I feel the Earth MOVE under my feet!

This blog is a long time coming.  I turned one year older this year and on my birthday I received a HUGE earthquake 9.0 and Tsunami in Northern Japan.  This has to be one of the largest tragedies that Japan has experienced.  We are about 600 miles south of the quake and tsunami area.  Now to add salt to Japan's recent wound the Nuclear power plants in the area were severely damaged.  We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction that has come to Japan.  We pray for peace and hope to once again prevail on this beautiful country.

For all wanting to know.  We are safe and continue to be blessed with safety and health.

Oniichan is doing well in school he will be in 2nd grade in about 2 weeks.  He has been the top in his class in Kanji (chinese characters and math)  Way to go Oniichan kick some rear (only foreigner in his class and top is Japanese) !!!  He is going for the Justin Beiber hair lately. :)  We will see the hot, humid summers are not good with long hair.

Ototoyo is hanging in there.  He still feels like he is an only child.  He will begin preschool/kindergarten in about 2 weeks as well.  He is constantly talking.  Sometimes mom and dad want him to just "be quiet".  His apologies are sincere and very heart felt!  Mom and dad are looking forward to some free time without needing to entertain him.  Hopefully he will adjust well.

Both boys are taking Japanese lessons with a family friend/teacher and English lessons with mom and dad. They will pretty much be bilingual.  :)

Mom is doing well.  Primary is keeping her busy.  She planned and pulled off a wonderful "great to be 8" baptism program for the 5 soon to be 8 years olds in our branch.  It was really fun.  We will try to post some photos of her finished product.  She has taken over the other full time teacher position here at the school and between dad and her teaching and taking care of the boys, she is exhausted at the end of the day. She is experimenting with new recipes she is finding on the web.  Some are keepers and others.... well..... not so good.  We did find a fantastic Teriyaki Chicken pizza recipe, yummy fish tacos (did that come out of my mouth Mexican food yummy?) and many different types of pasta dishes.  Most of these recipes can be prepared ahead of time and frozen.  This is GREAT since we both are teaching at night now.  Juggling the boys has been a challenge but has been very rewarding as well.   We are blessed to have such a wonderful, loving mom and wife.

Dad is working at keeping his head above water.  The branch calling keeps him busy and taking on the extra full time classes that mom can not do is keeping him really busy.  He wants to start riding his road bike but just doesn't seem to find the time.  He is working Monday through Saturday now and trying to full fill his calling on Sunday doesn't give much time.  The change in school year brings along with it the sadness of seeing some of our students move on to University.  Tears are shed and promises made to visit in the future.  Dad just finished his 3rd year teaching for a private school and was really sad to say goodbye to his classes here in our hometown.  He got emotional on his last day teaching!  (such a wimp)

All is well with our little tribe here in Japan.  We miss Auntie and her help.  It was a wonderful last week... wink wink!  Hang in there Goob!

We love you all!
The Jacksons in Japan