field trip time!

it's been a busy month so far - can't believe next week is thanksgiving!
we took our kindergarten classes to the aquarium today and had a great time!
here are a few pictures :)

we got to see all kinds of fish and turtles and sea creatures






i kept thinking he was making a fish face: :)


we also got to see the fun dolphin show!


and then we ate lunch and took a group shot before heading back to school.


for this month - on facebook - i took a challenge to write something i'm thankful for each day as my status, a good thing to do always but especially this time of year as we get ready to celebrate thanksgiving next week. it's a good practice for me in general too as sometimes it's easy to get sad thinking about how tough things are or how much i miss my husband. i've found it to be a very useful exercise for me to try each morning to focus on something positive that the Lord has blessed me with, because there are so many things that fall into that category! hopefully you're reminded of things to be thankful for today as well. :)

here's something else to be thankful for, in Psalm 121:
5The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

october fun in mrs. graves class

on friday we wore our costumes to school and all my kids dressed up except one! (so we dressed him up so he wouldn't feel left out) :) i was a butterfly again...

here we are!


in other news, ben left a few days ago.. :( boo hoo!

it's been busy at school lately - this week is the end of first quarter for us which means teacher work days and parent conferences... "fun" :P

i've been reminiscing the last few days as i've been here hanging out by myself, how this is the third october i've spent in japan. in some ways it's hard to believe we've been here almost 3 years, and in other ways it feels longer. we've sure had a lot of adventures and changes and ups and downs (as life always does, i suppose). thank you for praying for us as we get ready for another big change and leave japan for new adventures!

happy november!

long overdue...

...pictures of my classroom, and a few more from hawaii.
it's been very busy since we got back, and i've also been sick since last week...
sorry for the delay! we had a wonderful vacation - it was hard getting right back into "real" life.

this year i only have 12 kids, which is a nice change of pace from last years 23! and i have a ladybug themed room... as you can see from the word wall...

and bulletin board...


here are a few fun shots from hawaii - our camera got sand in it while we were in maui and stopped working, so we unfortunately didn't get as many pictures as we wanted... but we had lots of fun relaxing and ben and i went on an awesome snorkeling adventure which was very neat. we also saw a magic dinner show, went to the polynesian cultural center, visited pearl harbor, shopped at the swap meet, and went mini golfing that was with black lights and neon golfballs! we ate lots of good food and had an amazing view from the hotel. it was a great vacation :)

here we are...







hope all is well with all of you - october is a busy time at school, and has been busy for ben too. he'll be out at sea again before we know it :( but i'm so thankful we've had a good amount of time together the last 2 months!!!! love from japan....

guess where we are!

...on our vacation in HAWAII!!!!!! :D

we met my parents here saturday morning and are having a nice stay here in honolulu!
yesterday we hit up the north shore, dole plantation for some yummy dole whips, ate at a local mexican restaurant... and today we visited pearl harbor and saw the uss arizona memorial, took a shopping trip to the huge "swap meet" and ben and i visited the beach for a little fun while my parents relaxed and read books. what a nice time! it's the first real "vacation" ben and i have ever taken since we got married, and we're enjoying it! we're headed out soon to eat some yummy steak for dinner, and tomorrow we go to the polynesian cultural center before we leave on our island hop to maui on tuesday.

just wanted to check in and say hello from hawaii! :)

here are a couple of pictures as always...