Tea with Dutch Missionaries

I woke up this morning to yet another cloudy rainy day. I was really bummed as I did not know how I would get Miyako to our tea appointment in the pouring down rain. Kan reminded me of the Baby Biorn we brought so after much work I got Miyako in the backpack and we were off to meet with the Dutch. What a lovely time we had. They have been in Japan for 6 years now, 2 years of which was spent in language school. They have three lovely children who are tri-lingual. The name of their church is Grace City Church tokyo and it is a church plant through Redeemer Pres in New York City. The target population of their church is young professionals between the ages of 20-40. Their team consists of the family we met with and a Japanese pastor. They are waiting upon another family from America to join their team. Their church does not have regular worship yet, but they do have several small groups and outreach Bible studies. As I was telling Kan about the church, we were very excited about it. If we ever had the opportunity to come back to Tokyo long term, this would be a good church for us to be a part of and to bring his friends to.

The wife I met with today is going to take me to a Western grocery store on Wednesday. She said it is a bit pricey but I can find Gerber baby food and Pepperidge Farm goldfish. I did not think about the baby food in Japan being different but instead of chicken and veggies you get fish and tofu. Let's just say Miyako is not a huge fan of the tofu, although she did eat half a jar of it tonight. Maybe she is getting used to it. But it will be nice to have a few Gerber foods on stock for the nights she does not want her fish and tofu. I was very encouraged by meeting with this family today and making some new friends in the area.

I think Miyako has adjusted to jet lag as she took a typical afternoon nap like she does at home...cry for 45 minutes, sleep for 45 minutes and cry for another 45 minutes. How I already miss those solid 3 hour jet lag naps! After her nap we took a stroll in the neighborhood and got caught in the rain so I had to put my running legs on to get Miyako back before she got too wet. She just laughed as the rain came down on her little feet. As most of you reading this are just now starting your day, we are getting ready to eat supper and watch a movie on the computer with some take out. Kind of sounds like we just went to Wah Mei and the movie rental store in our neighborhood except tonight we went to Hotto Motto and brought along Fever Pitch from our own blockbuster movie collection.

I had a fun Skype moment today with my friend Natasha in Ukraine. It was 6PM for me and 11AM for her. I love Skype. It was great because I could show her our apartment and our view...two friends who met in Belarus, live in Ukraine and the US and talked while one of us is in Tokyo. Amazing.

I will end with some Miyako moments of the day - while I was feeding her today she took my earring out and put it in her mouth. Yes, I was a tad bit scared. The child puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She also took about 4 steps on her own and looked up at me with the biggest smile. She is so proud of herself and it is so stinkin cute. Finally, I told her to go get her ball and she said "Baaaa" and went and got it. Smart girl.

Tomorrow is calling for rain all day which is a bummer because we really wanted to go to Disneyland. I am hoping I wake up in the morning to a surprise of sunshine and we can take Miyako to see Mickey Mouse Tokyo style.

Good night all.