This and That...

Oh my poor neglected blog... :(

I guess these days, blogging has gotten bumped pretty far down on my list of priorities! It feels like we've been really busy, but when I stop to think about what's been keeping me busy, it's kind of embarrassing how slow my life seems!

Basically, I've been plugging away at my required reading for Christar. I finally had to sit down and calculate how many pages I need to read per day in order to finish before our training in June (when I'm officially accepted as a member of Christar). I figured out that I need to read at least 30 pages a day 4 days a week and I should be finished by June 1st. I've been keeping up so far and I'm finishing books faster than I thought I would which is encouraging. It's such a good feeling to turn the last page of a book and be done one more! (I still have to write a one page reflection after each book, but reaching that point is still exciting!) Right now I have about 5 or 6 more books to go I think. I'm actually discovering that I like reading more than I thought I did... even though I prefer to be reading a book of MY choice!

Anyway, that takes up a good chunk of my time each day, along with Bible reading (trying to get ahead on my "read the Bible in a year" plan. I'm also still going to Curves at least 3 days a week. I've still only lost 10 pounds, (let's just say our trip to Montreal in Feb was pretty rough on my weight loss journey!) but I'm still enjoying it. I am really close to hitting the 100 time attendance mark which is exciting... I believe that I get a free Curves shirt that has a 100 on it :) Unfortunately I have to cancel my membership this month (ending April 21st) because we are leaving in May. It makes me sad to think about not going anymore, and I'm scared of the kinds of habits I'll fall back into when I'm not exercising anymore :(

hmm... what else to catch up on?!

I still have the cutest niece ever! I think she's pretty cute and she's at such a fun age where her personality is really coming out! It's hard to believe she's going to be one already in May!

By the way, my green card application was accepted! We are SO excited to have all that behind us now. Just to clarify, I'm not an American citizen yet- I'm just legally allowed to live and work in the US. We will likely apply for citizenship down the road, but I will hold dual citizenship. We're looking forward to that stage as well since it will make travels SO much easier! Because we're missionaries, we fall under the same category as military and I can actually apply for citizenship right away (normal cases have to wait 3-5 years) but at this point, we think we'll wait until our first furlough (after 2 years away).

At this point, we are planning to head to the States in mid May and stay with Bobby's parents in Maryland until August or September. We will be traveling a lot and visiting our supporting churches and individuals, as well as heading to Texas for a week for my final Christar training.

Before we leave though, we're planning to head to Edmonton and Calgary to visit some of our Japanese connections there. The first weekend in May there's an annual general meeting for the Canadian Japanese Ministry (I think that's what it's called) and we'll be able to meet some Japanese pastors from all over Canada. We're also going to visit and give a presentation at the church I did my internship in while I lived in Calgary which I'm super excited about! I haven't been to Calgary for about 4 years so it will be really fun to see everyone there again. We'll also visit one other Japanese church there (started by the former pastor of the church I did my internship in) in the afternoon and present there too. I'm sure it will be busy, but it will be fun to connect with old friends again... and go on a road trip with my bestest friend! :)

Well, I think that's about all for now... I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but this post is long enough already!! Sorry no pictures or anything... I couldn't get the uploader to work for some reason!

Until next time.... :)