Miscellaneous Pictures and Thoughts...

While I was in Lexington, I did not have the large camera with me, so once the husband joined us we got lots of good pictures in Lexington of the kids swimming, playing pretend golf, and family photos with cousins. We enjoyed our time in Lexington as well catching up with friends and family and getting to attend our old church where we were married.

We really could not have asked for a better trip. The kids were so adaptable and did great traveling and staying in 6 different homes over the course of four weeks! They made new friends and fit right in, which is what we wanted. They made fabulous memories with family and grandparents and had a lot of fun. They were also ready to get home. It was very humbling as my husband and I were talking about the beautiful homes we saw in Nashville...Miss M said, "They are all pretty but my favorite house is our home in Tokyo." From the mouth of babes...here we were talking about how big the houses were and the beautiful yards, and she loves our 900 sq. foot apartment in Tokyo without a yard. Tokyo is their home. And Tokyo is our home, because home is where our people are, and for me, these are my people...and when I am with them, I am home.

In the beginning I really struggled on this trip culturally...not so much with the large stores and meals, although that did bother me to see how much people eat and waste, but more so with our kids as I saw just how different our kids are compared to my friends' kids who live in the US. It is not a bad different, but just different and in the beginning I was not quite sure how to piece it all together. I had a lot of questions internally as to whether or not living in the city in Tokyo is the best thing for our kids - what is better - grass and wide open spaces or culture and big city life? Once my husband arrived, we had a lot of time in the car to process it together, which was great. We realized together that we want to raise global kids - not necessarily that the global part has to be Japan focused, but we want our kids to have God's heart for the world and for His plan of redemption. If and when we do move back to the US, we do not want to go back to just the normal southern life of BBQ and football games. Those things are great and we will enjoy them, but we want to make sure we are intentional no matter where we live of exposing our children to the Lord and his view of the world and his plan for it. We want to be mission minded wherever we are, hosting missionary families so our kids are exposed to other parts of the world where God is working, and getting plugged in a church community that is intentional about reaching out. Whether Japan, or America, we want our children to know Christ and have his vision for the world. For now, we will do this in Tokyo until God leads us elsewhere. As we met with our friends in Ashville, they told us of their daughter in her early twenties, living in NYC, attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church and working with an international organization to help with health care for those who do not have it. As we drove home from that dinner, we commented on how if Miss M were doing this in 20 years, we would be so proud of her - pursuing her dreams of helping people and having a global Christ-like perspective. Like this family, we want to be intentional in raising our kids with this perspective. It may look different from what some of our friends and family do, and that is okay. It may mean we spend family vacations exposing our children to different countries or taking them on mission trips. It may look counter-cultural to mainstream depending on where we are, but we are okay with that. With these discussions, we left the US on a positive note and with a bit more clarity on the vision we have for our family. We do not know the details of it all, as that is up to God to direct and guide us in, but we do have a better vision of principle we have for our family which we can implement anywhere. Enjoy these final pictures from Lexington, Kentucky.