Some people count down to big events.  This morning I find myself counting, too...

ZERO

Today is the day to: get to the tax office - a day late O_o because of a mail mishap - to turn in our taxes.  (Praying being a day late does not cause major problems!!)  I also need to go to the city office to turn in tax paperwork.  There is also a meeting with the board of education about Kei's schooling.  Need to get the shopping done.  Have a class to teach.  Laundry to do.  General run around like a chicken with its head cut off sort of day.

ONE

One day until Yochien (preschool) graduation.  Because I teach there I need to attend.  This includes attending the lunch afterward, which should finish in just enough time for me to go to work.  Tomorrow will be a 12 hour day!

TWO

Two days until cake baking takes over my life.  My oven can bake 2 layers at a time (YES, I have a big oven - for Japan that is!).  I have 6 cakes, 12 layers to bake.  Praying I can get the cakes baked before Joshy's 1:15 therapy session and my afternoon classes.    THEN, in the evening I hope to start the cookie decorating.  I have 70ish double heart cookies to decorate and then bag as gifts for the people attending the wedding to take home.

THREE

Three days until cake decorating, cake set up, wedding rehearsal, house guests arrive, church set up, finishing up cookies, picking up Jerry's suit... the list goes on!  We should also know if Joshy will be going to respite care or not.  At this point I am not sure if it will be easier to have him in respite care, which requires all the packing and prep to get him there, or at home under Robin's care :/

FOUR

Four days until the wedding!   We need to be at the church by 10 for final set up, reception prep, etc.  The wedding is at 1:30, reception (at the church) is 3:30~5:00.  Then there is a family dinner, which Jerry ' I will attend as Izzy's proxy parents.

FIVE

Five days until I can collapse in a heap.  Kick back and simply relax in a house without stacks of wedding things, house guests, or constant visions of lists of things needing done dancing through my head!

AND

In celebration we are going to have Subway for supper and watch Frozen!

F-I-V-E it can be done

Almost 7 years ago, after our city's big quake (7/16), when our family of 5 + an intern moved into temporary housing, we bought a 3 tier bunk bed because the girls & intern needed to share a room.  It was a tight squeeze but the bunk bed helped made it possible for everyone to fit.  Three adults + three kids in a 3 room apartment was... interesting!

The bunk bed has been moved twice since joining our family.   Today it moved again.  This time without our family!   The church we attend here in town has a new minister coming in April.  A minister whose family will soon be joined by baby number 5.    The parsonage, the 2nd floor of the church, has had some remodeling done to make a storage area into children's rooms.   The rooms are fair sized, but have sloped ceiling... it will be a rather tight fit for the family.  We are hoping that the bunk beds we were blessed with can be a blessing to them.

We had talked with the minister and planned to move the beds next Monday, however, at church yesterday we were approached about getting the beds moved this week.   Today is the most free day of the week, so today it was.   The whole moving process because a family affair and ended up taking on a life of its own.

This morning we started the take the beds apart/cleaning process.  That's when things got a little crazy

The plan has been for Bekah to move into "Izzy's room" after the wedding when Izzy won't be coming almost every weekend.  Well, one thing lead to another and she is all but moved now O_o  She will bunk in with her sister this weekend when we have wedding house guests, so her clothes have not been moved yet, but otherwise she is moved!

Kei has been aching for her own room.  She was going to use the loft bed as an animal storage shelf, but as it turns out she has decided to sleep in the loft and enjoy all the floor space as a play area.

So the girls room has transformed from something like this...

To this...

and this...

They both have more sorting to do, but I think considering it was an impromptu shuffle things are looking good!!  Bekah's room also has a big pile of guest bedding that is going to stay in a pile until AFTER the weekend, when it can be sorted, washed, and put away.

Cannot say I was looking forward to this task, but I can say that I am THANKFUL it is finished!  I am also V-E-R-Y glad I no longer have Monday classes, because I am beat!

OH! AND as an extra benefit...

Starting next week, Bekah will be responsible for doing all her own laundry.

That might just require a happy dance

I am giddy over how things are falling into place.  I just cannot help myself, so here is a sneak peek at some of the wedding things

Cookies for the reception:

"Silverware" for the reception - each set has chopsticks, fork, & wet hand towel.  A is for Aki & I is for Isaac, but AI 愛 is love in Japanese:

The cake:

There will be 4 cakes on the tiered stand.  The top most cake will have a small layer cake with the cake topper.  There will be ribbon around the base of each cake as well as a double ribbon looping the cakes together.  The flowers will be the main decoration on each cake.  I still need to get the frosting smoother, but with today's practice, I know what needs done, I just didn't have time to do it.  Also the actual wedding cake will be a little lighter.

cha·os

noun

1. a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.

2. any confused, disorderly mass: a chaos of meaningless phrases.

3. the infinity of space or formless matter supposed to have preceded the existence of the ordered universe.

Do you ever have times when your mind is in such a state of chaos that even trying to form a plan causes panic?

Yesterday I attempted to get a to do list pulled together, without much success.  Likely because it was attempted between running: took the girls to shuji, where I ended up stopping to talk with friends about upcoming events & where I heard the totally overwhelming news that friends lost their baby which was due next month.  While talking I suddenly realized our brief chat had gone on longer than planned and I was nearly late for Joshy's checkup :O   Checkup followed by dropping the script off at the pharmacy before running home for a bit of lunch and then heading to work.  Classes with a phone call in between... I needed to run to the city office to pick up a paper needed for taxes, which have to be submitted Monday.  My classes end at 4:45, city office closes at 5;15.  I ended up needing to leave before my last student was picked up or I would never have made it to the city office before closing.  Then it was back to the pharmacy where meds had to be picked up before 6 or Joshy would run out before Monday.  Home to fix supper, then a quick shopping trip to pick up a few things we need for the wedding.  (Thanks to Bekah's help, I think I managed to remember everything we need from the import store  AND we even squeaked into the clothing store before Auld Lang Syne started playing (cue that the store is closing - please proceed to the register!) and managed to find hose for Kei.   At this point I gave up trying to make a list of things needing to be done

Then there was a conversation on facebook last night - an Aplastic Anemia survivor's mom had been approached about having her son be a  Relay for Life Jr Ambassador.  Then she received a call saying they weren't interested because he didn't have cancer.  Aplastic Anemia is not cancer, it is more like cancer's cousin.  It is much more rare than leukemia and has fewer treatment options than leukemia.  This whole discussion ruffled some mama feathers, because in many ways cancer would be the easier diagnoses.  AA treatment & cancer treatment are almost identical, but because it isn't cancer people see AA as not so serious.

Anyway...

I am back to working on my To Do list, but my mind is in such a state of chaos I am not making much progress :/

Going to keep it simple...   On the docket today:

• Hair cuts for the girls in the family.
• Baking cookies for the wedding.  There will be frozen until later in the week when they will be decorated.
• Shuffle things in the freezer to make room for cookies.
• Baking a practice cake.  I finally have the cake stand & I need to size things up, as well as, practice getting the frosting on nice & smooth.
• Menu for the week

I am hopeful, that once the cake & cookies are baked (60 each of 2 kinds and 75 of another) that my mind will clear up some and I will be able to focus on getting a to do list pulled together for the rest of the week.

BTW...

I have come to the conclusion that next weeks wedding related house guests are just going to have to deal with a dirty house & simple food.  If they don't like it there are hotels in town!  Cleaning will no have a high spot on the to do list.

NOW - let the baking begin

 

 

Everything was swimming right along, in a rough river rapids sort of way, toward the wedding next week.  Until we hit a snag

Jerry went to try on his suit, just to make sure it still fit.

SUIT?  He HAS a suit!  I know he has a suit - He does!!

However, said suit is nowhere to be found!!

OK - he has a  nice suit jacket that can be paired with black dress pants

UMMMMM...

The moths must have been hungry!  There are holes all through the jacket and black dress pants... OH yeah, those had to be pitched awhile back.

SOOOO... No suit & no jacket/pants.  **Can you tell he wears suits often  And a wedding, where we are the witnesses, as well as, the fill in parents of the groom.  Jeans and a dress shirt, just won't cut it O_o

Jerry is 6"6' tall.  This puts him about a foot taller than the average Japanese male.   We can sometimes find un-hemmed pants here, but it is not an easy task.  Finding shirts is impossible.  Finding a suit jacket - whimper!!

I checked on line, but getting something here in a week is really pushing it.  Our secretary even suggested a couple of places to check on line... nothing.  Then while I was in class, she called around town.  One store, a national chain store, said they thought they had something.

After dinner, Jerry & I went shopping.  Sure enough, the store, Aoyama 青山, HAD suits that fit.  The jacket sleeves are slightly short, but within the acceptable range.  They also had a sale going.  Buy 1 suit and get a 2nd suit for ￥1,000 ($10)  Jerry found a black pin stripe on sale & then picked out a grayed brown suit for the 2nd suit.

Next came a tie.  After much debate, he found a lavender tie that will coordinate with my dress & also goes with the wedding colors.  He also needed a new belt.  Accessories were on sale, too - by 2 get 1 free.  So 1 tie and 2 belts later, he was set.  OH wait, he "needed" a pocket pretty - more likely called a pocket handkerchief.  Found a lavender paisley print pocket pretty.   We were on a roll!!

"Do you want to get a black formal suit?"  "It would be 1/2 price since you are already getting 2 suits."   --  No thank you, we are going to be non conformists and go with a black pinstripe instead of the black formal.

There was a rack of dress pants on clearance for ￥500 ($5) and 1 pair was in Jerry's size.  Might as well add those to the stack.

An hour later, we left with a pair of dress pants, a tie , 2 belts, a pocket pretty, and 2 suits being hemmed - they will be ready a whole 24 hours before the wedding ALL for less than the original price of the suit!!   Only thing, we didn't find was a new dress shirt - they do not carry shirts with sleeves long enough for my hubby!

Sitting here I am trying to fight the feeling of panic that keeps trying to surface any time I look at the upcoming events.  The next week or so is going to be a WILD ride.

In 9 short days, Izzy & Aki will tie the knot!

Being Izzy's home away from home, we have a lot of the "parent of the groom" responsibilities.  We will also be housing a few out of town guests.  Then, I am helping with the reception: planning, baking cookies, caring for the paper products, etc...  I am also making cookies to give as gifts to the guests.  (HOW did I end up with so many cookies to make?  I HATE baking cookies O_o )  Plus I am making the wedding cake.

ALL

WHILE

Carrying out my regular schedule + a few additions like a meeting with the board of education concerning Kei's homeschooling & a graduation ceremony at the preschool where I teach.

STOP

Take a deep calming breath...

DO NOT PANIC

TWITCH

Prep is underway.  Robin will be coming down to help on wedding weekend.  LORD willing Joshy will be in short stay & if not Robin will be here to see to his care.   Everything can be done.  It WILL be OK.

DEEP BREATH!

Yesterday, I made hearts to use as ties for the "silverware".  The girls are going to help with the wrapping

Cookie baking is going to happen this weekend.  (I will freeze them until Thursday/Friday when they will be decorated and bagged to be given as gifts.)   I also want to make 1 more practice cake this weekend (Jerry is ALL for this )  The flowers & ribbon for the cake have been procured.  I just want to practice getting the frosting on nice and smooth, as well as, experiment with colors.  Oh, and, make sure the small top cake pans I picked up work.   **The picture shows just 4 cakes, but there will actually be 5 big cakes + 1 small top cake.  Four cakes should be just enough for the 60 or so guests, but cake #5 is just in case.

The girl's dresses are ready,  Kei & I need hair cuts, which I hope to work into the schedule yet this week.  My dress should be dry cleaned, but not sure that will happen.  Jerry's suit... sure hope it still fits him

The paper plates we chose for the cake are not to be found.  Need to do some more checking.  I knew I should have picked them up when I saw them :/

OK - this blog was to help me relax and realize that everything is under control...

I am not sure it succeeded.

If anyone needs me, I can likely be lured out of panic mode with coffee and/or chocolate!!

This past week was the annual JEMA WIM Retreat (Japan Evangelical Missionary Association - Women In Ministry) in Nikko.

Jerry & I talked about it and decided that I should go.  We got Joshy's name on the respite care calendar - sort of, and Jerry agreed to cover all my classes.  Respite care was a bit iffy because, being cold & flu season, they didn't want to commit.  They cannot risk having germs brought in nor do they want to risk sharing any germs that might have gotten in.   Being that respite care was questionable, I did some training with the girls & Jerry so that they could do Joshy's special meds - something that only Chan or I have done the whole 2+ years he has been on it.  All was looking good and then the week leading up to the retreat I got sick  Up until the day before I was not sure if I could/should go.  Because I was sick, respite care was a big NO GO.

BUT

I went!  I sniffed and sneezed and ended up skipping the first session so that I could rest.  BUT... I W-E-N-T!

Theme was "Called Not Driven".

The chapel was lovely.  The music refreshing.  The messages challenging.

The speaker emphasized that we need to set goals: Physical, Spiritual, & Emotional.  My emotional goal is to get back into blogging.  Blogging is an outlet for me.  It is relaxing.  AND it has been far too long since I was blogging regularly!

The retreat also provided a lot of time to relax, build friendships, nap, hike, regroup & renew.  After the 1st days rain, the weather was simply lovely, so a few friends and I took a short walk - it was cold, but refreshing

There were also things to take home.  The last morning, each lady had a cup of candies at their breakfast place.  Then during the last session, the beautiful plants that had provided the decorations were given away.  I was one of the few whose name was drawn to take a plan home

We, I went with Nicki Shields, knew we were getting close to home when we saw the signs saying chains required :/

I am so thankful that I was able to go.  It was a much needed break.

I really should blog.

I should still enjoy blogging.

I should feel encouraged and refreshed from blogging.

I used to to...However, I don't anymore.

I MISS the old Xanga and the fellowship of the bloggy community.  I no longer can go to the front page and find interesting blogs to read and in some cases meet new friends.   Way to many bloggy friend moved and I don't know how to find them.  Those whom I do know where they moved to, I find it time consuming to wander all over the place to find their posts.  I guess I am still in mourning for the way things were!

I should move on, but I don't know where...

Sitting slumped over to such an extent that the therapist thinks a corset is needed.

TO

Sitting up straight, as well as, standing with head up when in stander.

Sleeping in and being hard to wake.

TO

Waking early or being easy to wake if, by chance, sleeping in occurs.  (4am is becoming the norm rather than the exception!)

Nibbling rather than eating.  A bite or 2 was good.

TO

EATING - Even had thirds last night!

Being quiet and not overly expressive.

TO

Being boisterous and very expressive.

Some recent tidbits:

• At the cancer center last week.  Joshy was listening to one of his story books when the doctor came.  I told Joshy it was "work time".  Joshy shook his head "NO".  Then when it was blood draw time he was down right angry; pulling him arm away & then pouting afterward.  The nurse even commented on how expressive Joshy was being.
• Kei say, "Do you want me to read to you?" Joshy signed, "Yes" Kei, "Go to your room and I will read you a book."  Joshy scooted to his room like his pants were on fire!
• "Joshy lets pick up toys & check your diaper." - he proceeds to reluctantly put toys in the basket.  This was followed by a diaper check - which he didn't want.  After it was determined that he was dry, he proceeded to get all his toys out again.  THEN he scooted over to me & tapped his diaper.  Me. "Are you wet? Do you need changed?"  Joshy, taps diaper.  Sure enough he was wet AND he got his diaper changed while toys were scattered... he WON!
• A couple of days ago, Joshy scooted over to me and tapped his diaper.  I took him to change him, but he was dry.  I ask him if he wanted to sit on the potty.  He signed "please".  He didn't do anything, but he sat there for several minutes as happy as could be.
• Numerous times he has scooted to the kitchen or over to a sister if he hears/smells food being cooked or snacks being opened.  Last night he was ready to fight a snack out of his sisters hand!
• A few nights ago, Joshy was not wanting to settle down to sleep.  Jerry & I were sitting at the dining room table which is in view of Joshy's bed.  I ask Jerry, "Are you staying up awhile?" Joshy screeched, "AH!"   Me, "Not you young man!  You go to sleep."  Joshy shook his head!!

Changes - YES

 Subtle - No so

BUT

Very exciting (and exhausting) to see

It has been awhile since I really blogged about anything other than updates on Joshy's health.  Whereas, his health does take up a considerable amount of my energy, there are other aspects of life

Hmmmmm... Let's see...

The girls & I went to one of our favorite sushi places a couple weekends ago.

Izzy, who is a frequent house guest adopted son, and Aki, a young lady from church/student/friend, will be getting married in March.   Jerry & I will be the witnesses

I am making waves helping on the wedding committee at church, also.  This is proving to be challenging as my inner designer / planner keeps coming out rip roaring, ready to go and tends to end up stepping on toes :/  Anyway, I will be making the wedding cake.  This will be a challenge, but I am enjoying the planning.  It is bring out a part of my personality that has too long been dormant.

The cake will be simple, using ribbon and silk flowers rather than fancy frosting.  Then there will also be cookies that will be given to everyone who attends.  "A" for Aki & "I" for Izzy, but "AI" means love in Japanese

Here is a practice cake I made for Aki's birthday (the wedding cake will use purple rather than pink)

I managed to call and request respite for Joshy in March.  Besides the wedding there is also a 3 day women's retreat, I am hoping to go to.  We should know the end of the week if respite has been approved.  No respite means the retreat is out.  No respite means a lot more juggling to get the wedding things accomplished.

We have had a fairly mild winter.  Yesterday it even felt like spring; no snow at all, so I biked on errands.  Today is another story...

So yes there are other things going on in life other than Joshy's needs & health issues.

HOWEVER

A diagnosis like Aplastic Anemia is one of those things that changes a person!

Since October, Joshy has had a huge struggle (WAIT - this whole AA journey started in October 2011 - October is not our best month! )  He has not been himself at all.  It is nice to see him getting more active, sitting straighter, and over all, showing improvement.

And now I am off to run Kei to swimming - her new passion!