Today it was my turn to help give out lunches at Owen’s school. Two moms each day go in and assist for 2 hours. Finally — my curiosity abated! I found out what happens at Japanese school lunches! We do get a calendar every day of what will be in the lunches. But the system? Somehow the school of 150 or so preschool/kindergarteners manages to feed all the kids lunch, in their rooms, and clean up, with only two volunteer moms. Here’s how:

First, the 2 moms show up, wearing aprons and bandanas in our hair (Love the fashion statement! aprons out of the photo, but really there):

Then, we carry boxes containing smaller lunch boxes to each classroom, where the children are waiting at low tables and chairs, with their individual lunchmats, cup, and chopsticks laid out in front of them. (Owen is in top right)

Students all put their hands behind their backs, and the teacher goes around and sprays each hand with anti-bacterial spray. Half of the days students get milk for lunch; days like today the volunteer moms pour cold barley tea into each cup.

The teachers are overseeing each classroom (no lunch breaks for them!)…and what has surprised us are the reports that all the children eventually pretty much eat all their lunch. Owen came home from school one day and announced that he now likes onions. Amazing what they can end up liking after the variety they get in their lunches. Here was today’s:

(clockwise from rice: raw shredded cabbage and macaroni salad; one big fried scallop; a fish-dough ball; and spinach and tuna salad). Whatdayathink?
Next surprise: lunch, from beginning to end, is LONG… ittakes almost 1 1/2 hours… until every child has finished their lunch and cleaned up. Then- it’s playtime!
No lunch ladies (except for bandana mamas). No lunch rooms. (No pizza on fridays!) But it works. I continue to feel like our experiences at kindergarten give us so much insight into Japanese culture. From early on, Japanese children are taught order, cooperation, submitting to authorities, doing many rituals in certain, prescribed ways. Eric saw a documentary on Japanese preschool that explained that all Japanese children learn the exact method of how to take a bath, including scrubbing order and methods. Just like Owen is learning how to “do lunch.” And it works! (Owen with his buddies, after lunch, is on the right).

On Friday night Eric and I had a real date night- the first one since February, I think. (Thanks Megumi for watching the kids!). We went to our favorite Italian restaurant, and then to Eric’s movie pick — Die Hard 4. We loved watching the previews and seeing what is coming out soon in Japan theatres. The big movie coming up is called “Transformers”, a sci-fi thriller about two robotic clans at war. The movie has probably already been popular in the US– we’re pretty sure its going to be huge when it comes to Japan in August. (Not on my list for our next date night, however).

It was thinking about these movies that helped us come up with an “icebreaker” question for our house church yesterday. We met at our home, as we usually do every other week. We always start with an icebreaker, so yesterday’s question was:
What movie would you most want them to make a sequel for?
Most popular answer in our group? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe;
My answer: Sound of Music – show us what happened after they crossed those mountains!);

Following this time, we usually:
2) do worship through singing and prayer;
3) read together a section of the word several times (yesterday: Colossians 1:1-14); ask if there are any questions…then spend 5-10 minutes silently re-reading the passage and asking the Spirit to speak to our hearts what we need to learn.
4) We break into small groups and share what has been impressed on us. Eric takes the elementary and jr. high kids to another room and leads their discussion time.
5) We pray together for any specific needs shared within the small group.
6) We have lunch and enjoy fellowship together.

Usually, house church is much more than a one-hour service: it is 4 hours or so of worship, prayer, and sharing our lives together.

Yesterday was a normal house church day. We of course were scurrying in the morning to get lunch made before everyone arrived, clean up breakfast and our house, dress the kids. Owen and Annie seemed more needy than usual during the worship time — I was jumping up a lot to either discipline or keep Olivia from getting into something she shouldn’t, all the while trying to participate in our small group discussion of Colossians. Then serving lunch and drinks. Then lots of discussion about the upcoming team coming from LA to minister with us in early August. By the time everyone left at 3:00, Eric and I felt like we could just go to bed and sleep for 2 days (funny- we feel that a lot these days!).

And then I started to think about what really happened. In my group of four, we had one husband, “George”. His wife is a believer; he is not yet. He has been studying English in Eric’s men’s class, and slowly showing more interest in the Gospel. He came, and just kept reading the passage over and over. He shared how he wants to learn more about the Bible. He was intrigued by our comments and Paul’s life. His wife Aiko shared challenges they are having with two children, one of whom dropped out of school three years ago– in fifth grade– and hasn’t been back since. The third member, after we all shared, asked me to pray for this couple and their family situation. As I prayed, Aiko cried through the whole thing. She and I had both been impressed with Colossians 1:11 “…may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father.”… It’s one thing to endure with patience…but to have patience with JOY — surely this can happen only with the divine help of the Holy Spirit! I prayed this for George and Aiko.

As we finished up, I noticed the other group was praying…and that three of them had laid hands on one of the women, who’s shoulders were shaking as she cried. Transformation.

Eric later told me that one of the fifth grade girls had shared a story that she was being harassed at school by some boys. That night, she prayed and asked Jesus to take care of her and stop the boys. The next day -and the days that followed — she was no longer harassed. They left her alone. The Spirit at work — she saw that it is REAL. And she is more of a believer.

As I thought back about those four hours, I felt a sense of joy. Tiredness – but joy! It’s not that I think there needs to be a lot of mushy-type crying at church. But I realized that what was happening on Sunday is that God was at work doing what He does best- transforming lives. Our house church might be small (14 or so) as most would measure church, but it is growing…and I think it’s growing because God is at work transforming people.

Rick Warren says this:
I’m in the life change business. I’m in the transformation business. You know what motivates me? – not size; in fact, I don’t even like big churches. I mean, my favorite size was 300 people. What motivates me is that I am addicted to changing lives. I love seeing lives changed and that is the untold story. Everybody tries to attribute the growth of churches to everything else but what makes them grow – and it’s changed lives.

Paul says it this way:
“...Just as [the gospel] is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves...” (Colossians 1:5)
Its happening here in Sanda. And around the world. Church – the best transformer.

Today has been a planting day. I am very weary for some reason. But it feels good, for today has been a planting day.
Tonight while dinner was cooking, Annie and I went outside and found a tall pot and filled it halfway with potting soil. Annie then took the avocado seed out of the water that it was setting in on toothpicks…

She and Owen and I have been watching it sprout for about six weeks on out kitchen counter. One night after cutting up an avocado, we had decided to grow the seed (a fun trick originally taught me by sister Hannah). We put three toothpicks in it and “dangled” it inside a tall glass, filled with water. We were all delighted a week or so later to see the first root pop out the bottom…then continue to grow…and finally, the first sprout come out the top. Tonight was the night to get our hands dirty, put it in dirt, and really let it go. Now, its in our hallway, getting the best morning light, and we’re ready to watch it grow.

It was another kind of planting today.
This morning, my neighbor friend Nats. came over for coffee with her daughter. I had asked her to help me with some Japanese school forms I needed to fill out for Owen.
As I was making the coffee, she was looking at Owen’s medical book that I had gotten out. We started talking about Owen’s birth and his adoption story. We talked about the reaction we often get from Japanese who are shocked that we have adopted three children. She asked some questions about the process in receiving him, and I decided to tell her the whole thing. I shared about how:

… baby Masaru (meaning victory) was born with his intestines growing outside of his body, and needed immediate surgery. The doctors didn’t know what the long-term effects would be of his condition. We needed to make a decision about adopting him without meeting him or knowing for sure his health condition.

We prayed together. And one morning I woke up very early, and felt led to go downstairs, and read Isaiah 41. I read verses 9 and 10:

9you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
*******
As I opened the Japanese Bible, and then the English Bible for my friend Nats., she was stunned. Her eyes blurred up and she couldn’t see. She had never opened a Bible before, and couldn’t believe how personal it was. The verse even has Owen’s given name in it (Masaru/Victory).
I finished the story- how God confirmed through this verse and our prayers that God had chosen this baby for us, and we said yes… Owen had absolutely no health problems after that, and has been completely healthy.
Nats. commented that God must have a very special future for Owen, and then asked if she could copy the verse to show her husband. I asked her if she wanted the English version or the Japanese version, and she said “both.” So we made copies.
Then she said, “you probably have similar stories about Annie and Olivia, too.” We only had time for Annie’s story – I shared how we got the call about her Costco, and that the agency had named her the very name that we were going to ask them to name our baby girl (Kei, her middle name now). Again she got teary-eyed.
I told her that in all of our big decisions, we pray and (try) to leave it up to God.
She asked, “Do you think it’s like the Japanese idea of leaving something up to the fate of the heavens?”
I thought about it, and then said I understanding the similarities, but also think this is very different. The difference is that we are praying to a God who is personal; a God who loves us and cares about everything that we do. This God has a very specific plan for us and we can trust him with our future and with the daily decisions of our lives. She REALLY listened.

Planting. We hardly had time to do the paperwork before she had to leave. She left, with two versions of Isaiah 41. Sometime this evening she is re-telling the story and reading these verses to her husband. More planting. I am stunned again at how powerful God’s word is. It is still speaking, testifying to truth of God and all that He is about. I was reminded again today that it is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12) — not only to believers! But a witness to those who do not yet believe.

Planting. Pray that the Word today for the first time planted in Nats’ heart, will grow like the avocado seed. We’ll keep you posted.

See if this helps:

Saturday was a day of celebrating for our family. I’m always looking for reasons to celebrate, and ways to turn celebrations into events that foster community. So it was a really good day in my book!

Saturday morning Owen had a special festival at school, celebrating “Tanabata”. All of the children in his preschool had been practicing for over a month for this event, in which each class did one or several special Japanese dances. All the children wore Japanese jimbe or yukata (summer kimono-type outfits), and we couldn’t help but smile in watching their energy and joy as they danced their little hearts out. It was neat to have our friend Yasko come too- she is like family and we loved celebrating with her. The main song from Owen’s class’s dance is popular right now, so we were able to download it last week. Owen practiced his dance at home every chance he got, and did us proud.

After the festival, we went out to celebrate with our family and Yasko at a restaurant that the kids love because you can make your own cotton candy and serves takoyaki (fried octopus doughballs), Owen’s favorite:

Then, on Saturday night we celebrated Annie’s 3rd birthday with a “Tonari no Totoro” theme. This is a popular anime movie in Japan that both children (Annie especially!) and adults love, featuring a grayish mythical character named Totoro. The movie also has dust bunnies that seem to come to life, called “Makkuro no kurotsuki”. This was a fun theme to use for cake material. Annie had a great time, and it was one of the funnest parties Eric and I have experienced in a while, as well. We invited two neighbor families, the Ishidas, who are like grandparents for our children and come to most of our family events, and the Itos, who have 2 children and with whom we have been building a closer friendship with. In addition, the Ishidas daughter Yasko came, and our American friends Reiko and Megumi. It was great to watch everyone interacting – we loved it that we could gather with a variety of friends – Japanese and Americans – and have such a fun time together. Annie and Olivia wore their newly-acquired Hungarian dresses. Annie also received a Cinderella dress during the party, which she loved as well.

The only problem with the dustbunny cupcakes was what the icing did to your mouth (and other things that come out a day later… dont worry- not pictured)

Oh- for the same sense of joy and abandonment that Annie and Owen have had today!
“Except ye become as little children, except you can wake on your fiftieth birthday with the same forward-looking excitement and interest in life that you enjoyed when you were five, ”ye cannot enter the kingdom of God.” One must not only die daily, but every day we must be born again.” -Dorothy Sayers