Gift #160- Candy Corn

Candy Corn and the sweet little sticky hands that dug around in the cabinet and found her mama's candy stash. 

Gift # 159- A Good Pair of Jumper Cables

My Dad bought me a pair of jumper cables just like the ones pictured above for my 16th birthday!  I still carry around those cables.  They are here in Japan with me right now and I may or may not have had to use them yesterday at the post office after leaving my headlights on all night and day.  My dad must have sprung for the good pair of jumper cables because I always get compliments on them from my rescuer.  I blush and say thank you very much just as if they had told me that they like my new purse.  On more occasions than I care to admit, that pair of jumper cables have gotten me home.  A good pair of jumper cables.  A wonderful gift.

Gift #158- A Red Sparky Vest

I wore a red Sparky vest very similar to this one when I was Macy's age.  My Aunt Bobbie was my Sparks leader.  She was always very generous at signing off on my Bible verses.  Thanks Aunt Bobbie.  I love seeing Macy and Sam in their vests on Wednesday evenings.  

Gift #157- Ki-Ka-Yard

Hank planned a very thoughtful and romantic dinner for us on Saturday evening.  His favorite restaurant here in Iwakuni is called Kikutei (or meatfest!)  He recreated Kikutei for the two of us in our own little backyard!  The kids called it Ki-Ka-Yard.   It was delicious and so very heart-warming.  We even had live entertainment-  Sam came out and gave us a demonstration with his light up sword!  I don't think that the sword demo was a part of Hank's original plan, but it certainly added a little something extra!  Thank you Hank.

Gift #156- Ella Grace

Happy 8th birthday Ella Grace Thomas!  You are a precious gift!

Gift #155- A Laugh a Minute

Sam decided to play hide and seek with me outside of the commissary.  Can you find him?   Had it not been for the bright tie-dye shirt, I might not have been able to find him either.  :0)  Never a dull moment with this kid!

Gift #154- Martha Stewart Moments

I made the kids some chocolate chip caramel apples for their after school snack.  I usually just pop some popcorn or throw a few Cheetos their way so I am feeling very Martha Stewart-y right now.  I even used organic apples and all whole food ingredients just because I thought that it sounded like a cool thing to do.  I might have burned the caramel just a tad.  And I didn't have popsicle sticks so I had to use chopsticks, but they did the trick and are actually kind of fun.  The kids are not home yet.  My pretty little apples are sitting on the table waiting patiently.  I think that I might go can some tomatoes or dry some fruit, or knit myself a sweater.  Or maybe I will just sit and enjoy the last few minutes of quiet.    I love Fridays.

Gift #153- Medicine Plant

My mom was the queen of the aloe plant.  If you had a bug bite, she would put "medicine plant" on it.  If you had a burn, medicine plant was the answer.  If you had a little scar, "just dab some medicine plant on it".  She always had several plants growing in the window sill of our kitchen.  Last week, I noticed some aloe growing in our school garden.  I asked if I could take take some of it so I could grow my own plant.  So far so good.  Josh had a bug bite on his arm last night that was bothering him.  My answer-  "just dab a little medicine plant on it."  It worked!

Gift #152- Being Called Mama

Most of the days I am just plain old mom.  Well,  I take that back.  Most of the days I am "MOOOOOMMM, Macy is looking at me, or MOOOOOMM, I can't find my other shoe.  But a few times each day, I am called Mama.  I heard it from Josh yesterday when he walked in the door after school- "Hi Mama" and from Jack this morning when he came down the stairs.  It is music to my ears.  

Gift #151- Surviving a T-Rex Encounter

Fun at Hachigamine Park last week.

Gift #150- Funky Momo

As of this morning, I have a brand new title-  Amy Sensei!  Can you believe it?  I started teaching English at a Japanese preschool (yochin) this morning.  The name of the preschool is Funky Momo.  I teach two small classes back to back.  The kids were precious.  We learned a new song together-  Hello, Hello, Hello How are you?  It was so sweet to sing together with them.  I am quite sure that they will teach me far more than I could ever teach them.  I can't wait to learn!