sayanora...dewa nai!

eeek...the days! i cannot believe it will be july next week. this year's long winter gave way to an eventful spring. we hosted my parents and then craig's parents for an almost full month of visiting! we had so many great meals and really had a chance to spend some 'slow time' together. thanks for making the long trip. ;) and we even got in a wonderful summer garden.

the earth continues to be good to us and this year, with help from our parents, we continued to expand our growing space and harvest almost every day now! we find ourselves buying less and less at the store and we are continuing to be amazed by the bounty the earth yields with so little help from us! here are a few recent photos.

the onions look more like apples than onions! HUGE! we harvested just over 100 yellow and about 25 purple.
a typical late spring harvest!
Daddy and Mi-chan conquer the bamboo...

as for other life surprises, we were once again shocked by this country's pull on our lives. we had prepared our hearts over the winter to leave the place we have made our home over the last five years. we made arrangements for graduate school, housing, and even ordered our CSA box (what the heck is a CSA? click here- http://www.localharvest.org/) for summer life in the USA since by the time we arrived back in Oregon there would be no time to get our own garden in! when my parents came for their visit, we sent home almost all our books and various winter things we wouldn't need anymore. and then...a new path presented itself to us. the details are not finalized yet (i will post about them when they are) but we will not be moving back to the USA in july! what?!?! we keep asking ourselves the same question. we have been in a state of shock and confusion but we know that staying longer in Shimane is the right decision. we didn't even really have to think about it...
well, we did for a short time since we would miss being back with all our American friends and family, skiing with Dad, and eating at Muchas Gracias whenever we wanted. but as my momma so humbly put it (bless your heart Momma, i think this must of been one of the toughest things you have ever said to me)- there really is no choice. this simple life is what we love. it is enough. and it was really what we wanted (we just couldn't figure out how to make it work 6 months ago).

we will still be traveling home to the US this summer for an extended vacation- the twins last summer at home before university, erin's wedding planning, tubing on the rogue, Mucha Gracias/Corrales binges, and terra's bachelorette weekend are just a few things we are looking forward to. we also have to retrieve all that stuff my parents so lovingly carried back for us! ha! and all the other stuff that has been in storage since we came here five years ago. with this decision, it looks like we will be staying anywhere from 3-10 more years or longer. it is too soon to say but without a doubt this is a longer commitment. so a summer of sorting awaits us...it will be like christmas to open all our wedding gifts again! ;)

so that is where we are. we don't know much these days but we do know that we are happy. that is more than enough to ask for.

we will be moving house again. location TBA but we are cooking up some more BIG DREAMS...will keep you posted.