Replacement Glasses Surprise

As you can see, my "new" glasses (less than 9 months old) are flaking. The paint is flaking off, not just near my ears, but at the hinge and a little bit on top of the lens too. I wasn't impressed when I discovered this. I'm not really into changing frames every 12 months, as you can imagine! Anyway, yesterday I had to take our 7 y.o. for an eye check and so I asked them about it. I was surprised when they said they'd totally replace my glasses at no charge! There is, of course, nothing stopping it happening again - although the hint they gave was to clean the frames every night before bed (her premise was that acid from the skin can cause this). I have to admit that I don't understand why frames (that are pretty expensive) which are designed to be worn next to the skin would be susceptible to deteriorate so fast? Or maybe I have extra scary skin?

Cross-stitch conundrum

Cross-stitch is one of my secret weapons for staying sane. It is like a litmus test - if I haven't had time to sit and cross-stitch in recent weeks I know that I've been way too busy. I know that this HA hasn't been all too bad as I've completed one cross-stitch (the first one pictured) and almost finished another large one (not pictured).

However, I do have a problem. I have a largish cross-stitch that I completed in 2006 (I only know this because I stitched the date on it at the time). It was a kit given to me by my parents to do for my sister. Complicated!

More complicated than that is that after I finished stitching it I posted it to my sister (we were in Japan that year and she lives in Australia). I organised for a friend to frame it for her. However that friend (who reads this blog - don't feel guilty friend!!!) found life got way too busy on her, and wasn't able to frame it. She returned it to me last year and I haven't managed to get it framed either. Actually, I took fright after I had two birth samplers framed last year by a professional (see the photos). They look fabulous, but were frightfully expensive to have framed. So, I thought - I'll do it myself.

Here is my problem. I've bought a suitable frame with a matt the perfect size (see third photo). However the Aida cloth isn't large enough to overlap the edges of the backing. What to do? I know that to do it properly I shouldn't use the cardboard backboard provided with the frame, I should use acid-free board. But again, I'm trying to do this on a budget...my only thought is to sew some cloth onto the sides of the Aida to make it suitably wider and longer and then lace the back. I'm missing my sewing machine more than ever (it's in Japan).

Any cross-stitch framing experts with advice out there? Remember, I have less than 10 weeks...

What does a missionary do?

Here a fellow missionary in Japan gives her take on the question!

Big steps forward

Heaps of stuff has happened. I'm bursting to tell you all, but struggling to find a way to make it comprehensible.

One biggie is that our plane tickets are booked for 8.45am on the 12th of July. The other biggie that came at the same time was the fact that OMF is not totally happy with our support level. It is approximately 88% and they'd prefer 100%. That makes me feel shaky. It actually highlights how passionate I am (we are) about what we're doing and planning to do - that the chance that we might be sent back to Australia in two years time if our support hasn't improved makes me feel sad. Aren't people hard to understand?

Another exciting piece of the puzzle was put into place yesterday. Another answer to prayer. I've mentioned a few times here and here and here that one of my goals for home assignment was to prepare myself to help out children at at CAJ (Cee-Aye-Jay - Christian Academy in Japan) who have handwriting difficulties, using my Occupational Therapy (OT) skills. It hasn't been an easy goal. I haven't gone about it in a mainstream fashion - i.e. regaining my registration, getting a job or studying at uni. I've mostly been reading recent literature on my own, but I've also sat in an observed a couple of assessment and treatment sessions of the children of a friend of mine. But up till now, I've not made much progress in actually laying my hands on resources or making up a clear strategy.

I am setting up something that no one has done before at CAJ, so I'm in virgin territory - not my favourite place to be. I'm not really certain of what I will be asked to do or how much. It may be as little as two referrals a year. I'm also not certain of the rules I will have to obey as a 'volunteer' OT. Both the Japanese OT Board of registration and my visa restrict me from gainful employment as an OT in Japan.

BUT yesterday I made a leap forward. Through a prayer partner who we met five years ago I've made contact with a Christian paediatric OT here in Brisbane. Not only that, but one who has her own business and sells resources designed for teacher's aides to use with children who have needs that they'd usually see an OT for. A resource that can be used in a school with little supervision from an OT. AND she's given the resource to me. I'm sure she'd hate me to name her, but if you'd like to visit her website, you can have a look. Add to that, the fact that she is a delightful lady who I got along with really well. I'm going back to observe her in action next week. And I'm really looking forward to our ongoing relationship. I think I've met the mentor I was looking for. Praise God!

Pacing ourselves

From today we've only got 10 weeks left in Australia!

Pacing ourselves these last 10 months has consisted mostly of spreading out our weekend deputation appointments. Then whatever else came along got either fitted in between those appointments or it didn't get on the calendar. Now we are faced with more people-to-catch-up-with than speaking appointments. People-to-catch-up-with are easier to over schedule. Last Monday you read what happens when we do!

I'm an extrovert, but one that not only craves social time with others, but also deep conversation. That is wearing - especially when you are catching up with people you haven't seen for five years and they ask "good questions" about what you've been doing while you've been out of the country. With the additional emotional burden of knowing that this is probably 'goodbye' for the next four or five years too. It is additionally wearing as I'm dragging a family of five around with me! Granted, this is David's job too, but I'm the more outgoing, so end up answering more questions than him.

So, I now am scheduling-challenged. How much can we manage and how often? This is a hard call when you are planning several weeks in advance. And now we have a deadline too.

Hermit crab photos

Here are some photos, as promised yesterday.

Overall view of the crabitat. Spikey is in the top left. Jaz is (we presume) in his new green shell under the back of the truck. Jessica (we presume) is hiding at the bottom of the picture somewhere under the shell grit. The rest of the shells are empty.

Here is Jaz in his new green shell. They love to dig themselves under things. The truck is usually used as their food tray.

It's just a different angle. Spikey is at the top on the right. Hiding from the camera. We're banking on him changing shells next because he actually cannot totally hide inside his any more - can't you hear it: "But I like it, this is where I've always lived..."

Hermit crab fun

Last weekend we did a bit of refurbishing in our crabitat (hermit crab's aquarium). We replaced the tiny pebble substrate with shell grit. And we bought three new shells (two of them brightly painted). We've had plenty of action since then.

The hermit crabs have really enjoyed digging in their new substrate. But the most fun is checking to see if they've changed shells. When a hermit crab grows too big for its shell, it merely moves into another larger one. So one of a hermit crab owner's responsibilities is to make sure there are a few choices lying around. We haven't' actually seen one move shells, but we have seen one of our hermies checking out a new shell - it grabbed onto the shell at the mouth and stuck its head inside. Usually we just find a previously unoccupied shell, occupied and its old shell vacant. Sometimes they move between the old and new shells a couple of times, as if they are checking it out. I'm sure it takes time to get used to a new one, like a new shoe!

The trick is that we identify them by their shells. So if only one changes shells, it is okay, but we're suspicious that there has been more shenanigans than that this last week. We're thinking that one of them (Jaz) moved into a new shell and another (Jessica) moved into the vacated shell of the first crab. The only way we can tell is because one (Jessica) has only one front claw.

The other reason we're suspicious is because the one wearing Jaz's shell seems to be withdrawing from society, which usually means it is moulting. Both Jaz and Spikey have moulted in recent months on it seems like it should be Jessica's turn. When they're moulting they're pretty fragile, so we cannot pick the one in Jaz's former shell up to check claws, but the one in the new shell seems to have two claws. However not being sure how fast claws grow though we're still a little uncertain.

Complicated? Yes, but fun! Hermie watching is definitely an enjoyable sport. I'll try and get a couple of photos to post in the next couple of days, to show you the new fancy shells.