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  • Fall! The days get shorter, the air gets cooler and the end of the year draws near.

  • But expectation is in the air today as we are at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa for their annual autumn leaves viewing.

  • There's a word for this in Japanese: Kouyou, and as night falls, we get ready for the main event.

  • Here we go! Look at that.

  • Oh my goodness!

  • Yeah, for Christmas.

  • Oh yes!

  • What a ride! What a ride.

  • This is a roller coaster!

  • All the little Japanese umbrellas

  • These are very nice.

  • Wow!

  • It's so beautiful

  • I think I see some red over there.

  • Oh I think we found the place we want to do the picture!

  • Whoa!

  • It's so pretty with that bamboo in the back there.

  • Right like this.

  • Oh yes.

  • Where do you want us to stand? Right there.

  • Oh wow, sugoi!

  • Oh yea!

  • Over here, girls!

  • All the ladies over here.

  • All the single ladies!

  • All the single ladies over here!

  • Where are we looking?

  • Aw, I got it.

  • The Japanese gardens at Showa Kinen Park are absolutely gorgeous in the fall

  • and we take advantage of it to snap some new photos of our crew.

  • I just want to jump in this water

  • Do you?! Is that what it makes you want to do?

  • No!

  • That would be so cold.

  • Wow, sugoi.

  • That's a pretty view, Nate.

  • Quickly, quickly.

  • Yea, we're going to get a picture right here.

  • I just got like three drops on me.

  • I think it was a bird, honey.

  • Ooo, look at this here.

  • That's beautiful. OK all three girls!

  • My three girls.

  • One, two, three.

  • Oh my goodness!

  • You want to come close?

  • Oh yes! Look at that right there! That is good.

  • This tree is nice.

  • Wow, actually that looks really fake.

  • It looks just like the fake leaves that I have at Daiso.

  • Yeah, that's exactly right!

  • Where'd all the leaves go?

  • Where did they go? It's like the Fall or something.

  • The colors of fall remind you that seasons are changing,

  • and just like one season gives way to another, for our family the seasons are changing once again.

  • A new season of life is settling in, and change is in the air.

  • [Life in Japan Theme Song]

  • Hey Dude, what are you making? Tell the camera!

  • French Toast.

  • French Toast?!

  • As the cold air settles in, we also get settled into our new apartment.

  • Oh look, Anna Cakes in up and she has got the Kotatsu on...

  • The table, in case you missed it, is a table with a heater underneath.

  • Oh yes! It's the best.

  • Yeah, the kids love this, don't they?

  • Yea, Kotatsu.

  • Kotatsu.

  • Kotatsu with the Mario!

  • Sarah's awake! Good morning Sarah.

  • Good morning.

  • What is today?!

  • [mumbles]

  • Natsuhi? (Summer Day)

  • Ma-tsu-ri

  • Festival!

  • Oh fun, at your new school.

  • And Joshua and mommy made French Toast.

  • Right next to your Rainbow Origami.

  • What did you make there?

  • You do it like this Ok

  • It's like this

  • Whoa

  • Very nice.

  • What are you working on, Becca?

  • A card for Evie because she's going to have surgery.

  • This is the final product to Evie. Oh my goodness.

  • It's so cute, she is going to love it!

  • Oh my stinky!

  • Wait, where is mine?

  • That is amazing!

  • OK guys, come eat please.

  • OK, breakfast time!

  • What's happening today Rebecca?

  • My electric drum set is going to come in.

  • Oo ho ho ho ho ho.

  • Electric durmast!

  • Electric?!

  • All this scaffolding is what they put around building in Japan when they're painting them, or doing any kind of service on the exterior.

  • They have to build these things around the entire building. So that's why you see it up here.

  • There they are.

  • They're under the clock, they're under the clock!

  • There they go! Have a nice fun day at school not-so-little Reutter kids!

  • Since we moved in... this has been our dining room table.

  • But it's going to go out on the balcony, because I think they're done with our balconies now

  • Even though the scaffolding is still up

  • So we're going to move it out there

  • And now we're going to buy a dining room table.

  • Whohoo! Yes, finally right?

  • With today's purchase of a dining room table and the prospects of the scaffolding coming down,

  • we're really starting to feel like life is coming together once again.

  • My goodness this is exciting! They're finally starting to take the scaffolding down.

  • I'm a sucker for fall colors, and enjoy seeing them around here.

  • But if time permits, I'm going to head up to Lake Okutama, near the headquarters of the Tama River

  • where I've heard they have amazing fall colors.

  • That's all assuming we can get the rest of our house setup.

  • Alright I want to take the table up first.

  • Table first? Put that together and then the chairs? Yeah.

  • So certainly living in an apartment isn't as convenient as a house when it comes to unloading your car,

  • But when you do need to unload your car, you can just pull right up to it and that's very nice.

  • Welcome to the jungle.

  • The trees...

  • The chairs... can you tell those are chairs?

  • And there's Ruth at the end of the hallway, getting ready.

  • Alright

  • Becca's helping! Alright!

  • Let's lift this out

  • And the kids are over there enjoying their matsuri (festival)

  • Hopefully Sarah and Joshua are having a great time over there.

  • Ruth has put together her fair share of furniture in this move.

  • Yeah.

  • But, oh, it's going to be nice to have a proper dining room table here.

  • One step at a time, this is feeling more and more like home.

  • Hey Dude!

  • How was it today, the matsuri (festival)?

  • Good.

  • Good? Was it fun? Yep.

  • What was the best game?

  • Ah, bowling. Bowling!

  • Did you see the table?

  • That's right! We got a table and we're putting it together!

  • What are we making here, Zoot?

  • Ham and potato soup.

  • [Talking in an accent] Ham and patater soup.

  • You get your ham, and you get your taters, and you put them together in some soup.

  • But I ain't country.

  • Oh, and I bought a Japanese cook book.

  • You bought a Japanese cookbook, huh? A bread cookbook.

  • A bread cookbook?! Nice!

  • You know people are waiting for you to make your own cookbook.

  • What do you have to say to that?

  • I don't know about a recipe book, I might do recipe videos.

  • Oh there you go, recipe videos!

  • I don't think I have the patience to write it out.

  • Open it! Open it! Open it!

  • Oh my goodness, Rebecster Booster!

  • Oh my goodness, it's all in pieces.

  • Oh my!

  • Watch out Joshua, I got to put this down.

  • You got this

  • Yea, you got this

  • Let me read my instruction manual since this is my first time putting together a drum set.

  • An electric drum set.

  • This product is subject to change. Ah! It comes in English.

  • The girlfriend has put together table, chairs and now a drum set all in the same day.

  • And this... let's do this one.

  • Loosen this.

  • In Illinois, where I grew up, fall is amazing but only lasts like 2 weeks.

  • And all the trees change at once, boom! it's an amazing show and then boom! It's done.

  • But here in Japan, as I've mentioned before, it lasts for several months

  • So Fall is this beautiful, long drawn-out thing that goes all the way to the end of the year.

  • About the only thing that hasn't changed recently is our life and work at Paz Church.

  • I love working with Paz and each Sunday is like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a busy life.

  • And today I'm preaching the message about "Weed Your Garden"

  • That's right, weed your garden.