After the worst diaper explosion I’ve ever seen: staying warm by the heater with a blanket and book while mom takes out the trash and cleans up the mess.
Playing dress up: she found each of these items while we were organizing clothes and winter stuff and either got it on herself or came to me for help… she has quite some taste already, don’t you think?
Here are Noa’s “Lion of Judah” and “Lamby” that sleep with her everytime she goes to bed. She doesn’t always want them, but most of the time we go through the ritual of me (mom) kissing them and then them giving those kisses to Noa all over her face. Then she hugs them real tight, like in this photo, while she listen to “Jesus loves me” on her music box pillow and falls asleep. I’ve decided I’m a big fan of bedtime ritual. Even when she’s a little fussy, once we start the kissing and hugging and music, she calms down and settles in to sleep. Thanks, Grandpa Noll, for these two favorite stuffed friends!
So sorry it has been so long since we posted pictures. Honestly, we haven’t been taking very many. Its just been so busy settling into life here. But here are some pictures from before we left, our trip, and here in our new home.
We got to spend a lovely afternoon with our cousins: Matt, Carly, and Liam. We had a great time just enjoying one another’s company, as we have been blessed to do for the last several years in Harrisonburg. Noa and Liam love being together. Noa is always good for a big, wet kiss on her cousin’s face. We are praying, and please pray with us, that the Chases can come to Japan very soon. They are raising support now and trusting that the Lord will bring them here in His time.
We also had a good but sad farewell with our other dear friends, the Lookabills and the Coles. Phoebe Cole, the little bean of a baby to the right, is one of Noa’s best friends and she can’t wait til next time they see each other, when they can play together. Josh and Tabitha and their son, due to arrive any day now, are also preparing to come to Japan and we ask that you pray with us for these team-mates to join us very soon!
We had another sweet but sad goodbye with Grandma and Grandpa Chase at the airport. Noa loves these “GREATS” like crazy and it was such a sweet time with them. We all miss them terribly.
Noa loved the airport, a perfect place to practice crawling and to make lots of friends.
Our home group put together the coolest little goody bag for her on the plane, full of treats to entertain and excite her. She has some new snacks, some new books, and even some wrapped gifts. You who have babies know HOW FUN wrapped gifts are. The wrapping is half the fun and half the entertainment! What a great idea. A BIG THANK YOU to the best home group EVER!!
Here in Japan, Noa has quickly given up baby food because its expensive and hard to come by. She is loving eating table food and all the joys that come with that, especially the mess. We spend most of our time in our kitchen so its great for Noa to have a play room right off of it. Being mobile now, she really enjoys going to her shelf to get her toys and books and just make a mess of it all on the floor.
There’s a little snapshot. We hope to post more about life here in Japan soon, and also show you lots of pictures of the people and places here. Thanks for reading!
Before we left America, God blessed us with some wonderful times with some really special friends. Here are some of the people we saw and things we did in our whirlwind two weeks before heading out:
I got to go to lunch with Grandma Chase. Grandma has been such a blessing to me my whole life but particularly these last 6 years as I lived so close to her. Her home is always a haven of rest and refreshment to me and I love sitting down to afternoon tea with her just to chat. We stayed with her and Grandpa these last two weeks and could not have been able to pack and be ready on time without them. We praise Jesus for them!
We had a Game Night! We love playing games, especially at the Pattons’ house. I didn’t get a picture of the whole group, but it was pretty great to have about 7 couples, my sister Martha, our friend Chris, the Pattons’ 2 middle-school aged boys, and 5 babies there to play and fellowship. What fun! Here we are with the Lookabills, trying to determine who really is the maffia.
We got to see the Sink family several times as they were staying in Harrisonburg. Kathryn in Noa’s bf so it was great for them to get time to play and say their good-byes.
We got to see our friends the Weavers and the Masts twice which was great. I will write more on this later with more pictures. For now, here is Chloe showing Noa how to fit the puzzle pieces together.
And here is Kate with Eric, showing him how to sing, play an instrument, AND march at the same time. They were quite a parade.
Our homegroup from church had a wonderful goodbye party for us at the Reids’ house. It was so fun (and sad) to be with everyone one last time and then say goodbye. Noa’s boyfriend and first love, Paul Tongen was there and they had a great time catching up from the summer and playing together. Hmm, how can we both fit on this thing…
Here is the whole group. What an incedible blessing and answer to prayer this group has been in lives!
And the night before we left, Noa got to sneak in some time with her cousins, Blake and Mason before bed.
God was so good to provide the time and flexibility to get to see many people who are dear to us and say good-bye.
Continue reading about Some sweet times before we said goodbye
After leaving NYC last Tuesday, we headed up to Connecticut to spend a day and a half with Grandma and Grandpa Kuehn.
Eric told me on the way up that Lord’s Point is his favorite place on earth.
Can you tell why?
Noa loved being up there, getting to know her great-grandparents better. And we loved all the great things about Lord’s point:
Eating Lobster
Yum…
Relaxing
Playing in the water
The third generation to taste and enjoy that sand!
Soooooooo, this was my first Mother’s day… well kinda. I was a mother last year at this time and my darling husband was kind enough to celebrate it then, but it was a little (well, a lot) different mothering an in-utero child versus an infant-almost-toddler. Anyway, it was a wonderful day this year and I was (and am still) just so grateful that God has allowed me to be a mother. What an incredible joy and privilege that I do not deserve! Also, being a mother now, I think I have much more appreciation for my own mother and mother-in-law than I ever did before; even though I don’t expect to fully understand or appreciate them until I’ve gone through all the stages of motherhood that they have… so maybe not til much much later in my life. So anyway, here’s a shout out to the amazing mothers in my life: These two beautiful women who have influenced my life in more ways than I know or could count, and to many other women who have been so loving and gracious to pour into my life throughout the years: grandmothers, teachers, disciplers, and friends! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
And this wouldn’t be an adequate post without some photos of the crown of my own motherhood! The greatest gift on Sunday was the joy of being with Noa; getting slobbery kisses, snuggles, and smiles from this amazing and beautiful testimony of God’s great love for me. Thank you, Jesus, for my precious daughter!
