Simple Life

It is Halloween weekend and we are spending it in Lake Chelan. We come to the lake every summer, but this is our first time being here in the fall. This may be my new favorite place to be this time of year. It is absolutely beautiful here, the colors of all the leaves and the crisp bite to the air really make it feel like fall. We are enjoying our daily walks into town, the occasional leaf fight, and some quality family time. Yesterday we took the kids to a local farm where we went on a hayride to the back of the orchard and ran through a corn maze. The next stop was at a row of Ambrosia apple trees where we could pick all we wanted to take home. We were encouraged to sample the apples, straight from the trees. That apple yesterday had to be the best apple I've ever had. Standing in the orchard, sun warming us in the cold air, shoulder to shoulder with the farmer. Amazing. So many people never get to experience anything that simple, yet wonderful. It was great. Next, o...

I haven't written in a while - there's been a lot going on in the Ostrer lives, and not much at the same time. For starters, we are still in the US, and will be through November. We are being told that our paperwork should all be done by then and we should see Japan by December. We are hoping that this is accurate! There have been a few small silver linings to us being here now. While we'd rather be away doing our thing, we have to look for the bright side! My parents had decided to move about a year ago but hadn't found the right house until now. Since we've been here we've packed, packed, and packed some more. Jason has been amazing! I would only expect him to work this hard and be this patient for his own parents. I'm sure my folks would have gotten it all done without us, but I think that in a small way, we've helped. On the 7 th of October, Todd Ostrer , a cousin of Jason's, passed away at the age of 43. Todd had been recovering from...

Today we took the kids to a jumpy place - not sure what it's called, but it's a big room full of blow up slides and jumpers for the kids to play on. I sat in the corner, quietly re-reading "The Shack" while the kids ran around playing, bouncing, racing, and basically just letting loose. There were a couple really great moments in that 90 minutes of play time. At one point I looked up to see Lily being the first born that she is. She had taken it upon herself to befriend a 2 year old and help her climb on all the toys and play safely. Sitting and watching her I could just see the mother or teacher that she will become, and be so great at it. She is a natural nurturer, which I sometimes mistake for maturity. She is a motherer , but that doesn't mean that she doesn't still need a mother too. She is only nine. Sometimes I struggle between pushing her to grow and mature, and recognizing the little girl she still is. Later, Lily and Jaxon were both playing...

Yesterday, or the day before, marked two weeks that Jason, the kids, and I have been back in the US. We are here for an undetermined amount of time, waiting patiently (...sort of...) for our work Visas. We are living at my mother's house (who is in the process of packing to move in two weeks...) with nothing of our own. We are using her things, eating her food, driving her car. We homeless, feeling a little listless, and a lot pointless. It is hard to find inspiration in waiting. We have small tasks that we can work on each day - but nothing that actually creates momentum. All that we want each day is to receive that email that says our paperwork is on the way and that we will be returning to Japan soon. It is hard to sit here, in a holding pattern of sorts, just waiting to go back to living. Aside from not feeling any sense of accomplishment, there is a sense of slipping backward. We were gone only a month, but in that time a lot of adjusting happened. Lil had almost sto...

Our lives are what they are because of the choices that we make; and to a lesser extent the choices that those around us make. Occasionally when I am feeling a little romantic, or lazy even, I allow myself to subscribe to the thought of a master plan full of destiny and fate where our choices aren't as elemental in our lives. It all just happens like it's supposed to. Of course, I don't know which is the real direction that our lives follow, it could be a symbiotic relationship of both. We spent the weekend in Yakima with a few of our closest friends. It turns out that 2 days is not nearly enough time. When we left a month ago, we assumed it was for at least a year. We made a clean break and said our farewells. Going back was certainly bittersweet. We absolutely loved the weekend and our time with everyone, but now we are sad and mourning all over again. I'm not sure if there was a great lesson in any of this but either way, we went, we saw, and we drug our tir...

There is a city near us in Kanonji called Marugame. It is about a 40 minute drive on a good day, despite being relatively close. The roads on the island of Shikoku are a lot like Highway 99 at home, congested with businesses and traffic light after traffic light. It also doesn't help that the maximum speed limit is 50 km/hr. That's equivalent to about 35 mph. Anyway, Marugame is a great city, a lot larger than ours with everything you could possibly need. One of the cool features of the city is castle built up on a hill. It was started in 1587 and evolved over time. It has been preserved and is now a museum of sorts. Being one of only 12 wooden castles left standing is Japan, it is a big tourist draw. The castle sits high on a hill with stone walls protecting the hill. Inside the castle are little holes that guardians of the castle could open, slide out a gun, and shoot any intruders. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

We spent Lily's birthday as a family, not really doing much. One fun little detail - we went to her favorite beach to hang out for the evening and watch the sunset. We were all out in the water, waist deep for Jason and I, and a giant swarm of fish came at us. I know that fish swim in schools, not swarms, but this was certainly more of a swarm. These little fishling things that were only an inch or so long came swimming toward us. There had to be thousands of them. They were very active, jumping out of the water over and over. In hindsight, it was pretty cool. However, at the time I was having visions of tiny little Japanese Piranhas attacking, ninja style of course.