Give men a good football game or Game Cube and shazam! instant comraderie. What does it take for ladies to create comraderie? This week I’ve had ample opportunities to test and find out more…
Tuesday morning four mom friends from Owen’s school came over to cook with me. They had all come to a summer Italian cooking class taught by a short-term team from Cerritos, California. That day in August we had made homemade meat ravioli; the team gave all of us a similar recipe to make salmon ravioli. Several of us had talked all fall about getting together to make it; it finally happened on Tuesday.
First, let me say- the recipe was SO DELICIOUS. It’s on my recipe blogsite if you click here. After spending two hours cooking, drinking coffee, and enjoying the time together, it was fun to look around our Japanese-style table and see these friends really seeming to have fun. We talked about many things…they were interested in how we discipline our children (time outs always catch them by surprise- they are shocked that our kids will sit on the steps by themselves!). Two of these friends have recently hosted Americans who have been visiting – we keep seeing how that opens up hearts and allows us to get closer.

Yesterday morning my friend Nats. came over in the morning for coffee. We had received our favorite — Kona coffee- from our friends who visited last week, and its also Nats. favorite coffee. Our girls played together, and we caught up over delicious coffee. Ahh – Kona coffee comraderie is the best!
Then, in the afternoon, I went with all three children over to one of Owen’s friends for a playdate. There were 5 moms and their sons (as well as two younger siblings). While I enjoyed the time of watching Owen have a great time being total BOY with his buddies, I noticed that with this group of six women hanging out, comraderie didn’t seem to really be happening. We had different snippets of conversation…but there wasn’t anything really tieing all of us together.
This morning was my first Christmas English Bible/Craft class. Eric and I have been working hard for the past week or so to get together all the craft supplies — OH, if only Michael’s Craft Supply store would come to Japan! It is a five week series, and I wanted to have everything purchased ahead of time.
Even though more than half of the women who have signed up couldn’t come today because of various school commitments, our first class went so well. I am so thankful to Dee Wirz for her great English Bible Study materials – they are fantastic and make teaching easy. Two friends from our neighborhood came who have never attended anything “Christian” before except our cooking classes — but they both really enjoyed the English lesson and studying about Mary’s pregnancy.
The last hour we made snowpeople. Nozomi J. had sent me the idea from familycorner.com. We made some adjustments based on what we can find in Japan, but the results were so cute, and there was great conversation and talking while these friends worked on their crafts. I don’t have photos of the ladies, but I do have our snowpeople:

I love our job…building relationships with people who God brings into our lives, and figuring out how to deepen our friendship and share with them about their Creator who loves them. At the same time, it fills a need in me as a woman to have these friendships. What works for you in building relationships?