The Great Anticipation

So, who's gonna win the vote? I gotta say, this one's gonna be close, but who doesn't know that? I have an all day field trip with my fourth graders tomorrow, otherwise I would be around to see the results come across the net. I guess I'll just come home tomorrow night and find out who the next president is. We have some big races going on in Washington state, too. It'll be interesting to see how those turn out.

On to tomorrow's trip: it's a two-fold excursion, with the morning spent at a Safari Park with all kinds of animals, and the afternoon in some caverns. I just felt an earthquake about an hour ago, not sure how willing I am to do it, but it's my job, so in I go. I have contracted a cold over the course of the weekend, not surprising as twelve hour days can wreak havoc on a person's body. The worst thing is that I'm out of Theraflu. I guess I'll just have to tough it out.

Well, God Bless the USA!

Funny Cartoon

Here it is

Settlers of Catan

Tonight Mari went out with Adina for coffee, so I got to go to Carl's place with Jonathan and Richie and play Settlers of Catan. It's a really interesting game for those of you who don't know about it. I think you can find it on eBay or here. I lost badly tonight, with only four points out of ten needed to win.

We have Mari's packages from the police and the doctor back, so now we are into the financial portion of the visa process. I have the papers printed out and am looking through them while waiting for my tax return receipts to come through. This is part is my biggest worry, so please pray that it goes smoothly and in our favor.

Tomorrow we have to work in the morning at Meysen teaching English, then head over to the Maruyama campus to help with their Jamboree. Not sure what my costume will be, yet. Usually it's whatever fits at the last minute. Sunday is a local marathon that Mari's dad is running in. Her mother will come here to watch him run, and I'll probably take pictures again. I usually get a couple good ones out of the bunch.

God bless you all!

Typhoon #10

Today marked the passing of the tenth typhoon of the season. That's a whole lot of typhoons. I was here one year when there were only four of them. This is nuts. We didn't have it all that bad. They downgraded the typhoon once it hit Honshu and they get really weak as they move up on land, so we just got a speck of wind and some heavy rain.

I taught at a local grade school yesterday. It was pretty fun as I knew most of the kids there. They seemed to speak more English than the teachers. There was one teacher there who could speak quite a bit, who would translate what the other teachers said for me. It was fun, but not sure if I'll do it again anytime soon.

Mari brought me a couple of magazines from Tokyo when she went down this weekend. Outdoor Photographer and FourWheeler. My photographic senses are getting peaked again, so I need to go take some pictures soon. I'm going to look for some contests to get some inspiration and direction for it.

I whipped out my guitar today and played and sang some worship this morning. It felt really good. I have some music recording software on my computer now, so maybe I can save some stuff. I have to be careful as I have a habit of blowing up sound cards. It happens.

Off I go to wash the dishes. Someone has to do it, I guess.

"We're on the homeward trail

we're on the homeward trail, singing as we go...going home!" - a 5th grade song at my school

This little song has two-fold meaning for us. One is singing it coming down our hiking trail high up in the Japan Alps. The other is the continuation of Mari's visa process, which now has the medical step checked off the list.

The hike with my fifth graders was great. I have a great bunch of kids and they did pretty well. The hike on Saturday was six miles, the Sunday's maybe two. Both days we had nice weather.

Mari went through her doctor's appointment with no problems and everything seems to have checked out fine. We should be getting her police report and doctor's papers back this week, and then we will wait for the IRS to send their stuff. The last step is filling out the Financial Support documents. So, we're almost there.

This week at school will be very busy with Jamboree setup, more trip meetings, and all kinds of other stuff going on. Next month will start production of this years video. Hopefully it won't be quite as time consuming as last year's, although the food was pretty good.

I had another nasty headache this morning. Not sure if they are migraines or not, but they either make me vomit or get very close to it. I think it's food related (the lack thereof), but not sure. Once I drank some water it seemed to alleviate a little bit, but now it's fine. I took some Excedrin Migraine just in case. Luckily I have two massive bottles of the stuff.

Off I go to get my work done...once I figure out what I have to do.

Beautiful fall....busy-ness?

The leaves are turning color now and falling from the trees. That means we now have fall trips in session. Tomorrow I'll be leaving on an overnight trip to the Bandai area with my fifth graders. One of my boys broke his arm this week and won't be going. He's one of my special boys. He started class with a big attitude, but has learned that I have his best interest in mind. He understands English pretty well, too. That always makes life easier.

I got an email from Dale! It was great, I haven't heard from him in so long. We will hopefully be coming into the States about the same time. It'll be nice having the brother home. Please continue to pray for his safety in Iraq.

I rearranged my computer room last night. Not sure if I like the new arrangement yet, but I'll keep working on it. We're starting to get rid of the junk and garbage we've accumulated over time. Trying to figure out what we're taking back and what we're leaving here, and what goes in the trash.

I really need a little inspiration for my fledgling photography hobby. I always have big plans of doing stuff, but unfortunately my uneducated brain lacks ideas for the here and now. Mari is going to Tokyo tomorrow, maybe she'll pick me up some cool picture books for inspiration.

Eh...eh...oh, yeah, blog...typing...news...

Hey there, sorry for the delay in news. I had a couple of days off and spent those doing, well, not much of anything, but not absolutely nothing. We went down to the prefectural police office today and applied for Mari's background certificate for the visa. We also got the letter for our tax receipts all filled out and ready to send. She's going to Tokyo on Saturday for her physical at the Tokyo British Clinic. We're rolling pretty good on this process, just need the IRS to come through with their paperwork.

I think we have pretty much decided to sell or junk our car in December to save some money. We will be doing the taxi/bus thing instead. Sounds kind of fun to me actually. Convenient, no, sort of adventurous, maybe. I'll get to hail some taxis though, which might be fun, plus no chance of traffic citations, which is definitely good. I need to start doing some networking for snowboarding rides.

This week at work should be somewhat simple. We have Bible Talk the next couple of days in the hall, and then one full day of class, then this weekend is our fifth grade overnight trip.

That's it for today, check back soon for more updates!

Speaking of tangents...

I started another blog called Steve's Bible Study Blog that I will use to track my daily reading. I will link to it on our website, too. I have to go meet the buses that my students are on, so I'll be back later to finish up. See ya!

Developing good habits and such

I actually got out and ran today. Two days in a row! That's how good habits are formed (I hope). I need to get some waterproof pants to run in, my current Nike shells aren't quite doing it. They get horribly soaked. My cheap Uniqlo jacket is holding up admirably well, getting damp towards the end of the run. I am loving Gore-Tex now. My feet are always dry and comfy, even though my shoes are soaked. Need to get myself some more of that stuff (with that stuff in it). Today's lunch was a chicken salad put together by yours truly. It's kindergarten open house at work, so I have doughnuts to add up the bread count. I ONLY had two, though. Gotta watch them carbs (fall off my fat body).

Mari has her doctor's appointment for her visa on the 16th of this month. I'm getting my tax stuff together so I can fill out my end of the paperwork. She's getting very excited about moving! She still has to get her police certificate, but everything other than that is done.

I got a phone card to call Dale in Iraq, but unfortuneatly the Japanese phone system bites hooey. I try to dial through my modem and the line just cuts out, and our normal line is pulse dial. It has to be touch-tone! I try and I try, but my butt still fries. Oh, well. That's what email is for. I'll have to try calling from work if they'll let me.

I'm working on getting our website revamped and all convenient and stuff. Maybe in a couple of weeks it will be working good with some good links on it. I'll also link to this blog through our website. One stop Steve and Mari information center.

God Bless and have a nice day!

Just checkin' in

Well, not much news to report at the moment. We had a nice weekend of rain and shopping. I think I'm starting to get somewhat regular migraine headaches, usually when I don't eat regularly or on days off. Gotta remember to eat, I guess! I went for a run around the local pond this morning, then did some stretches. It felt pretty good. Looking forward to doing it tomorrow. I have a mountain trip to Bandai and snowboarding season coming up, gotta get in shape! Still reading in the book of Acts, slowly, but it's stickin'. Love those stories of the early church.

That's all for today, folks!

It was an interesting few days...

This week Mari's grandmother died. Mari and her mom had just gone to see her on Saturday, and she died on Monday afternoon. Mari took Tuesday and Wednesday off to be with her family. The funeral was on Wednesday afternoon at 1p.m. This was the first Buddhist funeral that I've ever been to. It was interesting to see the difference between Christian and Buddhist funerals. Buddhist funerals are sad, with no hope for the future, only wishing that person could come back. There is no talking about that person's life, or stories of what they did. Only a monk chanting prayers to the dead that nobody can understand. What a contrast to Christian funerals of celebrating a person's life and their future in heaven, even in the midst of trajedy. It also clarified for Mari what she wants in her family. There was quite a bit of family squabbling that ensued over costs and who did what to and for whom. She wants a family of peace. That's fine with me!

A good thing that happened this week is that Mari's visa paperwork was sent back from the embassy! She now has a case number and the ability to go ahead with the rest of the process. Please pray for us that everything will go smoothly and quickly. I also have to fill out some forms and get copies of my tax records for this process. Hopefully we can finish this process in the next couple of months and move onto the actual interview. Pray, pray, pray!

That's it for today! God bless.

Open House...can somebody get me some coffee?

Today starts our annual Free Open House at work. All the parents who want to come can drop in on our classes all week. Last year wasn't so bad, only one class with about eight parents in it, the rest with two's and three's. The biggest stress is having to iron my clothes so I don't look like a complete slob...and we have to wear button up shirts. Better be careful what I have for lunch, or I'll be doing twice as much ironing.

I finally bought a phone card to try to get a hold of Dale. Why I didn't do it earlier, who knows. Now I just gotta figure out the time difference so I don't wake him up in the middle of shut-eye.

Still waiting for Mari's visa paperwork to show up. I hope it comes soon, we'd like to get working on it. I got a bunch of Lonely Planet books for reading up on Europe from the library yesterday. That will be a fun trip to plan. We might go April of next year, but we're not sure yet.

Well, I'm off to teach the kiddies!

Post #2...almost the next day!

Saturday is all finished, which is kind of nice. I'm currently watching The Amazing Race 3...filmed in 2002-3 I think. Somewhere around there. It's a cool show. One thing I read today in Acts 3 stood out a little bit. We are currently teaching our 4th graders stories about Jesus and how he healed people just by speaking. This power was given to the disciples, and in Acts 3 it is impressive to me how even we can have that ability. That's a great part of the Christian life. Tomorrow is Sunday, we'll have another day off. Yay!

Doings and Goings On

Today, I finally got out of the house. I HAD to have a Starbucks mocha before I went nuts. The cookie was good, too. Needing a little outdoors fix, I stopped in at Wild 1 and bought some Nikwax Fabric and Leather for my boots. I might put a little on my wife's new Merrel shoes also.

Today the office is pretty quiet. The sixth grade teachers have a meeting for their fall trip to Nasu-dake. It's a cool volcano with steam vents and such. I have to make a couple of lesson plans and then I'll be basically good for the day. I have an hour to do that, should take five minutes, so no problem.

I'm really excited about my plans to go to western Honshu and Kyushu this winter. I want to really test my travel experience and ability before we begin to plan for Europe. The goal is cheap and fun. Hopefully they become synonymous for my wife. That would make everything perfect.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, mom! She's the greatest supporter of sons that a son could have. Dad is, too!

I need to get a hold of Dale pretty soon. I feel guilty about not contacting him in so long, but it is a difficult process to do. Hopefully I can get it figured out. I miss you, Dale! We pray for you and your safe return everyday.

Well, that'll be all for now. Until I think of something else to write....

Steve