August 22, 2007
House Picture
This is actually before we purchased the place. Megumi has decorated with a few plants since then.
As you can see, this being the Tokyo suburbs, we are surrounded by other houses. That's par for the course here. It's a small cul-de-sac, so Megumi is hoping to make friends with others on the street. Bit like Brookside...
August 21, 2007
3 Years Since We Lost Our Angel
Megumi and I went to Tokushima last weekend to visit Rosie's grave. We took all 3 girls for the first time. It was, as ever, very emotional to be there, thinking about Rosie and her brave fight 3 years ago. We talk to the girls about their big sister, and as they get older, we will teach them about what happened and about how they all got their names.
(Angelie is easy to understand, but the 'AN' sound in the Japanese pronumciation of Lilian and Vivien also represents angel.)
August 13, 2007
Life Sentence or what did I do to deserve this???
Some of you may know this, others may not, but Megumi and I made a fairly large decision recently. We decided to purchase property here in Japan (Saitama, to be more specific).
By association, we are basically commiting our future to Japan (we have a mortgage for a few years now!). The decision was made more out of a necessity for more living space than any 'grand plan'. 2007 has turned out to be a big year of changes for us, with my change of job in April followed by a move to our own place just last week. Personally, I blame the twins!
Getting a loan from a Japanese bank without permanent residence is quite a challenge, as is preparing to move with three small children. Anyway, we are in the new place now, and may even get rid of all the boxes in the next few weeks. Megumi is holding out, insisting that we won't be able to clear up properly without going to IKEA and doing large amounts of damage with the credit card. So, an unappealing visit to an overrated furniture shop with huge queues just to get in the car-park awaits! Joy oh joy.
If you are nearby, come and say hello, if not, wait for some pictures some time soon...