However I'm going to keep writing, because if I don't those rare posts that touch many people don't seem to come at all, I just get out of the habit of writing.
Today's been a little unusual. Our eldest got up at 3.30am and left soon after to climb Mt Fuji, the first of our family to ever do so. The rest of us were going to go west to a nice river spot to play and picnic with some friends.
However we woke to steady rain. The picnic was moved to our friends' house and the time pushed later. So we hung around home till mid-morning. Both Japanese freestyle male wrestlers wrestled overnight, so all their bouts were replayed this morning. It was really good to watch them. One got silver, the other didn't make it through to the medals.
Then we picked up another family and drove to lunch. It was a casual, enjoyable time. All three families hung out last year at wrestling and track meets, it was nice to spend some more time together. And I'm sure there's more coming as those sporting seasons come up again this school year. We ladies are talking about plans to go to Korea in February for the "Far East" regional wrestling finals!
After writing out my sadness yesterday it was great to spend a day appreciating the friends I do have, even if they haven't known me very long.
One of the comments about my blog post yesterday was from an old flat mate who said she understood the analogy and that it was a good one, but as she looked at the colandar, she also saw a vessel of strength.
That was a profound comment. It is true. Colandars do have a lot of strength. You can pour a lot of hot water through one and it doesn't crack or fall apart.
It is gutting to keep losing friends as we do, however, it can make us stronger (it can also weaken us to a point of breaking down). The shock is great when we first move away from our home support system, because it is all ripped away at the same time. It does get recreated over time in a different fashion, but in a patchwork style that constantly has patches ripped off to be replaced by other patches.
Some patches stay the same and those we deeply appreciated, like a friend who also commented about this post in FB saying, "I don't think it's ever occurred to me that your friends and acquaintances move around as much as you and your family do. Sending love and a 38-year-old friendship xx."
But, I think that for those of us who have a relationship with Jesus, our newly created patchwork support system has a greater ratio of reliance of God in it than we ever had before we came. For we can say, "But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge" (Ps 94:22, ESV).
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