fam in cali
Last weekend...私 の おかさん と おばあさん [mom & grandma] came to visit me in カリフォーニヤ [Cali] !
Here they are. It's weird having a mom that looks young enough to be my sister.
And bachan and myself after I gave them a tour of the campus in my trusty little golf cart. (I'm pretty sure it needs a name, so suggest away.)
Oh yeah. と いま 私 の かみ は ブロンド です。 Hah, my Japanese is still laughably pathetic.
Labels: california, family, special occasion
meteor shower
Sunday night my parents and I drove out to the middle of nowhere around midnight to see the Perseid meteor shower.
We caught a couple of really good ones with big colored tails.
Labels: family, nature
せきすい すし
一昨日 おばあちゃん と かちゃん と ヘイリー は すし 昼食 え いきました. For the tanjoubi.
It's always fun hanging out with Bachan. Thankfully, she's in good health and great spirits. Please keep praying that she would continue to enjoy perfect health and have enough energy to make our upcoming trip back to the homelands.
かわいい ママ。 しんぱい して いる ですか？
And yes I know my 日本じん is heinous. butt my inglesh i'snt inny beeter
Labels: family, sushi
carnality close-out
Dear Andrew Murray, thank you for writing Absolute Surrender.
{ I would like to draw a straight line and ask you who believe and confess that God has given you His Spirit and who know the joy of the Holy Spirit, to take your place at the right-hand sie. Then I would ask you who have felt that you are still carnal, to come to the left side and say, "God, I must confess that my Christian life is for the most part carnal,
under the power of the flesh." Then I would tell you that you cannot save yourselves from the flesh or get rid of it. You must come to Christ afresh; He can lift you over into the new life.
You belong to Christ and He belongs to you; what you need is to cast yourselves upon Him and He will reveal the power of His crucifixion in you, to give you
victory over the flesh. Cast yourselves, with the confessin of sin, and utter helplessness, at the feet of the Lamb of God. He will give you deliverance.
That brings me to my final thought:
We must take the decisive step in faith that Christ is able to keep us. It is not only a belief; it is not a consecration in any sense of its being in our powers; it is not a surrender by the strength of our will. These aspects may be present, but the principal thing is that
we look to Christ to keep us today, tomorrow, the next day, and always; we must receive the life of God within us.
We want a life that will last not only until another "revival" but until death takes us home. We want, by the grace of God, to experience the almighty indwelling and saving power of Christ and all that God can do for us.
...
Come to Christ and
disregard whether there is any new experience, any feeling, any excitement, any light, or only apparent darkness. Come and
stand upon the Word of God. The Father
promises His Holy Spirit to every hungry child.
Will He not give it to you? }
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New from the home front: What happens when I'm back home with my weird (but all the more lovable) parents?
Well, my mom calls a 1-800 number and tries to order "Alfonso Rivera's pop-and-lock" after watching an old commercial on YouTube advertising it. Much to our (but mainly her) disappointment, this product has apparently been off the shelves for at least two decades. And I'm sure the lady who answered that call is probably still confused.
Labels: family, spiritual
christmas with the fam
I'm beyond blessed to have extended family in Japan, Texas, Huntsville, California, Italy...pretty much everywhere except Budapest. But it's good to be home with my first family, who all came over for Christmas at our house! My mom's parents, their kids, and their kids' kids.
My obaasan and close family friend Kimi
I had a hecka fun time hangin with the cousins
Paw-paw
It's good to see all the familiar faces again.
Aunt Robin, Bachan, and my mom on Thanksgiving
Old shot of me and my ma
My awesome neighbors
And last but definitely not least, my one and only sugaboo
Labels: cat, family, holiday
sayonara okinawa...or maybe matta ne!
I am at a lack for pictures, because I was too busy soaking up every last moment with the Oki crew. Our last night all together a few of us stayed up until Joanna had to come down and put us to bed, just hangin out and procrastinating with the goodbyes. Then the next day I was the first to head out, 7:00 in the morning.
JAL told me I didn't have a ticket, which was a slight problem. But Kayo and Natsuki were there, and they pretty much saved my life even though I did miss my original flight. でも、I got to hang out longer with them and take purikura から いい でした！ And I still got to Tokyo on time! I was trying to wait up for Shannon and Michelle in Tokyo so we could ride the bus from Haneda to Narita together, but I looked up the wrong flight (doh). So I went ahead and bought my ticket, pretty bummed out. Then as the bus pulled up I hear a distinctly American voice go "Yo what the!" and to my utter jubliation it was none other than Shannon and Michelle, who had boarded the bus at the previous terminal.
God was totally with me, guiding my steps, so I didn't end up in Africa.
I've since stuffed my face with food, including ocha and homemade unagi sushi from ba-chan. We had fun speaking in Japanese, or more like she had fun laughing at mine and my mom's ridiculous Japanese skills.
More pics later, as I eventually get them from other peeps.
Labels: family, friends, goodbyes, okinawa
