Food Storage

I was asked to speak in Stake Conference last Saturday night about my testimony of Food Storage. I won't post the entire talk here (let me know if you want it), but I want to share this thought from it. "I refer to the counsel to store essentials as a commandment because when I was young, the direction was to have a 2 year supply of food. Several years ago this was revised to a 1 year supply. Last year, President Hinckley begged us to have merely a 3 month supply of food. I fear that we are like the Israelites who would not live the full gospel so their prophet, Moses, reduced the gospel to something they could manage."

I don't want to have things dumbed down for me. If we don't live the entire gospel, we'll never receive exaltation. If that's the goal, then don't we need to keep ALL the commandments? I have a pretty hefty list of things that I'm not doing completely (or at all) - most of those things the Lord hasn't amended. I'm totally responsible for them. The fact that He has amended the Food Storage plan leads me to believe that he is pleading with us to get prepared. And He has been pleading for a long time, as if we are now out of time.

great week for quotes

June 25, 2008
Before prayers the girls asked if we could sing some songs. Everyone picked a song including "I love to see the Temple." Afterwards, Katie said, "If we get married outside the temple we can't be a family together forever, but if we get married inside the temple we get married forever." (Katie, 4 yrs)

June 26, 2008
Alex said, "Where did you learn to chew food with your mouth closed and when did you learn to not talk with food in your mouth?"
Mom responded, "Grandma taught me when I was a little girl like you."
Alex said, "I learned at school."

Alex loves her mom

We have great neighbors. They are all so friendly. A week ago I finally took a treat and our introduction cards to 8 nearby families . Yes, I was a month late. Gomennasai. I made brownies from a box - thank you Costco Osaka. Gave every home a few small pieces because the Japanese, generally speaking, cannot handle American levels of sugar. The little grandma (obachan) across the street passed by as I was hanging laundry a few days later and thanked me for them. She told me how much the young'uns in the family liked them (3 generations, 1 house). She asked me if I made them and I got the box to show her. She talks and talks to me and I don't understand hardly anything she says...and she just keeps talking. She is the best!
Alex was listening to me try to communicate and when I shut the door she made fun of me holding the brownie box and saying, "Boxu" with a Japanese accent. You have to understand that Alex takes her Japanese very seriously. She constantly looks for opportunities to use the words she knows. She knows a lot. She creates conversations so she can speak Japanese. It's basic stuff, but she just turned 5. She's a sponge. I told her, "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say to that sweet lady. I don't know how to speak Japanese."
Alex said, "Well, who do you think I learned to speak Japanese from?"

I will live a month on that compliment!

General Conference

I was teaching Sharing Time in Primary on a recent Sunday and I mentioned the words of our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Shortly thereafter we had our semi-annual General Conference of the Church and President Monson spoke to the Church for the first time as the President of the Church. As I listened to him speak I had this "duh" moment which I thought I would share. President Monson spoke about his new responsibilities as president. He never said one word about being the prophet...because he's been a prophet for 44 years. We sustain the Council of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers and revelators. This isn't new for him. He's been listening to Heavenly Father and leading His people for a very long time. He's just in the front seat now. Neat moment.
I hope I have some other GC moments to share. GC is held only at stake centers here. Ours is in Kyoto and we drove around the city for two hours trying to find it for the Saturday sessions. The car navigation system took us to a restaurant instead of the church and since the navi is also in Japanese we were at its mercy. We've been listening on the internet, but we do it as a family (much like Friday Date Nights). That means the neat moments are short and quickly interrupted by a toddler &/or preschool dramatic moment. Much less inspiring, much more demanding than the whisperings of the Spirit. Heaven help us.

Haircuts & C-sections...

In a foreign language, they feel like the same thing.

You're put in a chair, draped, and all control is taken from your hands while someone else, speaking words you don't understand, cuts deep into your soul. It's frightening when the doctor does it and delivers your baby. It's scarier when the stylist does it and chops off your hair. I have got to learn this language!

After 4 straight days of rain - and we're not into rainy season yet - I just couldn't take it anymore. There was no apology to the husband who loves long hair, no hem-hawing, no thinking about it. I got online, found a cut and told the husband who loves long hair to stop on his way home and make an appointment for me. I was cutting my hair.

The next morning I set out down the street with photo in hand. First the paperwork, as if I were having a baby. Do you really need my address? I need a haircut and I'm pretty sure you don't deliver. And yes, I own a blow dryer. Seems that I chose a razor cut. I'm guessing that everyone who walks in at Yoko's Hair Shop chooses a razor cut as there were no scissors in the room. There were no precise cuts in the entire experience; everything was a saw blade chewing at my treads. At the end there was a word I finally understood - volume. And then she began butchering my head. I thought I was going to come unglued. I have finer hair than most newborns. I don't need thinning shears. She went insane thinning out my thin hair.

The end result makes me happy. I spend very little time on it, maybe 5 minutes. And I made a return appointment because it's the cut I need for this busy (wet) time of life, but I will never forget the dread I felt the first time a Japanese person cut into my abdomen. Or my hair.

Nessun Dorma

http://www.maniacworld.com/Phone-Salesman-Amazes-Crowd.html

My profile notes that I am nauseated by pop culture. The "reality" element is especially useless to me, which is why I LOVE this video. Here is a guy who beat them at their own game.

Sakura in the Spring

Sakura - it's the reason to live in Japan. It really is something to sit under the sakura and just enjoy being there. I love it. This is the tiny little park in our neighborhood. We love being there.










Some kids are just cuter than others. Mine are cuter than yours.














We took a late Saturday morning in early April and had brunch under the trees. Who doesn't love brunch?