Positively Blessed

Sorry for the lull in blog posts.  We are resurfacing.  Feeling a little more like we can get through each day.  Overwhelmed, confused, unsettled....all feelings that have dominated our days.  Whether it is trying to remember how to use my debit card or what my zip code is, or trying to figure out how to buy cell phones and set up garbage pick up or whether it is standing overwhelmed with glazed over eyes in the cereal and bread isle.  Or whether it is just praying for and rallying around my boys in their struggles to settle in and be American teens in an American High School.  Add to that not having our great daddy and great husband around.  Reverse culture shock has just about flattened us. 

I strive to be honest and positive in this blog.  Sometimes what is honestly happening in my heart and mind is too raw for even me to admit aloud.  But in the midst of transitioning this missionary family to America, the unchanging positive that we have clung to each day is Jesus. His grace, His Word and His Help.  He gives us songs to sing in the night and carries us through.

So, in the light of trying to focus on the positive...here are just a few of the little blessings that American soil brings to this nomadic family of teenage boys.

Several loads of laundry washed AND dried in half an evening.  It never ceases to amaze me.  What luxury.

A private, quiet yard...a respite throughout the day.  A few minutes swinging here rocks my cares away.

 Food.  Not only easy-to-make-meals and affordable-fast-food-around-the-corner, but ready-to-go healthy snacks like Triskets. beef jerky, granola bars, apple sauce and tortillas.  Life is so convenient here.  And who wouldn't love all the fresh and affordable fruits and veggies at the store and down the road.

Greener than green grass and Bluer than blue sky!    I have to admit it is a little disconcerting how very un-blue that Tokyo sky we breath is.  Hmmm.  Better not to think about it.

A chance to play American football and all the American ambiance that comes along with it, some super great and some not so great, but the experience has stretched us and grown us all.  Oh course, cheering on my boy's HS team is just too fun.