The little bird friend

This is another picture of the bird that was perched on our front rail a few days ago.  It is a Daurian Redstart and apparently winters here from October to early April, so we may not see this little guy too much longer.   Its head is actually white, but the lighting here makes it look more black.  It is similar to a Mugiwaki Flycatcher, but because of the white head instead of a white streak, it is a Redstart.  I'm learning about birds here....

 We were given a box of these h u g e  sea scallops.  One was enough for anyone. I pan seared them with olive oil and garlic--yummy.  The shells are now lining one of the flower beds.  :-)

Himeji Castle revisit

In July of 2011 we visited Himeji Castle, a World Heritage Site, with some friends.  The castle is under renovation until 2015.  The Roof tiles and walls are being replaced where needed, but also being put on with new bonding material.  They use the same methods as when the castle was first built about 400 years ago.

You can't go inside the castle itself.  An elevator observation building has been constructed so visitors can see the progress of the renovation on the topmost roof.  Here is a shot from 2011:

All the roof tiles have been removed and the underlying wood structure has been reinforced/replaced with new wood.

Here is what we saw on March 7 this year  of this same roof:

Gorgeous, isn't it?  You could not see this from standing on the ground.  Two clay fish ornaments were made for the roof.  There's a video showing how they were formed and molded and then placed on the roof ends.  Here is a photo of one of the big fish:

Simply amazing. 

This is a tile with a Cross on it and an explanation of what it is:

Countless hours and money have been spent in this project which will not be completed until sometime in 2014, then all the scaffolding will be taken down and it will reopen to the public sometime in 2015--a five-year project.  It will be well-worth the wait. 

This and That

 It has been a while since I updated, so here goes.  This quilt I made for a doctor friend of one of our church members.  She gave me the material which was six half-meter pieces.   This is what I came up with and I used all the material she gave me.  Makes a nice lap quilt. 

 We made an apple pie since apples are fairly cheap this time of year--lovely smiley face.

These twin brothers visit our church with mom and dad sometimes.  Here they are sitting  near the church.  I asked them "How old are you?" and the one on the right has two fingers (his correct age) and brother has four fingers (not)--but must be 2 kids times 2 years equals four, right?

I don't know if you can see this bird or not as it was sunny on that side of the house.   This bird flies around here frequently and this day it was perched on our handicap ramp railing out front.  It has an orange breast and black head with a white streak.  It tweets just once and flits its tail every time it moves and hops from branch to branch.  It seems rather friendly.   Spring is coming soon!

Some current projects

One of my projects this spring.  It is just a one block pattern in about 35 different blues.  The white is a white-on-white prints you can't really see, but it does add to the texture.

I made this iPad cover for a friend.  The outer fabric is birds in a field and the inner fabric is ladybugs.  It's held on with inch-wide black elastic on the corners and the black one here holds it shut.

February update 2013

Here in Kobe there have been more snow days than usual.  However, typically, just a dusting which is melted within an hour of the sun coming out.

Sometime between breakfast and lunch on the 13th hundreds of baby mantis emerged from their cocoons.  I had found two last fall and put them in a small jar in the kitchen window, thinking they would hatch in April like the butterfly did last year or the year before.  It must have been warm enough inside with our heater going 24/7  so they came out two months early.   It is difficult to see, but you can get the idea, I hope.

Aren't they so cute!  They look just like their mom.  :-)   Since we could not keep them inside we placed them under one of the bushes and covered them with cut leaves/branches.  I suspect most will die in the cold and for lack of sufficient bugs to eat.  Next fall we shall not collect these little sacs and keep them inside.

Sara had her first babysitting job for friends of ours in Akashi.  They went out for a couple of hours without their two little ones--a new experience--remember those days?  Little Karen is so adorable and looks just like big brother.  She is generally a happy kid.

 That is the update until mid-February.  More news to come.  Thanks for reading.

Victory in Jesus!

Mrs. Matsuda is about 88.  Last year she asked Jesus to save her after many long years of witnessing by her daughter and us.  She would usually have negative things to say about Christianity whenever around Christians.  About five or six  years ago, Joe went over to her house and pulled weeds out of her garden.  She fell in love with him.  Every time we would come by and say "Hi," she would always, always tell us what a good kid Joe was. 

In January 2012 she came to church for the first time in her life.  Then while we were on short furlough in April/May, she accepted Christ.  Sometime in the past four months she indicated she wanted to be baptized, so she has started classes with Henry.  Progress is slow as she does not understand as easily as someone much younger.

In December her daughter told us that she called the Buddhist priests and told them to stop coming by.  She also said she was going to dispose of her butsudan (altar in the home to her dead husband). 

Anyway, last week after Henry's lesson, he asked her if he could take out her kamidama, which he had never noticed before.  She hemmed and hawed and gave excuse, so he did not.  However, on February 7 Henry went over again for a lesson and came home after dark about 6:15 p.m.  Sara and I heard the car drive up, then doors opening and closing, but no Henry coming in the door.  When he finally did come in, he said he had all of Mrs. Matsuda's kamidama and butsudan stuff and was going to burn it.  

After dinner he and I went outside and I sorted through the two bags of stuff while Henry busted up the butsudan with a sledge hammer.  He piled up the burnable items, then he set fire to it and burned it!   

This is a major step in the life of a Japanese believer.  Victory in Jesus! My Savior forever.  He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood.  He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him.  He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.

Whimsical stuff

This carrot was given to us by our neighbor.   It is a wonder how a single-rooted veggie gets twisted like this.  All it needs is a head.  It will probably end up in a soup soon.

And then there were these huge heart-shaped strawberries.  How do they grow like that? 

Sara has been doing science experiments.  Here is one involving a battery an water.

 

Now here are photos of the bushes after Henry cut them.  

They are surely nice and neat, but somewhat lacking in the middle. Hopefully they will all grow back come spring/summer.

The Happy Couple

Joe and Christin taken in January at Washington Harbor on the Potomac River.  Wedding is June 29, colors are royal blue and white and I think they will have six attendants each.  An outdoor wedding next to the church is planned depending on the weather, reception to follow.   More details as they develop. Stay tuned.

First Snow 2013

January 14, 2013, officially Coming of Age Day here in Japan.  I woke up to the sound of rain about 6:00 a.m.  Along about 8:00 a.m. it started snowing.  It does not snow in Kobe that much.  This was coming down fast, big fluffy flakes, but wet.  In an hour or so there was a centimeter on the ground.  The bushes started sagging under the weight.  By noon the snow turned back into rain and we had slush all over the place.  Temperature was about 34F.  It was nice while it lasted.

 Henry started to trim the end bushes last week.  There's about 15 to go. 
 These are on the other end of that line of bushes.  Sara said it looks like hair after someone wakes up in the morning.   Below is the future vege garden.

Then there was this bird perched on top of the shed, chirping away and looking at me through the window. 

Blue berries

 I have no idea what these blue berries are called, or the plant they came from, but it is such a vibrant blue. The plant is grass-like and very close to the ground, so they are hard to see unless you may be looking for them.  

Wedding Bells

Son Joseph wrote an email with attached photos and this note:

BTW, thought you might want to know. 

He has asked his long-time girlfriend to marry him and she said yes!  Not that that is a surprise as we did see it coming.  They were not planning to get married until Christin finished nursing school, but for whatever reason, it seemed the right time, so they picked out the rings (3-ring wedding set) and he popped the question.  The date is probably June 29th, Saturday, but we are not sure exactly yet.  They met on the 27th in 2005 and have kept up a long-distance relationship since.  We are rather excited about this, as you can imagine.    

Locks of Love 2013

 For the New Year, Sara said she wanted to cut her long locks and donate it to the Locks of Love organization.  It was past waist-length and I cut off about 18 inches.  She still has at least that much left.  Sara said she did not like the split ends, thus prompting the decision.  It had grown for four years, when last she donated to Locks of Love. 

When I asked her why she wanted to cut her hair, she said, "So I can flip it!" as she did so with her hand.  Three-foot hair is hard to flip.   Here is the link to the website.  I've donated at least three times when my hair was darker; this is Sara's second or third time. 
It's a good way to start the New Year.
http://www.locksoflove.org/

Fiscal Responsibility

I try to keep politics out of my blog; however, in the instance of the "fiscal cliff" I came across this from a comment section at Townhall.com relating to the President's last press conference on negotiations.

magnetar's post is excellent and worth re-posting:

fiscal cliff- this is not my work but it is brilliant in its simplicity
US TAX revenue - 2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget - 3,820,000,000,000
new annual debt -1,650,000,000,000
national debt - 16,000,000,000,000
pres Obama budget cuts - 38,500,000,000
let's now subtract 8 zeros and pretend it is a regular household budget
annual income $21,700
money the family spent $38,200
New debt on credit card $16,500
outstanding credit card debt -$160,000
total budget cuts so far $38.50
Can you liberals comprehend what is happening here, can you understand why the conservatives are crying Obama is a traitor and a marxist? Is this a road to prosperity or a road to destruction?

My thoughts:
This is so simple to understand.   If your outflow is bigger than your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall.  What is hard to understand here?  Since Congress has not passed a budget in nearly four years, how do they expect to negotiate anything?  Regular people don't live like this, they can't live like this.  People used to go to debtor's prison.  Where can we send the government?  One has to tighten the belt and cut the spending to get things under control.  It is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem.  Republicans are going to get blamed for everything that happens, so they should just do what is right.  We shall see if leadership has the guts to do it.  Meanwhile, pray for the USA, still the best land on the planet.

Merry Christmas

God is still good and God is still in control.  Merry Christmas.

December 16,2012

Christmas at the Bread of Life Baptist Church, Kobe, Japan

Last quilts for 2012

Eight inch half-square triangles on the back of this one.  One way to use up material. 

The front is half-square triangles in greens with accent white and yellow.  The border is has Bible book names tan on tan.

T

This colorful baby quilt is about a meter square for a young newborn.  The backing is a world map and summer kimono fabric.

This did not turn out like it was supposed to, if only I was paying attention when I pieced it.  Rather than take the blocks apart and do it right, I did this arrangement.  These quilts will be given as Christmas gifts to new church members. Below is the backing and quilt label.

An accident and daikon

 Saturday Henry was inching along up in Sanda at a traffic light.  He thought the line was moving, but it wasn't and he hit the car in front of him, and that one hit the car in front of it.  The car now has a "scary" look about it--sort of like one of those evil bugs from the movies.  It still runs fine.  Our insurance does not cover this damage, but will cover the other two vehicles.  And we just had our contract renewed. 

On another note, our neighbor gave us this diakon, a large radish, that I use in soups and stews mostly.  It has a single "hair" growing out of the head.

Busy week ahead with passing out Christmas flyers, invitations to a cookie making party and a pizza party for the teens.  There's also a big lunch on Sunday, so that involves turkey and some of the fixings.  We will be stuffed.  Please pray for some visitors to come to these activities.  Merry Christmas!

My House is Full...

This was taken at the Missions Conference in Long Beach in October.  Finally was able to convert the file to a new format.  This is the hand choir doing a black light presentation.

                                         Opening song Hallelujah to the Lamb

 Hispanic Choir singing Reach the World--just the chorus

This is one of the windows in the chapel at the FBC Long Beach. 

 The tractor trailer was parked near the church we attended on Oct. 28. 

 The Good Year Blimp we saw near Long Beach.  It had just landed. 

These college kids were digging into some sinful desserts. :-)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I have not published my political opinion, but this time I am.

It’s OK to cry.  After learning of the election results, my heart just ached, wondering how so many people could be duped into believing all the empty rhetoric.  What has happened to the land of my nativity? 

As I looked on the election maps state by state, I noticed all the democratic counties were along the West coast, the Northeast above Virginia, and around Illinois and among those individual states, just a handful of counties were actually democrat, where the majority of the state voted republican.  It was around the big population centers that the president got his biggest support.  Grassroots America did not vote for four more years of the same bad policies, but we will have to put up with it.  Here is an excellent post-election article.

http://patriotpost.us/alexander/15387/

It is not time to despair.  “To despair is to not believe God,” as quoted by Marilla in Anne of Green Gables.  This whole thing is because God planned it; perhaps as a judgment on Christians who are not being the salt of the earth.  It is time to double down and seek God and ask that He heal our land, as only He can do. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

We left Clinton about 9:00 and got to Dulles about 10:00 a.m.  Joe dropped us off and we headed into the airport.  An underground train has been built to take passengers from the main terminal to the one where you board your flight.  It is better than those big bus=type things they’ve had.

It was a full flight; 14 hours to Tokyo, but really a smooth one.  It was not easy to sleep, but I did doze some. 

                                  Somewhere over Alaska about 6 hours into flight

We arrived at Tokyo about 5:00 p.m. and had to catch our flight to Itami airport about 5:45, so we had to hurry through customs and get to the plane.  Somehow we three were not sitting in the same row, even though there were plenty of vacant seats.  Anyway, we landed OK at Itami, got the luggage and met Noseh-san who came to pick us up.  We got back to the house about 9:00 pm, and took showers and went straight to bed.  Unpacking on Monday.  Nice to be back, but the trip was too short, as always. 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

This morning Peter drove us over to Rosehill Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA, where Pastor Upshaw has been pastor for 43 years.  Henry taught the Bible Study hour and morning service.  The last time we were there was on deputation in 1989. This has been one of our most faithful churches.  After the service we were taken to an authentic Chinese restaurant, meaning the employees all spoke Chinese.  The food was really good, too. 

   

After lunch we headed toward Prince Frederick, MD., and the New Life Baptist Church where Pastor DiChiacchio has been for 10 years.  He and his family were at Independent 30 years ago when I joined there.  It was a full house of people (literally, they meet in a house); and our three sons were all there.  Henry preached. 

After services we headed back to Clinton in two cars.  We met at the IHop and Peter decided to go home having the need to get up early for work in the morning.  So Matthew and Joe and the rest of us had ‘dinner”.  Henry got blueberry pancakes, I had ice cream, Sara had a crepe and the boys had a full breakfast.  Then after that we all hugged and went back to the Gill’s house.  Joe is going to take us to the airport in the morning.