Saturday, November 30, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
This Week's Groceries
I love what I do, but to protect the privacy of the people I seek to minister to, most interactions I have with people I do not share with you. Sometimes the weight of the needs around me is so heavy on my heart that I just need to talk about something light hearted. So in today's blog I present you with...ta da...this week's groceries from our nearby grocery store, Marufuji.
I love it that we have easy access to such lovely fruits and vegetables all year around. Being a mountainous island country, a good share of the food in Japanese grocery stores is imported. I've heard 75%. Since we eat mostly fresh food, I'm able to get mostly food grown somewhat locally (in Japan at least), but my papaya came from the Philippines, the grapes from California, and the bananas from Taiwan or the Philippines (this bunch didn't say). We'll round out our week of fruit with pears, persimmons, mikans (Clementines), avocados, and apples from Japan.
I already had some apples on hand but had to get this one. It cost 178 yen (about $1.78) and was huge! I have long fingers so this is bigger than it looks. My rule of thumb is not to buy a piece of fruit that costs more than a dollar per serving unless it happens to be something irresistible like a papaya or an avocado. This apple could easily feed us both as an accompaniment to a meal with some left over for another meal...or snack.
The unusual brown and white vegetable with holes to the right of the carrots is lotus root. It goes nicely in the stir fry I'm planning for supper with the bean sprouts, green onions, mushrooms, turnips, turnip greens, and thinly sliced beef.
They were having a meat sale so I purchased almost two pounds for the week...more than we usually eat. With the weather turning cooler my appetite is increasing so having more than vegetables sounds appealing (though I love my veggies!).
I got the water bottles because our earthquake supplies needed updating. I'm not a huge fan of canned food but we have some in the event that food becomes difficult to get as it was for awhile in March 2011 after the big earthquake.
The white cartons with blue and brown labels are one-liter cartons of milk. I bought two to make my weekly supply of plain yogurt that we absolutely love on our morning oatmeal and another two cartons for general purposes. Russ likes to drink milk. We both love our tea and have a cupboard dedicated to our tea collection. Recently I had a day of prayer and vision and decided in the next year I really want to focus on "drinking tea with Jesus." I really want to grow in being silent before Him sipping hot tea without rushing off to this, that, and the other. I really want to know what He thinks. That was a bit off topic, but when I started talking about tea, it came to mind.
I like to make my own bread and baked goods, but decided I needed the crackers for my office. I get dizzy from low blood pressure and having something salty perks me right up. The other day at work I needed a salt fix and my coworker shared her pretzels with me. They really helped me so I decided to be more prepared.
I already have staples on hand like whole wheat flour that I get from the nearby mill. I get my brown rice in 3-kilo bags and oatmeal from Costco. I get our beloved Arrowhead Mills natural peanut butter online along with other foods tricky to find in Japan.
We are blessed. We thank God for the food He has provided for us and the people who will come into our home this week to share it. Every week there's always someone, or several someones who come for a meal. We love it. Russ' disabilities make it hard for him to get out a lot, but God sends people to us. We love our life. God is good.
I love it that we have easy access to such lovely fruits and vegetables all year around. Being a mountainous island country, a good share of the food in Japanese grocery stores is imported. I've heard 75%. Since we eat mostly fresh food, I'm able to get mostly food grown somewhat locally (in Japan at least), but my papaya came from the Philippines, the grapes from California, and the bananas from Taiwan or the Philippines (this bunch didn't say). We'll round out our week of fruit with pears, persimmons, mikans (Clementines), avocados, and apples from Japan.
I already had some apples on hand but had to get this one. It cost 178 yen (about $1.78) and was huge! I have long fingers so this is bigger than it looks. My rule of thumb is not to buy a piece of fruit that costs more than a dollar per serving unless it happens to be something irresistible like a papaya or an avocado. This apple could easily feed us both as an accompaniment to a meal with some left over for another meal...or snack.
The unusual brown and white vegetable with holes to the right of the carrots is lotus root. It goes nicely in the stir fry I'm planning for supper with the bean sprouts, green onions, mushrooms, turnips, turnip greens, and thinly sliced beef.
They were having a meat sale so I purchased almost two pounds for the week...more than we usually eat. With the weather turning cooler my appetite is increasing so having more than vegetables sounds appealing (though I love my veggies!).
I got the water bottles because our earthquake supplies needed updating. I'm not a huge fan of canned food but we have some in the event that food becomes difficult to get as it was for awhile in March 2011 after the big earthquake.
The white cartons with blue and brown labels are one-liter cartons of milk. I bought two to make my weekly supply of plain yogurt that we absolutely love on our morning oatmeal and another two cartons for general purposes. Russ likes to drink milk. We both love our tea and have a cupboard dedicated to our tea collection. Recently I had a day of prayer and vision and decided in the next year I really want to focus on "drinking tea with Jesus." I really want to grow in being silent before Him sipping hot tea without rushing off to this, that, and the other. I really want to know what He thinks. That was a bit off topic, but when I started talking about tea, it came to mind.
I like to make my own bread and baked goods, but decided I needed the crackers for my office. I get dizzy from low blood pressure and having something salty perks me right up. The other day at work I needed a salt fix and my coworker shared her pretzels with me. They really helped me so I decided to be more prepared.
I already have staples on hand like whole wheat flour that I get from the nearby mill. I get my brown rice in 3-kilo bags and oatmeal from Costco. I get our beloved Arrowhead Mills natural peanut butter online along with other foods tricky to find in Japan.
We are blessed. We thank God for the food He has provided for us and the people who will come into our home this week to share it. Every week there's always someone, or several someones who come for a meal. We love it. Russ' disabilities make it hard for him to get out a lot, but God sends people to us. We love our life. God is good.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Grandparenting
Missionaries don't often get to see their grandkids. We just experienced a glorious two weeks with our daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter visiting Japan. They were here during cherry blossom season making this special time of year even more amazing.
It was Russ' first time to meet his granddaughter. Without a doubt, it was love at first sight!
I'm the grandma so of course I think she's pretty special!! I started signing the alphabet to her but she's not quite ready to read yet. I'll need more time with her!
We have a lovely daughter-in-law who is a wonderful addition to our family.
We were able to introduce Aravis to many friends including Christie's pastor here in Japan and his family. Christie attends a deaf church that meets close to our house.
It's so hard to narrow down the pictures, but alas...I must. It's amazing how many strangers would come up to us and talk when we had a cute little baby in tow. Now the baby is back home with her daddy and mommy in the US and we're relishing the memories. Thank you, God!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
How Things Are
It's been a difficult school year. I love serving as Director of School Support Services (SSS) at Christian Academy in Japan. I've just been too busy. After pushing myself for several months I ended up getting sick and pretty much missed a week of life. Thankfully our daughter was home in Japan and took care of both Russ and me. What a wonderful provision!
I'm slowly catching up with things and today the plum blossoms were glorious! Truly there are so many things to thank God for since I last wrote in October. Here are just a few...
• Granddaughter Aravis born in Maine on November 25, 2012 (I got to go help out for ten days over my Christmas Break from school. She's a dear!!)
• My 88-year-old father was able to stay with us for 7 weeks
• I hosted 16 homeschool teenagers for a week in January (great kids; great week!)
• My sister Lorelei and sister-in-law Jeannie came for a visit from the US and spoke at the Ladies Retreat I led in early February
• Our annual Arts & Skills Day on Feb. 16 was a huge success with close to 100 students attending various classes
• It's been great to have our daughter home with us for 5 1/2 months while she finishes up online classes towards a masters degree in Deaf education
• The routine cycle of responsibilities are all going well
• God has sent me assistants to help me finish out the school year (We restructured SSS and it just took more out of me than I expected.)
• We anticipated a serious shortfall in financial support when our largest supporting church was not able to continue supporting us, but God is providing so that we can keep on keeping on
Tomorrow we'll be remembering the second anniversary of the triple disaster (earthquakes, tsunami, and radiation fallout) that rocked Japan on March 11, 2011. Those of us in Japan will never forget where we were and what it felt like to live through that experience. Our lives here in Tokyo are somewhat back to normal, but everything has changed for thousands of people in the Tohoku area still in temporary shelters, still mourning the loss of family, friends, homes, and livelihoods, and still feeling anxious. Please pray with us that many will find hope in Jesus.
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