Konnichiwa!

What a crazy time this has been! From the moment I got back from Canada it feels like I've been hopping around from one place to another while trying to interview for jobs, take students to The Hague, catch up at work, attend a Job Fair in London, teach a little bit, go to a workshop in Zurich, resign from a job and get a new one ... it's all been rather intense. In fact I realized today, while sitting through a rather dull Professional Development meeting, that during the last 14 days I have spent 10 nights in a hotel.. and 12 of those days I have been surrounded by large groups of teachers.. yikes! Anyway I'm back in Dusseldorf for a good long while and happy to have about a month before any more interruptions to routines occur.

So.. I have a new job! As of August I will be living and working in Tokyo Japan! I am very excited about the whole thing and rather happy about how it all came to be. Initially Japan was not even on my radar but through many doors opening and closing, I finally was at the place where it was where I really truly wanted to be and where I feel I should be. What peace! It has been a ride.. a rather emotional one at that but God has been good to me through the whole thing and once I learned to sit back and trust and believe that "the lines will fall in pleasant places".. I was able to just hold my breath and see what would happen next...

And so as I embark upon my final months in Europe, I am excited about my new life in Japan but committed to finishing strong and enjoying the clean air, the tall people and the other European stereotypes!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me! Your prayers mean the world to me and I am happy to know that I have such a great support network, no matter how far away most of you seem to live.

These really are happy days!