Recently we needed to rearrange our family life. Our life has become so hectic that we lost a focus. I came across a good book concerning marriage and family life. Realistic Love: Your Handbook for Strengthening the Bond by Minirth, Newman, and Hemfelt. This particular book is for couples married 3 to 10 years and is one of the five books of Minirth-Menier Clinic Series. (I am not here to advertise their book.) We have been married for 7 years. It has been great help to us.

Last month we had a Japanese Pot Luck Lunch. We had 5 Japanese and some children. Mari and I were facilitator. Mark and Lisa from Yokota church of Christ entertained our guests and played cross cultural games with the Japanese. One of my students brought her husband. Another student brought her friend. I was glad to know their openness. I will attach the two pictures that show what was going on in the cultural games. In one game, Mark communicated a short sentence by moving his mouth without making any sound. Japanese people guessed what he was saying. In another game, Japanese had role plays eating dinner with bad manners according to Japanese culture. Mark and Lisa guessed what bad manner they were using. All of them had a good time and got to know one another better.

On May 21-22, James Dobson Parenting Seminar will be held. I planned this three months ago, but that time I had to cancel it because of snow storm. I will send brochures to Kindergarten school to which my students' kids go. I pray that many many people will show up and think about parenting. Japanese people's confusion about parenting is so great that they cannot know how to discipline their children. I am very positive that confusion is much greater than in the U.S. Please, pray that God will bless this seminar.

Dwight and Josephine Albright (minister and wife from our sponsoring congregation, Park Ave church of Christ) have come to Japan and visited various congregations to encourage them. Our car has been very useful for us to take them anywhere they need to go by car. By this car, we also went to Area Wide worship service 150 miles east of Tokyo. One of my students went there with us. We are so happy that he met many other Christians there. This car should be used especially for such an occasion.

We are still paying for debts for our car. Mari has been studying for TOEFL that she can find a stable job on Base. Currently Mari has not been able to find a job yet even outside of Base because of age limitation. Most Japanese companies prefer young ladies up to 30 years old. Believe or not, Mari is already 3? years old.