I made it!!

Spring break has finally arrived! Alison and I are heading out this morning to go to Osaka for 4 days, then upon arriving back on Okinawa my mom will be visiting for a week! Yay! I wasn't sure this time would come and here it is, 3rd quarter conferences are done and we're on our way on another little adventure. Oh, I am also really excited about my new aide beginning after the break! I didn't think it was possible, but I made it through 5 weeks without an aide. It's true, God's strength really is enough!

Before sending the kids on their way, we took the them to the park to have an Easter egg hunt. They had a great time searching for their eggs and eating the goodies inside! Here are a few pics from that day!

...Until next time!!! I love you all!

Catch up...

Last week, Alison's friend Kevin arrived on the island for a visit. It has been so nice to have a familiar face in Japan. On Saturday, we decided to head down south to the Ryukyu Glass Factory to blow our very own glass! After they gave us our short introduction, all of which needed to be translated for us, we followed each step to make our own glass cup. Let me tell ya, it's a bit harder than it looks to get a perfectly round cup....I wasn't so lucky! :) It's alright though, mine is special and unique!
To begin we put on our sleeve guards and heavy duty gloves.
Next, they brought over the glass and we had to blow into the little hole in order to fill the mold to make the glass.

Here is the furnace where our glass is getting ready to be shaped.

Then, they led us to this chair where we were instructed to hold the tweezer looking things in one hand, to form the opening, and get the other hand ready to roll the rod.

It was much harder than it looked!

The day was a lot of fun and with another experience to add to the Japan list!

We had to travel back down south this week to pick up our finished glass products so we figured we'd take advantage of the closeness and head down to the southern tip of the island. Let's just say it isn't like the northern tip, in that it's in the middle of nowhere and we literally had to walk down this little farm road and step into a small garden to get to the edge. However, our trip could not have been more perfectly timed for a beautiful Okinawan sunset. We are happy to say that we have officially been from tip to tip of the island!

Here is what goes on behind me while I walk....ahead of everyone as always! :)

Alison and I as we try to contain her hair
We had a brilliant idea to set our timer to get a group shot only it was kind of awkward as we were directly on the edge of the small cliff. We got a "normal" one but this one was too fun to pass up!

Love this scenery!

Zip lining adventures...

Today began with me signing my life away! Interested yet? haha Tom, a friend from church, invited Alison and I to go ziplining at a place called Forest Adventures. We'd seen a video of it ahead of time so we had an idea of what we were getting ourselves into but nothing could actually explain what happened today! Every part of it was hilarious! After we had our harnesses secured and passed our little safety briefing exam, we went out on the course. There were 7 different courses some much more difficult than others, one of which I would NEVER do again! Thankfully we went in the morning, not only did it start raining toward the end of our time, but there were also van loads of people coming to take on the courses. See some of the pictures below to get a better idea of what we got to experience today!

This, my friends, is pretty much how I landed every course! Yes, I know it takes talent!

Needless to say I have some peeled skin and sore muscles to accompany my memories from this day! Now we have several people from church wanting to go on this adventure too! We just might have to do it again before leaving Okinawa in less than 100 days.

This week...

I have officially completed my first week without an aide. Thank you all for your prayers as I know for a fact that nothing done this week was by my own strength. I have to say this was one of the first times I have ever ended a day (so make that 5 times ) and known for a fact that I did not make it through on my own, but with God's help! Unfortunately it takes days and times like these to realize the intense need for God's help, but I guess he will do anything to get our attention! He's got mine!
Something new this week, I walked home from school on Monday! I didn't want to wait 30 minutes for Alison to make it to my campus so I decided I'd try it out! It was surprisingly a nice 15 minute walk and a nice quiet time to end the day. If only I hadn't been carrying my laptop, among other things, on my shoulders! Nonetheless, I just might have to make this a habit! Anyways, keep posted for my blog about this weekend....Crazy times! Love you all!

Update...

I just realized how long it has been since I've posted a blog. Not much has gone on in the last few weeks, not anything to write home about I suppose. I'm going to be really honest right now about the last week or so, definitely an emotional one. I found out last week that my classroom aide would be quitting due to personal issues that she has been struggling with this year. She has been having issues sleeping and the doctor's have not given her a clear answer as to why, but they did advise her to stop working. So with that, Friday was my last day with an aide, as the school will not be replacing her. It has hit me real hard, especially since this class/age level has been a difficult one for me to pull through. I do not know how everything will go with my 16 four year olds (of course with the possibility of more coming in the next few months) but I do know that God has got to be at the front of it all. I came here, called by God, and knew that things would definitely be a challenge if not for the sheer fact that I would be living in a foreign country. God has been faithful throughout this entire experience. He placed me in a church with a huge emphasis on prayer and a constant challenge to grow closer to God as well as an unbelievable, seriously amazing, group of people. I couldn't have asked for anything better! So as i sit here writing this, feeling tired and weary, I make a choice to not only start and end each day with God but allow him to carry me THROUGH each day.

Isaiah 40: 28-31
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Long Weekends...

Monday, Gina, Itsuko, Alison, and I went to the Hot Stones Bath. Itsuko is from here and she and Gina used to go every other week. When we got there we paid our 900yen and got two towels and sweats. We went and took our showers put on our sweats and went into this dark room where we laid on hot stone beds. It was pretty funny though...there are stars on the ceiling and also a moon with e.t. riding across it. haha It was basically a sauna with heat packs. It felt really nice and was a great way to relax. Itsuko and Gina were telling Alison and I about how you have to be silent in the room if there are other women in there, but as soon as we are the only ones we can gab as much as we want. Sadly, that only happened for a couple minutes. As we all know, I am slightly ADD and couldn't lay quietly very well so I spent some time making hand puppets on the wall. :)

Kim and the kids took Alison and I to the movies on Friday night. We went and saw Bride Wars then had Taco Bell for dinner. It was a fabulous way to end the week! On Saturday, being Valentine's Day, Kim invited Alison and I over for dinner since her husband worked and Alison has just been longing to cook dinner in her kitchen. We had lasagna. YUM! It has been WAY too long!
Here are Kim, Maizy, Alison, and I eating dinner on Kim's balcony

Another typical self portrait of Alison and I

Gina and Rocky have decided that they needed to join in on the tour book fun and since they have Sage for the next few weeks we thought it would be a great time to visit the Ostrich Farm where the tour book said visitors could ride the ostriches. Well, Monday was the planned day for this event and we had more company in Benny, Pauline, and Alisia, from church. We drove to the farm only to find out that you can no longer ride the ostriches but only feed them. It turned out to be fun anyways! I'm secretly glad I didn't have to ride one, cuz they're kind of scary. Their necks are SOO long! Feeding them was quite the scene, I'm pretty sure one tried to take off Rocky's head.

Here is a group picture of the gang!

From the farm we made a stop by the Pineapple Park. Yes, I do realize this is our third time now, but no one else had been and they've been here for 2 years plus. How can that be?? Anyways, everything is fun when we're doing it with new people!

I am constantly reminded of how blessed I am to be a part of the Neighborhood church family!

Post office, Valentine's, and Fun Day

Last week was a busy week for Pre-Kindergarten. On Tuesday we walked to the Post Office up the street, way up the street, from school. The kids were mailing a Valentine to someone in their family, anywhere in the world. The lady at the post office was really nice and let each of them pay and put their own stamp on then slip in the red mail box. They had a great time taking care of their "business."

Tuesday night, Alison and I went to Rocky and Gina's to bake cookies for our classes to decorate at our Valentine's parties on Thursday. In class, the kids had a great time decorating their bags for their goodies and then had an even better time with their cookies, frosting, and sprinkles.

New Life held their annual Family Fun Day on Friday at a "nearby" athletic park, one Alison and I struggled to find. We even had to stop and use a pay phone to call Pastor and find out where we were supposed to go. Needless to say, thanks to a car we recognized, Alison and I made it, and only 30 minutes late! The day was nice and short filled with lots of family and games. I also got lots of special treats from my class for my "belated" birthday. It was really great seeing the families interact and have some fun together. We did our chicken dance cheer first, then we played various games including a bean bag toss, sprint, hula hoop race, a race with a ball between the legs, and it all ended with a tug of war. First, the Yamauchi campus kids went up against the teachers on our campus. WE LOST! yes, against 35 4-6 year olds. Then the Yagibaru campus teachers went up against their students and LOST! oh boy. It all ended with the teachers of New Life against all the parents...this wasn't even a competition, we got whooped. I guess that's what happens when your staff is made up of a bout 20 people against a school of 115. It was all fun nonetheless.