August

This last month has flown by! I know it was partly because I went home to Kansas for a couple of weeks, which made the time really fly. Now, a little over a week after returning to Japan, August is coming to an end already! I can't believe it. My trip home was really really good. It was great to see the family again, and most of all for them to see and interact with Brayden. He had changed a lot, and I'm so glad they got to see more of his personality. He also got to know them more, and I know he remembers them when we talk about them now. Now that I'm back, I feel rejuvinated. I feel like the trip home was refreshing, and it has helped me to feel ready to hunker down and get back into life here once again.

Brayden did a lot swinging...he would sing, or he would say "Bid, high," (Big, high), which translates, "Push me really high!"

Helping Grandma water the flowers.

My grandmother, Mudgie, sat Brayden next to her one day as she cooked. He was very fascinated and even got to help a little.

Brayden loves his Papa.

We also did a lot of walking the dog. Brayden says "wat, dod." (Walk dog). He could have done this 5 times a day he loved it so much.

This is Brayden and Micah, on Brayden's actual birthday. The day after we arrived in Kansas was Aug. 1st, and my sister Emeri made these little pastries for him. When it came time to blow out the candles, Brayden got shy again. However, this time he did manage a little puff that blew out the candles.

Emeri, Brayden and Micah. (My sister and brother). Snuggling before bedtime.

We also swam in the pool a lot. Brayden liked to use the hose to "get" people. He also at times would turn it into a guitar.

Helping Papa water the flowers.

Brayden's 2nd Birthday Party

Tonight we had a party for Brayden's 2nd birthday. We had the party a few days early (his birthday isn't until Aug. 1st) because him and I are going to America on Thursday, the 31st! (I am so excited by the way). We wanted to celebrate with our friends for his birthday before we left. We went to the park and ate banana cupcakes. The boys played ball and the kids and girls hung out and we all had a really fun time. It was a great night out too, no rain or sweltering heat. But the mosquitos were relentless! Even with our bug spray, we all got a ton of bites! A new friend of ours, (Keiko and her son Kengo) came, and later my friend Akemi showed up, but unfortunately she missed the party. Her daughter was sick, so she came late, but I was surprised that she came at all. I think she wanted to show us that she cared, and wished she could have been there. It was good to see her, if only for a minute.
So, tomorrow I leave for America! I just decided to go a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like this was a good chance for me to go, because my family won't be able to come visit before we go visit them next year. This visit will give us an opportunity to see each other before Brayden is almost 3 years old! It will be just Brayden and I going this time. I keep telling Brayden he will see PaPa soon, and while he doesn't understand, he says "Papa" and thinks about it.

Oh by the way, I'm pregnant! Due Feb. 8th!



This was so funny-previously, I had shown Brayden a little video on Youtube of a little girl blowing out her birthday candles. I even let him practice a few times at home, and each time he loved blowing out the candle. But at the party, when everyone started singing to him, his lip started quivering and he reached for my hand. He was scared! And he didn't want to blow out his candle at all. He just kept saying "No" again and again. I was so surprised! The wind ended up blowing out his candle.

This is is Keiko and her son, Kengo. They were so much fun.



We got Brayden a little toy guitar since he loves to play air guitar. He just loved it! He calls it his "Tar."

Lucille and Random Pictures.

I never ended up telling my "Lucille Ball" story. I will tel it quickly. I was paying for something at a store, and realized I left a mop that I had just bought at a different store in the back of the store I was currently in. So I tried telling the cashier that I needed to go run and get it, but she didn't understand when I was saying "Mop" in Japanese. I went ahead and grabbed it, and when I came back with it the cashier said "Oh, Mop!" in Japanese, exactly how I had been saying it!! Even when I'm saying the right word, my communication still doesn't always work! Anyways, as I was paying, she pointed at my skirt and said something I didn't understand. I looked down to see she was pointing at my zipper, which was wide open. As I went to close my zipper, I knocked over my wallet and all of the coins in my change purse went all over the floor, making lonts of noise. Cashier lady came out to help me and just as we had picked up all of the coins, Brayden decided to pour out his snack of crackers he was eating all over the floor-deliberately, not accidentally. So then we had another big mess to clean up and I was already thoroughly embarassed! I hurried up and paid and got out of there! That is embarassing in America, let alone in Japan when your not sure what people think of you. So, thus the Lucille Ball sighting, and although I have only written about two sightings so far, there have been many, many more. :)

The following pictures were taken while our friends Michael and Beth were here visiting. They were taking pictures right and left and got such good ones. I hardly ever take enough pictures (something I want to get better at) so I stole these from Beth's web album to post here on my blog. Some of her pictures also captured some of what Japan is like, so I included some of those as well.

This is at the train station, some kids are going or coming from school. Lots of kids ride the trains in groups like this, or even by themselves on a daily basis to go to school.

This is the busiest intersection in the world, in a part of Tokyo called Shibuya. Beth took this right before she left Japan. We were here in March, but I never got to a spot where I could capture a good picture like this one. This intersection is like this all day and all night long!

We had an American barbeque with some Japanese people that a teammate of ours had befriended. The girl on the left is our friend Beth who was here visiting, on the far right is Caitlin, our teammate.

This may be hard to read, but its an example of some of the wacky worded shirts we have seen here.

A picture of Brayden playing at a little play area at the mall. Its one of my favorites.

Here's a picture of Brayden and one of his teachers at the daycare where he goes a few times a week. He really likes it there, and I'm so glad he does.

This is the bike lot at the train station. I'm just amazed at how many bikes there are!

A picture from a random morning around the house.

These are my teammates and our friend Beth, when we went out for a girls lunch. It was so much fun. This restaurant is Italian, and its very yummy and plays good music. Its one of our favorites.

Eating at a ramen restaurant in Nagoya.

Michael and Beth eating ramen with us.

This is at the barbeque again. Brayden and Sterling got plenty of attention.


He's playing air guitar. He came up with this all by himself. It just cracks me up! He's so intense!

Fun in the water

June

The past month has been good, but a little hard, too. I feel as though the reality that we are living in a foreign country is setting in more and more. Just recently I've really begun to miss some ways of living/food, etc. from America. (Taco Bell sounds AMAZING right now). I knew that eventually these feelings would come. We talked about it in our missionary training we went to last summer. They talked to us about little dips and valleys we would experience about living here occuring around 3 months and 6 months. We've been here a little over 5 months now, and I'm beggining to feel some of these so called dips. We talked about how it is normal to feel this way, so that gives me some encouragement, but its still nonetheless challenging. I remind myself to focus on why we are doing this. Mike was telling me the other day that even if we were able to save 1,000,000 people here in Japan, that would still make less than 2% of the population Christian! Thats motivating but also depressing at the same time! But, now knowing that statistic, I realize how important it is for us to be here. WE are not important, but what we want to tell these people is SO important. So, thats where I'm at right now.
As for a little update on other things...I still continue to make a friendship with my friend Akemi. For her birthday, I ended up getting her a photo mug from Snapfish with pictures of our kids and us hanging out together. I think she really liked it. Also, during this past month, a couple of friends, Michael and Beth, came to visit us from California. Actually, they came to visit our whole team, because we all went to Ozark together. It was so great to have them here. We have also been chugging away at language school. I know our Japanese is improving-little by little I can make more conversation. But, starting tomorrow, we are going to enjoy a little break from school! Its only about a week and half, but we are all sooo happy for it--I'm growing weary of deciphering converstaion/worksheets. Well, I guess I can't really get away from deciphering conversations, but I can enjoy a little break from doing homework so often! I say "so often" instead of "not at all" because my teacher gave me more homework than usual, since my break was a whole 10 days. What could I say? I had to take it, but I wanted to tell her, "No, the point of the break is to not do ANY homework!" But, I dare not say such a thing to my nice Sensei. I would be a bad Japanese pupil. So, it will be a break mixed in with occasional, rather than usual doing of homework. Oh, and it just so happens that Lucille Ball was in Japan again a couple of weeks ago....yes, she came back for a little embarassing visit. :) I will tell about it in the next post, since this one is getting really long! Here are just a few pics of this month...I realized I hardly took any, so these were the best 3 I had.
Having fun at the park! Isn't he a cutie?

Playing in a little stream at the park. This has been a really fun thing we've liked doing since it has become so hot.

The other day, Brayden and Momiji kept kissing each other! I couldn't get a very good picture, but they were repeatedly planting smooches on each other's lips. I don't know why he started doing this, but it was pretty funny! Actually, what I think he was doing was he was trying to be nice to her. In the past he has been rough with her, so we've been working on being nice to the "baby." So, my explanation is that he was trying to be "nice" and "gentle" as I have tried to teach him. But, I didn't teach him to kiss her! He did that all on his own...flirting already?!

Recent Pictures

These are some of my favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Brayden got a KU shirt from my parents in the mail. He also got a KU sippy cup and I got a KU shirt as well. Since KU won the NCAA we like to represent them.

Brayden loved his lollipop. Isn't he looking at it adoringly?

We had Akemi over for dinner recently. It is common and traditional to bring a gift to someone's house when you visit them, but Akemi brought us much more than I had imagined! She knew our anniversary was coming up, so that is why she brought so much. This is a picture of what she brought-beautiful flowers, cake and "His and Hers" rice bowls.


This park we found has a little fountain and stream that we have gone to play in a couple of times already on very hot days. Lots of kids are usually there, running around in their diapers and getting soaked. We went with Akemi and Momiji and Brayden had a blast.

This Week

We had a few days off of school this week because of a Japanese holiday called "Golden Week." It was a nice break, but we ended up staying at home the whole time because Brayden was sick. He had a fever for a couple of days but is back to being healthy now. During the break I saw a third centipede in our house. This one was in the kitchen crawling up the wall. It was a small one, thankfully. The carpenter is coming on Monday morning to fix up our cracks and possibly spray. I can't wait for Monday!!
Yesterday my friend Akemi and her daughter Momiji came over to play for a couple of hours. We had a lot of fun. Akemi brought me so much stuff! She brought me a framed picture of some needelework and a little bag that her mother in law had sewed. She also brought me a huge bag of little boy clothes that were from her sister, (whom I've never met). And she gave me a lot of decaff coffee packages, since its so hard to find decaff coffee here, and she knew I wanted some. Isn't she so sweet? I felt bad because I didn't have anything for her. Later that day at dinner, our doorbell rang. It was Akemi. She had brought another huge bag of more clothes for Brayden. She also brought the pictures she had taken earlier that day of our kids playing together. I have been thinking about what I can do for her, or give to her to show her that I am really thankful for her generosity and to let her know that I enjoy hanging out with her. I want to have her for dinner soon, but I'm trying to think of other things I can do as well. She also said she would cut my hair for me sometime next week. So I am just enjoying her friendship and am praying a lot for her. Other than that, we're still just doing life here. We're going to school and doing every-day kind of things. I have been enjoying my tutoring. I have SO much to learn but at least I'm making a little progress each day!

Brayden wearing his pajamas, in my heels. He was trotting around and loved to hear them "click click clicking" on the wood floor.

This is a view of our town, Okazaki, from a lookout at the children's art museam. We went there with my language teacher, Megumi, and her family, and our teamates, the Parson's family.

This is one of Brayden's new outfits. I just think he looks really cute.

This is Brayden, Momiji and Akemi. I wish I had a better picture of Akemi looking at the camera. I will try to get one for next time.

Brayden and Momiji. Isn't she too cute?! Brayden is wearing a "Shinkansen" kimono for boys. It's one of the outfits Akemi passed down to me. It's very Japanese, and I think its so cute.