SERIOUSLY!
The Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) are everywhere and it is breathtaking.
We went on a walk with our friends the Pfeils yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful blooms.
And tried to get some photos of the kids with the flowers.
Later, we spent the afternoon with our friends, the Stewarts, helping them pack and clean their house, as they head back to the States in just a week. We will miss these good friends!
After we were finished, and before dinner, Lydia and I gladly volunteered to take the kids to the park, one of our favorites because of it’s fabulous slide. An added bonus yesterday was the tree-lined bike path in full bloom.
Noll girls. On a side note, the littlest of us, Martha, has been taking several steps lately. I wonder if full-fledge walking is right around the corner? We sure hope so, as playing outside would sure be more fun!
Not that she lets her inabilities keep her from having a grand ‘ol time on the playground.
We were at the park for quite a while, so long that the moon came up. Noa, my daily “moon-spotter” (she finds it any time of day, if it’s visible, even if it’s a white thumbnail at midnail, she’ll spot it). She and William loved this little hill for rolling/falling down.
Seriously, it’s the most wonderful time of the year here in Japan. With the warm weather getting more beautiful by the day, the flowers that I planted last fall coming up, and cherry blossoms everywhere, though a little late this year, still promising that winter is truly over. I love this time of year!
If you have a minute, check out this video of us sliding down our favorite slide at the “Stewart’s park”:
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“Mommy, go to Dingles’ park? Play Titus, Nana. Baffa play Baby Alee?”
You probably know by now our good friends and teammates, the Dingles. We have loved that they live only a short walk from our house, and they have a great park a few doors down, affectionately called, “Dingles’ park”. A few weeks ago, before our sunshine went into hiding, we played with the Dingles several times at the park, and now Noa can’t seem to wait until we do it again. She must be like her Mama, in that the sunshine is just so intoxicating and leaves me wanting more and more and more and more. Thankfully, it seems like spring is on the way and we are ready for more out-of-doors days in our near future. If Martha would only master walking, we’d be really good to go…
While we’ve waited out the cold rain, Noa has often followed the above statement with,
“Go Titus, Nana’s house? Play?”
Rainy, cold days are not so bad when you have good friends to enjoy them with. In the past week the girls have fallen asleep at the Dingle’s house 3 times as we have played games, had English worship, and left the kids to be baby -sat while we went out on a triple date with them and the Stewarts. Although Titus and Hana (Nana) are several years older than Noa, they are always so patient and kind to want to play with her, share with her, and help her keep up with them. Alee, the youngest Dingle, and Martha are getting more interactive with each other and are learning to play gently with one another. As for us adults, Eric and I are so thankful to have friends who are a few years ahead of us in parenting to watch and learn from, and good friends to watch 24 with (if we ever end up watching it instead of chatting the whole evening away 
).
Titus, Hana, and Noa at "Dingles' park"
Alee and Martha on Super-Lydia's lap
Thanks for being such great friends, Dingles! We love you guys and can’t imagine our lives here without you. I’m sure there will be many more conversations in this household concerning the Dingles.
Birthday Girls: Megumi (March 13, 2008) and Martha (March 8, 2008)
Our baby girl is ONE! I can’t believe it, but I am so incredibly thankful for this precious life and the fun we had (and will continue to have) celebrating her birthday.
Martha’s birthday was yesterday (the 8th) but we decided to have a party with our friends the Hoshinos, because their baby, Megumi, was born only 5 days after Martha. A birthday party shared with a friend is more fun, right? The photos and captions speak for themselves so enjoy!
The Hoshino Family: Kimiyasu and Yukari, Wakana, Yutaka, and Megumi, the birthday girl!
We also had the Dingle family along to celebrate with us. This is Kevin and Titus. Nice smile, Titus. (Titus is our resident "big brother" figure to our girls. He keeps them tough and lavishes his love on them. We are so glad he's our friend.)
Yukari with the babies. Alee is less than 2 months younger than the birthday girls, but she keeps up like the best of us. Such cute little friends.
Kimiyasu, Yutaka, and Megumi
cute kids!
Then it was birthday cake time. The one-year-olds had a Pink Piggy Cake.
Martha loved her first experience of cake and sugar. This was after she originally left it on her tray and ate with just her mouth, no hands. That wasn't getting it into her belly fast enough, so she changed strategy.
Megumi wasn't too sure about the cake at first...
Martha and our favorite Chizuka! (Who has been at every one of our childrens' birthdays so far - that would be 3 birthdays . I hope she's ready start flying to America for the next several years
Friends enjoying cake and each other. What a great way to celebrate birthdays!
After our other friends left, I wanted to have at least one photo of these two best buddies together. I love how much they enjoy each other and it was really fun to see how much Noa enjoyed Martha's birthday celebration. I look forward to many many years of watching these girls celebrate the life of their sister. What a gift they are to each other!
I forgot to mention in Martha’s ten month post about her kisses! She gives the sweetest, open-mouthed, drooly kisses and they are truly a pleasure to receive. Just ask her little friends (who are pictured later in this post).
Also, since I posted, she has been saying “Mama Mama” a lot more and I think she may know who I am Noa said “Dada” first so this could be huge, people. I will keep you posted…
On to the friends:
Rebecca Dingle, Sarah Pfeil, and I holding our babies
Martha is blessed to have lots of other babies around that are her age, and these two other MKs on our team who are very special to her. Calvin, sweet “Calvin-boy” is only 11 days younger and Martha has eyes for only him Seriously, though, these two love each other; they get excited when the other comes into the room, and crawl up to the other and maul them with kisses and scratches and LOVE. It’s the cutest and we are so thankful for this special guy.
Stand By Me
Peek-a-boo!
Alee, happy and easy-going Alee, is not even 2 months younger but certainly keeps up with these other two. She is always smiling and so chill… even when Martha tries to lavish her with the same tough-love that she and Calvin share. She takes it like a champ and just keeps on smiling…
Cute girly girls in their pink pjs on superbowl Monday morning (remember, we are 14 hours ahead of the EST). They have the hook-up because their daddies like to watch sports together on their days off. We hop out of bed and head over to the Dingles' in our pjs and have such fun relaxing mornings playing and watching and eating yummy breakfast together.
Martha begging, Alee sharing. My Goodness! they are getting so big!
We are really really excited that we will have Lydia Smith, from our home church in VA staying with us for the next several months while she serves on the team here. Lydia is an amazing girl, from an awesome family, and we are thrilled to get to know her better and see what God will do in her and through her in her time here.
Lydia came for about 10 days for CPI in November of 2007. Here’s a photo of us with the team from our church (Lydia is standing to the left of Eric).
I am not quite sure what Eric is doing in this photo...
Ah man, I really miss these guys! I wish they were all coming back to live with us with Lydia…
Anyway, would you all join us in praying for her as she is flying even now and will be here shortly? Pray that her time here would be fruitful personally and for God’s work in Japan. Pray that God would lead her for the future as she has college ahead of her after this. Pray that God would give her good friends, and that he would use us in even a small way to be a comfort to her as I am sure she will miss her big, fun family. And pray for her parents as they have just sent their oldest across the world for several months. I can imagine that must be hard but exhilarating (you know, being excited for her and for how God has led her and been faithful to them as parents). Thank you!
I am sure you will hear a lot about Lydia on here from now on. We’ve been working on her room this last week (the room that used to be our “office/throw-everything-that-doesn’t-have-a-place-room”) so Noa has been showing everyone who comes over “Leeeya’s” room. I know we will all love having her around!
We had an eventful day on Tuesday. The girls and I were in Toke (about 25 minutes from home) to do Moms’ and Kids’ club and we had a wonderful time. At the end, Noa and Mikuni were eating their lunches and playing together while the moms talked and visited a bit. Noa was running and her foot caught on a carpet and she flew… several feet… and hit her face on a low table. Amidst all the blood and tears, it was hard to figure out what had happened, but I soon realized that she had bitten through the skin beneath her bottom lip. She had a good 1.5 cm gash and a ton of blood coming out. 
God really had his hand over us, though. Noa hardley cried after the initial shock, and I really think having her little friend Mikuni there, who immediately started talking to Noa and then drawing pictures for her, was a good distraction for Noa. Also, Mikako was able to call our family doctor and get the number of the hospital that we should go to, and then call that hospital to let them know we were coming. Eric was at school and wasn’t able to go home with Martha (it was nap time and she was a mess from already missing her morning nap) but my friend Rebecca was there picking up her kindergartener so she just took Martha back to her house for her nap. Also, Chizuka – dear, wonderful, such-an-amazing-friend Chizuka – had the day off and was ready and willing to jump in the car and come with me to the hospital to help with translating. All of these little things together helped in a big way to comfort me and bring peace amidst a scary situation.
In hour between when she hit and when we finally got to the doctor, Noa did great. She was chatting up a storm, so excited to see a doctor for her boo-boo, and really excited that “Chi-chan” could come with us. We were able to see the doctor almost immediately and she was super sweet with a two-year-old of her own. Thankfully, Noa didn’t need stitches and the doctor thinks it will heal with minimal scarring. I didn’t realize it, but with bite wounds, they rarely stitch because of the risk bacteria. Thinking about it now, it makes a lot of sense, and I am so thankful we didn’t have to go through the stitching. She gave us a prescription for some ointment to keep on it to help with the scarring, and told us to come back in a week so that she can check on the healing. It was one of the better, easier doctor’s visits we’ve had and I am so thankful.
Noa is definitely her normal self. Her lip is still a bit swollen and and actual wound is still a little raw looking, but all in all, I think it is healing well. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all, and she only talks about it if someone asks her. Here she is showing off a 1-day-old boo-boo for “Mimi and Gampa”:
Noa showing off her wound
I am so thankful for God’s protection and care through the whole experience. I know he had his hand in every little part and we praise him for his care.
On to other fun things… Here are some recent photos:
Noa sporting a ponytail (doesn't it make her look so grown-up??) and having dinner with Aunt Hannah, one of her favorite people EVER.
Martha is learning to sit in chair which makes her big sister happy, as that means Noa can now make her do "church" with her
the girls with Uncle Isaac during family devotions one night last week. They sure do love him!
the girls with Chizuka: amazing friend, prayer partner, sweet Auntie, and wonder medical translator
Bath Time! This was particularly special because Martha actually got to stay in the bath for a while. Because she is so wiggly, we usually just put her in, holding her the whole time as we washed and rinsed her and then took her out. We felt bad that she wasn't having fun play time in the bath, and we always tried to not be the one who had to have the tiring job of holding her wiggly little self. So, Eric and I put our heads together and came up with using this old plastic high chair top that was given to us. WOW! This has revolutionized bath time in our house and everyone is excited. Can't you tell?