japanticipation

...as part of our continuing efforts to develop and deepen our ministry team in the states, last night claire and i hosted the second of a series of events we've called "japanticipation"....thanks to the generosity of the kim family (sisters christine, janet, and esther, and thank u mr. kim!), we had a cozy and convenient location for over 25 of our supporters to meet or reconnect with each other and learn a bit more about what God would have us do in japan...

...thanks to everyone who came and made the event meaningful for us...enjoy the pic gallery!

...on the menu: make your own california rolls, japanese sides, asian chicken wings, salad, fruit, mocha rolls....great job claire and all her helping hands!

...thank u to each of u who attended japanticipation....at the end of the evening, as each of our guests said goodbye, we said "cheese" and took a pic with each one of them, beginning with claire and her dear friend, elaine (congrats on the new pa position @ that 70's show!!):

...and paul and eliza (she was one of claire's mentors at cal and paul knows several people at asian access):

...and hilda, who we first met in boston thru janet kim but quickly realized we shared cali roots and a kindred spirit:

...and another cal bear, tae (seeing how tight this cal family is, sure glad i married a bear!)...

...and the kangs, steve and sehee, fresh from the monster tides in hawaii...

...and young, who flew in from VA earlier in the day but still made it out (that meant so much to us!):

...and andrew, whose drive home was actually longer than ours (he lives and works in murietta, which is close to san diego)...thanks andrew for going the extra mile(s) for us!

...speaking of claire's helping hands, thanks again kim sisters (left to right: esther, christine, and janet) for cutting, cleaning, and catering so that we could relax and do our best to host:

...and brian and janet (the more we see of u two, the more we wanna see ya!):

...and the yus, david and ester (from whom we've learned lots about japan and with whom we share a heart for the gospel in asia):

...representing cerritos, the always insightful and inquisitive kay and betty (hmm...the classic white shirt seems to be in this fall)...

...tim park looking dapper in his fall classic...if u need a ringer for your volleyball or basketball squad, call this player-coach:

....and ron (marc?) and ann...no, he's not a priest (as the black-white combo may suggest), but nonetheless he's a godly man...ann's got a giant heart for se asia...for the past several years, she's been doing short-term missionary work in cambodia...

...mark and gina had to leave early for another commitment...but we don't wanna leave them out of the gallery of guests, so here they are on the sofa earlier in the evening (left to right: young, andrew, sehee, gina and mark):

...and for those who went overtime with us, you'll definitely remember these two pictures...quick context: christine is setting the camera up on auto, but lo and behold, the delay lasts only two secs, leaving christine no time to run into the pic (so notice everyone is smiling for the camera, except brian (whose looking at christine trying to dash into the shot) and claire (who has a pure look of concern and time angst..."oh, no, wait, it's flashing!!!"):

....but alas, christine's training for the LA marathan and the Nike 10K Run-Hit Wonder (which she ran the day before) comes into play as she zips into the second take (as claire's smile now indicates: