Every fall in the park area around the tea ceremony museum, lights are put up so that the beauty of the changing leaves can be enjoyed at night.  Tonight Jerry & I took a walk to check out the colors.  Do you all want to come along?

The trees are not at peek color yet, but still beautiful.  I hope we can go back another time or two to watch the beauty unfold.

What a wild weekend!  Halloween party on Saturday.  Pot-luck lunch after church followed by AWANA on Sunday.  I don't usually stay for AWANA, but since Joshy was in short stay (respite care), I ended up hanging out at the church most of the afternoon.   The event was interesting... sweet potato sculpting!  They steamed a bunch of sweet potatoes, potatoes the kids had grown, added sugar & milk, and went to town building a their own creations.

The sweet potatoes were actually quite good, reminded me of sweet potato pie filling.

Today, Monday, wasn't much calmer.  There were the normal Monday activities; school, laundry, etc... plus and afternoon filled with blood a draw, dental appointment, AND a checkup for Joshy.  Throw in a haircut & shave... I might have been in the running for the mean mom award, but I also added a bath and Joshy L-O-V-E-S the bath.  Discovery... Joshy is now tall enough that he can sit in the full tub without his face being in the water!!  His balance seems better, or maybe it is just he is bigger so has a better chance against the water, because he did quite well sitting alone in the tub while I sat beside it.

Now I find myself out of days "off", tomorrow is back to a normal work week...

All the work and preparation paid off.  Nearly 40 of us gathered together at the camp gym for games, a cake walk, costume parade, snack, a story, & a pinata.

The cake walk was new for everyone.  I made 2 small cakes as prizes and everyone for a treat bag as a consolation prize.

Snack & story time...

Pinata

BTW ~ If you have not read The Pumpkin Patch Parable I recommend you check it out.

Our Halloween outreach is tomorrow.  We have a record number signed up, 35 not including our family & helpers.  Prep has been taking a good deal of time.  We will have 7 different games going carnival fashion, then a cake walk, costume parade, snacks, story (Pumpkin Patch Parable), & a pinata.

Here is the carnival game stamp card...

Here are a couple of the treats we have made...

Prayers would be appreciated... prayers for fun, safety, & that hearts will hear the truth of the Gospel message.

After a morning of laundry & math, I needed a sanity break so I grabbed an umbrella & my trusty camera and headed out the door.  A hour & 4km later, I made my way home.  It wasn't my fastest walk, but it was refreshing.

Now on to other things...

Jerry & I had planned to take a day trip, a L-O-N-G day trip, to Mt. Fuji today, however plans changed.  We did still make a trip, but the destination changed to Costco.  We have not made a Costco run since July 12th so it was time.  Besides 2 of our biggest outreach events are just around the corner.   I'm happy to say that, we now have a good supply of treats for next weeks Halloween Outreach event and 2 turkeys for the Thanksgiving outreach tucked safely away  We also have a nicely stocked pantry and bulging freezers, oh, and empty wallets

Upon arriving home, I set to work repackaging/processing meat... we now have 3 dozen meatloaf muffins, 4 - 1lb ziplocs of browned ground beef, 5 - 1lb packages of ground beef, 3 - meal size packages of pork chops, plus a whole Costco size package of ground beef in the freezer ready to be turned into sloppy joes the next time they appear on the menu (the left overs will then be frozen in meal size bags for later meals).

The weather was lovely for the drive.  Made me want to go hiking, but with recent rains the trails would likely have been a quagmire.   Much better to get a needed supply run out of the way.   Besides, Jerry & I had a chance to talk about a trip we hope to take for our 30th anniversary, next summer... we, I actually suggested it (YES, I am questioning my sanity), want to climb Mt Fuji!

This morning I hit a new low when I stepped on the scale  I have not been this low in more than 20 years!  In the past 3 and a half years I have dropped just over 28kg / 62lbs

This morning at Joshy's checkup we discovered that his platelets hit a 3 year high  None of his levels are in the normal range, but they seem to be stabilizing.

Joshua's kidney function numbers are still not looking the best.  His potassium levels have been going up since we cut the potassium lowering drug down to 1x/day instead of 2 in August.  Today they were high enough to warrant going back to 2x/day :/  Thankfully they are still below the need for 24/7 monitoring.  Taking the med 2x/day and avoiding a hospital stay is a small price to pay.

Next week Josh has his monthly cancer center checkup...LORD willing counts will still be looking good and we will be able to ween the immune suppression med down another step.   Lowering the immune suppression med should take some of the strain off his kidneys.

I am more than ready to get to GOAL - weight wise, blood count wise, & med wise.

Every fall Japanese schools have a "marathon", Joshua's school is no exception.  Today was the B/C course marathon.   For the past 3 years Joshua has not been able to participate.  (Three years ago this week we started down the Aplastic Anemia road!  Three years ago, we were at the beginning of what would turn into a 6 month hospitalization.)   Today Joshua was able to go to school and run grump through his marathon.

Warming up...

Team Cheer...

And they are off...

It never fails to amaze me how creative the teacher are... Oh the things one can do with a power toy and a switch!

LORD willing, if Joshua continues to improve, he will be able to switch from C course, home bound, to B course next year.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run the race marked out for us,"  Hebrews 12:1

Two weekends in a row, typhoons have been reeking havoc in Japan.  Our area has not been badly effected, but it has been something we have kept our eyes on, because one never knows.  The most recent typhoon, #19 or Vongfong, went through our area during the night.

Yesterday morning before the weather got bad, I decided to get my walk in along the sea in order to get some pictures.  It was so calm and peaceful, not quite what I had expected.

This morning, I wanted some after shots.  Because of other responsibilities, time was short so I wasn't able to cover the same distance, 4.3km, but I did manage to get in a 1.7km.   What a difference a day makes!

Same beach...

Things like this remind me of just how mighty & powerful the LORD is.

Saturday night was the Tanne Lights Festival.  Tanne, a small mountain village near us, has an annual festival where they line the roads & set up displays in rice paddies, flooded for effect, with candles & recyclables.  It is always beautiful.

This afternoon, during AWANA, the pastor's wife & youngest 2 children, Joshua, & I headed off to Echigo Hillside Park to enjoy the flowers.  We could have used a whole lot more time, but alas we didn't have more to use.  It was still a lovely time out.  I do believe we need to get a year pass next year and make this a habit!

With Typhoon Vongfong is heading our way, I am extra thankful for the lovely weather these past few days so that we could enjoy being out.  BTW ~  typhoon Vongfong seems to be losing strength, but it is still battering the southern part of Japan.  It should  begin to hit our area tomorrow with the blunt of the storm due to arrive in the night and on into Tuesday.   Please pray for Japan.  This is 2 weeks in a row we have had big typhoons.