The Past Few Months...

I cannot tell you how many times I have sat down at my computer screen to update our blog. I usually find myself staring at an empty word document unmotivated to write because of the amount of papers  have already written for school, toddler tantrums, sleepless nights, culture mess ups,  and so on that I come in contact with on a daily basis. To say we have been busy that past few months back in Japan would be an understatement. Now that there’s light at the end of the tunnel I am starting to feel like a normal person again, well as normal as I can feel being at the end of pregnancy.

When we got back to Japan in August we hit the ground running. We were swept back into life here by helping out the “new guys”, who were eventually to become our dear friends in a very short amount of time, learn about life here in Japan. We spent days grocery shopping, site seeing and answering questions to help our new friends start to feel like home in such a foreign place. It was a sweet time of fellowship and fun.

September came rolling around and Justin and I found ourselves deep into school work. We spent night after night working to make deadlines. And we were so exhausted every night.  I am beyond happy to say we are at the end of that crazy time and pushing the button to send our final projects in have never felt better. I still am working on one class but I am so close to finishing I can’t help but be excited.

The school year took off as well and has kept Justin busy, busy, busy. Last week he spent a few days on a retreat with his high schoolers that I’ll have to let him write about, hopefully soon.

As far as the rest of our lives go we are slowly starting to slow down and pass on some of our responsibilities for a short while as we prepare to welcome our sweet baby Cora Grace into the world. We are about four weeks away and ready to meet our precious little one. Noah is very excited about his little sister and is ready for her to come be a part of our family.   

I am thankful for my mom who will be making the long journey to be a part of Cora’s birth by staying with Noah at the house and taking great care of him. The hospital stays here in Japan can be as long as seven days so having her here taking care of Noah is a huge relief for me to know my precious first born will have family to be with while mommy and daddy are away. 

Please pray for us in the next coming weeks as big changes and decisions are going to happen/be made. We are excited to see all God has planned for us in the weeks and months ahead. 

Guest Blog: Laura Parker Life Overseas

There have been many times in my life overseas that  I have felt discouraged, like I was a terrible missionary and nothing was going right. Or there are times when the culture I am living in becomes hard because it is so different from mine. Those who have lived overseas know exactly what I am talking about.

And sometimes I just wished I could speak or hear from someone who is feeling the way I do, going through the same situations I am, and here the simple words "It's Ok."

I was so blessed to come across Laura Parker's blog about a year ago. She has inspired me in so many ways. I have said so many times reading her blog "I know exactly how you feel". I have laughed at her posts and cried reading some of them because of how true they are. I am so thankful she writes so beautifully and I would encourage women living overseas (and really, even those of you that aren't) to start reading her blog. You will not be disappointed.

I was lucky to have been featured on her blog today. Check it out. And while your at it check out her other posts as well.

Excuses, Excuses.

So I have been completely neglecting this blog. You are probably getting used to the pattern of me posting everyday for a few weeks and then dropping off the face of planet for a month or two and then coming back. But this time, oh this time, I have some GREAT excuses on why I haven't been around here. So here is an update on the Perry Clan, through my excuses of why I haven't had time to write on the blog.

Ready? Go!

1. I have been in full time school this semester.
It has been quite a few months. I am getting close to finishing my degree and the more classes I am taking, naturally the harder it gets. I hope to graduate in May (and Justin as well), but we have some, let's call it, "distractions" coming up in the future so we will see.  

2. We are expecting Perry #2!!!!
 

Ok, so this is a big distraction coming! Woo-hoo! We are beyond excited about this! BUT let me just say this. With Noah I am learning I had the perfect pregnancy. I never had morning sickness, never had many aches and pains (except for the occasional charlie horse in the middle of the night), had a five hour labor, pushed 10 minutes, and the list goes on and on. Well so far this little one has been quite the opposite. I spent six weeks unable to eat anything but Subway sandwiches and eggs (Separately of course) and spending far to long in bed or in the bathroom for reasons you can figure out on your own. I am thankfully at the end of this part of pregnancy but I had no clue it could be that bad the first trimester!

3. Justin took a History team to Tokyo and then Washington D.C!
 

In March, I was blessed to be able to go with Justin to Tokyo for his top history students to compete in their first ever history competition. It was an amazing trip. The students far exceeded our expectations and took first, second and third place in the individual competition and first in the group competition! Wow! This was incredible to be a part of! Because they did so well they were invited to compete in Washington DC with dozens of other schools. Justin will hopefully write a post about this soon (hint, hint honey...hah) and share details and pictures as I did not get to accompany him on this trip. He has some great stories to tell and pictures to show so come back soon and read all about it!

 4. Noah is two.

If you are or have been a parent of a two year old, I shouldn't need to write anymore than that statement alone for you to completely understand,  but for those of you who don't have kids I will fill you in. Noah is curious about everything and running around like a crazy child. He is the sweetest, smartest child I know of course, but he sure keeps me busy during the day. Between jumping off stools and eating dirt I have my hands full. And to think another one is coming, oh boy! ;)

5. I am a part of a team starting a Mother's ministry at our church. 
 

Yes, I am so excited about this! Our church has decided to have a monthly gathering for mothers! This is for the people who come to our church but also an outreach to the Japanese moms around us. I have high hopes for this ministry so please pray for this. This month we had a kick off event that was a Mother's Day tea. It was a great first event! We had a wonderful speaker, good food and great fellowship! I really do believe God will do great things with this ministry in the future!

Well, those are my excuses. 

I am sure I have more like typical life in another culture, trying to fit some kind of Japanese language study in, grocery store runs, school events and so on and so forth but really it has been a crazy semester. We are thankful God has used us in so many ways this semester and we are really excited to see what God has planned for us in year number three. Yes, we are coming back for a third year if you missed that annoucement.

In the next few weeks we will be wrapping up the year and heading back to the States for some family time and so Justin can take a few more classes to finish up his degree. I have many more pictures and stories to share about the past few months so come back soon and come back often! Thank you for sticking with us, even when we disappear for a while! :) 

Our Sick Weekend.

I wish I had something more interesting to write about today, but unfortunately we have been home sick all weekend. Noah has/had the flu and Justin had a respiratory infection. Sorry I didn't have more postings this week but I did want you to know why there hasn't been much going on here.

So, after two sleepless nights, a TON of coffee for mommy, coughing and runny noses, really high fevers, a trip to the Sunday clinic, a $400 dollar medical bill, nasty medicine, naps, more Nick Jr. shows than I can count, a totally peed out futon, several warm baths and several readings of "Brown bear, Brown bear." I think we are on the mend.

Thank you to all who knew of Noah's sickness and prayed for us. Thank you for our friends who took trips to the store for us, and THANK YOU Noriko (if you are reading this) for taking us to the clinic, translating for us, taking us to the drug store...on a Sunday, WITH A SMILE! You were so good to us and made things so much easier!

We hope you have had a better weekend than we did and the flu stays far, far away from your homes!