Picture, if you will, me holding Martha on my lap and trying to read and respond to e-mails. Noa comes up to me with a pen and paper…
Noa: “Mommy draw flower for Noa?”
Me: “Sure” (draw quick flower and hand it back) “Here you go. There’s your flower.”
Noa: (handing pen and paper back to me) “Now draw princess Martha and princess Noa.”
Me: (struggling to draw with a baby in arms who is trying to reach for the pen… and selfishly trying to get back to my e-mail as quickly as possible) “There’s princess Martha and … there’s princess Noa” (try to hand them back to her)
Noa: (pushing pen and paper back at me) “OOh! draw stars.” (meaning star wands that all princesses have)
Me: “Ok. There’s Martha’s star and … Noa’s star. Here you go.” (try to hand her the paper and pen)
Noa: (still not taking it). “OOh! Need bags! Martha’s bag. Noa’s bag!”
Me: “Oooo-k” (please note, at this point, my artwork which is already not much to look at is getting less and less recognizable by the second. I draw quick “bags” on the stick-figure arms) “Here’s your picture. “(try again to hand it back to her).
Noa: “uuuuuuuh.” (not taking it back) “OOOH! Cheese.”
Me: “CHEESE?”
Noa: “Yea. Cheese. Martha Noa need cheese.”
Me: (with Martha getting antsy in my lap for wanting to do some drawing herself) “Ok, I’ll draw the cheese but I think you need to go show this picture to your babies now.” (I draw the cheese and hand her back her picture). “Here ya go”
Noa: (taking her picture and going over to her babies on the couch) “Look! Princess Martha. Princess Noa…”
It’s little encounters like these, amidst my own preoccupation with the stuff of life that is less important, that remind me to step back and enjoy these girls… with all their ansty, crazy, cheese-loving cuteness. I laugh so much everyday…
Merry Christmas!
We had a fabulous day on Thursday, celebrating Christmas with many who we love so much. I’ve told Eric over and over again that this has been my favorite Christmas season. God has been really gracious to keep it really low-key and stress-free, thus enabling us to really step back from the hustle and bustle of ministry and marvel at the beauty of Jesus, Emanuel: God is with us! I think He used Noa to bring that about to. We talked a lot about this being her first Christmas that she may actually remember, and wanting so fiercely for her to connect this time of year with Jesus first and foremost. In His goodness, God used that in our own hearts, to refresh us and draw us close to our incarnate Savior. It has been a sweet time indeed!
Some of our memories from the last few days include:
A gingerbread house making party with our dear friends, The Dingle Family, and my Parents and siblings! What fun! Here is Noa’s first gingerbread creation (her creative touches are the already-been-tasted candies all over it. Needless to say, we haven’t offered the house to any guests to partake…)
Christmas morning was a precious time as a family, enjoying taking it relatively slow, getting to read the Bible and pray with our Noll family in America via ichat, as well as open gifts “with” them. Modern technology is wonderful, and, while it doesn’t even come close to the joy of being together in real life, does help to soothe the ache of being away from our loved ones during this special time.
We had a great time just the four of us, with the girls enjoying their new toys. Noa received a baby stroller for her doll and Martha received duplo blocks. Very very exciting for them both.
Noa and Daddy taking a play-break to enjoy a cinnamon roll:
And me trying for a photo with my girls. Please note Noa’s new “cheeeese” smile:
Continuing in tradition from last year, we had our fellow short-termers from our team – Tim, Isaac, Andrew, and Samantha - over for brunch, along with our dear friends Kumiko, Ai-chan, and Chizuka. It was a sweet time of fellowship and laughter, as usual with these friends, and I guess the fact that I don’t have any photos shows you how busy I was eating and having fun.
Mid afternoon we headed to my parents’ house and had a wonderful evening celebrating with 3 dear families from our church. It worked out great for Noa as 2 of her best friends, Minori and Mikuni, are in those families so she was quite busy all evening. Here are some of the photos:
Martha is sitting next to little Sara Dedachi. These two precious girls will be baptized together tomorrow. We are so thankful for other Christian parents with whom to share in the joys and struggles of raising up little ones. We had a wonderful time of lots of yummy food, tons of fun, and family worship.
And in keeping with Iverson family tradition, I had to get a photo of the girls on the stairs in order from youngest to oldest. 
Maybe God will one day bless us with a staircase full of smiling faces.
We pray that you and yours enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration. God bless you!
We had a fabulous time a few weekends ago, remembering Christ’s birth through acting out the nativity story with the students from school. Thank you for praying, and please continue to pray with us that many were touched and realized the true miracle of Christmas.
The heavenly host, appearing to the shepherds (and animals):
The Hallelujah Chorus, worshipping the newborn King:
The star that led the wise men:
Carpenter Joseph (aka Eric) worked really hard on this star this last week and I am really impressed with how it turned out
Wise Guys Men:
Shepherdesses:
It is so exciting to me that this, Noa’s third Christmas, is probably the first year she will begin to understand that Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. We have loved playing with Nativity sets and reading books, and talking all about Baby Jesus. Last week, when looking at gifts under a tree she said to my sister, “Baby Jesus, present. Died on the cross.” It’s been so exciting to see her make the connection between the Baby in the manger, and the Man on the cross. May the Holy Spirit continue to make the story of salvation real in her heart.
She loved watching the Nativity, her favorite part being when the “Angels say Ha-ye-yu-ya!!!” She came up right away after it to check out the baby Mama was holding and realized it was one of hers! (Hope that wasn’t too confusing to her!)
Merry Christmas!!
continuing the last post of what Noa says:
~”A-ha!” when she finds something. So the sentence is like, “Mama, Noa A-ha Baby Selah” meaning, she found her doll.
~”Here-ya-go” when she gives or gets something. So she’ll say, “Baffa here-ya-go Noa book. Share!” Meaning Martha gave her book to Noa and shared. Martha is really good at here-ya-go-ing Noa. If I ask Noa if she grabbed, she is emphatic that “No! Baffa shared Noa!”
~”10:40″ in answer to any questions related to time.
~”1.2.3.4.” in answer to any questions about how many or how much. She’s been able to count to 10 for months now, but these days just sticks to these four numbers.
~”Look at my eyes” and “Let’s pray” when she is disciplining her baby doll.
~”Itadakimasu” after we pray and before she eats. It literally means, “I receive this” and Japanese say it before eating. We don’t usually say it at our table but do now with our little reminderer. Today she said, “Oishii desu ne?” to me at lunch. That means “Isn’t this delicious?” Again, don’t how she picked it up, except from just hearing it and figuring out what it means.
~”Wawa go sushi date with Daddy?” She asked him and he obliged. She wants to go again.
~”Mommy Baffa stay home” Me and Martha are not allowed on these special dates
~”I’m sorry, forgive you” and “Thank you, you’re welcome” She answers herself.
~”Bye! Love you miss you!” When she leaves to go “SHOPPING” with her cart around the kitchen table. And then “We’re HOME!” when she gets back.
~”Noa” about herself, as of yesterday. This is bittersweet. I’m happy that she has finally learned to say her name properly but sad that we don’t hear “Wawa” anymore.
~And two of my favorites: “Money God” Sounds bad but we are always telling her that money is from God and that we give it back to God so she says this anytime she sees money and when we do offering at church. And “Church Worship”. We are working on helping her understand why we go to church and what it is about and so she is always hearing that we do this to worship God. She loves church so much she does it at home with her “Baby Selah” (Baby Selah was born a month ago to our friends Liz and Yuya. Noa adores both the real Baby Selah and her own at-home Baby Selah, formerly known as “Buzz”). Enjoy the visual of Noa’s Church service (Yes that is a bilingual new testament) 
We are so enjoying this sweet little girl. She continues to smile hard and brighten a room. It’s especially fun because she is working on her 7th and 8th teeth, so seeing all those pearly whites makes her smile even more charming.
Martha is going through tough time of “hitomishiri”, which is basically meaning that she only wants her mom or dad wherever we go. It’s a little exhausting that she is so clingy, but sweet at the same time. She is certainly the most comfortable and confident with her own family and in her own home. Still, there are a few people who she sees often enough that she is pretty comfortable with and really enjoys. I love this photo of her with Aunt “Chi-chan”. Chizuka is one of our dearest friends here and such a joy in alll of our lives. The girls love it when she comes over on wednesdays to hang out with me, and when we get to see her at church and other events. She helped care for the girls during the play last weekend. Martha loved being with her and even fell asleep in her arms! What a precious Aunty!
Martha and Calvin continue to be good friends. They brighten up whenever they see each other and crawl right over to the other. The love to touch each others’ faces and are learning to be gentle. Aren’t they getting so big??
This is a little fried egg from Noa’s toy groceries. Martha is obsessed with it. As soon as she sees it, she popps it in her mouth and keeps it in forever. It is so funny to watch her going about her playing with this little white mouth. It’s even funnier that Noa did the same thing!
We just received ornaments for the girls from Grandpa and Sylvia. Martha’s is her first ornament and it’s for her first Christmas. We are so thankful that this season there are four of us celebrating together as a family and another little person with whom to share the beauty and glory of Christ’s birth. Here are the girls checking out the lit Christmas tree for the first time:
Martha was sick for several days this last month and, while I hate it when she feels rotten, it was a sweet time with lots of cuddles and rocking and lullabies. I love the excuse to drop other things in order to care for my babies when they need me the most and enjoy their sweetness. So this is how we two were most of the week, when she wasn’t sleeping. I loved it.
In other news, Martha is still taking her two naps a day: about an hour and a half in the morning and 2 and a half to 3 hours in the afternoon. She only sleeps about 10 and a half or 11 hours at night, and we are still working on her getting up at or after 7am 
Even when I cut back on her naps, she gets up early so we can’t figure out what to do. I guess she’s just an early riser like her daddy.
She still nurses three times a day and eats three solid meals a day. She loves japanese rice crackers and cheerios. We haven’t gone much beyond basic fruits and veggies with her so not much to report on that front. I tried giving her formula a few times just to have it as an option, but she wouldn’t have it. Oh well. I’m still counting on her weaning herself around when Noa did… at one year old.
Martha is at such a fun stage of talking all the time. She repeats a lot of the sounds that we make, like “go go go” or “mamama” or “dadada” or “ow ow ow”. She is quite the talker, maybe even more so than Noa was at this stage. She gives kisses about half the time I ask for them (the sweet, big, open mouth to cheek kind), and she signs “more”. She is constantly on the move, and always trying to keep up with her big sister. She can’t really stand yet, as she is always pointing her toes like a ballerina. Oh well, I am in no rush for that stage. Crawling is keeping me busy enough
She is such a joy and it’s truly remarkable that even though it seems like we just “did” all this (not too many months ago) with Noa, that every stage is still such a thrill and joy to behold. I love seeing how she is different from Noa and the ways that they’re similar. I love how her little personality is coming out and charming us all. We are so blessed and thankful for this sweet girl!
