A thousand miles of kanji...

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

Today I finished the last assignment/exam of the semester. During the 6 weeks between semesters I hope to implement my latest plan to master the joyo kanji this year - reading middle school textbooks with longsuffering Daughter # 3, who is fortunately a great fan of both Japanese textbooks and her parents' further language development!

The Great Wall - March 1989

Sigh... It seems like I've begun this journey so many times! But perhaps if I keep putting one foot in front of the other, and picking myself up and going on when I fall...

ダディもお疲れです

Daughter #1's (good) husband with their son

Live courageously - go against the flow

In our fast-paced society it is easy to live in reaction mode and never really ponder why we do what we do. It takes a lot of effort and strength of character to go against the flow. It takes courage and perseverance to make choices that are not the prevailing view. People need encouragement to live confidently in the calling God has on their life. Our culture (and even the church) promotes busyness, drivenness, and trying to do things that God has not specifically called us as individuals to do. My hope is to be a supportive friend to others on the journey. - Sallie

I would suggest you read the whole of the article Two Talent Living . I found it last week because I liked what A Quiet Simple Life had to say in the context of music so much that I bookmarked it. Consequently I've been back several times... and I have to say this article is one that I think should be required reading for every missionary - no, EVERY Christian!

Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest, "The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance." - Sallie

The Elliot Humor

We Elliots love all sorts of humor, but are particularly addicted to comedy of manners. We read the first two chapters of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" (yet again) during tea time tonight...
It was, as always, highly amusing!

Daughter # 3 reading Northanger Abbey to us

The Double Minded Person...

Dallas Willard says, "The 'double minded' person is someone with a reality problem." ... I know a number of the these people!

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

James 1:5-8

Of James 1:5-8 Willard says, "What is going on here? Is it that God is simply punishing people for having doubts? Is he saying, 'Naughty, naughty! I will give you nothing'? That hardly fits with the picture here of God as generous and unreproachful.... I suggest that the problem is not on the giving side, but on the receiving side. Because the 'double-minded' are, as we say, 'on again, off again,' they are not able to receive what they are asking for."

From BLUE FOREST SOAPBOX

If you feel like God isn't answering your prayers for help, then I suggest you go out, buy yourself a copy of this book and read the rest of the chapter. (Your friends have probably already tried to tell you what your problem is... but perhaps it will be easier to swallow if you read it in a book.)

What we believe governs what we do!

Dallas Willard concerning the importance of worldview: What we assume to be real and what we assume to be valuable will govern our attitudes and our actions. Period. And usually without thinking. But most people do not realize that they have a worldview, and it is usually one that is borrowed, in bits and pieces, from the social environment in which we are reared. It may not even be self-consistent.

- "Knowing Christ Today"

Our stubborn cat - reality eventually caught up with her!

I repeat: WHAT WE ASSUME TO BE REAL AND WHAT WE ASSUME TO BE VALUABLE WILL GOVERN OUR ATTITUDES AND OUR ACTIONS.

... and very often is NOT consistent with either reality or what we say we believe.

Staying young

Tonight I came across these photos of Young Camp that Pastor O. gave me last fall. (He wanted me to make a slide set to show at the Thanksgiving Day Camp.)

ACC Young Camp, August 2009

I loved raising children ... especially teenagers. So I'm always glad to help with Young Camp even though its a bit of a stretch coming as it does just before or after English Camp.

The choicest gift of Heaven

Today in class we talked about joking in a foreign language. Something like "You're pretty smart if you can do it..." "Well, I guess I'm not very smart, I'm not good with jokes..." "Oh, that's because you're just a very serious person...."

I've been thinking about this ever since because I don't think I'm very serious person!

I may not get jokes, but I can laugh at myself and I don't think there's a day that doesn't find me laughing. In the darkest hours of my adult life I think I've always found something bright - and amusing.

I doubt that I was born this way - I certainly don't remember being like this as a child. In fact, in old family photos I'm often pouting while the rest of the family smiles widely. So I've always thought it was something learned... My mother told me that I was the key to my own happiness and my father quoted Proverbs like "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but broken spirit drieth the bones." But probably this wouldn't have dented me in the least if our family hadn't laughed so much together. Deep-bellied laughs that really were medicinal.

4 people who know how to laugh - and do!

Learned behaviour or not... I'm sure Jane Austen has it right when she calls that elasticity of mind that chooses to be comforted "the choicest gift of heaven."

That elasticity of mind

I finally finished Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and started that excellent Dallas Willard book, "Knowing Christ Today". But before I leave Jane Austen behind I want share this insight into the nature of happiness:

Yet, in spite of all this, Anne had reason to believe that [her friend] had moments only of languor and depression, to hours of occupation and enjoyment. How could it be? -- She watched --observed--reflected--and finally determined that this was not a case of fortitude or of resignation only. --A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from Nature alone. It was the choicest gift of Heaven...

Jane Austen, "Persuasion"

How I wish some of my friends had "that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself"! Their lives would be so much happier!

The Last Day of Vacation

Today was the last day of my winter vacation - I have a class tomorrow.

Elliot-Ghent annual New Year Tea

We made a lot of memories... but I'll be glad to be back to a routine.

Raising children who love church

I always love watching Ogawa Son #3 when he gets his chance to be "big brother"... with 2 brothers and a sister above him and a very independently minded little sister, it doesn't happen very often! But at the snow camp he got his chance.

Ogawa Son #3 with Hamada Son #2

At first I just thought it was really cute to see him with his arm around the little fellow and their heads bent together...

In the front row... Ogawa Son # 1 with Hamada Son #1

But when the speaker mentioned how well the children were paying attention to his rather long messages... I realized that this is how children come to love church.

When the big kids take care of the little kids

Snow Camp - worth it!

I was strung tighter than a rubber band by the second day of Snow Camp... but once supper was over and I'd had a good hot bath, I relaxed and realized that I'd been having a good time all along with everyone else. I think they were all pretty relaxed from the beginning with good food, good messages, good fun...

Snow Camp at Aomori Christian Center, January 3-5th

The fact that we had no teens - when we were used to having mostly teens! - and so many small children at first gave the impression that there weren't as many people as usual. But there were actually twenty-one of us. One family had never been to an ACC camp and they left full of vision for what a blessing an interchurch camp can be - that alone would have been worth it all. But there was also a lot of bonding going on with long (and important) talks among the adults and everyone (except the mothers - they were having a break!) playing hard with the children.

We ended with one last burst of camaraderie as we pushed all the non-4wd cars up the drive and waved good bye.

Tonight as I was working on photos I mentioned to Jean-Marc, our most recent house guest that our photography is rather random... if we remember, we grab the camera and shoot. And he said, "So you're just like everybody else." And perhaps we are.

Winter Living English Camp at ACC

December 27 - 30, 2009

But if anyone who was there took better shots I'll gladly add them to this collection. (Then maybe I can subtract some of the less than quality shots in this album.)

That kind of day!

The Watanabe Family resting

Daughter # 1 sent this photo... its exactly how my husband and Daughter # 3 spent the afternoon.