Today we rode our bikes to the city office to pick up my Japanese ID card. (I'm an official resident now!) We could take the bike path by the river the whole way and enjoyed the sites--a group of elderly people playing croquet, some retired men with their cameras pointed on the river waiting for some rare bird, some school children with their matching hats skipping stones into the river, some happy ducks, and some colorful cosmos. I met Jana and her 4 youngest at the park that is about a 5 min. bike ride from our place and we had a picnic and the children enjoyed playing in the pond and in the river. They got admired by many of the people passing by in the park. People were so friendly--one man even invited me over to have some sweet beans and mochi at his picnic table. I hesitantly agreed. (Not sick yet!)
Akihiro keeps making this comment, and I have to agree with him--"It seems like God is guiding us each step of the way." Just a little example is his cell phone/PDA combination. He was frustrated to have to wait 2 weeks for it, but as it turns out, a much better deal came along during that time and saved us a lot of money! Many things seem to happen this way and we know that it is not just by chance. We know it is answered prayers and God's guidance.
On a perhaps more negative note, I had a flopped supper tonight. What I thought was chicken livers thawing in the fridge turned out to be gizzards! Oh well, let's try gizzards. Yuck! Even marinated for over a day, they were tough as an old shoe! (Not that I have tasted an old shoe before.) The so called "livers" had been given to us, so as the cheapskate I am, I thought we should use them. I'm interested to know how people eat them--I remember we gave them out with our Y. G. chickens we butchered! Oh well, my first flop in Japan!