November 29, 2013 Sad News and Thanksgiving

This week has been very busy, both good and sad. Sad because my husband's Dad passed away today, the 29th for us but Thanksgiving Day for the family in the States. My husband was on the phone talking with his sister when she received the call from the hospital. We will be making arrangements to fly back Stateside in the next day or two.  It's very hard to lose loved ones, especially when you are so far away.

 A couple weeks ago we had been talking about the resemblance between our youngest son and his Grandpa.

Seems like Gary and I spent all week running around places. Tuesday we went to Aoyama so Gary could show me where a building we are thinking about for the church is located. We also went to Shinjuku to go to a Christian book store there. On the way, at the train station, a lady jumped in front of an incoming train. Somehow, by the grace of God, she managed to not get hit, but of course the train sounded it's LOUD horn and slammed it's brakes on and people ran away looking horrified. Fortunately, she was okay and after we all pushed on the side of the train when asked us to, they were able to extricate her from under it. 

Here's the story from the paper with pictures.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/11/27/tokyo-commuters-band-together-to-rescue-woman-from-beneath-train/

We did eventually make it Shinjuku and the bookstore where we bought a Bible for Yasuyo and some tracts.  

On Wednesday, we went to Ikebukuro where I met up with Yasuyo at a coffee shop while Gary explored the station and environs.  Yasuyo and I had a very nice visit. I told her she was only my second friend in Japan and she seemed surprised and touched I'd say that to her. Surprised, I imagine, because Japanese people don't generally leave their social groups. (Family,school or work) It's hard to make friends, so I've just decided to tell people they are my friend and leave it up to them to tell me otherwise! Hopefully they will embrace this crazy Gaijin! Yasuyo did tell me before I lef,t that I was her first friend since she moved back to her hometown so I guess she is going to keep me!

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving, I had managed to find a small 71/2 pound turkey that would fit in my crockpot. I also found a couple boxes of stove top stuffing that we fancied up as best we could. We had a friend who is visiting Japan from the States over and he brought a pecan pie. He searched high and low and found a fancy restaurant that he could buy it from. It even came with sparklers!

My crock pot turkey was okay but not near as delicious or beautiful as my younger daughters masterpiece this year!

As you can see, 3 of my "orphan" children that are in Denver did very well recreating the family Thanksgiving meal! I'm so proud! 

Today, I of course had left-overs so decided that for dinner we'd have grilled turkey sandwiches !

I took some nice sliced champagne bread and I buttered one side and put mayo on the other. I then piled on some turkey and some sliced jellied cranberry. (Gary wasn't sure about that but in the end he admitted to liking it)  

After that I added a little gravy and then stuffing. I kind of squeezed the stuffing so it wouldn't fall out of the bread.

The last step was to grill it butter side down until the bread was toasty and golden!

I added a little dijon mustard on my sandwich, I think it gave it a nice little contrast in the flavor. Anyway, there's an idea for any of you looking for what to do with your leftovers! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Obviously, since I will be traveling etc, there may be a bit of a delay until my next blog post.

Until then, take care and God Bless!