These pictures aren't in order, but can tell a little bit of what has been going on with us recently!
Early in January, we enjoyed a visit from Kevin Koch, Kim Ayars, and Tim Schaefer. We had sukiyaki together on Saturday night, went to the onsen after church on Sunday, and then they toured Akihiro's clinic before continuing on in their travels!
Kotaro came to our home over winter break to study! He "holed" up in our attic and studied about 10 hours every day. He is studying for his college entrance exam. The studying that is required for these Japanese tests is phenomenal! Kenji and he are good buddies!
We went to Great Grandma Ito's for New Year's holiday. It was nice to see Masahiro and Eriko Honna again! We had been to Hong Kong for their wedding last year.!
The new Shioda church is well underway! This picture is from a while back. Now the siding is going up. We have only 3 more Sundays in the old church so are busy trying to get out all the things we want to keep. Thankfully we are done picking out wallpaper, flooring, etc! I am looking very much forward to indoor toilets and a baby room on the first floor (our current baby room is up a dark narrow stairway with no handrail).
We enjoyed having Parker Dill's Flat Stanley with us for a while. Here we are showing him Sky Tree, the highest tower in the world. It was just finished last summer. This is the view from Grandma Ito's house.
A view of the newly constructed slope into the new church. We will have a "real" parking lot this time!!!
New Year's food at the Ito's.
Here is a better picture of Sky Tree.
Look at these cute little guys! Kenji gets so excited when he sees his big brother!
Akihiro took Tomoki to a train museum about an hour from our home. They both loved it!
Back in November, we went back to America for a 12 day visit. We had lots of good times, but decided that in the future we would go for longer and in the summer. Jet lag and sickness made for a pretty stressed out mama! Here is U. Jim and Luke
Also Willis and Lois Ehnle. Sitting beside them is our neighbor, Imada-san, who went with us the US.
Tomoki learned how to use training chopsticks. See video.
Love this bib from Akihiro's coworker!
Right now we are on a little vacation at Fukushima Hawaii Spa Resort with Grandma Ito. It is an indoor pool and onsen resort. It snowed yesterday--my first time to see snow on palm trees!
Here are some videos of the boys...
http://youtu.be/BdE7mPgJs-o
Kenji-kun
http://youtu.be/h3gicvzcU90
Tomoki and Kenji
http://youtu.be/DDw3-RYXJmo
Tomoki using chopsticks
http://youtu.be/lKGODKRU0mY
