Ruth Grace's Gift from Suda Family in Japan

One day in early March 2013 we received a package from our Suda family in Japan. The package included a beautiful baby mobile hand crafted in Japan, a DVD video which showed the Suda grandchildren playing and participating in school events, and a Suda family photo album. We enjoyed viewing all of them. Enclosed was a letter written in Hiragana and Kanji which was translated for us by Manami Yoshihara, an exchange student staying in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Suda family includes Taeko, Takashi, Chieko, Yo-Chan, and Sadako Suda. Yo-chan is the youngest and we got to watch her on DVD video. She is beginning to speak some. They sent "Turushi-Bina" for celebrating Ruth Grace. In Japan, the life of girls is celebrated on March 3rd. It is called Hina-Maturi (Hina-Festival). Usually a family which has girl children displays Hina-dolls. The tradition is if you wish for young girls to grow up healthy the dolls are displayed from the middle to February to March 3rd. An interesting superstition is if girls are to be married later in life the Hina-dolls would be put away by March 3rd. The "Turushi-Bina" is a kind of Hina-Doll for a very young child, in this case Ruth Grace chan -she is 7 1/2 month old now.