Intro to Our Japanese Family Visit

Here's how we came to have a Japanese family.

Back when Kevin was in 5th or 6th grade, we hosted a Japanese boy of the same age, Michito, for a month one summer. He must have had a good time because ten years or so later, his younger sister, Makiko, called us from Boston, Massachusetts, where she was attending college, to ask if we knew a farm in Oregon where she could stay for her winter break. Of course, we did. Maki arrived and we all fell in love with one another. She became a regular visitor and we became her American mom and dad.

Maki graduated from college the same weekend as Steve, he in Pittsburgh, she in Boston. We went to Steve's graduation and then flew to Maki's. Her parents flew in from Japan and we met them at her graduation ceremony for the first time. They all then flew to Oregon and spent a week at our farm with us. Again, we fell in love with one another.

Fast forward several years to Maki's marriage in Japan. Johnny and I flew over and were royally hosted. Munazza was working in Tokyo at the time so she and Steve also attended the wedding. Sadly, Yoko's husband died before Maki's wedding. Yoko has visited us on her own since then. Yoko and I have become dear friends. She loves horses, gardening, hiking, birds... all the things I love.

So it has been with great excitement that we looked forward to Maki's family and Yoko coming to visit us this summer. It was our first time to meet Maki and Shigeto's three beautiful children. Steve and Munazza and their two boys joined us here on the farm for a grand reunion.

Our Japanese family arriving at the airport

At breakfast, the first day

Yoko, wading in our creek, first day

Cedrus and Kestrel just before Kestrel fell in the creek and I fell in trying to pick him up.

In this introductory blog about our Japanese family, all the photos posted are ones I took. The next installments will be with photos either Johnny or Munazza took because I managed to dump my camera in the creek the very first day when I grabbed for Kestrel after he fell in. Kestrel was not in the least damaged by his dunking. Alas, my beloved camera was.