6! Wow. Really?

1st May tomorrow, Bear and I will be celebrating our 6th year anniversary.


6! Wow. Really?


It's a year from the 7-year-itch then! And the symptom has forwarded to the 6th year according to the current say? Should I start worrying?


Sometimes, I wake up not knowing this guy beside me - his receding hairline, and once angularly chiselled features now rounded, evidently doubled at the chin. You mean he's leaving me? With all those blissful fats?


6 years has yet answered that big question that some harp on hard : When are you guys having a baby? The menacing underline : he'll leave you if you won't have his baby.


6! Wow. Really? We just got hitched 6 months ago, well at least that's how I feel about us... And we should be having a baby?


Alright, we can leave the matter to the Maker can't we? Sometimes, waiting is integral to the picture. Meantime, I'm Bear's biggest babe, and he; mine. =)







I think we're doing fine. Naturally fine. I'll give it a 6, out of 7. ;) Big thanks to Jesus, who's been blessing us with a perfect 10 grace.


And off we go, on a Golden Week holiday, with housewarming to run in between. I'll be missing all.

Petaled

Here's how the place looks like, trees bursting all the way to the mountain tops.






We decided to conquer this mountain now or never, after much dubious measure of our stamina. The trail was unforgivingly steep from time to time, with rolling pebbles and sandy smooth stretches. Well, we've persevered. ;)




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And come spot my new find! ;)











We sought this little getaway on Sunday morning, good kids gone bad. Nevertheless, I got the message through the great work of His hands this day ~ Even the petals sang His praise.

Pockyをどうぞ

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Pocky です。






It's the Japanese snack kids know since my era, correction : Bear's era. Still in style, still an extended favourite. And I like the way the Japs promote/preserve what's already a timeless make.







These giant-sized 90cm tall, 6cm in diameter, balloon every kids' joy, mine included. Free with every 2 packs of Pocky for a limited time only. 期間限定。 ;)


Woosh...

Sing Spring

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There has been minimal sunshine for the past week, it even snowed last Friday, yeah, in the middle of April! Nevertheless, the weather hardly wets my affection for Spring.

Avian chorus

Every spring, the birds overflow with music
A choral extravaganza bursts forth
Cheerful voices, echoing through the trees
Filling our ears, virgin melodies of spring

They call back and forth
He to her, she to him
Romantic, downright alluring
These overtures, even a tad risqué

The cardinals, most persistent
But the robins sing their parts on cue
Even the silences in between, beautiful
It is then our hearts can sing

Amidst this avian music, new life
Dogwoods explode in color climax
Daffodils, tulips pop all about
A reminder…the Hand of God at work

Tis my favourite season - of blooms, birds and bees. =)







And I'm finally catching up on sleep. Hopefully I'll be all perked up in another week. =)

Almost there

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We're having a blend of minimal sunshine and plenty of rain this Spring. Besides a less than ideal harvest of vegetables, most plants are pretty confused.


Picture a bursting tree rooted next to another lurking in preparation. The past 5 years were having uniform blooms flourishing in unison.






Anyway, I think we're almost there.







But this season feels more like a weighty drape when church is going through a difficult time. Pastor is once again crestfallen with cancer, which took away his stomach 2 years ago, this time his lungs are affected. The Sunday service left everybody in tears... it was hard.



It's difficult to feel happy unless everybody is.



Pastor Morimoto will be seeking some intense treatment that comes with dreadful side effects. We're praying for God's merciful healing, and peace in the hearts of the family.



生きているではなく、私は生きされています。

Happy Spring

I barely sleep these days.






As Bear reaches home late these several weeks, I only get to knock off past midnight when I'm finally done with his dishes & stuff. Working late tends to leave me acutely alert, and sleep only eludes me more when I can't ignore an early rise the next day.


For a painfully stubborn person like myself, I can't leave dishes stinking overnight. I don't ditch preparing breakfast unless I'm in pain. I avoid afternoon naps to mitigate insomnia, and try anything to knock myself out. Yes I'm dead beat, but I still can't sleep. I'd probably slumber when the world stops revolving. It's me. Sometimes I really loathe this masochistic figure in me. If somebody has ruined me, it must be me.


So I'm grouchy, very grouchy. Anyone's a grouch having not slept a wink for 3 days. Light-headed, this grouch floats around the house. There's a feeling that I'm going to need drugs very soon. =( If you don't see me after this post, I must be gone.


In the midst of sleepless blues, I heard from an angel yesterday.







Helena flew her Spring greetings over from UK. Yes, her handmade card! Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Everything, she said. You really should see how pretty it is ~ the soft colors and delicate touches... the card just soothes my spirit like a healing balm.







And Helena isn't having an easier time herself with all the commitment she has, but that doesn't make her remember less of the people around her. The greeting arrives timely, it works like a ' Get ( Sleep ) well soon ' wishing for me.


Thanks honeybunch. You have no idea how this comforts me. I'm having your work displayed the entire season! =) Hugs...

*****

I'm hoping to get some sleep tonight. Like Bear and everyone else like to say ~ I really should be nicer to myself. I deserve this happiness ( read : sleepiness ) in Spring.

...

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There's so much going on in church these days.


An elderly collapsed due to stroke earlier this year. Another collapsed during the service 2 Sundays ago. Pastor will start needing meds for counteracting potential return of cancer. Before that, he will be hospitalized for treatment of water retention in his lungs.


There's much to pray about... Say if I get naughty by a slip, does it mean that my prayers are said in vain?


A friend made me rethink about my actions. Sometimes, I just can't rein it in and like acting goofy. But he's ok with my mischief, a true friend is someone who knows that you're a good egg even if you're a little cracked.






What about God?


Anyway, I'll set aside some quiet time now. Play can come later.

Goodbye, and Hello! =)

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Hatamachi （ 波田町）is the pretty town we're residing in.



Yesterday, it stepped down with a 136 years of history, when merged with the preceding city of Nagano, Matsumoto ( 松本 ).



Now this actually adds to the many residential merits we're enjoying. Like an upgrade of an already complete package.



Whenever people congratulate us on the reward of our 'fine foresight', I muse with a bitter-sweet recollection of what led us to where we are now. Really. It's not even half like what they have assumed.



In fact, things were looking desperate. My parents-in-law were pestering for our return, while Bear defended his idea of a nuclear family. It was a reckless investment when we decided to acquire another piece of land - a hat too big. We pulled out from the potential black hole anyway, not because we were smart, but Bear fell sick... I was sicker, mentally I mean, or in every other means. I was sick with the forever ambiguous health reports that Bear returned with, and that he wasn't sick enough to refrain from travelling. I was sick of putting up with inconsiderate people who had to show up at such troubling period. Sick of having to attend to matters that didn't matter. Everything was urgent, only my needs weren't. Besides God, I was tooooo tired to relate to anybody. Was Jesus listening?.. that I wasn't sure too.




But He was there before things crumbled, or before my faith fell apart. ' Don't just speak to me, show me! ' I demanded... And God showed Himself larger than everything put together. Bear got healed miraculously, ( was the thing there in the first place anyway? ). We sorted lots of knotty stuff, and learnt lessons along the way. Domains beyond us simply worked out on their own. We didn't wrestle, it was more like we were utterly powerless to do so. Things, just happened God's way.



3 years of stumbling along the road, not some glorious business-like strategies they thought we've devised. Some like to say that we're lucky, I'd like to think that God just has this thing for the meek and simple. We're blessed.



Goodbye to what's painful but necessary, and hello to new grace. =)


Goodbye Hatamachi. Hello Matsumoto!