Some shallow and deep thoughts…you can choose.

My first post without a picture…here’s hoping my words suffice…

Tomorrow marks two weeks since we’ve arrived…crazy.  It’s a long way from feeling like home, but that will come with time.  One thing that really helps is the numerous 7/11’s around (hello 1980).  They are a very cheap way to bring some instant happiness and sometimes that is just what the doctor ordered.  Our kids still call them “Family Mart”, the Japanese version of 7-11.  I wondered last night how long it would be until the kids refer to Family Marts as “7-11’s”.  That would mark a huge shift in our kids hearts and minds.

Which leads me to my deep thought (I meant to delineate better, but…oh well)…a couple days ago, I think I hit a God-ordained “bottom”…throughout the day I kept thinking, “I don’t really like it here”…a way of thinking that is vehemently battled in the Rathmell home.  Funny, though..it was the beginning of a process I love to teach, but don’t really like to have to live.  In many a class, I have exhorted others to utter those gut-wrenching words of “even if the worst happens, Lord, I will trust You”.  I told my friend Jen that I felt as though I experienced the vocational part of that speech.  Lord, even if Okinawa was the best part of our whole ministry career, I will trust You.  Even if You gave us the best first, I will choose joy and trust in You.  Interestingly, it was going through that door that began a new outlook on living here.  It was as if I had to say it out loud, to really be willing to say it, to begin to turn the corner.  Since that day, living here has been lighter, more free and filled with joy.

And now the less than sublime:

* The “not sure if he’s gonna make it” cat fell in the pond today – Megan saved his life.  She is quite proud.

* I bought silverware yesterday.  While I’m not fond of too much stuff, silverware has proved to be a necessity.

* Decided to brave getting my haircut at a Thai place…(having straight hair with no style tends to cut across all cultures)…they kind of mix a head massage and haircut together for about $8, so I was really very pleased (though one side is decidedly longer than the other).

* MacBook hard-drive crashed…some might say I was “due”, but others might want to investigate the children’s claim that they have no idea how it dropped off the desk while they were wrestling in the nearby bed.  (Got a new hard-drive and it’s back up and running, hopefully for another 3 years)

* Thailand might be the uber-country for knick-knacks.  All grandmothers should stay away from here…

Stay tuned…