I'm glad I scheduled posts to be put up automatically, because I certainly didn't have time for these... you'll see!
Aug 30, 2024
Posting From A YOOSTOOBEE Room
PLAYGROUND PRINCESS
June 26 in Minneapolis (I'm sorry this post is WAY out of place), I went with my sister Janice to babysit her grandchildren Elias and Thea. The evening included a romp out to a nearby park. When the activity was announced, the older brother changed into his playclothes right away, but the younger sister wouldn't put on her scrubbies.
"You're going to get all dirty!" he told her, but she insisted. No wonder; she wanted to play Princess. You can't be a princess in scrubbies.
1 Princess Thea Sliding next |
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2 Did you get me? |
3 Sis, did you call? I'll come rescue you! |
4 Her brother keeps her safe from |
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5 Dreaded flash-breathing Grannys prowling nearby |
Aug 29, 2024
LAST FEW HOURS
This was part of an e-mail to my sister yesterday:
The gas man was supposed to come turn off our gas at 5, and we were supposed to go to Omiya at 6:30, but it was 5:30 and he wasn't here. I asked Kinya if he wasn't coming after all, and he said he'd said he'd be late. I'd hoped we could be early and maybe stop by and say hello to my friends at the park. I could go now, he said, just be back by 6:30. I'd been hoping he'd say that and had been wiping myself down with a Gatsby sheet, making it cool, rushed off to the park--God kept it amazingly cool today!
There, I said out loud--and I didn't really care if people around me thought I was looney for talking to the animals because I was going to be moving anyway--I was moving, going to Omiya tonight so had to say goodbye, would not be coming to the park anymore.
--
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
Missionaries move all the time, so I should be used to it, right? Why then, does it seem like Kinya knows what he's doing, and I'm the one forgetting everything?
When my comb broke but I needed to part my hair, I didn't want to bother Kinya with it, so I snuck to the kitchen drawer and found...a chopstick to do the part of a rattail comb!
But when I went to take down my curtain, I realized I had to call Kinya; I had thrown the chairs away so couldn't reach the rods! These things are too high! I'm glad Kinya's tall. (Tall for a Japanese, that is.)The mattress is ready to be taken out, and this whole place is bare. I'm all packed; will be staying at a hotel tonight. The AC and various things will be disconnected tonight. everything will be locked up tomorrow, when we'll get on our flight down to Okinawa!Rain is forecasted for Thursday evening, and that's when we're supposed to be in the air. Turbulence? Please pray now for our flight. Almost there!
Aug 28, 2024
STILL IN IWATSUKI
"That's okay sweetie. I'll put you up here, okay?" It blinked for me a few times. Onto the post then...
* * * * * * *
Well, when I got to the U.S. and began writing in my journal, I realized I had only a few pages left and would run out way before I got back home. You want me to go the tail end of the trip without journaling, that's fine with me, I prayed.. But a few days later, my sister Joyce, completely unaware of the situation, asked if I could use a spiral notebook journal with elastic placeholder and pen. Could I? Wasn't this God's smiling provision?
Aug 27, 2024
DOWN THE LAST STRETCH
Not everything in that picture was thrown away. See that pretty white bag and the black bag behind it?
Today is also the day the washing machine and fridge get picked up. So, you can see we're looking ready to go!
Two more days--please pray God help us take care of little things at the end too, like meals, rest, health. Thank you for your prayers these past weeks especially.
SMILING SCRAWLS
Altho' we've been packing like crazy; appliances have been dying, the furniture has pretty much disappeared; the hangings have come off the walls; and I haven't had time to do any drawing, I realized something while looking at my desk the other day. (This post was written when I still had my desk!)
We human beings may be no more than "just scrawls" to a Creator God, but He attached an importance to us such that His Son DIED for us. Isn't that...SMILABLE?
Aug 26, 2024
TREATED TO A TRIP
I wanted, one last time before going down to Okinawa...no, not to see my Buddhist friend again, but I wanted to visit the church I've been fellowshipping with since 2016. I would need to travel 2-hours to get there (that's why I do it mostly online). With my medical condition, and the record heat the past few weeks, it looked very unlikely I could go, but friends--especially those at the Musashino Christ Chapel prayer meeting and the after-worship fellowship group--prayed.
Recent typhoons yanked temperatures down to just terribly hot, not intolerably torpid. Today, with the faithful support of my interceding comrades, I made the trip.
Yes, the person I'm pictured with above is Yumi. She teaches up in northern Japan during the school year but can come down to MCC for the summer. Isn't she a pretty, young-looking professor?
Richard is married to Masako, Dave is married to Ayumi.
By the end of the visit, I had given away over a dozen more sketches with little messages on the back. Then alas, it was time to go home.
Why is it that the ride back seemed quicker? It was probably at least 3 degrees hotter, too...Anyway Father, Thank You for the delightful treat.
Aug 25, 2024
MIKA (Mai kah) of ABBOTSFORD
This is the last of the "pet posts." Two kitties, two doggies. This one held my gaze. When Joyce and my cousin Kim went out shopping, doggy Mika came up to the sofa and just LOOKED at me with those eyes...I could've melted! Oh, but onto the post!
How could you not love a dog wanting to please you so much? Yes sweetheart--bless you--Mika happily bounded back out to the yard again.
Isn't that the way God is with us, I mused. He can't help but love us and praises us for wanting to please Him no matter what kind of a job we do...and blesses us repeatedly that we would be encouraged to keep serving Him with gladness.
Aug 24, 2024
HALLS AND POOLS
I didn't know why, walking to the park early yesterday morning, the Lord impressed on my mind to turn left early and to take pictures of places I had not been to for years. The neighborhood city hall? Heated swimming pool? But I knew better than argue so I did. I almost laughed when I looked at the photos I had taken, because they were mostly reflections of the glass. I went onto the park, where it made more sense to enjoy my time taking pictures of critters there...right?
Aug 22, 2024
BUMMING AROUND IN MINNEAPOLIS
The next stop was probably my favorite. People might look at me cross-eyed. "You LIKE to sleep on the floor?" Well...
"Hey, don't gang up on her. If she likes to sleep on the floor, let her!"
"I wouldn't put it like that..."
"Anyone should be allowed to bum around. No one should gang up on anyone if you like it."
Hm; maybe Lynn's cat was right. Maybe I liked bumming around there...!