Looking ahead to 2026

Happy New Year to you all!

I started 2025 by writing that it wasn't going to be a dramatic year, and it really wasn't, compared to the previous two years (during which we moved countries twice and transitioned two boys to independent living outside of our house). But we did fly to Australia three times during the year, which is more than we've ever done before. It was also our first full calendar year in Japan without any kids with us.

This was the scene outside our apartment when I went
out at about 7.30 on Monday morning to head over to
OMF Japan headquarters for our monthly prayer and
fellowship meeting. About five cm of snow fell on
Friday night and some that was in shade all weekend hadn't melted by Monday morning.

Looking ahead to the next year, the main "big rock" we know about in 2026 is a 10-and-a-half week home assignment (HA) mid-year. In our 25 years in this missionary life, we've done four year-long HAs and one six-month one. Each of those involved a lot of work in Japan as we handed our roles over to others before we left and rented somewhere to live in Australia. In this new phase of our service, we're going to try something doing a much shorter one. There are several reasons for us, but we hope it will mean we can catch up with supporting churches and keen supporters without a big disruption to our ministries in Japan, and it won't mean renting somewhere in Australia. It also means we can keep our apartment here in Tokyo, which is a huge advantage. I'm sure I'll be writing much more about this topic in the coming months, but for now, that's the big thing that we know is coming this year.

But, aside from that, going into 2026 feels like it's going to be even less dramatic. There are few changes in our immediate lives that we can foresee, though we'll be watching our granddaughter grow (from a distance).

Some changes in focus

I'm working on some changes in the things I focus on in daily life, some of which I've listed below.

Lots of reading, as usual, but with a smaller goal to allow for longer books. I've aimed at (and achieved) reading 100 books a year for the last six years. This year I'm aiming at 90, but we'll see how that goes.

Regular walking (and riding) with my husband, but I'm considering if I should add something else to the mix.

Investing more concentrated time in writing is one big change I want to make. I'm pretty skilled at writing short pieces in-between other things in my life, but as I wrote here back in November, I've been challenged about writing a book. But to make progress on that I need to make more regular time in my weeks to write, otherwise this is going to stagnate as a goal. How that will look, I'm not sure, but I'm trying out different ideas and see what progress I can make before I go on the writing retreat in October.

Unlike other recent years, I didn't listen to sermons in English mid-week during 2025 because we've started going to a church that is in English, but I did listen to the whole Bible through the year. I haven't found myself a Bible reading plan yet, but do intend to get back into this again. I haven't set a specific goal, but do intend to continue listening to podcasts by John Dickson (see here: Undeceptions).

Lily pads

It's been a while since I referred to the concept of "lily pads". It's a helpful concept for maintaining mental health and includes things that you've got planned for the future to look forward to. Here are some of my lily pads for 2026 (the one's I know about now):

• trip to Okinawa this month with the high school girls wrestling team from school (you'll hear more about this later in the month)
• missionary women's retreat in March
• personal camping trips in March and October
• writing retreat in October
• the aforementioned HA during which we'll see family and friends and hope that will include our granddaughter

So, let's see what God brings during 2026. No matter what, I know that he goes before me and will be with me and I have no need to fear (Deut. 31:8).

This was on the inside of our toilet door in
November last year. A great verse to read every
time I used that tiny room.

Seizing the moments this month in Queensland

It's nine days since I last wrote here and I'm definitely feeling more settled and am a little less "discombobulated". Yesterday I cooked two different meals in our friends' kitchen (successfully and without undue stress), I feel like that proves the point!

We've also been trying to keep up with
regular walking. This part of Queensland
has some beautiful spots to walk.

Normal for July is that I'm balancing my online work with the Japan Harvest magazine and our organisation's social media with David being on "summer" holidays. What's not usual is that we're also spending time with people we don't normally see: the friends we're staying with, family, church family, and other friends. It's all very good and worthwhile, but also challenging to get a good balance. I suspect we'll be a little weary when we get back to Japan.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that the time frame that we're here for (5 weeks) means that people who really want to see us are more motivated to make the time, and we're more likely to seize the moment and go for it. Six months or twelve months provides a lot of time to get a better balance (and more rest) but less urgency to get things done. 

Our main purpose of being here is to spend time with our kids, and you can see below that we've been very intentional about that.

Here are some of the things we've done in the last 10 days:

• Had a "State of Origin" party (high profile rugby league game between our state and another) at our youngest son's house with his brother.
• Met my parents for lunch.
• Met different long-term friends on three occasions for lunch or coffee.
• Wendy went to an afternoon tea fun gathering with other women from our home church.
• David’s gone to a couple of men’s coffee mornings.
• A couple of routine medical/optometry visits.
• Drove to 75 km to the north of Brisbane for an open night at a camp that our youngest son is at with Christians from his uni (and another local uni).
• Went to a movie with our middle son and had lunch at his place another day.
• David went to another movie with our hosts and youngest son.
• Most nights we've had dinner with our hosts.

I've been trying to keep up with general work that comes across my desk. Thankfully it's not been too heavy a work-flow this month, but I'm aware that I'm pretty distracted by all of the above. Along with that I've had some online work meetings about magazine and social media matters.

Someone asked me the other day how often we come to Australia, and I had to say that there is no usual now, it's actually in flux as we figure out this new chapter in our lives. But as we go about life here this month, we're thinking about the middle of next year. Our organisation has a key value of ensuring missionaries spend time in their "home" countries. There are five purposes for that:

1. Reporting to churches concerning the ministry/work.

2. Participation in the mobilisation work of the OMF Homeside.

3. Rest and renewal.

4. Reunion with family, friends, and supporting churches.

5. Re-equipping for a more effective ministry.

There used to be a pattern of around four years of service "on the field" and one year in your "sending country" the latter year being called "home assignment". This has been changing in the 25 years we've been working in Japan. Now, for various reasons, it's less common to do one year home assignments and thankfully our organisation is flexing to accommodate. And we're re-evaluating our own plans in the light of our new season without children at home anymore. 

This time next year we're planning to do a short home assignment, probably June and July. There are many reasons for this, which I won't bore you with. But we're hoping it will be a viable ongoing option for the future because the whole upheaval that goes with moving to Australia for six months to a year is a lot. We've done it five times now and are fairly reluctant to do it again, though we know the value of the above points!

We've got two and a half more weeks before we fly back to Japan now and it's probably going to fly by fast with more of the types of social engagements you see above. We're trying to seize the moment and be as present as we can as we spend time with precious people we would not otherwise see.

Looking ahead to 2025

I wrote this before we left for Australia…and haven’t got around to double checking it and publishing it before today (9th).

_______

I'm a bit squeezed for time on this one. We're leaving for Australia at 3pm New Years Day (today). So I won't make this long.

Compared to the last two years, 2025 is shaping up to be much less dramatic. Yes, we do have two short trips to Australia planned, but neither involves moving house or country. But other than that, it isn't going to be a dramatic year as far as we know.

We are starting dramatically, however, with the first wedding of the next generation: our eldest son. That's our first trip to Australia. We're looking forward to welcoming a new member to our family (I'm excited about adding another girl to the mix!). And also exploring a new part of the state we both grew up in: Townsville in north Queensland.

Then we'll return, mid-January, to a mid-winter Tokyo to finish out the school year (in June). June will involve more travel: Hokkaido for a field conference for our organisation, then David (and maybe I) will travel to Thailand for meetings, and then on to Australia to catch up with family and friends and take a short holiday before returning to a steaming-hot Tokyo in August.

But, apart from the above details, I haven't thought a lot about 2025. I have some hoped-for plans for work, but not sure if they will come to pass. We’ll see what surprises come our way!

Many things I did in 2024 I will continue to do in 2025. These things:

• regularly walk with my husband (I averaged about 2.5 km a day in 2023) walking average 2024 = 2.6k
• study Japanese
• read lots of books (my goal for the last 5 years has been 100 books a year, I nearly didn't achieve that in 2024, but I'm going to try again in 2025)
• listen to English sermons at least once a week
• stay in touch with close friends regularly, and when I can, in person
• bake
• writing

We've also added in a regular 16 km ride on Sundays to get to church (when we are well enough and the weather is cooperative).

So we await whatever other surprises God brings our way in 2025.

Looking ahead to 2024

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

It is my habit at the start of January to look ahead to the next 12 months in my first blog post of the year. Of course I can't predict what will happen or how it will turn out! And what better reminder of that uncertainty when we watch Japan live through more disasters only hours after we've wished everyone a "happy new year"!

Despite that, it's useful to both look ahead and also look back. 

One example of how this reflecting and anticipating can help is that when I look back at this time last year I remember that 2023 looked like a lot of hard work. Plus there were lots of things that we really didn't know how we were going to achieve and I felt anxious about. But now that the year is over I realise that we did make it through all of that, with God's help. Yes it was hard, but also there were good surprises along the way (like the house we're living in and the furniture we're using) and many of the disasters that I imagined never occurred. With this in mind I can approach 2024 knowing that, though there's hard work ahead and some things that seem impossible, time next year I'll hopefully be able to look back and have the same realisation: that God's walked with us through it all and provided all that we've needed.

We see it in the Bible too: God encouraged the Israelites to look back at what he'd done for them in the past and to trust that he'll work again on their behalf in the future. This is stated very clearly in Deuteronomy 7:

You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?’ But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. (vv. 17–19 NIV)

It's also a theme in the New Testament. Jesus told his disciples in the Last Supper to remember him by doing this (which is where the Lord's Supper we celebrate in churches today comes from). In the book of Hebrews we're encouraged to persevere in the faith, backed up by a lengthy list of those who have gone before us (who didn't even know the story of Jesus). 

So remembering the past can help us as we face the future. Given what I reflected on last week in my end of year blog post, I certainly will be trying to be more serious about not worrying.

I noticed a small thing in this passage I was listening to the other day:

Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?' (Luke 12:23–26 NIV UK)

We think that by worrying we can extend our lives (or the lives of others), but that's obviously not God's perspective. From his perspective adding an hour to our lives is a "very little thing". The difference between us and God is so huge and he understands that better than we do! So, since I can't even do this very little thing, I think that giving up worrying is a worthy goal, not just for 2024, but for the rest of my life. I'm certain that I will fail again and again, but with God's help I surely can improve on what I've done up till now!

Coming months

The coming couple of months probably includes us moving into the era of couple-dom again. I'm actively avoiding the usual term for this stage. We'll be parents of independently living adults, which is what we've been working towards for the last 24 years!

 It's a stage that is worth acknowledging, but also a stage that is full of so much potential and not just "emptiness". But obviously a huge change from living with our guys and interacting with them on a daily basis, so it will be an adjustment that will take some time.

Our hope and plan is to return to Japan in July to the roles we had there last year (or approximately those roles, some changes will hopefully come to pass). Before then we have some travel planned in Australia, including a big trip to take advantage of Australia's amazing long-service provision (paid leave to reward a long period of service with the same organisation). You will hear plenty about that as I hope to write an online diary of our travels like I have for our long camping journeys in the past.

As for what happens after July? When we get back to Japan we plan to move into a small apartment near the school in western Tokyo. Yes, we've already seen this apartment (first time we've seen a future place of accommodation in person since 2005)! And we are looking forward to having fun exploring all sorts of new possibilities that being a couple provides. We first arrived in Japan in 2000 with a 20-month old and have done our entire missionary journey overseas with children in our care, so this is indeed a very new chapter.

It's another year that involves a long, multi-stage international move, though it's always physically easier moving out of Australia because we haven't been here so long and have less stuff. Much of the larger items we use go back to owners or find new owners. We haven't moved into a new house in Japan in 14 years, though, so that will be different, but moving without little children is definitely easier (even if we'll be missing the strength of our young adult sons).

Sadly it's another year that involves many goodbyes. But there are also many who we're looking forward to seeing again in Japan. It's never easy emotionally for me to move, and saying goodbye to Australia is an act of the will, rather than an overly eager spirit.

Many things I did in 2023 I will continue to do in 2024. This was my list from 12 months ago:

• regularly walk with my husband (I averaged about 2.5 km a day last year)
• study Japanese
• read lots of books
• listen to English sermons at least once a week
• stay in touch with close friends regularly, and when I can, in person
• bake
• writing

Much of this remains true of my intentions for 2024, I don't have as much time alone in Australia, so I listen to less podcasts and sermons (and get an English sermon in person most Sundays). I don't have a current writing project or specific writing goal for 2024, though have submitted an application to be part of a writing team for the year . . . I haven't heard back on that yet, so we'll see. I've got vague prof. dev. reading goals while I'm in Australia, but again will try to read 100 books in the year (mostly fiction for relaxation, I read fast and rely on books to help me relax before sleeping). I mentioned 12 months ago that I'd picked up cross-stitch again, and I'm still working on that, but it's a complex design and I'm finding it slow going.

That's enough. I look ahead to 2024 with this:

I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ (Psalm 91:2 NIV)

Looking ahead to 2023

I've had a full week to start the year, though perhaps not technically "busy". We spent NYE with friends playing board games and enjoying just being together again. These are our camping buddies and we've spent several NYEs together over the last few years. They hadn't seen our eldest son since his last visit here 3 ½ years ago, and we only got one camping trip in in 2022, way back in March. 

Then it was church on Sunday and recovering from "the night before"; I have never been good at staying up late. One Monday afternoon we welcomed a school friend of our eldest son, the only friend of his from high school who is around this area at the moment. Then just after lunch on Tuesday we farewelled them both—our son to Australia and his friend, well we're not sure when we'll see him again. 

It was great to spend 10 days with our eldest. We've kept in pretty good contact with him over the last two years, with weekly video chats on Sunday afternoons, but there's nothing like living together, talking over multiple meals, during car journeys and walks to really find out how things are.

Tuesday afternoon David took a colleague and his wife to the airport bus and then we headed into town for the evening to meet friends and see a big winter illumination on a race course. Wednesday was a recovery day, and then yesterday and today we've each spent time downtown with friends over meals. Oh, and there's been cricket since Wednesday too (when it's not raining in Sydney). I've been avoiding going back to work, but the deadlines are catching up to me and this morning I've had to finally get a bit more serious.

Therefore, it's taken till the sixth day of the new year to find the space to write this, though I've been thinking about it all week. 

Thinking about the future like this is
a little bit like looking at an unsigned path in
the woods. You have thoughts about where
it might lead, what you might encounter on 
the way, but you really have no clear idea
at all!

In fact, we've been thinking about 2023 for several years. It's the year that our youngest son finishes high school, which is significant for anyone, but for missionaries it can be massive. Juggling the education of our children as well as a specific demand of our job (that we periodically spend significant chunks of time in our home country) has gotten harder and harder as the boys got older. Australian and American high school education systems aren't super compatible, and jumping between countries with children isn't fun at the best of times. So, we've been juggling home assignments to try to minimise the disruption to their education. 

This year after June, for the first time in 20 years, we will have no one at school. I was asked yesterday what I was looking forward to in 2023, and my first answer was "my son's graduation". The lady who asked was surprised, she doesn't have children herself, but noted that many people don't look forward to their last child leaving school. So, maybe I'm weird . . . but I'm putting it out here anyway, because there are probably people out there as weird as me, but don't want to say so.

However, the whole process of doing a home assignment is no picnic, even if no one needs to be enrolled in school. It involves a lot of admin and planning, changing jobs, international travel, using up all the stuff in our pantry, and moving house. And in our case this year, moving out of the house we've lived in for 13 years, downsizing, and putting the remaining goods into storage for the year. Then, when we get to Australia, getting stuff out of storage there, finding a rental (which isn't easy at the moment in south-east Queensland), (probably) finding second-hand furniture and white goods, and settling into a new house for however many months we have left once we've done all that. 

During this 2023-2024 home assignment, instead of school issues, we also have the challenge of helping start our two youngest boys transition to independent life in Australia. A task for which no manual has been written . . . although we've done it once before, each young adult is different and it's not going to look the same for any of our boys.

Wow, I've just looked back at the equivalent post I wrote at the start of 2020. Pre-pandemic. Yep, none of us saw what was coming that year. I had an idea of what I thought the next couple of years might include, especially surrounding international travel and what my older two children might be doing. The ensuing years have made me much more tentative about making predictions about the future. However the one long-term thing that I did have in that 2020 post that seems to be accurate was going on home assignment in 2023.

It is the fifth time we've gone on home assignment. I now understand why more experienced missionaries don't like doing it (something I didn't get when I was in my first term and so, so homesick). It's a lot of work and thoroughly exhausting. But there's always mixed feelings about changing countries. In some ways I'm more comfortable in Australia, and there are special people there who I'm looking forward to spending time with.

So as I look at the first half of the year, I see a lot of hard work. I'll be continuing on with my usual job, but at the same time planning on how to hand that over to others. I'll also begin working on the admin of planning for the second half of the year: a lot of email as I organise different speaking opportunities and other things related to our move. We'll have to work on things like material to present at said speaking opportunities too. We're also still parents, so, in addition to supporting our kids emotionally, there are things like sports events to attend, and then various end-of-senior-year events too. Oh, and did I mention downsizing and packing?

Two "big rocks" in the first half of the year are:

• two-night women's retreat in March
• OMF Japan field conference in June in Hokkaido

I've also got couple of "big rocks" tentatively in the calendar for the second-half of the year.

Plus a big birthday milestone in April, one that seems like it should apply to someone else a lot older than me . . . but then I do have a 23 year old son . . . 

We're also hoping to go camping at the end of March, and maybe in July also.

Close friends tell me I tend to be quite "regular", as in, I do hold to a fairly steady schedule of my own volition. My life is fairly full and I'm pretty happy with what I've been doing, so I don't see the advent of a new year as a need to change much. And so things that I plan to continue to do as regularly as I can in 2023 are:

• regularly walk with my husband
• study Japanese
• read lots of books
• listen to English sermons at least once a week
• stay in touch with close friends regularly, and when I can, in person
• bake
• writing (though I've got a project currently, beyond that and this blog, I don't have a specific writing goal for 2023)

I've picked up my long-term cross-stitch project during the last three weeks also, but I think I'm probably reaching a little if I think that that's going to be something that I do much of in the next six months . . . though it would be nice to get it finished before we come back to Japan in 2024 (Lord willing) as a couple for the first time!

Looking ahead to 2022

I'm not excited about writing this blog post, but it's a tradition that I've done since my very first January of writing this blog (in 2010), and I'm going to keep it. Looking ahead to 2022 is even more difficult than I thought 2021 was. After two years of this pandemic it really is difficult to think positively about the future, even for this optimist and planner.

We had a New Year's Eve party with friends on Friday night. The party itself was a stark reminder of how our world is currently different. Of the four married couples represented at the party, David and I were the only two who could both come. Of the rest, one partner was either in quarantine due to travelling internationally over Christmas because of family ill-health or death, or had illness in their house that they didn't want to share with the rest of us. Three of the four families have adult children in our home countries who might have visited if times had been different. Those of us who could gather were glad we could, but the party was overshadowed by the absence of those who couldn't.

As for what lies ahead for 2022 . . . I don't really want to guess. However it looks like Australia is finally opening up and allowing non-hotel quarantine, so we hope to visit mid-year. How long I will stay is still undetermined, though David and our youngest will have to return for the start of school in August (he's starting Grade 12!). I will probably stay longer to help our middle son explore some options for the future. No idea what that might look like, but it's out there as a pencilled-in plan.

But there's one thing we do know: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

There are many metaphors that underline his solid, permanent status. He's a rock, a strong tower, a fortress, and a shield (Psalm 18:2 among others). He's an anchor for our soul (Hebrews 6:19) foundation (story of wise and foolish builders Matthew 7).

So we are urged to: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5–6). 

As I've thought about this transition into a new year, I've been encouraged in recent weeks by some other passages of the Bible too.

2 Chronicles 20 Unusual reaction to strife

This chapter tells us about Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. A couple of groups came against him in war. The incident is relayed to us by "some people" who came to the king saying "A vast army is coming against you". Jehoshaphat was alarmed. It says, upon receiving this new he proclaimed a fast for all Judah in order to inquire of the Lord and seek God's help. And then it tells us his prayer. I love to read the prayers recorded for us in the Bible. This one shows us the king reminding God of who he is and what he's done in the past. He finished with "We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

We're in a very different situation in 2022, no vast army, but rather a complex medical-social-political situation that limits us, shocks us, stretches us, and threatens to make us bow down in fear. We indeed have no power to face this situation. We don't know what to do, but we can keep our eyes fixed on God.

After this prayer of Jehosaphat, it says that "the Spirit of the Lord came on" a Levite in the assembly and he said "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's." They they fell down in worship and praised God. The next day Jehoshaphat appointed some men to sing to the Lord and "praise him for the splendor of his holiness"! The singers marched at the head of the army. It was a pretty unusual battle strategy, but it worked. The "vast army" was defeated.

Revelation 13:10 Great suffering calls for patient endurance and faithfulness

The verses prior to this contain science-fiction-like scenes. They describe a terrible calamity that is difficult to understand, however, the section ends with "This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people." Indeed, though we don't understand the earlier portion, we do know that our current situation calls for patient endurance and faithfulness.

Revelation 8:1–4 Power of prayer

This is part of John's vision and gives us a beautiful picture of what happens to our prayers. Often we feel useless and like our prayers are meaningless. Phrases like "all we can do is pray" reveal that. However, this is such an encouraging passage:

 "When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand."

Revelation 21:3–4 Longing for heaven

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

When there is much pain, the longing for heaven increases. How I long for the days that we're told about in these verses.

But meanwhile I am called to serve him here, where there is pain and suffering, and death and tears, fear and rebellion. May God have mercy on us in 2022! 

And again: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths."

Looking at 2021

Each year I start with a blog post about the coming year. Most years we have some idea of what is coming up. We humans like predictability, we like to plan and to organise (or most of us do, to varying degrees). The missionary life seems to have more than the average amount of planning attached to it. We often tend to think in larger blocks of time. We have to answer questions like: When are we next going on home assignment? When does your visa expire? When will you next visit your family? Which country will your children go to school/university?

These are not small decisions and require planning ahead and often painfully detailed levels of negotiation and organisation, much more than just an ordinary family holiday a couple of hours drive away. Not to mention doing this on a small budget, so careful financial planning is also needed.

However, as we face up to 2021, we find ourselves with more questions than answers. In our case we've got a normal life-change (son graduating from high school) that is complicated by the fact that we don't live and work in our passport country and that he's not our youngest son. And that's even before you consider that it's an understatement to say that international travel is not easy at the moment. (Australia is reluctant, not just to let people in, but to let nationals out!)

We'd hoped to take a family trip to Australia mid-year to visit family and close friends, but that may not happen. What will probably happen in the coming 13 months is that I'll travel with our middle son to Australia and spend time getting him settled there. We're anticipating that will be sometime between July this year and January next year. High school finishes for him in early June. What happens after that for him is a big unknown. If he goes on to university in Australia, that won't start until Feb 2022, so he's got some time there to fill. How? We don't know. Like many young men his age, he has no idea what he wants to do next. Like not so many young men his age, he has extra challenges, including the challenge of moving to a country he's rarely lived in, yet is a citizen of.

Our youngest son is currently in Year 10 and wants to graduate from his current school. We want that too. So the plan is that David and I, with our youngest son will continue to live and work in Japan until June 2023. After that, home assignment and probably returning to Japan just as a couple a year later!

Those are the big rocks of 2021. Many smaller things that make up the year are also hard to see. Although, I think I can fairly safely say that work-wise I will:

• continue as the managing editor of Japan Harvest magazine
• continue as the social media manager for OMF Japan (after January)
• in January I'm focussing on a new role: facilitator for an OMF workshop called Pre Home Assignment Workshop
• I've been invited to teach a session in March at an online writing workshop for OMF missionaries (first time to do this at an OMF International-run workshop, I've run and taught at several writing retreats here in Japan)

What else the year will hold for work, I have no idea! Though I do know that, for us, there are no OMF Japan conferences planned and no in-person international meetings/conferences/trainings. We've learnt from this year that these need to go online, or on hold! One of our international leaders, who's also a talented writer, wrote about 2020 here. He's dubbed it the year of the eraser! I would concur. Anything for this year is going on my physical calendars in pencil.

On the personal front, we're planning to camp in the last week of March with friends again. Details yet to be sorted out. As for mid-year holidays, that depends on whether we can get to Australia as a family or not. We'd really love to see our eldest son again (by then, it will be two years since we have), but at the moment, with compulsory hotel quarantine stay paid by us, that would cost us a lot more than we've got budgeted, and there's no guarantee we'd be able to get back to Japan in good time. That's not so much a problem for me (I can do my work from anywhere), but for a teacher and a Yr 11 student, that's a definite problem.  But who knows how things are going to change. Hotel quarantine might change, vaccines might change things, and goodness knows what else might change.

Of course we don't know what the future holds, we've never known that. Things could get much worse or another disaster land on top of us (but catastrophizing isn't a good path to take). But at this point it seems like our daily life in suburban Tokyo will not change much, even though the number of new cases of COVID-19 are increasing daily. We're personally living a pretty quiet life already, with limited time with other people, limited travel, and we're wearing masks whenever we are in close contact with others. The government has no powers to make us adhere to curfew-type rules like they did in Melbourne and other places around the world. It seems that CAJ will probably continue to meet in person unless the government tells them not to, but I think the government figured out last year that even in schools that are set up fairly well for distance learning, kids suffer (and most Japanese-based schools are not well set up for distance learning).

But of course, as we saw from 2020, things can change vastly from what we'd imagined, though negotiating our way through this particular pandemic is getting slightly easier in terms of what we know. The big changes that happened last year were largely because we didn't know much about the new disease (back in February we didn't know much about it all, like, "How long is its incubation period?" "Are masks effective in preventing it?" and "How easily is it passed on via things we touch?"). And, for example, school administrators also didn't know much about how to run a school in a pandemic. 

We've since learned a lot, globally, about what things can be done online and what is harder to do in that fashion. We've learned a lot about thinking outside the box, about finding different ways to do things, ways that seemed too hard because we'd never done them before. These are good things. 

But the huge move to being online has marginalised even more people. Those who can't afford "unlimited" internet access, those who can't afford electronic devices at all, and those who have intellectual limitations that don't allow them to function well online. Not to mention those who are functionally illiterate. All these people have even less of a voice now than they once did. That's a great tragedy. It's also a tragedy that millions have lost their jobs or their source of steady income, not to mention the millions who have lost their lives (yes, the current number who've died worldwide is creeping close to two million) and the many millions who have lost loved ones. Pausing a moment to remember this...

But I digress from my stated theme.

So, what are my plans for 2021? I plan to continue doing much of what I have been:

• looking after myself and my household as best I can,
• taking care to look out for others who are within my circle of influence—keeping my eyes open for opportunities to serve them and others further afield, and
• working to the best of my ability in all the tasks that are mine to do.

Always keeping this in mind: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters" (Colossians, 3:23 NIV).

Looking ahead to 2020

It's been very laid back here over the last three weeks. Something I'm very thankful for. However the rubber hits the road on Monday morning when everyone is back at school and I head over to the other side of Tokyo for the first monthly prayer and fellowship meeting for our mission this year, and then I've got tonnes of deadlines facing up to me when I get back behind my desk on Tuesday. So, before all that hits, I want to take a few moments to look forward to 2020.

I did a little bit of this while texting with a couple of friends a few days ago. Truth be told, missionaries often measure their lives by large chunks that consist of overseas flights and periods of time sometimes called "home assignment" that mean catching up with a lot of people who support us. But I've found that whenever I mention the sorts of distant dates that such measuring entails, it usually shocks people. So hold your breath and take a quick sweep of what we can foresee of our next few years:

2020 No trips to Australia. Possibly no call to travel through an international airport at all! 

2021 Our middle son graduates from high school in June and we take a few weeks during our summer to visit Australia.  

2022 Possibly I'll take a trip to Queensland to settle our middle son into university in February.  

2023 Our youngest son graduates from high school in June and we pack up here and move to Australia for 12 months of home assignment.  

2024 Returning as a couple to Japan to continue serving here.

Okay, now you can breath again!

It is in the face of that that I suggest that 2020 might be a quiet year! Of course we don't know what unexpected events the year might hold, but what I've listed above are reasonable expectations for the future, barring factors we don't know about like illness.

So, back to 2020 and what I'm thinking about that. I like to have events to look forward to, it helps with the everyday grind to have bigger things to look forward to (and little ones too, like a good book to read at night). This is what I'm looking forward to this year:

• My usual Women's retreat in early March (maybe with a writer's retreat as well...something I need to get onto next week)
• Camping in the last week of March
• National OMF conference for a week in Hokkaido, ending on my birthday (3 April)
• our eldest son visiting mid-year?
• family holidays in July?
• Olympics in July-September (we've got tickets in the resident's lottery to see the hockey...going to have to learn a bit about that sport before then)

Not too crazy, compared to other years we've got coming up (a trip to Australia is always a big deal, it's not just two days of travelling, it means a big climate change, it means catching up with many people, and numerous unexpected cultural adjustments. In one word—exhausting.)

So I'm putting four questions to myself about the coming year to force some reflection:

1. What's something I'd like to see change about myself this year?

• I'd like to be able to look back at my year and have no regrets as to how I've conducted myself, or the words I've used. That's an unrealistic goal, I know. However I think I can strive towards that. To be especially mindful about my words when I feel the adrenaline rushing and my stomach churning. To be slower to speak/type an answer. And of course daily looking to God for help!

2. Is there an intentional change that I'd like to make this year?

• This borders on making new years resolutions, but I don't make them (See my post four years ago about this: New Year's Day is just another day). In some ways mid-year was "new year" for us and I made some decisions then for changes that I've mostly stuck to (including writing here once a week). 
• I'd like to read more, and have already started doing that with my new Kindle Fire. I'm having a great time with it!
• I can't think of any great changes I want to make at this point, especially as my roles haven't changed a lot and don't leave too much room for anything extra. Although I'm aware of the editing course I started with udemy.com a couple of years back that I'd like to continue (it has no deadlines, which is good...and bad!).
• It would be good to do more writing for other publications (this year I've mostly written only for Japan Harvest magazine, this blog, and OMF Japan's blog), but I'm not sure what or where. So it's not a very measurable goal!
• It would be good to take more time for dates with David. Often we're so tired by Friday night (or are facing an early start on Saturday), that it's much easier to stay home.

3. Is there something that you are currently doing that you want to persevere with?

• Yep, that would be my Japanese study. I've been using wanikani.com for a couple of years now, trying to improve my reading and vocabulary. It's working, but it is a slow, agonising journey. I'll never be fluent in this language, but if I can make improvements and keep my head in the game (even as I head ever closer to 50), then it's good.
• Reading my Bible. A year ago I embarked on a two-year reading plan from theGospelCoalition.org (which takes you through the whole Bible and the Psalms and Proverbs four times). I've made it through a quarter of that in one year. Hmmm, maybe I could pick up that pace.
• I've been listening to one or two sermons a week from Australian churches during my lunch times, depending on how busy my weeks have been, that's something I'd like to continue.

4. Are there people you want to connect with more (or less) this year?

• Yep to both, but no names I'm willing to put here. 
• My "four friends" are definitely on my radar as an ongoing effort to maintain a stable base for whatever griefs the year holds. But also to be there for them as they deal with pain (and joy) in their lives.

Hmmm, and I didn't think I had much to write. But I will stop here. 

Have you had time to write down any thoughts about 2019? Or think about what you'd like to change for the coming year?

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.

Looking forward to 2018

My New Year tradition is not to make resolutions, but to write here about what's foreseeable in the upcoming year. We have a lot of plans already in place for 2018—it will be one of significant transition.

The big "rocks" of the year are:

Our eldest son moving to Australia in February to begin university (with me accompanying him to help smooth the way, but only for a couple of weeks)

The rest of us moving to Australia (the Goodna area, near Brisbane) in late June for six months. The purpose is mainly reconnecting with supporters in Australia, but also spending time with family and friends. 

Surrounding those are lots of smaller rocks:

Conferences, retreats, workshops etc

• OMF Japan national conference in late March in Sapporo, Hokkaido
• Workshop in Sapporo (Wendy) in April 
• Women's retreat early March (two nights)
• OMF Australian national conference in Sydney in August
• Probably others we don't yet know about

Travel internally in Australia 

• Interstate trips to Perth and Canberra to visit churches and friends.
• Within state trips to visit churches and supporters.
• With our families living at least eight hour's drive apart, and none of them in Brisbane/Ipswich, that will definitely mean some driving to see them (though hopefully some might venture to come to the "big smoke" to see us too).

Challenges

• At this stage in our lives a big challenge to a big move like this is schooling. We have plans for our youngest to enrol in the second half of grade eight at the local school he was at last time and for our middle son to do online schooling (US curriculum). 
• We're trying a home assignment half the length of our usual one. That will mean it will be more hectic than usual. I want to apologise in advance that we won't be able to spend as much time with people that we want to. This will be a new experience, I hope it works out okay (and that I don't get too stressed and unwell).
• Goodbyes are for me the most difficult thing (a close second would be packing) about moving between countries, and there will be plenty of those this year. Probably the ones in Australia will be more difficult. In Japan at least I can say to most people: "See you in six months." At this stage we're not sure when we'll be next in Australia, but with one boy studying in Australia and another graduating from high school in June 2021, there's a high chance that we'll be back in Australia sooner than four years (even if it is only for a short time).
• More immediately, in the next six months we have to figure/prepare out things like:
• what we will prepare for up-front presentations at churches and the like
• a photo album and other deputation material
• try to get some meetings scheduled for July and August
• schedule the bigger trips to WA and ACT.
• I've got to sort out and hand over some significant parts of my job, in order to leave room for all the work we'll be doing in Australia. My first meeting related to that is in January!

Thankfully we don't need to pack up our house or move out. That is a huge relief. Six months is a short time to do two international moves, and being able to leave our house as is is wonderful. OMF is allowing us to keep this lease. However there are things we need to do here to prepare for our absence.

But yes, a big year and another year to learn more about throwing ourselves on God's loving mercy and kindness. I don't have a Scripture in mind yet to meditate on, though the passage I selected last time we did this (2014-2015) is still most relevant: Hebrews 12:1-3. In the coming weeks I'll be pondering the idea of selecting a different passage.

The verse on my desk Scripture calendar for Jan 1 is "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" That is a good verse to remember as we start a year that could have more rough patches in it than a usual year.

So there you go. It's a strange year coming up for us. One that will make us seem even more on the edge of ordinary than usual. I plan to continue to blog as best I can and through that continue to show the "ordinariness" of our lives that might be hard to see if you are just looking on at a distance.

Happy New Year from Tokyo!

2018 looms

We've started to kick into gear in preparing for 2018. We've got this purple diary, my eldest son and I have tickets for February (I'm coming back with him for 15 days to help get him settled), and as of today we've started to get enquiries about meeting with people or visitng churches. 

I've already got a meeting with my OMF line manager set up to talk about how I'll manage to free myself from my various roles enough to actually do the work that awaits us in Australia.

It's a mixture of exciting, scary, and overwhelming. And we're only just beginning. No mistake about it, 2018 will be a big year.


I've counted the plane trips that I know about and I could be on more than a dozen aeroplanes during the year. Considering I've only flown four times this year, that's a bit of a difference. Yep, quite a different year indeed.

Hold onto your seats, it's going to be a big one. I listened to a sermon today about Psalm 123 and the topic was Keeping our Eyes on Jesus. That was my theme too last time we uprooted ourselves in Japan and moved to Australia in 2014. Looks like it's going to be that again.

Moving from overwhelming to simple

Note the "overwhelming price" here. It was everywhere
in the store. I'm not sure that that's what they meant!
I was initially amused, though, by the thought of a
swimming melon!

I finished the most pressing items on my work's to-do-before-holidays list. At times the last couple of weeks have been a bit like this store I visited yesterday: overwhelming. I'm really happy to be walking away now for a couple of weeks.

Wall mural I spotted at a McDonalds restaurant.

Soon I'll be "Enjoying the simple things in life", like time with family, campfires, reading, etc.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting here in the coming weeks. Especially as I won't have a computer and as the mobile app for Blogger has not been updated by the developer for a long time, it is getting harder and harder to post from my phone.