We arrived at my house around 8:30pm. Mom made chocolate peanut butter balls...YUM. On the way up we had dinner at a Subway that was in a place called Reptile Land. We ate outside where there was a peacock roaming around waiting for us to drop him a few crumbs. While taking his picture I had the great honor of stepping in peacock poop. (I think I prefer to stick to traditional Subways from now on.)

Some things I have missed about my hometown... seeing green fields and trees in every direction, lots of stars in the sky and no city lights to block them out. Some things I haven't missed...roadkill everywhere, and the smell of cow manure!

One week of our vacation is already over! The last 3 days we have spent with our good friends Roger and Jennifer Tipton. We went to Washington DC yesterday and toured the Air and Space museum and the Natural History museum. Then we walked up to the Washington Monument and on to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans memorial. Imagine our shock when we ran into an entire group of Navy men from Aomori in Japan at the Lincoln Memorial. We tried to get Katie to chat (in Japanese) with one of them, but she was shy, so I had to do all the talking. They are apparently doing some work in San Diego and just came out to DC on a good will tour. He said they have another month in the States before going back home.

Last night Jen and I watched The Wedding Planner which I bought at BJ's for $8.99 (DVD!), almost as cheap as renting... ($4.29 at Blockbuster)... it was funny and cute. Tonight will be Maid in Manhattan which Jen assures me is just as good.

Tomorrow we head to NY, but first we stop by the hospital to welcome our new nephew into the world. (Mark's sister Kimberly is having a C section) Saturday is my family reunion which is always fun!

We arrived in Maryland yesterday evening after a very long day. Our flights went well, but as we were pulling away from the Baltimore airport, I discovered that my wallet wasn't in my bag. I had it at Narita, but it could have gotten lost anywhere along the way after that. I keep thinking how many times I had to lay my bag on its side to go through an x-ray machine and how easy it would be for my wallet to fall out! (The things we think about when it is too late!) I was carrying quite a lot of cash, not to mention Driver's licenses (States and Japan), credit and debit cards, and my military ID. We have been praying hard and making lots of phone calls trying to locate it, but so far we haven't heard anything. I love what one of my Japanese friends said... "I am praying that your wallet will find you", at this point this seems a lot more likely than me finding my wallet. I love that I can trust that the Lord knows exactly what He is doing even when it doesn't make a bit of sense to my human reasoning!

It is nearly midnight, tomorrow we take the 9am shuttle for Narita Airport. Mark and the kids are in bed and I am just picking up the house a bit and waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can put the last minute things in the dryer. Just over 24 hours and we will be landing in Baltimore!

I just added a link to our churches website... it is in the upper right of this page and it says Grace Christian Fellowship. Check it out!

Yesterday, Pastor Jonathan taught from Galatians chapter 6:1-5. You know it was a good message when you can still remember most of it the next day! Ha. Actually it was so good I wanted to post what I learned...

If I discover a brother in sin, I should restore (fix, repair, put back together) (not accuse, condemn, or judge) him in a spirit of gentleness (being careful not to add any more damage to that that has already been done). I wonder why is it so much easier to accuse, condemn and judge?

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ . God designed my load to be light enough that I can help other’s with theirs.

The law of Christ is to love God and love one another. Helping to bear another’s burden is love. Accusing, condemning, and judging actually makes a person's burden heavier, not lighter!

If there is anything good in me it comes from having Jesus Christ in my life. If I compare the good in my life to the good in someone elses I am just comparing Christ to Christ… in the same way my sin is not any different, better, or worse than someone elses sin. Sin is sin. It all leads to death. There is no sense in comparing myself with others. I need to examine my own life and my own relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord help me to do more restoring and more burden bearing, and a lot less accusing, condemning and judging!

It didn't really feel like we were going home until today. Mark pulled the suitcases down and I started packing. I am a pretty light packer so it isn't really a big deal for me. I also went to Mapquest and printed out some driving directions. We are going to be doing a LOT of driving. We start out in Maryland, go to DC, then to New York, then to 2 different places in Virginia, a day trip to North Carolina, back to Virginia, then back to Maryland. Some things we are really looking forward to ... (besides spending time with our wonderful families!)

Mark's sister Kim will have her second baby boy while we are home,
Meeting our niece Carissa (2 1/2) and our nephew Trey (1 1/2) for the very first time
Visiting our old church in North Carolina and seeing the kids that were in our youth group (who are now young adults!!)
Seeing our dear friends and old neighbors Roger and Jennifer Tipton (oh how we miss them!!)

One thing that is so fun about being in Japan is seeing new believers learn and grow in their faith. Everything is so new and fresh to them. Unlike many Americans, they haven't "heard it all before". They are like sponges, wanting to soak up everything they can. When the Holy Spirit teaches them something new their excitement is contagious. Someone said it is like watching your child learn to walk. We walk ourselves all the time and walking is no big deal to us, but watching your baby do it for the first time is wonderful and exciting. Watching new believers grow up in the Lord is also wonderful and exciting.

Yesterday and today we have been doing construction work on the upstairs of the church. We had a back room that wasn't being used because it needed a floor. So Mark, Paul, Jonathan, a new single guy named Michael and I built a floor. It is really incredible how God has given us the privelege of building the church, both physically and spiritually.