WHAT A CROC!! LITERALLY!!

Who'd a thunk it!???!!

I bought these while back in the states and brought them for John when I returned the end of May.
He wore them almost daily until one day he left them in the back of van.

A couple of days later I noticed them and took them out and put in the house.
That afternoon John went to put them on and his foot would not fit in the left one! HUH??
He picked them both up and held them together and thought somehow he'd picked up someone else's left shoe the last time he wore them... this had been to a basketball game and in Japan at most gyms you have to change from your outdoor to indoor shoes. Crocs are quite popular here as well and so it wouldn't be a total impossibility to have mistakenly picked up the wrong shoe... EXCEPT that if he had he surely would have noticed when he tried to put it on to go to the car!!

So, he turned them over and !!???! they're both size 12!!

But the left one looks more like a 10!!

All I could think of was that he'd left them in the van. Mind you we've had an extremely mild summer... not o mention the oddity that it was on;y 1 shoe!! So John decided he'd write the company. Lo and behold... on the site while he's looking for the contact info, he runs across this, "To keep your Crocs in good condition, you will want to avoid leaving them where they will be exposed to heat or sun, such as a dish washer, washing machine, or hot car, as this can cause the shoes to shrink or warp." !!!!!! WHAT?! So much for writing them.

So for all you Croc wearers out there, consider yourselves warned - DON'T LEAVE THOSE CROCS IN THE CAR!!!! unless of course one foot is considerably smaller than the other!

And then you better hope the correct one shrinks!

Live and learn :-}

Did you believe us? Prayer... it IS powerful!!!!

Howdy to all! And thank each and every one of you that joined us in prayer for our need of transportation. It worked!! As we trusted it would ;-)
So here's how it went... picking up from when we left the deceased van at the mechanics...
Remember we have a sweet neighbor who is helping out with all the translation between the mechanic and us -
So, he calls her and says that another customer of the shop has just purchased a new vehicle and offered them the old one they're replacing at a very reasonable (for Japan) price. The shop knows the vehicle as they've been the ones servicing it, and they believe it to be in good condition. The shop in turn is offering to let us purchase it for the same price, plus the costs of title transfer, etc. The vehicle will be brought to them that evening and we can come look at it the following morning.
Tuesday morning we're off to take a look. It's van!! A bit smaller than the one we had, still, a van! A 2001 Mazda MVP. seats 7, 4WD, GPS, CD/DVD player, 2 decent sets of tires - summer and studless snow tires, 50,000 kilometers, couple of minor body blemishes ... looks good!
They need to know if we want it. NOW!
We do! We also need to have a way to pay for it - now! Not actually that moment, but within a couple of days. Hmmm....
We've heard from several already and know there are oodles of prayers being sent up about this. We know God knows all about it. We know He has a plan.
We tell them 'Yes!' We want it!
We're able to secure a loan and can get the cash as soon as all the paperwork is in order. Remember, Japan is a cash society.
Feeling pretty blessed by all this ;-} Yet still concerned. With the loan comes loan payments. Already we never quite know how we'll cover each month's expenses, and now we're about to add a significant amount to that for lots of months to come!
Email. I (Kim) have an email offering a teaching position. It's for an elementary school a little over an hour from our house, up in the mountains, 5 classes every Monday, starting this coming Monday! The pay, including a small transportation allowance, is how much? You guessed! Just about what we'll need to make the loan payments each month!!! At least through March when the school year ends.
Pretty cool, huh?!
And that full time 4WD we were a bit hesitant about... comes in mighty handy in the mountains in the winter snows around here!
So our friends at the mechanic shop are checking it over pretty carefully for us, changing the oil, checking all the fluids and filters, the electrical systems, the tires, cleaning it up - and tomorrow it'll be in our driveway!
This week we've had a loaner from the shop. Definitely a plus to get from point A to point B, but not exactly what we'd want full time if we had a say in the matter. This week though we were so thankful to have it! No long distances to go or highway driving. John did have a few classes he needed it to get to and from and was able to fold himself in and out of it without too much trouble. ;-)
So tomorrow, Friday, we'll turn in the loaner for our "new" van - and Saturday - we have to drive two hours on the highway, over 100 kilometers away, to Zack's school - pretty wonderful timing isn't it!
Thank you for all the prayers and love!
For any who may doubt, you really should trust us when we say THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!!! when you believe there is.

God's peace and love to each of you.