Volleyball, rugby, basketball, Emiko's story

 

They did this thing at Jr. High where they asked the kids why they mattered. So this is what Yuki said. I couldn't stop laughing. She's such a dork. It's true. She does love food. I think they wanted a more serious answer though. 

She decided to play volleyball and got into the A team. Here she is playing for her team.

I'm unsure why their shorts have to be so short, but whatever I guess. She loves it.

Another sweet serve.

Here they are getting some advice. She has a really good coach, so that's everything.

Then Masaru had his first rugby game. We captured some video's of him in his position.

He enjoys his team so that's great.

Then Yuki's playing bball as well. It wasn't supposed to be at the same time but because of covid it ended up going on at the same time. She loves both.

She does really well but she doesn't love her coach too much so that sucks. She's trying to work and learn the best she can though.

Takeshi

Mum went and visited Daisho and his family and Ryotaro and his wife. Here's a pic of them. Super cute.

Cute story that Emiko did. Love it.

Easter 2021

 So obviously I haven't blogged in a while and have a ton to catch up on. I dunno what happened. I guess I stopped blogging hahahahaha So I'm going to do the best I can to play catch up. The goal is always one a day. So I need to remember to start doing that.

Easter was great and full of all the things we love. I made Easter Eggs like my mother makes.

This is what I wrote about my feelings about Easter and Jesus at this time: 

Part of the reason why I love Jesus so much is because he saw the people in the margins and worked mostly with them. If I’m going to claim to be a believer and a follower of Christ I have to look at the people in the margins who we ignore because of various reasons that are our own. When I was at the house a shalom the other night working with these girls who’ve been trafficked, I told them that I didn’t understand why sometimes people are given different hands in life. Most of these girls didn’t stand a chance from the beginning. Yet I had a life of love, food, safety and education. I was feeling guilty for my hand verses theirs and one of the girls said to me “Melissa you’re here, you see us and you tell people about us, you don’t ignore us and look away because it’s a tough subject that people don’t want to hear. Just the fact that your here is everything to us. You could just stay in your bubble of safety” This hit home to me and I lost it. There’s a number of reasons for us to do our part to include all those who are pushed to the margins. The love, service, growth, healing and learning we gain is endless. Jesus knew this, he practiced this. Jesus doesn’t push anyone to the margins. He includes all and we can try as well in our own unique ways. A society that includes those that are usually ignored is a society I want to be a part of. I can’t do it all. Actually I can’t do much with the responsibilities of life, but I’m grateful to the example of Jesus and for his love and life. It helps me to strive to be a better person always, to love myself fiercely and to love others just as fierce.

I made hotcross buns cause they're awesome. They turned out awesome, cause they're awesome.

We also dyed eggs this year and they turned out awesome too.

It was a great weekend together. As always.

Love these guys.

Masaru's machining, Kyle's podcast, Mtbing finds and a quote

 

Here's Masaru's latest build in his precision machining class. He's really good at it. He was in class with all his buddies. But his birthday went all pear shaped after him and his mates misbehaved and he's slowly losing all his mates. It was pretty hard to watch.

Dru and I don't get out mtbing much but when we do, I always slow him down. I don't seem to be getting faster no matter how much I bike. So whatever. Endurance isn't my strong point. Never was.

I wonder if I have something wrong with my body? Like if I have some kind of defect that stops me from being able to progress endurance wise? Cause you'd think that I'd improve right? But I never do. It's so strange to me. I get down about it. I'm glad we got out together.

Here I am with Hilary at one of the most beautiful views on any trail. It looks like nothing here, but if you saw it with me, you'd see.

We found this gross carcus.  I mean what is it? We stared and stared at it for ages and couldn't figure out what on earth it was. The things you see on a mtb ride.

I loved this quote. What comes out of my cup when life shakes me up? I'd like to say peace and gratitude but anger comes out. So I guess I need to look at that right?

I also did my podcast with Kyle. He was amazing and his story is amazing. It was really nice to be able to interview him and have him tell his story. It's progressed even more now as he got vaccinated and his heart didn't do well with it. So he's been through hell. We've visited him and talked to him a few times and he's doing a little better but people are cruel. We love Kyle. He's always super nice and kind and deserves the best things to happen to him. I hope his recovery is a fast one.

Random Quotes, mullet and girls

 

HHere's a cute picture of Yuki and Emiko.

Side shot of Takeshi's mullet,

I was reading a book by Melinda Gates and I loved it.  Here's some of the quotes from it.

This is from another book I read too called Essentialism. It's really good.

This quote spoke to me as Masaru was going through all of his friend drama.

This was a drawing Emiko did. I'm unsure what it's about.

Dru and I got our immunizations done so we can come home to NZ.