morioka and hachinohe

Sasha, Akiko, Yuko and I took the bus up to Morioka last month. We met Yoko and Rieko there and spent time catching up and visiting a few places on Saturday. The craft village we went to was really interesting! Yoko is also a kindergarten teacher, and I loved hearing the funny stories she she tells about the kids in her class. On Sunday, we drove up together to worship in Hachinohe. It was really good to see Chieko, Masayo (who is thinking seriously about following Jesus) and the rest of the family. We were really encouraged by our time there!

By the way...I've never seen anything as beautiful as Japan in the fall!

Please keep Yuko (second from left) in your prayers. She's getting ready to go to Canada for a year! Please pray that her job search is fruitful and that she can connect with lots of loving people in Toronto. Love you,

happy halloween!

We had a great time! We spent the morning doing fun things like costume show-and-tell, jack-o-lanterns, and frosting fall cupcakes as a class. In the afternoon, we invited another 10 or so friends in for the party, complete with a "monster mash" dance contest at the end! Yes, I know, you wish you were in my class, too. Be sure to notice Sasha in the background, wearing her hand-made jack-o-lantern shirt! She was awesome! She helped me make cupcakes the night before and helped with the party big time! Thanks, roomie!


We had a costume parade in the outdoor mall across the street from our building. Some of the kids' moms met us with trick-or-treat candy. Yatta!


Luke...I am your father...and I'm only four...

give me your walls

I'm doing the bigger-room-happy-dance at work every day!!! WE LOVE IT! We have so much room to spread out! It's an amazing coincidence, but the kids all seem to get along a little better and injure themselves less often now. It's amazing...


We said "goodbye" to our old wall by drawing like crazy all over it! It was really fun! I said it over and over again as we were coloring, but I just had to make sure, "Now, we are drawing on our wall at school because it is getting knocked down...but does this mean you should draw on the walls at your house?" "No, Miss Debi..." :) Funny how it's more fun to color on something we're usually not allowed to!


This is a picture of us making caramel (and peanut butter and chocolate) apples for cooking day. I'm standing right behind this focused little guy, but you can tell that the room got bigger in the background. The wall used to be right where Snoopy and the microwave are.