Many thanks

We're coming to the end of the boys' first full week of school in Australia. We have many things to be thankful for. Here are just a few:

The two younger boys seem to have friends at school that they're enjoying. Our youngest has a friend there who's been asking for four years, "When will he be back?" This is a wonderful answer to prayer. 

This is usually what we see when we step outside our house
our house in Japan. Vastly different from what we see now in
Australia (see photos below).

Our middle son is continuing to learn percussion here and has joined the senior primary band. Yesterday he practised with them for the first time. Yesterday afternoon the first thing he said to me when I saw him after school was, "Band was a blast!"  This is huge, for our most change resistant child. So thankful. 

Along our riding journey to school we pass a paddock
with two horses.

Our eldest has started guitar lessons at school and seems to be enjoying picking up that. In fact as I type I hear strumming and plucking. Wonderful! This is something he's been interested in for over a year, but no teacher was available in Japan. This is a great opportunity for him, especially as at least two of his mates in Japan are really into guitar. 

We've ridden to school four out of five days. It is a 7 km round trip that includes hills, David

Part of the path we ride along.

and I take it in turns to ride with the boys. We're still working out some challenges on this front, but in general it is such a great way to enjoy our Australian surroundings. We ride through some bush on our way and it is a balm to our concrete-jungle-weary hearts. Good for our fitness too. We're certainly not used to hills, Tokyo is built on the largest plain in Japan and is generally pretty flat. 

The house is working out pretty well. Our eldest said the other day he prefers it to our Japan house. We're still getting used to the relatively vast yard we have, but are sure we're really going to appreciate it, even if we aren't the best gardeners. Just the serenity of the area is soothing and the many birds we hear is lovely. 

The routine of going to wrestling half an hour away is taking some getting used to, but all the boys are enjoying it and are being well challenged.

There are more, but that will do for today. What are you thankful for this week?