Don't think that pestering me will always get you what you want...

“A joyful heart is good medicine” – from the Bible

These words are so true… and recently my heart is simply full of joy.

Life is good!

 

Some of my recent smiles and laughs include…

 

Being stalked. Yes, this makes me smile. Only because it’s not real though. Real stalking is not cool. Don’t do it.

The starry night sky – it’s simply amazing! Especially when you can see fireballs flying around in every direction up there… That and looking at the vastness of the ocean reminds me of God’s power perhaps more than anything else.

Hummingbirds. I didn’t even know they lived here in Japan… but sure enough, I saw two only days apart. One of them was at my place, and I smiled and laughed at him a little when he tried to suck the sweetness out of the very colorful but wooden flower-shaped decorations I have placed around the garden. So cute. Oh yeah, and the dollar store makes me smile.

Working with people who love the Lord and desire to grow in their knowledge of and love for Him.

A certain someone (I will definitely refrain from naming names this time!) who sneezed in her hand and then licked it up, not wanting to wipe it on her pants! I laughed so hard!

Words of encouragement coming so frequently that you can actually start to believe they are true J

Fall. Love it. The weather is simply great. Love it.

And photos, too. I started to remember how much I enjoy taking pictures this week… It’s been too long!

 

I know it’s a short list! It’s not comprehensive – I’m not very good yet about writing things down so I can remember to write about them here. I will (try) to work on it though. Your patience brings me joy J

Have a blessed weekend! Love the Lord with all you have…

Bobby

Greetings!

Hi Melissa! How are you this fine day??

Things to write home about...

Okay, so I’ve sort of failed on the weekly smile list thing… I have sort of been keeping a list, but actually posting it is another story… Here are some things from the last few weeks that have made me laugh and smile… stuff to write home about…

 

Getting bugged to write a smile list. And not doing it. Haha, should being mean really make me smile?!

Being 30 but feeling like I’m 12… or 5. J

Going camping, and enjoying it enough to want to go back!

A Japanese guy pointing at a picture of me and asking “What’s this?”

Buying a five-year planner (diary) so I can write down what I do each day and see what I was doing in years past (assuming I keep it up for more than a year!)

Notes from friends that let you know they care, and are listening.

Watching a guy solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than two minutes, blindfolded!

Making middle-aged Japanese women giggle.

Leisurely dinners.

Typhoons!

The beautiful weather after a typhoon or hurricane passes!

Pictures, and gardening.

Example sentences in my Japanese book:

“I thought I couldn’t live without you; but since we got married, I realize I’m fine on my own.” (Ouch!)

“I’m not asking you to write like a calligrapher, but you at least need to write in a way that can be read!”

 

Who knew studying Japanese could be so much fun!

 

 

More Smiles

We’ll see if I can keep this going… I tried to keep a list this week of smiles, but I know there were a lot more than this… I’m going camping this week with my hilarious teammates, so maybe I’ll have plenty to report on next week J

This week’s smiles included…

Finding a lost Bible, and remembering all the unnecessary drama that came with it.

A certain teammate’s look of shock nearly any time any of the rest of us open our mouths.

An English student bringing us an electric fly swatter… a hot pink fly swatter at that!

My brother referring to the naming of my niece as a ‘fiasco’…

An English student accidentally calling ‘elementary school’ a ‘mental school’. Actually, it wasn’t really an accident; she meant it… and we were too busy trying not to laugh to correct her.

Thinking of being an uncle again.

 

What made you smile this week?

Smiles all around...

One of my friends is writing a blog where she gives highlights of the things that made her smile over the past week. I like the idea better than a plain old ‘what I’m thankful for’ list (although I like that too)… And since it makes me smile every time I read her smile list, and it’s been well over a month since I wrote on my own blog, I thought I would share some of my smiles with you tonight…

 

At the top of the list has to be making other people smile… I love it!

And the best one in there is our Japanese grandma and the way she smirks every time she walks through the door and sees my face!

 

Listening from the next room to middle-aged Japanese women babble on in Japanese like little girls during their English class (this happens several times every week)…

 

Just about everything on Japanese TV cracks me up… and sometimes I laugh at myself for thinking it’s funny in the first place.

 

Looking at the flowers I planted out front (a gift from an English student).

 

Riding my motorcycle with my helmet on and thinking that nobody knows I am a foreigner… silly, I know, but it makes me smile!

 

An English student bringing us raw steak… nearly every week.

 

Scoring well on a Japanese test.

 

Emails from friends that say they are coming to visit.

 

Watching a young Japanese man trying to act cool around a girl he likes.

 

And finally… watching my teammates laugh at each other!

 

I’ll have to start making a list through the week if I want to keep this going… As you go about your week, remember to smile, because it will make someone’s day… the gift that gives back immediately! J

 

Happy Belated Birthday to Me

Dinner at Jolly Pasta and then Baskin Robbins… happy belated birthday to me!

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 30^th birthday… only there wasn’t much celebrating, because I had a nasty one-day stomach virus. Spent a good portion of the day in bed, wishing I could just sleep through until the next morning. My wonderful teammates were planning to take me to dinner, but instead they just left me moaning on my couch and went without me. I’m not bitter.

Seriously though, they sort of caught me off-guard this evening after our worship service when they offered to take me out for a belated birthday dinner. They really are so thoughtful. After some difficulty deciding where to go (I don’t get out much), we finally chose yaki-tori (Japanese chicken)… only to find the restaurant closed on Sunday evening! So we ended up at Jolly Pasta – that’s a treat too. They have good pizza (even though it’s not pizza hut…) and the company wasn’t bad either.

Then we stopped off at Baskin Robbins for ice cream and prayer to end the evening. Last week was jam-packed, and so is this coming week… so it was nice to have a fun, relaxing evening with three great friends tonight. Happy belated birthday to me!

Upheaval in the Heavens

The last two days have been overflowing (no pun intended) with heavenly phenomena.

 

Yesterday, I awoke to heavy rains, and lightning. Never seen lightning like that before in Japan… and the rain was so heavy that the flooding seemed to start almost immediately. But it just kept raining! Nearly all day, absolute downpours… The grocery store in Hirao has a very large parking lot, and it was completely under water. The rivers were full and many of them were overflowing. As were the streets and some homes. Unfortunately, landslides are a problem here when we have heavy rains. I heard reports of a nursing home being hit by a landslide, and several people inside were buried alive. I didn’t see the news report, though, because my television only shows snow when it rains. Ironic, huh?

 

Today, on the lighter side, was the heavily talked about solar eclipse. It’s interesting that the characters for eclipse in Japanese are ‘eating the sun’… I wonder if there is some secondary meaning that I’m not aware of. Anyway, the solar eclipse happened about 11am here in Yamaguchi, and it was just as cloudy and overcast as could be. I thought there was no way we’d see it… but the English students went outside to take a look and I could hear them all get excited. So I too went outside to check it out and sure enough, you could see it pretty well! Someone brought safety glasses and we all took turns J I used my camera too… and I think the only reason it worked was because it was cloudy! J Anyway… fun times and everyone was excited!