January 17: Naha, Okinawa Day 3

Yesterday afternoon uncle Hiro flew in to Naha so this morning we met him for breakfast at the buffet at 6:30 am. I didn’t eat quite as much today as the last couple of days luckily. After breakfast we went back to our room and put Luke down for a nap while I watched the Chiefs vs. Patriots playoff game, which didn’t turn out quite how I would have liked.

Some of Today's Breakfast

Uncle Dan picked Christal, Luke, Uncle Hiro and me up at about noon and took us over to the Yonabaru church for Obaachan’s memorial service. The atmosphere of the service was definitely different than the atmosphere at all of the memorials in the states. It was much more subdued and there wasn't really any laughter when Christal or her dad spoke. Luke was a bit more fussy this service than he had been for any of the others as well. It was probably because he hasn't really been on a good schedule at all and is short on sleep. After the service concluded we all had a late lunch/early dinner at the church and got to visit with some of the people that came. Once we talked to a couple, the Yanami's, who had gone to Loma Linda medical school (Eddie graduated in 1999) and nursing (Sumie graduated in 1998) respectively and Eddie said he was going to Cedars Sinai for a fellowship in palliative care in July so hopefully we will see them later this year.

Yonabaru Adventist Church

When we finally left the church it was about 6 pm and we were supposed to go to Step-Hi-Obaachan's house for dinner, but Otousan was too tired and since he was going to get dropped off at the hotel we decided that Luke should probably get to bed at a reasonable time as well. We got Luke bathed and then did a load of laundry while Otousan went to the onsen (hot springs) and got a massage.

With Most of Christal's Cousins