Hi all, I can't believe it's been an entire week since the last time I wrote! Time does fly. I kept thinking that I should write, but just haven't... A lot has happened in the last week, but I can't remember exactly what happened each day, so I'll just do my best to get it in order. :)
I don't remember what happened last Friday, so I'll skip to Saturday. On Saturday morning Abi had a soccer tournament. (It turns out that her team won the entire tournament, but I didn't know that until later in the day.) Anyway, She had to leave at 6:00 am Saturday morning. I got up at 6:45 to wake Aidan up. He had a music performance. He played the marimba. So he was at school from 8:00 until lunch time. Meanwhile, around 8:00 Jenna and Melanie arrived from Chiba. Grace City Church was taking the children in the church to the zoo, and we three older girls were going along for fun. The DeBoos were there, Fukuda-San, Mitsuo-Kun, another family from the church, and several friends of church people. We all carried lunch and had a picnic at the zoo. The weather was perfect, and we all had a great time! There are pictures but most of the good ones were taken with Melanie's camera, so I don't have them yet. Then after we got home from the zoo, Eastin plugged in Kung Fu Panda, and we all tried to watch it. Melanie and I fell asleep for most of it, though... :) After Abi got back, Jenna, Melanie, and I went out for dinner. We visited one of the many monjayaki restaurants. It was the first time they'd ever had real monja from a restaurant, and probably my last for this trip. :( We had a great time laughing and talking together, and didn't get back here until 8:15. Then we decided to take a walk along the river since it's so pretty at night. We took some melon pan with us (or, melon bread in English) and split one small loaf as we sat beside the river watching ducks swim and local fishermen fish. Then we were all craving hot chocolate since it was a bit chilly outside. So we came back here and Jenna made hot chocolate for us. We drank it while we watched a movie.
Then they stayed over for the night and we all went to church together on Sunday. It is truly wonderful to have them here on Sundays. It makes my whole day better to have someone to talk to like them. On Sunday we had communion at church, so I made bread. I actually forgot it was in the oven and left it in for about 10 min. too long. But it turned out fine... We had 7-11 meals for lunch, and went to church in the afternoon. Then
the other girls had to go back to Chiba to prepare for the next school week. Abi, the boys, and I came back here for a quiet dinner. After dinner Abi and I watched the first half of Return of the King. I popped a bag of popcorn to eat during the movie. I finished the popcorn, but fell asleep soon afterwards. :)
Monday was one of those good, but nondescript sort of days. I don't remember much of what happened in it, except that I actually beat Aidan at chess. He came down with a 24 hour virus Sunday night, so he didn't go to school on Monday. He and I did more or less productive things all day together. We made bread together, folded and put away laundry, read English lessons, and played lots of board games. We played several games of othello (otherwise known as reversi). We also played one game of chess. Aidan is really good at chess, and I don't believe I've ever beat him before. (I am really bad at chess usually.) But for the first time, I actually won! Well... sort of... I think it was more like an inevitable check-mate. He had his king left, and I had three pieces left. So after about 10 minutes of a game of catch, we decided that I won. :)
On Tuesday afternoon Roger arrived back home! He's been gone for three weeks and flew into Tokyo Tuesday afternoon. Abi went to the airport to pick him up, and they got home around 8:00 pm. Everyone was so glad to see him back. The older two boys ran and jumped up onto him, and Coen was smiling too big to say anything. He just kept grinning and holding up his arms until he was picked up and hugged. :) He gave his Daddy a big hug, and patted his back. Then we all went to bed pretty early.
On Wednesday, the regular Japanese lesson was re-started. I did lots of laundry folding that day. I hadn't done any on Tuesday, and the entire couch was loaded! :) So I sat down and folded it all up. I like folding laundry. There's something satisfying in knowing that you've taken dirty clothes in the morning, washed, hung, dried, folded, and put away clean clothes by the afternoon. Even if you don't get much else done in a day, laundry is always there to make you feel better about yourself. :) Then after the Japanese lesson, the clarinetist who is the third part of Roger and Abi's trio came to practice Christmas music with Abi. They practiced for a long time. Meanwhile Eastin was getting totally bored before Aidan got home from school. Every five minutes he would ask "Now how long until Aidan gets home, Mommy?" I tried to occupy him by reading, coloring, even playing with him... He just wanted to play with Aidan... So I started crocheting. That actually interested Eastin for the longest time of anything. I helped him make several stitches, and then he held my skein of yarn and gave me more when it was tight. He wanted me to make a sweater for him, but I explained that I couldn't very well do that with only one skein. So then he wanted a scarf. I told him that I would do my very best to make a scarf for him. I've been working on it, but it's still only about 8 inches long. I've already ripped it out to the bottom twice. I couldn't decide what pattern to use. Finally I settled on a simple half-double crochet. This yarn really is a little thicker than I like it, but it's not bad. It just took a little getting used to.... For dessert on Wednesday I made a peach cobbler. I added a new secret ingredient that I discovered from my Grandfather on my week vacation home. Only Abi and I know what it was! (And I won't tell even if you beg me!) :) After we finished cleaning the kitchen, we three older people watched half of a movie. We were all tired by that point and decided to go to bed and save the rest for a later date. So I fell asleep in bed listening to a great audio book I downloaded. It's one of my favorite books, though it's not the reader I'm used to... It's one of G. A. Henty's. He was a great author!
Today was kind of different. Roger and Abi left this morning at 7:00 for Chiba. They were leading worship at a meeting. So I got up at 6:30 to help make lunches for the boys. After we finished that, Roger and Abi had to leave, and I sent Aidan off to school at the appropriate time. Then I did reading with Eastin, and took him to school. Today was really cold, and I got to wear my new down coat for the first time! I like it a lot. I'm going to be very glad I bought it by the end of the year! Then Baby and I came back to the house. He played for a while, and then went to take a nap. While he was napping I was able to talk to my family, including my grandmother! I have not had an opportunity to email or chat with her in some time, so it was really great to have that time! Then at 2:00 Coen and I went to pick up Eastin from school. We came back here and I finished getting ready to have our English lesson with Hinako. We had a great lesson today and had fun. Then Aidan got back from school and Abi arrived from Costco. Aidan and I went down to help bring up groceries. We had sushi and salad for dinner, and finished off the rest of the peach cobbler. After washing the dishes I sat down here and haven't moved, except to change positions because my back is a little sore. :(
Well, Now I have filled you in on the past week, and my computer battery is nearly dead, so I'd better close for now and go plug in my computer... I hope you all have a wonderful day, week, month, and rest of the year! Enjoy your blessings, and whether or not you overlook the holiday of Thanksgiving (like Japan does), I encourage you to count your blessings, and thank our loving Father in Heaven for all of his blessings!
All my love,
Hannah
No comments:
Post a Comment