Lost and Found!

Then Jesus told them this parable.. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep!" (Luke 15)

And.. rejoicing we are! Poor Kristin spent several sleepless nights and stressful days searching for her beloved cat, Kobi-chan. What great joy there was when Kobi and Kristin were reunited- I can only imagine how truly amazing the celebrations are that take place in heaven! Thanks, Lord!

catching up...

How/where do we start? I can't believe so many weeks and months have passed since our last post. I certainly admire those who are so faithful in their blogging and am humbled by our lack of discipline in doing the same.

We are hoping to slowly get caught up- topics will include:

Japan -March 11

Turkey

Birthday fun

Singapore

Mother's Day

The kiddos

I am hoping that J will cover the update on March 11 but until then, here's a photo from our trip to Turkey.

School Arts Festival

We've just enjoyed a weekend celebrating the Arts here at OIS and it was amazing! The hallways, stairways, windows, etc were filled with student art work, the theatre hosted several short plays along with a mini version of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and the genkan was filled with dancing, singing and musical performances. I remain in awe of all of the talent and loved seeing the school so alive with the sights and sounds of creativity, beauty and fun!

Fun with Tyler

What a fun weekend- Tyler is a friend of Amberly's from Valpo who is here in Osaka for the weekend and we have been honored to enjoy a few days together- complete with snow! Friday, we celebrated Japan's Birthday by touring Osaka and visiting the Castle. Today (Saturday), we hopped on the shinkansen (bullet train) and went to Hiroshima and Miyajima.

We'll spend the day in Kyoto tomorrow before having to say goodbye... which I am already sad about. It's been such a treat for us to have Tyler here- we are going to miss him!

Update... finally

Happy New Year- can't believe that it is already February! One day, I hope to figure out where these days, weeks and months go, but.. until then- just a quick update.

Two words come to mind when I think back on our family vacation: Incredible and Blessed. We were indeed richly, generously, and incredibly blessed- in all things and beyond measure!! From safe flights, to the wonderful hospitality of Timmy and Amy, to fabulous weather, scenery, sights, sounds, experiences, and overflowing joy.

Highlights include: being together to celebrate Christmas (although we did have to wait until Dec. 28th when Amberly arrived), seeing Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands and Devils Tower in addition to Yellowstone National Park and Big Sky. (An added blessing and answer to prayer was Jeph's knees holding up to three days of skiing) .

In all ways, we were and continue to be so richly blessed! Thanks be to God!

Custer's Last Stand Mt. Rushmore... four heads really are better than one! Badlands National Park Devils Tower Began the New Year in Yellowstone National Park

Big Sky

Mr. K - one of our favorite runs... with three Mr. K's!

I'll close by sharing a sign we saw at Wall Drug- a fun reminder for the new year ahead!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I admit that it is a bit strange to be in Japan.. today was just a "regular" day at work but tonight has been filled with notes flying back and forth across the globe sharing our love and prayers with those we love.

It's a unique year for our family in that even the kids aren't going to be together- a Killmer family first. Not sure we want to make this a new tradition, but thankful that the Lord has provided special people for our kids to spend the day with. Amberly will spend the day working but will have dinner with a friend's family (complete with Japanese guests!). Kristin is celebrating with her Americorps team in CA and Andrew is with a fellow RA's family from Gordon.

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good!

A walk around campus

Although J and I live just around the corner from Osaka University, we rarely get onto campus. We took advantage of another beautiful day and decided it was time to take a walk through the campus- which by the way is huge... and strange that there are no dorms, just lots of buildings. The entrance right next door
Mr. Osaka??
Lots of labs for research...
an interesting way to keep out bikes and scooters, but not wheelchairs!
J pretending to fall into one of these ditches, which I swear will really happen some day! Whenever we go on a walk, J seems to gravitate to walking right on the edge of these gutters... not sure if it is a true act of gravitational pull or if he just does it to bug me (and make me hold his hand?!!) IF you ever hear that J broke his ankle, you can safely assume this is how it happened!