Scrapbook Day - September 11, 2011

So, I really kind of wish I had not chosen the 11th of the month to do my scrapbook day. I found it fitting since we are in the year 2011, but after March 11th being such a tragic day here in Japan, and September 11th being such a tragic day in the US, I feel like the 11th of each month is destruction day and I wait for something else terrible to happen. I will be honest, I am glad I was in Tokyo for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. Part of me wishes I would have been back in the US to feel the sense of unity that was described, but the other part of me is glad I am here so I did not have to watch news coverage 24 hours of that horrible horrible day. We all remember where we were when that happened. I am not going to recreate my story of that day here in the blog post. Instead, I will be honest in that I did not want to think about it on the anniversary. It is not that I want to forget. How can we ever forget? But I have seen enough devastation this year and been through enough with surviving the worst earthquake in the history of Japan, that I bypassed thinking about more horrible past experiences. Not sure if this makes sense, but it is where I am. I did think and pray for those who lost loved ones, those serving our country, and the people in my life specifically who were lost in the World Trade Center attack and my dear friends' husband who faithfully serves our country and has spent countless days in the Middle East for my freedom. But that is about all I did - I did not watch any news on the sling box. I did not buy any books about people's stories from that day. I really wanted some happy thoughts.

It was another typical Sunday for us. We hung out at home in the morning and then went to church in the afternoon. I had nursery duty so I was with the kiddos. We walked home from church, grabbed a Happy Meal for dinner to share, ate dinner, and went to bed. Nothing real fancy on 9/11/2011 this year for us. Kei is rolling around more and more. He gets from his tummy to his back but cannot get himself back to his tummy. I usually have to help him once in the middle of the night to keep him asleep. I realized I need to start making some friends with babies. All he does is hang out with Miyako's friends and tags along. But I think I need to find a play group with babies so he has some friends too. The picture on the post is from yesterday when his little girlfriend came over - they were trying to hold hands. It was cute. Here is another recent picture of Miyako - she was lined up with all of her animals for a music concert. Who is the performer? Me! She wants me to play her piano. And finally, I tried to get a good picture of the sunset on the 11th. Now that it is closer to fall, even though still very hot, the sky is a bit clearer and I am getting some nice views of Fuji-san. I do not know the appropriate settings for my camera, but the sunset the other night was gorgeous with Fuji-san in the background.

Another scrapbook day is finished - I wonder what October 11th will hold for us this year. Hard to believe 2011 is almost over!