Ch-ch-cha-changes....

For the year 2008 I chose James 1:2-5 to be my year verse. After hearing different advice about how to be wise with New Years Resolutions I made it a point to only make one resolution and to choose a verse that could go along with it.

I knew 2008 was going to be a year of "ch-ch-cha-changes" so I decided to go with James 1:2-5 and make it a point to not only PRAY to have joy in all circumstances but to seek out the joy in each circumstance.

I know a lot of you have been praying for me so I just wanted to let you know, YOUR PRAYERS ARE BEING HEARD.

Recently I have had so much joy in all that I do. I know that this is from God and not from myself.

I wanted to share with you the different things that have been giving me joy...

In January the Tokyo girls had a visit from MANDY from Shizuoka. Mandy is a kindred spirit and friend of mine. We met here in Japan but there's something about sharing cultural hardships that will bond you with someone. Mandy and I have chatted a couple times since she was here in January and every time I am so encouraged by this girl.

How can you not love Mandy? She brought us FRUIT ROLL-UPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(check out what Mandy' up to by clicking on the link to the right titled "i can be myself")
Along with my roommate Ayano, Saaya will also be moving in to Gurasu Toppu at the end of February. I am so excited to have her move in. Mikey has been a huge blessing with his prayers, encouragement and skype calls. He's not only a great boyfriend but a really great friend.
In April Joni Poon will visit Tokyo for A WHOLE MONTH to help BEST club during it's busiest season. With recruiting and initating towards tons of students, I knew Joni would be a perfect match for befriending young Japanese students. Joni has a contagious and joyful personality. You can't help but want to spend more and more time with her once you meet her. I'm so excited to have a whole month of Joni time. :D
Also in April, my best friend Kelli and her husband Marcus come through Tokyo for a little over a week. Woo hoo!!!! I can't wait to show these two my "stomping grounds" here in Hachioji. (KB, isn't this sad that this is the only picture I have of you on my computer? sad cause it's 3 years old. we need to take lots of pictures when you are here!!)
In less than a week I will be hitting the slopes... The BEST club snowboarding trip is my ichiban suki. (favorite) I love it. We ride the bus overnight and arrive at 6AM at the mountain to gear up and get out for a full day of boarding. I can't wait to learn some new tricks.

I'm also honored to be joining the Utsunomiya BEST club for their ski camp as well. I have a lot of fun with the Utsu students and appreciate learning new tricks from their boarders.
Along with the Tokyo and Utsu trips, Megumi (pictured below) and I will be traveling to warmer places. For her graduation Megumi wanted to take a trip somewhere nice so she and I will be hopping on a plane to go to Okinawa for 5 days.
Ah, good friends and their prayers give me so much joy...

Jennifer and I officially ended the little girls's english class. I was a little sad because they had grown up so much in the two years we had taught them. But I was excited to spend one last time with them and they presented Jennifer and I both with beautiful flowers.

Ah, flowers... joy! Jennifer and I broke a cultural rule and actually enjoyed some patio furniture at Costco. We sat back and relaxed while we had some time to kill. :D The furniture was shaped like a heart. It was adorable.

My friendship with Jennifer gives me so much joy.
Keeping up with my brothers' and their families keeps me on my toes and my "joy cup" overflowing... little Eddie is so cute bundled up. He looks sooo snuggly.

I can't help but love this picture of Lenora. I can't wait to see her again and hug her. She has turned into such a sweet girl. She will become a big sister in March. I can't wait to see my big family when I get home in June. (Lord willing)And last but for sure not least, this picture of Waveland has me laughing all day long. Here is my sweet and fiesty niece if you try to take her toys. I love this little munchkin.

I am so blessed. God is so good. Thank you for praying. I've had so much peace and joy going into all the things God has for me at this time.

Matane Mary!

This week I said goodbye to my best friend, Japanese sister, roommate and teammate Mary Vacha. Even as I write those words it still doesn't hit me that her room is empty. I expect Mary to come through the door with her sunny smile bursting with a story of the latest Japanese blunder that occured to her on her way home. I shall miss greeting her as she came home each day.

To celebrate we had a fun-filled weekend... we started the weekend off with dinner with the Witthofts at our favorite okonomiyaki restaurant. Kyle was more than ready to eat as we watched the food cook in front of us. It was so good.
Mmmm takoyaki how I love to eat you. :D
Some of us girls treated Mary to a relaxing night's stay in Hakone.

Fuyu, Natsumi and I
Hakone is near Mt. Fuji so it has a lot of nature that we can see and enjoy.
Fuyu, Jennifer, Mary, Joanna, Natsumi, Sae, Chisato (not pictured are Asako and Ayano)
We decided to take pictures in our yukatas.
Top: Sae, Na, Mary, and Chisato...
Bottom: Asako, Jo, Jennifer, and Fuyu.
Except we got a little confused with whether we were smiling or being serious...And since I am rarely serious... I had a little difficulty making a serious face. In the end, we just called the five or six attempts "good". (ha ha ha)
You may wonder what one does when they visit Hakone?
Well.... we relaxed twice in the hot springs (the stars were out and it was beautiful) and then we ate... and we ate GOOD. (yes, all those plates are for me) The sashimi was amazing...the food was amazing...
We suprised Mary with a cake. So true, Cake, so true.

The day of Mary's party, it snowed like crazy. I was thrilled to see so much fun.

Mary's last walk to Minami-Osawa

The Roods house was ...decorated? with snow wonders.

During the party we had a guessing game where we had to answer questions about mary's life. Questions like: "What age was Mary when she had her first crush?"
"What food does Mary hate to eat?"
"What are the names of Mary's three sisters?"Mary received another cake made by Shanghai (right side) and Tatsu.

Naoko and MaryBEST club will miss Mary!!

(Jennifer made these awesome baked apples...)
We watched the Superbowl LIVE Monday morning. (Keith came down for the party and game).

Mary and Kyle celebrating the Giants victory.
Far too soon and far too quickly came the farewell at the bus stop.

Tokyo Navigator Staff

Mark tried to get Mary and I to take a cheerleading pose but I was crying too hard and Mary's backpack was too heavy so this is the closest we could get to cheerleading...
And before I knew it...

Mary was going....

going....
gone!
I know I'll have so many wonderful days here in Tokyo and I will love enjoying this next season. But this was a hard page to turn...

My Dad wrote me an email and said this, "Missing those we love is what compels us to seek others in love, if we truly know what love is. We don't ever replace those we miss, we widen the bonds that unite us and honor The Love that constrains us to live to reach out to others. In the others we find, we honor the love that drove us to find them, the love we have shared with those we miss, whom - because we love - we will never lose. It may seem far off now, but it won't be long and the halls of some place will be filled again with the riotous laughing and mischief of Mary and Joanna. And won't that be fun for us all!"

My friendship with Mary has not ended and the days of us making mischief will come again... I am thankful that I was given two years with Mary. Not everyone has such an honor... I consider myself the luckiest woman to have a friend like Mary Vacha.

Good luck Mary!

When Words Can't Be Spoken Sing Them Instead...

*Jesus, King of Angels, Heaven's Light.
Shine Your face upon this house tonight.
Let no evil come into our dreams.
Light of Heaven, keep us in Your peace.
Remind me how you made dark spirits flee,
and spoke Your Power to the raging sea.
And spoke Your Mercies to a sinful man.
Remind me, Jesus, for this is what I am.
The universe is vast, beyond the stars
but You - You are mindful when a sparrow falls!
And mindful of the anxious thoughts
that find me, surround me, bind me...
With alll my heart I love You, Sovereign Lord.
tomorrow let me love You even more
and rise - to speak the Goodness of Your Name
until I close me eyes to sleep again.
The universe is vast, beyond the stars
but You are mindful when a sparrow falls.
And mindful of the anxious thoughts
that find me, surround me, bind me
... Jesus, King of Angels, Heaven's Light ... ... ... ...
Hold my hand and guide me through this night..*

remembered as sung and played by my father,
originally done by Fernando Ortega...


sung tonight by me...

I Got a Little Cragee At Disneyland!!

At first Mary and I were like, "Why are we up this early?" But then we remembered. "OH YEAH! Disneyland!!!"
I went a little crazy at Disneyland. I had heard about all the characters dressed up but I wasn't expecting to be so excited. I was like a five year old running around taking pictures with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and all the others. I got so caught up in the *magic* of it all that I even confessed to Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora) that she is my favorite.

The castle was beautiful.

Megumi, Naoko and I

The spinning tea cups.

Mary, Saori and Megumi
"Don't be gloomy, Mary. Disneyland is fun!"

I know I'm so bad but I even took pictures inside the rides. This is Splash Mountain.
Mary and I got Level 4 on Buzz Lightyear's ride.

Level 4 "Galatic Fighter"

"Show me your pirate face!" (Pirates of Caribbean Ride)
Ah, Walt!

Naoko, Joanna, Saori, Megumi, Mary, Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse

We can fly!!
Tokyo Disneyland was celebrating Cinderella.

aka Cinderellabration!!

We watched the show where Cinderella was crowned Princess (the follow-up for the show). Everyone was there. Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and Jasmine, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella's ugly Stepsisters and Wicked Stepmother, everyone including....Prince Charming

We had front row viewing of Cinderella's carriage going by at the end. Doesn't she look beautiful?

On the way home, Mary and I continued to be crazy. This is the picture in response to Mary's "Next Top Model" pose. She said, "You're on the escalator. Work with it." And this is my natural response.

What can I say? The two of us make quite a pair. ;)

oh waveland

I was flipping through the pictures of my parents visit to Denver when I came across this one.

I immediately saved it as my desktop, sent it to Jennifer (who i share stories about my little nieces and nephews with), and laughed uncontrollably for like five minutes. Now whenever I need a little smile or "pick me up" I just go to my desktop and look at sweet Waveland's face...

I love this picture. She looks hilarious. Her facial expression is worth a billion words.

So I read this great thing...

by Oswald Chambers... Mikey asked me recently if I wanted to read "My Upmost for His Highest" with him. We could read it and then discuss what we've been learning. We've done it once thus far and it's been exciting.

Way to go Mikey!! Connecting with me through a book is like asking me if I wanted to eat mint chocolate chip ice cream. :D He's great.

HOWEVER, I haven't been able to stop talking about this book. I feel like everytime I see my teammates I preface our conversation with, "So I read this really great thing by Oswald Chambers" or "Oswald Chambers made a comment about that once."

Today over fish and rice I told Jennifer that me quoting Os might be the flavour of my spring/summer here. :D Every staff meeting I will walk in, enlightened by Mr. Chambers and try to enlighten my staff. :D ha ha ha

No seriously. It's my first time reading it and I'm so glad I am.

My favorite quote thus far is,

*Never try and help God fulfill His word. Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on common-sense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure. Never pump up joy and confidence but stay upon God.*

or

*Service is the overflow of superabounding devotion... God gets me into a relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out of sheer love for Him on my account. To serve God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God.*

or (last one i promise)

(Speaking about Paul's calling and mission) *Paul was called to a Person not a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ's, he saw nothing else.*

(p.s. that picture is my favorite of the moment. all the books and journaling i want to do this spring break!! I love reading!)

Good and faithful

What does it mean to be successful for Jesus?
Is there such a thing?
All authority has been given to Jesus and He enables us to have victory in our daily lives and in our struggles. So we can have victory...

I've been thinking a lot about success recently.
Any thoughts...