unpacked into two rooms at our western-style hotel. For now (unless it proves to not work very well) we are all sleeping in the same room. Dan and I each have our own twin bed and the boys are sleeping on a daybed-style twin that Kai is sleeping at the end of the bed and Niko is at the head (perpendicular to the bed). The other room holds our extra suitcases, etc. and serves as a place for Dan and I to hang out after the boys go down (once WE get adjusted to the time zone, that is!) It also is the "morning room" since we are all waking up early. This morning Dan got up at about 5 a.m. with Niko and let Kai and I sleep some more in our room. Kai and I were up around 6 a.m. and Dan corralled them in there while I moved in to the big room without kiddos in the way. I think we'll start feeling a little more settled quite quickly.

Around 10 a.m. (which seemed a lot later than it was due to the early hour we got up!), Haga-sensei picked us up and took us over to the Community Center space. We met Mr. and Mrs. Sato (we will call each of them Sato-san, but I find it confusing because there's no gender distinguishing when referring to them that way!) We began to set up the room. I think we'll officially start next week, but we are planning to get set up this week. There are church members coming from Tokyo Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to do some canvassing and handing out tracts regarding the center and the English classes that we will be holding, so we're not expecting things to be overly busy before then. Our primary job is to get the center up and running and ready for the volunteers who are following us.

After we left the center, Haga-sensei drove us to the disaster zone along the coast. I will most likely do a dedicated post on this later with more pictures... I think both Dan and I need more time to digest what we saw there. As we said to some women we met at lunch today, there are no words for the feelings we have and thing things we saw. It was humbling, even 8 months after the earthquake and tsunami, to see the evidence of the raw power of the earth. Cars crushed like aluminum cans, buildings stripped bare, boats blocks inland, fallen traffic signals totally mangled... piles and piles and piles of rubble. You can see scorch marks on the buildings from the fires that burned for over a week. The roads in that area are still so covered with mud they are like gravel roads. I saw a car wedged between an L-shaped corner of a building and a utility building, tipped up on it's nose, in a space the car could have NEVER gotten by itself... and it's still there after months of clearing debris out. I think the image I'll remember the most (I hope to get back with my camera and get a shot of it) was the rubble of a building with a bouquet of fresh flowers left in the doorway. The amount of damage in this city is unreal... and I know that this town is fairly prosperous. I can only imagine the loss in some of the smaller communities that don't have as much money to rebuild. Haga-sensei hadn't been to Kessenuma since April, so he was amazed at how far the town had come in their clean-up and rebuilding projects. Fairly far into the city he remembers the roads being covered with sand and even 1/2 way up staircases you could see the water had come up because of the sand and mud, but now you would never know. It was great to have some firsthand knowledge of the early days to give us some additional perspective. I'm sure Dan and I will hear more and more stories in the coming days. Below are a few pictures Dan snapped on the iPad as we drove through, just to give you a taste of what we saw.


It has been hard to explain to Kai the scope of the disasters. Before we left I showed him a couple videos taken during an earthquake to let him know what to expect so he wouldn't be scared when we feel one (we had a small earthquake our first night in Tsuchiura... both boys slept right through it!) However now that we are here, we have found the need to explain what a tsunami is and delve into how BIG the earthquake was due to the damage that is evident here. Kai's 3 year old brain can't quite grasp the severity of the situation... a part of me wishes for that innocence. We will continue to explain to him that he can help the people here, not by cleaning up and rebuilding things, but by telling them about Jesus and helping them learn English.

However, that has been an additional challenge for Kai. I think a part of his outbursts and tantrums (fairly few and far between, considering the amount of jet lag he is fighting) is the frustration he feels because he is surrounded by a language he doesn't understand and even Mommy and Daddy are speaking it. I think a part of him feels left out or ignored, perhaps... but in my eyes I see it as an opportunity for him to grow. I hate to sound too callous, but at some point he needs to learn that life does not revolve around him, particularly in this situation. My prayer is that he learns to let go of the innate selfishness (that, honestly, ALL of us struggle with!) and look with empathy and compassion on those in need. I understand he's going through a HUGE change (both physically and emotionally) so Dan and I are going to attempt to be as attentive as possible, but our goal is to get him to be a little bit more independent and for us as parents to lead by example (which includes us showing compassion to him in his times of need when we can spare it, particularly when it's just our family time... a lesson in patience both Dan and I will learn over and over, I'm sure!)

Anyway, in short, we are settling in and our time in Japan has truly begun. Stay tuned for more to come! :o)

Let the adventure begin!

(Written December 11, 2011)

All four of us survived the 12 ½ hour flight yesterday! Actually, the flight was nothing special to speak of – a HUGE answer to prayers. The highlight of the very long day was listening to Kai giggle out loud as he watched Winnie the Pooh. And we even enjoyed a few hours of Niko napping in the bassinet (a luxury we never got in the 5 trips over the ocean with Kai as a baby!) We were picked up at the airport by Tanaka-san from Tsuchiura’s church Nozomi (Hope) Lutheran Church and stopped by a restaurant for some quick katsu curry rice.

Driving from Narita felt like we never left. Same mixture of “newer” buildings and traditional buildings, little shops run by older women and farm plots lined up side by side for kilometers. The only indication that we’d be away seemed to be my brain’s aversion to driving on the left side of the road… each left turn we made sent a shock of panic through my gut!

However, among the familiarity that bombarded us came reminders of things that had slipped to the backs of our memories… little Japanisms that reminded me how long we’d been away. First were the warning signs in the elevator with a very “cute” illustration of a guy getting his hand stuck in the door, the first of many such illustrations we are bound to encounter on this trip.

There were still more this morning as I got ready for the day. The church’s house that we slept in had a number of Japanese products in the bathroom including the tissue brand called “Life Yell”, but my favorite by far was the can of “Shaving Foam.” Some copywriter felt this would sell the product, despite the fact that the Japanese people purchasing the foam would never really read it: “A close bubble makes the sliding of the blade better smoothly and is finished refreshingly without any regret.” (I can’t make this stuff up.) It has been an interesting reintroduction to Japan!

Chasing the Setting Sun to the Land of the Rising Sun

(Written December 9 and 10, 2011)

As we sit on the plane chasing the sunset to L.A., I found myself reflecting on what a big calling we are heeding. As a family of four (two of which are younger than four years old), we opted to drop our life of normalcy and stability to fly half way around the globe and help people we've never met... Are we crazy? Maybe. Probably. But we crave the adventure and really felt compelled to do this. And finally the day is here to leave our home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to live in Kessenuma, Miyagi, Japan, for one month in order to help the earthquake and tsunami victims of the March 11, 2011 disasters.

The players in this game are not new to the Japanese countryside, however. Dan, a 31 year old professional magician/foreign marketing assistant, and his wife Andi, a 28 year old stay at home mom and freelance graphic designer, spent four of the first five years in their marriage living in Misato, Miyagi (about an hour and a half southwest of Kessenuma). In fact, their oldest son Malakai (who will be 4 years old in February) was born there and lived as an ex-pat of sorts for the first 17 months of his life. The only newcomer to the game is 6 month old Nikolai who has to start his globe trotting sooner or later to keep up with the rest of the family!


So how did we end up on this plane? Well, like any adventure, it is a series of situations that led us to this point. It's probably best to start at the beginning for this one... The very beginning!

Dan's grandfather, Richard Poetter, was called to Japan as a Christian missionary shortly after WWII. He met Ikuko Abe (his Japanese tutor) and married her. They lived first in Ikuko's hometown of Niigata, Niigata, but later moved to Mito, Ibaraki. They had three children, all of whom were sent to America for junior high and high school. The eldest, Hilda, met and married Dennis Jaspersen (who also boarded at her high school) and Dan was born, the middle of three children.

Dan traveled to Japan as a 5 year old boy, but the biggest impact was made when he moved there with his new bride Andi as a teacher with the JET Programme as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). Dan taught primarily at the junior high schools in Misato (formerly Kogota until the town merged with a neighboring town halfway through their stay). However he also taught at grade schools, community centers, kindergartens, and gave various presentations at high schools and conferences for other English teachers. In addition to his teaching Dan did much of the international relations work for the town's exchange program, so much so that instead of returning after their third year as planned, Dan and Andi (and Kai on the way) decided to stay and Dan worked in Town Hall as the Coordinator for International Relations (CIR). During this time, both Dan and Andi learned Japanese (they went over with no previous language training) and delved into the culture. They returned to the States as a family of three in the summer of 2009.

After two and a half years of living in Cheyenne, Wyoming (where Andi's parents live and we had gotten jobs), we received an email from a former LECC (Lutheran Evangelical Christian Church) missionary family forwarded from Christian Aid and Relief looking for volunteers with Japanese language skills to help in the Tohoku region of Japan at a community center distributing donated goods, teaching English, and hosting Bible studies. Since March, we had felt at a loss to really help after the disasters, yearning to travel back to our other home and physically help. We had found small ways to help (monetary donations and donated photography to a charity auction), but it didn't feel like enough. So when the email came in, hope sprung up in our hearts and we started seriously considering going, even with two young children in tow.

One stipulation was that we had to be in Japan for at least 30 days. This created our major hurdle for the trip. However (and the clearest sign that we were supposed to be going on this trip), Dan's employer, Sierra Trading Post, willingly gave him a leave of absence and worked with Dan to make sure this trip could happen! They also arranged to donate some goods for the community center and offer a deep discount on goods. The generosity of STP has been above and beyond what we could have even hoped for; they truly made this trip a reality for us!

So now we sit, waiting to board a 12 hour flight with our kiddos, toys, snacks, and entertainment stashed throughout our carry-on baggage. Feelings of excitement, anticipation, and perhaps a little apprehension fills the air as we finally begin our journey. What is to come? We aren't entirely sure, but we know God goes with us and will bless our efforts. We hope to capture the memories from our trip and share with you our adventure over the ocean.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 119:9-10