Dreaming of Japan

We have some exciting news to share!  We passed the first step in hopefully leading us to take a short-term trip to Japan.



Ever since Chandra worked there with the Evangelical Covenant Church, she has had a burden and love for the people of Japan.  Since getting married to Jay, Chandra had been keeping in touch with Japanese people in Fort Collins through the Fort Collins Japanese Bible Fellowship.  Now that we've relocated to the Denver area we try to get together with a Denver wide Japanese bible fellowship in people's homes in the metro area.  The more that we hear about heart-wrenching stories in Japan, such as the triple disaster in 2011 of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown and the recent story of a murderous attack on mentally disabled people in a group home in Kanagawa, Japan, our hearts have been aching for Japan.  We wonder what we can do to help.  In a way, we are only three weak individuals and it would seem that there is little that we can do.  But, we know that God is much bigger than our limitations.  So, we are seeking to follow His leading and ask Him to open the door, if, indeed, He is the one who is calling us to go to Japan.  At this point our hope is to go as a family for a few weeks, perhaps as early as next Spring/early summer.   We are hoping that we can minister hope and healing through reaching out with things like music.  We may also build some relationships with things like English classes and cooking classes.  We hope to partner up with churches across the Kanto area of Japan to touch people with the love of Jesus. We have found a potential sending agency.  So far, we have been approved by their sending committee.  We are now awaiting the decision of the board members.  Once we know more, we will update you on the status of our possible sending agency.  Meanwhile, will you please join us in prayer that God will make a way and prepare us for whatever path He has for us.  It'll be exciting to share more about the adventure.  Stay tuned!

 

Getting to know Japanese friends in Bangkok in 2009

End of the Year KonMari Clean-Up of my Office Cubicle

Let's face it!  I am procrastinating to finish the 3rd category in the KonMari method of decluttering my home.  That is the category of papers.  I keep putting it off, because it's not fun and there are a whole lot of things I'd rather be doing during this holiday season.  I hate dealing with mounds of papers.  And they always keep reappearing no matter how many times I attempt to defeat those mountains.  So, because I spend more time at work than at home, I decided to put my efforts into my work space for now.  That way I can work in a happy, uncluttered area that sparks joy.  One of the key things I kept in mind when organizing my office cubicle was to make sure that I arranged everything to stand up, vertically, so that I can easily see what I have.









As far as desk organization goes, I like the draw organizers I bought, as they keep everything tidy and in their place.  In fact, I feel like I have so much space in my drawers that some of the desk organizers are actually part empty.  It's a good feeling to open my drawers and be able to find everything.





 Marie Kondo always asks her clients to think about what helps to spark joy in their lives.  So, I asked myself, "What sparks joy in my office?"



 Having cute pictures of kids around the world, maps, posters and calendars to remind me to pray for my brothers and sisters in my global family in Christ and listening to relaxing, classical music on Pandora with headphones so that I can concentrate on my work.



Yes, it's very important for me, as an introvert, to be able to create a quiet and relaxing environment to work in.  Otherwise, I won't be able to work to the best of my ability.  But, that's not always possible, when your work space is a cubicle right in the middle of the office.  So, I'm close to the front desk with guests walking in and the phone ringing a lot.  Right behind me is the copy room where a lot of activity goes on.  And  there are other cubicles all around me with people doing their work in a rather "lively" fashion, at times.  Therefore, in order to keep my sanity as an introvert, it is essential that I must do what I can to drown out the noise.  I learned this trick when I went to college in downtown Chicago.  It's not that we introverts don't like people, it's just that without quiet we are drained and cannot concentrate to do our work well. 

I do, in fact, like people.  But, I like to talk with them one-on-one best.  And I like to have deep conversations with people about meaningful topics.  I also enjoy remembering to pray for my friends who are serving our Father around the world.  Thus, I have photos all around my office of the people whom I'm praying for and whom I'm linking up with our church small groups, asking them to remember to pray for them and get to know them in a personal way.  This truly does spark joy for me to see their smiling faces surrounding me!





Here's my computer with the pandora classical music station on with my headphones and my favorite book, besides the Bible, which reminds me to pray for others.



Praying for you, too, my friends and hoping that your life is filled with the true joy and peace that passes understanding!

Christmas Train in Georgetown

We had a great time last weekend riding on the Christmas train that leaves Georgetown.  It felt like so much fun to be like a kid, again, to eat roasted chestnuts, tell Santa what you want for Christmas and see twinkling lights outside the train as it's snowing in the mountains outside the window.  Here are a few pictures from our fun evening last Saturday night.

 

Yummy, Roasted Chestnuts!  probably Penny's favorite thing about the evening. 

 

 

 

Georgetown--Where Everyone Believes in Santa

We had a great weekend getaway along with Jay's mother to Georgetown.

 

  The first night we surprised Penny with a care package that came from another adoptive family who is living in Thailand.  What a fun way to celebrate 8 years since we went to meet Penny for the first time.

 

The next morning I got earlier than everyone else and took a walk.  But, boy was it cold!  It was 17 degrees with the wind gusting to make it feel more like 11 degrees!

Notice how the flags are whipping in the wind!

 

When everyone else was up and had eaten breakfast, we headed towards downtown Georgetown, where they were having a Christmas festival.

The Old Fire Station

Presbyterian Church

Church built in 1874

Old Elementary School also built in 1874.

Downtown Georgetown

Cute Window Storefront

Here's the Scandinavian Shoppe that is so popular.  Mother went here first.

 

 

While Mother was visiting the Scandinavian store, Jay and Penny and I visited the Heritage Center, located inside the old school house.  There was the coolest cloud formation behind this building!  While we were there, we found out that they would later be showing the John Denver Christmas movie, which was filmed in Georgetown in 1986, in that same building in the afternoon.

Penny getting excited to think that she may want to be a teacher, someday, herself!

She's small enough to fit in the old desks!

An original chalk drawing on the blackboard that they saved when they closed the school in the early1930's.

Cool clouds, huh?!

Then we headed down the street to find Mother.  We saw the horses and buggy giving people rides.

 

Here is a big, beautiful tree decorated in lights on the main street, which has come to be called the "John Denver" tree.

 

We saw all kinds of cute storefronts along the Main Street.

This wooden building had a humorous sign that said, "Your 

husband called and he said you can buy anything you like."

We found Mother outside her favorite Scandinavian shop.  She was easy to spot with her Swedish scarf.

 

It was such a popular (but small) store that this man in the tall hat stood outside and allowed only a certain number of people inside at a time.  After all, there were a LOT of breakable items in this specialty shop.

It was near the Community Center, where they parked the taxi cab from the John Denver movie outside.

Penny and Mother decided to take the horse and buggy ride down main street.  They had a fun time!

 

Jay and I looked at the little booths near the fire pit and tried to stay warm until Penny and Mother got back.

 

Soon Penny and Mother also decided to warm up by the fire.

 Until it was time for the Santa Lucia procession down the street.

 

 

At noon children from the local elementary school, dressed like angels and Lucia, the Swedish Christmas character with candles on her head, came proceeding down the streets with stars and got up on a stage to sing Christmas carols.

 

 

 

The sun beams made them glow like angels from on high!

Then we went to a famous restaurant where Jay's parents had eaten before.  Mother was VERY excited to go to the Happy Cooker (which she accidentally called the Happy Hooker)  Ha!

 

She went inside to put our name on a wait list and we stayed outside trying to stay warm for the 45 minutes or so that we had to wait.  Fortunately, the food was very good!

 

After that, we went back to the old school/heritage center, to go upstairs and watch the John Denver Christmas movie on a large screen.  It was amazing to see such a beautiful mountain view out the windows of the school and wonder what it must have been like for children to go to school here.

 

After that, we drove back to our hotel, passing several cute, Victorian-style homes.

 

We went back to our hotel to rest for a while before we planned to go out, again, to catch the Christmas train.  When we did get inside our hotel room, we pulled back the curtains and found several deer grazing right outside our window.

 

Including this young buck...

 

In the next post, I'll update about our evening Christmas train ride.  It was definitely a great way to get into the Christmas season!