Brigs in Japan: Part 1

kon'nichiwa from Japan!

We finally made it, and my little family is back together again after a very long 2 months! The last two weeks has been one of the hardest weeks being a mom for me. i came down with the horrible stomach bug that was going around for about 36 hours. i (sorry everytime i try to capitalize it goes to italics.) The last time i was that sick was when i was pregnant with stella 3 years ago the same week to be exact and ended up in the hospital since so newly pregnant. i was very close to going to the hospital, and thankfully my mother in law, Robin spent the night just incase stella came down with it and i had no energy at all. i fought through it, and what i thought was over turned into a horrible head cold/ double ear infection for both stella and i. i went to urgent care that monday, and on wednesday (5 days before we flew out) stella started having an awful wet cough and took her in...sure enough double ear infection, and a nasty cold. The panic was real. i immedietly got her perscription, and kept both of us quarantine for pretty much the rest of the time which stunk because my girlfriends were throwing me a going away party, but they all understood, and still got to see a few of them right before i left. i was told the last thing you want to do is fly with ear aches, and i knew with our flights and close to 18k we would have no choice but to fly! Luckily stella seemed okay.  i started to have some ear pain half way through international flight, but went away with some meds.

The day of flying.. anyone who knows me knows i hate flying.. legit hate it. when we were in indy i rathered drive 17+ one way than to fly with stella.. Luckily, i felt the presence of God over me and had so many people praying for me my nerves were very calm and probably distracted by all the sickness. i asked Jake multiple times is he sure he really needs us? i like my bubble.. a lot.. i wish i didn't, but i do..haha don't get me wrong i knew this would be a once in a lifetime experience, but i figured Jake could just share with me ;) now that im here so glad i came! we left my house around 6:15 am.. our first flight was at 9 am. everything seemed fine until we just sat on the runway which turned into almost 2 hours!! We had contaiminated water, and that meants no toilets (eventually put bottle water in there to flush-gross) and something mechanical..great................ we only had a 90 minute layover, so the panic is starting to set in with both my mom and i.. we continued to pray and just hoped by a miracle we would make time in the air and they would hold our plane for us just a little bit since international and 3 passengers (eek) i cant tell you how bad that first flight was, and only 2 hours.. the looks of the people in first class was priceless even though stella was perfect, and just the entire situation of the airline was pretty bad..

we are both looking at clocks, the flight attendant came to me and said they are trying everything to make flight, but rebooked us just incase... i looked up our flight and couldn't believe the next flight.. we would arrive in houston at 12, then fly to washington dc sit for a few hours, then chicago for a few more hours and then start our 14 hour flight... i wanted to cry, but just kept praying we would make it. i saw they delayed our plane for 9 minutes for us. At 11:20 we land (flight is now at 12)  my mom and i are so relieved...then quickly turned into panic when the pilot comes over speaker saying gate isn't ready. i still thought to myself ok 40 minutes its okay just relax.. At 11:45 we still haven't pulled up to gate..  my mom and i have 3 suitcases (carry one) two purses, stella and a stroller. i told my mom just run when we get off the plane to tell them we are hear and ill handle stella and the stroller. 11:55 we finally pull up , and my mom took off (which was supposed to be across the hall and it wasn't.) im anxiously waiting for my stroller, and tell them i am about to miss my international flight. seconds away from leaving it, and i couldn't bare the thought since it was my nice one, but knew better to leave that and buy a new one than to miss this flight and go through next one.. finally they bring it and i tell stella to run! she looked so cute running behind me and everyone was laughing. i see a japanese woman running toward me and im trying to wave to my mom to tell her we are here. the lady was so sweet and grabs my stroller, and one carry on as i pick up stella to run faster. WE MADE it!!!! Literally with minutes to spare, i was shaking so bad when we got to our seats, and of course stella pooped so not only are we late and made hundreds of people wait, but now i have to change her before take off lol.. typical.. The plane was soooo nice!!! The team flies us first class, so wow.. our seats turned into beds, we had all these movies on a huge screen to watch, games for stella, a 5 course meal.. it was amazing, and made the 14 hours not bad at all! stella slept the last leg of the trip, and was perfect! Not one issue, or tear from her praise the Lord.   The last 3 hours i started to get ansy, and tried my best not to look at the time. We land, and stella immedielty shouts "i get to see my daddy now in japan!!" We got in our at 1:30 am. We all had so much energy and excited to see Jake. We then had to go through customs and that took forever. we finallly get to baggage claim and i thought jake would be there but not allowed to be back there so we had all our carry on on top of 9 suitcases (we travel really light...) to find someone who spoke english and to help us took a good 30 minutes.. our phones didn't work and no way to contact jake so just was hoping we could find each other once we got back through customs again. sure enough he was standing there and so excited to see us! we ended up shipping our bags because taking on the train would be nearly impossible. we traveled back to sendai with krisi (johnny gome wife) and that took about 5 hours from the time we got out of customs to sendai.. we had to get on two trains. we had two interpreters with us who everyone is so nice here! To say we were exhausted is an understatement! We made it back to our little home for 6 months, and i will do a part 2 soon!  

Pledge sheet

I guess I should have made it clear where the pledge sheet was! If you are interested in helping us here is the pledge form if you could fill out either one time donation or per strikes and it will give you updates whether you pick to wait until end of season, or take out each month starting in April! Click here > Pledge form

Strikeout for Hope

Strikeout for Hope

If you have been following our blog for some time now you may remember when we teamed up with Not For Sale, and we donated for Jake's strikeouts. It was a fun way to raise awareness, and we haven't done it in a while. Our friend, Haley who is a professional golfer has teamed up with Matthew's Hope for birdies with her upcoming season, and we too have prayed about it and knew we could also help make a difference for an ministry we really believe in.

Matthew's Hope Fosters the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the homeless, women, and children of our West Orange community by meeting basic needs, developing skills, and restoring dignity and independence. My parents went to their banquet two years ago, and loved this ministry! We ended up getting involved this off season when we returned from the season, and loved what their philosophy is on helping homeless people plus this is literally in our backyard. I have always had a passion for homeless people, and I never really knew how to help more than giving them a small care package in my car or food. Their mission of "Help Us, Help Them, Help Themselves" is the best approach when it comes to helping the homeless and that's when Jake really connected with this ministry because it has always been a discussion in our home do we give them money, or how to handle the people in different cities we travel to. A few years ago when Jake lived in California everyday he would walk by a ton of homeless people, and he started buying one or two extra sandwiches to give them as he walked by.. even though it wasn't much he was able to do what Christ has asked each of us to do. Help those in need.

Matthew's Hope is doing an amazing job at helping them get back on their feet and into society. Did you know behind Burger King on Dillard/50 more than 400 hundred homeless people live in those woods?! My mouth dropped when I found this out. Every homeless person has a different story of why they are homeless. It isn't always addiction or not willing to work. When we were there they have more woman and children than men due to abuse, losing a spouse, or job. Families are the new faces of homeless people.

Why Matthew's Hope? Jake and I both felt the Holy Spirit while we were there through all the volunteers, and watching them wash clothes, free haircuts, meals, showers, the list goes on! This is what we are called to do.. Serve! We both walked away blown away with how MH is helping, and we are so grateful God has called us to an amazing ministry like them to help even a small bit. Everyone has their own story, and I can assure you even the ones reading this has one needed help one time or another. When Jake and I got married in 2010 we were making $10,000 a year. It was TOUGH!! Thankfully we had an amazing families who gave us a roof over our head, and two very determined kids to work hard to let Jake continue his dream. Looking back I wouldn't trade those tough times for anything!

We are teaming up with Matthew's Hope for 2016 season, and want YOU to help us! EVERY strikeout Jake has this season we want you to pledge to donate to Matthew's Hope with us. Strikeout for hope! Jake's goal is to reach 100 strikeouts this season! We pray that if you feel led to join us in this we can all make a difference even if its .50 a strikeout or one time gift!

To learn more about Matthews hope please Click link: .matthewshopeministries./

please take 11 minutes to watch this video and will explain more:
://Matthews Hope video 

Isaiah 58:7-8 "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Deuteronomy 15:10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.


with love, The Brighams

Almost time

It has been a very busy few weeks for us and can't believe we only have two weeks until we are reunited! The past 6 weeks have flown by for Stella and I. Unfortunately not so much for Jake since his injury and so much down time, but we will be together very soon!

Jake has been rehabbing the last month trying to get back to where he was, and is actually pitching in his first game today!!! Woohoo!! I'm praying he can just dominate, and continue to heal before the season starts impressing the staff to win a starting spot. He has been enjoying his team, and got to go back to Sendai last week which was nice for him to explore our city getting familiar with the town grocery before we arrive. My mind is very scattered lately and I have mailed out 6 boxes so far...2 each day (the post office lady and I are bff now. No joke..) I feel like I'm missing so much stuff, but at the end of the day I will need to take a deep breath, and know I did the best I could.

Jake has been telling me so many random facts like most restaurants you have to take your shoes off before sitting down, people will come right up to the table point at you and talk about you then walk away. Our main grocery store is in the train station (like a farmers market.) They slurp their noodles. I don't know that is funny to me.. They don't tip. If you tip they come find you, and return it. A guy on the team left like $6 on his table, and they mailed that back to sendai! That will be weird for me to get used to. They only really cash there-we never carry cash another huge adjustment.

Both of my parents are now flying with me and my mom will be sitting with Stella and I to help. It was a bit of a shocker buying tickets. The first set of tickets for one way 3 of us was $27,000.. Yes you read that right.. I almost died, and knew we needed to adjust that. Thankfully we found another flight much better for my mom since the team flies Stella and I first class. My dad is sitting by toilet. Haha I'm so thankful they are coming out to move me and will be there for about 3 weeks, and my in laws will fly out in August to move me back. Jake wants me to stay until October, but if I can make it to end of August I will be very impressed. Thank you for all the prayers during this transition. We will fly 2.5 hours to Houston on the 21st then our next flight is 14 hours to Tokyo then 2 hour bullet train to Sendai! Planes trains automobiles. Please pray for smooth safe travels for us and that Stella will be an angel!

I will be doing another post in the next few days as we have some exciting news coming up with something Jake and I really believe in! Stay tuned

A different plan

Hi and happy Valentine's Day! For those who are new to my blog just know I won't be sending out weekly reports I promise! I will do better this year since this is such a unique experience for us, but promise I won't bombard your emails.  😁😜 I also have done this because once baseball is over I plan on doing a book for our children, and a way for us to remember everything!

Almost two weeks ago they really wanted Jake to throw a bullpen the media was anxious for him to throw as well as the team so he decided to do one earlier no harm in that getting out there to show them his stuff. EVERYONE and when I saw everyone was there to watch him media galore and the entire staff of the team {no pressure} at all... Jake said he wasn't feeling his best but didn't try too hard just needs to build up its a long season... On pitch like 30ish he felt something was off and pulled his oblique.. Not exactly what he had in mind with starting out on a new team and fighting for a spot on the major roster. I felt so bad for him when I woke up and he told me. When I called he said "don't freak out.." Which means a few things.. The only other times I have heard that is when he got sent down. Thankfully it is a minor injury, and already playing catch again.

They ended up sending him to minor league camp because the major league was headed to Okinawa and starting games. The minors haven't started games yet, and wanted him to stay there to rehab and get the rest he NEEDS. They did say he was go back up, and continue to fight for a starting spot with the team. It's still very early in spring training, and it was so nice because the coaches front office have been so kind to him and encouraging.

At first we were angry and didn't really understand why this would happen. Jake worked out and trained so hard this off season, ate very healthy, and worked his butt off harder than any other off season when most guys started working out when they got to camp. Multiple people told him you just have to trust in God with this and the process. We don't know why we hit this small bump, but do know His plans are better than ours, and I know once Jake is healthy he will do great!

He has really enjoyed getting to know the guys on his team. He loves his interpreter, Horrey and really everyone. The island he has been on has been hard. The food isn't great, and nothing to do. I will be glad for him to meet up with the team on Friday and start traveling.

The hardest part still is time change and being able to FaceTime to see Stella. Jake wakes up around 5 am most days to see Stella which is 3-4 pm our time. When we wake up he is about to go to sleep so that by far has been the hardest part only talking an hour to two at most a day! Stella and I are doing  well. We have been staying very busy. I enrolled her in dance class and have our routine going here. This is definitely harder on Jake (lonely) than us since I have my family and friends. I will be glad when our family can be reunited and Jake has family in the same time zone. He has a great attitude about it all, and everyone told him this would be the hardest part because so much free time with nothing to do. So don't forget to text him on Viber! Haha

 I have been trying to get everything secured on our end at home. We sold Jake's truck didn't make sense to keep it with how much he is gone and working on surveillance upping our security at our home, and all the things that come leaving a home for 6 months... So much to do never realized since I came home so much in the years past. I have been shopping like crazy lately trying to get everything we need before we leave. They say clothes are very hard to get since everyone is smaller and Stella is growing like a weed so buying 6 months worth of clothing and everything we need such as medicine for 3 people, toys, crafts, toiletries.. I have our guest bedroom wall lined up with all our stuff I'm sending. They don't have a Walmart or target (help me) over there so you can't just go get an American toy, book, craft, shirt.. That will be the biggest adjustment for me I think because I'm so used to getting out daily on the go and if I want to go somewhere  there we walk or ride a bike. Jake is very excited I won't have access to Target or Amazon 😁😜 haha

Jake had his birthday on Wednesday and the team was so sweet! They sang to him, made him a cake and was all over TV in Sendai. It was very sweet how hard they tried! He also shouted to the ocean the day of his birthday haha... Every morning the team has a ritual to where they scream their goals to the ocean and no foreigner has ever done it before. Jake being Jake wanted to do it and I'm so proud of him for being fun, and embracing their culture/traditions. They had hundred of media out there so you can only imagine his Twitter and media once he did it everything was blowing up. They kept replaying it over and over on the news and sports center. All the fans have been so nice to him, and me! They are all very respectful which is a change from the states...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=qlDWO4_KC_

cJake video <---- click here to watch jake yelling lol.

A few things we are trying to figure out if there is a way to watch the games or replay them because it will be in the middle of the night here for those of you who have asked I will keep you posted. Jake is competing for a starting position so will pitch every 5th day. They do have minors and major over
there just like here and baseball is a huge deal there. I didn't realize how big it was until we signed and his Twitter/IG. I believe only one foreigner is fighting for same spot and then rest are Japanese guys. We signed another foreigner, Johnny Gomes which he will be in the bigs and played with him with the Braves. He's a big deal.. You can only have 4 active Americans at a time I think we have 7 now.

It's so cool they made Jake a towel which says Brigham in red white and blue not sure if for USA but we like to think that and they will sell them in the stores there, as well as hand out on a certain night and everyone swings them over their head its kind of cool! This is his first merchandise sold ever so I told him I needed about 50. Just kidding.... Sort of.

We so appreciate all the prayers and support! I get asked a ton of questions all the time so I hope I answered some, and you enjoy these updates.

Contacting us

Hello! I just wanted to explain a few things.. I keep hearing people are emailing us by hitting reply to our blog posts! Unfortunately we aren't receiving those so please if you want to reach out to us we have a joined email account.  Brigham1017@gmail.com or if you are on our blog the top right corner says "contact us" just don't respond to our feedburner email. I don't know why we don't receive them!

Also if you have Instagram you can follow along Jake is posting on there corner left you can see his account and mine as well jake_brigham and taybrigham

A small update.. Jake arrived to Kume island and is there for 10 days. Then will head to Okinawa next. He lost 11 lbs in the first few days body adjusting to little meat and small portions, but starting to gain it back and not being shy asking the chef for something more American. I felt so bad for him morning 1 he was starving. He saw a huge bowl of eggs so thought hard boiled eggs and grabbed 5 of them. He went to open it and wasn't boiled..I guess they put them in their rice. Then for breakfast had hot dogs, French fries, fish... Eek the chef saw him opening them and went and cooked him boiled eggs and said he could make him an omelette. So he is saved by that! Ha he is really enjoying the food and can eat anything unlike me.

He is really enjoying the guys a lot! He's starting to bond with a few through his enterpreter and said really great group of guys. Everyone is so kind, and accepting of him which is an answer to prayer. The hardest thing is the time change.. He has very long days during spring training so we are able to talk maybe 30 minutes when we wake up, and then 30 minutes if that later in the day so that has been the toughest part not seeing Stella.

He is throwing a bullpen tomorrow and front office has been anticipating him to throw so the media was be insane since he will be first foreigner to throw one. I'm excited for him, and know he will do great!

Appearance at the store in Sendai before he left 

Fans taking tons of pictures and all the foreign players 

Day 1 of spring training 

Kumagima island and field

Japan

Hi! The last few weeks have been crazy busy preparing for Jake to leave for spring training. We had SO much to do to prepare it was mind blowing. We had to rush all our passports, Stella had to get one, I had to get a new one because never renewed after wedding. We needed a work visa for Jake, then both Stella and I need one and still working on that with the team. The medicine they say is way different and had to buy a ton of medicine for Jake, Stella, and I for all the what if and if get sick. We have learned so much through this process of things that are different over there that you have to bring like toothpaste they don't use flouride, hair products, feminine, said bring all make up only have mac really and a few lipsticks, toiletries. Since Jake flew first class he was able to bring two 70 lbs bags then we ended up sending two more so I won't have as many.. My goal is to only bring two for Stella and I..

Jake left Tuesday at 7:30 am. It was a very emotional evening on Monday for both of us. The thought of him leaving us, and especially Stella for 7 weeks was a lot. The unknown of Japan, a foreign country across the world, different language, baseball, food, and alone was overwhelming it still is, but this will be the hardest time for Jake and I. My reality hit me fast of becoming a single mom again having to explain to Stella over and over where daddy is and her not understanding has been the hardest part-thank God for FaceTime!! That has been a huge blessing already we have been able to talk for hours and has helped Stella some see that he is somewhere else. I am in the best place I could possibly be with our families here, and stability for Stella for a little longer. I am thankful I'm not sitting in AZ for the next 7 weeks! Jake can focus on getting to know his team, and work hard to break with the team. They do have minors over there and can only have 4 foreign players and they have 6... I know Jake will work very hard, and God is in control.

Jake's flight was 14 hours, then they met the interpreters and some front office in Tokyo then got on another plane to Sendai. He was exhausted! When he got off the plane walking with the interpreter there was a ton of media and fans waving throwing peace signs and Jake asked if they were there for the interpreters...ha Jake said he has never seen so many flashes from cameras and TV reporters in his face. It was a lot to take in.

Jake looks so short and we all know he isn't! Kam to his left is 6'7 I believe! Today Jake has a press conference and a day at the field probably routine things. The time change has been the hardest when he is up I'm sleeping. Once spring training starts (they leave for okinawa on the 31st) it will be even harder to talk, but hopefully we can find time in the morning and late night. 

He arrived and they took him to his apartment which they provide fully furnished 3/1 for us. This is a big change from minors over here where we get no help from anyone and get told two days before he arrives in his new city.. They had a huge stuffed animal for Stella, and our coffee table covered in items we would need for the apartment so so nice of them! Today it is snowing so Jake is a bit shocked with the weather being a Florida boy! 

I will do better with blogging this year since I too want to have this to look back on! I have a ton of new followers, and do this mainly for our families who don't have Facebook.