Living it up on Spring Break

There's a lot going on today and I feel a bit discombobulated, so maybe if I write a short blog post I might be able to get my head back in the game. We're in that beautiful week called "Spring Break" that happens at the end of March. This is an American thing that I fully embrace: a short school "vacation" just as spring is ramping up. We only get a week and it is over before you sneeze three times, but still, it's the perfect time of year to get outside after winter. We've often gone camping during this week.

Oh, did I mention camping? Yes, we're going camping tomorrow for four days. I can't wait to get away, these last few weeks I've been struggling to wake up in the morning, though once I get going I've been okay.

The weather is unpredictable at this time of year. In the last five days we've had snow and sunny 26˚C. Today is overcast and about 18˚C. The weather where we're headed in the morning is well under 10˚C at night and mid 20s during the day, until Friday when it might dip below 20˚C. The weather looks fine until Thursday and Friday when we could get wet, but hopefully not snowed on! We're in the period where sakura could be blooming...so we're hoping to see some along our journey and even at our campsite like we did two years ago. I need to pack soon and the flavour of the week will be layering!

But before we go, we've had things to do. 

Today David helped some colleagues get their stuff out of the storage place OMF rents for people on home assignment. He had lunch with another OMF colleague to touch base in a "how're you going" kinda way, plus talking over some OMF matters, like our next home assignment.

This morning I went to school for a few hours to help make cookies for the school's 75 anniversary celebrations next week. I haven't worked in a Home Ec kitchen since I was 13! After my tiny kitchen at home, it was a luxury, even if I didn't know where everything was and how it worked.

This afternoon I need to assess our grocery situation and camping list and go shopping for a few things, as well as pack my bag. It's the first time we've gone camping on our own as a couple! It should be fun and very quiet and relaxing.

Without kids at home, life feels easier and that we aren't working so hard. But apparently we are working as hard as we need to and we're still getting tired. I'm very thankful God granted us children when we're young. As a result I was only 50 when my last child moved out of home. But we're no longer in our 20s like when we first got married, and it's good to remember that.

We're excited by the work that God continues to give us. I'm starting to see glimpses of the things that God has for me in this new season. You've already started to hear about them—writing retreat coming up in May, writing workshop at the women's retreat a couple of weeks ago—there's a theme. Plus a few other ways to serve in small ways at church and OMF's field conference. It's exciting and I'm sure you'll hear about them in due time.

But for now, it's time to step aside and put our tools down for a few days and relax. Next time I'll come to you with camping stories and photos!

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on God

This has been an odd week in our house. My husband spent all week at two school camps, one after the other. Our youngest son was at the first camp and he got back on Wednesday. So for 2 ½ days it was just me and our middle son here at home. Distinctly weird.

Life goes on, however. I’m thankful for a quiet week at work, so I was able to take a non-desk day on Wednesday. I did household jobs and also rode to the “big park” for a picnic. And today have enjoyed time over coffee with a friend and also being able to attend a school prayer meeting that I have only managed to attend one other time in 2022.

During the week I also had time to spend talking to a couple of other friends on audio/video calls. So refreshing. God’s reminding me of those special people in my life who care very deeply. One of my friends I haven’t been able to talk to or have much interaction at all with since I last saw her in Australia in 2018. It’s a precious friend with whom you can pick up again after gaps like that.

Plum blossoms are out everywhere. While not
as common or popular as cherry blossoms,
 they are still gorgeous. Certainly there
 was a buzz in the park as people gathered
to admire them.

Something that’s giving me hope is that it seems like we’re starting to make greater progress in finding a way forward from the difficult situation we’ve been in over the last couple of years. It’s hard to describe this clearly here, in this public space, where I don't feel free to share all the details. I will say, though, that there’s been a lot of emotional ups and downs (more downs than ups) and at times the future’s looked bleak, as you may have picked up from various blog posts I’ve written. A dear friend I shared the details with didn’t mince her words when she described our situation as “walking through crap”. 

But in the last week tiny cracks of light have appeared: a couple of friends/colleagues who have volunteered to find out information for us as we prepare for the future, enquiries have gone out to different places that might net some practical help, and the knowledge that we’ll have (hopefully) feet on the ground in Australia in just over three months time. And someone who’s given us a generous donation that will help cover some of the extra expenses coming up.

I was reminded last week at the retreat, of this verse from 2 Chronicles 20 part of a prayer by King Jehoshaphat: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (second half of verse 12 NIV). I included it in my very first blog post this year; it’s a good one to remember! Indeed we’re waiting with bated breath to see what God will do. Of course there’s no guarantee of a good result (from our limited human perspective), but we know that God is infinitely reliable, even if we don’t understand what he does, or like the timeline that he’s working by.

Also, something even more tangible to contribute to the hopeful feelings—we've booked two different campsites for the last week of March. Plan A and Plan B. We were feeling a bit nervous after so many plans fell through on our last opportunity to go camping in autumn last year, so two options are available and we'll cancel one as needed.

I’m grateful for lots to be thankful for this week, and more to look forward to also. What are you thankful for this week?

"Come forth"

We had a rough week last week. I can't share the details—it's not my story to tell—but it involved the death of someone we knew. I've been a bit lost for words, but I did know that, in the midst of my current busy-ness I needed to find time and space to think about this loss and that writing is one way that I do that. So I took some time on Monday to go to a park and think about the week that's past (when the weather was warm and the rest of my family were home on a long weekend). But the writing I did then is not something I can share here.

Monday was an unusually spring-like day, even
if many of the trees are still leafless.

But I also remembered that I'd decided to work my way through a book called Come Closer by writing about one verse a month (corresponding to one chapter in the book). And it turns out that the next chapter in that book is about death. About the story of Lazarus' resurrection:

Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43.)

Oh, don't we all wish that the Lord would say that for loved ones we've lost? We groan in this death and pain-marred world.

We don't want it in our lives, we try to deny that it happens. But can we allow it to turn our eyes to the truth? That we were made for Eden, a perfect world, with no sin or death. That our longings for an unmarred world are really longing for that, and for life everlasting in heaven. Read God's words:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new. (Revelations 21:3–5 ESV)

Right now we don't know the answer to the "Whys?" And that's not comfortable. But for those of us who follow the God of the Bible, we do know that there is a future in which all of this pain will be gone. And for those who have gone before us, that their pain is now all in the past. That is something to hold on to, even as we mourn their loss to us.

I'm also left with the question, like last time I wrote on this "Come" series—how can I live abundant life now, even as I get weighed down by the griefs of this life? I think one key is found in one of my favourite passages. Looking to Jesus—

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that
you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV)

Music played a part in my reflections at the park on Monday. Here's one song I missed, though:

 

 

Spring 2020 camping trip

On Monday we went on our fifth Spring camping trip in Japan. The first one, in 2013, was on our own at a citrus and dairy farm on the Pacific coast of Chiba Prefecture. Since then we've camped four out of the last five years during CAJ's Spring break with the same family. It was our sixth camping trip with these guys, so we've got things down pretty well. They cook two meals, we cook two, and we do our own lunches. If you don't cook, you help with clean-up. 

We went to a new campsite again this year: in Chichibu, west-north-west of home. Only about 80 km by the slow road, meaning speed limit 40 km/h or less. So it took us about three hours to get there!

Red arrow = home
Blue arrow = campsite

Our strategy for finding new campsites is Google Maps. We find an area we're interested in visiting and type in "camping" and explore the options. Mostly going for places that have a website with financial information on them. Many campsites here seem to have hidden costs: like not just charging for the site, but also per head, or per tent, or both. A common charge is showers. The campsite we visited this time had four-minute showers at 200 yen a pop, which quickly adds up for a family. Thankfully we took our own bags for rubbish, they would have charged us for that too.

Only this time our strategy got derailed a little. When we arrived at the place we thought we'd booked, they told us to turn around and drive back a couple of kilometres back to a different campsite. We weren't sure what was going on, but I kept repeating in my head, "It's an adventure..."

We found an empty campsite, but a very excited owner. He welcomed us warmly, with a torrent of words and we quickly figured out what had happened. The valley had been damaged during the typhoon last autumn. It turns out that there were two campsites in the area that were owned by the same people and those people were more concerned about restoring their flooded sites than updating their website. They had changed the first campsite we went to into a bungalow-only location and switched all the camping to the other location they owned. One phone number for both locations!

The campsite had been busy over the long weekend just past, but we were the only campers from Monday to Wednesday. Initially my heart sank as it looked like a gravel car park with not a blade of grass in sight, but we found an area down the hill that was a bit more attractive and set up a very comfy and spacious camp. The toilet and shower facilities were all new. Showers possibly a little too well ventilated for the chilly weather we faced, though. Only one of the eight campers braved a shower!

The location turned out to be gorgeous: right next to the Arakawa river, though to get to it you had to walk down a steep path. Once there, though, it was a fantastic place to ramble around. Thousands of loose rocks of all sizes. The kids were old enough to go down there on their own and spent hours exploring, climbing, throwing, building, and taking photos.

The track down to the river from the campsite.

Monday night (in fact both nights) the temperature dropped down to about zero fairly quickly. Most people were in bed before 9pm on Monday. Having camped at temperatures like this before, we were well equipped with fairly basic stuff (not expensive winter-camping equipment). Just lots of warm clothes, long underwear, and blankets. So bed became cosy pretty quickly. It wasn't easy to get up and face the next morning, which was cloudy and blustery.

We typically had a lazy camp. Tuesday was too cold to sit around a lot, though (9C), so we all wandered along the river in the late morning. After lunch many of us retreated to warm tents for naps, books, or games (yes, shelter from wind should not be underestimated when you have at least intermittent sun). Almost all the kids disappeared mid-afternoon with one of the men who had found a couple of caves to explore. Those of us left behind started up a fire early as a way to keep warm, before we started on dinner prep.

We spent a long time on dinner on Tuesday night because I got a bit ambitious with the food, but no one complained. It was fun to play with the fire and generally just hang out. Oh, and the food was good too (campfire pizza is yum, but it does take a while, as do chicken "legs" and chocolate banana boats).

Because the night was still young, we built up the fire after dinner and sat around it for some time. A bit of singing, one poem recited, some Australian history/literature/culture explained to our US friends. Fire was a fun part of this camp. The owner had welcomed us using any sticks lying around the place, and we found plenty (and burnt it all). That's pretty unusual at a Japanese campsite.

March for us has been very different to what we thought it would be: same as for many of you. We've been doing distance learning all month (thankfully driven by the school, not me). Most of the things we'd looked forward to were cancelled, including a week of field conference in Hokkaido at a hotel with all you can eat breakfast and dinner, plus multiple swimming pools. So it was fantastic to have one plan not get cancelled. And being away from the craziness of living closely with 30+ million other people. All of you will identify with the challenges of living with the current uncertainty. Staying home just seems passive and not how you should face a threat like we've got. So going out and doing something away from others was incredibly refreshing, even if we weren't totally disconnected from the world (I didn't take a photo of all the phones being charged on one crate on Tuesday afternoon!).

Anyway, here are some photos for your enjoyment. Some taken by me, some by my 14 y.o. son.

We really want to try this campsite in the summer. Looks like some great
water fun could be had...

Our youngest son did this! And took the photo.

He also threw this rock, then photographed the result!

The rock formations were fascinating.

I was on bacon and eggs-duty for Wednesday breakfast. Lots of fun.

Three tents (only two visible) plus our usual "annex". Ostensibly the kitchen and
wet-weather living room, except we had no rain.

We decided that our bigger tent would be more comfortable with only
our double-bed airbed and one single mat. Worked well to
borrow this little tent, although the occupant of it didn't
agree 100%. He enjoyed the independence, but the logistics
of living in such a small tent are different to one you can
stand up in!

Can you spot the flowering cherry blossom in the middle of the photo?

That rock retaining wall provided lots of climbing fun. Across the road there were
a couple of artificial climbing walls as well as a flying fox that some enjoyed.

Not many buds on this baby cherry blossom tree. But we really did do
three days of "hanami" (Cherry Blossom picnicking).

Rambling along the river on Tuesday morning was fun.

So glad we got to do this trip. Great memories. Also reinforcing how good it is to have solid shelter, electricity, internet, beds, cupboards full of food, etc. We really don't have anything to complain about.

Spring in my garden

I got an article through my Facebook feed today saying that the cherry blossom season has been declared open today, one day earlier than predicted. I haven't been out and about today, but I can say spring is happening in my own scrappy little garden.

Here's proof.

Can anyone tell me what this is? I presume it's a bulb, it's come up of its own accord.

Our hydrangea is getting all "leafed up".

And my wonderful, hardy geraniums. This one is outside and there's one upstairs on our only sunny windowsill.

We've got birds moving into our birdhouse and the Dogwood tree that it's hanging on is getting ready to sprout leaves too. I'm no gardener, but I'm happy to appreciate God's handiwork and the work of others more talented. 

This is our little garden, it's scrappy, but we love it all the same.

Some joys and struggles of the last 10 days

I've been busy this last week since I last wrote. Here's what's been going on in my on the edge of ordinary life:

But first a photo. Plum blossoms are just coming out. Next week the
Cherry blossoms are forecast to show themselves in Tokyo. Spring
is taking off and it's wonderful!

Monday 4th I did my usual grocery run and spent some time at the gym too. Aside from that, it was a home office day as I tried to get ahead before the rest of the week.

Tuesday 5th Was another home office day, alas a beautiful warm blue-sky day outside. I got a lot done, but it was heads-down all the way. Late in the day I rode to a new giant home store near us, especially to buy a couple of laundry accessories, but had a look around for a few other needs also. 

At 5pm I had a Skype meeting with a colleague in the UK who was just starting her workday. The meeting ran later than I'd planned and dinner ended up late (and me with a headache). Both boys had track and field training until nearly dinner time on Monday and Tuesday.

Love, love, love these missionary-women retreats!

Wednesday 6th I did some uncharacteristic baking mid-morning (usually I do this on weekends, or, at a pinch, late afternoon). It was in preparation for the Women in Ministry retreat that I left for after lunch, I'd volunteered to take some home-baked goodies for snack times.

After lunch, I met four other ladies at school and I drove us all out to far-western Tokyo for the two-night retreat, about a two-hour drive.

Thursday 7th and Friday 8th Yep, at the retreat. Times of worship, fellowship, eating, resting, and even crafting. On Thursday evening we also go to try out some Scottish highland dancing, a lot like Australian bush dancing.

More blossoms!

I had several retreat highlights:

• great Biblical teaching
• time spent one-on-one with a couple of good listeners telling about the challenges we faced at the end of November, early December last year
• a practical grief workshop
• feeling at home with other missionaries who don't need you to explain much between the lines to "get me"
• Scottish dancing
• worshipping in song and in English
• an enjoyable walk

Of particular note from the Bible teaching was:

• being reminded of the love of God, especially that God dwells in perfect love in the Trinity and his compassion towards us is constant.
• the Father-son relationship between Jesus and the Father is worth exploring in the Bible, it's a strong theme
• ministry is about serving (it's not a badge or a status) and it is just as valid to be called to be a faithful follower of Christ in the midst of the chaos or suffering of life as it is to have a recognised "ministry" role
• 2 Corinthians 4:1 tells us that ministry is a gift of God's mercy—what a remarkable way to view whatever it is that God's calling us to do right now
• there's an ongoing challenge to persevere through hardship and not lose heart 2 Cor. 1:7-12

On Thursday night, I sat for about an hour while the two worship leaders continued to sing after the formal session had finished. I just sat and soaked in the music, sometimes singing, sometimes not. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

Friday 8th Thursday was a rainy, cold day, but Friday was sunny and invited me outside. After lunch we were free to go home, but I asked leave of the six other people riding in my van, to take an hour for a stroll down to the river the retreat centre is located next to. It was a lovely bit of breathing space before diving back into the concrete jungle.

Saturday 9th Didn't end up being the day off that I'd envisioned. I spent the morning doing groceries and at the gym and the afternoon working on urgent office matters. David spent a couple of hours at school supervising a robotics team and then he and our youngest went to an end of wrestling season party.

This was me on the train on Monday morning.
Four people in this photo! Tokyo trains are
wonderful, but are also tiring. I've been on them
at least 1 1/2 hrs each day this week so far.

Sunday 10th This was also busier than I'd hoped. Church in the morning, and, though we're not responsible for anything at the church, Japanese worship still makes me tired. We had lunch with OMF colleagues and also a meeting to plan for a missions prayer meeting we're leading at church this coming Sunday. It was a lovely time together, especially seeing our children, who are very un-alike (they are two lower-elementary girls), interact so well.

Mid-afternoon after we got home we had a short (planned) conversation answering questions from a couple who are applying to come to Japan with OMF. Mostly it was about kids education.

Then we rested.

Monday 11th I jumped on a train not long after 8am to head to our monthly Kanto OMF prayer and fellowship day. I didn't know it, but I wasn't going to return home until nearly lunchtime the next day. Around lunchtime I became unwell. It seems now that I developed a rather nasty headache/stomach migraine. It would have been nice to jump in a car and sleep all the way home, but the idea of spending 90 minutes trains getting home was too much, so I ended up staying the night there, in OMF's guesthome. First time that's ever happened to me: not being able to return home because of illness.

This cuppa helped me get home on Tuesday after
a nasty headache the day before kept me from
travelling the 1 1/2 hrs home on trains.

Tuesday 12th I gingerly returned home and, after a bit of a midday rest, had a great afternoon trying to catch up on computer work that had been neglected for several days.

Wednesday 13th I worked at home in the morning and then met a friend for coffee (about an hour away by train). It was a delightful afternoon, but I have to admit that I'm still struggling under a bit of a headache cloud. Not so bad as Monday, but it's lurking, and sometimes clouding my thinking.

Well, that is already a lot and if I don't publish this soon, you'll just be getting an elaborate version of my daily schedule, which isn't my intention (I started this on Tuesday and now it's Thursday)!

This photo doesn't show well this cute little
building. One room upstairs and one downstairs.
It's a coffee shop. The sort that asks you which
coffee beans you'd like your coffee crafted from!

Park ride

I did end up riding to the park today, but kept it to a short visit and didn't do too many things on my ride home (I often do some shopping or go to a coffee shop). It's very green now! Absolutely gorgeous.

This week is called Golden Week as it holds several public holidays. One of which is Children's Day. There are these Carp "flags" up all over Japan to commemorate. These were huge (note the people under the flagpole).

There were a lot of school groups in the park. And other groups too (riding past the BBQ section was a bit agonising). Here we have a lot of backpacks waiting for their owners to stop playing. Squatting on the left of the photo is the "caretaker" of the backpacks. I'm guessing that each class had one tree. Later they would be coming back to have a picnic.

Ah, fresh, spring green! Love it!

Cherry blossom season

I can't let the sakura blooming season pass without showing you just one more taste. We missed the peak of it while we were in Hokkaido, but caught some at either end.

This first photo was taken just before we went to Hokkaido (25th March). It was one of the few trees with some branches in full bloom (you can see some in the blue section of the photo that aren't).

This next photo of pre-blooming cherry bloom trees was taken mid-March. I shared it on Facebook and a friend asked for an "after" photo. But that turned out harder to do than I thought. The trees are at a small shopping centre about three kilometres from here. A distance that isn't great if you're driving around a lot, but I am not. I don't go here more than once or twice a month. The second photo I rode down on my bike especially to take it just before we left for Hokkaido and you can see they are on the verge of blooming. Nine days later (yesterday) I took the third photo of the same scene. You can see I missed them at their peak! I'll take a fourth photo in early May to show you what magnificent shade trees they are in summer.

On Saturday David and I rode to my usual large park for a picnic and a spot of ohanami (cherry blossom viewing). There were thousands of people in the park, but plenty of blossoms to go around, even in the areas away from where the majority of trees are planted.

I love this unusual, "on the edge of ordinary" blossom!

People go gaga about the cherry blossoms, but I also love the new green leaves!

Anticipation

One thing I love is looking forward to things. I think it is a very special gift that God's given us: the ability to hope, to anticipate. It is said that hope was the key difference between people who made it through concentration camps and those who didn't. I can totally believe that. Without hope, it's hard to get through each day. But indeed God is called the "God of hope": "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13 NIV).

After Christmas in Japan I always look forward to spring. Before I lived in Japan I didn't realised how important the seasons could be to me. 

I find winter in Tokyo challenging, mostly because of the cold (single digits in Celsius, and inside our house is mostly unheated), but also because it is a bit dreary. I know I could be living in a far more dreary place: a place that has a grey, drizzly winter. But I (now) know that that would be a very difficult place for me to live. 

I love sunshine and the bright colours of nature in the warmer months. Winter is dreary in Tokyo, not because we have lots of grey days, but because many of the trees have lost their beautiful, green leaves, leaves which helped to cover up some of the grey dreariness of so much concrete. Also, there are very few spots of colour from flowers. My first two visits to Tokyo were in winter and they really didn't favour me towards the place. We didn't move here for the climate!

So, I look forward to spring, those warmer days full of hope for more warmth and more colour in our days. 

But there is a dark side to spring in Japan, it feels like two steps forward  and one step back, as the days swing between warmer and colder weather. In fact Japanese have a saying about it: san kan shi on, literally "three cold four warm". Yesterday we had an especially cold day, so cold that it snowed! Thankfully I haven't put away my warmest winter gear yet. But it was mentally a bit tough. I kind-of get used to the cold mid-winter, but when the temperature is leaping around I find it much harder.

One advantage of living in the same place for a long period is knowing what you can look forward to in your immediate surroundings. For example, these two trees that I see at least twice a week as I ride to get groceries.

 This first tree is a magnolia. I know the photo isn't much to look at, it was a dreary day when I took the photo, but it was a joy to see it blooming on Monday.

The second is a type of cherry blossom, a weeping-kind. I love to see this every spring!

I found these as I rode home from church on Sunday, just down the road from us. I'd forgotten these bulbs were there. Such a joy to see them, especially yesterday when the sky was unseasonably chucking down snow.

Now speaking of looking forward to things. In the midst of everything, we've been working on plans for entering Australia. We've made plans and booked accomodation for a week's holiday in-between here and settling in Queensland. Exciting plans that have finally come together this week! I'm looking forward to that time very much.