Ohayō-gozaimasu, Blogging Family! Those of you who follow us on Facebook may remember that I posted we would be “off the grid” for a couple of weeks. Well, I’m happy to announce our return to cyberland, and I’m even more excited to share a little bit about what we were doing during our hiatus. 

Some of you may remember that in Summer 2023 Ivan co-led an educational trip for some students from his high school to London and Paris, and I was blessed with enough good health to be able to come along. If this doesn’t ring a bell, feel free to check out our European adventures here. This was a huge milestone for me, as I hadn’t even done much local travel since my accident because I was still having active seizures. However, we spent a long time praying about the opportunity to visit Europe for the first time together – something we’d always dreamed of – and felt that this was an adventure God wanted us to trust him with. The school’s itinerary was pretty relaxed: We’d be spending five days in each city, which would allow me plenty of opportunities to skip excursions and rest back at the hotel if my health took a downturn. Plus, we felt confident that I would receive good medical care in both the U.K. and France if anything went truly wrong. God was faithful, and the trip went off without any major setbacks. I only had two seizures the entire 10 days I was overseas, which at that time was a record!

Now fast forward to Spring 2024. This was Ivan’s first year as associate director at  Valley Christian’s Conservatory, and the international summer trip was now one of his special assignments. Except this year the school wasn’t visiting Europe. This year they were heading for Japan – specifically, Tokyo. Now, I’m not sure what comes to mind when you read the word “Tokyo,” but the first thing that pops into my head is lights – lots of bright, flashing, LED lights. Maybe that’s because most of the pictures I’ve seen of Tokyo were of it lit up at night. Maybe that’s because I got my MFA from a school that also specializes in fashion, graphic design, and animation, all of which have thriving communities in Tokyo. Maybe that’s because of the city’s notorious 3D billboards. 

Whatever the reason for my preconception of Tokyo, when I first got the news last September that VCS would be visiting Japan and spending most of its time in Tokyo, my heart sank. 

“That city would be a death trap for me!” I remonstrated with Ivan.

“I know, sayang,” he said gently. “You know I want to take you with me wherever I go, but I have to make the best decision for the school.”

I bit my tongue angrily, knowing there was nothing I could say to that. One of the long-term effects of my original accident and subsequent involuntary hospitalizations is that Ivan and I struggle with being separated for extended periods of time. But this was a question of supporting him in his career. As a wife who claims to follow Christ, I knew that I needed to lay down my preferences and accept what Ivan thought would be best for us in the long run. 

But God. 

What neither of us could have imagined was that God was planning to HEAL me from my seizures only a few short weeks later! If you haven’t heard the amazing story of how my friend prayed for me, and how God miraculously answered that prayer even after years of my seeing literally the most specialized doctors in the country without finding relief, please take a few minutes and watch my seizure testimony here. Our God is an amazing God! And it is never too late for him to work in seemingly hopeless situations. Those years of praying for healing really drove home for me the truth that one day to him is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day (2 Peter 3:8). 

Once God healed me from my seizures, there was nothing to stop me from visiting Tokyo, right? 

I’m happy to report that God enabled me to join VCS’s overseas summer trip for the second year in a row, from June 9th-18th. This year I had 0 seizures abroad. I haven’t had a single seizure since the last week in September 2023, when my friend prayed for me. You might think I’d be used to being healed by now, but visiting a city that truly did light up at night just as much as I’d imagined, and being in several group pictures where the photographer used the camera flash (old habits die hard – I still ask people to turn off the flash if they’re photographing me), first resurrected my old fear of lights and then demonstrated how completely and decisively God has freed me from a disorder that used to keep me housebound and rule almost every part of my life!

We did visit other towns and cities in addition to Tokyo, including Kyoto, Nagoya, Mt. Fuji, Hiroshima, and Osaka. However, in my mind Tokyo was the major obstacle to visiting Japan while Ivan was planning the trip, and it was where the Lord helped me do battle with my initial fears upon arrival. Once he helped me realize how much fear I was still harboring in my heart and cast those unbiblical “what if’s” on him, I was able to let go and enjoy the rest of the trip. Even though I ended up catching some sort of lingering virus on Day 3 (which previously would have been an automatic seizure trigger at best or a trip to the hospital at worst), I remained seizure free and was able to keep up with this year’s taxing, city-hopping itinerary – something that would have been unthinkable even as recently as last year’s trip to London and Paris. We truly serve an amazing God! 

P.S. Below are a few pictures to give y’all a feel for some of our Japan adventures. 😊