The menu is done.

The shopping list. all 3 columns/page & 2 pages worth, is done (I hope).

A trip to Costco has been executed.

Yesterday, part of the team from California arrived, 2 more will arrive tomorrow & a family of 4 will arrive on Friday.

Bread has been ordered (getting enough bread/buns is always a major thing because stores simply do not stock large quantities.)

Campers have been tallied, cabins assigned.

In 2 short days camp begins!!

This year we have the largest camp we have ever had - 16 full time campers, 35 campers coming at least 1 day, & 26 staff.  I bounce between being elated & wanting to run and hide.   Last night I caught myself saying, "There are ONLY 61 for dinner on Saturday."  ONLY... O-N-L-Y - eeeeekkkk!!!

I think the camp prep is well in hand... now I just need to get us ready to go to camp & Joshy ready to go to short stay (respite care).  I am starting to drift back into run & hide mode just thinking about it.  Better get some more coffee

Prayers would be appreciated.  Prayers for strength.  Prayers for health.  Prayers that the light of the LORD will shine through the darkness and touch hearts!

July 1st the new wing of our local hospital, Niigata National Hospital, officially opened.  The new 7 story building houses all the resident wards, I believe there were 5 separate single story wards, as well as, all the inpatient rooms, respite care area, and therapy departments.  Being that we are just 2 weeks into the month I have not seen all the areas but we are working on it!   Joshy has now had both OT & PT so we are most acquainted with the therapy department.  However, last week he also spent some time on the 5th floor doing a  "short stay" (respite care) practice.  All I can say is W-O-W!

The 5th floor, where Joshy will go for respite care, is bright and airy.  The common room is large with lots of windows giving a beautiful view of the sea.  The rooms seem to be on the small side, but compared to the old wards they are wonderful!  The old wards always gave me a turn of the century, NOT 21st century, feel.  You know, the creepy old hospital/mental ward from an old movie... the sort of place you won't want to leave a pet in let alone a loved one...  YEAH, that sort of feel.  However, in the new building, I did not have that same sinking feeling when I left Joshy for his practice day.  And when I came back to pick him up he wasn't sure he was ready to go home.

Music to a mama's heart!

The therapy department is H-U-G-E!  There are several large rooms set up for various purposes.  There are 3 small rooms set between the large PT room and a "play room".  The small rooms all have a theme/purpose.

One has a whiteboard wall.

One has a ball pool.

One has children's riding toys/trucks (no picture).

The playroom has 2 different slides and big ball pool and a trampoline + lots of floor space to "play".

Then there is a room with black lights and a texture wall.

I don't have many pictures of the main PT room, because we really didn't spend much time in there, but it is huge compared to the old set up.

Personally, even thought I am slightly curious about the other floors/areas of the new hospital, I am willing to wait to see them... I think weekly therapy, & an upcoming short stay (7/17-22) is more than enough for right now.

The only other new thing I am REALLY looking forward to is the razing of the old 1 floor wards to make room for MUCH NEEDED parking!!

June in a nut shell...

• Kei has PMDD (think PMS on crack)
• Kei was emotionally stable for 1 week... 1, all too short, week in June.  We almost got used to her being stable when the depression hit again.
• Kei's medication was adjusted which was NOT a good option because that threw her into over dose status.
• Kei likely has some other issues that we will be working with the doctor on.
• Joshy's immune suppression med was lowered.
• Immune suppression med dose effects kidney functions AND epilepsy med balance
• GOOD NEWS - Joshy's diuretics are now working VERY well... as is the washer... MEMO to self, need to buy new water proof sheets because over washing creates holes which then means the bottom emergency sheet gets wet...  Probably should buy a few more outfits as well!
• Bad NEWS we do not have good seizure control AT ALL.
• Joshy's temp balance is now out of whack because everything else is out of balance.
• Bekah's braces are off.  Next step a plastic tooth cover - for lack of a better word - to hold the teeth in place...  We are now on the 2nd such cover.  IF things are looking good at her next appointment we might actually get into checkups ever 3 months instead of every week or two.
• Kei's braces are still in process... provided she is well enough to make her checkups to have them checked.

• Computer crashed.  Pulled the hard drive, but having trouble accessing the files I need for English Camp.
• Attempting to get the English Camp menu inputted and sorted and recipes entered and shopping list compiled.
• School?!?  Oh yeah we are homeschooling...
• WORK.... We have a new student  She is coming to a regular class and wants a private lesson, too...
• English camp is coming... lots of details to iron out.  Looking like a really good turn out this year
• Hospital has a brand new building.  All inpatient, therapy, & respite care wards are moving there.  Staff is being shuffled around some.  THIS means Joshy has to have a practice day before he can go into short stay during camp.
• No I have not gotten a newsletter written yet.

Is is vacation time yet????????

Well, the washer just beeped.  Better get those sheets out so they will be dry before bed time, since I won't have time to go buy new ones before they are needed.  Oh and meds are now late.......

Yesterday was our June outreach event - BOWLING!  In times times we have attempted this event only to have it flop, so we have avoided bowling parties in recent history.  After yesterday, I am wondering why - it was SO MUCH FUN!!

We had a total of 17 bowlers + 2 little brothers & a couple moms who came to watch.  I will let pictures tell the rest of the story

Ball inspection!

Let 'er roll!!

Fun with family & friends!!

We may have to do this again, soon!!

"Let's go hiking instead of going to Costco today." I said.

"It will be fun."  I said.

"I've been wanting to take the trail we saw the map for on the 12k in May." I said.

"Costco is so far and with the party last night & a ballet recital this evening, hiking would be better." I said

Conclusion - I. Am. NUTS!

Jerry indulged me.  We headed out about 9:15 and were on out way up the mountain by 9:40.  The thought was we would hike for an hour and then head back.   It took us almost 2 hours to hike 2km O_o

It looked peaceful enough.

On the other side of the bridge we immediately came to this.  Hind sight - THIS was the easy part!!

Then we came to points, MANY points, where ropes were the thing...  I thought they were nice on the way up... they were a true BLESSING on the way down!  We ended up hanging on to the rope and backing down the trail in many spots.

Even though the trail was narrow, there were a few fairly flat stretches that were really nice hiking !

AND - it WAS beautiful!!!

Memo to self... Buy hiking boots BEFORE attempting this again!!  Walking shoes just do not handle this type of hike.   BTW ~ I am not sure I am in any hurry to go boot shopping

Every year the parents & teachers at Joshy's school get together for a Nomi Kai - literal translation, drinking party.  While, there is some drinking it is not a drunken brawl, rather a time out to socialize and enjoy a good Japanese meal.  Last night was the night.

When we arrived there were plates of crab to share, along with, snails at each place.

Next came in huge trays of sashimi.

(There were a couple other dishes that I didn't get pictures of, as well)

At one point a dish came in that I have never seen.

We had to take a mallot to the hard salt paste shell.

Then we pealed back the leaves to reveal the succulent Tai (red snapper)

Next came big bowls of a cold, spicy soup, which we dished up into individual bowls.  It was rather slimy, something I usually do not like, but this was actually good.

Last came rice with small shrimp & snow peas... SOOOO Good!

It was a nice evening.  As always, there is constant chit-chat with numerous conversations going on simultaneously.  Let me tell you, that this is hard for me!  My introvert side has a hard time with large gatherings.  My Japanese brain needs to concentrate super hard to understand.   This combination tends to leave me in the middle of everything not having a enough of a clue to feel comfortable jumping into a conversation.  (I do this in English, to some extent as well.)   HOWEVER, I did notice that I was not the only person who was mostly listening 　It was still a fun.  It was good to hang out with the other moms & teachers!!

Yesterday was our monthly checkup at the cancer center.  Over all not bad, but one count still left me feeling sad.

WBC's & ANC were up - YAY!

RBC's & Hbg were steady - good!

Platelets were up slightly from last month's cancer center check, but down considerably from recent local hospital checks - bummer  I was really praying that they would at least be in the same ballpark.   The doctor is not concerned.  They are well above "need a transfusion" level.  I was just wanting them to be higher.

Kidney function tests are still out of whack - more stable than they were, but still not good.    We are going to lower the dose of the immune suppression drug, in hopes that this will help the kidney functions without causing the other blood counts to drop.

Once again I was also hit in the gut with the sad truth that cancer is everywhere.  There is never a shortage of patients at the cancer center.  Yesterday we meet another little one.  She is 11 months old and has been a patient for 10 months  We also ran into one of the little boys who was in at the same time we were there... he is now in 1st grade  He is still on a biweekly checkup schedule :/

The trip home was long... almost twice as long, due to construction.  There was bridge work being done in 1 section, tunnel work in another and miscellaneous work in 3 other spots.   The bumper to bumper traffic in spots reminded me to be thankful we live where we do and don't have to deal with this sort of thing day in day out!!  I am also glad I let Kei come along for the ride.  She was able to feed Joshy lunch along the way.

Roses Are Red

and yellow

and orange

and...

Sunday afternoon, while Jerry & the girls were at AWANA, Joshy & I headed to the national park to enjoy the rose festival.

Joshy enjoyed being outside.  I enjoyed strolling through the flower gardens.  We both enjoyed some rose ice cream.

It was a lovely afternoon

Four consecutive days involving 3 different health care facilities with 2 children + 1 parent/child outing for school leaves this mama TIRED!

Monday was Joshy's weekly checkup day at the local hospital.  Good news, CBC are holding steady at the higher level.  He has a checkup at the cancer center this coming week and CBC's there hold a higher importance in regard to his Aplastic Anemia treatment - praying they are still steady or higher on Tuesday  Other good news, kidney functions are looking better.  We have been really pushing fluids, which seems to be helping.  Giving drinks or tube feeds 8-10x/day is a challenge, but if kidney function look better as a result then we will deal with it!   AND provided numbers look as good or better on Tuesday we can go to checkups every 2 weeks!!

Tuesday I took Kei to a new doctor/hospital.  She has been suffering from what we think is PMDD (think PMS on crack) since the beginning of the year.  We have tried herbal supplements & vitamins which have at least helped her bounce back between cycles, but our sweet girl is totally lost to us for about 2 weeks every month.   New hospital = new...new everything.  Ended up that what we thought was the correct time to go was actually a by appointment only time.  The hospital staff did go ahead and do a pre-appointment medical history and then told us to come back Wednesday to see the doctor.

Wednesday Kei had a dental appointment @9 and then an appointment that the other hospital @10.  Of all mornings for a dental appointment to take forever...this was the day  Kei ended up being in the dentist chair for 2 hours.  We then went directly to the other hospital, but because we were so late we had to wait an hour to see the doctor.  Good appointment, very compassionate doctor.  We have started Kei on medication with will, LORD willing, help even things out.  (She will have weekly appointments for the time being.)  We arrived home just before 1, giving me a whole 20 minutes before I needed to head to work!

Thursday... From March, Thursdays have gone from being my light day to being a day of running.  I have a morning class, home for a quick lunch before heading to therapy with Joshy - this was my old schedule - then back to ECS for 2 more children's classes.  LOVE the classes - Hate the back & forth.  This week, I decided to walk to my morning class because getting a morning walk in just wasn't happening.  I got 98% of the way there and realized I did not have my keys  Turned around, sent a text to Kei to get find my keys & then put them & my purse in the car.  I went directly to the car and drove back to class... Arriving AFTER my students.   On the plus side, I did get my walk in and the pace was much brisker than usual!!

Friday was the yearly parent child recreation for Joshy's school from 9:30~2:10.  This year we went to a local park/culture center where we made a Japanese rice flour dumpling sort of thing. It was good.  It was fun.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had the week been a little less hectic.  Also the weather was not pretty so we were not able to take a walk   We also, had to leave early because I had class from 2.

Two ladies from the community talked us through the dough making process.  The dough was a mixture of several varieties of rice ground into flour.  One dough was simply the flour & water.  The other dough has a leaf added.

After the dough was made, we shaped it and added the filling (greed dough had sweet red bean paste & the white dough had salmon).

Then the dough balls were streamed before they were fried.

THEN they were eaten!

I am praying for a quiet weekend!

While out on my morning walk, I saw a sparrow.  This reminded me of the song, His Eye is on the Sparrow, which I proceeded to start singing.   I was on a meander through the park hike sort of walk/hike and shortly after seeing the sparrow I turned onto the trail that would take me to the upper plateau.  That's when I screamed!

See, I don't do snakes.  I screamed, jumped back, probably did a few circles as I checked for any friends.  Mr snake just stat there, so I paused my gps app and took his picture  I also changed course!!  I figured Mr. snake was telling me to stick to the paved path... ALL the way home - which is what I did!!

As I neared home, on a totally different route than I had planned, I saw an older couple whose car was stuck in a small ditch.  The man was attempting to push the car out.  With an extra pair of hands we were able to get the car back on the road.

Coincidence, I prefer to look at it as Providence!

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."