Yabuki Breeze Blog

Every year, Our small group at Fielder Road Baptist church works with ISI and the BSM at UTA to host an international student thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year was no exception. Nearly 100 students feasted on turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, potatoes, etc. It was a cornucopia of things to eat. they also were treated to the sounds of Greg Speed who we found had quite a broad repertoire of music for students to listen to while eating and chatting. This year we really worked hard on making the time conducive to relationship building and so it had more of a home/coffee house feel to it. It was a lot of fun.

On a sad note, one of our dear friends from our small group, Earl, passed away a couple of days before the dinner. It was very sudden and unexpected. We had gotten to know him well when he was in our care group and when we gave him rides to and from church. It was a very sad thing. Interestingly, his mother mentioned that one of the things that was so special to him was his church small group and that he was REALLY looking forward to this dinner. He even had a turkey waiting to be cooked for this event in the refrigerator when he passed away. This story really made us realize that we are not only serving the students we serve but also we serve those who serve the students. Thank you Lord for this somber, special reminder.

Tags: BSM, Dinner, Fielder Road Baptist Church, holiday, Thanksgiving

(pictures) 4500 miles… 18 days… many old and new friends… connection with family too… a better appreciation for each of our immediate family members… Watching the kids grow in front of us… five whole classic audio books… four times watching “Cars…” four National Parks, three Jr. Ranger swearing ins, the kids experiencing skiing for the first time. The Yabuki family went on an epic roadtrip this Christmas holiday to California and no doubt it will be one we will never forget.  It was truly a trip for the ages. Praise the Lord for his blessing in all of this. Read all the details. stories & impressions from this trip in our trip blog. Here are a few highlights…

• We stayed in the Wigwam Motel on route 66, the model for the cone motels in the Pixar Movie Cars
• We stopped at and experience Manzanar Japanese Relocation Camp from World War 2 where my mom lived during the war
• The kids experienced skiing (Roy’s favorite sport) for the first time
• We enjoyed several day’s with Lisa’s sister family and mom including Christmas in Lake Tahoe and Napa (where they live).
• We visited four national parks including Yosemite(Roy’s favorite), Grand Canyon (J-12′s favorite), Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park (T-8 & C-5′s favorite) and Carlsbad Caverns National Park (Lisa’s favorite). T-8 & C-5 earned earned the distinction of Jr. Ranger at three of these on three consecutive days. We also saw a famed observatory and the hospital Lisa and J-12 were born in.
• We were able to share about our ministry at the church Roy grew up at and were able to re-connect with many dear and cherished friends.
• We spent several days with Roy’s parents in Los Angeles, having important time with his sister’s family, and many other friends, ministry partners (who are also friends), and family some of whom we have not seen in many years. Roy & Lisa even went out on a date with Roy’s old High School friends while the kids got to enjoy their grandparents’ passion for crafts and wood working.
• We were blessed to stay in the home of some gracious students who we got to know in Albuquerque.

What a blessed trip! I just wish we could have visited more of our friends along the way. Thanks all for your prayers and thanks all who we saw, who hosted us, who thought of us, who ate with us, Ken who watched our house, etc. I feel we are well rested and ready to go after such a special time.

Tags: holiday, national parks, roadtrip, travel

One of our dear student friends, Ken finally said yes. We were looking high and low for someone to watch our house while we take a 18 day 4000 mile road trip to California to visit friends, family, supporters, churches,  see some world class sights with our kids, etc. the next couple of weeks. For those of your who want to pray for us on this trip, we made a special “drop.io” blog site (at http://drop.io/YabukiCalTrip.  You can subscribe to an e-mail/RSS/podcast/etc. there.) where it is easy to journal our trip with pictures, notes, & audio files, etc.. On the right of this Yabukibreeze blog we have a box with the RSS update notices from that trip log. Also, here is the schedule so you can plan for our days… Please pray for safety, patience, a good holiday, good experiences, growing love for our family, good re-connections with friends and family, etc. Sadly, we won’t be able to visit all of you all given the tight schedule because of the transit times, family times during the holidays and all, but we are excited about seeing some of you all!

Tags: California, holiday, Prayer, travel