LONG week!

How do I manage to fill up my week when I have nothing on my calendar??? I don't know how I do it, but somehow I do. This week was such a busy week. But it was sooooo awesome.

I made some awesome new friends at the gym in one of my Pilates classes. Two women who speak English flawlessly! I was truely amazed to meet these women at my sports club of all places. We are having lunch at the local Bolivian restaurant next week after Yoga class... But never fear, lunches come in small portions in Japan so it will not be counterproductive to our workout! LOL

Let's see, then we did QTbaby again this week. It's been a long time since ya heard that one huh! Yep, we were too busy in the fall, my business partner had a baby, and our schedule was so packed with concerts. And then we had very little in the way of winter clothes to offer our customers, so we didn't open up shop in the winter. But this week we had a great one day store set up in our usual location and had some good business. However, we are sad to find out that our usual location is going to remodel and not offer the space for little stores like ourselves to set up there anymore... so we have to find another place to go. And I was so excited that God provided us with that just as I was beginning to pray for an answer! Another man who does women's clothing at various places said he would introduce us to a great place to set up our store. And would you believe it is right down the street from our house! It is one minutes walk from Hana's preschool!!! We will be finding out more about this very soon.

Let's see, this week I did... Yoga on Monday, Pilates on Wednesday, I walked around A LOT and did squats and leg lifts and some arm excercises during my down time at QTbaby on Thursday (I was so tired at the end of the day, I bet I walked 10 miles in little circles around my store space and did about a hundrend squats and lunges), and then today I went to the Yoga class of with a friend which was being instructed by an aquantance of ours. I did cardio 3 times this week too! And I am maintaining my goal weight!!!!!!!! I feel great and am in an awesome place in my fitness.

I have been making so many friends lately and getting the chance to spend time with friends I don't normally get to see. I feel so blessed and am so thankful that God has given me such wonderful friends in my life!

Our trip to America will be here before you know it! I can not wait to go back and see family and friends, eat some foods I haven't had in a while (can you say MEXICAN FOOD, AND SHOP!!!!!!!!!!) Rocky and I both are really really antsy to get there. It is goign to be a crazy and exhausting trip, but we are soooooooooo looking forward to it.

OK, I gotta go to bed, my eyes are about to slam shut. Yoga took it out of me this afternoon and I got no downtime after that at all. Good night!

Small is Tall.

I am not a coffee drinker AT ALL, so I always thought that the mess at this particular coffee shop for ordering was just rediculous! I loved this lady's take on it!

Pilates and stuff...

Ok, so I get all of my health and wellness info on the net. I kept reading this stuff about how great pilates is, and I kept wondering what fitness had to do with the people who fly airplanes! Slowly I began to put pieces together and figure out what this whole thing was about. And I even found a few clips on YouTube that I had used a few times to do a short little work out at home.

Well, I have been so bored with my routine at the gym. I mean I've been doing basically the same thing for over a year. Since I reached my weight loss goal I knew I'd get REALLY bored really quick, without some goal to achieve or some kind of challenge. So the last few trips to the gym I decided to shake it up a bit. Last Friday I just happened to be finishing my cardio when a pilates class was beginning so I joined in. It was great, and I could tell it was working muscles in zones that my regular weight lifting doesn't touch.

So I grabbed the printout of this months schedule of classes at the gym. The pilates classes are not always at convenient times for me. The only thing I could do yesterday in line with pilates was a yoga class. I honestly didn't want to go to a Yoga class because I didn't want to have all the new age spiritual stuff crammed down my throat. I decided to try it anyways, because I suspected that the spiritual part MIGHT be left out. I was right, no spiritual stuff at all, the instructor only mentioned a few times that certain positions were beneficial for certain health issues. I really enjoyed the class and feel like it is really going to tone some good spots, and make me more flexible which I REALLY need! There are points in the routine where you'll be holding a position and your wishing the instructor would let you release it cause your muscles SCREAMING at you, "OK OK OKAY!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm headed to another pilates class tomorrow I hope. I am really enjoying these, but it might get tricky trying to juggle my schedule with the studio class schedule.

I measured my waist and I have lost another cm! That's really cool! All from just two classes of this type of excercise. It really targets the core muscles. Good stuff!

Anyways, I'm trucking along! Trying to keep it interesting... I hope this phase will last me a while!

Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey

This cracked me up!

The Busy Bees...

I think we should just give up on any hope of ever being bored again! We somehow end up being busy all the time, how does that happen???

Anyways, there are lots of things going on around here. It never ends. Our church is going through some important stuff right now, and that has Rocky especially busy since he is on the leadership committee at church are they are having lots of meetings. Our ministry just seems to be trucking along even without lots of concerts at this time of year. And on a personal level we have been trying to spend time with friends.

So now that the cleanse is over, and I hit my goal weight, I am bored when it comes to work out! Soooooo, I decided to mix it up a little tonight. I did my regular 30 minutes cardio on the elliptical trainer, and then I decided to try a Pilates class. I have done a few Pilates workouts here at home that I found for free online (YouTube stuff) and they weren't that difficult. But this class at the gym kicked my BUTT! For as gentle as Pilates is, it REALLY targets some muscles and you hold positions for a LONG time, and those muscles start SCREAMING at you -- LET ME GO, LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ruthless and hard headed when it comes to doing a workout and won't give in till it's over, so my legs were literally shaking like jello when it was all over. Whew! I am gonna do that class again. It felt really clean and fluid, and my posture would improve without a doubt if I kept that up!

All in all, life is good. OH and my good friend Kiko-chan is in labor right now! Can't wait to meet little George!!!

Gotta run, tomorrow is English Circle.
Yaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnn

We finished!

We finished the cleanse! I lost 5 pounds, Rocky lost 10, and the details are all on the other blog.

I'll keep doing cleansing days a couple times a month, I LOVE most how it has been good for my skin!

Anyways, just thought I would let you know!

Important lesson learned this weekend...

an mp3 player should not be washed with the laundry...

(I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo bummed and so mad at myself)

Days 5 and 6...

Still going well, I am really thoroughly enjoying the experience. Details of course on the cleanse blog, but just wanted to let anyone know who is only checking this blog. I love this program. wish I had found it much sooner!

Days 3 and 4

The cleanse is going really really well. I am blogging more in detail over on the other blog I mentioned in the previous post. I feel really great, and I am loving this. Really enjoying the experience.

I'll keep you posted. Almost half way done.

Day two...

I'm not sure what happened to my day 1 post. I did one but it disappeared somewhere into the great unknown of cyberspace! Happens to me often, I am convinced my computer doesn't like me. I'll be having troubles and I'll call Rocky over to fix something and when he tries to get it to work, it works just fine! So, "sayonara" to my day one post wherever you went!?

To recap, Day one was fine. Days one and two of the program involve drinking a cleanse inducing supplement 4 times a day, and lots of water. It wasn't as hard as I though, except that not having to cook, eat and clean 3 times a day left me feeling lost as a housewife! I never realized how much my daily schedule revolves around it. OH and by the way, Rocky decided to join me!!! He said he felt hungry sometimes, I didn't feel so bad, and the little snacks that are provided to curb hunger and cravings were good enough for me. Before taking a bath last night I had lost .3 kilo from the morning (1 kilo= 2.2 lbs).

Now on to day two, things are still awesome. I feel GREAT! Really I feel uplifted and just content. I had this mental picture of being weak and tired from replacing my meals with the supplement. But I feel awesome. My stomach has growled like twice today but that was right around time to drink the next cleanse and I am NOT starving to death. It really only happens when I see something that looks good. Like yesterday I spotted the bowl of chocolates on the kitchen table and my tummy went "grrrrrrrr" but then I put the bowl away where I can't see it and I was fine. I take the supplement 4 times a day on day one and two, and after taking the supplement I feel really satisfied for a couple hours. This isn't as hard as I imagined, only I just want to chew something. In Japan they have a saying, "You're mouth is lonely." which means you aren't hungry you just want to eat. That is so true for me now.

I have little red spots popping out on my face and back. I think this is some "deep cleaning" going on in my skin. I have had acne and skin problems since I went to college. That's also when my diet went way out of control and I started drinking about 6 Dr. Peppers a day. I am sure there are all kinds of toxins in there that just need to get out.

Although I am not doing this for the weight loss, I am down 1 kilo (about 2.2 lbs) from yesterday morning. Last night at bath time Rocky had already lost one kilo. MEN! argh! He didn't weigh this morning but tomorrow is a weigh and measure day for the program so we'll see how many pounds and inches he lost tomorrow. With my excercise and diet that I've been doing to lose weight, it could take me at least 2 weeks to lose a kilo, and that was if I was REALLY restricting portion sizes. It is amazing how this supplement really gets your body to kick those pounds OUT!

So that means that I hit my goal today! My goal was 60 kilo, and the scales this morning said EXACTLY 60.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I danced myself a little jig and threw a little party in the shower this morning! It took me a year and a half but I lost 14 kilo! (that's a little over 30 pounds total!) I kinda wish the cleansing program had come along a lot sooner, it wouldn't have taken me nearly that long.

Tomorrow I begin 5 days of replacing two meals a day with Isagenix shakes, and the other meal is a low fat, heigh protein meal. We weigh and measure tomorrow too.

For anyone who wants more details and wants to hear other people's stories, I made another blog where I am documenting these 9 days in more detail (although some will be a repeat of what is here) AND including other information and testimonies of other's who are doing this. That blog is Me and Isagenix

Especially read Debbie's testimony, I still can't believe the changes in her! It's amazing.

I'm still here...

Ok, so blogging every day is HARD! I don't know how I used to do it. I must have been superwoman or something. Anyways, I am gonna try to be better, and I bet that this week I will because, I am going to do a body cleanse starting tomorrow! What's a body cleanse you say? Well, it is NOT like what many of you might have heard of known as a colon cleanse (which I also recommend). It is a 9 day program that will help rid your body of toxins and JUNK! I have been dying to do this, and I do hope that my dear hubby joins me (come on hunny, you can do it!). He was gung ho about it at first but now that the day is approaching, he is being a little wishy washy, we shall see if he does it.

So my Mom, grandma, cousins, some friends and so forth have done this and they say it is awesome. Makes you feel better, makes you LOOK better. Mom says her dear sweet hubby told her she was just GLOWING after she did this. Her skin really looks great evidentally. Not to mention she lost like 14 pounds on the first cleanse she did, and she is part way into another (she has 5 more pounds to go to reach her goal weight). All my other aquantances lost weight dramatically and are feeling great.

I'm not doing it for the weight loss (except to get off this last stinking kilo and a half that is hanging on for dear life)! I want to do it for the health benefits. I am still having some acne although it is MUCH improved over before. And I am looking forward to other benefits I'm gonna see from this thing.

So I am going to blog daily about the experience. The first two days consist of pouring liquid nutrient and the cleanse inducing supplement, which is all natural and packed with good stuff, into the body and jump starting the cleansing process. The next five days are packing your body with tons of nutrient. And the last two days are the same as the first two.

So we are off and running first thing in the morning. I'm excited (how bout you sugarpie?)

I'm back...

Still doesn't seem real that our friend is gone. He was such a precious precious person. I was so tempted to ask God why, but you know I have total assurance that God has a big plan for this. Ken was so special and so in love with his Lord Jesus. He shamelessly shared the Lord with his friends, he was a servant and a huge light in the darkness here. Believers like that, unfortunately are not the norm, and if God chose to allow him to go home rather than stay here for longer, he has to have a big purpose in store. It has to affect more lives than he would have affected had he continued here in his walk of faith! I believe that with ALL my heart.

The wake yesterday was such a mixture of sadness and hope for me. I had a strong confidence and hope that God is especially going to work in his parent's and sister's life through this. Yet he made such an impact on so many people and so many were grieving deeply. I will miss him so much too. It still seems like it must have been a dream to see him lying there so still and lifeless. Rocky's gonna miss him a lot too. He was one of Rocky's best friends.

Please lift up his parents and sister in prayer. They were definitely in shock and have a lot ahead of them. Pray for the church that he attended there and they might somehow have an impact on those men he worked with. They filed into the church and looked lost and so confused. If at all this could impact some of them to search for God and Ken's church might somehow reach out to them, that would just be awesome.

We already feel a sense of renewed determination to share our faith. And a greater sense of how precious life is and how quickly it can be lost. And such an appreciation for the many people God allows us to know and to be impacted by!!! We serve an awesome God and the family of believers he has surrounded us with are so precious. I am so thankful that I was able to know Ken when he was alive and see how much light and love he brought to the people in his life.

We came back home LATE last night and were up early this morning to prepare for chapel at one of the Christians schools we speak at often. I had prepared my message days before all this and the title was "been there, done that". The verse was Hebrews 4:15-16. I had already planned to talk about how amazing it is that we have a God who came here and walked in our flesh, experienced everything we have and knows exaclty how we feel when we bring to him our troubles and struggles. It was so appropriate to be able to share how in the loss of our friend yesterday I was able to take so much comfort in knowing God was there for me, and I could take my sadness to him in prayer and he would understand. I hope it had an impact on some of the girls at the school.

I was filled with peace all day today and often found a smile spread across my face when I thought about where Ken is now. He is in the presence of his beloved Savior, worshipping him and adoring him. WOW, how amazing that must be. On the train ride yesterday, I listed to "I Can Only Imagine" over and over several times. WOW, what is it like to see Jesus, to be in his presence. Would I dance, stand in awe or fall to my knees? I Can Only Imagine what it will be like. One day, I will know. We'll all be there together standing in the middle of His Glory, worshipping him! WOW, it's gonna be amazing.

Ken, I know you're there already and I can't imagine how awesome it must be. We miss you buddy, but we are waiting with hope and anticipation to see what God is gonna do through this. See ya when we get there!

A friend goes home to Jesus...

It still doesn't seem real, but a very close friend of ours lost his life today. He was in the fishing industry and had some sort of water accident. We still don't know the details, we just found out. We are going to the wake tomorrow. He was only 30 years old. Unbelievable.

So I won't be checking in as I had resolved to do everyday. I'll check back in on Thursday. Please pray for the family and all those whose lives he touched (and there are many). He was a strong believer and many of us are left with the hope and peace of knowing where he's gone and that we'll see him again. But many others, including his parents and sister, are not believers and will not have that hope. Please pray...

New Years 2008

Can not believe it is 2008! WOW!

OK so here is my New Years resolution, to get back on track with my health and fitness and blog about it again. If you hated reading about all my meals and workouts and stuff, then I appologize. But this blog keeps me accountable. I will label these blogs as "weightloss" so you can know just to ignore them if you don't want read bout this stuff.

So I haven't gained any weight back but December was horrible for eating and working out. I was lucky to get in some excercise once a week, and I was never able to control my meals. So I am back at it in January now. We are going to the states in late April and I want to be able to shop for new clothes in the size I plan to STAY in for a good long while.

So I finally made it back to the gym today after not being able to go because of concerts, holidays, or family and friend get togethers. It felt soooooooo good. I will be back on track with my eating tomorrow, although I didn't do so bad with portion control, I just couldn't get all the veggies I wanted, and had to eat a lot of carbs cause most of the time that is the bulk of a Japanese meal.

I stayed in the sauna way too long at the gym tonight before showering. I met two sweet young ladied and we were just talking away. I didn't realize how long I'd been in there till my head started pounding. I am now red as a lobster, have a ragging headache and can hardly keep my eyes open so I am headed to bed!

2007 almost over...

It is unreal to me that 2007 is almost over. I can not believe it! Time really really flies when you're having fun. It goes by WAY too fast.

We are finally done with all the crazy schedule that Fall and Christmas brings our way ministry wise. What an incredible blessing it was to go all the places we went and meet all the people we met and do all the things we did. We have the most amazing job in the world! This Fall was the easiest for me in the past several years since Hana is getting so independent. It didn't feel as overwhelming to keep up with all our responsibilities this year although I think we were just as busy as we have been in the past. I am excited, however, to think that at this time next year we will be in the states for a certain VERY special person's wedding! I will not name names, but I gotta thank her for deciding to get married at Christmas. I am going to enjoy being "home" for Christmas for the first time in many years!

Christmas was quite different this year for some reason. Our usual "American" group chose to celebrate on Christmas Eve with dinner together. So Christmas day we had the day all to ourselves. We don't do LOTS of gifts or Santa, so it was pretty low key. We slept in (even Hana!) and got up and had some yummy French toast for breakfast, opened a couple of presents between ourselves and then just took it easy all day. We had friends over for dinner in the evening, but it was a VERY Japanese meal. I am still struggling with what to do with our Christmas as a family. We are always so busy with concerts it is hard for me to make it very special, without putting too much on my plate. I wasn't even able to get decorations out this year. We can't do a big extended family thing because Rocky's brother lives in Osaka and they come back to visit for the New Year (as Christmas isn't a holiday here) and Rocky's Dad always works on Christmas day (since it isn't an official holiday). I'm still trying to figure out what to do for "family traditions" for Christmas time!!!

Now Rocky's brother and his family are in town. It is always fun to have them here. The kids have a blast together, and all the adults really have a great time talking and sharing about all that has happened to us recently. We shared lots of funny stories tonight and we were laughing so hard. It was wonderful. Not to mention the food tonight was AMAZING! I'll have to post pictures later, most of you probably won't think it looks that great... but it was wonderful!

As soon as the in-laws are gone (they leave Jan 1) I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I feel almost lost at the moment, cause there really isn't anything on our schedule except for some simple chapel services here and there, and some of my Kindergarten English classes and Bible studies. Those things are once a month/twice a month type of the things. And Rocky has plans to start recording a cd. He needs my help in the studio every once-in-a-while, but mostly he can do the recording on his own. I have a LOT of house work to catch up on, organizing to do, and I may get around to some of the "handy-man" jobs around the house that have been waiting for attention. It's going to be interesting to see how useful I can be. I always struggle in the new year with feeling worthwhile after having such a busy schedule then suddenly NOTHING!

Ahhhh, and I bet you all are wondering about my fitness. Well in the midst of all the craziness I was lucky to make it to the gym once or twice a week. BUT the good news is, I haven't gained ANY weight. Even with all the meals that I had no control over and being forced to eat convenience store food or fast food a lot, I've done quite well with portion control and eating as healthy as possible. It's gonna be so nice to get back to cooking our own food so I can control the veggies and fruits we get, and control the oils and fats in our food. And it is going to be wonderful to get back to my normal gym schedule. I still have about a kilo and a half/two kilos to get off! I think I just might get it done.

We have a U.S. tour planned for late Spring/early Summer! We may be stateside for 6-8 weeks! Still working on where we are going to go and what churches we will be in so stay tooned. Right now it looks like we'll possibly be in Arizona... we are going to Colorado FOR SURE... and OF COURSE we are headed to Texas... plus we might even go to Florida! I can not wait to set foot on American soil again, and see my FAMILY! It's been ALMOST two years. I'm aching to hug some necks!!! I can't wait!

Well I'm gonna sign off for now. We have quite a few extra bodies under our roof tonight which means I gotta get up earlier to get myself ready and then fill those tummies before we go out to play tomorrow. It's snowing right now! brrrrrr cold. We are supposed to go to the Aquarium tomorrow to look at the fish cause my little 2 year old nephew loves fish. it's gonna be brrrrrrrrrrrr cold!

Good night and lots of love!
Marla

Christmas ALREADY???

I can not believe it is already well into December. Where does the time go?! Well, I haven't even gotten out the Christmas decorations yet, and if I do at this point its going to be like turning around and putting them right back up almost immediately! ugh, time just goes by way too fast.

WE had a great trip to Aomri though and I wanted to share a few photos.

We saw LOTS of this...

ate lots of this...


and drank lots of this...


and did lots of this...





Aomori is very famous for it's apples! Now we know why. I have never tasted such delicious apples in my whole life. And the apple juice!? OH MY! Unbelievable. I will never be able to drink store bought apple juice again. For lunch today I warmed a cup of apple juice in the microwave, oh it was soooooooooo yummy, I was in heaven! No need for any sugar or spices, it was sweet and tart and unbelievable just like that. We will be ordering our apple juice from them from now on! And getting all our apples from there too (although it will be limited to the season of course).

I especially loved the snow though. I love cold weather and snow, and it was beautiful. I wish we could have gone skiing, we are going to make a trip up there again sometime to ski for sure!

Well, I will share more as time goes by, but just thought I would put a little bit of something on my blog today.

Thanksgiving!!!

Boy did we ever have a Thanksgiving this year. And I thought I wasn't going to get Thanksgiving dinner because we were gonna be gone for some concerts...

We went WAY up north to Aomori-ken for some concerts and it was a blast. We did concerts for LOTS of Thanksgiving dinner parties, I had my fill of turkey and stuffing like you wouldn't believe. and Aomori-ken is famous for it's apples, so the apple pie was AMAZING! I ate WAYYYYYYYYY too much.

It was so fun though and we loved the missionary couple there, and the people in the churches. What a wonderful blessing it was, we didn't want to come home.

Not to mention all of the snow we got to see. Pictures coming soon.

(and Martin if you are reading this, I didn't gain ANY weight at all, can you believe it!?!?!?!? hhahah)

sick

NOT my favorite word. NOT a word I usually use often. but that past couple weeks have been horrible. The cold I was fighting when I posted last turned into a full blow sinus infection that just won't quite! So, needless to say I've had plenty of time to get over being sore, I haven't worked out since my last post, hoping to save my bodies energy for recovering from this infection. Our schedule is about to get crazy, so I do hope I can recover fully.

Not just me, we've all had it, and have all had trouble getting over it. So that's why there isn't much blogging going on around here. And I'm off to bed...

good night

muscle toning=weight GAIN!!!!!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

well, first of all, an update after yesterday's post. I was presently suprised to wake up this morning with significantly less pain than yesterday. I was moving a bit faster than yesterday but the frustration of not being able to do things with ease was getting to me. By the end of church this morning I was frustrated with EVERYTHING, just plain annoyed because every tiny move hurts and I have to move so slowly! I am so used to doing everything at about 90 mph. Maybe the Lord is telling me to slow down!

By this evening I was feeling good enough to work out and I am glad I did, I feel much better. A WONDERFUL friend from church loaned me a few videos from her Billy's Boot camp DVD set. so even though we got home from a concert tonight well after my gym had closed, I was able to work out here at home. You must be thinking I am crazy for doing another Billy video again, but hey, that is what made me sore, so using those same muscles is gonna make me feel better! AND now that I have some videos in my possession, I CAN MASTER THEM... HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Now, about my TITLE.... YES, you read that right. A week worth of muscle toning has equaled about a kilo of weight GAIN! I hate seeing that higher number on the scales but I KNOW it is muscle and not fat, because my clothes fit pretty much the same, if not a bit more loose AND my waist measurement is the same so that means muscle gain, and I can certainly understand why. Monday was my regular gym workout with full body weights, Wed. and Thur. was Pilates and Friday was the DVD. In addition I ate pretty healthy this week, except for LaPaz on Monday, so I am not too upset about the weight gain. We'll see what a few more weeks at this pace does, if the muscle gain will rev up my metabolism and bring my weight back down... Hey, a girl can think positive now!!!

We had a great weekend though, Saturday and Sunday concerts. This week I need to really enjoy and get some house hold stuff and computer stuff done, because the two weeks after that are gonna be down-right CRAZY! EVERY DAY events kinda crazy...

I'm off to bed, still fighting off a cold a little too.

Good night all

sooooo.... sore

Ok, so since I started working out a year and half ago, I have never been this sore. It is truely possible that I have never been this sore in my whole life. Well, ok maybe after the first day of cheerleading camp every summer in high school it felt something like this... maybe

OUCH, even typing hurts.

Yesterday I went to my friends house and we did a workout to Billy's Boot Camp DVD. I have no idea if this is popular in the states but it is REALLy popular in Japan right now. I felt pretty good during it, I could get through most of the entire workout with just a little rest here and there. It didn't seem THAT bad, I didn't sweat nearly like I do on the elliptical trainer at the gym! And hey, I am in good enough shape to do cardio for anywhere from 30 min to an hour AND lift weights and never get sore doing those. I was pretty tired at the end of the DVD and I knew I'd be feeling it a little bit today, but I feel EVERY muscle in my body today, with every move I make. I am sooooooooo sore. I don't know what about that work out did it, but man it REALLY REALLY makes me want those videos for myself so that I can MASTER them and not get sore! but they are way too expensive!!! LOL, I'm not THAT determined, I think!

Anyways, I will survive and work out another day, but not today OR tomorrow, the thought of it makes me want to cry, truely. Besides we have church and an afternoon concert tomorrow.

So in my bordom this evening since I can't move and can't do anything, I was looking around on youtube and found this amazing video. I can't decide if it is hilarious or awe inspiring! You decide...



Well, I just finished the most painful bath I think I have ever taken, but I am proud of myself. I was going to have Rocky help me, at least wash my hair for me, but I made myself do it. Pain and all! Now -- I am going to bed. Any amount of time spent not moving makes me dread the next time I have to move! I am not looking forward to climbing up the stairs to get in bed, and I am sooooooooooooooo not looking forward to waking up in the morning after not moving all night. OUCH, I really might break down and cry!

here goes nothing...

If you need a good laugh...

just watch this and it'll make you forget all your worries and stresses and you'll just LAUGH!!!!!

Busy as always in the fall...

So it is just the busiest season of the year around here so that is why I haven't posted on my own blog lately.

This is just totally random but I mostly blog for my own sake and I gotta write about this. EVERY night at around 10:30pm the guy next door has a sneezing fit. He's sneezing his head of right now! It totally cracks me up, you can almost set your clock by it. And he sneezes SO loud! I wonder why he sneezes at the same time every night.

So we had dinner with our missionary friends tonight and we took them to our favorite Bolivian restaurant, La Paz! oh it was sooooooooooo yummy! They ended up brining one extra taco to our table and I'm not sure why but I ATE it! It was yummy. But my FAVORITE thing on the menu there, and probably my favorite thing in the whole world is their cheese empanada! I seriously grieve every time I am getting to the last bite. These are the yummiest things you have EVER had! I can't wait to go back.

So anyway, it has been a busy month, and therefor working out has been random. I have only been able to go about twice a week all month. And SO, my one kilo that I finally lost is creeping back on. With that said however, I bought jeans last weak and they were two sizes smaller than the last time I bought! So that rocks, and I am VERY pleased exactly where I am.

Two of my good friends have gotten videos that are popular in Japan right now called Billy's Boot Camp. It is a really intense work out. I've seen the info-mercials on tv and really wanted to order the DVD set, but they are expensive and our DVD player only plays region one DVD's. But anyways, my two friends and I are planning on getting together one night this week and doing the workout together. It should be fun. I am curious to see if I can make it through one workout. It is REALLY intense from what I hear. I wish I had the DVD set.

Well, other than that, it is just concerts and more concerts. And more and more of that over the next couple of months. To think that by this time December we'll be done with this crazy season! ahhhh, I look forward to some R&R and some fun with my little family!

61.ZERO

that is what my scales have said for THREE morning in a row. 61.ZERO

WOW! I am one little bitsy, teeny weensy kilo away from my goal of 60 kilo. I thought I was never gonna make it. I'm almost there. I'm thinking of having a 60 kilo party when I get there! the BIG 6 0 ! Can I be proud of myself? (I hope so, cause I am)

So anyways, today on my way home from taking Hana to preschool I saw one of my gym buddies out on the street hanging out store signs in front of a noodle shop I pass almost daily. So I hollared at him and we talked a minute. Turns out that is his shop. I've passed that shop a hundred or more times in the last year and half since I joined the gym, and never saw him there. Never even noticed there was a noodle shop there. I guess Rocky and I have a new noodle shop to go check out. This is one of the guys I have been building a friendship with in little three to four minute conversations between machines at the gym. He seems like a REALLY nice guy. I hope we can get to know him better. He was going to come to our concert last Saturday night but didn't know what time it started and I had been unable to get a flyer to him. If I'd known this was his shop, I could have taken it by there. Ugh, the timing of these things.

SOOOOOOOOO much going on here right now. We are having a charity concert for the organization that brought Hana to us this month. I have to get the program ready. It has snuck up on me without me realizing it. Poor Sugarpie also has so many projects going at once. I have to give him credit though, he has REALLY learned to juggle it all.

well that is all my random ramblings for the evening. I need to get in bed. Tomorrow IS another day!

Just an update...

My best and biggest news, I am ONE kilo away from my goal!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!! I thought I would be stuck at 62 kilo for forever, but I finally got over that hump. I have been weighing right at 61 kilo all this week. I hope to see that SIX ZERO at some point in the next week or two!!!!! When that number pops up on the scale, I may very well dance myself a nice little jig! I finally did it.

It could be the fact that there is something in the air right now that has my allergies so worked up, I can't smell, I'm sneezing constantly and I feel horrible. I've been having one constant major hay fever attach for a couple weeks now (except the days we were in Guam). I had been almost totally allergy free for the past two years since I started taking supplements, but man, SOMETHING is really getting me right now. I hope whatever it is, quites blooming or dies or goes away really soon. ugh!

So since I can't smell or taste anything, maybe that is why I finally lost the next kilo, I don't really care what I'm eating, it all tastes the same!

BUT the good news is, my health is SO improved over before. These supplements have made all the difference in my life, not just is losing weight, but in my overall health (which is why I've been able to lose the weight!). My respiratory system used to be so weak that 2 weeks of allergies would leave me REALLY sick, with a respiratory infection, asthma, the whole works. But I have had NO asthma at all, and the allergy issues have stayed in my nose. Usually the trouble would creap down into my throat and chest quickly. Not anymore! Praise God for HEALTH! I have never been this strong in my whole life, even when I was a teenager and did sports daily. I love it!

Nothing else really that exciting right now for us. Just the basic fall stuff. Weather is finally cooling off I think. Concerts are picking up. And we continue to do our thing!

Love to all!!!

Back from Guam!!!

We had a blast! but we need a vacation to recover from vacation! The trip back especially was rough, we had to get up 2am to take a shuttle to the airport at 3am to make our 5am flight! WHY in the world they have flights to and from Guam at such crazy hours, I will never know! But it was so fun. Below are some videos. I gotta get to bed, but there will be more details coming soon!

Oh and check out the digital scrap book I made online too, just click here!

Tug of war in the pool

Our resort had tons of fun things to do at the pool. Here is Rocky EASILY beating Baba at tug of war in the pool! Incidentally, I also lost to Rocky EVERY time we played, he's got incredible balance!

Guam Chamorro dancing

The indiginous people of Guam, the Chamorro are making a great effort to preserve their culture. We went to Chamorro Village and enjoyed food and this show. It was awesome!

PIC Guam introduction

This a video of the resort we stayed at. It is in Chinese, but you can see how amazing it was!

Blogging makes a liar out of me...

OK, so in my last post I said the scales haven't moved since January. Well that was sort of A LIE because I did say that when we came back from our summer trip, I had gained about a kilo (but not quite). So I take that back. The scale moved a little bit...

So that kilo, GONE! And a little more actually seemed to have just melted away. I mean it just like fell off in 24 hours or something. Two days ago I was weighing the same and now it is just gone. And I can tell it isn't just like water weight or something, I slimmed down a little. I wonder if this could be the big break to get off this plateau and get the last couple kilo off to meet my all time goal? Which if that never happens, no big deal, but if it did, that'd be cool

I'm trying to figure out what is causing the sudden loss because it is NOT my eating habits. I am not being that careful about sweets. I'm doing fine with portion sizes, but am allowing myself a little more carbs than normal. So who knows? The only thing I can figure out is I added lifting weights on my legs for the last 3 or 4 workouts. Maybe building that muscle is burning more calories? But I heard that one pound gained = 3500 EXTRA calories consumed which means one pound loss means a deficit of 3500 calories, I don't think I'm burning that much extra? ?????

So I was chatting with one of my buddies at the gym tonight and he asked where I'd been lately and I told him. He asked if I gained any and I said yea, and how it just fell off all the sudden. He says the same thing happens to him when he travls, EVEN when he is more physically active while away. His theory, you eat more sweets and salty foods and therefor drink more liquids too when you are not in your normal daily routine. And all that salt makes you retain a good deal of water, plus you do gain a little fat from all the sweets and eating when you aren't hungry, etc. But that is easy to get off, especially the water weight, when you return to your normal routine. hmmmmm, wonder if he is correct? I have no idea, MAYBE it is this...

new fat is easier to get rid of than old fat!?
HAAAAAAAAAA, I have NO idea, LOL

So anyways, I worked out Monday and was gonna go yesterday but I had like a freak fever yesterday. My allergies have been bothering me a little and that could have been the cause I guess because today I'm fine. But yesterday I felt horrible and slept almost all day. So I didn't go the gym. But I made it tonight and I tore it up on the elliptical. beat my last workout, last time was 500 cal in 35 min, today 510!!! Hey it ain't a lot, but I was pushing myself HARD and it was extra hot in there today for some reason (except the locker room was freezing).

So one of my other buddies asked my why I didn't come yesterday and I told him about the weird fever. He said I had, saboritai-byouki! I'd never heard of that before and I was acting all serious, like what is this disease, is it like a 24 hour flu? And he proceeds to explain that basically it is playing hookey, like a kid when he doesn't want to go to school. I smacked him the arm! Silly guy! A thermometer don't lie MAN!

Anyways, it is so fun to hang out with my buds at the gym. Tonight our local pro-baseball team was on the tube and I just happened to be doing my floor excercises and ending with a stretch when they were in the 7th inning, down by three. We all watched as they scored 5 runs in that one inning and the score became 8 to 6. I had to hit the shower though and didn't see if they won in the end. Gotta go check that. It was fun to watch that string of 5 runs, we were all clapping and hollaring (not something you see often in public in Japan) but there at the gym I guess we are all like a little family. We had people running across the gym to see what we were all so excited about! Ok, so I am easily entertained, but it was fun to watch a little baseball with my gym buds!

Anyways, tomorrow is a long day so I better go to bed. We just finished two days in a row of early morning chapels which has me up an hour earlier than normal, and today I also had to teach kindergarten English twice after chapel. Tomorrow morning I have another kidergarten English class. YAWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

good night all...

Random stuff...

Well, we have settled back into a routine around here! I have the house fairly clean, I am totally caught up on laundry, and I've been getting some work done on the computer while Hana is at preschool.

We had a fun little Mommy daughter evening tonight. Daddy went to play with a group that does street evangelism every Tuesday, so we had the evening to ourselves, just us girls. It was fun. We had an early dinner of "noonles" as Hana requested. She ate and ate and ate, and even ate Mommy's left overs! Then she chowed on some leftover cucumbers until they were all gone. and she chattered about her day all the while. Evidently there is a boy in her class today, I think it was Taiga-kun she was talking about (I forget cause she names off so many people all the time), anyways, he was crying during nap time. He didn't want to lay down. I asked her if that kept her awake, because she was very sleepy this afternoon so I wondered if her nap had been short today. She said, "No, I already sleeped! I did it at school. Taiga-kun cry cry anyways." I think she was meaning always? I am not sure, but evidently she did sleep!

After dinner we had a fun time in the bath. We caught all the fish, several times. Then we located alphabet letters in English and Japanese. I found a neat way to get her interested in the Japanese alphabet. I make noises as I am drawing the characters, and she just thought that was wonderful. After the bath tonight, she could identify "a" "i" and "wa" and maybe "mu". We'll have to see how well she retains those. She just thought that the noises I make while I trace the character "mu" were hilarious!!!

Then we cuddled on the couch for about 30 minutes before I took her up to bed. It was a fun evening.

so Tuesday is the day the gym is closed, so I didn't workout today. But yesterday I did and it was awesome! I did only 35 minutes on the elliptical but burned over 500. when I first got back from our trip last week I was having a hard time getting up to 400. I pushed myself hard yesterday. And I did total body weights too.

OK, so EVERYBODY is commenting that I lost more weight, and I haven't. I have quite a few people saying that I especially lost weight in my face. The scales have not budged in months. Not since January really. So I am wondering, am I continuing to lose fat and replacing it with muscle. but I'd think I would be able to tell the difference in how my clothes fit, and nothing changing there either. Especially since workouts were so random through the summer, I wouldn't think that would be the case. It is a mystery to me???

Anyways, I am still coutning the days till we go to Guam. I can NOT wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh something random, I think I deleted a message off our answering machine tonight by mistake. When we were having our serious bath session (NOT) the phone rang a couple times. No way I was going to try to come answer it, and leave little munchkin in the tub alone. But we have a new phone and I don't know how to work it, so while trying to listen to the message, I deleted it accidentally! If you called and left us a message tonight, call again! LOL

OK, I am off to bed, preaching at chapel in the morning...

I am a Mommy!!!

Yesterday was the big party for Hana! Really this is the first time we've gotten to have a really good birthday party where we had lots of people over, had cake and presents and the whole works. It felt a little surreal for me. My dream of being the Mommy is reality. It hit me again yesterday. I really am this precious little girl's Mommy. As she sat in my lap and I helped her open presents, my heart was full of so much joy and awe. This is what I waited for! Moments like that, are the ones I grieved over when we didn't know if we would ever have a child. Yesterday, I was amazed to be throwing a party for my three year old daughter. It is a miracle really! How amazing that we have a child!!! Every child, every life of course is a miracle. But our Hana, she is OUR miracle. I am her MOMMY. Sometimes it seems unbelievable. It is real and so amazing! I just can't put it into words...

Just me junk...

You can ignore this post. This is just my "me" update thing. It'll be random and probably boring. But I enjoy writing stuff down so here goes...

So it was a CRAZY summer! Did I say crazy!? Yep, absolutely CRAZY! But then it always is. We always overbook ourselves, and when we are in the middle of it, it is awesome and a blessing but exhausting and we say we'll never do it to ourselves again, and then we always do! But it was a great summer. I really enjoyed having the girls from Colorado with us again. Then the two week trip was awesome, it has been a while since we've done a trip like that. Hana was AMAZING on that trip. The 9 hour drive home the last day, we only stopped ONCE! one stop in nine hours with a 3 year old. I never imagined it was possible. She's a dream!

So because we were so busy, working out was RANDOM to say the least. I tried my best, but it was tough. I missed almost 3 weeks of working out there at one point do to various reasons, almost always associated with our schedule. Then I got back into it for a couple workouts before going on the long trip. On the trip, I jogged 3 or 4 times (can't remember for sure) in Karuizawa, and boy was that rough on my bod. But I was surviving it, until we got to Nagoya. The first morning in Nagoya, I got up and went jogging and even though nothing seemed off during the run, throughout the rest of the day my left knee kept getting tighter and tighter and pulling in the back. Until I couldn't straighten it and it was hurting to walk around and especially climb steps by the end of the day. So I decided to lay off the running and within about 5 days, thanks to my Joint and Muscle supplement!, it seemed pretty much healed. The last 4 or 5 days it has felt a little bit off, but it doesn't hurt. So I am back on my game...

on Monday I hit the gym again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it felt soooooooo good! I went today too. My full regular workout routine! It is awesome.

So I gained about a kilo over the last two months, and should be able to drop that again really quickly. But other than that, all is good in the fitness area of life.

So on Saturday we are having a Birthday/Gotcha day party for Hana. We actually got Hana on the 31st of August, and since we were still out of town on her birthday last week, the 22nd, we decided to combine the two parties. It should be tons of fun! I don't think I am going to be able to make her cake this year so we are going to buy one at Costco. Maybe I'll be able to make a cake next year again! I gotta remember to buy a new cake pan next time I am in the States.

Then lets see, what else is going on. So we are going to GUAM in a couple of weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not wait. I made the hotel reservations earlier this week. We are staying in a cheap smaller hotel the first night cause we are arriving at 2 a.m. in the morning and it isn't worth it to pay for that first night in the resort place we want to stay in. But the next morning we are going to get up and go shopping and kill time until 3pm when we can check into our resort. PIC Guam. It is sooooooooo awesome. We are staying for 4 nights, and this place is huge, right on the beach, with a waterpark ALSO. There are more than 20 activities to choose from, all included in the stay. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. I can not wait. It has been 4 years since we took a REAL and LONG vacation! It is gonna be so much fun. Rocky's mom is going along too, so we can sneak away one evening and go on a date she says! YIPPEEEE!!!!!!

so other than that, life is truely back to normal. I am so glad. We need a few weeks of this before the fall concert schedule begins. whooooo, I don't want to think about that right now.

I guess that is all for now.

My Daddy...

11 years ago yesterday we lost my Dad to Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). I can not believe it has been that long. It just dawned on me yesterday on the long drive home from our ministry trip, that yesterday was the anniversary of his passing. I would have written this blog last night, but was too tired to write all my thoughts down then. I thought about him a lot as I was driving my half of the ten hour drive yesterday and most everyone else in the car was sleeping. It brought many smiles to my face as I re-lived so many memories of my precious precious Daddy.

Daddy was a pretty unique guy. The thing I remember most about him is that everyone he knew loved him, and he really made people laugh a lot. At home, he was quieter and more reserved most of the time, but was prone to do something silly now and then or say something hillarious that would leave us all in stitches of laughter. I remember spending hours upon hours sitting on the front porch swing with him most evenings, watching the sun set, or watching a thunderstorm go by. He loved to sit outside in the evenings, and I loved to join him out there.

Daddy had all kinds of funny sayings. Like almost every evening before bed he would come find me and say, "You're gonna look around here in about 37 seconds, and I'll be gone!" I have no idea why, but it was always 37 seconds! That was his way of saying good-night and I love you! ;) When he would tell me that something was about to happen and I wouldn't believe him he'd say, " You just hide and watch!" That little saying threw me for a loop when I was little, I remember always pondering that or even telling him outloud, "but Daddy if I am hiding, how can I watch?" and he'd just laugh. I'll never forget when I finally figured out that it was a joke! He'd also tell me, when he was about to do something that was unique or creative, "I learned this in the Army." I remember always thinking to myself (again, before I figured out it was just a saying of his) that Daddy was in the Air Force and not the Army, so how could he have learned it in the Army? :) He had all kinds of sayings and other little quirks that I will never forget.

I remember he used to call me by two special nick names. One was Marlarilla and the other was Marla Kay Kaddidlehopper Jones Rudd (of course Marla Kay and Rudd were my real name, the other two "middle names" must have just come out of no where somewhere along the way. I now call Hana, Hana Grace Kaddidlehopper Jones Ayatsuka sometimes. She usually cocks her head and looks at me in confusion... ;) Someday I'll tell her about how my Daddy gave me those extra middle names too!

He was so precious to me. He had a beautiful tenor voice, although I only heard it about two or three times when I caught him singing loud enough at church and I happened to be sitting beside him. I will never know why he wouldn't sing loud enough for others to hear, but for some reason he wouldn't. He also had a tender heart, that he didn't let show very often. He had a lot of compassion for people. I think he helped people in more ways than I'll ever know, when they really needed someone. His love languages were acts of service and gift giving. He did both of those well.

When I was 12 years old I told Mom and Dad I wanted a diamond ring for Christmas. My Daddy went out and specially picked out a heart shapped ring with a small diamond in it for me. At the time, we really couldn't afford it, and I didn't know that I was asking for something expensive. But Daddy rarely denied me anything I asked for. He spoiled me rotten, and I knew it was his way of saying he loved me! This is just one of the MILLIONS of times he went over and beyond to get me whatever I asked for!

He is missed by so many! I miss him so much too. I wonder what he would have thought of me becoming a missionary, moving all the way to Japan, then marrying Rocky? I wonder what it would be like to see him with Hana, and how sweet he would have been with her. Another little girl to love. Mom says he wanted a little girl so bad when they were having me. They didn't even think about boy names. He was so excited when I was a girl, and he used to come in from working on the tractor all day and just lay me in his lap and watch me for hours, Mom told me. He would have loved his little grand-daughter and spoiled her rotten too!

Daddy's are so precious to their little girls, and mine was so special to me. I wish he hadn't gone so soon, but I was so blessed to have him even for just 22 years, some are not so blessed. Even still, I will always miss him. It is bitter sweet now to celebrate the joy of my sweet daughter's birthday each year, just one day before remembering the loss of my Daddy.

And yet, I realize, if he had not died, I would not have gone through the changes I did in my walk with the Lord that led me to become a missionary which brings me to the life I have now. God works through even the most difficult and painful events in our life, to bring good to those who love Him. The scripture promises that, and He was true to that promise in my life.

But I still miss my Daddy...

A typhoon'z a comin'

figuratively and literally!

Typhoon season is upon us, and we have a whopper headed our way! Right now it is huge, and should hit our area sometime tomorrow. Fortunately it probably won't interfere with any of our schedule and we should be able to sit it out here in the comfort of our little home!

The other "typhoon" headed our way is our schedule. OH MY GOODNESS (as Hana would say) why do we do this to ourselves? I ask myself that every summer and then every fall/Christmas. We just pack our schedule too tight, but there are to many good things to pass up! And we always survive.

So anyways, we have the ballet team in town this coming week (they arrived in Fukuoka last night and we had the honor of having them in our house for the night unexpectedly! that's a cool long story maybe I can blog about some other time). Next week they have concerts, purity seminars, special dinners, and more all around our area. We LOVE LOVE LOVE this group and always look forward to ministering with them. Next week is going to be awesome but busy!

Then we have Bible camp! This will be our third year to do this Bible camp too and we always enjoy it. It almost seems like a little vacation for us but at the same time we enjoy the chance to minister to the students up close, whom we often only get to see from on stage at short chapel services every other month or so.

Then we have a friend's wedding to go to. We'll be visiting some family members and friends too! I'm really looking forward to this.

AND then our great great friends from Oregon are coming to visit. Then Rocky's brother and family are coming to visit. Then we go on a road trip doing concerts on our way up to a missions conference where we'll lead worship. Then we'll do concerts on our way back too!!!

Gosh I feel tired just typing all that out. Here's hoping I can keep a few articles of clothing laundered in the midst of all that. Maybe Hana can get a nap now and then! and MAYBE somewhere in there we'll find a chance to catch our breath, for a least a second??? Hopefully we WON'T find the time to eat too much! LOL

Of course this also means my visits to the gym are going to be few and far between. UGH

but lots of fun stuff to look forward to! I'll check in as often as I can. Keep an eye on the ministry blog for specific prayer requests and updates too (I hope)!

Hana gets a new kitchen...

Well since I got a new kitchen lately I figured it was only fair that the other woman of the house got one also!!! Hahaha

Actually we had a HUGE box left over from Rocky's new office chair and it just kept screaming "Hana's kitchen!!!" at me. So today I just went for it. I MADE her a little kitchen play set out of card board boxes. Once I had it all taped together, it looked so good, I had to go to the 100 yen store to get more supplies to make it look even better. I bought spray paint and a few other accessories. Here are the pictures, in case you are having a hard time imagining how you could make a kitchen out of a card board box!


Here it is from the front! I cut out a small cabinet door under the sink and put another box inside that space to make a cabinet. It is kind of hard to see, but she has two little knobs for lighting her burners on the stove! She needs a third one but I could only find two bottle tops so I need to get another.



This is the sink and a closer look at the cabinet below. I cut out the space for the sink and taped a shoe box down inside it. I spray painted it silver. You can also see that she has a "tile" wall on the back! this is actually some really thin ply wood that I saved YEARS ago from the packaging for a desk or some large piece of furniture that we ordered. I found at the hundred yen store little plastic "tiles". They were just like stickers, and I stuck them onto the ply wood! I also got her a little towel hanger and a wire basket (hanging to the left of the sink) for her sponge and dish soap, etc!



This is her stove top. While putting the box together we ran out of one role of clear packaging tape, so I just sliced that core into three little circles and taped them onto a piece of card board which we affixed to the counter top! I also spray painted this part silver. Her knobs are more visible here, and they actually turn! I put them on with some screws (I don't know the English name) that are similar to molly bolts, but they are metal and they spread out in the back once you start tightening the screw (if that makes any sense).



Just another view from the top!



I'm soooooo proud of her sink knobs too! I found these at the hundred yen store also! Can you believe that? They were not very easy to put on, but they actually turn also. The only thing we lack is a faucet, and I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what to use as a faucet fixture. Suggestions are welcome!

Well if you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of my creation today. She had some fun playing with it this afternoon before it was painted or had the tile backing and knobs attached. Now she needs some little pots and pans and kitchen utensils. We are going to Guam in September and I should be able to find some at Kmart there! In the mean time she is just using some Styrofoam soup storage containers and baby spoons! She loves it anyways. All of her wooden vegetables and cutting boards and wooden knife that we have been "collecting" for her kitchen she would have someday, are over at Baba's so I am going to have to go get those this week! I am so excited for my girl! She's got a new kitchen (and it only cost Mommy about $10 total at the 100 yen store!)

I am STILL a foreigner!

Sometimes I forget that I am a foreigner here in Japan. Daily life feels so much a part of me, understanding everything that goes on around me, being able to read a lot of what is around me, etc. It all just feel so normal. This is my home. So sometimes I really do forget that I am a foreigner. I completely forget that I look different. EVERY once-in-a-while a little kid will stare at me, and I'll remember that you can tell by looking at me that I am not Japanese, but even these occasions can be rare. Then days like today come along and I get a strong reminder.

For some reason, today EVERYTHING around me was screaming "FOREIGNER!!!"

When I took Hana preschool this morning, I was standing near a couple of little two year olds who were playing on the floor and they noticed my toenails. I painted them pink a couple days ago and they dropped all their toys and headed for my toes. They were touching them and looking at each other like, "what is this?". I moved across the room once, and in a few moments again realized that something was still touching my toes. They had followed me and were continuing to observe my toes while I put some more of Hana's things in the proper places for the day. Then as I went to the door of the room to go out, they followed me again and continued to touch my toes. I remember growing up, my pastor's wife Carol telling me about her first Sunday at church in Africa when they were missionaries there. She wore stockings, and all the people in the church were mesmerized and the children wouldn't stop touching her legs (at least I think this is how the story went, that's how I remember it at least). Today in that moment I thought of Carol, and I was laughing to myself. I felt like I was re-living her experience, with these little Japanese kids so mesmerized by my painted toe nails (although that isn't such an uncommon thing here).

Then we made a trip to Costco to get some necessary items and while I was there I heard some comments from people around me about the tall, VERY pale skinned foreigner. No doubt about it, that is me. The only thing is, to be called pale skinned here is a COMPLIMENT! (Those of you who know how hopelessly WHITE I am will understand how much I appreciate that God sent me to Japan to be a missionary, where my hopelessly white skin is admired!!!) *wink, wink*

Then on the way to pick Hana up from pre-school this afternoon, in at least three separate locations I had little old ladies going on and on about the foreigner as they watched me walk by. It is rather amusing because they assume I can not understand what they are saying, and I hear and understand EVERY word!

Anyways, today I was reminded that I am not Japanese. I really forget that I look different here sometimes. I forget that this is not REALLY my country, because on the inside of me it is home! But the outside is still foreign!

Let the summer begin...

Oh, it was HOT and MUGGY today! I just couldn't bring myself to walk Hana to preschool this morning because I was all ready to go speak at chapel and I just knew my make-up would all melt off on the way down to her school (a mile walk). I'm not sure I'm ready for the hot humid summer this year. I always HATE it! I really love spring and fall in Japan. I used to love winter, but I don't enjoy that anymore either. It is rainy season right now too which is not fun either. I loved April and May, they went by way too quickly.

This summer is going to be so busy. Lots of travel in the near future. I do hope I survive. Some our travels are going to include taking trains, and hauling luggage and a 12 kilo "baby" up and down stairs and through train stations! Whooo, I get tired just thinking about it.

But the one GREAT thing about this time of year before the busy summer starts, is that we are usually at home in the evenings which means I get to go work out very regularly! Things are going well in that department. Today is even Tuesday and my gym is closed on Tuesday. Hana was in bed right on time tonight and I didn't have anything to do, so I strapped on my OLD worn out tennis shoes and went for a walk/jog. I was out for almost 30 minutes, I did speed walking for about 15 min and jogging for about 15 min. My shins are already feeling it! but it felt great. This evening is cool and not very humid! It felt really great. I could have gone longer but kept thinking my shins weren't going to hold out. I always had really bad shin splints in High School too. I guess some things never change. One of these days I'm gonna get some awesome jogging shoes and maybe that won't be a problem!

Anyways, I am seeing 61 kilo on the scales EVERY once in a while the last week or so. But only in the morning. I'm not trying to lose more weight, but I am mostly trying to shape my legs more and in that process I am sure I will lose a bit more. Toning my legs is the LAST on my "to do" list and then I'm just going to maintain. I might branch out and try some aerobics classes, or even the pool. I was watching a water aerobics class while on the elliptical last night and it looked really fun. But to try it means I'd need a bathing suite that fits, and a swimming cap. I don't think any of my old bathing suites are going to fit anymore... which means I gotta spend MORE money on clothes. Man, losing weight sure can get expensive!

I wore a size 5 slacks today, comfortably! It is amazing to be back in that size!!! Amazing! I am LONGING for a trip back to the states to go clothes shopping. We are considering using our AA mileage to go to Guam for a vacation. AA has changed their rules and mileage will expire from now on so we have to use ours! Oh I do hope the Guam trip works out. It would be SO fun!

well that was just a ton of rambling cause I am putting off doing other things this evening...

guess I better go do some things!

The mission family...

When you live overseas like this, away from "family" then so many people become your family. All the missionaries are Aunt Jane and Uncle Bob to the kids. The missionaries you serve alongside are like big brothers and sister (ok, someday soon, maybe there will be some younger ones that will feel like my "little" brothers and sisters! but I still seem to be the baby, as I always have been, in the family). This is truely a beautiful thing! This type of family is priceless and precious. Something about sharing the same calling, the same desire to reach the same lost people, sharing the same frustration with a foreign culture, sharing the same joys and struggles with language and cultural barriers, understanding why you pointed to your nose instead of your chest when refering to yourself, or why you can never remember certain English words anymore, being able to throw in foreign words without a pause in the flow of your conversation, sharing a life that is sometimes so impossible to understand for those who've never been "here". It makes being on the field even more of a blessing, and makes it easier.

But the hardest part about it is, missionaries are often in motion. Going home for a year, or 6 months, or so. Moving to another city to start a new ministry or church plant. Leaving the field...

I found out today that some of my mission family members are leaving Japan. We haven't lived very near one another for a long while. We rarely ever see each other. But there is just something about knowing they are in the same country that makes them still feel close. When an ocean seperates you, even though the email still works the same, and the phone can be just as easily picked up, there is just something so distant about that. An ocean. A different country. Another continent. Family...

Japan seems a little lonlier tonight, just thinking about more precious family moving away.

I am so blessed to know some of the most incredible missionaries in the world, who've devoted years of their life to bringing the Gospel to one of the most difficult nations to evanglize in the World. Precious, precious people.

MY family!

MONDAY!

I guess sometimes Monday's will be Monday's. You know, the typical "bad day" thing that usually goes with Monday. I usually don't have "Monday's". All my days of the week are basically the same, we don't really have a weekend in our line of work. Sometimes we are busy ALL the time (most of the time this is the case) and sometimes our schedule is random. You just never know. So Monday doesn't usually stand out that much. But today, I had a MONDAY.

My morning went fairly well, but Hana came home from pre-school in a very demanding NEEDY mood. She was impossible to deal with. I knew she needed/wanted attention but even trying to play with her didn't work, she was being rude and ungrateful about EVERYTHING. My solution for this behavior is, if you don't play nice then Mommy doesn't play AT ALL. She could NOT handle me getting up and walking away from our activities when she was being unkind. So we had SEVERAL meltdowns this afternoon. Once Daddy finished up his work and tried to help out he got a dose of the same medicine, and had to deal with a couple of fits too. She was just out of sorts today. Too tired, or something? I don't know, but it left us both really frustrated and we were very glad when bedtime rolled around.

Then my workout was HORRIBLE. I just didn't have the energy today. I had a LOT of carbs yesterday, and I think that is what zapped me. I had some rice AND bread at the cook-out lunch (it was served to me and I felt I had to eat it) and then we decided to treat ourselves to PB&J sandwiches for dinner. I considered just having one piece of bread and folding it in half, but I haven't had a pb&j for YEARS and I REALLY wanted to enjoy a good one, so I did two slices. And this isn't your basic sandwich bread it was the really thick slices. That was way too much bread for me. So even though I ate well today, I think I am still paying for this weekend, and my workout was just crummy. I struggled to finish everything, and only did 35 minutes of cardio. ugh! I did treat myself to a nice time in the sauna and cold pool a couple of times after my shower.

So now I can barely keep my eyelids open! Hopefully a nice long sleep and tomorrow will be a better day!

The weekend!

What a GREAT weekend we had!

Saturday morning I was up and going to prepare for English Circle, and we headed out the door to our friend's house. Well, just Hana and I, Daddy is neck deep in CD production right now, so we left him at home to all his mixing and mastering!!!

English Circle started out as "English preschool" sometime last year when my friend Yukie and I decided we wanted to do some preschool with our kids together. Yukie invited friends, and we had a small group of about 6-8 kids twice a month for some fun time in English. It went well, but the beginning of "real" preschool for some this Spring meant that weekdays were out of the question. So we switched to Saturdays, re-organized our purpose and thoughts, re-named it and started again. Twice a month on Saturdays we get together. There have been few in attendance lately because Saturday isn't the best time for everyone. But this week! WOW! We had 6 "students" and 3 "mini-students" (younger siblings of students). It was a BLAST! I could see the kids have all learned things. They enjoy the activities and it feels so good to be their little "teacher"! We had a great Saturday.

Today was Sunday and it was another great day. Rocky filled the pulpit (it was a BIG pulpit to fill too, literally, that thing was so huge Rocky refused to stand behind it, and I couldn't blame him) for another church in town this morning. Then after the service we headed across town to a church member's house (our own church) for a cook-out. We spent the afternoon feeding our faces and talking non-stop with church friends. I LOVE the people in our church. It was soooooo much fun today!

Now another new week begins. I'm sure there are a lot of things I need to do, but I will sit down and organize my thoughts tomorrow!

NOW for my own fitness journal-ing (this part is probably boring for all of you so you can stop reading if you want!) I just journal this stuff for my own sort of record keeping, self-motivation, accountability kinda reasons. (There are a few people who keep me accountable by mentioning that they read my blog! and that helps keep me in line! *wink wink* you know how you are!)

I've given up on weekends. It is just impossible to find a way to get to the gym in the middle of the day. So I am resigned to waiting until I can buy a decent pair of running shoes and can go for a jog, before I can work out on the weekends. I'm having major shoe issues in Japan right now, but that is another blog!

BUT last week I made it to the gym 3 times, and all three times did my 50 minutes on the elliptical. I did close to 750 calories each time!!!!!!! AND I lifted weights each time. Then on Wednesday the gym was having a special. You can do this body scan thing and it usually cost 1,000 yen but on Wed. it was 100 yen. So I decided to do it! My scores were EXCELLENT! I was so excited. I'd give anything to have these stats from before I started my fitness program last year. My BMI and so forth is right on target. This machine also calculates your body fat percentage, which was right near the bottom of the normal range. I can't read my chart very well cause it is all in Japanese, so I am not sure what all the numbers are. All I know is that the star for that reading falls in a good place! But the most exciting part is the muscle mass. On the little level scale, my star was on the 8 for 1 out of 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My arms alone scored an 8 and legs scored a high 6!!!! I was so excited about this. I've been doing simple weights, 3 sets of 10 and some other toning exercises, for over a year now, and it really really shows on this scan.

This machine also scans your internal body fat percentage which is very important. All my reading about weight loss and fitness lately says that they are finding diet without exercise is NOT very effective at removing internal body fat. With diet alone, people can slim down but will retain most of the internal body fat, around your vital organs. So without exercise, you really aren't improving your health adequately. This internal body fat is what leads to disease and is what needs more attention. My internal levels were again on the low end of the "normal" range.

I would give ANYTHING to have these numbers from before I started working out.

All I know is I am feeling GREAT and loving my workouts. I finally found a way to address my feet issues and so am taking care of some toe and ankle pain too. If I had the right shoes, I would be in HEAVEN! I can not find my size in women's shoes in Japan and I refuse to order a pair of shoes online. I want to try them on first! So unless I can get my feet to shrink about 1 cm, I am stuck with my cheapy men's shoes that are too wide, for now.

Well, I think I'm going to go hit the hay!

A new "drink"???

Pepsi Ice Cucumber!

Yes you saw and read that right! a Cucumber flavored drink! they will come up with ANYTHING here. No kidding. I will have to try to post some more of the crazy products we see.

Rocky came home with one today. Ummmm, it actually wasn't bad at all. It definitely smelled like cucumber! It tasted cool and refreshing but I wouldn't want a whole bottle.

Just thought you might find that interesting! (too bad that Hana hates carbonated drinks, she LOVES cucumbers so much she might enjoy this!)

Japan and robots...

This really struck me as quite odd today...

Japanese scientists build robot child

The fact that they built a robot child is not so odd. What is odd to me, the reason why they built it. To study child development??? Um, there are millions of children, REAL, and alive and well out there which a scientist can study to understand their development. I just want to understand HOW a robot is going to give them any form of accurate information on the development of a REAL human child. Is it just me, is this really REALLY crazy?

I wonder how much this says about how Japanese people perceive children? or even real life for that matter?

Another great workout!!!!!!

Ok, so I thought I could never top the other day. My last work out couldn't even compare right!? Well, I topped my best today. I couldn't believe it!

I hit 532 calories at the end of the first 30 min cycle, and by the end of the second cycle had a total of 750!!!!!!!!! I was so excited, one of my little gym buddies asked me what I was grinning about and I told him. He couldn't believe it either. He said, "Where does that energy come from!?"

Today, reaching that mark didn't come as easy as the other day. I never felt like I was pushing myself the other day, today I felt like stopping and had to make myself keep going towards the end. I really didn't think I was going to be able to top the last good one. I'm so thankful for my mp3 player (thanks again sugarpie!!!) because putting on an awesome song gives me the drive to keep going. The music makes such a big difference in my workout too.

I also kept my heart rate in the high intensity zone for almost the whole workout! WOWzers!!!!! somewhere between 85% and 90% the whole time. I'm just a little excited, can ya tell?

Then I found some new muscle toning exercises on the internet so I tried those out today. OUCH! My legs are going to probably be feeling it tomorrow, and my glutes! Switching things up a little sure makes working out more fun though. I need to remember not to get in a rut so I don't lose my motivation again!

I am soooooooooooooooooooo exhausted though, I'm off to bed. I did the sauna after my shower too, boy that'll zap ya. I'm gonna sleep like a rock tonight!

good night

More confessions...

Wellllllllllllllll, I haven't been a good girl these past four days. Weekends are always impossible for working out, so you can't count that against me. I sure wish someone would explain to me WHY my gym stays open till midnight on weekdays but closes at 9 on Saturday and at 7 on Sunday! On the days people might actually have leisure time in the evening to workout, they close? UGH! But anyways, Monday, OHHHH Monday...

I crocheted until past 1 a.m. Sunday night (MISTAKE! I'm not as young as I used to be! and I now have an automatic alarm clock that doesn't come with a snooze button, her name is Hana!) Then, when I came to my senses and went to bed, Rocky wasn't feeling so great and was up almost every hour and that kept me half awake all night. Then there was the fire at 5:30 a.m. and that was the end of my "rest" for the night. I was dragging my tail ALL day long on Monday and could NOT bring myself to go workout that evening. All I wanted to do was sleep. Then Tuesdays my gym is CLOSED!!! Go figure! I'm not even going to try to figure that reasoning out...

Soooooo, that brings us to today, and I did NOT want to go workout again. Another one of those situations where I could have easily said, "I'm not going." Something about dinner (or something I ate today) didn't agree very well with me. Could have been the Dr. Pepper I had a lunch, we were in a shopping center that sells them and I just had to treat myself to one!!! Or, it could have been all the carbs I had at dinner. I made some really delicious rice, with a variety of grains in it, and I ate a whole lot more than I normally do. Sugar/carb overload??? after a year of a low sugar/carb diet, that'll do it to ya. So anyways, I did NOT feel like going. And my precious SWEET WONDERFUL husband, rubbed my tummy for a minute and then helped me decide to get out the door. Have I mentioned how wonderful he is lately??? He's so great. He encouraged me to just go and see how it went, and if I didn't feel well after I started working out to come back home. What a precious amazing hubby!!!

so anyways, I went. And it wasn't too bad. I didn't feel too great on my cardio, and only made it 25 minutes. My intensity was pretty high for those 25 minutes, but right at the end I just didn't feel like it would be wise to keep going. As soon as I cooled down a little though, I felt good enough do my normal weight lifting routine.

It really is a day by day process to be healthy and stay in shape. One meal at a time, one choice at a time, every day!

Tomorrow is ANOTHER day!

Excitement at 5:30 a.m. today

At 5:30 a.m. this morning I vaguely was aware that Rocky opened his phone and made a phone call. I quickly fell back asleep, not conscious enough to think about what he was doing at such an hour. Then a few moments later I heard Hana crying and woke up to see that Rocky was GONE! I ran to get Hana and then realized I was hearing emergency vehicles outside. I put two and two together, Rocky always calls a number to see where emergency vehicles are going, so i figured something was going on outside. As I lay back down in our bed with Hana, I could tell that most of the vehicles were fire trucks, and so I assumed Rocky went to check where the fire was. He eventually came back to report that it was just THREE houses down, on OUR block, on OUR side of the STREET! Now to those of you living in more spacious neighborhoods, this may not sound like a big deal, but here on our block, the houses are literally inches apart from each other, if not sharing walls! So that sort of fire is a major big deal! And at such an hour, it is even more alarming.

Praise God, no one was injured!

We were totally OK and our home was completely safe, but the house that caught fire first and both neighboring houses were significantly damaged. I will try to take a picture sometime if I can, if our neighbor doesn't mind his burned home being put on the web.

Just so thankful that our home is safe and so are we today! It made for a crazy day though. Thing calmed down outside about an hour later, and we snoozed for a little while before it was time to get up anyways. All three of us were dragging our tails today, for lack of sleep!

Silly me, I am on a crochet kick right now, and stayed up till 1 a.m. crocheting last night! That didn't help matters at all today. Too tired to do much of anything at all today, except for have a wonderful lunch with a good friend of mine!

Well, I am off to chill out and hopefully get to bed at a more decent hour tonight. Please pray for the people who lost a lot of their belongings today. They have already begun cleaning up, and it is going to be a long road back to normalcy I am sure.

Rubbish...

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:7-9

Rocky's message at church this morning was soooooooooo awesome! I loved it, it really hit home for me after the week I had last week with US immigrations! He spoke from those verses above, and I just needed to be reminded of that. Most of all, to be reminded of what is RUBBISH!

I found myself, when talking about Hana's nationality so much this last week, almost in tears sometimes at the thought of getting her "American passport" or her citizenship being "granted". I am very proud to be an American and would love for my children to have that privilege. Growing up in Japan, their connection to my nationality and my country are going to be very removed already so I at least wanted to be able to show them that they are a part of my country too, in their nationality, with a passport or certificate of citizenship.

But this morning I was reminded that IF that is not possible, it is OK because it's all earthly stuff anyways and that's all rubbish compared to knowing Christ. I'd much rather share with my children our citizenship in HEAVEN, than spend time and precious emotional energy worrying about their earthly citizenship. If the Lord makes a way for my kiddos to be American too, then Glory to HIM! But if not, it won't be the end of the world, that is for sure! For all these earthly things are "crap" (as my husband so eloquently put it in his message this morning, LOL) compared to knowing Christ!

and then at the end of Rocky's message I was reminded of the AWE and WONDER of what it means to be seen as righteous in the eyes of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes the power of the word righteous just doesn't quite hit home. I tend to read right over or skip the depth of its meaning when it appears in scripture. But righteousness is an unattainable state for human beings (by ourselves). Yet it is gift wrapped and handed to us by the only one who is righteous, for us to simply receive by HIS GRACE. To take in that thought, it is so profound. WHY ME?! This little spoiled rotten child, that throws hissy fits over not getting my way with US immigration, and finds deep embarrassment in spilled milk at McDonald's (of which are the least of my flaws, let me assure you), seen as righteous by GOD HIMSELF!? WOW!!!

I mentioned that a couple weeks back I had a long conversation with a woman after our concert. She was quite hung up on the fact that God would allow a murderer into heaven if he/she just believed on Christ, but someone like her or myself who have never done something so terrible, would not be allowed in if we did not believe. She couldn't wrap her mind around that, she didn't feel that was fare. My response to that was simply, we are not God and we can not say that any one sin is greater than another. Sin, in the eyes of God, is sin. Because He alone is perfect and righteous. And perfect simply means, perfect, I told her. We can not fathom perfect, for we have never seen it really. Could we even imagine a simple white sheet of paper that is PURELY WHITE, with no blemish or flaw, no mark or anything on it? I asked her if she could imagine something like that in her mind. And then imagine that same sheet of paper with only one tiny little bitty black dot on it. I ask her, is the second sheet perfect anymore? Of course it is not. Now take a third sheet of paper and scribble all over it with a heavy black marker. This one too is no longer perfect, but the one with the tiny black dot is no LESS "imperfect" than the heavily colored one. The perfect one is the only one that is perfect.

To fathom that kind of perfection which is basically righteousness, and then know that when God looks at me, that flawlessness is what He sees!? WOW!

I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Nothing compares to this! What could I gain on this earth that could compare to what HE alone can give me!?

I was listening to a song earlier this week and the lyrics were talking about things that just seem crazy in human thinking...

Why would I spend my life longing for the day that it would end,
Why would I spend my life pointing to another man?
Isn't that crazy?
(and so forth, but then I LOVE the chorus)

I have not been called, to the wisdom of this world
but to a God, whose calling out to me.
and even though the world may think
I'm losing touch with reality,
It would be crazy to choose this world
over eternity! (Mercy Me)

Said perfectly right there, It would be absolutley CRAZY to choose this world over eternity!

This other song has been playing in my head all day since the message this morning...

Knowing you Jesus, Knowing you
There is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you Lord!

HUGE workout tonight!

Oh my goodness I have NO idea where the energy and stamina came from, but I had an AWESOME workout tonight. On the elliptical, I did 725 calories!!!!!!!!!!! 50 minutes! During the first 30 minute cycle I did 528! I just barely made it over 400 on Wendesday. What on earth happened? I don't know but I love it. There are three little meters on my machine, and I don't know what the middle one is counting because I can't read the title on it, but I usually can not keep the number above 170 for very long (it reads something about the rate at which I am running) but today, I staying over 200 for 6 minutes, and kept it above 170 almost the entire workout and I never felt sluggish!!! After the I lifted weights. ahhhhhhhhh, if only every workout could feel like this one. I hope I can keep this up! That last two weeks of upping my cardio to 50 minutes is really making a difference, I can SEE it in my legs and hips! The scales aren't moving, probably cause I'm gaining muscle, but I am now motivated to keep this up!

WAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I felt like screaming when I ended my run, I wonder what all those around me would have thought if I had hollared out!

Now off to bed, I am sure I am going to sleep VERY WELL!!!