Omede to gozaimasu!

We're in the middle of our first holiday season in Japan. Thanksgiving was our first big holiday to face apart from our families. We got to celebrate a good ol' American Thanksgiving twice! I'm so thankful we walk and ride our bikes so much, so the effects of the two feasts are lessened.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had a break from lessons, and chose to head to IKEA to get a rug they were running on sale, as well as a few other little home items. IKEA is definitely the cheapest place to get things for the home! It doesn't hurt that we can get free coffee with our IKEA card, as well as some really awesome cheap dark chocolate. While we were in line, we decided to make it a Thanksgiving lunch of French fries, cold green tea, cafe lattes, and dark chocolate bar. We looked so American scarfing down our huge plate of French fries, but didn't even care. We've been away from home long enough at this point to relish a chance to be American.

Since we don't own a car, we normally would have something as large as a rug delivered, but after testing the weight, Jason decided if I could handle wearing Finn and carrying our bag of other things, he could get the diaper bag and the rug. So yes, we decided to haul a huge area rug home. On a train. Of COURSE I documented it! 

We had dinner that night with another American couple, and some Japanese friends. Thanks to care packages, we were able to have stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, and other traditional Thanksgiving foods. The pumpkin pie was definitely the best part. We made sure our Japanese friends knew that it's tradition to stuff yourself on Thanksgiving.

Saturday was our big meal with all our American team mates. It was great fun! We played bingo and a trivia game for prizes, which included American candy, and feasted on American food. I paced myself Thursday, but on Saturday I ate sooooo much! It felt good to be full. We joke about how we stay hungry all the time here because Japanese portions are so small. 

I was thankful that we had our gathering scheduled for that particular day, because Saturday was the day that being away from my family during the holidays caught up with me. My family has always had the tradition of going to Little Rock the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a movie, Christmas shopping, and eating in one of the hundreds of restaurants we were lacking in our small southeast Arkansas town. It made me sad that Finn wouldn't get to grow up with that experience. 

But as always, God has a way of showing up in the hard times. He spoke to me that day while I was praying and telling Him about my sadness, and said during this Thanksgiving, be thankful for the hard times I have here, because they make me dependant on Him in a way I would never be in America. God knew what He was doing when He called me to make my life outside of America. He knows that I'm too stubborn and independent, and that living in Japan is what it's going to take to best conform me to His image.

To end on a lighter note, here's a picture I took of Finn and one of our teammates. Apparently, the turkey was just too much for him. I love it because he looks like a little man after a large Thanksgiving meal. He just needs a recliner, the remote, and a football game on TV.

Grace Full

Yesterday morning, after taking a quick moment to scan through my phone, I came away grieving. Between email, Facebook, and texts, I saw people needing prayer for wisdom while dealing with a difficult situation at their daughter's school, friends grieving for friends lost during the current crisis in their home in the Middle East, a prayer request from my home church for a husband that lost a wife and a young daughter in a car accident, not to mention thinking about my own team mates who are struggling to learn an insanely difficult language, all while trying to make sense of a new culture.

The day before yesterday, God had impressed a specific verse on me while reading John 1: "For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." (v. 16) God has taught me so much from the book of John since we arrived in Japan, and that morning was no exception. 

Tears came to my eyes as I started to pray...not for deliverance from their current situation, but for grace. Only grace. The grace to bear the trials that God alone allowed to be placed in their lives, and for the grace that He alone can give. "Grace upon grace."

When I feel like the worst mother/wife/Christian/[fill in the blank] in the world...grace.

When I struggle with language...grace.

When all I want to do is go back to America and familiarity and English...grace.

Because He has enough and He IS enough. 

Why Japan?

If only I had a hundred yen for every time we've heard this since we began our journey to Japan...

A Facebook friend recently posted THIS incredible video, and I would highly encourage you to check it out.

So my new answer is..."Why NOT Japan?"

Oyasumi!

Rain and Sting Rays

This past Thursday kicked off tsuyu, or rainy season. It's supposed to last for about a month, mostly during June. It's been raining almost non-stop since Thursday morning. 

It's been somewhat of a challenge, since life must go on. There are still groceries to be bought, which must be done on foot or bicycle, lessons to go to, laundry that needs to air dried, and you have to get out and have some fun every now and again. But we're making it, and we're definitely thankful for the cooler temperatures that have come along with it.

While the clouds haven't cleared off, we finally got a break in the rain this afternoon, so we took advantageous of it and got out of the house for a little bit. There is a river that runs along our building, and empties into Tokyo Bay, and we had noticed some dark things swimming around in the water we suspected were sting rays. We hurriedly changed and got out the door and down to the water. Sure enough - sting rays!! We had gone to a local aquarium about a month ago, and got a chance to touch sting rays, but I think it was even cooler to see them in the wild.

This is one of the bigger guys. 

We also saw tons of tiny crabs, barnacles, and little fish - even tiny flounders! Who knew we had an aquarium literally right outside our door?! My inner marine biologist was geeking out!!!

I caught a tiny crab for Finn, but he was way more interested in running up and down the bank and stepping in the puddles :) 

I often see people out digging for clams when the tide is low, and now I'm very eager to go down to the river and check out what all there is to see when the water is low. Just another reason I love where we live!

The Hard Stuff

(This is a post I started at Chistmas, but never finished until now.)

"At Christmas, we like to see things in their proper place. We unwrap the ancient legends and the oldest truths. We like our angels unchanged and our rituals familiar. We like the right faces around the table, the right carols to be sung, the promise that this is how it is and always will be, because that is Christmas. The one still point in a world forever turning." 

The above quote are the opening lines to an episode of one of my current favorite shows: "Call the Midwife." I sat down to watch it and wasn't able to finish until I had processed those lines. 

Because...what happens when your Christmas is no longer a "still point in a world ever turning"? 

This year the faces around the table were, while still cherished, not the right ones. 

This year things weren't in their proper place.

The week leading up to Christmas wasn't an easy one for me. On top of missing my family, and those I normally celebrate with, I had a rough week in language. We had a stretch of several tough lessons back-to-back that left me feeling like a complete failure at Japanese. 

It all came to a head at our church's candlelight service. I had been asked to read a section of Scripture in Japanese, so I was sitting up front during the service with all the other readers. We sang all the "right carols", but in Japanese, so my brain had to work in overdrive to follow along with the hiragana.

Then things came to a head as I thought, "Why the heck am I doing this? Why am I here in this strange place struggling to sing Christmas carols - something that should be so easy and natural." I fought to hide tears that were threatening to embarrass me.

Then the Scripture reading started again. I can't tell you what was being read at that point, because my brain had checked out, but all of a sudden God spoke to my heart. He said, "You have no right to go home and sing Christmas carols in English while millions here don't know the reason we sing these carols." Well. Talk about a reality-check, spiritually speaking. I could go home and live in a familiar setting, with familiar faces, but I would miss the blessing of obeying God's command to plant my life in Japan, and be used by Him. So yes, I have GONE, but now I will STAY.

Cart, Buggy, Whatever

Depending on your respective area of the United States, your name for that contraption you use to haul your groceries around the store in will vary. However, the point of this post is not to argue about that, although you might be interested in knowing that if you were in Japan, you would more than likely call it a かご. Fun fact for the day.

They aren't all this way, but at our particular neighborhood supermarket, to use a buggy you must first insert a ¥100 coin, like so:

You then push in the coin, then the red thing connected to the chain above pops out, then you're on your merry way. After you are finished, you reconnect it with the cart in front of it and your coin pops back out.

Even though I occasionally have to scramble for a ¥100 coin, I have to admit, they have a pretty brilliant system going on. ¥100 is approximately $1, and you definitely wouldn't want to run off and leave your buck stuck in a cart now do ya? That's a large drink at Sonic Happy Hour!! (Unless the cost has gone up since I left the States) Therefore, you very willingly return your cart to all its little friends in the cart corral, and no cart pushers are needed. 

Fun Fact #2: Jason was a cart pusher at Wal-Mart one summer. It was the summer I spent in Romania, so I didn't see him for 8 weeks. When I came back, he was super tan and muscular from his job. Hubba hubba. Moral of the story, dudes: Cart pushing can be a very, VERY beneficial job.

Japan Life - Store Parking

I've decided to start a series of posts called "Japan Life" in order to document the things about our life here that I found most interesting when we moved here. Most of them are little mundane things, but they're so completely different from back home that they fascinate me.

First up - grocery store parking...and I guess you could say store parking in general. Most bigger stores have parking decks on top of the store, and the ground level parking is reserved for bikes. This is the bicycle parking lot at the supermarket where we get our groceries. Notice the bike-sized parking spaces.

Mr. Finn waiting to be loaded up in the bike along with a few day's worth of groceries.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Stuart Clan in Japan! We went into Tokyo to spend the day with some of our fellow Americans, so this is us taking a train "over the river and through the woods."

Thank you so much to our friends and family across the globe who have prayed for us, given to the LMCO, and encouraged us by your words and care packages. It has all meant the world to us, and keeps us going each day, even when we're discouraged by our language learning and celebrating special days thousands of miles away from our families. You are all a part of the work we're doing here in Japan!

Crossing the Pond

Here it is: the long-overdue post with pictures from our trip over the Pacific. 

We actually ended up leaving a couple of days later than originally planned, due to some last minute medical issues needing to be resolved, but thankfully everything was cleared away and we were on our way on October 4. I think it worked out better in the long run. We said good-bye to our families at home in private, instead of having to go through a tearful time in the airport. My brother drove us there, and he and one of my dear friends were the only two there to see us off. This allowed us to focus on getting six checked bags, three backpacks, a rolling suitcase, a stroller, a car seat, and a baby through check-in and airport security. I was worried because our flight leaving has been late the last couple of times I have flown, and I didn't want to get a late start on our long trip, but our flights were on-time for the duration of our trip.

Mr. Finn saying, "I got this! You guys handle the rest!"

Not the best picture of us, but it was the least blurry of this set.

 We had layovers in DFW, and then on to LAX. The flight between Dallas and LA and our time in LAX was a bit rough. Finn was having a hard time, and we were super worried because we had the hardest half yet to come. Thankfully, the Lord provided a quiet place to rest once we made it to the international terminal and found our gate.

Mr. Big all up in his own seat.

Our almost-12-hour flight between LA and Narita was the one that was worrying us the most. We had visions of screaming babies and glaring passengers dancing in our heads. But wouldn't you know - God was so gracious to us, because Finn settled right in and slept about 8 hours total, only waking 2 times to be fed and put right back to sleep. He might as well have been in his own crib! Jason and I even managed a small amount of sleep ourselves. I will say this - having a baby to tend to made the long flight pass a lot more quickly than the flight we had to Japan last year.

We had no problems making it through customs once we landed in Tokyo, and all of our baggage made it!

My studly man hauling BOTH carts full of our luggage

 Once we made it through customs, we came around the corner to this welcome sight:

Several of our team members made the trek to Narita to welcome us to Japan. It was such a small thing but it meant so much to see friendly faces when we landed in a foreign country that we knew so little about. They helped us with baggage, entertained Finn, helped us exchange our dollars to yen, and got us and all of our baggage loaded up and brought us to our new home.

Our apartment gets Finn's approval

I can't even describe the level of physical exhaustion we were in by the time we made it to our new home. However, it felt so good when we finally were able to lay down and sleep in our own place in JAPAN. It's been a long road here.

Leavin' on a jet plane...

...Don't know when I'll be back again. I am writing today from LAX while waiting for our final flight to Tokyo.

What a week! We've had such a good lesson in patience and flexibility - things that will definitely benefit us in our new life.

We weren't sure at first if we would be able to head out this past Wednesday because we were needing medical clearance for a last minute issue with me. It came in at the eleventh hour, but because of some ticketing issues, we ended up not leaving on Wednesday after all. Fortunately, we only had to wait two days - days I think actually benefitted us in the long run. We got a little more time with our families and ended up saying good bye in a private setting versus bawling our eyes out in front of everyone at the airport.

It feels surreal that we're finally on our way. Since both of us have traveled overseas multiple times in some ways it feels like the same ol' same ol' but then we keep having these moments today when it just stops us dead in our tracks that we're really moving to Japan, and there's not a return ticket waiting on us. 

It makes it so much easier knowing that we have an amazing team waiting to welcome us, take us to our new home, and show us the ropes. If we didn't have that I would probably be sobbing on the floor at this point. I even find myself starting to feel little surges of excitement. After all, we've worked hard for this for the last four years.

When we get to our new mansion (yes, they call their apartments "mansions" in Japan, I'll post a few of the pics I took with my nicer camera along the way. Until then, I leave you with this one I snapped with my iPad:

                                                                  Goodbye America!

        

                         

   

Six Bags!

   With one week left, we're getting pretty creative with our packing. Here are clothes for Finn rolled up in my exercise mat and stuffed in part of our water filter.

                         

                         

Saudade...and TCK's

I recently read this article by a blogger, and thought the emotions I'm experiencing were described perfectly by it. I'm all wrapped up in happy/sad feelings. I'm excited to be so close to arriving in Japan but then there are times when I almost hurt physically from the sadness of leaving family/old friends/new friends here in Virginia.

Saudade is a word commonly associated with TCK's. Sometimes I feel guilty to submitting Finn to a lifetime of many transitions and tough good-byes. I'm leaning heavily on my heavenly Father during this time. I have to continuously remind myself that this calling is Finn's calling as well. To stay in America to shield him from the grief that is to come over the years would be to deny him living out that calling. Acts 17:26-27 tells us that God placed us each in our own particular time in history and places we live in order that we might seek Him.

Any parent's of TCK's out there want to chime in?

Tiny Mr. Finn - ready to reach the nations

We're Almost Done!

All I can say is "WOW!" I can't believe our training time is almost over! I distinctly remember thinking at the halfway point that we'd never be through.

It was hard on all of us at first. After several months of not being on a schedule, we had to adjust to getting up with an alarm clock and having almost every hour of our day planned for us. We also had the adjustment of childcare for Finn. We had a few rough days - possibly even harder for Mama than for Finn - but we were adjusted within a week. It's been fun to see Finn's social personality emerge. He loves his teacher's and hanging out with the other babies. Seeing him smile at a his teacher's and willingly allow himself to be handed over has set our parent's hearts at ease. Now that we've settled in we've enjoyed living in community with like-minded people. We definitely feel better prepared now than we did when we first arrived.

God has provided greatly for us. We now have visas, plane tickets, and more than likely, an apartment. It's so great to know we have a home waiting on us after being nomads for three months! We're definitely ready to settle in and put our hand to the plow. 

Brushing up on our Japanese.

Playing with henna - the story of the five loaves and two fish.

Baby Dedication

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have the opportunity to take Finn before our family and home church congregation, and dedicate him to the Lord. God gave Finn to us to raise, but we wanted to make a public acknowledgement that his life belongs to God, and that we will do our best to raise him to love and serve the Lord.

We really wanted to have a chance to do this before leaving for Japan, so we were excited it worked out in the middle of all our traveling and speaking at churches.

Nomads 4 Lyfe!

Here we go! Our bags are packed, and the stuff we have left is at this time sitting in a crate in Memphis, waiting for us to have an address in Tokyo so they can ship it. Our life as temporary nomads has begun! It's been a CRAZY last couple of weeks for us, and we're enjoying some downtime with family. We'll be with Jason's family for a little over two weeks, then with my family for the same.

Our heavenly Father has lavished His undeserved blessings on us during the moving process: Our garage sale was a huge success. After two days, we had very little left to get rid of, and got a little extra cash in the process. We managed to fit the things we want to keep with us for the next seven months in three duffels, two suitcases, three backpacks, and one carry-on. (Shout out to the inventor of hand-seal vacuum bags!) This was a huge surprise. We had two extra duffels available to fill, and since we don't need them for our personal belongings, when the time comes to make the big hop across the ocean we can fill them with "necessities" such as our favorite peanut butter :) We also had a very smooth crating process. We didn't have any problems with any of the items we wanted to crate, and the freight company did all the work themselves! They even brought their own materials. We just had to sit back and point out things that we wanted to take. They were in and out in about three hours, when it would've taken us to days to get the same stuff done.

Find the J-Stu

Finn wasn't too keen on the screeching sound the packing tape made, but he and his Tootsie managed to take a nap in our bedroom with the door closed. Afterwards, he came out to supervise the loading process.

Some quiet time with Dad on our last morning in the little house

The last couple of days in our little house were somewhat emotional. We've jumped around a lot during our eight year marriage, and this is where we have settled for the longest amount of time - just over three years. It's also been our favorite. The countryside is beautiful and peaceful. It's where Finn was intended to be born, but when an induction became medically necessary, it's still where we brought him home for the first time. It's a little sad to know that he won't remember his time there.

 Speaking of Mr. Finn...

Naaaakeeeeed!!!!!!

You're moving me WHERE?!?!

We no longer have a newborn. It's sad to see a stage end, but he's becoming such a fun little guy. He's a really happy baby and it's a joy to parent him. He's reaching all his milestones on time or even early. He's learning how to use his hands and to pull his head up. He'll be speaking Japanese before we know it!

Buy Our Junk, Please

We're beginning this blog at the end - the end of our time in the teeny little house in rural Arkansas we've called home for the last three years. We've lived here longer than any other place during our 8 year marriage, and it's by far been my favorite. How many people have neighbors of the bovine variety at a distance of a mere 20 feet - practically looking in their window?

Today is the first day of our two day moving sale. It's been surreal watching the bulk of our belongings walk away in the hands of strangers, and knowing that our house is empty for keeps. All those things aren't just in boxes waiting to be opened in a new home close by. The rest of our stuff will be divided out to either crate for shipment to Japan, or stay with us as we live out of suitcases for the next six months.

A week from Saturday we will begin our time with Jason's family. We will spend about two weeks with them, then two weeks with my family, then it's off to start our big adventure!