New adventures...

We're only a couple hours away from leaving Okinawa for 3 months in the states.  We'll be speaking in churches about what God is doing in Japan and how others can be a part.  And, thankfully, we'll get to see a lot of family and friends along the way. :)  However, it will be quite different to be away from home for 3 months... we will greatly miss our friends, church, schools, sushi, ramen, taco rice, onigiri, parks, beaches, and the list goes on.  But we're looking forward to time with family, LOTS of mexican food, Texas bluebonnets, Mom's cooking, road trips, catching up with old friends, and much more.

Please pray for our church and our volunteer missionaries serving at Keystone while we are gone, Don and Aileen Baker.  The Baker's are an amazing couple who love and serve Jesus in everything they do, and we are honored and privileged to have them in Okinawa the next 3 months. 

Please pray for us while we are away from home and traveling... pray for much needed rest and family time and God's guidance as we share and reflect on how he is working in Okinawa and our obedience to go where He calls.  And of course, think of us in the next 24 hours as we cross the ocean with a 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old... that's always an adventure. ;)






You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. 
Isaiah 26:3

Japan District Assembly

 Last weekend we flew to Osaka for the Japan District Assembly.  This is a time where the pastors and some church members from all the Nazarene churches in Japan come together for worship and meetings.  It's always great to see old friends, make new friends, and practice our Japanese listening and speaking skills. :)

These pictures give a few highlights of the weekend...

 Brian was spontaneously asked to join a group of pastors singing a special song at the seminary graduation service... his Japanese reading skills were put to the test. ;)

 

 A lot of families brought their kids this time, so we had fun getting to know them and playing together... they took this picture after we had to leave on Sunday, but I'm so glad someone took this pic so you can see our new friends. :)

Noah and Justin did a fabulous job of quietly playing and coloring during the meetings and services... they normally sat at the back with me but would occasionally wander over and sit by Brian for a few minutes. :)

A definite highlight for all of us was spending time with our new regional director, Mark Louw, and his wife, Linda, and daughter, Alex.   Alex and the boys immediately bonded and had TONS of fun getting to know each other over the weekend.  It was hard to say goodbye, but we're so thankful God sent them to serve on the Asia-Pacific region!

 

 Please continue to pray for our churches in Japan.  Less than 1% of the Japanese population are Christians, but we know God is bigger than any statistic and desperately wants the Japanese to know of his love and grace.  Pray for our pastors  you see in these pictures as they work every day to reach Japanese for Christ. 

Another way to keep in touch...

Well, if you follow this blog with any regularity, you know that we're not always the best at updating... we have great intentions, but sometimes months go by with no new news from woolerywanderings.  So, while we will still be posting stories and pics on this blog, we also decided to start a facebook page specifically for news and updates about our family as missionaries.  This will be a place where we will share prayer requests, big and little things God is doing, stories about missions, etc. in a brief and more timely fashion.  So if you enjoy keeping in touch through facebook, go to our new page, select 'like', and join our conversation about Woolery daily life in Okinawa. :)

Home Assignment Update

I can't believe our home assignment is only a month away!  We've known it was coming for the last 3 years, but it always seemed so far off in the future.  We're looking forward to catching up with family and friends and sharing what God is doing in Okinawa.  As always, we won't be able to see everyone we would like, but here is a list of where we'll be speaking... please come join us if you're in the area!

April 3 - leave Okinawa for Texas (Julie's parents)
April 6 - 14: Northern California District Tour - Brian only
April 19 - 26: East Ohio District Tour - family
April 28: Northwest Indiana District Assembly - Kokomo, IN - Brian only
May 5: OKC 1st Church of the Nazarene - OKC, OK - family
May 8: Euless Church of the Nazarene - Euless, TX - family
May 18-19: Killeen 1st Church of the Nazarene - Killeen, TX - Brian only
May 26: New Braunfels Church of the Nazarene - New Braunfels, TX - family
May 30: Southwest Native American District Assembly - Brian only
June 2: Houston 1st Church of the Nazarene - Houston, TX - Brian only
June 4 - leave Texas for Florida (Brian's parents)
June 16: Southwest Indiana District - Brian only
June 17 - 22: Nazarene General Assembly - Indianapolis, IN - Brian and Julie
June 29 - back to Texas
July 2 - back to Okinawa

Playroom renovation!!!

Yes, we've been renovating!  The former owner of our house added on an extra room that he used for storage.  Since we're already blessed with many rooms and large closets, we didn't need to use it for storage.  So we decided to turn it into a playroom.  As usual, our initial simple idea turned into something more involved... but we are happy to say it is finished!  Here are some before and after pictures of our new playroom. :)

This is what the extra room looked like when the former owner was still living here... lots of good storage space. :)

When we moved in, it had a concrete floor and walls with insulation and framing.  A friend from church helped Brian install dry wall.  Then Brian textured, painted, installed trim and carpet... he's becoming quite the handyman!  It was definitely an interesting process because diy projects like this are not very common in Japan... but at least Brian got lots of Japanese conversation practice in his many hours at the hardware store this last month. Sadly, we don't have any pictures of Brian's many hours of working, but we did get one of Justin helping me repaint some bookshelves.

 

So... here is the finished playroom!!!  

 

We repainted a few bookshelves to use for game storage and art supplies.  And the boys are thrilled with their new tool bench area.

This is my favorite part - the reading corner. :)  The boys will still keep most of their books in their room, but we wanted to have space for reading in the playroom also... when Justin first saw this he said, "It's like a library!"

 

Recently we found some vintage school desks that we repainted for the boys to have their own art and possibly future homework space.

 

And they're very excited to continue to add pictures and artwork to our wall of frames. :)

Of course things will continue to be added to the walls and space, but I wanted to get some pictures in a rare clean moment.   The boys are so excited to have a new play space... so who wants to come over and play? :)

A new year...

Well, this is a little late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  The past month has been filled with special Christmas activities, continued unpacking, and renovation of the boys' new playroom (pics coming soon!).  I always love to think about the past year as we start a new year, and honestly, this past year has been very difficult for us.  We experienced deep heartache with the loss of friends and different crises in our church and school community.  Sometimes when you've experienced great loss or dealt with traumatic situations, it's easy to only dwell on the heartache.  But throughout Scripture, we see the phrase "Remember"  so many times... Remember who God is, Remember what the Lord has done.... and as I remember our amazing God, I am in awe of what He has done in our lives this last year.  We have seen him work so many miracles in difficult situations, in people's lives, in financial decisions, and in the midst of loss, He continues to provide peace and healing.  He has brought our family closer to each other and we have grown in new ways in our relationship with Him.  This next year will bring more changes and new adventures for us, but as we remember who God is and what He has done, we can't wait to see what this new year brings. :)

So, we started our new year with a wonderful family day in Nago, the northern part of Okinawa.  Justin got to do bingata painting with me for the first time, and he loved it.  While we were working on our bingata, Brian and Noah took a drive and saw some of the first sakura (cherry blossoms) starting to bloom.

Then we had Okinawa soba for lunch... well, the boys chose rice and tofu. :)  We spent the afternoon playing at a park and taking a short hike... we were blessed with such a beautiful day!

 

 And we ended the day looking at Christmas lights in a shopping area near our house.  Please continue to pray for our family and God's work in Japan this year... we are excited to see many family and friends on our home assignment in a few months!  So happy new year, and let us know how we can pray for you as we remember our Lord in 2013.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving! We're still surrounded by unpacked boxes and numerous projects to do in our new house, but it was nice to take a break this week and enjoy some together time as a family.  I wanted to make the "Thanksgiving Tree" an annual tradition, but it didn't quite happen this year.  So we decorated for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day and made these 'thankful turkeys' the day after Thanksgiving...maybe we'll get things in the right order next year. ;)

 They boys had a great time coloring their turkeys and telling me what they wanted to thank God for today.  We're so thankful for our friends and family all around the world and the incredible ways God has carried us, guided us, and completely amazed us this last year.  Happy Thanksgiving!