BEARDED LADY

A Bearded Lady came for my grandson Yusei's Birthday Celebration in 2023?! Well, to tell you the truth, I'd taken a photo of the family in the kitchen and drew a picture of it. (Last picture of post.)

But I'd stayed up the night before making preparations for the day so got real sleepy while doing the sketch, and I found I couldn't concentrate. Instead of drawing simple shadows under the nose and chin, I ended up giving myself a moustache and beard!

Actually, my favorite picture of Yusei is when he was several months old and still in his baby crib. He'd been having a crying fit when nothing his mother did seemed to settle him down. Exasperated, she'd dumped him in the crib and gone out to the kitchen. I took off my glasses and quietly scolded him in English about how much God, his parents, his grandparents loved him anyway. Yusei, of course, doesn't understand English, much less speak Japanese yet, but he seemed to listen, amazed, and even smiled. Unbeknownst to me, my daughter got the whole thing on video behind me.

Today is Yusei's 4th birthday. My prayer is that he wouldn't do as I did working himself silly with efforts to make life succeed, but one day find a Heavenly Father to call His own so that he too would know a smile that could never be taken away from him.

Unexpected Hope Beyond the Grave

I don't know Yoko well, just know she is the mother of the little boy at a meal gathering--we'd had the traditional Okinawan pig intestine soup then--it may sound strange but is a special dish in that home. Here is the collage I drew, in black and white, of my Feb. '24 visit's last few days, not knowing I'd be back later that year to live on the island!

Nobody was aware that in March of 2025, we'd receive notice Yoko's mother had died. Janice was already back in the U.S. so unable to attend the funeral or convey condolences to Yoko. (Here's a crop in the sketched colors.) But along with the news of her passing was another bit of surprising information.

We found out her mother had made intermittent visits to a church on the other side of the island, a place she had gone to as a little girl. Of course, we have no idea if Yoko's mother received the salvation message for herself. But we had never heard Yoko's mother had any interest in things of God; it was a ray of light, especially for brother and sister Masaki and Sachie, mentioned earlier in this blog (Feb. 5, 2024 - this is their picture, posted here in black and white).

When my sister Janice befriended Masaki and Sachie, they were children and the only Christians in their family. Their parents found the Lord--their father just before he passed away. This is the sketch that was blogged Feb. 17, 2024, posted here in black and white. Now the siblings are in their 30's. and are hearing a brother's mother-in-law may've received Christ too!

We just continue to obey as we plant seeds of hope, turn the sod, sprinkle the water, and weed out varmints. The way God then chooses to bring us fruit is, well, up to Him.