On Halloween night, we had a first (annual?) Halloween party for the children who are in Eric’s English classes in our community.  Our kids had been anticipating this day for a LONG time, eager to don the new costumes that friends from the U.S. had sent them:

When the rain came down heavier than ever, we wondered if anyone would show up — we were scheduled to meet at the park to go trick-or-treating!  But we had one hundred percent attendance — twenty children and quite a few parents showed up to party American-style (don’t you love the Pocohantas pigtails?)

No one seemed to mind the rain- we just went around with umbrellas.

Trick-or-treating — and costumes, for the most part – are not a Japanese tradition.  Halloween is becoming more known in Japan, and different associations now are starting to have some form of Halloween parties, thus allowing Toys R Us Japan to make a bundle selling primarily witch costumes.  But we were able to create a trick-or-treat event by buying American candy and treats at Costco and delivering them ahead of time to five different families in our neighborhood, asking them to be available to pass them out when we came around that afternoon.  Even the passer-outers got into it – at our neighbors across the street, both the mom and daughter came out wearing costumes.  (So my big question is — is the daughter wearing a wig?  Or is that her hair?  I really don’t know).

Then everyone came back to our home for games and Halloween refreshments.  We had had a great idea of bobbing for apples by using our antique coffee table– it is a round table carved out on the inside that had once been used for pounding rice cakes.  Eric lined it with a trash bag as well as a vinyl table cloth, then put the apples in it, and covered it back with the glass until we were ready to play.  It looked SO cool.
Just as Eric and the kids were leaving to gather at the park, however, I noticed a not-too-good thing — water was leaking out the bottom of the table!  There must have been a hole in our patriotic tablecloth.   We were still able to use it, however, thanks to the large tarp between the table and the carpet- for a rousing wet Halloween tradition that was a first for all of our Japanese guests.  (Later we had to dry the table through the night with the heater nearby).

We had all the kids in group try and eat a donut off the string (without hands, of course) and were surprised by the determination of even the youngest to get that donut no matter how long it took (zzzz)….

We had premade cupcakes and frosted green the faces of friendly witches, then gave each child supplies to create their own.

The witches didn’t last too long- they quickly got gobbled up, as did the rest of the snacks and hot apple cider that we served.

One of the things that we have been praying about recently is the need for Japanese ministry partners to come along side us in our ministry to this community.  At the end of the party, we felt so thankful for the partners God has given us… a new believer from our neighborhood, and three other not-yet-believer adults who live nearby who in many ways partner with us.  We loved hearing the laughter of the children AND adults; seeing them throw themselves into our Halloween festivities; and completely enjoy this chance to be in our home.   We very much felt the Lord’s affirmation as we experienced the joy of ministry on this wet “pagan” holiday.

One highlight of our week was celebrating our friend and ministry partner Mary’s big 5-0 birthday.  We planned a surprise and invited eighteen Japanese friends from our community and church who all love Mary as we do.  I loved seeing how much THEY enjoyed the surprise as much as Mary did.  In later discussions, they shared that they’ve never participated in a surprise party before…

We had a potluck lunch, and then – presented the birthday cake.  This one was appropriate for a ladies-only party.  The two boys who had come with their moms giggled and giggled (I hadn’t been thinking about them when I designed it!).  It was fun making the lace- that was a new first and a great reason to learn how!

Mary was a great sport – receiving her first braziere (sp?) cake.  And she and I got the greatest kick out of watching the party participants – every single one of them — pull out their cell phones and start snapping photos of Mary with her cake.  I’m sure their families that night all were privy to this unique cake!

In lieu of gifts, we asked all the ladies to bring a coupon — a promise for an activity they plan to do with Mary over the next few months.  It was so fun and touching to hear the different ideas:  going to acupuncture together (Mary’s been wanting to try it); bowling and movie dates; a friend offering to help Mary clean her house (I quickly told that friend when my birthday is!); and activities to do with these friends’ families as well.  Mary has done a great job in her two years here at building one-on-one relationships, so I know these “gifts” will be great means for her to continue doing what she does so well.

One of the most effective means of leading people to a genuine relationship with Jesus is through the layering of various relationships with believers — North Americans and Japanese.  As I watched our friends from church, community, and English classes interact, I felt so thankful for the always-faithful ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in the room.  And so thankful for God bringing Mary to Japan to live out Who He is to these dear friends.

Several times over the past day and a half I have had to leave whatever room I was in to just go and cry.  It is like someone has just punched me in the stomach and I cannot breath for a short while.  I remember after my mom’s death twenty years ago feeling breathless in pain too many times to count;  this same unwelcome feeling has resurfaced since the shocking news that my dear friend Praise Goh died suddenly on Monday in Los Angeles.

Praise had been in Singapore and then Thailand for a relative’s wedding and then some R & R until a week ago.  She returned home, and started to have pain in her neck.  Several trips to the doctor’s landed her with muscle relaxers… and then on Sunday, at church, the pain became more severe and had spread into her lungs/heart area.  Our friend Beth took her to the E.R., where she was admitted.  The symptoms got worse.  That night they had to put her on a ventilator;  the doctors were working hard to figure out what was incredibly wrong with her body.  One lung collapsed;  her heart was working hard to fight the infection.  The next morning as  family and friends were gathered in the waiting room, her heart stopped for four minutes and she was revived.  The second time they could not bring her back;  the friend that so many many have loved had passed away that quickly.  The doctors still do not know what had caused this – they suspect a powerful viral infection that she had picked up the previous week overseas.

Praise has been a friend from our L.A. church for the past twelve years or so — since she was a teenager.  Almost exactly a year ago, Praise came to Sanda and stayed with our family for several weeks.  She was a God-send – quite literally.  She and our friend Becky came and ministered wonderfully to our mission children while we had a fall retreat;  then they both stayed on to do some ministry with us in Sanda.  Praise stayed another week after Becky had to return home.

Here are just some of the things that I love about Praise:

1.  She jumped right into my relationships and friendships with Japanese.  She really was gifted cross-culturally. Her heart’s desire was to eventually serve in the Philipines and work there with street children.

2. She loved Japan – the culture, the people.   She hoped to come back to Japan next year to work and pay off school loans before becoming a fulltime missionary.  How much would I have loved to have her close to us for longer?

3.  She wanted people to know Jesus like she did.  (Wow – as I write this- I realize how much MORE she knows of Jesus right now than she ever could have imagined.!!..)  I asked her to share a short testimony after one of our ladies’ English classes.  She shared a story about a time when she went horse-back riding and she couldn’t get the horse to turn in the direction of the green grass, where it could have eaten in a wonderful meadow.  And how she realized she can be like that with God — where He has a wonderful plan for each of us but sometimes we resist what is really the best thing for us… A month later, our friend Naoko, who had been in the class,  accepted Christ.  She shared that one thing that had affected her decision was Praise’s testimony.  Yesterday, as I shared with Naoko about Praise’s death, she was able to recount almost word for word Praise’s sharing to some other friends.  (Naoko is on the left in the photo below)

4.  We shared real life together.  I am not sure how to say this- but she really entered my life, and gave me the privilege of sharing in hers.  She has been here with me at critical junctures.  She was the first one to visit the pink and purple house with me (see previous blog) and pray about it.

One of my favorite memories is a hard one to remember because it makes me cry almost every time I remember it.  We were sitting at the edge of our dining room table holding baby Yuu (not named Ian yet).  We were still just fostering him.  But I started to share how attached I was to him and confused about what God seemed to be saying in terms of us keeping him or not.  We sat there and prayed together – and cried together.  It was two sisters with the same heart of love for this little one…. When I was in L.A. later in December and we had to decide about keeping him, again she cried and prayed with me.  I will always think of Praise when I think of my early days with our fourth child and the process in which God guided us.

5. She loved Ian so much!  There is a picture of Ian I had posted on Facebook, and she wrote “The love of my life!”  I think they bonded when he was just two months old  and she tirelessly carried him all over.  They had a special relationship.  It breaks my heart that she cannot see him grow up.

6.  Praise celebrated every day of life.  She lived for THAT day.  Whatever we were doing became great fun because she threw herself into it.  I love this picture below… She and Becky and I went sightseeing in Kyoto, and she nonchalantly joined this school boys’ photo.  She modeled not living in the past nor in the future, but living in the NOW.

7.  She made every child she knew feel so special; and every parent think that they had the greatest children in the world.  When Olivia and I were in L.A. last December, Praise took her for the day and they toured the Long Beach Aquarium and went running on the beach.  Olivia still sleeps every night with the stingray named “Stinky” that Praise bought her there as a gift.  One day when Owen had a school holiday Praise and I took the two boys to a nearby amusement park… Praise was part of Annie’s birthday party this summer at Becky’s home… She babysat for them when we were back this summer. All of our children adored her…

8.  She was a great source of encouragement to me, even from afar.  If you were to go through old blog entries or Facebook photos, you would  find the various entries that Praise wrote at just the right time when I needed to hear those words (just last week she posted on the previous blog entry).  I was greatly blessed to get a long email update from her a week before she died… She shared a lot of the spiritual journey she has been on recently — what God has been teaching her — some exciting updates in her life.  And of course she ended with words of encouragement.   Praise– I am going to miss the way you have spoken into my life with so much love!

9.  She loved Hawaii and everything about it!  Our Japanese ladies had a great time learning hula dance from her when she was here.  We had hoped for a time when it would work for our paths to cross there.

10.  She was a great sport!  Perfect prey for a practical joker who knows a bit more about the culture than she does… We laughed so hard – even days later — about a hot springs practical joke that I pulled on her (written up here) Here we are enjoying the hot springs, before and after the joke…

11.  She was an amazing amateur photographer… especially of children. She captured our children’s expressions so incredibly…

12.  Eric and I were talking last night and he said, “she represented the hope for the world.”  Her vivaciousness;  her spunk;  her free spirit;  her celebrating life;  loving children and people of different cultures…. Her deep calling to children and missions… the many youth she has mentored, the children she has loved, the friends she has brought joy to, the way that she embraced Jesus in her life.  Those who didn’t know Praise may think we are being a bit sappy after her death, but those who knew her, know that we are not.  She was an amazing woman;  her life remains an incredible example to many of us of a woman sold out to Jesus and determined to find joy in the journey.  I am more than sad that she will not be walking any more on my life  journey with me nor with the hundreds of others who were inspired by her;  but her life will remain a praise to our Savior of a life well-lived.

The whole idea of Psalm 37:   Do not fret… Commit… trust… be still…. be patient….wait.  These ideas are quite contrary to my natural being.

Today today of my favorite guys (Eric and Ian) and I went walking and praying through our neighborhood.  Enjoyed the sunshine; the fall leaves;  the ripening persimmons;  the friends we passed who bowed or waved or stopped for a minute to chat.  Delighted in the Lord and each other.  Once again committing our ways to Him.  Choosing to trust him with the many unknowns right now in our lives and ministry.  Thankful for how he uses our questions and our perplexions to more fully trust and need him.

Today Annie went with her class on an important school ritual in Japan — imo-hori, or sweet-potato digging/pulling.  Owen missed getting to do this his last year of youchien (preschool/kindergarten) because we were in the U.S. that season;  we were glad that Annie could do this!  If you ask a Japanese to name food associated with fall, they would most likely say one of three foods:  persimmon (my personal favorite – blog here); chestnuts (my least favorite, but growing on me); or sweet potatoes.  She was quite proud of her pull, and spent a good 45 minutes scrubbing her eight treasures as clean as she could.

I find a lot of sweet potato recipes very dry, and am always searching for good ways to make them.  Since tonight was crockpot night, I tried a new one- and we all loved it.  It has an interesting blend of spices- and I happened to have them all.  I’ve always wanted to try a recipe with fennel seeds and really loved the flavor they add.  One of the side benefits of this recipe is that your home will smell delicious all afternoon.

Sugar and Spice Pork Loin

• 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 medium Yukon potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 medium red onions, cut into quarters (I used regular white onions)
• 1/2 C olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1/2  teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• One 4 pound pork loin roast (I used 2 tenderloins)
• 1/2 C chicken broth

Arrange veggies inside crockpot.  Drizzle 1/4 C olivie oil over and toss to coast.  Combine the spices, sugar, slat and pepper in a small bowl.  Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of the rub over hte veggies and toss again.

Pat the rest of the rub over the meat, place the meat on the vegetables,  and drizzle with remaining 1/4 C olive oil.  Pour in chicken broht.  Cover an dcook on high for 4-5 hours or low 8-10 hours, until pork and vegetables are tender. Cut meat into 1/2 inch thick slice and serve on platter with vegetables.

Yesterday was a good reminder for me of the religiously-laden society that we are living in.  Often there is such an external appearance of secularism and materialism that I forget about the realities of what are present in the spiritual realm here in Japan.

Once a year our mission staff gather in different places around the country for an annual Day of Prayer.  We had our friends from Okinawa come up and stay with us for two nights, which was a great gift to our children, and on Monday a group of us gathered to spend the day praying.  It was a great chance to pray for our mission leadership; for those with special needs; to spend time worshipping at the feet of Jesus; and to share our personal needs and joys and pray over them.

We were meeting at our friends’ Kent and Yuko’s home.  They have just moved to our city in August, and have been settling into a new rental home the past month.  One thing we have tried to do with new homes that missionaries have moved into in our area is to pray through the house — literally.  So it was a joy to do this yesterday as well.  We always check in the ceiling beams to see if there might be a Shinto mamori — an amulet that is prayed over by a Shinto priest when the home is built and established, and assigned a god to watch over the occupants of the house.  We have not found one in any of our homes in this town– until yesterday.  And it was a doozey!

This human-size pole was up in their crawl space, with a prayer offering the home and occupants to the god assigned to the house;  signed by the priest who had overseen the process.  It was interesting;  but also perhaps a wake up call to remind us of the need to be diligent, vigilant, and prayer full as we operate in a culture that is very full of animism and syncretistic religion.  One-third of all Japanese have a Buddhist or Shinto shrine in their home;  one in four Japanese always carry a religious amulet on their persons that is meant to guard off evil and bring protection from a god of some kind.  Eighty-six percent of Japanese follow some kind of mix of Buddhist or Shintosim.  We are very aware that the spiritual forces in Japan are alive and well!

We prayed God’s power over this large religious symbol;  Kent and Yuko covered it with a huge bag and put it for now outside in their shed (we can’t destroy it because the owners are coming back in two years).

I really believe that there is a spiritual connection between these religious objects which have had a “god” assigned over them and some of the experiences that we have here.  Kent and Yuko’s daughter last Friday had started pointing at something off of their living room and throwing her hands up in the air over and over again.  When Yuko looked, there was nothing there.

As we continue to minister here, it is important that we are reminded of the truths of Ephesians 6:12:  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Praise God that He is the victor.

Most of my friends reading this blog know that we have been praying for 3 1/2 years for the Lord to open up a larger rental home in our community.  It has been a long and interesting process – praying, waiting, prayer walking, talking to realtors, praying waiting and waiting and waiting.  The communities on either side of us have had some great rental homes; but there has not been one single larger rental home in our neighborhood (our kids’ school area)  for the time we have been looking.

Throughout this process, though, I have sensed the Lord’s encouragement for two things:  a) believe that He WILL in his timing provide a new home for us  (read of God’s special promise to me about this here-skip down to the last point of that entry);  and b) trust Him with a heart of contentment until that time.  Not always easy!  My friend Mary reminded me a year or so ago how long Sarah and Abraham had to wait for God’s promise to them of a son.  Waiting and contentment are two strange bedfellows that all of us need to become more comfortable with.  As I’ve thought back on my forty-seven years of living, I realized that I’ve had to wait years for all the best blessings God has brought me — my  great husband, and four wonderful children.  Waiting can be a great thing; but it is hard and not always a comfortable fit with contentment.

Last year two friends from our community, who happen to be sisters, took my visiting friend Praise and I to a wonderful onsen (hotsprings – read that hilarious story here).  On the way home Suga and her sister were talking and mentioned that their father’s cousin’s empty house in our neighborhood would be perfect for us.  OF COURSE my ears perked up;  we drove by it – and that was the beginning of me loving this strange and peculiar house that is pink and grayish-purple and surrounded by a huge black fence.  (See two photos from Google Earth below for those who have tried to picture this thing.  What you can see is as much as we have yet to see of this house!)

Their mother called the cousin-owner.  He said he would think about it.  I was thrilled.  Excited.  Fasted, prayed; walked around the house numerous times.  Others prayed too.  Two weeks later, the owner came back and said no- he didn’t want to fix it up and deal with all of that.

I was somewhat devestated, but began to pray that he would change his mind.  One month later, another neighbor friend  who knows the owner called the family to say that perhaps we could pay some of the initial costs to fix it up.  Before the offer was even out of her mouth, his wife said flatly, “We aren’t interested in anyone living there.”  Case closed.

But this summer, as we continued to pray during our time in the U.S. for God’s will concerning our house, and wonder if we should be thinking about some other option we hadn’t thought of (different neighborhood?  asking our current house owner if we could add on?) I continued to think about this pink/purple house.  And pray for the owner to change his heart.  When we came back in September, one Sunday morning I walked around the house and the block eight times (seven somehow didn’t feel like quite enough) – continuing to pray that God would open this home up for us somehow.

Last Thursday, Suga called me.  Her mom, one year later,  had called the owner one more time, and asked him to reconsider.  We were a bit shocked they had done this – AND that his response was, in addition to several questions (how much rent are we willing to pay?  how long are we intending to live there?) that he was willing to meet with us to talk about this option.

I could hardly sleep that night!  Sue being Sue, I had already arranged the furniture in this home that we have yet to see the inside of! But — bring on the waiting — we have since been waiting now for ten days with no word from Suga or the owner.

On Thursday, my friend Lawson sent me an email with a Bible verse for me. It promptly was written on our kitchen chalkboard:  “He brought me to a spacious place, he rescued me because he delights in me” (Psalm 18:19).  What a wonderful promise!  Whether or not it is this pink/purple home, God’s continued promise that he WILL provide a more spacious place for us.  I believe that promise with my whole heart.

This morning, doing my QT study, A Heart That Dances… studying about David and how he experienced intimacy with God.  My assigned reading today was 2 Samuel 22… I was reading it and stunned to find my new verse here:  “He brought me out into a spacious place;  he delivered me, because he delights in me.”  It was another one of those amazing times of sensing the very real, near-palpable presence of my loving Father.  I never really knew this verse before;  I certainly did not know it was also in 2 Samuel.  God knows that I am a not-so-patient wait-er.  That I needed to be reminded of His promise to me.  That I can be assured that He delights in me;  that He WILL provide for us in his timing, and His way.  We do not always know when God gives a promise how long we will wait, but we can be assured that “This God– his way is perfect;  the promise of the Lord proves true” (2 Sam 22:31).

One of the fun things about staying with a lot of different friends on our home assignments is checking out their coffee tables and – uhm- bathrooms to see what they’re reading.  One book grabbed my attention and I ended up buying it myself – Food Rules by Michael Pollan  (thanks Leif and Amy!).  I’m re-reading it again now, but just my first cursory read has made me make changes already in some of the foods that we eat/use to prepare dishes.

We are giving up using margarine — one way of trying to avoid partially hydrogenated oils.  And trying not to use a lot of processed foods like Cream of Mushroom soup, etc.  I was excited about a great new Crockpot cookpot given to me this summer that avoids a lot of the processed foods and seems to have a healthier approach to crockpot cooking  (Slower Cooker:  The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips. It just might be!).

Today I tried a new recipe for an old classic – Chicken Divan.  Instead of a ton of mayonnaise and cream of mushroom soup, here is the recipe.  While still high in calories, it has more “wholesome” (?) ingredients.  We really enjoyed it – cooking the broccoli separate (and serving it over rice):

CROCKPOT Curried Chicken Divan

4 T unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/4 C flour

2 C chicken broth

1 C evaporated milk

8 chicken skinless/boneless breast halves

1 1/2 C shredded sharp cheese (I used less).

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the curry powder and saute for 30 seconds.  Add the flour and cook for 3 minutes, whisking constantly.  Add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil.  Add the milk and remove the sauce from heat, allowing to cool.  Place the chicken in crockpot; stacking evenly.  Pour the cooled sauce over the chicken.  Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.  Sprinkle the cheese over the chicken, cover, and cook an additional hour until the chicken is cooked through.  (I think you can cook it on low the last hour or two so the chicken doesn’t overcook).

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We still haven’t given up Diet Coke yet – maybe that’s next month.  What food rules are you living by now?

Over the past seven years or so, I have sought for a meal plan that would help me figure out meals without losing sleep over what to make the next day, or needing to dash to the store at 5 pm to pick up ingredients for a recipe that I needed to make a last-minute recipe. I had a list in my day-timer of family favorites, listed by categories (beef, chicken; vegetables, stews, etc.), but no plan on when to make them. I had read plans of organized moms who planned thirty days in advance — that is a little too much for me.

Over the last two years, we began to make Tuesday night spaghetti or pasta night. It just slowly happened that way… It is our busiest after-school day, with Annie going to dance, Owen to sports club, and both to Kumon Japanese writing. It was nice to not think about it – and the kids loved on Tuesdays knowing they would come home to spaghetti or another favorite pasta. And then Monday, our official “day off”, was a nice day to keep things fairly simple, so I began making different soups and homemade bread in the bread-maker on that day. I began to realize that I could make a weekly schedule of the kinds of dinner I would make each day of the week. It has shifted a little this year, but here is our usual schedule:

Monday: soup (usually in the crockpot) and homemade bread

Tuesday: spaghetti w/meat and vegetable sauce (or another kind of pasta). We do Eric’s mom’s secret for healthy spaghetti sauce — we pulverize carrots, onions, and whatever other veggies we have on hand in the food processor; saute those up with the ground beef, and put it in the tomato sauce to make sure we get our daily vegetable intake.

Wednesday: crockpot (Eric teaches until almost 7 pm so meal prep is more challenging right before dinner)

Thursday and Sundays: Eric cooks – this is usually when we have our favorite Japanese foods (curry, fish, salmon, gyoza, shoyu chicken)

Friday: homemade pizza night (usually followed or enjoyed with a family video)

Saturday is the one day that is open based upon what we have or are doing…

This has helped me SOOOO much for this season of our lives. And in some ways I think the routine and predictability is a helpful thing for our children who have a lot of change in their lives. Today, Owen was sooo happy that I was making minestrone, his favorite, for Monday night soup… a hearty soup and homemade bread seemed like the a good choice for one of the first cool day in which we had just pulled out our fall decorations.