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

Image of Pentecost

Hi all. Gabe here.
I've been messing around with photos a little bit today.


Basically this is an interpretation of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus' disciples a Pentecost. I took this digital picture from an annual church bulletin book we were given at church.
I altered the image adding a warm "lomo-ish" effect using http://www.picnik.com/
I like the way it turned out.
I really love this image. Very Japanese-looking ("wafu" - 和風) 。

Here (below) is the original picture that I took:

The Poetic & Mystical Account from Acts 2:1-4 (KJV)

1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Video: Sakura Memories

The sakura (cherry blossoms) have been gone for two weeks, but we still have the memories:

Emoticons (Smileys) in Japan

"HAPPY"
In English :-)
In Japanese (^_^)

"SAD"
In English :-(
In Japanese (;_;)

Here's a list of many more Japanese smileys with examples from Japanese comics. It's like a whole different language! I'm hoping to make new and more interesting emotions flashcards for my classes with these.

And, I recently read this interesting little article that proposes that Americans read faces a differently Japanese people. I think there is a bit of truth in it.

Video: Sumita 3-Year Festival

Yesterday we "went back home" to Sumita for a very special festival that is held once every three years. Gabe and I lived in Sumita for three years and often miss the wonderful friends and neighbors in that beautiful little town. We were so happy to see so many of them. I made this video from the videos and pictures we took:

Videos: Ofunato 5-Year Fest & Picnic

We had a really nice day today. Here are some videos of what we did.

Video of Ofunato 5-Year Festival Highlights (about 3 min.):


Video of the picnic we had afterwards:

Actually, this style of hand made sushi "Temaki-zushi (手巻き寿司)" was taught to us by our friends. It's a real casual way of eating sushi and our favorite because you can customize the flavor to suit your taste.

Our Name in Japanese

Kurafuto

“Craft” in romaji (a way of writing Japanese with roman letters)



クラフト

“Craft” in katakana (symbols for foreign words). This is the way I usually write my name.



蔵太

“Craft” in kanji (Chinese Characters).

In Japanese, this roughly means “you will be able to get a-lot of wealth”
The first character “蔵” symbolizes a rice storage building.
The second one ”太” means “wide” or “fat”. Ha ha…

It is actually a great honor to receive a kanji name, as many people who come here do not. The first school where I worked thought up this one and we really like it. It makes us feel less like outsiders and more accepted as equals in Japanese society. People here always like it too.
And, by the way, I also usually introduce myself as "Craft" as people usually go by their last names here.

Video: Steph's Bday Thank You Movie

Hey everybody, I made this little video to share some memories from my birthday weekend. Thank you everyone for making it so special! Hope you like it.
Also, you can see the inside of a really old traditional Japanese inn where we stayed. There are video clips of the fancy dinner and breakfast we had there too.

Gabe in Video Contest

Gabe here... I entered my "Office Fun" video in a contest. I'm such a geek.

You can Watch & Rate my video here.

Video: Easter 2007 Sunday School

Hey y'all, Gabe here...
Hope you all had a blessed Easter. Steph put this short film together of the movie clips and pics I took. You can see Steph's sunday schoolers experiencing an easter egg hunt and singing during yesterday's service. I asked her to include the movie clip of her singing too (sorry though, the end of the song she sang is cut-off)

Video: "Rajo Taiso" by Gabe

Hello friends, Gabe here... below is a liitle video I made today from some clips I took over the past few weeks from "radio taiso time" in our office:

Video: "Spring Has Sprung" by Steph

Hey Everybody!
Gabe here,... I'm proud to introduce the first "Peanutbutter and Pickles™ " production ever!!!

Today, Steph made a short film which will give you the "nickel tour" of our little home here in Ofunato. There's also some silliness at the end too...

Just click the play button (you may have to pause it and let it "buffer"---just let the grey bar get to the right side) and enjoy the goofery.

Shrimpy Got Featured

Our little Shrimpy got featured on a Japanese website called WiiTube...
If you like you can check it out here: Shrimpy on WiiTube
(And, to give shrimpy a good rating you have to click the balloon that has Japanese in it followed by an exclaimation point)

Sunday School

Hi everybody....just wanted to show you some pics of my Sunday School class. We have been having a lot of fun lately. Last weekend we had a St. Patrick's Day party. I made lime Jello for the kids and we drank melon cream soda! I think the kids had fun...I know I did. Anyways, the weather is nice and warm today. More like spring weather, unlike the last couple weeks of unseasonably cold winter weather. We are really looking forward to the cherry blossoms which should bloom a little early this year due to the warm winter. It is one of my favorite times of year because everything seems so cheerful with pink blossoms everywhere. I love when they fall too because it seems like it's raining pink butterflies or something... Anyways. Here are the pics. We love and miss you all!





and here's a few pics from a couple of weeks ago. We decorated flower pots and planted seeds.

Video: Daichi's B-Day

Our good friends the Ozawa family invited us to celebrate their son's (Daichi) birthday. They are always so kind to us and we just thank our Lord for their friendship... I made this little video and uploaded it to Google Video. (To watch, press the play button in the lower left corner)

Thank you Ozawa family! We love you! Gabe & Steph

Live chat and message

Hey ya'll,
We have a neat little feature on the right side of this page that allows you to leave messages and/or chat in real time with us or anyone that is on the site. It's called "Yaplet" (see the white box with green logo?).
Anyone can use it... Just type your name and message. Simple and fun. Cool.

B-day Movie & Karaoke

Hey ya'll,
Gabe here,...
Just wanted to share some of my video goofery...
Our friend Alli recently had a birthday. Her husband Dan (a great guy) really worked hard to pull-off a big surprise party for her. I cobbled together this little short memory video for their blog with Windows Movie Maker and just wanted to share.
We really had a great time. Lot's of food, drinks and fellowship,...then, of course, KARAOKE!
In the movie you can see us in a "Karaoke box". Karaoke in Japan is pretty cool because you get a private room for your party...

Video: "Japanese Toilets" by Gabe

Finally, "It's a Snow Day"

Hi family and friends, Steph here....just wanted to show you some pics from our lovely snow day here in Ofunato! We woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland! It's a little late but better late than never! Now I just want to watch the movie Elf and drink hot cocoa! "First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can, and then we'll snuggle." (The perfect snowday as planned by Buddy the Elf) hehe!


My little sister Madelyn really wanted to make a snowman this year but they only had a few snowflakes and a lot of ice in SA, so this one's for you Maddie!

Frozen flower buds
Our house in Ofunato and our neighbor's car covered in snow
Snow cone anyone?

This one's for the Texan's! Thanks for the hat Bubba!