Father-Son Day

Tomomi, R., and D. took off for Kyoto today. Today was my last day of classes so I can't leave until tomorrow. T. decided to stay back and hang out with me. There's no telling how long he'll be into spending time with Dad so I made the most of it. We played some chess, cooked together (reheated together is more like it I guess), and watched Prince Caspian.

What an excellent movie! I liked everything about it except the Susan-Caspian romance stuff which was nowhere in Lewis's original book. I also thought that the disagreements between Caspian and Peter were overdone.

Edmund was just cool, especially when he stopped the necromancy session and when he popped Peter's arm back into place while Peter was beginning to get sentimental.

After the movie, T. asked why Aslan didn't just come and help from the beginning. That led to a short, yet meaningful discussion about why God allows evil to continue. Gotta love C. S. Lewis.

Proto-Website for New Hope International School

I blogged earlier this month about New Hope Preschool's plans to expand into an elementary school and beyond. Well, we now have a location for the school, at least on the internet. We have acquired a domain and put up some information on a rudimentary website. Please check it out.

www.newhopeschool.net

Christmas and "The Little Prince"

I'm reading The Little Prince with T and R at bedtime these days and I want to share a passage from what we read last night. Christmas is a great time to slow down and focus on the important things in life. Sometimes though, I start to feel more like the lamplighter whose world is spinning faster and faster. Read on and see if you identify too.

When the little prince reached this planet, he greeted the lamplighter respectfully. "Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?"

"Orders," the lamplighter answered. "Good morning."

"What orders are those?"

"To put out my streetlamp. Good evening." And he lit his lamp again.

"But why have you just lit your lamp again?"

"Orders."

"I don't understand," said the little prince.

"There's nothing to understand," said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning." And he put out his lamp. Then he wiped his forehead with a red-checked handkerchief. "It's a terrible job I have. It used to be reasonable enough. I put the lamp out mornings and lit it after dark. I had the rest of the day for my own affairs, and the rest of the night for sleeping."

"And since then orders have changed?"

"Orders haven't changed," the lamplighter said. "That's just the trouble! Year by year the planet is turning faster and faster, and orders haven't changed!"

"Which means?"

"Which means that now that the planet revolves once a minute, I don't have an instant's rest. I light my lamp and turn it out once every minute!"

"That's funny! Your days here are one minute long."

"It's not funny at all," the lamplighter said. "You and I have already been talking to each other for a month."

"A month?"

"Yes. Thirty minutes. Thirty days! Good evening." And he lit his lamp."

Christmas is a time to decide if we want to buy into the idea that we have to keep up with the whirling society around us. A time to question "orders," that leave us exhausted and always behind. A time to rediscover the place that is Silent and Holy, Calm and Bright. A time to be in the presence of Jesus.

New Hope Narimasu Kids' Christmas Party

Today was New Hope Narimasu's annual Kids' Christmas party. Several wonderful volunteers from the church and the preschool put together a fun day for 150 kids in the community.

Kids fished for candy canes,

made silver bell ornaments,

got their faces and hands painted,

 tossed rings for juice,

and stuck the nose on a snowman.

They saw and heard the Christmas story,

and blew out a candle on Jesus' birthday cake.

The big guy even came to celebrate with us.

A big thank you to everyone who served!

Preschool Christmas Party

The preschool's Christmas party was today. The kids had made decorations and candy cane cookies.

We played Christmas bingo. R helped D while T read a book.

Everyone made graham cracker cookie houses.

Here's how D's turned out, with some help from R.

 Looking good!

From these pictures, it looks like my kids were the only ones at the party. There were actually about twenty others.  I'll post pictures of the other kids and more about what we did on the preschool blog later.

Olmec and Maya Exhibition in Tokyo

There's an exhibition of Olmec and Mayan artifacts in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro running just until this Sunday. It's not my typical thing, but we just studied about those civilizations a couple weeks ago in homeschool. If we're done with church early enough, we may go, if only to see the giant Olmec head, which is not to be confused with the Easter Island head from  Night at the Museum. (Hey Dum Dum! You give me gum gum!)

Olmec Head

Easter Island Head

Remainders (12/15)

The ESV Study Bible (read about why it's my favorite) is coming out in a smaller version in January 2011. Good news for those of us who aren't professional weight-lifters.

Not only can you now be signed in to multiple google accounts simultaneously (work and personal for example), but now you can also grant one account access to another.

Go figure! A New York Times article says, "Teachers whose students described them as skillful. . . are often the same teachers whose students learn the most in the course of a year, as measured by gains on standardized test scores" That study cost $45 million. At least it wasn't tax money.


Pastor Mark Driscoll shares in the Washington Post how he and his wife talk to their children about Santa Claus. Same ideas as Tomomi's and mine, but he says it much better.

Do you know how to tie your shoes?

There's a 50-50 chance that you don't tie your shoes correctly. So which knot do you tie--the reef knot (yay) or the granny knot (boo)? Read more on my page about how to tie shoes.

reef knot

granny knot

Giant Whale Photo Exhibition in Tokyo

This exhibition of life-size whale photos looks amazing. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll make it by the time it ends on December 18, but if anyone goes, please let me know what you think.

'Eye to Eye With The Whale: New Tales About Whales' is an exhibition featuring life-size photographs of whales taken by California photographer Bryant Austin. Austin’s photographs will be accompanied by an audio element – the songs of whales. The exhibition will also feature the stunning animations of Kawai Haruyoshi, the foremost Japanese illustrator of marine mammals. There will be exciting video footage of whales from whale watching communities around Japan.

Details at beautifulwhale.com.

New Hope Yokohama

Pastor Toru Majima gave a great message at New Hope Narimasu this morning. He and his wife, Kozue, were our first friends in Tokyo. They put us for a few weeks when we arrived until we found our own apartment. He was one of the founding Pastors of New Hope Tokyo eleven years ago. six years ago he was sent out to plant New Hope Yokohama, a church that began with ten members and has now grown to about 250. Toru and Kozue love God and serve their church faithfully.

Our families don't see each other much any more, but we can always pick up right where we left off. If you are looking for a great international church in Yokohama, check out New Hope Yokohama.