TOMOKO PICTS

I am an MK (missionary kid) and mother of two grown children. Altho' my husband is Japanese (from Koriyama), and we speak Japanese at home, my education (elementary-university) has been in English, so most of my reading and writing is in English too. Last year, we moved to Okinawa and now live in the house my Dad built. I was born in Okinawa--it's been a long time, but I've come home...at last. 2025 August posts are publications put out by wildlife of a Saitama park in 2019.

Archive

March 22, 2011

I thought I said we wouldn't be having gifts...

Mostly composed January, 2010:

I begged two more books from Daddy!
Because of our financial pinch, we had agreed not to have presents this past Christmas.  Well, it seems God decided to send gifts anyway...
Kinya had bought a burgundy pocket Bible w/wraparound cover and clasp for Emily...but she preferred the one she already had, so I got THIS one!  And it hadn't been a Christmas present, something God made sure I got way before then.

When my daughter and sister Joyce visited for the winter holidays, one thing Joyce did was get things she wanted me to have, claiming they were "New Year's Gifts", since I had said "nothing for Christmas". One very practical gift was a pair of glasses to enable me to read...I don't have to hold books out at arms' length anymore to be able to read them!

Squirrel Mug Cup; Silver Pen
In the house nextdoor, Kinya found a glasses case perfect for them. Another huge surprise was a mug, part of a set he remembered using growing up.  Well, it has a boy with a squirrel--my sisters will remember it as the same design on ceramic ware we used in our home in Okinawa during our elementary years!  (We had plates with squirrels scampering around the rim.)  That cup brought back so many warm memories.

Kinya knew I'm not interested in roses or diamonds or furs but saw me going through a lot of ballpoint pens with all the writing I did so got me a refillable silver pen for Christmas one year.  (At first, he told me it never ran out of ink...but that's story for another post.)  I went through three refills then misplaced it and had given it up for lost.  Well, several weeks ago, Kinya told me he found something under the bed...the pen!  "Merry Christmas," he said, as he handed it to me.  No fair; we agreed no gifts.  (I just gave away what a lousy housekeeper I am.  I would have found the pen if I had just cleaned as I should have.)

Yes, some of God's special blessings, I know I do not find because I do not obey as I should.  What would I ever do if God were not so Merciful, often wanting to bless me because that is just the way He is?
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