I want my nose pierced

At least I thought I wanted my nose pierced after shopping with three teenagers last Thursday. I spent waaaaay too much time in Hot Topic and was looking at the body jewelry. Let's see.....no way am I going to open up gigantahuge holes in my ears; tongue piercing? I mumble too much as it is; the dreaded belly button? I wish!!!! So the nose. Nah.

Last Thursday I took Takayo, Ayauko, and Briana to the mall. In Bellingham. (ooooooo) (ahhhhhhh) It's a bit different shopping with three teenagers (two of whom are Japanese and haven't seen many of these stores) as opposed to with my seven and five year olds. Couldn't tell you which one is better.

Friday Takayo went to Seattle all day with the group. Pike Place, Uwajamaya, and a Mariner's game. She had a great time and was very very tired.

Saturday Emma had a birthday party in the morning and Takayo went to a movie and shopping in the afternoon. A pretty low-key day overall. We went to Allen and Laura's to see the puppies. Everybody say "awwwww". 'Cause they are so darn cute!!!

Sunday morning found us at church. We hadn't actually explained communion to Takayo. Let alone the fact that Justin and I would be going up to take communion. Takayo came along with us and took communion. So does that help me get a place in heaven or am I now going straight to hell? Guess I'll find out later. Sunday afternoon one of the host families had a get together at their beach cabin on Samish Island. Very nice. Got to talk a little to some of the other host families and watched some of the students play badminton. I'm kind of starting to put Japanese names with Japanese faces. Kind of. A little. Oh who am I kidding? I can pick out four out of the eleven. And since two of the remaining are guys I'm only lost on five of the girls. Not bad. Too bad there's less than two weeks to go.

After we got home it was badminton time at our house. Justin and I played together for a while. Why yes, I did kick his butt, thank you for asking. Takayo and I played and Emma popped in and out too. CJ and his friend Derek came by to use the pressure washer and we roped them into playing as well. Good thing too, because I was exhausted and quite happy to give up my racket and just watch. A later night than we would have liked, but very fun nonetheless!

VBS is this week. I'll have to write more about Monday and Tuesday later. It's after midnight and I need to sleep. Takayo goes to Seattle again tomorrow. She's being picked up here around 7:40 in the morning. ick I suppose I should make sure I'm up in time. Especially since I need to fix her lunch! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to write more and maybe even post some pictures. I have over 100 on my camera right now so I really need to upload them to the computer. I almost never have that many on my camera at one time! Only during the hawg roast and our vacation at the Suiattle cabin last summer.

If you can remember dreams of flying and soaring like a bird, or dancing, or singing more perfectly than you ever thought possible, you know that no second-hand account of such events could ever give you the thrill you felt in the dream. Gayle Delaney