What a week!

And I am absolutely too tired to write it all again! Perhaps next week…

Going on a retreat this weekend with some other cool Christians!! WAY excited. And when I come back, only 3.5 more weeks.

I am liking these smaller numbers.

Asashorju is 11-0!!!  He rocks my face off!!

Jared is still… amazing.

(Does anyone know another word for amazing that implies the same amount of fantasticness? I don’t even think ‘fantasticness’ is a word. . . it should be.)

Four more weeks….

Life is good.

Asashorju is 8-0… he just might be the first Sumo wrestler EVER to win all 6  tournaments in a year.

Jared… is amazing.

A couple of amazing things have happened lately…

1. Last Thursday, I went to dinner with a group of Japanese women, and talked about boys! (Well, Jared…) It was just like being back home!!!

2. I went on a HIKE, a real honest to goodness hike up a mountain on Sunday with a group of Christians… and had, for the first time since I got here, REAL Christian fellowship!!!

3. SUMO STARTED SUNDAY!!!!! (Enough said)

4. I got to talk to Megan (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HER!!), Jared AND my mom last night!! A treat in the middle of the week!

5. I went into my closet today to find appropriate attire to perform a concert in, and put on the first pair of black pants I remember not being so tight I would pop a button if I sat down. The amazing part???

                 They are now too BIG!!!! ( And I wore them anyway.)

6. I participated in the Culture Day Festival at my school today. Which meant I got to watch my students sing, play instruments… and THEN I got to stand up and play an oboe solo in a song that all the teachers sang…. and it actually sounded ok!!

On the agenda for tonight?? Partying it up with the other teachers at an enkai…

God has really blessed me…

And the countdown to Christmas continues.

Wow… another week has gone by. God has been such a friend to let the time at least feel like it is moving quickly. Perhaps He has just given me more to do so that it FEELS like it is moving faster. Yes, I think that is it.

It is kind of funny thinking about Christmas already. I mean, yeah I have been thinking about the Christmas time frame of December since July… but I mean, really thinking about Christmas. For example, over the past week I have begun purchasing Christmas decorations (which I will not allow myself to put up until November 23, the Japanese day for Thanksgiving here), I bought Christmas cards last Thursday and plan to write those to family sometime this weekend. (Planning ahead is essential, since it will probably take about 2 weeks for anything I send to get there.) And it has finally happened!!! I have become my mother, as I search each store that has plants for the perfect poinsettia.

But do you know what the best part about Christmas is this year? (And no, I wasn’t going to say the fact that I am coming home, even though it is a pretty great part.) The best part about Christmas this year is that, for the first time since before college, and maybe even the year of high school that I worked during Christmas… I have no stress about the season. There are no grumpy holiday shoppers that I have to help, no exams, papers, theory grades to worry about. This year I feel like the spirit of Christmas has finally been able to come inside of me again. And that, my friends, is a pretty great feeling! Even if it is only November 8th.

As for Japan… (and I don’t mean to make that sound as an after thought, since it is a prevalent part of my life…) things are going pretty well. I gave my first lesson today about Thanksgiving in America. And I was late getting to my first class. GAH! But other than the feeling of failure a perfectionist gets often when a small failure occurs… I have prevailed, gave my second class a much  better performance and took my bow. Life in general is pretty great! I have officially lost 6 kgs since I have been in Japan. That is a little more than 12 pounds… maybe almost 13 pounds. That makes me happy. I am 99% recovered from the cold I had last week. YAY! And I have the greatest boyfriend ever. I mean really… I REALLY do!

Ok, thought for the day:

Have you ever pictured being in a time in the future where you would be thinking back to the day that you thought about it in the past? Think about that.