This is a quick prayer request update. Thank you for your prayers!
1. Our house church has rented a building, and it is an exciting time for the church. Please pray for the transition, that God would bless and grow the 20+ worshippers in Toke. Also pray for Sara-Beth as she is starting a “Mom’s and Kid’s Club” there this month.
2. Please be in prayer for the students at CCSI. Pray for their minds and souls as Eric educates the children. Please pray for the upcoming X-mas program and all the preparation and details for this great outreach to the community.
3. Please pray for college ministry. There are numerous students that have shown interest in Christianity at different times, however many of the students are very busy and it is difficult to have consistent time together. Pray that God would reveal himself to these students.
A big bonus on our trip over the States was having a long enough layover in Atlanta to go to Joel and Mary Stuart’s for lunch. It was a sweet time to introduce Martha to her Aunt and Uncle and get to see their new house!
Reuniting with Martha was such a treat and so special to get to be with her as she prepared for her wedding. While it was such a busy busy time, we did get to steal a few moments here and there. We enjoyed being with her and Ian so much!
Noa had been OBSESSED with her cousin Liam for months before we went and just about every day asked if we were going to Liam’s house. It was so special to finally get to be with him. They had a great time togther!
Technically they’re second cousins, but from they looks of them, they could be brother and sister, don’t you think?
cleaning grandma’s floors… endless fun!
getting ready for nap time
Martha loved her special time with Grandma Chase, and her bracelets 
This Martha also loves her time Grandma Chase
I got to watch Liam one morning for Carly. He and Martha enjoyed getting into my diaper bag… already partners in crime!
We also got to play with Jude Lookabill, and the 4 kiddies had a grand time together. Here are the three oldest jumping on the bed. Next time we see these families, we hope it will be in Japan, and there will be six kiddies, jumping on futon 
Carly, Martha, and I with our babies… well, mine and Carly’s babies… Martha still wasn’t married at this point 
We were SO THANKFUL to get a long weekend in PA with Eric’s family. The weekend was made of precious moments and was just what we needed amidst the business of life here and Iverson-wedding crazies. What a refreshing and special time. See for yourself. Here are the girls with Grammy, getting in some snuggle time
On a walk with Great Nana. We got to have dinner and Laura and Clayt’s new house… what a treat!
Noa with Aunt “Yawa”(Laura)
5 Noll ladies
Reading with Grammy and Grandpa
I love these of Martha with her Grandpa
I think you can definitely tell she is his.
With Aunt “Kayin” (Karyn)
On a side note, Noa now thinks every brunette is Karyn. She always like “Kayin” in a super excited voice…and then I tell her it’s not Aunt Karyn and it’s kinda sad…
Anyway, we had a little early birthday party for Noa while we were there. Here is the cake that sweet cousin Abby decorated for Noa:
Here she is enjoying some of her new gifts from Nana – Dr. Seuss boooks!
Giggling with Uncle Clayt and Aunt Laura
More of Martha and her grandpa
We had a fabulou lunch out on Nana’s patio overlooking her beautiful yard
Eric and his Nana
Then, it was back to VA for us. It was a whirlwind week leading up to the wedding, and so much fun! We were blessed to get time with some precious friends, the Weavers who let us stay with them. Noa, who proudly wears Waver-girl clothing 90% of the time, wants to be like them in more way than one. This evening, as soon as Sophie got onto the floor to color, Noa copied her. So fun to have thses “big sisters” to look up to.
In fact, having spent a year watching these precious girls and getting to hang out with them so much, I pray my girls will be very much like them, both in their sweet spirits, but also in their precious relationships as sisters. We loved our time with this sweet family!
Some other amazing friends who we were blessed to grab just an afternoon snack with: the Masts. It was so great to see them for a bit and get to visit. Reuben and Hannah are just the greatest caretakers to Noa and Martha and it so fun to watch them just love on them. It wasn’t long enough, but it was special nonetheless.
Aunt Maggie and Annie came up a few days before the wedding and we had some sweet times together. Noa is also obsessed with her cousin Annie and was thrilled to finally get to play with her (last time they hung out, Annie was only 8 weeks old, and couldn’t quite keep up with Noa). They had a blast playing in Grandma’s yard, learning to share, and listening to their Mamas gab away. Baths, course, are very much in order when cousins get together.
Maggie made all the girl cousins matching dresses. Aren’t they precious??? (LTR: Annie, Trinity, Noa, and Martha)
And of course Daniel Josiah, the only boy in the mix so far (that we know of), was just as sweet as could be with all his little girl cousins. He and Noa, like last time they were together, absolutely LOVED being together.
And I have many more photos still to post, especially of all these sweet kiddies, but I am way to tired of blogging at this point. This is hard work! It will have to wait til later…
Continue reading about a million photos of our trip to america
WOW, I know I am going to miss a bunch of things to tell you about Noa and all that she is doing these days, but I will do my very best.
Our biggest milestone recently was going “pee-pee on the potty” She’s been asking to sit on the potty almost every day for about 6 weeks now, and finally, when we were in the States, she asked one day, I took her and she “made a splash” (Daddy’s requirement for getting a treat This was a very exciting moment in Noa’s life, one I hope will be repeated many times in the near future.
Noa’s vocabulary seems to grow every day and she is a MOTOR MOUTH. I love all her little chatter and she is so good at communicating. She is saying 5-7 word sentences now which is pretty crazy. It makes her seem so big. Some of my favorite things that she says:
“Hold you please” (meaning “hold me”)
“Wawa do it” (”Noa do it” – ok not my favorite thing she says, but telling of her stage in life)
“Help me please” (see, she’s not TOO independent yet)
“Meeeesheee” (”excuse me”… it’s the best when she says it to the dog or to Martha when they are lying on the floor in her way)
“Home!!!” (whenever we pull the car into any parking spot. The last few days she’s been rotating in saying “church!!!” every once in a while too)
She still loves to sing and dance and read a ton. When we have our sitting-on-the-potty marathons, she just wants me to sing songs that I can do motions to, or bring her stacks of books to read. Her favorite songs are “I’m in the Lord’s Army”, “Pharoh Pharoh”, The Lord’s Prayer, and “Rejoice in the Lord Always” She also loves to sit with out Trinity Hymnal and just sing…
Here she is, totally influenced by the Japanese who say “peace” when you take a picture.
I am so thankful to have a kid so well self-entertained. While Noa loves friends and loves to be with me, she is very good at playing on her own too. She can sit for so long with her baby dolls or a cell phone or some books or my measuring cups and be completely occupied. She has quite the imagination and it’s fun to see that come out. Here she is, making her important calls while Aunt Martha makes her’s.
The most wonderful thing to witness in Noa’s life this last year was watching her become a big sister. Not just in the moment that Martha was born, but in the months since, Noa has really grown into such a wonderful big sister. She is so conscientious of Martha and how she is doing. She loves to share with Martha and praises Martha when she “shares” with her. She always wants to hold her, hug her, kiss her, make her laugh. It is really incredible to see and I have absolutely loved watching her step into role as big sister. Our big struggle with her right now is that she has gotten a little rough in her loving. Sometimes she squeezed just a bit tight when she hugs or accidentally knocks Martha. We are trying to work on learning her own strength and being gentle.
Noa is such a nurturer in general. She loves babies, even her dolls, and want to care for them. Today in church, when we were praying, she pulled her doll onto her lap grabbed the baby’s hands and put them together like they were folded and whispered in the baby’s ear “Praying, God, shhhhhh.” It was funny and sweet to see her doing the same things that we do and say to her with her baby. She also loves to take care of Rusty, my parents’ dog who is with us these 3 months that they are in the States. She always wants to boss him around, but also make sure he’s got food and water and walks and that he gets plenty of petting. Here she is with a little statue in Nana’s yard. She thought he was just the right size for her to hold and care for.
In the last few months, Noa has really been into dressing up and looking “pretty”. She loves to get her nails painted, but “poppin” (lipgloss) on, pretend to put make-up on, try on shoes, try on clothes, etc. It is so fun to see her girly side coming out and we have fun doing our girly things together. Here she is in my Moroccan scarf and her Moroccan shoes from Uncle Jon, Aunt Maggie, and Annie ’s trip this last summer.
Our friends, the Pfeils gave her this pretty cinderella dress for her birthday. What a treat for her to have a REAL dress-up dress finally. It’s also been funny because she has totally gotten into asking us to draw princesses for her. Every time we draw them, though, they need a star in their hand, I guess because of the wand that came with this dress. So funny! 
We are so thankful for the sweet friends that God has put in Noa’s life, both here in Japan and around the world. She loves talking about her many friends (some of whom are far away and we only see pictures of them). She is great at remembering names, especially of other kids. Here she is at church, with friends Mikuni and Isabel, after falling down from “Ring around the rosie”
And here she is with Minori-chan.
I’ve actually been really surprised with how much Noa picks up and remembers about people. She knows all of her cousins’ names, almost all of her Aunt and Uncle’s names, and most people that we see on a semi-regular basis here in Japan. She also knows the names of sever
al friends just from their pictures on our fridge. It’s amazing to see how much of a “people person” she already is.
Of course, it’s clear to see her favorite people are the ones she is closest to…She loves loves LOVES her little sister, “Baffa”. 
Other things that I wanted to note is that Noa continues to be a great eater. Her favorite foods are still fresh fruits and veggies, green soybeans “edamame”, and anything sweet she can get her hands on. She loves “treats”, as we call them She is taking one nap still, usually around 2- 2.5 hours and sleeping from about 7:30 – 7:30 at night. She is super ticklish and giggly after supper and is always making us laugh with her antics. She has discovered that the best way to get Daddy to stop chasing her or tickling her is kiss him, so she’ll turn around from being chased, and grab his face with two hand and just plant one on him. It is super cute to watch. She still loves to be rocked before bed and is always up for a lullaby and a cuddle.
I wanted to post some photos of the girls’ room. Here you can see their side-by-side cribs. This has been so sweet to have them both in their cribs where they can see and hear each other as they fall asleep and wake up.
And here is what it looks like as you enter:
See that monstrous looking bed? (monstrous for my baby, that is), that is where Noa will be sleeping very soon, I hope. I think it is about that time and so we have started talking about sleeping in a “big girl bed”. I can’t believe she’s old enough to be doing this, and while I am so excited to see her grow and become more independent, it also makes my heart ache to see another symbol of her babyhood fading away…*sniff*
Anyway, here is the side view of their room, with Noa showing it off.
Thanks for bearing with us, if you are still reading this
We’ve actually decided to change our website and probably have two separate blogs. Eric originally started this blog as a way to chronicle our life as missionaries in Japan and a way to keep people posted about our life and ministry. I sort of high-jacked it and made it a virtual scrapbook for our girls as well. So, anyway, this may be my last update on here about the girls’ age updates. I will let you know once I know for sure and what our family scrapbook’s new address will be.
As always, thanks for caring about us and reading about our girls!
Well, if you read this blog even a bit regularly, you know I am way behind on posting for both girls and their milestones recently. Poor Martha, who I have been trying to do monthly updates on, hasn’t had a 6 or 7 month update. Yesterday she was 7 months old, so here are two posts in one, with a lot of photos.
One of my favorite things about this girl is that she SMILES HARD (meaning, it seems like she uses every fiber of her being when she’s smiling). I love that. She is so quick to smile, giggle, or full out belly laugh and the Lord has used that so much to bring me joy, even in tough moments. What a blessing she and her sweet personality are to our family.
Here she is with cousin Brennan, both sucking on Grandma’s silver bracelets, teethers for all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren so far
Martha has her two bottom teeth, her top left middle and top right outer-middle (that’s what you call it, right? teeth in. I am pretty sure her other middle tooth is days away from breaking through. She has had a bit of a cough and runnny nose, as well as having trouble sleeping, so I think that may be the problem.
Our trip to America last month was great for Martha to finish meeting her aunts and uncles on my side of the family. Here she is her first day with Uncle Joel, but not her last. We has such a great time introducing our sweet girl to our extended family.
smiling with Nana:
Martha is so close to crawling… at least I think so. Even though she can’t yet, she can pretty much get to anything she sets her mind to. Through a series of rolls, stretches, and “army crawling” she can really move. She may not be swift but she’s determined!
She can sit up pretty well on her own, though her head still seems so heavy and hard for her to hold up. She is pretty good at entertaining herself on the floor or in her exersaucer, though she will gladly take company. Here she is loving a little chat with Uncle Micah. She always has so much to say!
See what I mean about smiling hard?? I love this picture.
Martha has definitely started to notice who her mom and dad are and is particular about having us close. She totally notices when I leave the room and gets sad. While it complicates life in some ways, it is so special to be known to her as her mama and to know that we have that strong emotional bond.
Speaking of strong bonds, the sweet relationship that has been growing between her and Noa continues to amaze and encourage me. Martha ADORES her big sister. Noa is so good at making her laugh, and I mean really laugh, and I can send her to cheer her up at most fussy times. The great thing is that Noa gets just as much of a kick out of entertaining and getting Martha to laugh as Martha does, so they are both so blessed through the other.
One of the best things about their sweet relationship has been having them in the same room for sleeping. Martha has not stopped getting up very early (like 5-6 a.m. most mornings!) since our first trip to America earlier this summer. After being a great (and late!) sleeper earlier in her life, this has been a little frustrating to Eric and I and we still don’t really know what to do or how to help her sleep later. One thing that has been great, though, is leaving her in there after she wakes up and letting Noa get up and play with her. We have had mornings where we have heard the two of them in their cribs talking back and forth for over an hour! Hearing their little voices and giggles is truly warming to my heart and the best noises to start my day. We don’t do it all mornings, since Noa can usually sleep later, but every once in a while, it is a nice way to get my morning started without a baby underfoot, and to let Noa “take care” of her little sister. On the note of sleeping, Martha is usually taking 2 2-3 hour naps a day, but some days needs a little catnap in the late afternoon. She has been sleeping about 10-11 hours and night and we are hoping will stretch that out to 12 very soon. Any ideas on how to get a non-hungry baby back to sleep for one more hour would be greatly appreciated Here’s a photo of her and her fluffy, cloth-diapered bum: a big change in her (and all of our) life. I will have to post more about cd later… it is going great, though.
Martha’s big thing since getting back to Japan has been starting cereal. I held her off as long as I felt ok about it, but the poor girl was so interested in table food that I just had to go for it. Last week it was hard and she didn’t seem to like it or care, but just a few days ago, she really started to seem to enjoy it and look forward to each bite. She is up to eating it twice a day now. I think her favorite part is being up in the high chair with such a good view of the rest of the world Here are photos from our first attempts:
She is still nursing 4 times a day, roughly every 4-ish hours from 7am to 7pm. Except for the teething part, it is going really well and I plan on nursing her through her first birthday. I am so thankful for such a sweet time to sit with my baby and just be still. Life can get so busy and she is so content most of the time that it would be easy to not take time to hold and cuddle her. Nursing her is good accountability for me to just sit and be with her. I am so thankful for those sweet times.
Here’s our little explorer out in the great wild the other day, loving getting down and dirty and trying some new foods, like grass.
And my most favorite recent photo: Our little Daddy’s girl
With both girls, as they moved up and past the 6 month mark, Eric really seems to enjoy them more as they interact with him more. I love seeing these sweet relationships form and am so thankful that my girls are blessed with such an amazing father. He sets a high standard, for sure, but thankfully (hopefully) he’ll be the only man in their lives for a LOOOOOOOONG time
If you’re still with us, thanks for reading up about our little Gem! God has been so good these 7 months and we praise Him for her life.
Continue reading about Martha: 6 month and 7 month update (plus A LOT of photos!)
Here are some of my favorites:
(I know I am missing a TON, and need to e-mail around to get some more. I hope this shows you a little bit about the day, though. It was amazing. And so so so special.
*Thank you, Lord, for letting us be there!*
Ai-chan sent me these photos from Noa’s party.
Here’s the cake:
And I LOVE this one of her blowing out her candles.
Continue reading about two more photos from the birthday party
