Baby Goose

It's the season when Canada-geese are born.

There was a Canada-goose that had her babies born in the park.

Take a look at the bottoms of the two baby geese on the photo above !!

Babies are cute even if they are human and animals, aren't they?

By the way, I watched TV program explaining
what caused us to feel that babies or infants were so cute:

when it comes to the positions of eyes, a nose, and a mouth,
the proportion of a baby is horizontally longer
than that of an adult,

which makes us feel warm about babies, and triggers parental instinct.

How deep God's wisdom and thoughts are in His creation !

A Long Spring Season

We still have some chilly days,
and heaters in our apartment automatically turn on.

We are unusually having a long spring season this year.

As I was walking along the street,

I got a call on my cell phone from the lawyer
I couldn't got hold of for several days as he had been awfully busy.

I answered it and thanked him for calling me back,
bowing deeply out of joy.

After I hanged up, I said, “Yeah!” with my fist into the air.

Then I caught the eyes of the two people;

I realized I was outside !

Well, I didn’t care because I was in “Anything Goes” New York after all.

Rejoice !

Visa process for the pastor in Tokyo has restarted.

We were happy to hear that the lawyer said
that he would get to it immediately.

However, since then, he hasn't contacted us for anything for a while,
which made me wonder if he has been really working on it.

I have called him to verify it,
but he has been unavailable, being either in a interview or in a meeting
when I called him a couple of times a day.
I was discouraged by it.

When I told my husband about that
he said I should call the lawyer the first thing in the morning the following day,
and noontime and on the afternoon of the same day,
and that I should not let it carry over the following week.

I don't like to be persistent with people at all,
and it has become a pain in the neck.

However, I have rejoiced in that circumstance, and prayed about it.
My mind has been changed
not to worry about people and not to fear them.
Right away I have picked up the phone and called the lawyer.

His helpful assistant answered me and took time to listen to me
and answered everything I needed to know;
things have started to move forward !

I have learned to keep asking and knocking.

It sure has opened !

the Third Day at the Camp

We headed for San Diego to attend a seminar
brought by Rev. Merlin Carothers,
starting off early in the morning.

On the way, I enjoyed the scenery which was quite different from the one on the East Coast.
I had a role to play on the passenger's seat next to my husband in the car.

I was to navigate, but GPA really helped me to find the right way;
I was able to tell him if he was driving on the right road
or to go straight or to turn right with confidence!

Still, I was a bit worn out by a sense of speed on the freeway as if I had been driving together;

I got healed by listening to the praise seminar and eating lunch.

On the afternoon we headed back to Los Angeles.

I am thankful to God for his protection and blessing for the day.

Arrival at LAX

I wondered if the 3:00 a.m. bus was really coming.
It came !

Surprisingly, quite a number of people were on the 4:00 a.m. subway.

New York City is surely the city that never sleeps.

It’s a six-hour flight from NYC to LAX.

This flight was long enough to make up lack of sleep
and to forget about the quarrel I had with my husband early this morning.

The U.S. is really huge !



After our arrival at LAX, we drove to a relative of my husband
who lives near LA to say hello.

I experienced a thrilling ride on the freeway
to get to his house.

Now our uncle told us that he was thinking about getting baptism;
he seemed serious about it and asked us about church.
It was so grateful that we were able to drop by at his house
in such a time like this moment of his important decision.

Beginning with this happy news,
we are looking forward to the upcoming four days' camp in LA

Movie Festival

Unfortunately I couldn’t go back to Japan
to participate in Winter Christian camp
held in Hakuba, Nagano this year.

However, thanks to the website,
I really enjoyed the movies which signed up for
the movie festival in Hakuba ahead of time.

Also I’m so glad to find
that the movie of my pick won the first place!

It’s made of rough sketch pictures
with the BGM and sound effects that go very well with them;
its story is very well written!!

Take a look at the first ranking movie of Hakuba Movie Festival below,
which is titled "He is looking at you."

Preparations for future hardships

My husband has told me about Dave who visited his company today.
He works for a different engineering company.

He says he often goes to Japan on a business trip.

He had been at Fukushima until right before
Great East Japan Earthquake hit that area.
He took off Japan forty minutes before the earthquake struck.

Also in the event of Great Kobe Earthquake,
he was in Kobe driving on the express way.
He was also protected then.
Incredible!！

His story has reminded me of being watchful
and being prepared in prayer for hardships in future.

Count Down in Times Square

The New Year's Eve in NY is famous for the count down in Times Square.
The place is packed with people this year as well.

Three major TV stations broadcast live that celebration.

As the clock strikes 12:00, cheers and Confetti fill the air.
This kind of revelry is performed
only in a limited section of the city;
People at large lead a daily life as always.

Since the new year of our church begins in Nov. 2011,
I don't really stick at the new year's celebration
and haven't cared about fixing OSECHI (Japanese New Year's dishes) which has disappointed my husband.

What I have realized anew as we entered the new year in Nov. was
that God is truly the heavenly Father who loves us, cares for us,
and leads and guides us and disciplines us.

He responds to us who ask Him;
He comes closer to us when we get close to Him.

(This is the aerial fire work in the new year on the East River
shot from the window of my apartment.)

Day of Major Traffic Jam

One Sunday a movie shooting was taking place
on the bridge that links between Manhattan and New Jersey.

On the three-level bridge, the two top levels were used
for shooting “Spider-Man,” which caused a major traffic jam.

It was no different in our case as well.
On the way back from church in Manhattan,
there was a train of cars which didn’t move at all before a tunnel.

Later we found out that was due to an accident that had occurred in the tunnel.

On that day we had lots of good news in church:
the little twin girls' birthday cerebration;
their father having passed an exam for his work;
a surprise special praise time given by a professional singer, etc.

So we were filled with joy, having lots of things to talk about in the car
and we were not bothered at all by waiting in the car.

Yet outside the congested street was a battle ground
with drivers trying to cut into lane or to change lanes.

What a gap between inside our car and outside world!

Now I’m really convinced that I shouldn’t get a driving license after all in the U.S.

Early Holiday Season

　
A Christmas tree that had been picked and cut off
in the state of Pennsylvania
has been carried into Manhattan to be erected at Rochefeller Center.

Holiday season starts early !
The season sales wars of large stores is more frantic each year.

Be careful not to follow trends,
but make the most of that sale.

However, the wisest thing is, after all, to keep the scripture in mind:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)