Satoshi's poem - The Understander

The Understander

Like a brilliant sunbeam you flash
In and then out
A sunbeam into a gray box and then out
A gray box under the stormy night sky
A gray box shattered into a million sparkling shards of color
And out of the shards a seed sprouts
And from the sprout comes a sapling
And from the sapling emerges an Oak
An Oak tree strong and weathered by many storms
With deep roots and long branches that offer shade and shelter to all who receive it
Then in a brilliant flash all of this ends
But it is not the end but the beginning
The beginning of a wonderful eternity
With Him the creator of All
Who has no end or beginning
The understander

by Satoshi who can create because of Him

Monkey electrocuted

We have a few families of monkeys outside of our house.   Sometimes they sit in our balcony.  (But they didn't write those words on our window!  That was Sawyer and Meena.)

We also have a tall electric transformer in front of our house.   One day as I was sitting with all three chidlren enjoying snacks and lemonade and hearing about their day at school, suddenly we heard an explosive sound like a bamb, and saw a flash followed by sparks falling out and down like fireworks.   As we rushed to the window, we saw a big monkey falling down, almost like slow motion, to the ground.  

We had just witnessed the monkey being electrocuted.   

There were other monkeys in the trees nearby, and they all froze for a few seconds and then began to scream in panic.  We also felt a bit panicky.   They looked down at the monkey lying still on the ground and walked around, agitated, though they did not go near it. They did not know what to do, and neither did we.   Our children were traumatized.

Then I saw the monkey twiching its body.   A few minutes later, it sat up.  Some time after that, it somehow went away.    Hopefully, he learned a lesson!

家の周りに、サルの家族が住んでます。ある日、子供たちとお菓子を食べながら、学校の話をしているときに、いきなりバン！と大きな音、また、花火のような光が見えました。そして、お猿さんが、高い電灯から落ちていくのが見えました。お猿さんが電灯に登り、感電したのです。ほかのお猿さんたちは心配してパニック状態になっていました。子供たちも、お猿さんが、家の目の前で死んだのではと、パニック状態です。けれども、数分後、道でぐったりと倒れていたお猿さん。起き上がり、どっかへ行ってしまいまい、ほっとしました。電灯は、もう上らないでね。

Hiroko's watercolor - I know who you'll become

Each drop of rain carries a message from God:

I know you

I created you

I see you

I hear you

I know who you will become

You will become an "oak of righteousness"

上から落ちてくる雨の雫

一つ一つが神様からのメッセージ

あなたのこと全部知っているよ

私があなたの創造主

あなたを見ているよ

あなたの声　聞こえるよ

あなたは大きな木になるんだよ

Noise after 11 pm 夜中に何の音？

Riot?  Fight?  Independence Day?  No, it is a wedding prossesion behind our house.   This was after 11 at night.   If you cannot see anything in the video, that was how it was: video, our camera couldn't capture images, since it was so dark.  However, we wanted to communicate how loud it was.   There were a lot of people in the darkness, and a lot more noise than you can imagine.  

Believe it or not,  all three children slept through this noise!

テロリスト？喧嘩？実はこれは、結婚式に行く花婿の行列です。夜の１１時を過ぎていたのに、太鼓、花火と　ものすごい音でした。ビデオは夜で暗くて何も見えないかもしれませんが、どれだけうるさかったのか、伝えたかったのです。３人の子供たちは、インドの音に慣れているのか、ぐすっり眠り続けていました。

Here is the end of the procession.   You can see the groom riding in the carriage.

行列の最後にいる、馬車に乗っている花婿さんです。

Meena's Birthday

Meena is 9 years old, as happy as butterfly.   Hear this happy laugh!

美奈の誕生日です。美奈のハッピーな笑い声を聞いてください。

When a Japanese friend came to visit us

Sawyer's Self Portrait

This is Sawyer's English assignment--Create a collage: "What made me who I am?" 

(These days he is in a "making faces" stage!)

Hiroko's Acrylic "Fly Away"

making breads on the street

Walking in the Park

We explored the park nearest to our new apartment.   It was a 2.5 km walk around the perimeter.

Walking happily

We are having a family walk in the park...so why are you reading and crocheting?

After the walk, all the shoes got dusty.

Jump

This is not the zoo. 動物園？

This picture was taken from our living room window.   This is a neighbor's car parked in front of our apartment building.   We are so grateful for screens on our doors and windows so that we can safely open the windows to enjoy the breeze without fearing any intruders.

これは、私たちの居間の窓から撮った写真です。家の前に駐車している車の上におサルさんの家族が日向ぼっこしていました。

The First Day of School

This was taken the very first day our children went to school outside of our home (not simply this year's first day of school, but their first day ever!).  They leave at 7:15 am to drive to the school bus pick-up point by 7:30; then they return by school bus around 3:30 pm--if it doesn't rain.   (When it rains, traffic gets much worse.)

Every day when they get home from school, we have them rate on a scale from 1 to 10 how much they liked school that day.   On average, Meena rates it anywhere between 9 and 20, Sawyer rates it between 6 to 9, and Satoshi rates it between 7 to 9.  

Kansas Sky

Roger grew up in the middle of the USA, in the state of Kansas. As far as the eyes can see, land spreads out all around, and some of the biggest sky you can ever see covers everything. Often as you drive along the highways which seem to run endlessly in straight lines toward the horizon, the land and sky make different harmonies of light and shadow, texture and color. We enjoyed the God's exhibit of His majesty, as we drove for 5 hours across a swath of Kansas one day recently.

USA:The boys' first time experience of kayaking

Before we left Charlotte, North Carolina, we drove west into Tennessee, where the boys got to go kayaking on a lake for the first time ever!

USA: Roger's family in KS

We have been really enjoying spending lots of time with Roger's family in Kansas

USA: Paintig with a Purpose

A woman who owns an art studio in Charlotte, North Carolina hosted a Courage Homes art fundraiser. It was a fun night of fellowship, laughter, and painting together. Roger & I shared about Courage Homes, before the artist then coached everyone to paint a picture of a cross. Something about painting in community makes my heart full.

USA: Meena's first time jumping from a diving board

Last time we were in Goa (in January 2011) Meena could only swim a few metres through the water. But when we went to the Carolina coast in June when her grandparents came to spend a week with us at the beach, she converted into a "fish"! She now swims much longer distances in water way over her head. Soon after we returned from the beach, she took her first leap off a diving board at a community pool near a friend's home.

Flute by Satoshi

Buttermilk Pancakes, anyone?!!!

I did not know that we could buy buttermilk in India. So for the first time, I made buttermilk pancakes for the breakfast. Then why did my family looked rather gloomy?

Oops! We didn't read the fine print (in blue, underneath "Amul MASTI"). It was spiced buttermilk. I made spicy pancakes!

Meena's felt animal

Meena sewed.....


a duck for Papa's birthday.

Meena's 2-sentence essay on "America"

Long-overdue photos of Easter with vegetable-dyed eggs

We did easter egg painting, and a morning egg hunt with our friends!

We also had breakfast together; yummy homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit salad.

This year, we tried natural egg dye. We used turmeric power, purple cabbage, and beets!

moving

We are moving! Boxes are taking over our living room.

Snow Falling in Hot Delhi デリーの雪

The tree with bright red flowers (which, when in bloom, gave Roger such awful sneezes), now formed cotton balls. On the first "real" hot summer day (104 F), the blowing wind created an amazing snow-like scene. It reminded me of a quiet snow day in my hometown in Japan.

家の前にある真っ赤な花を咲かせていた木ですが、コットンのような種を実らせています。４０度を超えた初夏、強い風に吹かれたコットンは、雪のような風景を作り出していました。札幌の懐かしい雪を思い出しました。

Hiroko's watercolor--a lily

Blooms in Just the Right Place

In the corner of our balcony, we have ferns. I water them every morning. But today for the first time, I noticed something underneath the fern!! It was a clump of impatients growing and blooming! Last year, I bought an impatient plant, but it did not survive more than a few weeks of the severe heat of April. Before it died, somehow its seed must have fallen into just the right place. It waited there quietly for a whole year, then the life burst out of that tiny seed! Now it is blooming in the shade of the fern. Somehow God spoke to me, "I know just the right place for you to bloom."

Courage Mahal (palace)

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE CEILING

This mosaic is on the ceiling in the living room of the home. It's a style that you find in palatial rooms of monuments from another era. In between the flowers are tiny mirrors. Imagine how beautiful it will look with many candles lit in the room at night!

COURAGE HOMESの天井の写真です。インドのラジスターン風のモザイク。カラフルな星の間に、鏡がはまられています。

Aslan will speak here

It was delightful to find, in one of the rooms in the house, a Lamp Post which looks like it came straight out of Narnia! We don't know if we can persuade the landlady to leave the lamp post behind when she vacates the home by mid-April, but this is just one of many special features in the property which we are about to rent for Courage Homes (negotiations are proceeding; the lease is being prepared).

Building Skate Ramps スケートボード

A skate team (mostly from Portland) came to help our friend Steve (who recently began importing skate boards) to build ramps in the American School property (the ramps will be moved later). Satoshi (red pants) and Sawyer (blue hat) enjoyed helping them whenever they could. They were thrilled to have their first real carpentry experience. Satoshi even volunteered to be jumped over in one of the skate team's demonstration to American School students (bottom right). The rest of the family enjoyed the American School experiences of drinking fruit smoothies, swimming in the pool and sitting on green grass. 友人スティーブは、インドでスケートボードの販売を始めました。スティーブの友人であるアメリカ人のクリスチャン、スケートボーダーたちが、ランプを作るためにやってきました。悟志（赤い短パン）と創也（青い帽子）は、ランプを作るお手伝いをしました。初めての、大工仕事。とても、楽しんでいました。 Satoshi's had his first lesson on how to skate board the half-pipe (probably Delhi's first ever)! ランプが完成した後、悟志はランプでスケートボードのレッスンを受けました。悟志にとって、初めての経験です。

Flower Girl, Meena 結婚式で

Meena wore a Sari as a flower girl in the wedding of our pastor's daughter. She had makeup, nails done, henna in her hands, and a lot of bangles and anklets. She must have felt like a princess.

牧師の娘の結婚式で、美奈がフラワーガールとなりました。インドのサリを着て、お化粧をして、いっぱいのバングルに、新しい靴。手にはへナのデザイン。この日はお姫様になった気分だったのでは。

March view from our balcony ("Allergy" Haiku)

These beautiful trees...

The source of my allergies...


Is it worth the sneeze?

This is the view from our balcony these days. I read a book about trees in Delhi, which explained that during February, many trees drop their leaves so as to conserve water (which would otherwise evaporate through the leaves). Then the flowers come. This particular variety, the Red Silk Cotton Tree (see "Bombax" on Wikipedia), has thick, succulent petals, with nectar in the middle. The crows and pigeons have a feast while the trees are in bloom. Being so heavy, the flowers soon fall down, and will be replaced by tender green leaves not long after. In the meantime, I've noticed that at this time every year, the past 3 years, my allergies seem to be the absolute worst during these 2 weeks of blooms. One night this past week, my wheezing, runny nose and itchy throat was so bad that, despite having taken Claridin, I only slept 3 hours. Hence the haiku. --Roger

アパートの前にある木、毎年３月に入ると美しい大きな、赤い花を咲かせます。花の中にはいっぱいネクターが入っていて、木の下にいるとネクターがポトリト落ちてきます。様々な鳥たちがネクターを飲みにやってきます。けれども、この花のせいで、ロジャーは花粉症で大変です。くしゃみと鼻水で寝苦しかった夜に、ロジャーが英語で書いた俳句です。英語でも、俳句は５．７．５です。読んでみてください。

Snowy hangs on for dear life! (or "God is the driver")

Starting Courage Homes can be stressful. Sometimes we feel like it is too big a job for us to carry.


This is the picture of Roger's journal, which he bought in Japan.
Roger recently said, “That’s me—that’s how I feel about Courage Homes! I am stuck on a car speeding up too fast for me to jump off!” But as we prayed together, God said, "The car is driving somewhere beautiful—racing down a country road towards green trees in the woods." We are glad God is the driver!

Hiroko's watercolor--worship

Chef Meena - apple cake りんごのケーキ

Recently Meena has been helping in the kitchen a lot. Her goal is to be able to cook something by herself soon. Today, she made an apple cake almost all by herself, with supervision from Mama.
(By the way, Meena's apron is the one Hiroko used to use when she was a child!)

美奈は最近、料理のお手伝いをしてくれます。ゴールは自分ひとりで何か作れるようになること。今日は、りんごのケーキをママのコーチを受けて、一人で作りました。
ちなみに、美奈のエプロンは、博子が小さいときに使っていたものです。

Lodi Gardens yoga equipment...anyone for a stretch?

ロディガーデンにて。おくから友人のマイカ、美奈、創也。ヨガのポーズです。

後ろにあるのは、１５世紀ころの、お墓の遺跡です。

詳しくは

http://4travel.jp/overseas/area/asia/india/delhi/travelogue/10535027/

を見てください。

With a 15th century tomb in the background, Sawyer (left), Meena (middle) and friend Micah (right) try out the yoga equipment in Lodi Gardens