Anders

Jeff and Chandra wore this get up when we all met in Colorado last year:


And last Saturday Anders Elwood Larson was born. Both my dad an I now have a namesake. It's pretty exciting...and there's two more in the family on the way.

Sushi Wa Totemo Oishi Desu

(Sushi is very delicious) I've been honing my Japanese-speaking and sushi-making skills over the past year or so. I like to think it's coming along nicely. Here was our dinner last night.

Our Good Friend O

Here's a quick exercise to do:

Go to google
Search for "Oprah with Yuriko and Erik"
Click on the first link

(or you could just click here)

Talent.

Our good friend, Don Sparrow, is an amazing artist. He gave us this incredible painting of Yuriko and I:

It's awesome.

Spanish Tappas

Yuriko and I got some friends together and booked a cooking class. We got together at a caterer's place and she walked us through the cooking. Then we enjoyed a great meal together. She had a number of choice, but we chose to do a Spanish Tappas-themed night. It was delicious. While we were there the caterer (Dreen) got a call from Kraft - they want to sponser her. Here is a sampling of the food (she gave us all the recepies too):

My Valentine

She's the best...

Honoured Guest at the Myanmar Bday Party

It was Wa Sha De's seventh birthday party yesterday (Wa Sha De is the daugter of the Myanmar refugee family that Yuriko and I meet with).


Karen birthday parties are a celebration of person's life and a time to give God thanks for another year. 33 people crammed into the apartment living room and the pastor led the service. There was hymn singing and special music, a lot of prayer and a message. All of it was in Karen, with the exception of when they asked us to perform a song...so we did, in English.

The Karen people are so genuine and kind. We were force to sit on the only couch in the house with the birthday inbetween us. Here was our view:


We sat on the couch with the table infront of us and 31 people on the floor infront of that - including the pastor leading the service.

The Karen people have been persecuted in Myanmar and many are living in one of seven refugee camps in Thailand. We sat down with the pastor at his house afterwards and talked about how things are there (through an interpreter). He said the best thing is prayer.