Grandma's Gladness

From our window - looking down at a wedding party at the reception center across the street. The red carpet was new.

Some of the quilts I have made and the RS has tied for the people in the disaster area.

These were made of old napkins that had been in the RS closet for years!

Is there anything more beautiful? Cherry blossoms over the Evans' pond in the back of their apartment.

We were invited to dinner last night for sukiyaki (Japanese vegetables and thinly sliced meat cooked in a pan right on the table).

Here we are - Sister Evans is in the blue sweater.

Here is the table all set ready for the cooking to begin.

We had to sing for our supper - at least some of us did!

Dad went to Kobe on Saturday to help a missionary who is having emotional problems. As he exited the shinkansen, there were photographers and all sorts of news media around. He was impressed that they were making such a fuss over him. However, he found out they were there to meed the head of the mafia who was being released from prison. The mafia headquarters for Kobe is very near the mission home.

Here is another sad picture from the paper. This is how people are living in the evacuation centers.

This is Peter Lyons who is a friend of Rulon's from Boulder City. He has been involved in the talks for helping decide what to do about the nuclear disaster. We visited with Peter in the fall when he was here in Tokyo for other meetings.

Here is another picture from the paper. What a mess we are in here in Japan!

But the cherry blossoms and the beautiful spring weather are lifting people's spirits. Today the Relief Society is going to Uneo Park to view the blossoms. It is good to get together and have such experiences.

After all the events of the past 3 plus weeks, it has been hard to blog about ordinary things. Jill said that I shouldn't worry about posting mundane things because at least then she knows we are alive and well! So here goes with some of the things that we have done lately. This is a little Japanese McDonalds that we passed on the way home from Costco.

Our wonderful Elder Aoyagi on his birthday!

Meiko, me, Ling Sun (A Chinese girl with is going on a mission to Australia) and Risa after one of our Friday night dinners.

This baby is just like a doll! Here Sister Watabe holds her at church. Her parents have 3 other girls and a boy and are in our branch.

Here are the Scoffields - Kelly and Jo. They invited us to dinner one Sunday. He is a counselor in the branch presidency.

OK - get ready for LOTS of cherry blossom pictures - this one is blurry but just look at this tree!

Can you imagine being able to park this close to a wall? And since this is Japan, the driver probably backed into this space! They are amazing (of course, most cars have that wonderful camera that show them how close they are to objects and beeps when they are getting too near).