photos from a recent download

I believe that I posted this photo on a blog in August.  We were up in Shichigahama, Miyagi prefecture, on a walk in an area that had been destroyed in the tsunami, and a collection of stuffed animals had been put together on one vacant lot. There were notes on some of the animals.

In early October, Stan and I went up there again, and on our walk one afternoon we passed the same place. Notice that more animals have been added to the collection, and the big tiger on the old TV stand has acquired a hat. Not only that, but ...

The animal box has been filled with cat food,and... 

There is also a collection of individually wrapped KalKan packets.

 I think about those who have made this a shrine to the memory of children and animals lost in the tsunami.

Then there was the Karaoke music book with the trophy someone had set up along the way in the middle of what was the tsunami equivalent of a ghost town--just the cement foundations. The town has done an incredible job of clearing away  debris.

Some of those foundations seem to be suspended in air because the water swept under them washing away huge amounts of dirt.

To the left we could look across the breakwater to see the ferry  heading in toward Sendai port.

I wonder how long some of these memory markers will remain.  As we come to the 8 month mark in two weeks, and the weather is getting colder in this area, our thoughts go to the survivors who are living in temporary housing stacked right next to one another.  How weary they must be after all they've experienced since March.  Pray for their resilience, and that they would have an opportunity to be encouraged and cared for by God's people.