What’s been happening and what’s coming:

Just thought I would take a minute to write about what life is looking like these days for us. We are back in full swing, with both school and English classes having started last week. Robert Stewart, Eric’s boss and the highschool teacher, had to go to the States to be with his mother during a surgery, so Eric got to be the high school class teacher for the week. He really enjoyed that. Some of his elementary students told me yesterday, though, that they were happy to have him back this week. I was excited to see that my Tuesday kids class has grown by 3 students this semester, 2 of whom have never had any association with church before now. I also help with Oyako Club (mom and kids club) 2 mornings a month, and yesterday we had a mother and daughter who came to church for the first time to a Christmas event and have decided to join the Oyako club. Its exciting to see fruit from the hard work many people put in to do the Christmas outreaches, and I’m thankful that we serve a God who really does the work – in the hearts of poeple. We only have a few more weeks of IMPACT before the college students take their spring holiday and several of our students graduate. We are excited for a new school year to start, along with some new vision/strategy in this ministry, but we are also trying to enjoy the time we have left with the students who will graduate. You can pray for Eric as he will be giving the talk this Friday (he offered to do it in Japanese but one of the Japanese staff said she could translate. Eric thought that was better, as now he can make it more than 2 or 3 sentences long…)

Noa and the baby are both doing well. Noa continues to be on the brink of walking but not quite there. Martha is making it hard for me to sleep at night but continues to be very active and, from what I can tell, healthy and comfortable. Its hard to believe that d-date is only five and a half weeks away!

Our big excitement before she arrives, though, is what we are calling Iverfest 2008. Starting on Friday, my siblings and their families who are not here will begin arriving. We will have one full week with everyone home in Japan for the first time in about 7 years. Danny and Kimberly and their kids, Daniel Josiah and Trinity will be staying with us for almost three weeks starting on Friday. We cannot wait to see them and get some good time with them. Eric and Danny were good friends at JMU before I started there, and Kimberly and I were roommates for two years, so we’re sure to have a great time being together, and we are thrilled for the kids to get to be together too. Daniel Josiah and Noa and Trinity are all 10 months apart, so I’m sure their interactions will be entertaining to say the least. This will also be our first time to meet Trinity, as she was born just a few days before we left for Japan. Then, on Tuesday Jonathan and Maggie will get here with Annie, the newest addition and another cousin who we can’t wait to meet. On Wednesday Joel and Mary Stuart will come and then Martha will arrive on Sunday. Starting that Sunday, our week of family reunion will begin and we are so excited. We will go to the mountains in Nagano for a few days, and just enjoy being here together once more. Also, I just LOVE my sisters-in-law and can’t wait for some good girl time. It will be great for them and the kids to experience Japan for the first time!

So anyway, that is what we are looking forward to, starting Friday. We will take time off to go to the mountains and be with the family that one week, too, which will be great. I’ll try to post pictures as our visitors arrive and we spend time together, but I am not making any promises For now, Mom, Noa, and I are off to Costco to stock up for the multitudes.

Tags: IverFam, Japan, Martha, ministries, Noa, Prayer Requests