how I have been

Hello everybody,


It's been a long two years without my Mom. I have been doing good in spite of the loss of my mother. I have a great dad, great friends and yes, a great girlfriend. With these people in my life, my life has been better as a result. Over the last few weeks I have been hanging out with my girlfriend. It's been a good experince just to see what it's like to have a girlfriend. She has really made me feel what it's like to be whole. I really apperciate the fact that she is there for me and i try my best to be there for her. I love you Michelle!

I also want to thank all my friends and family for your prayers, support, and love. you guys make me want to strive for better things since i know they are all are praying for me. thanks guys so much!


I want to thank one family member in specific and that's my dad. He is there for me and he is the provider. He loves me and feeds me. (No complantes about the food.) He also has a great sense of humor that makes me laugh. Thank you Dad for being such a wonderful father to me!

I hope I can see everyone soon. Until then, I will be writing on here.



Devon Yoshimine

Devon Graduation June 11, 2009

information

I heard information that a high place adminstrator told Devon's home school teacher, that Devon would NEVER pass the high school exit exam and graduate high school.

Devon has been a kid, that would never take 'No' for an answer. I wonder where he got that from????? After Gail's passing in June 2007, we had a meeting with school administrators and Devon had a choice of either getting:

1. His GED

2. Certificate of completion

3. His high school diploma

He answered right away. I want my high school diploma. I want to graduate and walk with my class!!!

The Lord provided people like Aaron Reed, his homeschool teacher, Lisa Mo, who graciously opened her home, Aaron's generosity to allow Gail to trade admin for tuition, Nancy Z who tutored him in Math, Brendan K., who tutored him Math, Sa bu Nim Paul Carmody @ Half Moon Bay Kuk Sool Won who taught Devon to do his best and never give up, Bible Study Fellowship and Taylor McCormick and learning about God and how to walk in His Ways, Grandma and Grandpa, who always got in Devon's face and JiChan and Baachan who came up over and over again just to be with us. Greg Lim's guys, group, the fishing trips with the guys, Jeff Bovero calling Devon up. The C-Pals and Big Wave embracing Devon and me as they always have. And Devon playing on the big couagars and learning what means to cooperate, trust your teammates, Greg Off, Jeff and Val Peck, Bob Deaver, the prayer team @ Mariner's and Anaheim, the Ladida group. Pam and Joey Sayles and others that have walked the walk. Family. Lo, Joy-JOy, uncle Mike workin out and listening, Auntie Katie and Uncle Leigh shopping and doting over Devon yet making him pick up poop too!!! Uncles and Aunties and friends that walked and continue to Walk.

God, you made all this possibe. You are the miralce maker. You are the one who can bring beauty from ashes. New life out of death. You are the overcomer. You have overcome. There is NO OTHER.

Love,

Jon

2 Years..retrospective from July 2007

Hi Everyone-

We are thankful to the God for seeing us through to this point...He has made good on His promise to neve leave us nor forsake us.

Every call, card, E-Mail, prayer and just hanging out has made us keenly aware of the goodness of God in our lives. We are living proof. That does NOT mean that our life has been easy. It hasn't. There are ongoing disppointments, grief, anger and hurt to process. We are grateful that we do not have to go through this alone, but you have reached out to us. Even the 'unspoken' and 'quiet' ways, have meant the world to us. We thank God for you.

I wanted to share with you something that Devon wrote shortly after Gail passed away in June of 2007. We were on our morning walk and he asked me what I was concerned about and I told him that I was concerned that I could not be both his mother and father, and that I didn't know what I was going to do about that. I remember it was on a Sunday morning walk. I suggested that he think of eveything that he could of what was important to him at that point of his life and write it down. I told him that I would do the same thing and that we would compare notes and then order our lives around those things that were the most important.

I am sharing the list that Devon wrote as a testimony to how Father God has provided for our needs.

From Devon:

"For a successful year, I need to......

1. Do homework and turn it in on time.
2. Feed the cats
3. Clean their litter box
4. Fill up their water
5. Make my bed
6. Go to Bible Study Fellowship and do my lessons.
7. Get good grades
8. To maintain a good relationship wtih God and follow Him and his calling.
9. To organize my homework.
10. To make sure that either I have my lunch packed or have enough money for lunch.
11. To be able to have all my school supplies before school starts.
12. To be able to be a impact in people's lives.
13. To spend more time with things that are important
14. To be able to be open my heart to new ideas.
15. To be able to stay strong for my loved ones
16. To be able to honor my Dad.
17. To become cool tempered.
18. To go deeper in my faith.
19. to honor God and His commandments
20. To grow more closer with God.
21. To stay in shape.
22. to be an active member in the church
23. To be able to go from ground zero to ground 10


The Father has been faithful. Devon set his mind two years ago to graduate. In order to do that, he had to pass the Math and English exit exam. He persisted and did not give up, even though Math is tough for him.

Devon was able to attend Bible Study Fellowship this year and we studied the Life of Moses and how God made a new and living way for his people that were trapped in slavery. There were numerous stories of how God was faithful, patient and provided for his people that continually complained and grumbled. They were great life lessons for Devon and his Dad. We learned that Moses had a personal ongoing conversation/relationship with God and walked in the Lord's ways. We learned about the offerings and rituals listed in Leviticus and how the sin offering was the first in a series of offerings and why the sin offering was the first one offered. It is because no matter hard we try, there is no basis to come to God with anything that we have done, because we are all sinners, all the time, needing forgiveness.

Devon was able to participate in a guy's group on Wednesday night @ Mariners church in Half Moon Bay.

Devon will be attendng Foothill College starting June 29th-August 6th. He will be a one year program called 'Transition to Work' Foothill College is in Los Altos. It is a beautiful campus with buildings right out of 'Sunset' magazine. It has a homey feel to it. Please pray for this transition as most of his friends are attending College of San Mateo. In a few weeks Devon will be trained on how to use the local transportation system. He will be taking two busses and a train to get to and from school. He will be picking up an important life skill.

He will soon be testing to obtain his learner's permit and hopefully will be able to obtain his driver's license later this summer.

Shortly after he finishes his first quarter @ Foothill, we will be travelling to Connenicutt to visit brother Jeff and Susan Yoshimine who recently moved from Santa Barbara. We have never been back east before. Our parents will be going also. I would like to attend a Boston Red Sox baseball game @ Fenway and take the "Freedom Walk' in Boston. Other than that, we will be just hanging out.

We are still processing our grief and walk it out. We covet your prayers as we walk our future out together.

I will ask Devon to share soon about how he feels about graduating and his future.

Love,

Jon

'Ark Memories' from Gail.....

the following reflection is written in 1997 before we moved to Half Moon Bay. It was written after a reflection that Gail had after reviewing her life from 1989-1997.

Background: Two great guys, Bruce and Brice, together with Gail and I purchased a 5 bedroom home together, within 2 miles of our home church in order to live 'in community'. We wanted the house to be used as a 'safe house' where anyone could just drop in and be welcomed with the love of Jesus......It was lovingly referred to as 'the Ark'

'Ark Memories' .....by Gail Yoshimine

tears of gratitude......
realizing God's goodness, God's love, God's power in and through faith community.

'the Wee three,

Brice, Bruce, Jon and me
willing to follow the Mighty Three in One
the Father, Son and Holy Spirt
into joining our lots and less of faith, monies and friendship
to seeking to share our hearts
to seeking to make a home together
Reflecting on God's faithfulness fills me with awe and wonder
Remembering God's planting seeds, watering, weeding
and bearing fruit...
at our home, in the Ark!!

Community in Christ poured into us.....
courage to color beyond the lines-take risks, bring life to ideas,
bring others onboard

Strength to persevere-to swim upstream, withstand the darts of the enemy, and keep striving adn straining in prayer for
the Lord's presence

******
Reasons to celebrate and the place to come together to do just that!!!!

Senior Pictures

Last night Devon and I went to Sears to get his Senior pictures taken. He was such a champ.

He had a very proud smile. Like he had accomplished something and had a deep sense of satisfaction.

It was not a haughty smile. I loved it. Gail loved it too.

I became very sad during the day @ work thinking about the fact that Gail would not be with us.

Gail would have loved to fuss over Devon as he put on his new clothes and his cap and gown.

I called a friend, Lisa and cried for awhile. She too was close to Gail and knew what I was feeling.

My boss Sam, walked into my office while I was crying too and I shared with him about the pictures. He was very understanding and compassionate.

As picture time came, the tears wore off and the excitement came.

Devon looked so good in the brand new clothes!

His Grandma and Aunty Katie bought the new clothes for him when he was in Huntington Beach during Easter break. They spent about two hours with the family having him try on different shirts, slacks and jackets. He was a good sport.

They loved Devon by fussing over him. I'm sure that he ate it up.

He will also wear these same clothes to the Prom on May 2nd @ the Exploritorium in SF.

If you would like a picture, please let me know. I have a high resolution cd.

I want to thank all of you who have been there for Devon and our family in our journey to see him to this point of graduation.

It was not a foregone conclusion.

God knew what He was doing.

And here we are.

Amazing!

Love,

Jono

together time

Early on in our grieving process Devon and I made a list of those things that are important to us. One of the reasons for this was to order our lives around those things and people that were them most important.

Over the last two years, my time and effort has been on trying to build in a controlled, predictable life for us to live in, protected. I have found myself frustrated when things don't go my way, etc. Sometimes I feel that I have been focussed on obtaining certain outcomes at the expense of simply enjoying/living life.

I realized that I need 'down' time with Devon besides our walks. The other night we laid in bed together and were talking about what we had learned from the testimony of a friend that had to serve time in San Quentiin in order for the Lord to do the work that He wanted to accomplish.

We started to talk about the reason that we have suffered loss and how the Lord might want to use that. It was nice 'together time.' Devon said that the Lord wanted to use us to bless others that have also gone through a loss.

A verse that has come to mind this week is:

"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing"

Zephaniah 3:17

update

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while sine I wrote on the blog, and for that I apoligize. Life has been fairly well regarding school (to an extent) and home life. Wow, how time flies! It's almost been two years sine my mom (Gail) passed away. The two year mark will be on June 7th, 2009. :( I know very sad. I know she is in a better place and she has it good, but my father and and all of you who are reading this are the ones suffering the loss. I wish she was still around to see me graduate and make my way from becoming a humble school boy, to a young man. I hope my efforts to be a a nice young man will make her proud. It's hard to praise and thank God for the life she lived when I also look at the fact that she was still very young when she passed away. She was a angel in the flesh. Now she is gone from this earth. now the more I think about it, the more frustrated and angry I become at God. I ask him why did you have to take away my mom and my dad's wife? I get so furious at times that whenever someone refers to me as a Christian, I wince. I wince because I don't want to do ANYTHING with God at times. Then I slap myself in the face and say... if God could get mehrough this far. He could still carry us through for the rest of my life.

Much Love,

Devon Yoshimine

Gail is still smiling down on us.

Thanks, Gail.

Love,

Coastside Cougars and Jon and Devon

Hero Tales

Our Heros. We are meeting @ LaDiDa Coffee House in Half Moon Bay. We will be using the Overcomer Series.

True stories of ordinary people who became Heros. Please join us.

Catching Up

Mom and Dad Yoshimine came up to stay with Devon and I between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. This was a welcome and timely visit for us this year. I work on Fridays of Thanksgiving weekend, so there are no trips down to SoCal for Thanksgiving. Since our move to NoCal, Thanksgivings have been small gatherings. It was a treat to have Mom and Dad with us. With Dad being almostg 85 and Mom over 80 now, it is really something for them to travel, but they do. And it is a big deal to us. This visit was a perfect segue into Christmas 2008, which was particularly lonely for me.

We didn't talk a whole lot. Their love was a quiet love, but it spoke loudly. We sat in the same room doing our own thing, keeping each other company as time passed. Theirs was a comforting presence to Devon and I.

The loss this past year, felt more 'in your face'. I felt empty, moving on into a New Year without my love, facing an uncertain future. I began to realize who and what I had lost in my relationship with Gail. I felt extremely 'poor'. Then God stepped in...in fact Mom and Dad's presence served to remind me of God's presence with me.....memories of how good God has been to me and how he had blessed me with such a wonderful, loving and fun woman, kind of overcame me...and filled me...It was his continuing revelation of his enduring Love.

I read Luke 2 before Christmas as the angel reveals some bewildering and amazing promises to Mary. He talked about the future and Mary's part in His plan. I love her response to her Lord: "May it be done to me, as you have said." I prayed this prayer about my (our) future with Him.

God gave me such wonderful encounters with family and friends during the visit to family down in SoCal. A nice walk to the Huntington Beach wetlands with Mike Toguchi, Vince Chiya, Devon an I. Touch football with the family. A lunch with guys that I met with for years when in their high school years. The annual Hunt Tamale New Year's Eve party and visiting with friends. A breakfast @ Corner bakery in Brea with Jeff Sano, Steve Yahata, Jordy, Devon and I to talk about the June Lake Fishing trip. Breakfast and a walk with Brian.
All needed. All good.

Then later in January, 2009, the Lord opened up other opportunities to share conversations with other widows and widowers. This has been very helpful for me because we are able to understand one another. I had a lunch, a breakfast, a visit, E-Mail conversations and a lasagna dinner with Devon and another family. A grief group is starting up at my church soon. I plan to attend.

Devon may have a similar opportunity. We recently completed an intake for Devon for a grief group of teens that have lost parents. I hope that Devon will have this opportunity. Please pray that this, or another opportunity.

Please pray for our Bible Study Fellowship study of the life of Moses. It has been the best study yet for me, even in Leviticus and Numbers!