Snickerdoodle Christmas Cookies

Hey everybody...I made this back in December but never got around to posting it. This is one of my favorite schools! The kids and the teachers are great! We had a great time making Snickerdoodles together.

Ikebana

Hi Friends and Family! A couple of weekends ago I was able to go to an Ikebana (flower arrangement) festival in a nearby town. It was really amazing. One of the best parts was being able to see some old friends and neighbors from Sumita (our old hometown). I went to the festival with my friend Teresa. She is also an ALT here in Japan. We enjoyed some "girl time" and really enjoyed visiting. Here are a few pictures from the festival. If you would like to see more please click on this album.

Anniversary Trip to Furofushi Onsen

To celebrate our 4th year of marriage we went to an onsen which was right on the Sea of Japan. Here's a video:



And....
Pictures from our stay at Furofushi Onsen

Video & Pics: Four Years of Marriage

Today we give thanks for 4 years of blessed marriage. Each year on our anniversary we are reminded of all you who made our wedding so perfect and we think of each one of you with love and give thanks. Thank you all so much for all of your support on that day---and continued prayers and support.
Love, Gabe and Steph



And...
Some Pictures from Our Wedding

Video & Pics: Christmas Eve in Tono

Some Pictures of Christmas Eve & Day

Video: Scallops for Dinner

The Legend of the Raven

Merry Christmas everyone! Thought we might share this:



"A long time ago, the raven looked down from the sky and saw that the people of the world were living in darkness.
The ball of light was kept hidden by a selfish old chief.
So the raven turned himself into a spruce needle and floated on the river where the chief's daughter came for water.
She drank the spruce needle.
She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, who was the raven in disguise.
The baby cried and cried until the chief gave him the ball of light to play with.
As soon as he had the light, the raven turned back into himself.
The raven carried the light into the sky.
From then on, we no longer lived in darkness."

As told by "Marilyn Whirlwind", Northern Exposure, Episode 3.10, "Seoul Mates"

This caused us to read John 1:1-14 in a new light.

Charlie Brown's Christmas

A classic...never gets old:

Watch Charlie Brown's Christmas

Circle Christmas '07

Merry Christmas Everyone! This is a little video from a party we went to last night with some wonderful friends! We had a great time! Hope you enjoy the video!

Snowball Fights!

At Mom's
At Dad Craft's
At the Yoshida's

Video: Hoshigaki & Train Ride Home

Steph happened to catch locals drying persimmons at one of the five rural train stations she passes through. She took some pictures and videos and we put them together with some local autumn folk music. You can also see some of the mountains and seacoast of our area on her train ride home. Hope you enjoy!

Video: Light In Darkness

It's getting dark early these days...it's a tough time of year. Tonight we watched an episode of Northern Exposure. This is a clip from that episode. It's one of our favorites.

Video: All Saints Day 2007

Last Sunday we went to Tono to see our dear friends, the Yoshida's. We were able to join then in worship at Tono church for All Saint's Day. Here is a video of our Sunday. There were some amazing fall colors and the sky was astounding.

Video: Halloween 2007

This is a video from the Halloween Party we attended last weekend in Murone village. Our friend Greg, from North Carolina, and his wife organize this Halloween party every year. We had a great time!



And if you would like to see the pictures check out this online album.

Ikebana and Tea Ceremony

We recently went to a small culture festival in our town. Here is a movie we made of the things we saw there.

Michigan! (Video: Summer '07 Part 2 )

This summer we had the joy and pleasure to visit our family in Michigan. It was a short trip but we were so happy to have been able to see our loved one's there. It was Steph's first time to go there and it was the first time for both of us to meet our cousin Emily(a very cool young lady)! Our Aunt's planned all kinds of fun stuff to do and best of all we got to celebrate Grandma & Grandpa William's upcoming 60th wedding anniversary----and of course get lot's of hugs and kisses.

Climbed Mt. Iwate (岩手山)

10/15/07 Update (some pictures!):
Pictures from my camera
Pictures from Steph's Camera




We climbed Mt. Iwate last Saturday stayed on it overnight and descended it on Sunday... it was amazing and we'll try to put up some pictures and maybe a video soon. This photo is of it in spring.

Texas! (Video: Summer '07 Part One)

Hello Friends & Family!
Here is a short teaser from Part One of our summer.... TEXAS!
Lot's of family fun and AWESOME FOOD! We ate, swam, skied, ate, swam, talked, laughed, hugged, kissed, and ate some more!

Video: Our Wish of Peace for You

Gabe here... I made this little video to share this beautiful piece of music.

Video: Practice of Centering Prayer

Most of you might know that Steph and I practice Centering Prayer (a Christian form of contemplative prayer). It's not for everyone and not a replacement for other types of prayer but it has been a blessing of peace in our lives. Recently Stephanie and I made a video together that introduces the practice and would allow anyone to give it a try.

Video for Centering Prayer Method & Session (20 Minute Meditation)

For more information about the method Centering Prayer see this link that tells basically "what it is and is not":
http://www.centeringprayer.com/methodcp.htm