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Thanksgiving

I hardly know where to start with a title like this...so many aspects to cover. First of all, though, I am thankful for all the prayers that have been said for my father and family in the past days and will be said as we move forward. As many of you already know, my father had colon cancer 5 years ago and was successfully treated. On a follow-up check-up they found cancer in his lung and a few other places in his body. They will do more tests this week to determine the prognosis and treatment. At this point he feels good and has no physical indications. This serious news put a whole different slant on Thanksgiving--to be thankful for my dad and my family, to be thankful for God's peace and comfort in a difficult time, to be thankful that through the Spirit of God, I can still feel close to my family even though they are on the other side of the world, to be thankful for a supportive husband and group of believers and friends in Japan who have been so understanding and prayerful, to be thankful that God knows best and that He grants grace to accept His will as perfect and holy, to be thankful for the good things that this has already resulted in...on and on. Yet, the human part of me still struggles and there are still many "unknowns" so I ask for your prayers for my family and for me.

Other Thanksgiving happenings here....Last Sunday we fed about 44 people for our Thanksgiving feast! The turkey and gravy got gobbled up (along with the rice, of course!) It was a wonderfully blessed gathering filled with fellowship, eating, singing, praying, and a little skit by the Sunday School children about the origin of Thanksgiving.

Last Saturday we hiked up the nearby Takao mountain with our dear friends, Li and Chi. Everyone and their dog was there, so we couldn't take the cable car or chair lift up, so we started out on foot. At the top, we could only see the faint outline of Mt. Fuji, but we enjoyed the beautiful red maples and a cup of hot chocolate that we made on our little portable burner. It was fun to see Li-san enjoy his first cup of hot chocolate in his lifetime. He came back for seconds! The cable car line again was too long going down, so we walked with the masses down a concrete road in the dark--thankful for a beautiful round, bright, full moon! We crashed at our house and had tuna steaks and a few fixin's with apple crisp to finish up. It was a good day.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 26, 2007 9:14 AM.

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