Afternoon

Zach is on his way to Japan.I hope he has a wonderful time!

I'm drinking Japanese Cherry Sencha green tea from an antique china teacup with Mt Fuji scene painted on the side. The tea is very fragrant.

For lunch we went to Jin's. I ordered a bento box with beef, sushi, eggroll, shrimp and vegetable tempura and orange slices with a side of miso soup. My allergies got in the way so I took the food home to enjoy later. John ordered bibeanbop.

John and I reviewed a bit of Korean today. We are watching shows with subtitles to get a better feel for the language and be exposed to more of it. Learning a new language is not as easy as I would like it to be.

We are studying 2 languages now, Korean and Hebrew. Both have very strange looking alphabets but we know most of the sounds pretty well. Korean reads left to right like English but also down in units. Hebrew reads from right to left, the opposite of English, and also has letter sounds above and below the line. The intonation patterns of the languages are different. Korean is more fluid and softer sounding than Hebrew. Hebrew is more appropriate in a chant style than in a song. Of course both languages can do anything.

The Korean language has built into it respect and politeness. People are addressed certain ways depending on age and occupation and such. We are just beginning to learn it. On Sundays we have Korean lessons in the afternoon at church.

We have been studying biblical Hebrew for over 5 years, 1 hour a week. I doubt if I will ever master it but we are reading the old testament with helps now. The tones of the language are such that you can hear the swishing of the water and the sounds of the wind or leaves when you read it. It adds a dimension to the scriptures not possible in a translation.

It was nice to see Amanda and Willard today. They live near Rolla but are here for a class reunion. Amanda went to school with Zach and dated him briefly. I am fascinated with the fact that Amanda has 6 grandchildren. She has 2 little girls, 4 and 8 plus I think she said 4 step children. Her husband is only in his early 40's. She seems to be very happy. I was glad to see them.

A little while after they left, Mom, Dad and Dan came over for a visit. It's been a while since I saw him and it was nice to visit for a while. Mom and Dad brought some fresh produce from Aldi's, Food for Less and their garden. Cherries, strawberries, fresh peaches, lemons, cauliflower, red grapes and cucumbers. Beautiful!

I gave Dan an MSU t shirt and a gift for his new grandson, Jase, who joins big brother Derek.. He is going to KC to meet him tomorrow. I'm sure he's beautiful The baby is the son of Andy and Jill. Dan is also going to see his daughter Julie's new lab puppy.

John is over at the church working and getting ready for Sunday. Rossanna called me a few minutes ago. And I got a text message. I need to go over my own sermon shortly. Life is busy and full of celebrations.

The Quiet Life

On Sunday, Rick got up and said he thought of a minister's life and the life of the minister's family as quiet and boring. I found that really amusing.

I like quiet and peaceful. But life is full of adventures (sometimes known as problems, like in action flicks where cars blow up and people shoot at people only not quite that deadly most of the time, just problems) and challenges and new experiences.

On one hand, I find it odd to think that anyone would think our life boring. On the other hand, I find it odd that some people have been very jealous of the things we have had and done. There are always people who have more and people who have less.

We live a life of contrasts. It's very colorful but I don't know if it is more so than the average person if they so choose. So maybe I'll write about it. Some of the biggest adventures turn out to be confidential and cannot be posted out of respect for others. But plenty of non private things happen too.