Greetings from Osaka- I apologize that this is going to be a quick update- we hope to add pics and stories later, but I was feeling a bit guilty that we hadn't posted any updates, so... here goes-
*Karen- is enjoying her new job as the K-12 Guidance Counselor, but it's been non-stop since day one. In addition to all the "regular" duties (counseling, meetings, playground duty, working with parents, teachers and students), she's also teaching two courses, coaching middle school girls volleyball, helping the seniors with their college applications, developing a college handbook, designing a web page, planning weekly assembly's, and initiating some school-wide traditions. The next few weeks will be busy ones as well with every Saturday being tied up with either volleyball games or standardized testing (OIS is a testing site for the PSAT, SAT and ACT tests).
*Jeph has been equally busy with a full teaching load in addition to being the Senior Class Advisor (which is a huge job, and somewhat of an honor as the students chose him) and coaching the Varsity Baseball team. The baseball season includes weekly games, all of them involving travel as we don't have our own field. The good news is that the team will be traveling to Nagoya which is where our dear friends, the Moody's live and Iwakuni, which is where the Lange family resides. (both are friends from our time in Sendai! It really is a small world!). Jeph's already had some funny baseball stories and the season is still young! He'll post details and pics some day.
*A few other highlights-
We are now a 2 scooter family and we're LOVING it! It's opened up a whole new world as we can both hit the road on our bikes. It's been especially wonderful to be able to ride to and from school in the heat. We are hoping that cooler weather arrives soon and we look forward to exploring the Mino hills that can see from our balcony.
We're grateful to be back worshipping with our church family at Suita Bible Church. Jeph is actually leading a 14 week study for our Sunday School class that begins on Sunday.
We are already getting excited to have the kids here for Christmas. We continue to miss them a great deal but remain grateful for the opportunities that they are experiencing.
We hope all of you in the States enjoy this Labor day- our first holiday occurs later this month!
