Meet the Machiya's!

This weekend, Chi invited her roommate, Takako, and me to come to her house in Niigata, a town about 9 hours north of Osaka. We took an overnight bus to her hometown and stayed at family's house for three days. Here are the Machiyas...Mom, Azumi, Rai the Dog, Lin, Chi, and Yuki. Mom is a major Olivia Newton John fan, loves to cook, and takes as many pictures as the paparazzi. Azumi is the second oldest, lives near Tokyo, and loves to dance. Rai the Dog lives with Azumi, has a wardrobe of clothes, is bilingual, and loves edamae. Lin is the youngest of the four, the only son, lives away at school about an hour away from Niigata, and has no underarm hair. Chi is the third child, has the same face as Lin, lives in Osaka, and often invades my house. Yuki is the oldest, lives with Mom, has a handsome boyfriend, and is a musician.

We saw so much of Niigata while we there...we ate yummy Niigata food, walked around the town, went to a park, went to the Sea of Japan, went to a second hand store, rode a two hour ferry out to Sado Island, dug for gold, stayed up late having a pajama party, went to an art museum, and ate lots of edamae. I took so many pictures, so here's a slide show of my trip to Niigata. Thank you, Chi-chan, for inviting me to see your family and hometown!!!

Introducing Prince Hisahito!

No pictures yet of the little bundle of joy, but in an official naming ceremony yesterday, the newest prince of Japan was named Hisahito. He is third in line to become emperor of Japan after his grandfather and his uncle. I've been keeping up with the news surrounding the birth of this baby, and it's funny because my friends here seem disinterested in little Hisahito's birth. I, on the other hand, have become somewhat obsessed with him. I am praying for this little baby so hard...praying that someday God will place someone in his life who will share the truth with him, praying that someday he will come to understand what Christ did for him on the cross, praying that God will use him to bring other Japanese to faith in Him. Little Hisahito is a precious gift from God...and I believe God placed him in the family he is in for a reason. So, I pray for little Hisahito.

Sometime during my youth group days in church, someone said it was important to pray for people in positions of influence. Since then, I have had numerous "obsessions" with praying for people in government and in entertainment. I have regularly prayed for Bill Clinton and then for George W. and Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. I still regularly pray for Prince William. I've went through spurts of praying for Jessica Simpson, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Sparks, Clay Aiken, and Beyonce. Currently, besides little Hisahito, I have an urge to pray for Dan Brown and Anna Nicole Smith. Mostly I pray that God will reveal Himself to them in a mighty way and that they will ache to know the Truth. I kind of have a tendency to get obsessed with people, too :).

Frisbee Fun!

Finally the weather has cooled down and beautiful autumn is on the way! We took advantage of the sweat-free afternoon and played a little Frisbee by Biwa Lake (fyi, the largest lake in Japan). We only had a small patch of grass to play in and there were trees in the way, but super fun anyway. Hajime using her go-go Gadget arm.

Here's Liz, of course, catching the Frisbee. Liz is Miss Fitness America and rocks at every sport and totally throw the Frisbee to the exact person she is aiming at.

And Okie...he was so patient with Hajime and my fumbling.

Here's me...I look like a real athlete, don't I?

Hajime has skills...Frisbee skills.

An unfortunate aim with the frisbee and the fountain.

Liz, Hajime, Okie, and me on a beautiful September day!!

Parked Cars and Old Prom Dresses

I know I have grumped about parked cars before, but recently I have just been more aware how tight and crowded it is. I've caught myself humming the Dixie Chicks song "Wide Open Spaces" several times. Last night, this car was parked in front of Liz and my house. The car is seriously ten inches away from our living room window and it's totally up in our bushes. We knew the person who owned the car so it's totally fine they parked there...only in Japan. Msn.com has an article about how to look ten years younger. Guess what their #1 tip is? Not drinking water, not exercising, not seeing your doctor regularly. Their #1 way to look ten years younger is to always maintain the weight you had when you were 18. And a good measurement is to always be able to fit into your old prom dress. Riiiight.

We have a male heir!!

Princess Kiko of Japan, who's married to the emperor's second son, gave birth today to the first male heir in Japan's Royal Family in 40 years. It's huge relief for the Royal Family, because the emperor has two sons and those two sons have only produced granddaughters thus far. And since women aren't allowed to take the throne, the birth of this little boy is exciting news in Japan. No name yet, but he's third in line to become emperor. Pray for this little boy today. Even though the Royal Family in Japan is more like the Royal Family in Britain, this little boy will someday have influence over the country. "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone-for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Hebrews 2:1-4

A Rundown of Randomness

• Blogger has recently become Beta Blogger...not really sure what that implies, but I do know that now Blogger has lots of fun new options to make your blog a little more personalized. I changed a few colors and other little details, but mostly I stayed with the same 'ole format...I like blue.
• Me and Adele have been having problems lately (Adele is my laptop...she's a Dell...get it, a Dell, Adele...hehe, I crack myself up). So for the first time since January 2005, I defragmented her and did a disk clean-up. She defragmented all night long and the next night she cleaned-up for a few hours. Let's just say that Adele and I are again friends.
• So, Mr. Bradley Mayse made me some pictures and made my dream come true to be Deb. Here's me and Napoleon at school while he waits for his uncle to pick him up.

• And Bradley made this picture of Napoleon and me. I've told Napoly over and over that I am in Japan doing missions, not modeling.

• And Saturday I went to Colin's, the missionary kid next door, basketball game. His team won and it was so much fun. We had to take off our shoes before going into the gym, both teams bowed to each other before the game started, and then the teams bowed to the coaches, the refs, and to the audience when the game was over. And Colin did so good! Here he is in his uniform...Inano is the name of our train station. And in the other pic, he just scored for his team!

Undignified
Totally crushing on Napoleon Dynamite...makes me wish I was Deb. Here's a little Napoleon and David Crowder combo.