Large Cross-stitch Project finished at last

It's been a huge weekend. I'm both tired and elated. Tonight I just want to share one small aspect of it, but I've worked towards this moment for 2 ½ years. 

I've completed a cross-stitch of a bouquet of Australian wildflowers for my parents. I gave it to them at a family gathering on Saturday evening. They've already got it up on their living room wall at home.

Transition mantras

I'm periodically feeling overwhelmed at all we've got to do before we leave in four weeks and two days. Contrary to what you might think, packing is only a small concern. We're doing things like:

• supporting two high schoolers through assignments they're struggling with

  

  Sometimes during transition I feel as unsettled as waves
  on the beach. Constantly astir, never settled, not able
  to settle and somewhat unpredictable.

• getting last minute medical stuff done
• organising travel insurance 
• renewing drivers licence
• selling stuff we don't want to store
• sorting stuff we do want to store
• celebrating a boy's birthday
• organising things to be ready at the other end (car, internet, phones, holidays before school starts in August etc.)
• organising final meetings with individuals

Ongoing ministry things like:

• answering email
• writing prayer letters
• writing articles for magazines
• absorbing information about OMF Japan's restructure (taking effect Monday)

And daily life things like:

• grocery shopping
• cooking meals
• taking boys to school, youth group, wrestling, exams
• physio
• helping friends
• deciding if boys can attend various events

Here's a post about 10 things to tell yourself during transition I came across a while ago, if only I can pay attention to some of the good advice. Here are her headings (slightly edited):

1. Breathe and push forward.
2. Ask for help.
3. See how much you feel your need for God right now? (That's good.)
4. Transition = Transformation (even when it just feels like chaos)
5. Your emotions are like concentrated lemonade (Ed: yes, a bit of an American analogy, an Australian might say unsweetened lemon cordial).
6. Stop and connect
7. Believe God will be enough.
8. You will stumble and flop, and that's okay.
9. Transition, like birth, is the beginning of both joy and challenge.
10. Take every fear and fret, every hope and dream, and turn it into a prayer.

At the moment I'm just trying to breathe. This weekend is a bit crazy. We've got an interclass wrestling tournament at Lang Park, a trip to Toowoomba, birthday celebration with my parents for our eldest who's turned 16 this week, 25th school reunion, final speaking engagement at the church I grew up in, and a "see you later" lunch with good friends. 

Yep, emotions will be potentially a bit out of shape in all that too. But it is our last weekend away. Hopefully things will slow a little in June, with no more overnights planned until we fly on the 28th.

Working to death

Another busy day . . . at the coffee shop (well, I did meet another person, and then did some writing, took a boy to the optometrist, did some birthday present shopping and birthday cake baking), but almost no time online to blog.

So here's a video clip and an article, both about Japan and work. The first is often posted on social networking by people saying, "We can learn something about work ethics from Japan."

I get annoyed at that because it doesn't tell us what is highlighted in the article, that the supposed great work ethic in Japan is actually killing people!

Minister of toilets

This was the toilet in our old house, obviously
when I still had little boys (note the covered
small toilet seat). A cool feature of many
Japanese toilets is that you can wash your
hands with the water filling up the cistern
for the next flush.

Today we did our third last deputation meeting: a teacher from our church invited us to take her Yr 11 Bible class at a local Christian school. One of the things we did with them we call "The Toilet Game". It involves people having to decide which toilet to use based on the sign out the front, in languages they don't know.

Inevitably people get it wrong and it is a lot of fun in a crowd.

Toilets are in the news in Japan, it seems, just now. You've probably heard about amazing Japanese toilets: warm seats, bidet functions, and a number of other functions designed for your toiletting comfort. But not all Japanese toilets are like that. 

In fact public toilets can be a bit of a mess, just like they can be in Australia. There are still many squat toilets, especially public restrooms in places like parks and these seem to get dirtier than most . . . people can't aim well enough? 

But it seems that now a female politician has her sights on improving the state of Japan's public loos. See the article here.

More than 50 coffees

Two of the precious friends from "long ago".

A couple of people have asked recently how many churches we've visited this year in Australia. I've just gone through our records and the answer is 20. 14 of which are in south-east Queensland, Sunshine Coast or Toowoomba (which is probably south-east Queensland).

In addition to that we've been a part of more than 15 meetings of varying sizes and lengths (as speakers). Ranging from weekend conferences, to a play group, two schools, a nursing home and several prayer groups.

I haven't kept clear records of who we've met and when, but from what is recorded and my memory, we've had meals or "coffee" on at least 50 different occasions, with more than 50 family units (not including time with our own extended family). We send our prayer letter to more than 300 email addresses every month, so I guess we should be thankful that we've only had individual meetings with less than a third of that number.

Phew, no wonder we're feeling a little peopled-out!

A friend asked me yesterday who all these churches and people were, and how we came to be invited to all these places. 

Most of the churches are ones that we've built relationships with over the years, but especially that we connected with in the 2 ½ years we took to build our support base before we left for Japan in October 2000. Most have come about via personal connections, churches we've attended in the past, connections through OMF, or our denomination.

The individuals have mostly been personal friends who we've met across the years. Some are people I've known since childhood, others are newer friends that we've met along the journey. The friends we've had for a long time are very precious, because it isn't every friend who will put up with four or five year absences between meeting! Most are Christians, but I've also had the privilege of catching up with a few friends who aren't in those circles at all.

We've also spent time getting to know members of our new home church, at church events like weekly Bible studies, volunteering at Youth Group and Kids club as well as hosting BBQs at our house on a few Sundays.

Thought it's been fun, I'm ready to go back to my more private life in Japan. A life where we eat at our own table most nights, sleep in our beds except for holidays and a couple of conferences a year, and don't drink quite so much coffee.

Japanese change trays

It's been a busy, but good weekend. Lottttts of people, with plenty more to come in the next eight days. 

So here's a cheating blog post linking to a Japan Times article about something so common that Japanese people hardly notice that these are there. But, for the record, I really like them: change trays.

Transition: an unfinished jigsaw puzzle

Transition is like a jigsaw puzzle that isn't complete until the transition is over.

Coming back to Australia for home assignment these last two times we've not had a car until almost the last minute. Second time we came back we didn't have a house until days before we arrived.

This time we're doing quite well in this department, things are falling into place well. It helps a lot that we've had house-sitters in Japan (who've paid rent) and we'll be able to move back into the same house with only a little bit of furniture moving and sorting out. We also will have a car waiting for us as we lent our car to some new missionaries for the year. We're so thankful for these provisions!

The one biggish piece of the jigsaw that hasn't been discovered yet is a place to stay for three or four nights in our local area in Australia while we finish up at the house. We're praying and waiting.

This is part of the emotional rollercoaster of transition. The agony of waiting and the thrill of jigsaw pieces falling into place. The challenge of not being as in control as you'd like to be! It's hard not to feel anxious.

This article is where I borrowed the analogy from, you might like to have a read.

At times like these I'm glad I had prior experience in these big transitions. Not only do I continue to pray and remind myself of God's faithfulness, as he promises in his Word. But I remind myself of how he's specifically put pieces into place for us in the past. For example, those two cars that were provided for us for our times in Australia!