The A-bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima

Nagasaki and Hiroshima are the two cities that the United States dropped atomic bombs on towards the end of World War II. Last year Jason took a school trip to Nagasaki. On that trip he visited the A-bomb Memorial site. After hearing his stories of what he saw and heard there I knew that before we left Japan I needed to see one or both museums.

My sisters came to visit us in August and we all decided that we would journey down from Tokyo to Hiroshima to see the A-bomb Museum and Memorial Center. I don't think I was quite prepared to see all that I saw. It could be easy to walk into that place and just numb out. It could be very simple to experience it only with your mind and not your emotions. After all, pushing your emotions aside would be the safe way to walk through such a museum. That way you don't have to deal with the questions that will inevitably come....God, why did you allow this?? Why are the hearts of man so evil?? As an American, how do I respond to this horror that we caused on a nation??

My tears flowed as I walked through each room. Being a mom has now made my heart more vulnerable, i think. My heart would ache and the tears would come very easily at the stories of children who were killed during the explosion of the bomb. After a while I had to take a break from listening to the stories on my headset. Whole families, bloodlines were wiped out. So many people suffered so terribly.

If it is ever possible for you to visit the Memorial Museums in either Nagasaki or Hiroshima I think it is necessary you do so. Every person should visit it so they can see the damage, horror, destruction done by the use of nuclear weapons.

Below are some pictures of our trip to the museum and Peace Memorial Park. We didn't take many pictures inside the museum because I think we just didn't think about it. I guess our minds were preoccupied.

A-bomb Dome: The Hiroshima Industrial Promotion Hall was constructed in 1915. On August 6, 1945 it was instantly destroyed by the first atomic bombing in human history. Flames enveloped the ceiling of the dome and consumed the entire building, killing everyone within. The parts of the walls, which withstood the blast because it came from above, together with the steel frame have become a symbol of Hiroshima. (taken from a brochure)



There were many strands of 1,000 cranes hung around the Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students.



The Japanese have a legend that states that anyone who folds 1,000 cranes will be granted one wish. Sadako Sasaki was a small school girl who believed in this tale. She was diagnosed with leukemia as a result of the radiation from the atomic bomb. She tried to fold 1,000 cranes because she believed if she could then she would be healed. Sadako didn't live long enough to finish her goal. After her death, her school mates picked up where she left off and fulfilled her dream of making 1,000 cranes in her memory. Now, 1,000 cranes together has also become a symbol for peace.


Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims


This jacket was being worn by a female student when the bomb dropped.





A picture of the aftermath (1 of 2)


Continuation of previous picture (2 of 2)


A drawing in the museum. "Injured with Their Clothes Torn Apart and Skin Hanging Down" The artist said this, "The injured were silently escaping for the suburbs like ghosts along the bank with their hair disheveled, clothes torn apart, and skin hanging down. They looked like nothing on earth." Drawn by, Kichisuke Yoshimura


A model showing the hypocenter and the destruction. Homes were wiped away as though nothing had ever been there.


The warhead


"Shinichi Tetsutani (then 3 years and 11 months) loved to ride this tricycle. That morning, he was riding in front of his house when, in a sudden flash, he and his tricycle were badly burned. He died that night. His father felt he was too young to be buried in a lonely grave away from home, and thinking he could still play with the tricycle, he buried Shinichi with the tricycle in the backyard.

In the summer of 1985, forty years later, his father dug up Shinichi's remains and transferred them to the family grave.

The tricycle and helmet were donated to the Peace Memorial Museum." (taken from the plaque that accompanied the tricycle)


Glass jars that melted together instantly from the intense heat of the bomb.

The End of India...Finally

On the third morning of our trip I woke up with a fever and an extreme case of dehydration. I could barely move. It was decided that it was best to take me to a small village called Kaza which was about a 3 hour drive away. There was a hospital there. Cheryl Barton went with me since Jason had to drive the motorcycle. Let me tell you how amazing and timely it was that I got sick where I did...we were out in the middle of nothing. Had I been sick one or two days later finding a place to take me would have been extremely difficult. If I had to get sick, the timing and location were perfect. :)

Along the drive I was in and out of sleep or consciousness...not sure which. However, I did wake up to the sound of a VERY loud boom....the sound of an explosion. I was almost positive we were being shot at but, as I learned later, we had barely cleared dynamite being detonated. As we were driving a man was running towards our vehicle screaming and waving his arms to stop. Our driver decided it was best not to because he was afraid the man was a robber and he didn't want to take a risk with two white women in the car. When the dynamite went off our driver was VERY angry....he said the man should have had a red flag or some kind of marker. Out there worker men don't wear brightly colored vests with reflective tape....just pants and sometimes a shirt.

When we arrived at the hospital I saw the doctor and he decided to admit me right away. He had diagnosed me with extreme dehydration, altitude sickness, and an infection that he was unsure of but would do blood tests for. I am not quite sure how to describe the hospital to you. The walls were made of bare cinder block. There was no glass on some of the windows. The electricity was out and in order for it to come on the doctor had to requisition it if/when he had to do procedures that required the use of machines. And the most disgusting part....no toilets....well, at least not ones with running water due to some renovation of the plumbing that had apparently taken much longer than originally projected. The only clean toilet was outside about 100 meters away from the hospital behind a locked door and you had to ask the nurse for a key....that is if you could find the nurse. Inside there were toilets but NOT at all clean and wouldn't you know it....a case of diarhea decides to hit me. The only place to go was in a toilet where every square inch of the concrete floor was covered in human feces....feces piled in the corner like a pyramid...smeared into the concrete....it was every where. It was awful....I still slightly gag when I think about it. It has taken months for me to get to this point where I can talk about it without gagging. I didn't quite make it to the toilet and as a result had to change clothes in that bathroom.....now that was a trick! Feverish, shaky, clammy, light-headed, nasueas, and incredibly thirsty whilst trying to put on clean clothes with out dragging my pants leg through poop. believe it or not, i made it out of there without poop on the pants!! In the pants, however, not quite as fortunate. :)

While this hospital was lacking in many of the modern day technologies, the staff and the doctor were amazing. I had to receive an IV drip for my dehydration and this cute little plump nurse with missing teeth, leathered skin, gray hair tied back in a bun, and bright eyes was very skilled at getting that IV in my arm. She also had to draw blood and that was one of the most painless blood draws I have ever had. Her English was limited but we got along just fine with smiles and gestures. She may have been in a poor part of the world but she knew what she was doing when it came to her job.

Also, I had a wonderful roommate in my little hospital room. Gatuk was a 22 year old woman with kidney stones. She was in pain but that didn't stop her from changing out her own IV bag when it came time. I was impressed....I had no idea how to change my IV bag but Gatuk worked it with great skill and ease. I thought maybe she was a nurse also but nope, she was a teacher. She was from Nepal and had a two-year old son....she told me repeadetly how much she missed her baby and how badly she wanted to hold him again. She was worried about me because she had overheard that I was pregnant. She didn't say much to me about it but would often just stare at me with a worried look on her face.

It took me four days to recover. I slept a lot and often worried and prayed for the safety of the little one in my tummy. But, over and over again, I could feel the Lord saying to me that the baby was safe and to not fear.

When we headed out I still wasn't 100% better so I decided to ride laying down in the SUV for much of the first day back on the road. Our very last day of the trip I rode with Jason the whole way. It was quite fun and the roads were a little smoother. We got to camp out under beautiful skies the next few days.

We returned to Manali (where we started) and I was elated to be able to shower. I didn't shower for 5 days and I STUNK to high heaven!! I was happy to be back in Manali because, while I had a wonderful time, I was ready to go back to Japan. India had kicked me in my hind parts! We spent one full day in Manali before our return to New Delhi. The day before we left we had another scare with the pregnancy. I was spotting. We decided to take me to a mission hospital in Manali. My mind was racing all over the place. I kept praying and clinging to the Lord for His peace. "Lord, not my will but your's be done" Still over and over again I kept hearing Him say the baby was safe and not to fear. I am so thankful the Lord is so faithful to speak to us and give us His peace. He is so loving to His children. The trip to the hospital was filled with tears, I got scolded by a 22 year old doctor for riding motorcycles on the road we went down (it was extremely rough in parts). I put my hands in my face and said "i know, I know...I should've known better!" She immediately grabbed me (she was all of 5 foot) and hugged me and said everything would be ok just no more motorcycles. (i thought to myself after the doctor's appointment...duh, pregnant women aren't even allowed on roller coasters! what the heck was I thinking getting on a motorcycle!!!??) The exam and the sonogram showed that the baby was still tucked away safely inside. I was filled with relief and many tears were shed by our group at the good news.

Our trip in India was the trip of a life time. I am so thankful we went and got to see and do all that we got to see and do. Sadly, I still can't eat curry. :( I hope one day I will be able to again.

India Trip (video)

Sorry for the shakiness of the video but here we are starting off. Notice the paved roads....it didn't stay that way for long.

India (Part 2) Into the Himalayas

The continuation on India (part 1)

So, after Taj Mahal we made the journey back into Delhi to stay at our guest house for the night. We were staying at a Tibetan Refugee Camp/Complex. It was quite an interesting stay. Twice during the night we heard knocks at our door which didn't help me sleep very comfortably. Throughout the day at the Taj Mahal and on our drive back into Delhi I constantly found myself hiding my face and my hair behind my hooded jacket because anytime we would stop at any point on the road for an amount of time beggars would bang on our windows. We were instructed not to look at them but only hold up a hand and wave them off. Outside of the Taj Mahal a little boy, who wasn't more than 10, came up to me selling something. I am not sure what he was selling because I wasn't interested in his merchandise but rather, his story. This was a first for me....a child beggar following me for 20 paces or more begging and pleading that I buy from him. Whining and exclaiming and pleading for my money. How did he get here? Was he doing this willingly? Does he get to go to school? Does he do this everyday? The begging happened on so many different occasions....an old woman outside of our guest house in Delhi, the little boy, the teenage boy who beat on my window with a force that I thought it would shatter, the little girl wanting me to buy newspapers, this all happening in the first day and of course, it wouldn't be the last. So, when the knocks on the door of our room came late at night I was just sure someone was looking for us and any money we had. My fear is ridiculous...these people (for the most part) aren't criminals....they are the poor. I fear that maybe some where along the way I have merged the two....or at least I do when I am confronted by them which causes me to not see them. Sigh.....i have a long way to go and a lot to learn.

Early the next morning we hopped into another van and this time headed for a much longer trip into a village at the foothills of the Himalayas called Manali. It was about a 12-14 hour (can't remember exactly) car ride but thankfully this time we had AC! From Manali we would begin our motorcycle ascent into the Himalayas. Our route was initially meant to take us into Leh which is in Kashmir State but upon our arrival in Manali to discuss our travel plans with our guide we learned that there was civil unrest and protests in that state and it would no longer be safe for us to travel there. So, we had to plan another route. Which was actually really great as the altitudes on the new route were lower than those of the original route and I, because I was pregnant, was unable to take the altitude sickness medication. However, we would still be reaching altitudes of around 14-15,ooo feet. I had never been this high before in my life. I was worried about altitude sickness as it is NOT something to mess around with.


The next morning we began our 9 day journey. Now, I have to brag on my husband....he had NEVER driven a motorcycle before...well, actually he had but only two times and not on any long excursion but rather up and down a small street in tokyo on our friend mike's bike. Flat paved streets cannot compare to rocky, pot-holed "roads" of our Himalayan trek. and Jason worked it like a pro. Jugdish (not at all how you spell his name but that's how i remember to pronounce it) one of the 8 member crew told me by the end of the trip that Jason was a very good driver. I can attest to that too. Jason had to drive across some rocky passes through rushing water. If he had made one wrong move he would have been over the edge.....to say I was nervous during those moments is an understatement. Terrible scenarios were playing in my head at such crossings. The common one...."my child is going to grow up fatherless!" But, praise God for His faithfulness for He protected us in SO many ways on our excursion.

Now, I won't break down every day of the journey, that would take to long and become a little monotonous because the days (for the most part) went something like this.....get up, eat breakfast, climb on the bikes, bike until lunch, after lunch we would bike until we made it to our camp grounds which was usually around dinner time. The things we saw and the people we met are something I will never forget. Nor will I ever forget how sick I was. I was more sick than I had been in all of my life and this is no exaggeration but I will get to that part later. I have some very....um, unique stories to go along with that.

So we left Manali and wound our way up into the foothills of the Himalayas. They were astoundingly beautiful. Also along the way I got my first glimpse of a Yak! He/She didn't do much. ;)
Here are some pics of our first few days of travels.....

Here's where we began....Manali


This is a view from our guest house of Manali.


The Helmets....protecting our heads for only $3 USD!


One of Jason's shots of our bikes....


Starting off...


As we rode up a heavy fog began to descend over the mountains and brought with it some cold rain.


Our camp grounds on night 1....and there are our wet clothes drying after we got soaked from the first day's ride.


The next morning....can you believe what we got to wake up to? We arrived at dusk and under fog so the clear skies were a wonderful treat the next morning. The blue in the skies was some of the most clear blue skies I have ever seen.


View from our campsite the first morning.





Three of the eight crew members that followed us and set up camp for us. In this picture (L to R) is our cook, our mechanic, and the driver that followed us with our clothes and water. These were some fun guys and super helpful.


Day 2...I'm not smiling. Not for any particular reason....I guess I just missed the cue.





Stopping for some tea. India has the best tea. Chai...but it's not your Starbucks chai or anything else found in the grocery store....it's just delicious beyond words.


THE YAK! with a saddle...which cracks me up! and I can't help but sing to myself..."yakkity yak...don't talk back"


Jason...this is actually a day 1 pic but doesn't he look good on this thing!? :)


Encountering a heard of sheep and goats. There were lots up there.


And here is our campsite for night number 2 where I got SICK as a dog. I climbed in and out of that tent approximately 8 times during the night to go throw up and well....you know. And yes, it was all happening at the same time!!! I woke up dehydrated and feverish. So, morning 3 began with a mad dash to a small village hospital about a 3 hour drive away.....I'll pick up there next time.

Deacon Scott....

is a month and a half old already! Man, time has flown by!

I haven't posted on here in a good while partly because I would rather sleep than sit in our uncomfortable computer chair....I have made several secret wishes that we had wireless. :)

Deacon Scott Kuiper has arrived! He made his appearance on April 15th at 2:53 pm after a VERY LONG labor. I was having strong contractions for a total of 38 hours!! But really really strong ones for a total of 24 hours....man, it was intense. I went to the hospital at 8pm on Tuesday night after 5 hours of contractions coming every 5 minutes apart and then upon arrival to the hospital discovered I was only 1cm dilated!! Talk about discouraging. So, I checked into my hospital room and continued to labor ALL night long! At 5:30am they checked me again and I was dilated to only 4cm. The doctor said I should be moving right along then at 1cm per hour....yeah right! At 10:30am I was only dilated to 6cm. At 11am the doctor came in and said that labor was progressing too slow and that I had three options....1. continue laboring as I had been 2. break my water to see the color of the amniotic fluid to see if the baby was in distress or 3. use pitocin to speed up labor I knew immediately that I wanted option number 2....not sure why but there was no debate. I knew my water needed to be broken. After they broke my water things started moving very quickly and Deacon came 4 hours later.

Labor is intense but SOOO worth it. It was wonderful to get to hold my son in my arms....no feeling can describe it. Every pain that a body experiences is to tell you that something is wrong with your body, that you have a problem that needs to be checked out. However, labor pain is something different entirely. It's the one pain that a woman experiences that is bringing forth life and is not about something being wrong with the body. There is something profound about that fact that I can't quite put my finger on. Any insights?

Motherhood has been such an adjustment. The first two weeks...no, make that three weeks were so hard. So many things are thrown your way all at once. You are exhausted, your nipples are cracked and sore (sorry fellas) from trying to breastfeed, your emotions are all over the place and you can't control them which makes you even more emotional, you've got pain from squeezing something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of a lemon or you've had surgery that has made sneezing more painful than you could imagine, and the list could go on.....BUT it is SOOOo worth it! I couldn't have made it through this first month of his life without the help from my mother (she came for a month total and was here the first two weeks of Deacon's life) and my wonderful fabulous husband. Jason is so amazing. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband as him (he?). He is such a great father, too. He loves his son so much and that is very clear! Thank you, honey!

Here's a picture of our precious son at one month old....


After a bath....




India part 2 coming soon.....already got parts of it written and saved in a draft. :)

Just a Quick Favor

My friend, Susan Parry, is a fabulous woman, mother, and friend. She is also a runner. I admire her perseverance in the run as I have always hoped to be able to love running this way. I love running but going beyond 5 miles is next to impossible (maybe I just need to train more :) ) but, anyway, back to the topic at hand....my friend has entered in a contest for a chance to make it to the marathon of her choice. Please follow this link and click on "Vote for this entry" or scroll down and write a review to help her earn points. Here's a quick little bio about her......

Let's send Susan to the Honolulu Marathon!

Susan is a dedicated wife, mother, and friend. She and Mark have 3 amazing children, 2 of which they have brought home through adoption from Korea! As a family they have impacted the lives of many through teaching overseas, working for fair wages for coffee bean growers, and ministering to inner city kids through Kids Across America.

Read Susan's story "A Refuge" and vote every day to send her to Honolulu!

You can also post on your facebook, twitter, or blog to give her even more points!

Click on the following link to vote! Thank you!!!

http://tinyurl.com/dfknsg

Tales of India.....7 months later (part 1)

With the arrival of our son approaching (only two more weeks until the due date) I have been recounting my pregnancy and all of the blessings that have come with it. The Lord has been so faithful through out it all but I want to share with you how we experienced His faithfulness and goodness while on a trip to India when I was six weeks preggo.

In August of 2008, Jason and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to India with our friends, the Barton's, and take an adventurous journey through the foothills of the Himalayas via motorcycles. We were out and about camping for 9 days. Through the course of the 9 days I only took a shower once! Man, I never knew I could stink so bad! For some who are much more experienced at adventure than myself this may seem rather short and minuet but it was quite a feat for me. Also, while in India I got INCREDIBLY sick! I honestly have never been this sick in all of my life but God did some amazing things through this journey which I hope to be able to recount clearly over the course of the next few blog entries. You may wonder why I have waited 7 months to even start telling you about this and that answer is simple....I couldn't tell any stories without gagging or becoming slightly queasy at the thought of India. I am not sure if that was largely in part to being pregnant or what exactly but thankfully, I think I am mostly over it. Well, with the exception of an aversion to curry but I don't think that's going to go away for quite some time.

So, here's how it all took place....
Jason and I took off from Tokyo and landed in Hong Kong where we had hoped to spend a couple of days exploring this city before catching a flight to New Delhi. I don't have much to say about Hong Kong except that it has a cool cityscape. I am sure overall it's a great city but we didn't have much of an opportunity to explore it because upon our arrival we both felt a little sick which kept us indoors for one of the days we could have been out site seeing. But, we did get to take a ride on the Peak Tram where we got a great view of the city from above. Here is a picture of Hong Kong at night.


After our couple of days here we met up with our friends, Bernie and Cheryl Barton, in the airport to fly to New Delhi. We arrived in New Delhi around 2:30 in the morning and immediately began to feel cultural differences. India was a whole new cultural experience for me. The smells, the sites, the people, the food....everything. The gaping chasm that exists between the destitute and the wealthy is an aspect of this culture I have yet to fully grasp. Not really sure if I ever will. People were waiting outside the airport to beg for money, food, anything. Scattered along side the road ways were homeless people sleeping on thin mats with cracked, bare feet poking out from underneath the blankets that were too short to cover their bodies. They slept close to the buzzing and constant passing of cars to be near the exhaust as it kept the mosquitoes away. I tried to process what I was seeing but everything was coming all at once....it was overwhelming. This was my first encounter with such frequency of poverty. I began to scold myself for not seeing things like this sooner.....for not being closer to the broken.....I didn't quite know what to do with my lack of experience with these sites and to be honest I still don't but I hope I am never so used to them that I become numb to the idea that people shouldn't live this way. Hearts.....souls should be tended to, taken care of, loved. I wondered if these people had known such things but the wondering and the unknowing of how to process all that I was seeing in a matter of 30 minutes left me....well, numb. It was too much. So, I narrowed my view and never REALLY looked around me. I didn't know how. I was stunned. I would like to say that after seeing all of this as we drove through Delhi inspired me to do something different, noble, or philanthropic but that just isn't true....and I want to know why that is and I am not done trying to figure that out. Anyway....

When we landed in Delhi we were met up by some of the Barton's friends who live in India. It was decided prior to our arrival that when we flew in we would have a rental van waiting to pick us up and drive us all to the Taj Mahal in Agra. It was said to be a three or four hour trip but ended up taking closer to 6. We rode through the night so we could make it to the Taj Mahal in the early morning to beat the heat. However, there really is no beating the heat in India. It was hot no matter what time of the day. After a long car ride we arrived at the Taj Mahal. Ever since I saw this landmark inside one of my history books in Jr. High, I knew this was one place I wanted to see. It was cool getting to fulfill a dream and hope I had had since I was about 12. However, while the Taj Mahal is beautiful and exquisite, it just doesn't compare to the beauty and majesty of the Himalayas. But, I still really enjoyed being there and I am grateful to have seen it.

Disclaimer: (please excuse my very poor punctuation....I have never been good at figuring out where commas go.)