September

I haven't really been taking photos the last few months.  I just don't really want to.  The kids are all in school and I'm busy and I just don't have much that I want to photograph.  These are almost the sum total of all the photos I took last month.  

Steve and Carol have almost been gone a month now.  It feels lonely without them here.  They lived just over an hour away and they were busy with their missionary duties so we didn't see them a ton, but enough.  It felt so nice to have someone here who understood the experience we are having.  It felt so nice to drive to base and meet them for lunch and go on a vacation with them or go sightseeing.  It was wonderful to spend birthdays with them or meet them after a missionary training for lunch.  Being able to do some shifts with them at the temple open house and having a chance to go to the rededication with them was really special.  I miss them and the kids miss them.  It was a blessing to have them here, if only for six months.  They served in three different places, during Covid, and served well and faithfully and it was time for them to go home.  We are proud of them and happy for them to get back to their lives in the States.  

It's been really rainy.  We've had 14 typhoons this year.  Mostly for Tokyo, that just means that we get a big storm and a lot of wind and rain for days.  As far as I know, none of them have hit Tokyo directly. I need some rain boots but I finally bought a raincoat and that feels like a game changer.  I still don't own a coat and I'll need to buy one for this winter because it was definitely cold enough for one last year.  It is finally starting to cool down and in fact, this week it rained for a few days in a row and went from the 80's to low 50's in a day.  That was a cold day with a lot of walking and so windy and wet.  

Mike's books are available for pre-order on Amazon now.  It's really exciting.  It's weird to see his name on a book and listed on a major website.  The books won't be ready for shipment until next summer but we got some copies of his book so we could send them to book reviewers.  The more reviews you have on Amazon, the more your book gets seen and the more likely you are to sell more.  Mike has to identify some book reviewers and send the books out in a few months.   

Primary has been a lot of work this past month.  I won't write about it on here but we had a bit of drama in Nursery, of all places, and I had to deal with it.  It didn't get resolved the way I had hoped but I did what I was supposed to do and tried to do it with the most love and care as possible.  The nursery leader did not like what I had to say and ended up demanding to be released after only three weeks and while I know it is for the best, I'm glad she asked instead of me asking for her release.  She won't talk to me and avoids me but that's okay.  I don't actually need her friendship, but I will always be nice to her regardless.  Her behavior showed me that I don't want her as a friend anyway.  It would be hard to maintain a friendship with someone like her after this.  I mean this with no meanness or animosity, just truthfulness.  Her response showed me that a friendship with her would be very hard to have unless I agreed with her 100 % of the time.  Aside from that, we have a trunk-or-treat this month and the presentation a few weeks later.  

Mike is headed to Korea again tomorrow.  He'll be gone all week.  I realized that this is the first time he's been gone while the kids are in school--all his previous trips happened when we homeschooled or during the summer.  I hope everything goes smoothly this week.  A silly, but real concern for me, is that I'll lock myself out of the building.  Mike works from home most of the time so I often just leave and don't worry about having my key.  I've been making a point to bing my key along lately but sometimes I still forget and it doesn't matter because he can always let me in.  I have to remember to take my key this week!  There are also just other random things I need to remember this week and I hope everyone gets where they need to be and all the stuff that needs to happen, happens.  Will has to get his toenail removed on Wednesday, the same time that Piper has to be at a birthday party.  I've asked Isaac to walk her to her friend's house after she gets off the bus while Eli watches Felicity.  With the boys' help, it will all be fine.  I'm glad they are old enough to be helpful and responsible.