Hope Chapel Thanksgiving
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Our 18thAnniversary -
We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on November 22, 2015 by going out for a quiet breakfast with real cappuccino at a restaurant not far from our house. We then wandered through a local farmers market where I purchased a beautiful cyclamen that sits in my kitchen window brightening up the room.
Especially at this time of year, I am thankful for all that I have been given. I am truly grateful for my family and wonderful husband. Words fall short to express how blessed I am to be doing life together with this funny and adventurous bunch I get to call family. Love you all so much and am so thankful to be sharing in this great adventure with you.
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| Family photo taken in October after my birthday dinner. |
Stephanie’s Biking Accident -
I have not updated the blog in a couple of weeks and wanted to be sure and communicate with our prayer partners and supporters recent events. On November 19th Stephanie was sneaking a ride home on the back of my motorized bicycle and caught her heel in the spokes of the back wheel. It was a pretty traumatic injury resulting in a trip to the ER and 20 stitches/staples.
She is doing much better this week, getting the remaining stiches/staples out and is off the crutches. We are praying for no infection and the skin to heal together fully. The past couple of weeks have been stressful including trips to the hospital regularly for her follow up care and coordinating that care with translators from our small group and fellow teachers at KCS.
God has been faithful, providing the help we need but it has been trying for all of us to be sure. We are grateful to God her Achilles tendon, nor nerves were damaged and it is just a bad cut per the doctor. Those of you who know Stephanie will appreciate her struggle to be on crutches for a little over two weeks. This has really slowed her down and caused her to rely upon all of us for even her most basic needs.
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| Ikoma City Hospital, Nara Prefecture, Ikoma, Japan |
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| Ikoma City Hospital entrance and waiting room. |
I cannot fully express how difficult it was in the ER to not understand the physician who is caring for your child. I have prayed a ton since her injury and relied upon God very heavily trusting He is looking out for my child like only He can. I am grateful to God her Achilles tendon is intact and was not severed. This has been a whole new level of trusting God with my baby and leaning on Him for comfort and peace.
We are still going to the hospital weekly for her follow up care and pray she will continue to heal quickly, without infection and return to full activity soon.
Hope English Thanksgiving Dinner -
Onto a much more enjoyable and fun topic - Thanksgiving Hope Chapel style. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday, November 28th with our Hope Chapel community. Since the Japanese do not celebrate Thanksgiving to speak of, and the Pilgrim’s do not hold much significance for them, we worked on Thursday and celebrated the holiday on Saturday.
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| Jonah, Betsie, Alex and Eddie at the Hope Chapel Thanksgiving Celebration. |
Some of you may have heard me bemoaning the fact I miss my American oven terribly and not being able to bake muffins, bread or lasagnas this time of year. I love fall and all of the amazing pumpkin recipes available when the weather starts to cool. Well, my wonderful husband set about locating a reasonably priced roaster oven (I say reasonably priced because if you purchase it here in Japan it is a small fortune) and had it shipped to the house a few days before our Thanksgiving feast. So, kudos to my husband for locating the best deal and planning for its arrival in time to roast a turkey for our celebration.
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| Oh so grateful for this wonderful kitchen appliance. |
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| Let the turkey and pie eating begin! |
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| Kansai Christian Students and Hope Chapel guests at the Thanksgiving celebration. |
Many thanks and God bless you,
K. Chadduck