PLANE (and shuttle and train and bus)

Legs of our journey to Osaka:

Van to Indiana

PLANE (and shuttle and train and bus) to L.A.

Ship to Tokyo

Train to Osaka

Leg 2 is complete! We hit some traffic on the way to the Indy airport but got there in plenty of time. I was giddy— singing and whooping and cheering and jumping as we made our way through security. It was my first flight since 2017 (also from the Indy airport) and the boys’ first flight ever.

The whole crew! We managed to pack for a 2.5 month international trip with one rolling carryon and one backpack per person.

Shout out to my friend Anthony who rode with us and drove the van back to my mom’s house.

Indy!

Fascinated by the moving walkways

Calvin sat by a window and some friendly strangers

The boys were (mostly) well-behaved

On this trip, we’ll do 6 total flights from 4 different airlines. These first two were Southwest.

We were able to check 6 of our rolling carryons for free, but Chance faithfully pulled his!

Viewing our second plane. No in-seat entertainment, but that will be something new and fun for the longer flights!

Denver to L.A. had a lot of neat scenery! (And Calvin spied the NFL stadium for the Chargers and Rams)

He just did this on his own :-)

Welcome to Los Angeles!

Poor Colson’s backpack was extra heavy because it had our toiletry bag inside.

An Uber for 7 would have been very expensive, so we opted for public transportation! If we’re going to solely use it in Japan, might as well get used to it! One of the gals in our worldschooling group offered detailed directions to help us navigate the route (shuttle bus then metro train then bus then a short walk). She included pictures with highlighted areas and even tips on how to pay for multiple kids. Who needs Google maps when you’ve got Becky maps?! An Uber would have been $70x2 for all of us. We paid $1.75x6, a savings of $130! Yes! Plus, it was an adventure and good training for Japan.

The boys love “birdies”

All tuckered out. We reached our hotel at 6 pm, which is 9 pm Eastern time, plus an early morning and long day of travel

I love seeing palm trees! L.A. was actually the first place I ever saw palm trees (my sophomore year in high school at the Free Will Baptist National Convention)

We dropped off our bags at our hotel, and then I went with the middle three boys to a walkable park meet-up with several from our worldschooling group. We’ll meet the rest at a meet and greet on Day 1 of the cruise.

Carter's Pre-Trip Perspective

Carter, Age 14

What are you looking forward to on the cruise?

I'm looking forward to all the free time I'll get! We'll be at ports for 5 days and completely at sea for the other 11, and we also gain an extra 8 hours for going west a lot! I'll have fun eating at the Windjammer buffet, hanging out with new friends and watching shows at the theater, but I'm also hoping I can use a good chunk of my time to read and memorize more of the Bible.

What are you looking forward to in Japan?

 Going to all the Nintendo places that aren't in America! I like Nintendo video games a lot, and I've only been to one official Nintendo store in the US (and there's only one other one.) But Japan has several Nintendo stores, Pokemon centers, a theme park, a museum and more! I'm most excited for the giant controllers in the Nintendo museum, where you might need more than one person to hit all the buttons!

What are you nervous about?

 Mostly just being somewhere where most people around don't speak my language. I also hope I can make some good friends at our bilingual church.

What do you think about Japanese food?

 I like ramen and onigiri, but not sushi, so I hope I find some more food I like while we're there. But if all else fails, there's American restaurants there!

Can you read in Japanese yet?

I can read all the hiragana, so I can read a word and say it, but I don't know a lot of kanji or what most words mean.  

What makes Japanese difficult?

 Lots of the letters look similar to each other, many of the Kanji have 6 lines or more, and there's no spaces between letters, likeifyouwerewritinglikethis. 

How do you think you will be different when you come back to America?

I'll be heavier (with over 16 days of cruise buffet), but other than that I guess I'll have to find out! It'll definitely be interesting living over a third of Earth's diameter away from home, and I hope I learn things I won't forget! 

VAN and an opportunity for gratitude

VAN

then plane

then ship

then train!

   Quite the journey to reach our Osaka home base!

Leg one (VAN) is complete. We drove up to my mom’s house in Indiana to see her before we leave and because she is close to a larger airport.

   I am a “shover” by genetics and by personality and also a last-minute packer. It’s no joke to plan for a 2.5 month international trip for a family of 7 with only carry-ons! But everything in the house got to a point of “enough”, and I was proud of myself for not needing to run back into the house to get anything (Lucas has come to expect this of me).

    Well, tonight as I was reorganizing some of my shoved items, I realized that half of our toiletries didn’t make it here. I’m not sure what happened because these weren’t things I forgot to pack but things I packed that didn’t make it to the van. I think I had a pile, and it ended up going to an out-of-the-way spot in our house (to try to clear the way for the gal house-sitting) instead of the van.

    It was 10:15 pm when I realized this, and I was kicking myself on my way to a late-night Wal-Mart run for making such a dumb mistake. But then the Lord graciously turned my self-condemnation into an opportunity for gratitude. So all the way up and down the medicine and toiletry aisles, I thanked God that…

1. I realized it here in Indiana and not in LA (with no transportation) or on the cruise
2. I realized it in time to do something about it
3. Wal-Mart is a quick 5 minute drive away
4. Wal-Mart was still open for 30 minutes when I got there
5. There was a sing-along song playing when I entered the store
6. I was able to replace the forgotten items cheaply
7. I remembered more things I had forgotten as I walked the aisles
8. The things I bought and the things left behind are all useable
9. Mom had some shampoo and body wash I could use
10. Calvin was willing to put the soaps into the 3 oz containers (after he did the same thing at home this morning)
11. Even if I forget something, I can buy most things I need in Japan
12. I didn’t forget something more difficult to replace cheaply and easily (like my tall jeans or phone or passports)
13. I didn’t forget a kid (like in Home Alone)
14. My late night “emergency” Walmart run wasn’t really an emergency (as I was reminded when sirens and ambulances passed by on their way to a real emergency)
15. We watched a Survivor episode where a “moment of stupidity” for a contestant was chopping off a quarter of his thumb. My moment of stupidity was not nearly as painful nor its consequences as far-reaching.
16. I’M GOING TO JAPAN!

I’m sure there will be many more hiccups on our trip, so this was a good reminder that it will be okay, that I can choose gratitude, and that “even if”_____happens, God will walk with me through it!

The whole crew! And we’re off! When the boys start bickering, we turn on audiobooks, and like magic, everyone calms down. We did two Boxcar Children books —The Mystery Girl and The Mystery Cruise!

Our faithful driver! Thank You, God, for a safe drive! 

We asked, and You answered!

Back home again in Indiana! (I sang that loudly on the way to the bathroom). Lincoln’s boyhood home as well as my girlhood home! I talked with another few travelers. They were on a long journey—Florida to Michigan. But it’s weird to say at an Indiana restaurant stop, “We’re on our way to Japan!”

This is Colson’s “fang tooth” hanging by a thread. He wanted to wait until Mimi’s house since the tooth fairy is more generous here :-).

Sure enough—while eating a pickle chip, he felt something hard in his mouth. 

Getting some outside time to finish September with 100 hours outside.

The bottles that Calvin meticulously prepared this morning only for us to leave them behind

Enough, Next Times, As The World Turns

9-28-26 - Enough

I've felt this feeling before

    The I-still-have-a-hundred-things-I-could-do-

    but-I've-reached-the-point-of-"enough" feeling

As I waited for each of my 5 sons to be born,

    I kept nesting, kept checking things off,

    but "If the baby comes today, it's okay.

                                                I've done enough."

As I prepped my classroom each year for First Day of School,

    my to-do list (or could-do list) was still long,

    but I reached the point of "Ready or not, here they come!

                                                I guess I've done enough."

As we're down to 2 sleeps (!) before leaving,

    I'm realizing that my could-do list

                                is longer than my will-have-time-to-do list

    I won't have time to

        mow that stretch of grass beside the driveway

        get everything perfectly organized in our home

        finish those photo book Christmas presents (I can work on them in Japan)

        finish Level 3 of my Japanese language audio course

        research all the hidden gems and tourist tips (never-ending!)

        master the chopstick technique that Lucas has perfected

            but I've just about reached "enough"

I still have time to do

    all that needs to be done

        and that's enough

9-29-26 - Next Times

 

As I ate my quesadilla tonight

    in a scrounge-around,

        eat-whatever-clears-the-fridge dinner

    I had the thought...

        The next quesadilla I eat 

            will be on board the cruise ship at El Loco Fresh

And I got to thinking of other "Next times"

The next time I worship with

    my First Alliance church family (in person)

        will be after Christmas!

The next time I fold clothes at home,

    it won't be shorts weather anymore!

The next time I wander around a grocery store,

    everything will be in Japanese!

The next time I sleep in my bed

    will be 87 days from now

The next time I fill up on gas

    will be in December 

        (I wonder what the gas prices will be then?)

The next time we pass food around the table in Lexington,

    we will have been to Japan and back

        with stories to tell

Makes me think of another meal...    

The next time You eat a Passover meal (Luke 22:15-16)

    will be with me and all Your followers

        when the Kingdom of God has come!

9-30-26 - As the World Turns

There have been times

    when my world has stopped

        but everyone else's 

            keeps going

Milling around the grocery store

    with a hundred strangers

        who have no idea

            that we just lost a baby

            or that my dad just died

    My mind is numb...

    Everything has changed...

        while everyone else

            goes about their normal day

This week, milling around the grocery store

    with people buying bread to pack for their work lunch tomorrow,

    and I'm buying snacks in preparation

        for an international trip

    It's not every day you can say,

        "I'm going to Japan this week!"

            (or at least setting sail for Japan)

    Unlike in my days of grief,

        there's a spring in my step

        and a song in my heart

            (that yes, I sang aloud in Wal-Mart)

We never know what joys and sorrows

    that random strangers are currently facing

Calvin's Pre-trip Perspective

Calvin, Age 12

What are you looking forward to on the cruise?

The food and the shows and doing all the activities.

What are you looking forward to in Japan?

Walking around, seeing everything, some of the food, and going to see Nintendo things.

What are you nervous about?

The weather in Japan. They have a lot of earthquakes and tidal waves.

What do you think about Japanese food?

I like rice balls and I want to try takoyaki [fried octopus] and the super cheap vending machine foods. They have heaters inside them so they can have pre-heated food.

Why are we going to Japan?

Because my mom and dad have wanted to go there for a long time, and there was a good deal on a cruise to get there, so they booked it.

What are some Japanese words/phrases you already know?

Watashi wa karubin desu / My name is Calvin.

Can you read in Japanese yet?

Yes I can read Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ) but not Kanji (漢字). 

Hiragana and katakana are more like letters but kanji has a specific thing for every individual noun like instead of writing tree with t-r-e-e it is just one thing like spelling tree t.

What makes Japanese difficult?

If you translate a sentence from English to Japanese it will be backwards like if I say "Hi, my name is Calvin," it would be "Calvin, hi my name is."

How do you think you will be different when you come back to America?

I will have been to another continent and whenever I talk to a Japanese person I try to talk clearer and slower so they can understand me so I'll have to get used to talking faster again.

"On Mission" and "Japan is Calling"

9-24-26 - On Mission

On past mission trips

    to teach English in Thailand

    to partner with a church in Salt Lake City

    to aid in hurricane-ravaged Mississippi

        my mission began

            when I arrived

But here I am

    a week before leaving for Japan,

        and my mission has already begun in full force

It began last November

    when our years-long dream of "someday"

    turned into actually booking specific dates

That's when

    my language-learning went into overdrive

    my prayer for "a Japanese friend" prompted me

        to volunteer at Friendship International

        instead of waiting for one to come to me

    I started gaining confidence to go up to Asian moms at parks and libraries

        on the chance there may be a Japanese connection

    I started spending regular time praying for the nation

And the sowing has already started...

36 Japanese moms have come to 11 park play dates I hosted over the spring and summer

16 came to at least one of three bilingual preschool music times

10 have come over for lunch

6 have come with their families for dinner

I've helped one family in particular

    to experience the American culture

        of hosting a lemonade stand

            going tent-camping

            sharing a Thanksgiving feast

            participating in a church youth group

In other words, 

    I'm not waiting

        until I arrive on Japanese soil

            to learn

                connect

                share

                shine

It has already begun!

And it will continue when I get back!

Better than an isolated "mission trip"

    is living "on mission" every day!

9-24-26 - Japan is Calling

"Japan is calling!"

Lucas and I have been

    saying that phrase to each other

        for several years

    whenever life here feels too hard

    or we're frustrated by America's political climate

    or when when we feel like we need a fresh start

    or when adventure is preferable to mundane

    or when our kids are driving us crazy

Japan is calling!

We say it as if Japan 

    will magically solve all our problems --

        as if everything is better

            in Japan

But as we drove home from youth group last night,

    and our boys were LOUD

                                and bickering

                                and CRAZY,

    it was a not-so-gentle jolt back to reality

Japan is not a cure-all

Our loud American kids will be loud in Japan, too

    (and in fact it will be MORE stressful for me there

        because LOUD is not a value of the Japanese!)

The same problems/issues/struggles I have here,

    I'll be taking with me there

Sure, life is hard here in America

    but at least I'm fluent in the language

                                            and culture

                                            and transportation

                                            and cooking

                                            and stores

                                            and measuring systems

                                            and currency

                                            and expected behavior

Japan will be an adventure

    but it will not be easy

I'm delusional is I think

    it will solve all my problems

        (because it will add to my problems!)

I'm wondering if two months

                        is long enough

                        for the honeymoon phrase

                            to wear off --

                        when the stress of a new culture

                            (with 5 kids in tow!)

                                doesn't feel worth it

Regardless of what may happen,

    Japan is calling

Ready or not,

    here we come!