Girl's Photo Shoot

Going to the doctor

Even going to the doctor can be a challenge here in Japan. We took the kids to a clinic in Tokyo where they gave shots in American dosages and on the American schedule. This was quite an adventure for us. We took four trains/subways to get there, a big feat for us as a family.

The girls were very excited to ride on all of the trains! They even saw Tokyo Disney Land from the train. Cinderella's castle is always a favorite!

It was fun to bring the kids to the doctor's office that I went to every week at the end of my pregnancy with Calvin. Olivia and Calvin did very well with their shots. We finished our time with victory ice cream from McDonalds!

It took us two hours to get there and two to get home. We were all tired, as you can tell. This is Jon and Calvin sleeping on the train home. It was a fun adventure as a family.

Matsuri - Japanese Festival

We went to a local matsuri with our neighbor and her daughter.
We happened to be babysitting Noa and Martha Noll.
We thought we were crazy to be going to a festival with five children,
but we tried it. Thankfully, kids did really well.
They all had many things to see and do.

It was so interesting to see all of the group songs,
dances and performance the 3-5 year olds did.
Japan is such a group oriented society
and this begins from a very young age.

Many of the girls were dressed up in little yukata (lightweight summer kimonos).
They were so cute!

These kids were beating the drums in a special pattern.
Every child had a chance to beat the drum with the teacher,
but they all beat the drum in the same pattern.


We definitely stood out at the festival.
We were the only foreigners and we had five cute little ones.
Anytime I looked up, I saw multiple eyes upon us
and several people even took pictures of the kids!

At the end the girls brought these water-balloon yo-yos home.
It was such fun to go to this festival and enter into Japanese culture.

Pink Baseball Gloves

Our good friends sent us these pink baseball gloves
along with a pink baseball from the States.
The girls have had so much fun playing baseball with each other.

Who knew that baseball gloves came in pink?

Thank you so much Driskell family!

calvin's first big photo shoot

Calvin is now five months old! Where does the time go?
He smiles so easily and truly brightens up our lives.
We are so very blessed!

Having professional pictures taken in Japan is a little bit different,
and expensive, so we did our own photo shoot at our house.
My good friend, Sara-Beth, came over with her camera
and sweet girls to take pictures.
We were a good team...she took the pictures and I made the babies smile.
Calvin and Martha are only 10 days apart in age and are too cute together!
Enjoy the pictures!

Making Sushi for Eric's Birthday

We had fun celebrating our fellow missionary and friend, Eric.
The girls enjoyed making their own sushi. Yum!

Check out all of the sushi toppings!

We finished the night with a wonderful ice cream tower cake!

"Volunteering" in Japan

By God's grace, we've been building momentum over the last few months in getting to know students. This last weekend, we tried something new to break out of our normal routines, and challenge students to look at their world a little differently. We took a small group into Tokyo to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank. It was a great experience!
We worked from 10:30am to 4:00pm, preparing, serving, and cleaning up. It was fun and group building to prepare the meals from donated ingredients (from Costco Japan, etc.).
We then took the train to Ueno Park in Tokyo, where we were all amazed to find ~550 homeless lined up and waiting to receive food from Second Harvest.
It was a hot day, but we were blessed that our part of the serving line stayed in the shade the whole time! :)
Ueno Park is over an hour trip from us, but we had a great time. The experience deepened our relationships with each other, and provided opportunities for types of conversations that don't normally come up during lunch break on campus!

Pray with us that God will use this experience, and others like this (we hope to do in the future), to open students hearts to the power and truth of the gospel - through the deepened relationships formed through serving together.

Our Pastor's family

It has been such a pleasure to partner with our pastor, Dedachi-san, at Oyumino Alive Church. Usually, one of the two of us leads worship, with the other one translating into either English or Japanese. We're far from perfect translators, but we have lots of fun trying!
We had the opportunity to have Dedachi-san's 5 kids over for an evening so he and his lovely wife get out for a much needed dinner date (before #6 is born!)
Sarah helped the kids make chocolate chip cookies. They really got into it, and it gave them something to take home, too. :)

Dedachi-san is quite an experienced Dad, and he showed off some of his tricks on how to make babies laugh!
Please pray for their family as they prepare for the joy AND busyness of a new addition. Pray that God would give Dedachi-san energy, balance, wisdom, and grace as he continues his many roles at Oyumino Alive and serves his wife and family.

Girl's Night!!!

Last Friday night we had a Girls Only Party.

The girls wanted to learn how to decorate fun cakes,
so they chose a bear cake.

They were quick at picking up the technique!

Calvin always enjoys having girls over.
He gets held a little more than usual!

Such sweet girls

The finished product! We were all very proud of our work! Good job girls!