Joshua starts his first day of kindergarten and the girls get loaded up with homework to keep them busy.

We find new ways to traditions like choirs, church and easter egg hunts,

and we hit the jackpot when it comes to social distance shopping.

Whoever thought life would come to this? It's time for Life in Japan!

Hey dude!

I hear today is a special day! I know what it is.

Joshua's going to my youchien!

You finally get your turn! You finally get to go! You're such a big guy.

But I don't get to go today.

You have 5th grade today? You have your first day of class?

Yeah — I guess so. You guess so.

Ohhhhhhhhh!!!

Dude, you got your kindergarten clothes on!

Back rides with big sis!

Ooo Daddy you look so handsome. Well thank you.

Yep, I'm all dressed up again!

This is the third time in... Life in Japan?

Well, third time in recent history.

Wow Becster, you wrote that, huh? Awesome! Good handwriting, just like your mom.

Well, in these peculiar times we are heading off to school now.

Becca and Anna are going to one of their days of 5th grade,

In which they'll probably get a bunch of homework and then they'll come back home.

It's less than an hour that they're there today.

And they probably won't go back for another two weeks, I believe.

I know it's different in other parts of the world, there's no school, there's actual lockdowns.

But here, even in the state of emergency, there are a number of things that continue to go forward.

Hey Dude! Where are you going?

To my school!

You're going to your school? Awesome!

How do you say "I need to go to the bathroom?"

"Toirei onegaishimasu" (Toilet please)

So girls, you actually get some time in class today, huh? Yeah.

You'll meet your new teachers and...

I know who my teacher is... We like Becca's teacher.

It's Anna's teacher.

Oh yeah, Anna's old teacher. That's really cool.

OK, Joshua just finished his opening ceremony — look at mommy.

Say hi to Vovó — hi Grandma.

So Joshua went to his first day. And now what?

So he's sitting in class, he's finally excited about school,

And they announce this is the first and last day of class until May 7.

Wha wha wha.

So each Easter Ruth does something special with the kids to do some sort of choir or kids dance or some sort of program for church

But because of quarantines this year, we had to think outside the box.

But we used a song that she wrote

And had all the kids record individually in their own homes

And then send us the video to put together.

(Singing) He lives! He is alive, He set us free, now we can live with Him eternally...

So while I have been making videos a long time, I've been making music even longer.

And these kind of projects — we put a lot into these things.

You start with your drums, of course, which we prerecord in.

Then you have your bass, which Ben recorded live.

Add in your guitars, which some of them I recorded here and then Yoshi recorded live.

You got your strings, your keys, acoustic guitar

Piano that we recorded live.

And then finally the vocals.

Recorded live.

I just heard somebody knock at our door.

You guys should go open the door and see who's out the door.

Wait for Joshua.

What did we get? We get... uh

Easter eggs from Uncle Ben, Aunt Debbie, Evy, Izy and Eliana.

Oh how cool! That's awesome — what a surprise!

You can hind them for Becca & Anna to find!

I don't want to hide them, I want to find them!

I better remember how many I'm hiding.

Joshua look at Mommy — you get to find two eggs.

OK Joshua and Sarah you both look for two eggs.

And when you find them, you come back.

I just found one right here.

Oh! There, Sarah found her first egg.

I can't find them. Well you have to look!

Oh you found one! Good job!

Can we make it ok to go now?

I see one. I see one right now. I see one, I see one. I want to get it so bad.

Oh! Sarah got one! Sarah's got two! OK

It might be an old one from before, hang on, let mommy go see.

Oh, I found that one! Yeah, me too. I found that one too.

Oh, this is old!

Is it?

This is last years' egg!

Mommy found an Easter egg from last year!

I found it first though!

You wouldn't want to eat whatever's inside of that.

He found two!

Oh you got two! Alright.

OK, now Becca and Anna.

Oh! Becca got one.

Anna's looking... looking...

I found one! Sarah!

Well, see which one she found.

OK there's no more over there, Becca.

There's two more somewhere.

Becster got another one.

OK Anna, there's one more. There's another one in this area.

It's probably the hardest one to find, Anna.

Oh I think I see it.

Can you hold this?

Getting warmer... warmer... so warm you're hot!

It's like burning your hand, oh! Yea!

What are we playing?

Egg Minecraft! Egg Minecraft.

Oh, it's like an egg person, huh?

Oh, and that's their home that you guys made?

This is Anna's bed, this is Becca's bed, this is my bed, and this is Joshua's Mario bed.

Like this!

Kids: Becca, Anna, Sarah & Joshua.

Oh! Very cool.

Awesome guys. Hi fives for everybody.

I didn't have a high five.

Paz Church services online now, here we go — we're about to watch it!

This is the Reutter worship team right here — drummer, keyboardist, guitar, singers — I love it!

It is a rainy, rainy day.

Not that it really matters when you're quarantined. But still, rainy.

So Anna's been practicing her piano here.

Ah!

And Becca and Anna have done some of their homework

And now Sarah, because she's in 1st grade, got her homework and is working on that.

And the ever-patient Mama-chan doing her best to help.

All while Big J is honing his skills at MarioKart.

You're in first place, dude! Oh! Go Go Go Go Go!

Go Go Go! Yes!

1st Place! Awesome!

And I've got my coffee and my computer project is all setup.

Having lunch on this rainy day and...

We're writing a new song, huh guys?

That's exciting.

(Singing) Those who live in the shelter of the Most High Hey!

(Singing continues) Will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Is this Anna's school? Yep.

Sansuu (Math)

It's Sarah's. Oh, it's Sarah's?

Oh! This is Anna's School as in... She's the teacher.

That's awesome. We need to work on how to spell "school" though.

"Shcool" S-C-H

Oh yeah, S-C-H. I was doing it too fast.

Do Anna's "shcool"

So it's a Monday. What does that mean for you?

It means I'm tired.

I gotta go finish making stuff at the Coffee Shop.

I brought Ruth into the coffee shop today but holy cow is it wet...

And is it windy, good golly!

(In Japanese) Junko's a great coffee shop manager.

(In Japanese) I'm here to help!

(In Japanese) She makes wonderful lattes. Oh!

Wow, that looks good.

How's your cookie?

It's huge dude! Is it so yummy? Um hum.

So, did you get all the baking done?

Oh my goodness dude. Here, put your shoes on please.

We came to the grocery store the other day and it was absolutely packed!

There were bikes coming all the way out into the parking lot, tons of people.

The line for the grocery store [checkout] went all around the grocery store

And we thought "This is crazy, we're going to come back another time. There's no way to social distance."

So today it's rainy, nasty weather.

Ruth's like "Let's try the grocery store."

So we came, it was perfect timing. The parking lot is practically empty.

What are we working on now? Is this an art class?

Yeah. Anna's school is over, huh?

"Nurie" Oh, it's Becca's School now?

And Becca helps teach Nurie (coloring)?

The fun time teacher is Becca.

The fun time teacher is Becca.

While I do fun things.

I see. She's on break.

I'm on break finally!

You can't go down that way.

I will tell you what: you have to do shopping, but you don't have to do it when everyone's there.

This is amazing:

We hit Costco at the right time. I've never seen it this empty, which is great for shopping and maintaining distance.

Number 2

Is this your homework Sarah?

It looks like fun!

I wish I could have Sarah's homework and Sarah could have my homework.

Sarah's homework looks fun, doesn't it?

We're doing some planting here I see, huh?

Some beautiful flowers...

Sarah are you mommy's big helper here right now?

Yes. Very good.

We're going to have a nice garden out here, huh dude?

So life is all done online now...

We have meetings virtually, we do church virtually,

We do so much of our life online and boy, are we thankful for that.

Tickle us! Tickle you?

How about if I just pat you on the head and say "Good boy, good girl." No!

Like this?!

No! Hold us and tickle us!

I got my first victim! Ahhhh!

Gaahhhh!

I got my next victim!

Hi! hi.

I know so many of you are going through difficult times right now.

Lost your jobs, maybe you lost your health, maybe you even lost someone very close to you and it's a very difficult time.

I want to encourage you to check out these services that we're producing for Paz Church,

I know that you'll be blessed by them.

I want to encourage you to get connected in new ways...

And leave your comment below if there's something you would like prayer for,

If there's something you would like encouragement for, just leave your comment below

And we appreciate everyone who's watching.

We're praying for you and we're praying for a quick end to this virus world-wide.

So thanks for liking, watching and subscribing,

We'll see you next time on Life in Japan.

I love you camera!

Bye bye everybody!