In Japan

Soap

2011-03-29T05:53:00.002+09:00

I know that I started this blog while I was in Japan, and I'm sure it was much more interesting as I wrote about things I did while I was there... BUT... I feel like I just have to tell about one of my latest activities. Two Saturdays ago I went with Daddy to help at a church work day. While there, we were told we could have a piece of counter-top that had been torn out. We brought it home and after Daddy cut it 14x15" he attached sides to it and I had a soap mold!! Our family started selling homemade goat milk soap while I was in Japan. Being very interested in it, I started watching videos on YouTube about soap making. I fell in love with a swirled soap I watched being made. To be able to make swirled soap I had to have a new mold (which I now have). Today Momma helped me make my very first batch of soap!! It is Bergamot Grapefruit. I used a peachy-orange color for my swirl. It is in the freezer cooling now. I am so excited!!! I'll have to take pictures of it to post as soon as I can cut it. To see the rest of our soaps check out brightarrows.blogspot.com.

All my love,
Hannah

Earthquake

2011-03-15T00:29:00.002+09:00

I lived in Tokyo, Japan for 222 days (exactly). I never once thought what would happen if a major earthquake or other natural disaster struck while I was there. I simply went about my daily tasks, business, etc. I took walks by myself and with friends. I made frequent runs to the 7-11 as you know from reading my blog. I made it to the trains and missed trains all the time! I never thought: "what if this is my last action?" Often I walked down the streets of Tokyo and Ginza, or Harajuku some of the top shopping places in the world. After being there and seeing all of it I wonder: "How could all of it be completely destroyed in 5 minutes?"

Doubtless you have heard about the earthquake, tsunami, and following aftershocks that hit Japan late last week. That 8.9 earthquake was the largest earthquake to ever hit Japan, and the 5th largest to ever occur. Thousands of people have lost their lives. When they left home or even woke up that morning, I wonder how many of them thought that this would be their last day. Even the people who have not lost their lives have lost much. The Japanese economy will suffer greatly. The Japanese people have lost homes, family, health, jobs, etc. The train systems that were punctual to the second while I was there are not the same now. The malls and shopping streets are all changed. The people I visited are now in bad times. What else can I say? I don't think it has all even sunk into my brain yet. Practically everything that I knew is now changed in some way or another.

I have heard from many of my friends. The Lowthers are all OK. The Fukuda family (the pastor of the church in Tokyo) is safe. Everyone in Chiba (the MTW team) is safe. To read my friend's blog about her experiences that day go to http://operation-arigatou-jesus.blogspot.com/ .

All my love,
Hannah

Valentine's Day!

2011-02-16T08:44:00.002+09:00

I truly cannot believe it has been nearly a month since the last time I posted anything on my blog. Since that time lots of things have happened. I have prepared and served two Japanese style meals, delivered three goat kids, participated in the Dixie National Jr. Livestock show, etc. etc. etc...........

Three little darlings

Before I loose my train of thought, I want to comment on the weather this week. Today we have had a wonderful day... After my mother and I came home from getting a hair cut, we had a yummy lunch of ham-sandwiches. After that I went out to clean off our front porch with the help of one of my sisters. She started pretending that we were on a HGTV home improvement show. :) She was the homeowner and I was the cleaner person. It was a fun way to get it done. The temperature is 72 degrees outside. After we finished with the porch three of us started a game of catch with an abandoned tennis ball we found outside. We were laughing, running, and having an overall good time in the warm weather.

Ok. So I want to tell all about my Japanese meal. :) I was quite proud of it. After one of my friends at church telling me that he works in an Asian grocery store I decided to check it out... It couldn't hurt to go look even if I didn't buy anything, right? When I got there and started looking around I got so excited! (You can ask my brother... I couldn't stop talking...) It had soooooo much Japanese stuff! There was green tea icecream, gyoza, seaweed, rice, tofu, seasonings, etc. They even sell ramune, the Japanese soda! After that I decided I had to make a Japanese meal when my brother's friend came to visit. I bought frozen fish and cooked it like Abi taught me how in the Japanese seasonings, fried some gyoza, made Japanese rice, cooked some mochi, and opened some rice seasonings and seaweed. I think everyone liked it. I surely did. I even made everyone use their hashi that I brought from Japan. I also bought some tofu and miso to make a miso sauce to go over the tofu. I made Japanese style green tea and served it without any sweetener. After that I gave everyone a taste of the Ramune. If I had not been going to a movie between the times I went to the grocery store and when I made the meal, I would also have gotten some of the green tea icecream. That'll have to be for next time. A few weeks ago I made some miso soup for my family to try. I also stuffed some mushrooms with cheese and seasonings... They were really really good. I haven't made any onigiri since I've been home yet, but I think I will before long... Now that I have my driver's license perhaps I can go to the Asian grocery store more often... :) HEHEHE

The midwife: Me

Now I want to get to the really exciting news... Our goat finally had her kids!!! After thinking she was about to explode nearly a month ago she had her kids last Wednesday, and I got to deliver them! To check out the entire story you can go to brightarrowsfarm.blogspot.com . But I can tell you that two of the three kids were stuck and I had to go in and pull them out. It wasn't as bad as it sounds... Well, I say that, but some people would not have been able to do it, I don't think... But after pulling the first one I thought it was dead. Then I saw it struggle and breathe. I was ecstatic. The thrill of a new born life flooded over me. I suppose parents have the same feeling when they first see their baby, only more, or in a different way at least. The second one was stuck in a position that could have killed it, its mother, and its younger brother. I had the amazing sensation after I pulled it that said "I saved their life!" After many prayers and a call to the vet God gave me the calmness, ability, and knowledge to keep them all from dying. They are soooooooooooo cute! Unfortunately they are all males which means we probably won't be keeping any of them. On Sunday afternoon we got them all out of the pen and let them run around in our back yard. It was adorable to watch them try to run. They kept running sideways and then falling over with a surprised expression on their face. :)

Mommy goat 1 month ago!

Other than that basically the only other exciting thing to happen has been the livestock shows recently. Our goats did amazingly, our cows not so great.... We still think our cows are great and are going to be wonderful for our herd.... The judge at the last show was not looking necessarily for good herd animals. It seemed that he was mainly looking for big, fat, show-feed fed calves... I don't know... Maybe he just didn't like our cows... For two weeks we spent up to 12 hours a day outside in the barns at the state fair grounds in below freezing weather. Mississippians are just not made for/used to that type of thing! Even in three and four layers of clothes we were still cold! We had to bathe and clip cows in that weather, and it was not fun to get sprayed with the hose-pipe with freezing water!

Well, my Daddy's home from work now and supper is nearly ready. I just want to leave with this note to Melanie and Jenna (in case you read it). I miss you both! I can't wait until you come home and we can all get together and visit one another. I have been thinking recently, as people still ask me how I enjoyed my time in Japan and whether or not I'd like to go back at some point. I've decided that while I miss the food, the trains, the different and interesting things, etc, I really miss the people. I almost can't read my blog without getting sad and missing everyone. I remember playing with Coen, reading to Eastin, and helping Aidan find Lego pieces. I remember Saturdays and Sundays and sleepovers with my two best friends (outside my family). I remember Dr. Pepper runs, grocery store runs, park runs. :) I miss Keiko and Yukiho, and even when Ju Young would tease me about killing a deer... :) Anyway, all that to say, I still miss the people, even though I've gotten used to not having everything else. Enjoy what you have when you have it! Love the people around you, and realize the blessings God has given you!!!

And Happy Valentine's Day!!!

All my love,
Hannah

...Rain

2011-01-19T07:40:00.000+09:00

I am reclining on my living room couch as I watch the rain pound the ground outside our large double paned front windows on this grey, cloudy, and otherwise gloomy looking Tuesday afternoon. From that intro it might be easy to conclude that I have had a bad, unproductive, or otherwise disappointing day. I assure you, however, that quite the opposite is true! I have had a wonderful day.

Before I go into details about how my Tuesday began, I want to back up a few hours and tell how my Monday ended, and Tuesday for my friends began. Last night around 8:00 I had turned on my computer to review some pictures, and make sure they were adequate. As soon as my laptop booted a message popped up saying "Melanie Johnson is online!" I immediately opened Skype, and before I could send her a message, she sent one to me! After that she started a video call, and she and Jenna and I talked together for a little over an hour!! I couldn't believe it had been that long - it seemed like we were just getting started! I also got to meet the new intern that's working at the school now. It was kind of sad to hear all of the changes that have been made since I'd left, and all the new people they'd met, and friends they'd made... But it made me thankful again for so many wonderful opportunities given to me by God. It also made me think about how my family must have felt while I was over there. I mean, they could relate to some of the stuff, just like I could with Jenna and Melanie, but some of it seemed so amazing. Sometimes I still can't believe I lived there for so long and did all of the things I did... I can't believe I visited all of those famous places, or met all of those people, or learned so much from/about another culture!!! I can't imagine how left out my family must've felt for those 7 1/2 months!!! But all that to say, I really really really enjoyed getting to talk with Jenna and Melanie last night! Thanks both of you for taking time out of your busy day ;) to chat with me, it really made my wonderful Monday complete!

So now back to today...... This morning I rolled over and looked at my clock at 7:30. After lying back down and half falling back to sleep, I got up at 7:31. After washing my face and grabbing my house robe, I walked downstairs to make myself and my mother a cup of hot chai tea. Then I took out the dog, brought her back in, and gave her some breakfast. Then I sat down for my quiet Bible time. I am working on reading through Genesis right now. Aside from Romans, Ephesians, Hebrews, and Philippians, I think Genesis is my favorite book of the Bible. It is truly amazing to know that it was not written until far after most of the events recorded in it, yet it gives so many tiny details that are so fascinating.

After that I went out to check on our goat who looks like she is about to explode if she doesn't have her kids soon! We all wait excitedly for her to have her cute little babies. We're hoping most of them are girls, since they're the only ones you can get milk from! :) After that I decided to go ahead and milk the two goats that are giving milk right now, and do the other 'goat chores.' When I came in my wonderful mother had breakfast prepared for us. I don't remember what I did right after eating breakfast, but I'm afraid it was going to my room to clean out one side of my armoir. I ended up cleaning out one side of my armior, and one shelf in my closet. They both look much better, but I worked from 11:00 to 2:00 on it, took a break for lunch, and worked on it another hour after that... The middle of my room floor is still not quite clean but, as I said today, it makes a mess to take a mess!

After I finished that not so little job everything got dark outside, and started raining.... Now it looks quite gloomy outside, and the goat still hasn't had her kids, and it's too wet to go all the way down the driveway to look for mail, and I waited too long to go for a walk. But I don't mean to complain... I've had a wonderful day, and started working on a project (my armior) that I'd wanted to tackle for a long time...

Now I've got to go help a little sister make her special dinner. :)

All my love,
Hannah

Today

2010-12-25T12:26:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas, Everybody!!!!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun, love, and laughter... Enjoy this time of the year and remember, as they say, the 'Reason for the Season.'!

All my love,
Hannah

Back on the Farm

2010-12-23T23:43:00.001+09:00

Good morning everyone, I hope this finds you well... As for me, ...well, I'm not sick, but... Let me say this: Whoever invented singing your heart out in the freezing cold at night aught to be severely punished! My sisters and I all woke up this morning with sore throats.... Now don't get me wrong, it was loads of fun - lots of laughs, getting to see friends, Christmas lights, and then snacks when we got back to church. I loved every minute of it! I had a chance to talk to both of our pastors last night, as well as lots of other church friends. It was a great time. It's funny, but I sound sort of like Elmer Fudd this morning because of my scratchy throat. :)

Well, it's good to be home, and today I get to go down to the farm where my bull Columbus is, and also to work with my new cow Penny. I also get to visit grandparents for the day. My only concern: it's not even 40 degrees out side right now, and my coveralls seem to be missing. :( I suppose I'll manage somehow.

I just remembered that I wanted to tell some about my trip home. It seems that not many people want to leave Japan for Christmas, so there was plenty of room on the long flight. I had a window seat, and the guy sitting beside me moved somewhere else, so we'd both have more room. I was able to sit with my back against the window side, pull my legs up on the seat beside me, and sleep for about 2 hours right before we got to Dallas. There really weren't any good movies to watch besides Despicable Me, so I used my iPod most of the time for listening to music. When I got to Dallas I never found a piece of my luggage, so I had to go on without it. It's a good thing I didn't wait for it anymore. After going through customs again I took the SkyLink to my terminal, walked to my gait, and walked directly onto my plane! Then when we landed in Jackson we didn't come up to a walkway. Instead, we landed in the middle of an open space, and they had stairs up to the door. I felt like I should have stepped down and waved like the president. I probably would have if there hadn't been a whole line of people behind me. :) Well, my piece of luggage didn't show up on the Jackosn carousel either, so I made a claim on it. They had it delivered to our house, so now everything is 'hunky-dory'.

Lessons from a future housewife:

#7 When processing laundry, washing cotton is fine. If you intend to wear the garment again, I would suggest not drying it in the dryer. Drying cotton shrinks it.

This lesson has been learned over and over...and over... :) Just don't do it!!!

All my love,
Hannah

P.S. I just decided to add a random picture of me being a wax statue in a phone booth. :) I kind of like it. What do you think?

Home Again

2010-12-23T07:07:00.000+09:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I made it home safely. Thank you all for your prayers. I have had a wonderful nearly 3 days at home with my family! I fully intend to write about the two days I didn't have time to write about before I left Japan, and about the flight home, but not now... I am still in the middle of unpacking all of my things, and currently have a bit of a mess in my room, but now I have to go and get ready to go Christmas caroling with our church. :) I have wanted to go caroling since about November 20th, and now I finally get to. :)

All my love,
Hannah

Three More Days!

2010-12-17T23:11:00.000+09:00

The past few days have been pretty amazing for me! As I near the end of my time here, a lot of thoughts have been running through my head... What's it going to be like being back home in my own family? How am I going to survive having to pump my own gasoline!?! (There are no self-service pumps here...) What am I going to do without the trains? My friends? What am I going to do, period? How will it feel living on the ground again? ...No heated floors??? Where will I buy raw fish? How much will Asian rice cost in America? Despite all of these questions, one thought runs along parallel with all of them - Boy, it will be good to be home! I'll get to sleep in my bed on my pillows, I'll get to wear my house-robe, I'll get to sit beside the fire! I get to wear my coveralls (YAY!) and clomp around in my rubber boots! I get to hug my bull, and work with my new heifer in the freezing cold! I get to wear my scarf and pink wool socks! I'll get to have dinner again with my family!!! Today during my coffee break I was chatting with my mother. She asked if I want to go caroling with our church this coming Wednesday night. That in itself may not seem like such a big deal to you, but to be planning to do things with my family next week after not seeing them for months seems so weird to me...

Anyway, that's not what I had initially intended to write about... I have a whole list of things I want to write about, so I suppose I should start writing about that, instead... Let's see.... The first thing on my list is my theory about why I slept so long on Tuesday... I decided that it was because I've become so accustomed to morning piano lessons that my mind doesn't even recognize that as 'noise' anymore... On Wednesday the food mixer woke me up. I'm not used to mixers being used at 6:00, so my mind did register that as noise, and I woke up! Funny how your brain works, isn't it?

Wow. Several hours have elapsed since writing the above... There have been a few ...updates... to my mood that I want to record while they're still fresh on my mind. I told my brother today that over the past week I have thought about 3 times as much as I usually do, and said about 3/4 of all that I usually say. Well, all those thoughts and withheld words finally boiled down and overflowed tonight when Eastin gave me a good night hug. After that squeeze, he looked at me and said "'cause you're not going to be here any more." After I stood up, he told me his tummy hurt, and asked me to pray that God would make it better. You see, Roger and Abi were out tonight, and I kept the boys... As is my usual custom when I keep them, I tuck them each into bed, say goodnight to each of them, and turn off the light. Sometimes I read to them, and often I pray with them before leaving the room... I had forgotten our prayer tonight because I must admit I was a little frustrated with my headache, and Coen's random screaming, and the boys' argument over toothpaste flavors! After tucking in Baby I turned to Eastin and asked for a goodnight hug. After the hug he looked up at me from his bed and asked for that little prayer. As I sat beside him on the edge of his bed all of that frustration, and even my headache suddenly disappeared, and I admit I started crying during my prayer. Why is it so hard to do God's will? Last month I thought I would be so happy to be going home! And I am, deep down inside...so why aren't I as happy as I thought I would be?

Today I had my last English lesson with the boys... On Thursday I had my last English lesson with Hinako... On Tuesday I baked my last loaves of bread in the little convection oven... That day I also had my last calligraphy lesson. On Wednesday I walked down all 28 stories worth of stairs for one last time. Tomorrow I'm going for my last train ride to Chiba. I'll meet my friends there, and come back to Tokyo with them one last time... ...I'm SO happy to be going home, believe me! So why am I still crying?

...New update. I watched an episode of Dr. Who, and ate some green tea ice-cream to go with my coke... I'm feeling better... :) After that emotional escapade, I think I'll just stick to my list from now on... :)

...Next item - today's accomplishments... Today after a late start, I had a good day. Among my accomplishments are making chocolate chip cookies and turning them into ice-cream sandwiches, washing and folding several loads of laundry, washing mirrors and doors, taking some adorable pictures of Coen. Today while Abi was at Eastin's school (which I'll tell about in a moment) I walked out of the room for a moment, and came back to find Coen trying to walk around in his Daddy's slippers. :) He was so cute! The slippers were half as long as he is tall, and looked so funny! It reminded me of a picture of myself when I was about Coen's age. My Poppa always has a pair of work-boots somewheres around. When I was a little over a year old, I loved trying to stand in his work-boots... We have a picture of me with him holding me up so that I wouldn't fall over, and I was standing with my feet in his work-boots! Seeing Coen wearing the slippers was like seeing a live flashback. :) Like I said, I took some really cute pictures, but I'll have to upload them later...

Abi went to Eastin's school today to watch the Sumo wrestlers pound rice to make mochi for the kindergarten students. She said it was amazing to watch, and learn more about Sumo wrestling. She said I missed the opportunity of a life time, by not going... :) ...But when she told me they were in the traditional Sumo *cough* outfits *cough*, I was glad I stayed home to make cookies!

Let's see... Other than that, I don't think I did much else the rest of the day, except making a quick dinner of BBQ chicken legs, rice, and green salad.. basic, but tasty. :)

Before I go, I want to quickly outline tomorrow, since I won't have time to do it tomorrow... My plan is to get up semi early in the morning and be on the train by 8:30, so that I can be in Soga by 9:30. I'm going to meet Melanie and Jenna there, and we're going to go to Chiba for ramen. Then we're heading back to Tokyo to do all of our 'traditions' before I leave... We're going to get Dr. Peppers, melon pan(bread), go walk around in our favorite stores at LaLaport, etc. and be back here by around 5:00-ish. Then some of my friends are coming over for a goodbye party. That lasts from 6:30-9:00-ish. Then we girls are going to... do something... before we go to bed. Perhaps if it's not too late, we can go for a walk along the river to our "special seats" where we first shared melon pan together. :) On Sunday morning we're going to hang out until 2:15, when we're planning to meet Hinako's family downstairs and all go to church together. After church the Japanese Gospel choir is having their Christmas concert. That'll be done around 7:00, and then Hinako's family is coming here for last goodbyes. The girls are staying over on Sunday night as well, and I think they're coming to the airport with me on Monday! That'll be lots of fun. Then, on Monday afternoon, I'll be flying out of Japan. I'll arrive home 2 hours before I left Japan. :) (If only!)

Well, if I don't have time to write before I leave -

My love to you all,
Hannah

Lessons from a future housewife:

#5 When cleaning baseboards, a damp cloth is better than a paper towel... While paper towels are disposable, and have easier cleanup, they just don't do as good a job at getting the dust off the boards. The rag works better, and it's easy to just rinse out and keep going!

#6 When making whipped cream from fresh whipping cream, never use an electric beater. The electric beaters whip the cream too fast, and it turns from cream directly into butter, skipping the whipped stage. Whipping by hand is a much better option, although it does take more time and energy.

White Daisies!

2010-12-14T21:06:00.001+09:00

Usually I have a witty, nifty, or humorous story behind each title for my blog posts... This post's title has nothing to do with any story I was planning to tell. But I feel that it does require a bit of explanation... White daisies are my favorite flower. I was thinking back over my day while I was mixing a cake batter after dinner... My only conclusion to these thoughts were that I have had a marvelous day! Somehow that reminded me of white daisies. Since I was so happy, and white daisies always seem to be so cheerful, I decided I would spread the good cheer!

Like I mentioned, my day today has been wonderful. I did sleep a little a lot longer than I had intended to. I remember rolling over this morning and looking at my watch when it said 2:00. Then the next thing I know it's 8:30 in the morning! I even slept through piano lessons! I suppose that either I was very tired last night, or my mind has just learned to shut out the sounds that used to wake me so easily... Perhaps it was a combination of both... But I plan to set my alarm clock tonight so that it doesn't happen again.

(Just as a random note, I added one of the pictures we had taken while we were at Disneyland... You can also see part of my adorable new sweatshirt. From left to right there's me, Jenna, Melanie, Yukiho, and Satoshi... That was all in our little party. The other picture is one I forgot even existed... It was taken in Nikko while visiting Yukiho and Satoshi's grandparents... You can see all of us sitting around the table during dinner.)

After getting up late the whole day seemed so much shorter. After I had a banana and a little coffee for breakfast, I set about my work. I washed dishes, folded clothes, washed mirrors and glass shelves, started loads of clothes, etc. Then I had some time to chat with my mother and grandmother. That was loads of fun! Then I tried a new bread recipe that was just delicious! I am surprised at it's success! It tasted wonderful. It didn't have a baking powder aftertaste to it, and it wasn't yeast-y... Almost the perfect gluten free sandwich bread. Then I packed all of my clothes except the 6 outfits I'll need before I go home. My closet looks so bare. After doing that I do have hope, though, that I'll be able to pack everything into my large suitcase. Whether or not it'll be under 50 pounds is doubtful, but at least I'll have everything and not have to ship it! By the time I finished packing, the bread was done and Eastin was home from school. Since Abi was back from picking him up, I ran to the grocery store for her to pick up a few things... (Actually I walked, but that's immaterial.) When I got back I had something I've been craving for a long time... I had a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich made with Japanese mayonnaise!!! It was wonderful! Then Roger and I took Eastin and Baby with us to the bank to close my Japanese bank account. That was an easy job, and then I brought the boys back here while Roger went to the library to study.
After I got back I did a little reading with Aidan, and then it was time for the boys to go to their karate lesson and me to my calligraphy lesson. My teacher also taught me the Japanese green tea ceremony today. It was fun to learn. After that I learned two new kanji. I learned the word or Kanji for 'dream' and 'I love'. I wasn't able to write either of them very well, because my ink was clumpy today and my brush kept sticking to the paper for some reason... But she presented me with one copy of each that she had written. I have thoroughly enjoyed my lessons. The few kanji I know how to write are fun because I learned them and their meanings while also learning calligraphy. Not many American girls my age can say they were taught calligraphy by a Japanese woman in Japan!!! :)

Well, my cakes are done now so I'll end this post and go take them out of the oven...

Lessons from a future housewife:

#4 - When baking new recipes, especially breads and lasagnas, it is wise to put the pan onto a baking sheet. This prevents any overflowing pan contents getting stuck in the bottom of your oven and possibly catching fire, or even just making a lot of work for your future... (Because it's a lot of work to clean out an oven!) I've found that every recipe has different rising habits, and different dishes produce more liquid than others. Putting a baking sheet underneath the pan(s) is just an extra precaution and work saver.

All my love,
Hannah

Disneyland!

2010-12-13T21:32:00.000+09:00

Hello everyone! I woke up this morning and my first thought was (besides commenting to myself about the gloominess of the day outside) "[GASP] I only have 7 days left!!!" This is true: I am leaving Japan in only seven days. I'm really sad. Last night after church Melanie, Jenna and I went to Starbucks instead of coming back to Tsukishima... It struck me after church was over, and before we left, that this was our last normal Sunday together. Next Sunday is all booked, from just after dawn 'till long past dusk. I'm really going to miss our three-some-ness! I'm going to miss the Lowther family. I'm going to miss the Japanese, and Korean friends I've made here! I'm really going to miss the trains, my ...braveness... to go places by myself without doubting whether I'll be mugged or worse. I'll miss the freedom I have here to hop onto a train and visit friends up to an hour away! ...Being able to walk to the grocery store! (My home is at least 15 minutes away from the closest convenience store, and 25 minutes from the nearest WalMart.)

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about... I wanted to write about my trip to Disney Land on Saturday... It turned out that Micah and Seth couldn't come, so it was just Melanie, Jenna, Satoshi, Yukiho, and me. We had a great time! We all met at the station gates at 9:00 in the morning. It ended up that I was the only one without a ticket, but everyone else was kind enough to stand in line with me while I bought mine... Actually Roger and Abi paid for my ticket as a gift! I was really surprised. After we got into the park, we stopped to look at the map. First we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. That was really fun! I think I saw the Captain Jack that I had my picture taken with... :) Then we made our way around the edge of the park until we came to the Western Railway ride. We took a ride along the "Mississipi River Western Railroad". We saw Indians, caribou (which was really funny, because I'm from Mississippi and I know we don't have any caribou down there!), and the Mark Twain ferry boat. Then we stood in line for a record two and a half hours to ride a roller coaster. It was worth it, I believe. That was the longest roller coaster ride I've ever been on, and we got to find out a lot about each other while we were waiting in line... We kept asking questions, and made our own 'get to know your friends' game. :) That was lots of fun! After that we climbed the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house, since that was one of the main things Jenna and I remember from when we went to Disney as small, little, tiny children. :) After that and watching the very end of the Christmas parade where Santa Clause spoke with a funny accent, we walked over to the Queen of Heart's royal banquet hall for lunch. I had a hamburger patty shaped like a heart, a few vegetables, and half a coke. It was so cute! The waiters and waitresses all wore aprons with hearts in the middle. We have some cute pictures from there, but I haven't uploaded them yet. Directly following lunch, we made our way to the teacups! (Don't ask me why that was the one we decided to ride just after eating!) The tree house, the teacups and the Dumbo ride are the only ones Jenna and I remember from our previous Disney trip, so we had to re-do all three of those. All five of us couldn't ride in one teacup, so Jenna and I got dizzy together, and Melanie, Yukiho and Satoshi got dizzy in another cup. To tell the truth, I couldn't tell when the ride actually stopped either time we rode! I say either time, because we did ride it twice! We rode it once after lunch and then, quite by accident, that's the one we decided to re-ride right after dinner! After the first time around, (pardon the un-intended pun) we rode Dumbo!!! I loved it! It brought back so many memories. I think I must've ridden that ride four times when I went to Disneyland when I was three years old. After that I don't remember what we did.... I know we had dinner at some point, so I'll skip ahead to there... We all ordered pizza for supper. It was pretty good pizza, but by the time we had decided where to eat, and gotten our food, there were no empty tables inside... So we tried eating outside at those tables. The wind just happened to be horrible at that time, and it was...7:30....which means it was dark and cold, on top of being windy. As we were leaving the restaurant, I noticed one of those penny mashing machines... The kind where you put in your penny and your quarter, and then press a design onto the penny... As I was trying to find a 100 yen piece to insert, I realized that they don't use pennies here. :) So, instead of a dark penny where you can see Abraham Lincoln's head squished sideways on the back, I got a shiny new piece of copper cut to the right size with Eve from WALL-E on it! I can add it to my squashed penny collection at home! Last time I went to Disney, I believe I had one with... Minnie Mouse on it. After dinner we walked over to the Winnie the Pooh ride. It was a giant book that you walk into and through!!! It was amazing! It had giant 50 foot pages, like from the book. Then when you got to the ride itself, it was a huge honey pot that just happened to sit exactly five people! I loved it!!! Then it took you through the story of Winnie the Pooh's Honey Hunt. We even got to hear the Tigger song sung in Japanese! "The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. They're bouncy, bouncy, trouncy, troucny, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. The most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one! I-I-I-I'm the only one! T. I. double G. ER - TIGGER!" That in itself was funny. Then we went to the Pooh Bear gift shop. I bought the most adorable hooded sweatshirt there. It has Pooh's face on the front, and lots of embroidered flowers and a honey bee on Pooh's nose! It's soooooo cute. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it later..

We finally left the park at 10:00 when they pushed everyone out and said they were closing... :) The trains were absolutely packed!!! The Fukudas had to go home, because it was really late... But Jenna, Melanie and I came back here and had ice cream together before we crashed, realized how much we ached, and how tired we were! By the time we finally got to bed we were too tired to lay out futons for everybody... We all just took pillows, lined them up off the edge of my twin sized futon, and slept sideways along it! It was so much fun! I certainly slept better than I thought I would have. We woke up late, and just sat around talking and realizing how much we were going to miss me not being here. :( But we ended up having a great day, and I'm looking forward to going to Chiba on Saturday morning for an early lunch at the best ramen place in the country! Then we're coming back here for my surprise going away party. (Don't tell anyone I know about it...)

This post is really long, and I know I'll have more to tell when I get the pictures anyway, so I'll go for now.

Lessons from a future housewife:

#3 - Recipe for deliciously baked eggplant. When cooking eggplant on a baking sheet in the oven, it is always wise to put oil of some kind under it. I like using olive oil, because it gives whatever you're cooking more taste. The easiest way to make sure the vegetables are completely coated, and not going to burn, is to pour oil onto the pan, rub the eggplant in it, and then turn all the eggplant over. This coats both sides, and then you can salt the top. Always cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 until it's soft. Pouring the olive oil onto the pan first, saves extra trouble. Since you want them evenly coated, it's much easier to just rub them in the oil and flip them over, than to try pouring it evenly over them. Pouring oil over them doesn't get the oil underneath the eggplant, so they still stick to the pan... See?

All my love,
Hannah

Cold, cold, cold!!!

2010-12-10T22:15:00.001+09:00

My friends, I don't know what you might think you're looking at in this picture, but more likely than not, you're wrong. :) So I will tell you what it is. This, my friends, represents two hours and fifteen minutes worth of work. What you see before you are 29 lint roller sheets! I have never seen such fuzzy lint roller sheets before in my life! Yesterday morning while Abi was at staff meeting, I took on the load of clothes full of diaper fuzz. It took me over two hours (not including the 5 min. I took to sit down and get a drink) to get those clothes back to a presentable state. Some of them are still better off than others. I did find out who washed that load of clothes but, to protect the guilty, he shall remain nameless. ;) ...Just know that it wasn't me!

The rest of yesterday went very well. Last night a family from Karuizawa came to visit us, and stayed for dinner. I really enjoyed it! I say a family, because although not one big immediate family, we had three generations here. Parents, children, and grandchild. The grandchild is in her 30's, but it was amazing to see that much of a family together here so far from home! They are very good friends of the Lowthers. They brought me the best Chinese dumplings I've ever had, and taught me to cook them! They also brought sashimi (raw fish) the majority of it just happened to be my favorite - tuna! I've never in my life eaten so much rice, or so much raw fish at one meal! I thought I was going to be sick! We had those things with rice, green salad, potato salad, and BBQ chicken wings. To top it all off Abi made a simply delicious pumpkin cake/bread thing. Everyone loved it! After they left I made a batch of eggnog, and we had it for breakfast this morning.

This morning I woke bright (I can't say early) at 7:20 and pulled myself out of bed. It was cold! I think I was right about being sick.... This morning I didn't feel great... So I went back to bed at 10:00, cold, tired, and not feeling great. When I woke up, however, I was feeling just fine. I was able to go about the rest of my day... For lunch I cooked the rest of the gyoza (dumplings), and had it with green salad. By the way, have I ever mentioned that I love eating green salad with hashi? It is so much easier than eating it with a fork! I don't know why, but it just is... After lunch I went to the store down two blocks to look for white notecards for writing recipes on - or notecards for any color, for that matter - but couldn't find any! It seems like every store in Tsukishima is out of notecards! Anyway, I enjoyed the exercise and fresh air... Then after Eastin had a short piano lesson I did English reading with him. Around 2:00 I took him and Coen to the park. We played there with Eastin's friends until 3:20. After that I took Eastin to karate, and Baby and I came back here. When we got back Roger and Abi were meeting with a Christian drama group who preforms all over Japan. Actually, they are members of an organization who has groups all over the world! It was really nice to meet them! They gave me all of their information when I simply mentioned that I was interested in drama, etc. :) They are very passionate about their work here.

Pretty much right after they left, I started making dinner. I defrosted some chicken, made a spaghetti sauce, gluten free and regular pasta, and sauted some honey carrots to go along with it. Right after I finished eating, I had to run... I went to Toyosu to meet with Megumi, my newest English...partner... She is the 19 year old from Chiba that I've started helping... We went window shopping together, and tried out the crepe place in the mall. (If you don't know what a crepe is, look it up... It's hard to explain...) So from 7:00 to 9:00 we simply talked together, and walked around the mall pointing out our favorite stores to each other. :) It was fun! I was able to tell her about some of our Christmas traditions, and learn some of hers. It was interesting.

But it's after 10:00 here now, so I should probably close... Before I do, I'll give you lesson number two from "Lessons from a future housewife".

#2 - Never bake things onto your pans that will not easily come off. (Because it's really hard to get them off when you need to use your pan again.) If you do make the mistake of cooking something really sticky in your pan that leaves a disgusting, sticky, residue on the bottom of your pan, always use steel wool to remove it.

This lesson was learned today after mochi and sausages were cooked in one of Abi's frying pans... I don't know what on earth all of that sticky, oily, residue stuck to that pan was, but it was not easy to get it back off!! It took all day of soaking in water, 10 min. of scrubbing it with a soapy sponge, and 20 min. of scrubbing it with steel wool to get all of it off... And it just so happened that I was the first one to need to use the pan (for the carrots), so I got to clean it. :) I did feel very proud of myself afterwards, though!

All my love,
Hannah

...Lessons from a future housewife:

2010-12-08T10:25:00.001+09:00

Good morning everyone - or good night, as your case may be... I am sitting here taking a short break. Today I have taken a shower, eaten breakfast, answered a gazillion emails, washed a few dishes, folded and put away a load of clothes, made coffee, and started to hang out another load of clothes... And it's only 10:00! Think how productive the rest of my day will be! :)

...Anyway. I didn't get on here to tell you minute by minute about my day so far. I wanted to write, because I suddenly had a brilliant idea. I keep telling people that I've learned so much while I've been in Japan. Well, my 'eureka moment' occurred while I was trying to hang out my load of laundry. (Doing laundry provides the second best time to think.) I decided that I should share some of the things I've learned with all of you! So, in each post I remember to do this in, I will impart one fact of housekeeping etc. that I have learned while in Japan. These may be brilliant revelations, common sense helps I've figured out, or life lessons that should be applied to housekeeping that I've learned by word of mouth or learned the hard way...

So since I don't have a lot of time to sit here and write about more, I'll go ahead and close with my new "lessons from a future housewife."

LESSON NO. 1 -
   I'm not sure which category this falls under. I think it could be classified as a brilliant
   revelation, common sense help, or even a life lesson I learned the hard way...

#1 - Never ever EVER wash a disposable diaper in a load of clothes. (Trust me! The results are disastrous!) This rule should be closely adhered to especially when black articles of clothing are in the load.

This rule was realized when I found lint all over the load of clothes I was hanging out.. I wondered what on earth could have made so much lint, until I found the remains of a pull-up that had been accidentally tossed in with the rest of the clothes. I'm guessing that when Eastin changed out of his pajamas, he forgot to separate the pull-up from the pants... The rest, as they say, is history.

That's all for now...

All my love,
Hannah

13 Days...

2010-12-07T22:07:00.000+09:00

  Someone recently asked my sister a question similar to the one on your mind if you read the title of this post... "Thirteen days until what?" I won't tell you what she said, but I'll tell you the answer. I have thirteen days left to enjoy Japan! I believe every day is booked, and a couple of them are double booked! I have so much to do, and so little time to do it. I want to fully enjoy these last 13 days. It will be quite different to re-enter my family after 8 months of being treated as an independent adult. I've had to make most decisions by myself, and decide where I want to go and what I want to do... I've had the chance to hop onto a train whenever I want and go wherever I want... I've had a little convenience store right underneath me! I've had my own room, and personal time to do whatever I want... Still, I look forward to going back to my family. Not that I won't to some extent miss all of this, but being with my family will be wonderful! I will miss the trains, and the 7-11, and the river, and my friends, this little apartment, even my futon :). But all of those things together can't match my family! ...Anyway! Enough of my random 'dish-washing thoughts'... Washing dishes is the when I do the most thinking... It's so comforting to stand there with a huge sink, and warm water and soap suds running over you hands. It provides the perfect time to think. And tonight I had plenty of time to think! On top of the 16 forks, 13 spoons, and 8 knives, I washed 4 pots, two large bowls, around 10 plates, and numerous little things... You should see the drain rack! :) It's a beautiful sight!

  Anyway, I'm sure that's not what you want to hear about... Everyone has dishes to wash, and can hold competitions with themselves to see how much they could stack, re-stack, and double stack onto the drain rack... Not everyone has the opportunity to eat in a restaurant made for dogs, and all those other things I mentioned in my last post! So, with no further ado than can be managed I shall recount those things to the best of my remembrance.

  I'll have to add pictures later, because my internet has decided to be uncooperative and not let me upload pictures at the moment. :( But I can tell you all about the places I've been and things I've done. On Sunday night and Monday afternoon we went to a restaurant made especially for people to come and bring their dogs. In the States this would be considered crazy, and they probably wouldn't be allowed to do that due to health reasons... But Japanese people treat their dogs better than children! This was probably the nicest restaurant I've ever eaten at, and the prices were not that low, either. The entire atmosphere was so quiet, elegant, and overall ...wonderful - for lack of a better word at the moment. On Sunday night I ordered a hot chocolate coffee thing that tasted more like strong black coffee... But the apple pie I ordered was just delicious. To aid the yumminess of the dessert, I had been craving hot apples and spice all day! It really 'hit the spot' as we say in the south. On Monday I ordered a beef curry that was served in a small cast iron skillet. It was VERY good! I also had a delicious soup made from Japanese mushrooms. DELICIOUS! While we were there, I heard Yoshimi (Abi's clarinetist friend with whom we were staying) talking to the chef (the same one that prepares the dog's food and the people's food) about a birthday cake for her dogs. He takes real cake batter, puts it in a small pan, decorates it, and then feeds it to dogs! I couldn't believe it!!! The whole experience was so funny!

  So speaking of Yoshimi's dogs... I wanted to tell about Cherry and Shion. Cherry (pronounced by Japanese more like Cheddy) and Shion (pronounced She-own) must be the two most spoiled long haired daschunds the world has ever known. They are adorable...but spoiled.... They went shopping with us when we went shopping. They went out to eat with us when we went out for lunch. They slept only when we slept, and even had an indoor bathroom so that they didn't get cold going out. The only problem I saw with that set up, was that they seemed to think that since they 'went out' in one place in the house, they could 'go out' anywhere in the house... Shion went on my futon. She left me a gift right beside my pillow... :-/ You should have seen her when her 'mother' found out! She ran from her for the rest of the day! When we went shopping, the inu (dogs) had matching outfits, ear ribbons with a Christmas theme, and even a stroller. Abi pushed her baby in the baby stroller, and Yoshimi pushed her babies in the dogie stroller!

Since I'm getting tired and it's getting pretty late, I should probably save the rest for some other night... Before I go I do want to mention the taxis. I have always wanted to ride in a yellow taxi. Something about a yellow taxi has always seemed special to me when you live in a big city. I've ridden in orange taxis, blue taxis, black taxis and even green taxis, but I'd never ridden in a yellow taxi! So on the way home from Tokyo station on Monday night, we actually rode in a yellow taxi!!! We decided to take a taxi since taking the train home from Tokyo eki is hard enough when you don't have three small children, a large suitcase, and a baby stroller. Taking a taxi was the best plan, and it gave me the opportunity to ride in a yellow taxi! Now I can mark that one off my list!

Well, now I'm really getting off. I've had a good day today, but I'll have to write about it later.. I'm too tired tonight!

All my love,
Hannah

Back from Karuizawa

2010-12-06T17:46:00.000+09:00

Hi all, I just wanted to say that we arrived safely from Karuizawa this afternoon. Most of us are pretty tired, but glad to be back in relatively warm weather... The temperature where we were over the weekend is typically about 30 degrees colder than in Tokyo... For instance, on Sunday night as we were returning to our host home, we passed a temperature sign that said 1 degree Celsius. That's only 33 degrees F., but I've never gotten used to the Celsius system, and 1 degree looked so funny to me...
Sadly it didn't snow once the entire weekend. No Yeti, either... We only had hard freezes and frosts every night. :( But it was still beautiful. I actually took some really pretty pictures out the upstairs bathroom window, since that was the only window you could see the huge mountain from. :) I took some of the boys too!

Some of the things I hope to write about later, are:

Eat at a restaurant for doggies - twice!
Play baseball in a tennis court
Comment on the shinkansen ride
Taxi rides
Two adorable daschunds
Shopping experiences

Well, I'll go for now, and leave you dangling wondering what I'm going to say about each of those things... :)

Like I said (or did I?) I'm pretty tired, and my shoulders are worn out from carrying my 20 lb back-pack! I still amaze myself when I can pack that much weight into such a small little space! C'est la vie!

All my love,

Hannah

Off to the Mountains...

2010-12-03T08:24:00.000+09:00

Days until Christmas: 22

Well everyone, we're off to the mountains... We're leaving for the mountains this afternoon... It looks like my countdown will have to be interrupted for a few days... :( But I'll be back at it on Monday! We're taking a shinkansen (or bullet train) to the mountains for a few Christmas concerts. I'm all packed, and everything is ready...I think... :) I've been asked to say hello to a yeti while I'm up there... If it snows I'll definitely take pictures, ...any more requests?

Well, I've got to go eat breakfast now... If there's anything else, you have just a few hours to let me know! :)

All my love,
Hannah

Count down day 3

2010-12-02T12:43:00.001+09:00

Days until Christmas: 23!

Today we have smoggy skies with the sun peaking through in the West. Not much is visible, and the entire sky looks grey from where I'm sitting. (And yes, it is the sky not the ceiling.) The temperature is nice today - a high of 64 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not much has happened so far today... After taking Eastin to school this morning I had a few minutes to chat with my family and grandparents. Then Coen and I made a batch of gluten free chocolate chip cookies! They were soooooooo good! The recipe made 32 cookies, but there are only 30 on the cooling rack now. Two of them donated themselves to scientific research. ;) I was testing cookies to see whether or not the ones that were broken when they were taken off the pan tasted any better than the others... My conclusion was that they did taste better! :) However, I believe that more research may be necessary. ;)

Anyway, after I made the cookies, I washed the breakfast dishes. Other than those two rather insignificant tasks, I have done very little today that is profitable. (I have done some things, but they didn't take much time or energy.)

Perhaps I can write more later, but after reading that very short summery of my day, I feel rather ashamed of myself... I think I'll go find some laundry to fold or something.... Before I go, I'll also post a very funny picture of Coen... The other day after realizing it was unusually quiet in the living room, I found Coen with both hands in the sugar container, and couldn't resist the 'Kodak moment'. :)

All my love,
Hannah

Count down day 2

2010-12-01T09:52:00.004+09:00

Days until Christmas: 24!!!

As this day, December 1st, 2010, begins, my mind is crowded with thoughts... Thoughts too numerous even to sort. Among those random thoughts float dates, expectations, wishes, and duties...

   My
   Random Thoughts:
   The laundry must be processed...
   ...Leaving for Karuizawa in two days, I
   must pack......Coen goes to nap in 20 minutes...
   Christmas is just around the corner - Do I have something
   for everyone?... What souvenirs do I still want? I wonder what's
  for lunch... Have the dishes been washed? ...I really want to see my
animals...Seeing family and friends would definitely come before that.
  I wonder if it will snow while we're in the mountains this weekend...
   I really
   LOVE
   this time
   of year!

Merry 24 days before Christmas everybody!!!

All my love,
Hannah

SMILE

2010-12-01T00:02:00.004+09:00

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER EVERYBODY!!!!

Count down has officially started for me!

25 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!

All my love,
Hannah

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T21:59:00.002+09:00

Hi everyone, Sorry it has been so long since the last time I wrote... A lot has happened but I haven't had much time, nor have I felt like writing, recently. Today I feel better than I have in days... Last Saturday when Jenna and Melanie were here, they seemed to be suffering from a mild cold. Then on Monday I started feeling like I was getting a minor cold. After that it developed in to what felt more like the flu! Thankfully I only felt really, really bad for one day. After that I started feeling a little better very gradually. By Thursday I still wasn't feeling great. But God gave me the strength to help prepare for our Thanksgiving meal with friends, and allowed me to really enjoy the holiday. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday anyway, so I'm immeasurably glad that I felt well enough to enjoy the time!

On last Saturday I went to Chiba for the CCSI school bazaar. It was really amazing! I enjoyed it a lot. I bought a really cute white coat for the equivalent of $0.50! I also bought a hat that goes with it for $0.10! I found lots of great books as well. For instance, I now own the first two books in the Lord of the Rings series and paid $1.00 for both of them! I was so happy when I saw them! I had actually gone into the book room looking for books by Tolkien, but hadn't expected to find any. So you can imagine my elation when I stumbled upon the first two in the series (which have become my favorite books for the present)!

Monday night was the victory part for Abi's soccer team, as they had won their tournament the previous week. So we prepared a meal for the entire team, and had them over. It really was lots of fun! I enjoyed meeting and talking to her team mates. I had so much food! I couldn't have held another bite, and the ladies were still urging Jenna, Melanie, and me to try this or that native delicacy. Later that night Roger went to pick up two musicians who graduated from Julliard. One is an organist, and the other a violinist. While they were settling in and unpacking, the girls and I went down the street to buy Dr. Pepper (since it just so happens that that's our favorite soft drink). After that we watched Ponyo. It was the first time I'd ever seen it.. It was very good, but I think I still like Princess Mononoke better. Perhaps I'd like Ponyo better if it were in Japanese, but it just doesn't seem right to see the film, and hear English...don't ask me why...

I don't remember much of what happened on Tuesday, since I wasn't feeling great by that point. I do, however, remember Wednesday!!! On Wednesday Abi, the boys and I went to Chiba for the concert of prayer and the team Thanksgiving dinner. I got to see Melanie and Jenna that day too, and watch a Japanese lady instruct her students in the art of one of the Japanese dances. It was interesting to see how she moved, held her fan, and even the way she was looking seemed important. Then we had the team dinner. After that Jenna, Melanie, Micah and Seth (two of the missionary family's children), several of the school students and I went back to the school building and played hide and seek in the dark. It was so much fun!

I already gave you a snippet of Thursday. What I didn't say was that several families we know came over to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. One family from church came, and then two families who have a child going to each of the boy's schools. Also a Taiwanese couple, friends of Roger, came. The two musicians played some for us. They played several Japanese folk songs, a Taiwanese folk song, a hymn medley, and some good old fiddle tunes. It was really enjoyable.

Friday was a little different for me... I woke up feeling just awful (partially due to the fact that I wasn't able to go to bed until after midnight the night before, and partially because of my cold). So after I helped everyone who had to leave, leave, I went back to bed. :) I slept for nearly four hours, and woke up a different person. I felt 97% better than I had that morning. I guess all my body needed to help fight off this cold was a little more sleep. After that I was able to do some reading with the boys after they got home from school, and I even washed a few dishes for the first time since the Sunday before. (Oh. I didn't mention that.... On Sunday I nearly chopped off the end of my thumb. :) I was chopping carrots for fried rice, and chopped a large gash in the end of my right thumb... It really hurt, but is doing a whole lot better now... :) )

So yesterday, Saturday, was lots of fun too. I was able to sleep relatively late (8:15), and then go to Chiba to help with the school work day. We ended up finishing by noon, so I went back to the team leader's house with Jenna and Melanie, since that's where they live. We had lunch there, and had lots of fun together. After a while Micah, Jenna, and I made chocolate chip cookies and shared them with everyone... Then last night we girls came back to Tsukishima, got hamburgers from MosBurger, and watched The Emperor's New Groove together. About half way through it, Melanie made us some hot chocolate from the instant mix her mother sent her. It was very good! I enjoyed our day together!

Today was good as well. Coen actually fell asleep on my shoulder and slept most of the way through church! He hasn't done that in a very long time... Then after church the girls and I went back to LaLaport since we all had a specific gift to buy for someone... (Mostly family back home..) So now, I think I'll pop me a bag of popcorn, and watch The Dick Van Dyke Show before it gets too late... :)

Good night, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!!!!! :)

All my love,
Hannah

A Whole Week!

2010-11-18T20:50:00.000+09:00

Hi all, I can't believe it's been an entire week since the last time I wrote! Time does fly. I kept thinking that I should write, but just haven't... A lot has happened in the last week, but I can't remember exactly what happened each day, so I'll just do my best to get it in order. :)

I don't remember what happened last Friday, so I'll skip to Saturday. On Saturday morning Abi had a soccer tournament. (It turns out that her team won the entire tournament, but I didn't know that until later in the day.) Anyway, She had to leave at 6:00 am Saturday morning. I got up at 6:45 to wake Aidan up. He had a music performance. He played the marimba. So he was at school from 8:00 until lunch time. Meanwhile, around 8:00 Jenna and Melanie arrived from Chiba. Grace City Church was taking the children in the church to the zoo, and we three older girls were going along for fun. The DeBoos were there, Fukuda-San, Mitsuo-Kun, another family from the church, and several friends of church people. We all carried lunch and had a picnic at the zoo. The weather was perfect, and we all had a great time! There are pictures but most of the good ones were taken with Melanie's camera, so I don't have them yet. Then after we got home from the zoo, Eastin plugged in Kung Fu Panda, and we all tried to watch it. Melanie and I fell asleep for most of it, though... :) After Abi got back, Jenna, Melanie, and I went out for dinner. We visited one of the many monjayaki restaurants. It was the first time they'd ever had real monja from a restaurant, and probably my last for this trip. :( We had a great time laughing and talking together, and didn't get back here until 8:15. Then we decided to take a walk along the river since it's so pretty at night. We took some melon pan with us (or, melon bread in English) and split one small loaf as we sat beside the river watching ducks swim and local fishermen fish. Then we were all craving hot chocolate since it was a bit chilly outside. So we came back here and Jenna made hot chocolate for us. We drank it while we watched a movie.

Then they stayed over for the night and we all went to church together on Sunday. It is truly wonderful to have them here on Sundays. It makes my whole day better to have someone to talk to like them. On Sunday we had communion at church, so I made bread. I actually forgot it was in the oven and left it in for about 10 min. too long. But it turned out fine... We had 7-11 meals for lunch, and went to church in the afternoon. Then
the other girls had to go back to Chiba to prepare for the next school week. Abi, the boys, and I came back here for a quiet dinner. After dinner Abi and I watched the first half of Return of the King. I popped a bag of popcorn to eat during the movie. I finished the popcorn, but fell asleep soon afterwards. :)

  Monday was one of those good, but nondescript sort of days. I don't remember much of what happened in it, except that I actually beat Aidan at chess. He came down with a 24 hour virus Sunday night, so he didn't go to school on Monday. He and I did more or less productive things all day together. We made bread together, folded and put away laundry, read English lessons, and played lots of board games. We played several games of othello (otherwise known as reversi). We also played one game of chess. Aidan is really good at chess, and I don't believe I've ever beat him before. (I am really bad at chess usually.) But for the first time, I actually won! Well... sort of... I think it was more like an inevitable check-mate. He had his king left, and I had three pieces left. So after about 10 minutes of a game of catch, we decided that I won. :)

  On Tuesday afternoon Roger arrived back home! He's been gone for three weeks and flew into Tokyo Tuesday afternoon. Abi went to the airport to pick him up, and they got home around 8:00 pm. Everyone was so glad to see him back. The older two boys ran and jumped up onto him, and Coen was smiling too big to say anything. He just kept grinning and holding up his arms until he was picked up and hugged. :) He gave his Daddy a big hug, and patted his back. Then we all went to bed pretty early.

  On Wednesday, the regular Japanese lesson was re-started. I did lots of laundry folding that day. I hadn't done any on Tuesday, and the entire couch was loaded! :) So I sat down and folded it all up. I like folding laundry. There's something satisfying in knowing that you've taken dirty clothes in the morning, washed, hung, dried, folded, and put away clean clothes by the afternoon. Even if you don't get much else done in a day, laundry is always there to make you feel better about yourself. :) Then after the Japanese lesson, the clarinetist who is the third part of Roger and Abi's trio came to practice Christmas music with Abi. They practiced for a long time. Meanwhile Eastin was getting totally bored before Aidan got home from school. Every five minutes he would ask "Now how long until Aidan gets home, Mommy?" I tried to occupy him by reading, coloring, even playing with him... He just wanted to play with Aidan... So I started crocheting. That actually interested Eastin for the longest time of anything. I helped him make several stitches, and then he held my skein of yarn and gave me more when it was tight. He wanted me to make a sweater for him, but I explained that I couldn't very well do that with only one skein. So then he wanted a scarf. I told him that I would do my very best to make a scarf for him. I've been working on it, but it's still only about 8 inches long. I've already ripped it out to the bottom twice. I couldn't decide what pattern to use. Finally I settled on a simple half-double crochet. This yarn really is a little thicker than I like it, but it's not bad. It just took a little getting used to.... For dessert on Wednesday I made a peach cobbler. I added a new secret ingredient that I discovered from my Grandfather on my week vacation home. Only Abi and I know what it was! (And I won't tell even if you beg me!) :) After we finished cleaning the kitchen, we three older people watched half of a movie. We were all tired by that point and decided to go to bed and save the rest for a later date. So I fell asleep in bed listening to a great audio book I downloaded. It's one of my favorite books, though it's not the reader I'm used to... It's one of G. A. Henty's. He was a great author!

  Today was kind of different. Roger and Abi left this morning at 7:00 for Chiba. They were leading worship at a meeting. So I got up at 6:30 to help make lunches for the boys. After we finished that, Roger and Abi had to leave, and I sent Aidan off to school at the appropriate time. Then I did reading with Eastin, and took him to school. Today was really cold, and I got to wear my new down coat for the first time! I like it a lot. I'm going to be very glad I bought it by the end of the year! Then Baby and I came back to the house. He played for a while, and then went to take a nap. While he was napping I was able to talk to my family, including my grandmother! I have not had an opportunity to email or chat with her in some time, so it was really great to have that time! Then at 2:00 Coen and I went to pick up Eastin from school. We came back here and I finished getting ready to have our English lesson with Hinako. We had a great lesson today and had fun. Then Aidan got back from school and Abi arrived from Costco. Aidan and I went down to help bring up groceries. We had sushi and salad for dinner, and finished off the rest of the peach cobbler. After washing the dishes I sat down here and haven't moved, except to change positions because my back is a little sore. :(

Well, Now I have filled you in on the past week, and my computer battery is nearly dead, so I'd better close for now and go plug in my computer... I hope you all have a wonderful day, week, month, and rest of the year! Enjoy your blessings, and whether or not you overlook the holiday of Thanksgiving (like Japan does), I encourage you to count your blessings, and thank our loving Father in Heaven for all of his blessings!

All my love,
Hannah

If at first you don't succeed, try try again!

2010-11-11T21:43:00.002+09:00

Hi everyone! I just had to drop a quick note this evening to let you know that I feel quite pleased with myself! After a day which was not very productive, I made myself feel like I accomplished something today within the past 1 1/2 hours. Aidan got a set of origami paper the other day and has been begging to open it. I have never had much luck with the art, but decided to give it a try since he was having trouble figuring out his lion. I helped him with his lion, made one myself, and then made one for Eastin.... (Then Eastin decided to make a zoo, so he numbered the lions... Mine was number 3, hence the large '3' on its side.) After that, I decided that our zoo needed a pink elephant. I found instructions online for an origami elephant, and tried to make one... It turned out well enough, but I think that somehow the head got folded in upside down... Don't ask me how on earth that happened! I admit I myself burst out laughing... :) Then and there I decided that pink elephants were a little beyond my expertise. Feeling a little beaten, I found something simpler... A nice butterfly... The butterfly worked, and looked good. After that I wanted to make a cube... So I found directions for a cube and got started.... The cube turned out well! The odd thing about it was that it was a 'magic cube'. The cube turns into a rose! I can not only make it from a rose into a cube, but more impressive, I can turn it from a cube back into a rose! Being my first attempt it is not very neat, but it still looks pretty if you ask me! I am quite pleased with it! While I still don't know how to make a paper crane, I can make a lion, a greenish-yellowish ugly colored butterfly (the color really does look better than it does in the picture), and a magic rose cube!!!

I am so glad that I stuck with it and got it done!!! Enjoy my rose, and have a great day wherever you may be! :)

All my love,
Hannah

Another Week

2010-11-09T21:04:00.001+09:00

Well, I can't believe it's been a full week since the last time I wrote anything! In a way it seems like it's been two weeks, and in another way I can't believe it's been that long! Time does fly... In the last week, lots has happened, but not much has happened outside the ordinary.

I did have my calligraphy lesson on Wednesday morning. It went well I think. Eastin and Hinako soon tired out and left me writing all by myself. Below, you can see two examples of my work... The first one is the word (or kanji) for dog. The stroke on the bottom right hand corner of the character is very difficult to master. If you had seen my first attempts at it, you would be proud of my achievements with this one... Also, the two small characters on the left hand side represent my name - ha-na - spelled in katakana. On the second page of kanji that you see, I've written the words for 'one', 'two', 'three'. The word for 'one' is a single line... 'Two', is two lines, and 'three' is three lines. The numbers get much more complicated after that. I am quite proud of my work. It doesn't look nearly as good as my teacher's, but she's been doing it for a long long time. She gave me, as a gift, one of her pieces of work. She gave me the kanji for 'dream'. It is quite lovely. I just have to find a way to get it home undamaged!

I suppose the next big thing that happened was the vision fair on Saturday afternoon. I think I went well. There were some people there I never imagined would come. It was great! Most of the people from church came, and lots of people that we know from around here. I was able to stay outside on the deck most of the time with the boys so that they didn't have to sit still in that little room. I also managed to see both videos that Colin made while he was here. Everyone seemed to enjoy them...especially the one where they interviewed random people on the street!

On Sunday Jenna and Melanie came from Chiba to go to church with us. It was great to finally get to meet Melanie! (She is a new teacher for the missionary school, and just arrived last week.) I think the three of us are going to have lots of fun together. We have already planned how to spend every weekend together until I leave for Christmas. :) It's gonna' be great!

I don't think I've said anything about Eastin's "railroad tracks." Eastin got hurt two weeks ago, and had to have seven stitches on his forehead. On Thursday he gets to have them taken out! His cut has healed amazingly! He will only have a very small scar left afterwards. The first time he saw himself in the mirror after getting the stitches he said, "Mommy, I have railroad tracks on my head." :) So now I always refer to them as his 'railroad tracks'.

Well, I finished my share of a big bowl of popcorn and a glass of milk, so I'm as happy as happy can be. Now I'm pretty tired because I feel like I've been going like the energizer bunny practically all day, even though I don't guess I've done that much... So since it's 9:00, I think I'll hit the sack, turn in, go to bed, or whatever you want to call it! :) You know... I didn't feel that great when I started writing... I felt like I should write something, but didn't really know what or where to begin. Now I feel great, and feel like I could keep going except that I'm so tired. :) Writing makes me happy! It doesn't matter to me that I'm no Charlotte Bronte or Louisa May Alcott. I just enjoy writing down my thoughts and sharing them with others! :)

May God bless you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.
Good night!

All my love,
Hannah

Safe!

2010-11-02T20:47:00.002+09:00

Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank you for praying for Colin as he traveled home. I also wanted to let you know that he made it home safely, and the rest of the family loved having him back. I could hear the pleasure in Momma's words as we were chatting over email after they got home from the airport.:) I'm sure it was very different at home with both of us gone ...

Last Tuesday was a good day overall.:) It was a full day, and I stayed busy most of the time. That morning started early for me. I got up at 6:30 and fried some eggs for everyone's breakfast. Then at 6 : 45 I woke up Aidan so that he could get his homework done and eat breakfast. Although I set my alarm clock for 6:30, that isn't what woke me up. Colin jumping out of bed to take pictures of the beautiful sunrise is what woke me. That was the most beautiful day that we had had since we had gotten back from the states ... Then around lunch time, Colin and I left for the airport. We got there in time for some looking around. It took about an hour and a half to get there ... We walked around for a while just chatting and laughing at all the little souvenirs you could buy. I think the only thing we ended up buying green tea kit-kats. (I do believe that you can only buy those here.) Then after he walked through security I walked up to the 4th floor and out to the observation deck. I found his gate and took pictures of his plane. I would put some of the pictures on here , but haven't taken them off of my camera yet ...

Since Wednesday and Thursday were relatively dull days, I'll skip on to Friday when something exciting happened!:) On Friday afternoon I left Tsukishima and traveled an hour out to Honda. After arriving at the station I walked half a mile to Honda Chapel and the missionary school where Jenna teaches. She met me there and together we walked to Bob and Sharon's house. We had planned to watch a Dr. Who episode called 'Blink'. I have heard that is is the scariest episode featuring David Tennant as The Doctor. I must admit that at one point I think we all screamed.:) You can't blame us though ... If you have ever watched it you know what I mean ... Imagine all three of us sitting around in a dark room - two on a sofa and one in the chair on the other side of the room ... I, the only one who had never seen it, was the lucky one to be separated on the other side of the room! It wasn't so much scary to me as just startling. It was fun to get to see it though. That night Jenna and I spent in the guest bedroom there.

On Saturday morning (after a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast) Jenna and I decided to walk over to the Chiba mall. She wanted to show me how different it was than LaLaport ... I must admit, it was very different . We had intended to ride bikes there and back since it was within easy riding distance. Well, it just so happened that a typhoon came through the night before and it was still raining by the time we left. So we walked the nearly 2 miles there under umbrellas, and got pretty well soaked. On the way back it was raining even harder! We had waited until around 2:15 to leave, hoping the rain would stop ... So now we had to go back in the rain! We got to the house around 3:00 and changed out of our wet clothes. They looked like we had fallen into a swimming pool! Then we made a lunch that we had picked up at a little grocery store. Then we headed back to Tsukishima. On the way back here, we were sitting on the train and Jenna suddenly said, "Look, there's Captain Jack." I thought that she meant the Captain Jack from Dr. Who, because there were people standing in front of me and I couldn't see anyone out of the ordinary ... Then I happened to look up, and I said "Jenna! There's Captain Jack!":) So when he happened to get off at the same station where we were changing trains, Jenna asked if we could get his picture ... As most Japanese guys are, he was kind enough to oblige us.

Sunday was a good day. I can't really remember anything extraordinary that happened, but I do remember that it was a very good day. We had choir rehearsal here after church, and Fukuda-San, Iori, Keiko, and Mitsuo-Kun came. Jenna and I had made chicken stew for dinner, and we had hot chocolate for dessert. I think it was all good! After that Jenna, Abi and I watched Pride and Prejudice.

Jenna stayed over on Sunday night as well. On Monday morning she and I went to LaLaport. (Don't worry, we had no intention of buying anything!) We went, because we wanted to talk to one of the girls we had met who works at Perfect Suit Factory. Her name is Keiko, and she lives in Tsukishima. We wanted to invite her to the vision fair that Grace City Church Tokyo is having here next Saturday. After we got back, we stopped at a Mos Burger for lunch . That was absolutely the best fast food hamburger I think I've ever had! Simply delicious!!! Then Jenna and I planned out our Saturdays until I leave Tokyo in December! I think we have every Saturday packed, and we're still trying to squeeze in some things that we want to do together ...:)

Today she and I took Coen to the Imperial Palace with us for a guided tour. The whole tour was about 75 minutes long, and covered approximately one and a half miles! I had lots of fun there, took tons of pictures, and learned lots of interesting stuff. For instance, I learned that the most beautiful keep on the palace grounds, the Fushimi-yagura keep, was originally built in Kyoto, disassembled, and rebuilt in Tokyo during the reign of the third Shogun in the 17th century! I would never have guessed! Then we came here and all took a nap since we have stayed up until midnight for the last three nights, and we got up unusually early this morning!:) After that Jenna had to go back to Chiba, and I did reading with the boys and made supper. Pray for Coen, because I don't think he feels well today for some reason ... I don't think it's anything serious, but do pray for him ... Perhaps he will feel better in the morning.

Tomorrow morning I have my next calligraphy lesson. This time Hinako's grandmother is coming here and bringing Hinako so that she, Eastin, and I can all write together!

So, now I think I'll go to bed!!!

Good night (or morning as the case may be) to all of you!!!!

All my love,

Hannah

Hello Again....

2010-10-27T20:58:00.003+09:00

Well hello everyone, whoever and wherever you may be... I am me, sitting at a dining room table somewhere in Tokyo, Japan, with a baby in my lap. I have sad news... Colin is on his way back to Mississippi. Right now he is sitting somewhere near the middle of a Boeing 777 over the Pacific Ocean. My room looks so empty. The entire house seems just a little sadder....especially me... :( I hated to see him go. I wish his stay could have been longer... But why dwell on that when I could be telling of all the fun we had together while he was here! We had 13 wonderful days together, and I hope always to remember the fun we had. Since it's been too long to go from where I left off last time to today, I'll start at yesterday, work my way backwards as far as I can remember until I get too tired to think... :)

Yesterday morning started off well. After taking Eastin to school, Colin and I took Baby and left for the Imperial Palace. It was only a short train ride and walk away, and the weather was perfect for a long walk outside. It was overcast (good for picture taking), breezy (good for...something), and cool (to keep you from getting too hot walking for so long). I pushed Baby in the stroller the entire time, and we spent the whole morning just walking around the imperial gardens. It was amazing, not necessarily for the interesting landscape, but just because it was so big! There were actually huge patches with just grass and a few trees! I was continually commenting on the amount of grass! It was pure beauty! :) We took some pictures, but they are all on Colin's camera, so I don't have any to show yet... Perhaps soon. Then for lunch we ate at a little cafe type thing. It reminded me of a small corner place in London in the 1960's. The atmosphere was wonderful (not to mention the hamburger, fries, onion rings, and drink), and the music was all from the late 1940's to mid 1960's American. Perhaps the prices weren't that great compared to America, but we each got all of those things for less than 1,000 yen. I thought it was pretty good, considering that just a coke in a restaurant here can cost up to 400 yen! Then on the way back we got lost for a while in Tokyo station. But we found our way, and then I picked Eastin up from school and we spent about an hour here. Then, Colin and I went to Hinako's house for a calligraphy lesson from Hinako's grandmother! I learned to make three kanji. We each did the word for 'big', and 'mountain', and 'earth'. Hinako's grandmother even gave me my own set of calligraphy materials! I love it! I love doing it! She also presented one of her pieces to each of us. The one she gave me is 'mountain', and his is 'earth'. I love mine! :) After that we came home and had a full Japanese meal. We ate rice, yakitori (chicken on a stick), eggplant, fried lotus root, and Colin and I ate some Chinese rolls made by the mother of Eastin's friend! Everything was super delicious!!! After dinner I had pumpkin icecream. It was ok, but green tea icecream is still by far my favorite! We tried to watch an anime movie, but I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it, and didn't wake up until the end credits. :) I think Colin stayed awake for the whole thing, but I still don't have a clue what it's about... I'll have to watch it again some other time. :)

The day before that, Monday, Colin filmed me taking Eastin to school. I hope the video turned out well since he was having to film around all the other children and their mothers taking them to school. It was really cool, because the mothers kept saying good morning to us (as usual), but this time he got it on video so that I can always remember these days! My brother is amazing! After that I came back and made some bread while Colin worked on the video he's making for Grace City Church Tokyo (GCCT). I think it's going to be good! Then we went to take pictures of the outfit I bought on Saturday. I bought the dress, boots, and jacket, and let Colin take pictures of it all. Then he and Abi went to film another part of the movie while I stayed here with Coen. I don't remember what we had for dinner that night, but I'm sure it was good too. :) We also watched an anime called "Princess Mononoke". It was in Japanese but had English subtitles. I really liked it. I had seen it before, but had no idea what was going on. Seeing it that night with subtitles made all the difference!

On Sunday... Wow... Last Sunday was probably the best I remember since being here. I can't really explain what made it so different, it just was... And so totally better! I felt good all day, and everything seemed brighter and less foreign, and Coen was good during church, and the boys were good after church, and there were English words to all of the songs, and...I don't know... I just enjoyed it a lot more than usual. After church Colin, Jenna, and I went to LaLaport, the mall. That was lots of fun, too. We stayed until about 9:00. After that Jenna had to go back to Chiba and we came back here and went to bed.

Saturday was lots of fun. Colin and I spent the entire day out (didn't even make it back for supper), and had loads of fun. In the morning, we went to the Meiji shrine, made when Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken died in the 1960's (I believe). It is truly huge, and took all morning to explore! This picture is one of my favorites. It is me standing beside one of the huge arches outside the shrine. Seeing me standing beside it really helps put it into proportion... and I'm over 5 and a half feet tall (about 176 cm.)! I'm the tiny thing wearing white... Then after that we went to the Oriental Bazaar. I love that store, even though it was obviously designed for tourists. It has everything in it basically, and at more decent prices than you usually find... For lunch we stopped in a little two story cafe and had Italian. We just both happened to be craving something Italian. I don't think the fact that it was after 1:00 and it was the first restaurant we came to had anything to do with our decision. ;) We stopped at a Starbucks for a green tea frappachino after that, and went clothes shopping. Then we came home and had onigiri, sushi, and popcorn for dinner. (Only Colin had sushi. I wasn't in the mood for it. I just had a small onigiri and some popcorn while we tried to watch a movie.) I fell asleep during that movie as well, and Colin was working the entire time it was playing, so he didn't see it either. :)

Now I'll skip to Wednesday, because I don't remember at the moment what we did on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday Colin and I went to Chiba for the English worship service at Honda Chapel. I was so excited, and thankful, that I was able to find it on my own. We got to the station and I led the way to the church from there. It was the first time I ever remembered walking that way before, but we made it with no problems. Colin was able to meet the Chiba team (or most of them), and we ate lunch with them. He enjoyed talking to Mr. Drews during lunch. I also loved the English service. It was a full service, with hymns, a sermon, and the Lord's Supper. It was great.

Well, I'm pretty tired now, so I'll have to fill in on more details at a later date. Perhaps tomorrow...?

Remember to pray for the safe arrival of Colin!

All my love,
Hannah

Day 4...again...

2010-10-19T11:37:00.002+09:00

Well, I've been back in Japan for four days now, and it already seems like a week and a half has passed. I feel like I have done so much, but at the same time it feels like I haven't done anything. So let's see if I can take it one day at a time and tell what happened... :)

On Saturday Colin (my brother), Roger and Abi went to Ginza to interview people. They are making a short movie about Grace City Church, and wanted to interview several people for that. I stayed here at the house with the boys while they did that. While they were gone I got bored and was trying to stay awake, so after I made sweet tea I washed the fronts of all the cabinets, cleaned all the glass (windows, doors, mirrors, etc.), and then I sat on the sofa to read Lord of the Rings. I ended up falling asleep about halfway through the chapter though... :( But overall it was a good day.

On Sunday, ...I won't even go there. I had better just say that it was a very hectic day for me that started out too early, was too full in the middle, and ended with my tripping coming up the subway station stairs and nearly tearing off my toenail! The weather was nice, though, and it was cool enough for me to wear my favorite tiered skirt. Colin was filming on that day too. They are making two different movies. This one is about what all goes into making a church in the middle of a huge city where you rent a room for four hours every week as your sanctuary. I think that both movies will be very good when finished.

On Monday Colin and I went to Asakusa, to visit the major Buddhist temple that is there. It is a major tourist location, and I felt that it was worth seeing since I had never seen it before. There were SOO many people there! Colin and I took lots of pictures while we were there. We also explored the surrounding area. I think it was possibly the best day I've had in Japan the whole time I've been here. I feel like I keep harping on this, but having someone to talk to and with whom I can relate makes an entire world of difference!!! We had lunch together in a little ramen shop a little ways away from the main tourist stream. It was very good. I love this first picture for several reasons. Not only can you see a glimpse of the old and traditional ways of the Buddhists as this woman gives an offering and prays before entering the temple, you can also see the flood...the masses... of tourists in the background as they make their way up the street. I took this picture after we had come through that mass of people. As I turned around to leave the temple this scene caught my eye. I couldn't believe I had just come through that! The other two pictures are fairly good as well. In the second picture you can see Colin and me in front of the temple doors. The last one is a picture of the gates leading to the temple itself with the huge lanterns. Colin took many more on his camera, and perhaps I'll be able to share them later. We got home around 3:30, and then I did the boys' English lessons with them and baked potatoes for dinner while Roger and Colin worked on editing the movies. I took the boys to the park to let out some energy right before it got dark... Then after I had cleaned the kitchen, and everyone had finished practicing instruments and editing movies, we watched a movie together. I liked it a lot. It was called 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'. I sat on the edge of my seat almost the entire time... It was suspenseful yet funny. Also, it had James Stewart as the lead character, so that made it all the better. :)

Well, I suppose that is about all the interesting things that have happened lately... Of course, just being here and the every day things in life are interesting, but they are far too numerous to relate! I'm sure that in a few hours I will think of something else I meant to write, but I don't remember anything else at the moment. :)

It is nearly lunch time, so I suppose I shall go and find some leftovers to confiscate. :)

All My Love,
Hannah