Can't sleep...

So I am drinking a cup of this...


and unfortunately eating one of these...


*sigh*

It has just been a strange day. The first day in I don't know long, where we were able to take it easy and it was hard to make myself just chill out. I am also pretty restless cause I chopped my hair off yesterday. I wanted it short, and I wanted to donate my hair to locksoflove.org, but it is just suddenly GONE and it feels weird. I don't recognize myself when I see my reflection. it is just going to take some getting used to.

And then on the way over to have dinner at our friends house, Rocky bit his tongue. Not a strange thing, especially for him, he kinda does that quite a bit actually. But four hours later it was still bleeding and he was getting dizzy. So we decided to head home, get our insurance card and go to an emergency room, since that is all you can do late on a Saturday night. I could feel the tension building as we left our friends house. What to do with Hana? How long will the ER take? When will we finally get back to Hana and get home if we leave her somewhere? What if he needs stitches? OUCH! What if they can't make it stop bleeding or some other underlying cause is there and they'll discover something else is the reason he can't stop bleeding? Why do I always let my mind run away with thoughts like this?

Needless to say, by the time we got home to get the insurance card I was really stressing. And yet, the bleeding had finally begun to subside. And we decided to stay at home, and see if it would stop completely. It did, within like five minutes (thank you Lord). But my wound up nerves WON'T stop! My new bedtime of 10pm... well I finally made it to bed at 10:45. Yet it is after midnight and I am still awake. I decided to come downstairs and get a cup of some kind of relaxing tea and unwind a little.

I know, staring at a bright computer screen is not exactly going to make me get sleepy. But what else would I do in a quiet house, late on Saturday night.

My tea is still too hot to drink...

So, my hair. Yep, I chopped it. I wanted to donate it to an organization that makes wigs for sick children who need them. I measured the required 10 inches and thought it would come to about right above my shoulders, and I was happy with that. That long hair was going to make me miserable this summer. So off I went. ONly one problem. I have increasingly found it impossible to communicate what I want to a hair stylist in Japan. WHY do I always forget that no matter what I say they don't listen to me and they just cut it however they want to. He insisted that he couldn't pull it all together in the back and cut it at the nape of my neck, he had to separate it into four ponytails around my head and cut it seperately. He cut the sides about 4 inches shorter than the back. I was shocked when I saw him do it? And right before he cut, I told him that the hair band was high up there, and he could cut less on the sides, the 10 inches only had to be measuring from the middle in the back. He assured me he understood, and CHOP! I am sure my Japanese must have been unclear? right?

Oh well, I don't hate it. It is much shorter than I wanted it, but it will grow. Hair grows. It is nothing to be upset about. And yet I can't stop replaying it in my mind and asking myself, why didn't I INSIST that he pull it into one ponytail in the back and cut it? It's probably going to take me at least 6 months to get the sides caught up with the back. And then the back'll have to be cut short again to even it out with the sides. How will I ever explain to him what kind of style I want then? I don't know if I'll ever trust him to cut my hair again until it is much past my shoulders. I have him well trained in how to cut my hair when it is long...

oh well, it is done. And really, I don't hate it. It is just going to take some getting used to.

Note to self...
IF you ever do this again, cut it yourself first and then go to the salon to get it styled.

OR do it while you are in American so Mom can cut it! She listens to you!

OR just don't ever do this again...

cause even though I really don't hate it (how many times have I said that now) I don't really adore it either.

The problem is, I always envy cute short hair cuts. I want my hair to look like that, be that simple, be that light and cool.

One more note to self...

YOUR hair is thicker than a horse's mane Marla, REMEMBER! It will never look that cute short.
And YOUR hair is naturally wavy-gag-me-with-a-spoon-frizzy, which means in humid Japan, short is not fun!

Thanks self, so noted!

So there you have it. I'm done thinking about it. I am done replaying it in my mind. I am done letting it stress me. It will grow.

My hubby is lying in bed upstairs, snoring away, not bleeding anymore. and my hair is fine, it is short and simple and that is what I wanted.

That's that. My tea is now at a great temperature to drink. I will drink it and hopefully go to bed to go to SLEEP...

good night

Dead and Resurrected!

More than anything, everyday I celebrate the death and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ. I must say that before I say...

Today I am also celebrating the death and resurrection of my computer.

And to my precious hubby, THANK YOU for all the tedious hours you spent saving my little friend. What can I do to repay you!? I love you sweety! Thank you again!

So that means, I can finally share pictures... BUT, it is 9:20 and I am sitting here in a pool of sweat cause I just finished my workout, 40 mintues of pilates and 30 minutes on my NEW elipitical trainer (more about that later) so I must grab a shower and get to bed. I have been in bed by 10 every night since we came home and I am not about to change that now, I am loving my early mornings!!!

Quick snippet about my eliptical trainer, it cost the same as about 5 months of gym membership, we decided it was a better deal to get one for home. Maybe Rocky will join me in using it! It is a simple, pretty inexpensive one but I really enjoyed my first run on it tonight! I was sweating, that is pretty much all I care about!

Loving my new pilates videos too!

Anyways, off to shower and get to bed. If you could smell me from there, you would thank me! ;)

nighty night!

Ahhhhhhhhhh...

Back from the states! But unfortunately having computer problems. My laptop just shut down on me the day after we got back, and it is taking forever to get it up and going again, because we are so busy! So I hijacked Rocky's computer this afternoon while he is working on me.

Oh goodness, where do I begin. Well, the states was AWESOME, but long and exhausting. We were so ready to get home. And can I just say this, I am so Japanese. I shock even myself sometimes with how different I am, and I how I just don't fit in America anymore. I still love America don't get me wrong, but I think after 11 years (YEP ELEVEN years!) this is home. I could not wait to have some noodles or rice and get into a Japanese bath! ahhhhhhhhhhhh, it is heaven!

Hana is doing well being back. She is a little shy speaking Japanese, even her teachers at preschool say she spouts off to them in English a lot. She REALLY prefers English right now. She is LOVING the food though, she has stuffed herself silly at most meals. I made spaghetti last night and she was disappointed... she scarfed down her salad though. I can't blame her, I'll make more Japanese food tonight!

Well, on the health and wellness side of things, I did not gain a single pound in the states! However, I was not able to work out much at all, and I know I lost muslce and replaced that with a little bit of fat. So I have some work to do. To decision about the gym is official, I am not joining again. We ordered a home eliptical trainer (which comes tomorrow, I can't wait) and I brought home some DVD's with me. I have been working out to DVD's for the past few days and I like it. Especially when I have the eliptical trainer, it's gonna be great! It is rainy season, and I went jogging the other morning and came back pretty wet even though it was only a drizzle outside. Once rainy season is over it is going to be miserably hot out, so I am thankful that we got a home machine. It was really inexpensive, and about 4 months of the gym would have equalled the cost of the machine. So we will be ahead in no time! Plus Rocky is going to use it too!!!

I am now officially an early bird! For the last week I have gone to bed by 10pm and gotten up by 6am every day! I am really liking it. When we married, Rocky and I were at total opposite ends of the scale. I loved going to bed at 10 or so, and he loved staying up to till 2 or 3am. We sorta of met in the middle, and often were in bed by midnight or 1am at the latest most of the time. But I have never really liked that so much cause I just can't get up before 7am if I got to bed that late. And I almost always need a nap if I do have to get up early. But I took advantage of jet lag (and an ailing computer) and started going to bed early every night. I so enjoyed the early mornings, I am determined to stick to it. And now, not going to the gym, I can easily do it! If Hana is in bed by 8, I can easily be done with my workout by 9 or 9:30, shower and go to bed. OR, if I get up at 6am, I can easily get my workout done in the morning before she wakes up! I have yet to try working out while she is up, we'll see how that goes when we are forced to!

This new schedule means the loss of a few things, mostly being able to chat online with people in the states. But I'll make changes where needed for that. I was spending way too much time on the computer late at night before anyways.

Well, I'm sure I have a million more things to share about the states but that'll have to do for now. I am just glad to be home! There will be more pics coming soon, when we get our computer issues worked out. And be sure to keep up with the ministry over on that blog! There'll be lots of Hana updates coming soon too.

My precious daughter!!!

One of the most precious pictures I've ever had the priviledge of being in! THAT is MY precious daughter. I'm still amazed that I get to be her Mommy!!!

My precious family!!!

I just had to share...


We had our pictures made today! They turned out GREAT! I love my sweet precious little family. I just wanted to share!

Some fun pics...

(This post was supposed to be on Hana's blog, I blame it on jet lag ;) )

This little girl has fallen in love with animals, and especially Bam's horse... Gizmo!


Riding with Bam..


Watching TV with Granny... (Great Grandmother)


Playing with Aunt Kay... (Great Aunt)


Saying Bye-bye to Uncle Bud and Aunt Shortie... (Great Uncle and Aunt)



One thing is for sure... this little girl is LOVED!!!!!!!

Stateside for a month...

I can't believe we have been here for a whole month. Time is flying by! It has been a HUGE blessing!!!

We have so enjoyed the fellowship with new and old friends and family. It has been sooooooooo wonderful to spend so much time with people we don't often get to see.

We've eaten lots of great food! But I'm being good. Keeping control of portion sizes and not drinkinng too many Dr. Peppers! But indulging quite a bit! I'm enjoying myself, but I haven't gained ANY weight!!! I've only been able to work out about 3 or 4 times though. Just hope I don't lose too much tone, but we'll see.

The weather has been CRAZY! We've had record high temps in some places we've been, we had a snowy day in Colorado, and we've seen LOTS of thunder storms with plenty of thunder and lightening and hail! Thankfully, no tornado's, but we ARE still in Texas!!!!

Hana has been an AMAZING little girl. I can't remember a single time she's complained about all the hours in the car, all the meals that she doesn't really prefer, all the concerts she's had to sit through. Really she has thoroughly enjoyed all the attention she is getting and she is such a GOOD girl! We are so blessed!!!

We've got one more month to go! I'm looking forward to it!

Love from Texas!

Update over on the ministry blog

There is a link to the right to our ministry blog. I was able to share quite a few pics and a short update on our last few days. our time online has been limited but we are having a blast, and are so blessed!

I'll hopefully have time to blog more soon. Love from Colorado!

A sick baby...

Hana caught something at preschool this week. She'd been coughing for about two days when she woke up Saturday morning with a pretty high temp. I think around 102F (38.8 C), our thermometer is C so I'm not sure and am too tired to go find a converter online and convert it! LOL We got her some meds, and the fever just climbed higher and higher throughout the day. I prayed over her every time I layed hands on her. By night time her fever hit 40.2 once. We kept up fever reducing suppositories as often as allowed, ice packs around her neck and cold compress on her forhead, etc. She did not sleep well and when she finally did fall asleep at 2am after another fever reducer brought the temp down a little bit, I couldn't sleep! I think I was awake until 4am and then when I did sleep it was a very light sleep because I was so "aware" and every tiny noise woke me up. I am so exhausted today. I'm missing Sunday morning worship for the first time in I don't know how many years!!!

This morning she still had about 40 temp but it finally began to break after breakfast! Praise the Lord! I enlisted some of my online friends to pray and that did the trick! She is upstairs taking a nap right now, and I should lay down for a while too. I think in all I got maybe 2 hours sleep last night.

My Mommy spent many many many nights up with me while I was that sick. I had a very weak respiratory system and asthma and was sick a LOT. I never could understand why she was so worried about me. Last night, I finally understood. To see that precious face look up at me with feverish glassed over eyes, and hear her lay there and moan, well it was just not fun. I love that precious little girl so much it is impossible to describe.

I'm so glad she's feeling better. Now Mommy needs a nap!

Amazing Grace

Too adorable for words!!!!!

The Lord's Prayer

This is just too precious!!!! (by the way it is not Hana, and this little girl is two years and 8 months old) WOW!

Dancing with the Stars, Marlee Matlin

I am in love with this show. I would give anything to compete in this, guess I gotta become a star first! ;) But this years cast is really great, and I am sooooooo impressed by Marlee Matlin. I have always loved her acting, but this just amazes me that she can dance like this. I wish I could watch it live, and vote! She and Priscila Presley are really impressing me...

My sweet little family...

This is a picture my good friend Riz took of our little family recently. I just love it! I wish I had someone following us around with a camera all the time!!!

My sweet little family. We all have nick names for each other...

Hana is...
Hana-baby
Hana-banana
munchkin
sweety
Hana Bell
My baby girl (reserved only for Mommy to use, according to Hana)
precious baby (Daddy is allowed to use this one, cause "baby girl" is reserved for Mommy) LOL
and more!

Mommy is...
Sugarpie (to Daddy)
Mommy
Mama (when Hana is doing baby talk)
Honey
Ma-cha
My special Mommy (a new one she started using several days ago)
and more I can't think of at this late hour!

Daddy is...
Rock star
Sugarpie (to Mommy)
Honey
Sweety
Dada (again, baby talk)
and others too sometimes...

But tonight was so precious. During our Afureru! meeting Hana was sitting in my lap and she was kissing me on the face and whispering, "I love you Mommy." and stuff like that and then at one point she started saying, "This is MYYYY Sugarpie." and she said it over and over again. then she reached for Daddy and crawled into his lap and proceeded to tell him over and over again that Mommy is HER sugarpie. And Daddy gently argued with her that I am HIS sugarpie.

Later in the car, this debate started again. It was so hilarious. Hana would not give up, and insists that I be HER sugarpie. She was even coming up with other names that Daddy could call me. She even told him that he could call me "my special Mommy" but that "MY sugarpie" is hers now! SOOOOOOO funny! I don't know where she got this from, that certain pet names are reserved for only certain people to use. She has always been insisten that she is "Mommy's baby girl" and Daddy can't use that name for her. But this is the first time she has laid claim on a name for one of us, and been so determined to have it for herself!

It's funny and so cute. It makes me feel so loved by her. When she does things like that, it melts my Mommy heart!

Isagenix...

Ok folks, I just can't NOT talk about this company. It is amazing! I've got about 5 people cleansing right now and everyone is so positive about their results. One of my associates has lost 22 pounds in the first month! She's amazing!!! Several others are just in their first few days of doing a cleanse, but have lost 3 or 4 pounds a piece. And I have a couple others who will begin their cleanse soon!

Everyone is talking about how good they feel while doing it. It is about so much more than the weight loss. The products are so packed with good nutrients, I think our bodies are screaming with joy for finally giving them some good stuff!!! It is amazing what a difference it makes.

If you haven't seen my blog where I talked about my cleanse and shared some other info, you can read it here. And if you are even the slightest bit interested, let me know! You owe it to yourself to try this.

And as a side note, but incredible as well, I've made some significant extra cash in the last couple months! I didn't set out to do that. I just shared my excitement about these products with others. I'm telling you, this company is amazing! I just love love love it!!!

work out Work Out WORK OUT!!!!!!

Whew! I just got home from the gym and wow, I feel sooooooooooooooooooooo good! I went back to my same old same old workout that I WAS so bored of and had been avoiding. WOW, it felt great! I finished feeling that feeling I usually LOVE after a workout, exhausted but refreshed, tired but energized! You know I been trying to mix it up with Pilates and stuff, but it just isn't the same. It really felt great tonight, and I guess even though it is boring, I should stick with what's been working for me for so long. Maybe I'll have time to do Pilates now and then, but I don't know about sticking with it strictly.

I spent all day today designing a new pamphlet for our minsitry. I can't wait to show it off, I'm pretty proud of it! I hope I can turn it into a pdf and show it here in the next few days! Or I guess maybe I should say I'll get Rocky to turn it into something I can show here! (thank you sugarpie)

Well, tomorrow is a holiday for preschool, so I better hit the hay so I have enough energy to keep up with my munchkin tomorrow since she'll be at home all day tomorrow.

I'm gonna sleep good tonight!

I love Spring!

I just love Spring time. Growing up in West Texas I never really understood what was so great about all the seasons of the year. In Texas, it is either cold or hot, and it's windy all the time (or it seemed that way to me). I only knew about Fall colors and Spring flowers from stories and pictures in books.

Here, I get to enjoy clearly defined seasons. Four distinct seasons and the change is obvious. This week flowers are blooming everywhere, my nose alerted me to this even before my eyes did (hay fever)! Today as I was going to pick up Hana in the morning, I noticed nothing in the trees lining the street we take to school but by this afternoon there were 6 or 8 blossoms peaking out on almost every tree along the street. Hana and I played in the park for a while on the way home. She picked a daisy and was so in love with it. She cried when she accidentally forgot she was holding it in her hand and crushed it while playing a game of chase with me.

I love being able to open the windows in the house, and the temperature be comfortable all day. I love when my clothes that I hang out to dry actually get dry by afternoon! In just a few weeks, they'll start getting dry within a few hours of hanging them out!!! I love the feeling of the warm sunshine, and the smell of the flowers blooming in the air. I also love hearing birds chirping outside. I love Spring!

This week would be perfect except for one thing, a thing I hate. COMPUTERS! They can be so infuriating. They can make your life so simple and wonderful, connect you to your friends and family, be a source of joy and laughs, a quick source of info when you need it right away, etc. But they can also make your life a living nightmare when they don't work right. Mine is trying to drive me to the looney house at the moment. You remember when computers used to take several minutes to carry out every command you gave them. Like opening a program took at least a minute. Or better yet, turning on and booting up the computer took maybe 5 days, or maybe that was more like 5 minutes, but at any rate it was close to an eternity! Well mine has decided to act like it was made back in the day when that was the norm. It is taking my poor hubby many extra hours of effort to figure out what is causing this. Bless his patient soul. I, on the other hand was born with my father's tempter. For those of you who didn't know my father, let me translate for you... if it were up to me, I would throw this computer off the top of a mountain right now! Just to teach it a lesson!!! LOL

That reminds me of a story my Mom used to tell. One day she was at home with us (or maybe it was just when my brother was a baby) and Dad was out on the tractor. They communicated with each other by CB radio. Mom had been radioing to get his attention all afternoon but he never responded. When he finally came in that evening and she told him she'd been trying to reach him, he got so mad at the CB radio for not working he marched outside to his pick-up, reached in and ripped the CB radio out with his bare hands, and threw it up into a tree. I bet that radio hung there for years! As a matter of fact, I may even remember seeing it there in my younger days... LOL

Well that is precisly how I feel about my computer right now. It better watch its P's and Q's cause I am about on my last thread of patience with it! grrrrrr!

I'm praying for patience, and for healing for my computer!

EIGHT years!

This last week was our 8 year wedding anniversary. I can not believe 8 years has passed!

There was a very important church meeting scheduled on the evening of our wedding anniversary though so we weren't able to celebrate on that particular day. Rocky never mentioned specifically any others plans for a date so I decided to surprise him with a special evening out! I started planning it more than a week in advance, and I am still amazed he never found out about it.

We always go to our church's cafe on Friday so I made plans for someone to take care of Hana that afternoon and evening from cafe on. As soon as we got there, I got Hana's belongings situationed with our friends, and two notes and a bag of nice clothes in place for Rocky. Then I disappeared!

After I had been gone a while, delivering other notes at specific points along his journey, I sent the signal for them to get him started at church and he was handed a note from me. It told him that we are going to celebrate our anniversary tonight but I have vanished and he has to find me! He was instructed to change into the nice clothes provided and get a ride to the train station.

From there he received notes from various people along the way, he had to go from one train station to the next, to a snack stand, to the barber shop (including get his hair cut and a shave), to Hana's preschool, and finally to our supermarket! He just died laughing when he saw me at his last destination!

It was so fun. I think I went around with a stupid grin on my face from the moment I snuck out of church until he arrived at the supermarket. It was so fun imagining him going through the steps of his "scavenger hunt". Over dinner he told me all the details of his hunt, and I told him all the details of trying to plan it without him finding out!

We had a wonderful romantic evening alone. Hana did awesome spending the night with friends. It couldn't have been more perfect! Now the only problem is, how are we gonna top that on the next special occassion?! Rocky's birthday is the end of this month, but I am exhausted from the anniversary surprise, I hope a simple birthday cake with friends will do this time!!! ;)

Spring has Sprung...

OH MY GOODNESS today was SUCH a beautiful day! I wanted to stay outside ALL day long. It was sunny and only the slightest hint of lingering coolness in the air. I walked Hana to and from preschool today and walked as slowly as I could to enjoy every second of it. It was awesome...

And what a perfect week for Spring to come. The 11th was Rocky and I's wedding anniversary. 8 years! WOW, time has really flown by. I can not believer we have been married ofr 8 whole years. It has been so fun and a non-stop adventure it seems. I am so so so so so blessed beyond words. He's still my best friend, still makes me tingle, I still adore him and love to be with him! He's an amazing father and husband, and ministry partner. He's just amazing. I still wonder when someone is going to wake me up from this dream. I could go on like this for 80 more years, and you better believe I'm gonna try!

Unfortunately though, our anniversary was a busy day filled with life responsibilities and no time for fun. I hope we can remedy that soon. Maybe we'll have to mix anniversary and his birthday into one celebration. Spontaneity really changes when you have kiddos.

Our random busy schedule is getting in the way of my fitness and healthy eating too. I'm not doing terrible, not falling off the wagon or anything. Haven't gained any weight but just not able to work out as much as I'd like and eating out more than I prefer. I am hoping the next four weeks before we go to America I can better control things in this area. Just wanted be really in tip top shape before this whirlwind tour where I doubt I'll be able to work out much at all.

Isagenix by the way, the company where I got the cleanse I did recently and blogged about it, TOTALLY rocks! I can not tell you how awesome it is to be a part of this company. I am loving the products and the extra money it brings in, and every part of it! LOVE IT!

Hana is doing GREAT right now. She is in a very loving obedient stage. She is just such a joy to be with. Her talking ability is getting better all the time and it is so fun to communicate with her about what is going on in her mind. She's just too precious for words.

Have I mentioned that I can not wait to come to the states???!!! So excited!

Gotta run!

Country Music, ain't nothing else like it!

OH, get ready to laugh until you hurt. This is so cute!!!

Oh, and sugarpie, I'd blow it all on YOU!!!

This is fun...

Ballet - Hand in Hand

She has only one arm, he has only one leg! Beautiful!!!

Cranberry Orange Oat Pancakes...

I made these tonight (for breakfast in the morning) and now I regret it because they smell sooooooooooooooo yummy and I tasted one and they taste soooooooooooooooooo yummy, I want to eat them all right now! Instead I shall blog about them and go to bed, so I can hurry up and get up in the morning and eat them!

Cranberry Orange Oat Pancakes

1 cup Quaker old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pancake mix
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

mix dry ingredients in bowl set aside

2 large eggs
1 cup OJ (if you don't want the orange flavor then just replace this liquid with milk)
1/4 cup 2% milk or soy milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or olive oil

mix wet ingredients

add wet into dry and stir until just combined

3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (or blueberries or any other fruit)

fold in fruit at the end

cook on hot griddle 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. when pancake edges are dry and bubbles appear in the middle, flip and cook for one to two more minutes!

YUM! These don't require much if any syrup because there is so much flavor in them. Nutritional info...

Nutritional Info Per Serving (2 pancakes):

259 cal, 6 g pro, 39 g carb, 4 g fiber, 9.5 g fat, 1.5 g sat fat, 53 mg chol, 298 mg sodium


I used quick cooking oats (not instant, quick cooking), soy milk, and frozen mixed berries (cran, blue and ras) because I didn't have any dried berries.

My house smells amazing right now! You seriously don't even need syrup for these, maybe a tiny sprinkle of powdered sugar if you just GOTTA, but they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo YUMMY! Try it, you'll love it!

Life in the fast lane....

Have I told you guys we are going to America this year! Have I told you how excited we are!? I can hardly stand it. I've been knee deep in emails, planning the details of our trip this week, and I am so excited I think I could burst. We are going to have so much fun and see so many people, and I just can't imagine that we'll ever be able to keep Hana entertained by ourselves after this trip. Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, Friends GALORE!!! It is going to be soooooooooooooo amazing to share my home and our family with my daughter, now that she is old enough to understand and enjoy it with me!

Back in the real world, all is well. We continue to be so busy! I made some new friends this week (Hi E and M, if you're reading)! These two ladies work out at my gym and now that I go to some of the studio classes, our paths crossed and we have become friends. E struck up a conversation with me in BEAUTIFUL English and I was so impressed. Just moments later her daughter came up and began talking to me in equally perfect English! I was very surprised and impressed!

So keeping up these yoga or pilates classes AND keeping up a cardio workout is more time consuming than what I was doing before. And yet, I really like what those classes are doing for my muscle tone and stamina. So I'm sticking with it, at least for now, when I have a LITTLE bit of time.

I am soooooooooo excited about the new developments with QTbaby. I have been back to where our new location will be, to find out more and pick dates for the store. They let their vendors sign up for an entire year at once, so I am a little late coming in and have some slim pickings, but we'll take whatever we can get. I was VERY impressed with the amount of "shoppers" browsing in the stores set up both days I was there. I think we will do more business at this location! Which means I get to go SHOPPING for more baby's/children's clothes when I am in the states. YIPPEEE! In the meantime I have to revamp the website, re-design a poster and post card to pass out, and get the word out about the dates we will be setting up shop. FUN FUN FUN

Otherwise I'm doing good. did I mention I am really REALLY excited about going to America!?

Wahooooo!!!

Tale of Two Brains

LOL!!!! I was rolling on the floor laughing!

The Seven Wonders of the World

This is so cool! Love it!

Pillow talk...

Rocky and I probably communicate with each other more than any couple I have ever known. Rocky's love langauge is "quality time" and he would simply shrivel up and die without quality time to talk and hang out with me.

One of our favorite times to talk is after we crawl into bed at night. We don't talk EVERY night, sometimes one of us is in bed before the other and falls asleep before the other, or sometimes we are just too tired to talk much.

Last night I was so sleepy that I thought I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow. But as soon as we crawled into bed we started talking and we went on for a while. We got so tickled a couple of times though, at a line I was using in our conversation...

"Cause I'm the Mommy!"

Hana is in the "why?" stage that little kids go through, or in Hana's case it is the "how come?" stage. For everything you tell her you get asked, "how come?" As many of you parents probably remember well, there are times that little question can crawl under your skin and make you think you're gonna go crazy if you hear it one more time. Especially when it is not simple to explain the reason why, the only answer is "just because it is". Which of course is not a very satisfactory answer to most 3 year olds and usually gets even more inquisition.

So my favorite answers are...
"because God made it that way!"
AND
"because I'm the Mommy!" (this one gets used when she wants to know why Mommy told her to do something or not to do something)

Both of which usually can't be argued with, and that ends the matter then and there.

Well last night Rocky kept pushing on my feet while he was talking to me and I don't know why but it was driving me nuts. So I told him to stop and he said, "how come?" (immitating Hana's voice) and I said, "Because I'm the Mommy!" He just grunted and said, "That's a really convenient line isn't it!?" And we both burst out laughing (trying not to laugh so hard as to wake the little 3 year old sleeping in the next room). Then several minutes later I used my power line again on him and it sent us into giggles again!

What a convenient line, and amazingly enough one I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to use. But now I get to BECAUSE...

I'm the Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LONG week!

How do I manage to fill up my week when I have nothing on my calendar??? I don't know how I do it, but somehow I do. This week was such a busy week. But it was sooooo awesome.

I made some awesome new friends at the gym in one of my Pilates classes. Two women who speak English flawlessly! I was truely amazed to meet these women at my sports club of all places. We are having lunch at the local Bolivian restaurant next week after Yoga class... But never fear, lunches come in small portions in Japan so it will not be counterproductive to our workout! LOL

Let's see, then we did QTbaby again this week. It's been a long time since ya heard that one huh! Yep, we were too busy in the fall, my business partner had a baby, and our schedule was so packed with concerts. And then we had very little in the way of winter clothes to offer our customers, so we didn't open up shop in the winter. But this week we had a great one day store set up in our usual location and had some good business. However, we are sad to find out that our usual location is going to remodel and not offer the space for little stores like ourselves to set up there anymore... so we have to find another place to go. And I was so excited that God provided us with that just as I was beginning to pray for an answer! Another man who does women's clothing at various places said he would introduce us to a great place to set up our store. And would you believe it is right down the street from our house! It is one minutes walk from Hana's preschool!!! We will be finding out more about this very soon.

Let's see, this week I did... Yoga on Monday, Pilates on Wednesday, I walked around A LOT and did squats and leg lifts and some arm excercises during my down time at QTbaby on Thursday (I was so tired at the end of the day, I bet I walked 10 miles in little circles around my store space and did about a hundrend squats and lunges), and then today I went to the Yoga class of with a friend which was being instructed by an aquantance of ours. I did cardio 3 times this week too! And I am maintaining my goal weight!!!!!!!! I feel great and am in an awesome place in my fitness.

I have been making so many friends lately and getting the chance to spend time with friends I don't normally get to see. I feel so blessed and am so thankful that God has given me such wonderful friends in my life!

Our trip to America will be here before you know it! I can not wait to go back and see family and friends, eat some foods I haven't had in a while (can you say MEXICAN FOOD, AND SHOP!!!!!!!!!!) Rocky and I both are really really antsy to get there. It is goign to be a crazy and exhausting trip, but we are soooooooooo looking forward to it.

OK, I gotta go to bed, my eyes are about to slam shut. Yoga took it out of me this afternoon and I got no downtime after that at all. Good night!

Small is Tall.

I am not a coffee drinker AT ALL, so I always thought that the mess at this particular coffee shop for ordering was just rediculous! I loved this lady's take on it!

Pilates and stuff...

Ok, so I get all of my health and wellness info on the net. I kept reading this stuff about how great pilates is, and I kept wondering what fitness had to do with the people who fly airplanes! Slowly I began to put pieces together and figure out what this whole thing was about. And I even found a few clips on YouTube that I had used a few times to do a short little work out at home.

Well, I have been so bored with my routine at the gym. I mean I've been doing basically the same thing for over a year. Since I reached my weight loss goal I knew I'd get REALLY bored really quick, without some goal to achieve or some kind of challenge. So the last few trips to the gym I decided to shake it up a bit. Last Friday I just happened to be finishing my cardio when a pilates class was beginning so I joined in. It was great, and I could tell it was working muscles in zones that my regular weight lifting doesn't touch.

So I grabbed the printout of this months schedule of classes at the gym. The pilates classes are not always at convenient times for me. The only thing I could do yesterday in line with pilates was a yoga class. I honestly didn't want to go to a Yoga class because I didn't want to have all the new age spiritual stuff crammed down my throat. I decided to try it anyways, because I suspected that the spiritual part MIGHT be left out. I was right, no spiritual stuff at all, the instructor only mentioned a few times that certain positions were beneficial for certain health issues. I really enjoyed the class and feel like it is really going to tone some good spots, and make me more flexible which I REALLY need! There are points in the routine where you'll be holding a position and your wishing the instructor would let you release it cause your muscles SCREAMING at you, "OK OK OKAY!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm headed to another pilates class tomorrow I hope. I am really enjoying these, but it might get tricky trying to juggle my schedule with the studio class schedule.

I measured my waist and I have lost another cm! That's really cool! All from just two classes of this type of excercise. It really targets the core muscles. Good stuff!

Anyways, I'm trucking along! Trying to keep it interesting... I hope this phase will last me a while!

Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey

This cracked me up!

The Busy Bees...

I think we should just give up on any hope of ever being bored again! We somehow end up being busy all the time, how does that happen???

Anyways, there are lots of things going on around here. It never ends. Our church is going through some important stuff right now, and that has Rocky especially busy since he is on the leadership committee at church are they are having lots of meetings. Our ministry just seems to be trucking along even without lots of concerts at this time of year. And on a personal level we have been trying to spend time with friends.

So now that the cleanse is over, and I hit my goal weight, I am bored when it comes to work out! Soooooo, I decided to mix it up a little tonight. I did my regular 30 minutes cardio on the elliptical trainer, and then I decided to try a Pilates class. I have done a few Pilates workouts here at home that I found for free online (YouTube stuff) and they weren't that difficult. But this class at the gym kicked my BUTT! For as gentle as Pilates is, it REALLY targets some muscles and you hold positions for a LONG time, and those muscles start SCREAMING at you -- LET ME GO, LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ruthless and hard headed when it comes to doing a workout and won't give in till it's over, so my legs were literally shaking like jello when it was all over. Whew! I am gonna do that class again. It felt really clean and fluid, and my posture would improve without a doubt if I kept that up!

All in all, life is good. OH and my good friend Kiko-chan is in labor right now! Can't wait to meet little George!!!

Gotta run, tomorrow is English Circle.
Yaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnn

We finished!

We finished the cleanse! I lost 5 pounds, Rocky lost 10, and the details are all on the other blog.

I'll keep doing cleansing days a couple times a month, I LOVE most how it has been good for my skin!

Anyways, just thought I would let you know!

Important lesson learned this weekend...

an mp3 player should not be washed with the laundry...

(I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo bummed and so mad at myself)

Days 5 and 6...

Still going well, I am really thoroughly enjoying the experience. Details of course on the cleanse blog, but just wanted to let anyone know who is only checking this blog. I love this program. wish I had found it much sooner!

Days 3 and 4

The cleanse is going really really well. I am blogging more in detail over on the other blog I mentioned in the previous post. I feel really great, and I am loving this. Really enjoying the experience.

I'll keep you posted. Almost half way done.

Day two...

I'm not sure what happened to my day 1 post. I did one but it disappeared somewhere into the great unknown of cyberspace! Happens to me often, I am convinced my computer doesn't like me. I'll be having troubles and I'll call Rocky over to fix something and when he tries to get it to work, it works just fine! So, "sayonara" to my day one post wherever you went!?

To recap, Day one was fine. Days one and two of the program involve drinking a cleanse inducing supplement 4 times a day, and lots of water. It wasn't as hard as I though, except that not having to cook, eat and clean 3 times a day left me feeling lost as a housewife! I never realized how much my daily schedule revolves around it. OH and by the way, Rocky decided to join me!!! He said he felt hungry sometimes, I didn't feel so bad, and the little snacks that are provided to curb hunger and cravings were good enough for me. Before taking a bath last night I had lost .3 kilo from the morning (1 kilo= 2.2 lbs).

Now on to day two, things are still awesome. I feel GREAT! Really I feel uplifted and just content. I had this mental picture of being weak and tired from replacing my meals with the supplement. But I feel awesome. My stomach has growled like twice today but that was right around time to drink the next cleanse and I am NOT starving to death. It really only happens when I see something that looks good. Like yesterday I spotted the bowl of chocolates on the kitchen table and my tummy went "grrrrrrrr" but then I put the bowl away where I can't see it and I was fine. I take the supplement 4 times a day on day one and two, and after taking the supplement I feel really satisfied for a couple hours. This isn't as hard as I imagined, only I just want to chew something. In Japan they have a saying, "You're mouth is lonely." which means you aren't hungry you just want to eat. That is so true for me now.

I have little red spots popping out on my face and back. I think this is some "deep cleaning" going on in my skin. I have had acne and skin problems since I went to college. That's also when my diet went way out of control and I started drinking about 6 Dr. Peppers a day. I am sure there are all kinds of toxins in there that just need to get out.

Although I am not doing this for the weight loss, I am down 1 kilo (about 2.2 lbs) from yesterday morning. Last night at bath time Rocky had already lost one kilo. MEN! argh! He didn't weigh this morning but tomorrow is a weigh and measure day for the program so we'll see how many pounds and inches he lost tomorrow. With my excercise and diet that I've been doing to lose weight, it could take me at least 2 weeks to lose a kilo, and that was if I was REALLY restricting portion sizes. It is amazing how this supplement really gets your body to kick those pounds OUT!

So that means that I hit my goal today! My goal was 60 kilo, and the scales this morning said EXACTLY 60.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I danced myself a little jig and threw a little party in the shower this morning! It took me a year and a half but I lost 14 kilo! (that's a little over 30 pounds total!) I kinda wish the cleansing program had come along a lot sooner, it wouldn't have taken me nearly that long.

Tomorrow I begin 5 days of replacing two meals a day with Isagenix shakes, and the other meal is a low fat, heigh protein meal. We weigh and measure tomorrow too.

For anyone who wants more details and wants to hear other people's stories, I made another blog where I am documenting these 9 days in more detail (although some will be a repeat of what is here) AND including other information and testimonies of other's who are doing this. That blog is Me and Isagenix

Especially read Debbie's testimony, I still can't believe the changes in her! It's amazing.

I'm still here...

Ok, so blogging every day is HARD! I don't know how I used to do it. I must have been superwoman or something. Anyways, I am gonna try to be better, and I bet that this week I will because, I am going to do a body cleanse starting tomorrow! What's a body cleanse you say? Well, it is NOT like what many of you might have heard of known as a colon cleanse (which I also recommend). It is a 9 day program that will help rid your body of toxins and JUNK! I have been dying to do this, and I do hope that my dear hubby joins me (come on hunny, you can do it!). He was gung ho about it at first but now that the day is approaching, he is being a little wishy washy, we shall see if he does it.

So my Mom, grandma, cousins, some friends and so forth have done this and they say it is awesome. Makes you feel better, makes you LOOK better. Mom says her dear sweet hubby told her she was just GLOWING after she did this. Her skin really looks great evidentally. Not to mention she lost like 14 pounds on the first cleanse she did, and she is part way into another (she has 5 more pounds to go to reach her goal weight). All my other aquantances lost weight dramatically and are feeling great.

I'm not doing it for the weight loss (except to get off this last stinking kilo and a half that is hanging on for dear life)! I want to do it for the health benefits. I am still having some acne although it is MUCH improved over before. And I am looking forward to other benefits I'm gonna see from this thing.

So I am going to blog daily about the experience. The first two days consist of pouring liquid nutrient and the cleanse inducing supplement, which is all natural and packed with good stuff, into the body and jump starting the cleansing process. The next five days are packing your body with tons of nutrient. And the last two days are the same as the first two.

So we are off and running first thing in the morning. I'm excited (how bout you sugarpie?)

I'm back...

Still doesn't seem real that our friend is gone. He was such a precious precious person. I was so tempted to ask God why, but you know I have total assurance that God has a big plan for this. Ken was so special and so in love with his Lord Jesus. He shamelessly shared the Lord with his friends, he was a servant and a huge light in the darkness here. Believers like that, unfortunately are not the norm, and if God chose to allow him to go home rather than stay here for longer, he has to have a big purpose in store. It has to affect more lives than he would have affected had he continued here in his walk of faith! I believe that with ALL my heart.

The wake yesterday was such a mixture of sadness and hope for me. I had a strong confidence and hope that God is especially going to work in his parent's and sister's life through this. Yet he made such an impact on so many people and so many were grieving deeply. I will miss him so much too. It still seems like it must have been a dream to see him lying there so still and lifeless. Rocky's gonna miss him a lot too. He was one of Rocky's best friends.

Please lift up his parents and sister in prayer. They were definitely in shock and have a lot ahead of them. Pray for the church that he attended there and they might somehow have an impact on those men he worked with. They filed into the church and looked lost and so confused. If at all this could impact some of them to search for God and Ken's church might somehow reach out to them, that would just be awesome.

We already feel a sense of renewed determination to share our faith. And a greater sense of how precious life is and how quickly it can be lost. And such an appreciation for the many people God allows us to know and to be impacted by!!! We serve an awesome God and the family of believers he has surrounded us with are so precious. I am so thankful that I was able to know Ken when he was alive and see how much light and love he brought to the people in his life.

We came back home LATE last night and were up early this morning to prepare for chapel at one of the Christians schools we speak at often. I had prepared my message days before all this and the title was "been there, done that". The verse was Hebrews 4:15-16. I had already planned to talk about how amazing it is that we have a God who came here and walked in our flesh, experienced everything we have and knows exaclty how we feel when we bring to him our troubles and struggles. It was so appropriate to be able to share how in the loss of our friend yesterday I was able to take so much comfort in knowing God was there for me, and I could take my sadness to him in prayer and he would understand. I hope it had an impact on some of the girls at the school.

I was filled with peace all day today and often found a smile spread across my face when I thought about where Ken is now. He is in the presence of his beloved Savior, worshipping him and adoring him. WOW, how amazing that must be. On the train ride yesterday, I listed to "I Can Only Imagine" over and over several times. WOW, what is it like to see Jesus, to be in his presence. Would I dance, stand in awe or fall to my knees? I Can Only Imagine what it will be like. One day, I will know. We'll all be there together standing in the middle of His Glory, worshipping him! WOW, it's gonna be amazing.

Ken, I know you're there already and I can't imagine how awesome it must be. We miss you buddy, but we are waiting with hope and anticipation to see what God is gonna do through this. See ya when we get there!

A friend goes home to Jesus...

It still doesn't seem real, but a very close friend of ours lost his life today. He was in the fishing industry and had some sort of water accident. We still don't know the details, we just found out. We are going to the wake tomorrow. He was only 30 years old. Unbelievable.

So I won't be checking in as I had resolved to do everyday. I'll check back in on Thursday. Please pray for the family and all those whose lives he touched (and there are many). He was a strong believer and many of us are left with the hope and peace of knowing where he's gone and that we'll see him again. But many others, including his parents and sister, are not believers and will not have that hope. Please pray...

New Years 2008

Can not believe it is 2008! WOW!

OK so here is my New Years resolution, to get back on track with my health and fitness and blog about it again. If you hated reading about all my meals and workouts and stuff, then I appologize. But this blog keeps me accountable. I will label these blogs as "weightloss" so you can know just to ignore them if you don't want read bout this stuff.

So I haven't gained any weight back but December was horrible for eating and working out. I was lucky to get in some excercise once a week, and I was never able to control my meals. So I am back at it in January now. We are going to the states in late April and I want to be able to shop for new clothes in the size I plan to STAY in for a good long while.

So I finally made it back to the gym today after not being able to go because of concerts, holidays, or family and friend get togethers. It felt soooooooo good. I will be back on track with my eating tomorrow, although I didn't do so bad with portion control, I just couldn't get all the veggies I wanted, and had to eat a lot of carbs cause most of the time that is the bulk of a Japanese meal.

I stayed in the sauna way too long at the gym tonight before showering. I met two sweet young ladied and we were just talking away. I didn't realize how long I'd been in there till my head started pounding. I am now red as a lobster, have a ragging headache and can hardly keep my eyes open so I am headed to bed!

2007 almost over...

It is unreal to me that 2007 is almost over. I can not believe it! Time really really flies when you're having fun. It goes by WAY too fast.

We are finally done with all the crazy schedule that Fall and Christmas brings our way ministry wise. What an incredible blessing it was to go all the places we went and meet all the people we met and do all the things we did. We have the most amazing job in the world! This Fall was the easiest for me in the past several years since Hana is getting so independent. It didn't feel as overwhelming to keep up with all our responsibilities this year although I think we were just as busy as we have been in the past. I am excited, however, to think that at this time next year we will be in the states for a certain VERY special person's wedding! I will not name names, but I gotta thank her for deciding to get married at Christmas. I am going to enjoy being "home" for Christmas for the first time in many years!

Christmas was quite different this year for some reason. Our usual "American" group chose to celebrate on Christmas Eve with dinner together. So Christmas day we had the day all to ourselves. We don't do LOTS of gifts or Santa, so it was pretty low key. We slept in (even Hana!) and got up and had some yummy French toast for breakfast, opened a couple of presents between ourselves and then just took it easy all day. We had friends over for dinner in the evening, but it was a VERY Japanese meal. I am still struggling with what to do with our Christmas as a family. We are always so busy with concerts it is hard for me to make it very special, without putting too much on my plate. I wasn't even able to get decorations out this year. We can't do a big extended family thing because Rocky's brother lives in Osaka and they come back to visit for the New Year (as Christmas isn't a holiday here) and Rocky's Dad always works on Christmas day (since it isn't an official holiday). I'm still trying to figure out what to do for "family traditions" for Christmas time!!!

Now Rocky's brother and his family are in town. It is always fun to have them here. The kids have a blast together, and all the adults really have a great time talking and sharing about all that has happened to us recently. We shared lots of funny stories tonight and we were laughing so hard. It was wonderful. Not to mention the food tonight was AMAZING! I'll have to post pictures later, most of you probably won't think it looks that great... but it was wonderful!

As soon as the in-laws are gone (they leave Jan 1) I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I feel almost lost at the moment, cause there really isn't anything on our schedule except for some simple chapel services here and there, and some of my Kindergarten English classes and Bible studies. Those things are once a month/twice a month type of the things. And Rocky has plans to start recording a cd. He needs my help in the studio every once-in-a-while, but mostly he can do the recording on his own. I have a LOT of house work to catch up on, organizing to do, and I may get around to some of the "handy-man" jobs around the house that have been waiting for attention. It's going to be interesting to see how useful I can be. I always struggle in the new year with feeling worthwhile after having such a busy schedule then suddenly NOTHING!

Ahhhh, and I bet you all are wondering about my fitness. Well in the midst of all the craziness I was lucky to make it to the gym once or twice a week. BUT the good news is, I haven't gained ANY weight. Even with all the meals that I had no control over and being forced to eat convenience store food or fast food a lot, I've done quite well with portion control and eating as healthy as possible. It's gonna be so nice to get back to cooking our own food so I can control the veggies and fruits we get, and control the oils and fats in our food. And it is going to be wonderful to get back to my normal gym schedule. I still have about a kilo and a half/two kilos to get off! I think I just might get it done.

We have a U.S. tour planned for late Spring/early Summer! We may be stateside for 6-8 weeks! Still working on where we are going to go and what churches we will be in so stay tooned. Right now it looks like we'll possibly be in Arizona... we are going to Colorado FOR SURE... and OF COURSE we are headed to Texas... plus we might even go to Florida! I can not wait to set foot on American soil again, and see my FAMILY! It's been ALMOST two years. I'm aching to hug some necks!!! I can't wait!

Well I'm gonna sign off for now. We have quite a few extra bodies under our roof tonight which means I gotta get up earlier to get myself ready and then fill those tummies before we go out to play tomorrow. It's snowing right now! brrrrrr cold. We are supposed to go to the Aquarium tomorrow to look at the fish cause my little 2 year old nephew loves fish. it's gonna be brrrrrrrrrrrr cold!

Good night and lots of love!
Marla

Christmas ALREADY???

I can not believe it is already well into December. Where does the time go?! Well, I haven't even gotten out the Christmas decorations yet, and if I do at this point its going to be like turning around and putting them right back up almost immediately! ugh, time just goes by way too fast.

WE had a great trip to Aomri though and I wanted to share a few photos.

We saw LOTS of this...

ate lots of this...


and drank lots of this...


and did lots of this...





Aomori is very famous for it's apples! Now we know why. I have never tasted such delicious apples in my whole life. And the apple juice!? OH MY! Unbelievable. I will never be able to drink store bought apple juice again. For lunch today I warmed a cup of apple juice in the microwave, oh it was soooooooooo yummy, I was in heaven! No need for any sugar or spices, it was sweet and tart and unbelievable just like that. We will be ordering our apple juice from them from now on! And getting all our apples from there too (although it will be limited to the season of course).

I especially loved the snow though. I love cold weather and snow, and it was beautiful. I wish we could have gone skiing, we are going to make a trip up there again sometime to ski for sure!

Well, I will share more as time goes by, but just thought I would put a little bit of something on my blog today.

Thanksgiving!!!

Boy did we ever have a Thanksgiving this year. And I thought I wasn't going to get Thanksgiving dinner because we were gonna be gone for some concerts...

We went WAY up north to Aomori-ken for some concerts and it was a blast. We did concerts for LOTS of Thanksgiving dinner parties, I had my fill of turkey and stuffing like you wouldn't believe. and Aomori-ken is famous for it's apples, so the apple pie was AMAZING! I ate WAYYYYYYYYY too much.

It was so fun though and we loved the missionary couple there, and the people in the churches. What a wonderful blessing it was, we didn't want to come home.

Not to mention all of the snow we got to see. Pictures coming soon.

(and Martin if you are reading this, I didn't gain ANY weight at all, can you believe it!?!?!?!? hhahah)

sick

NOT my favorite word. NOT a word I usually use often. but that past couple weeks have been horrible. The cold I was fighting when I posted last turned into a full blow sinus infection that just won't quite! So, needless to say I've had plenty of time to get over being sore, I haven't worked out since my last post, hoping to save my bodies energy for recovering from this infection. Our schedule is about to get crazy, so I do hope I can recover fully.

Not just me, we've all had it, and have all had trouble getting over it. So that's why there isn't much blogging going on around here. And I'm off to bed...

good night

muscle toning=weight GAIN!!!!!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

well, first of all, an update after yesterday's post. I was presently suprised to wake up this morning with significantly less pain than yesterday. I was moving a bit faster than yesterday but the frustration of not being able to do things with ease was getting to me. By the end of church this morning I was frustrated with EVERYTHING, just plain annoyed because every tiny move hurts and I have to move so slowly! I am so used to doing everything at about 90 mph. Maybe the Lord is telling me to slow down!

By this evening I was feeling good enough to work out and I am glad I did, I feel much better. A WONDERFUL friend from church loaned me a few videos from her Billy's Boot camp DVD set. so even though we got home from a concert tonight well after my gym had closed, I was able to work out here at home. You must be thinking I am crazy for doing another Billy video again, but hey, that is what made me sore, so using those same muscles is gonna make me feel better! AND now that I have some videos in my possession, I CAN MASTER THEM... HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Now, about my TITLE.... YES, you read that right. A week worth of muscle toning has equaled about a kilo of weight GAIN! I hate seeing that higher number on the scales but I KNOW it is muscle and not fat, because my clothes fit pretty much the same, if not a bit more loose AND my waist measurement is the same so that means muscle gain, and I can certainly understand why. Monday was my regular gym workout with full body weights, Wed. and Thur. was Pilates and Friday was the DVD. In addition I ate pretty healthy this week, except for LaPaz on Monday, so I am not too upset about the weight gain. We'll see what a few more weeks at this pace does, if the muscle gain will rev up my metabolism and bring my weight back down... Hey, a girl can think positive now!!!

We had a great weekend though, Saturday and Sunday concerts. This week I need to really enjoy and get some house hold stuff and computer stuff done, because the two weeks after that are gonna be down-right CRAZY! EVERY DAY events kinda crazy...

I'm off to bed, still fighting off a cold a little too.

Good night all

sooooo.... sore

Ok, so since I started working out a year and half ago, I have never been this sore. It is truely possible that I have never been this sore in my whole life. Well, ok maybe after the first day of cheerleading camp every summer in high school it felt something like this... maybe

OUCH, even typing hurts.

Yesterday I went to my friends house and we did a workout to Billy's Boot Camp DVD. I have no idea if this is popular in the states but it is REALLy popular in Japan right now. I felt pretty good during it, I could get through most of the entire workout with just a little rest here and there. It didn't seem THAT bad, I didn't sweat nearly like I do on the elliptical trainer at the gym! And hey, I am in good enough shape to do cardio for anywhere from 30 min to an hour AND lift weights and never get sore doing those. I was pretty tired at the end of the DVD and I knew I'd be feeling it a little bit today, but I feel EVERY muscle in my body today, with every move I make. I am sooooooooo sore. I don't know what about that work out did it, but man it REALLY REALLY makes me want those videos for myself so that I can MASTER them and not get sore! but they are way too expensive!!! LOL, I'm not THAT determined, I think!

Anyways, I will survive and work out another day, but not today OR tomorrow, the thought of it makes me want to cry, truely. Besides we have church and an afternoon concert tomorrow.

So in my bordom this evening since I can't move and can't do anything, I was looking around on youtube and found this amazing video. I can't decide if it is hilarious or awe inspiring! You decide...



Well, I just finished the most painful bath I think I have ever taken, but I am proud of myself. I was going to have Rocky help me, at least wash my hair for me, but I made myself do it. Pain and all! Now -- I am going to bed. Any amount of time spent not moving makes me dread the next time I have to move! I am not looking forward to climbing up the stairs to get in bed, and I am sooooooooooooooo not looking forward to waking up in the morning after not moving all night. OUCH, I really might break down and cry!

here goes nothing...

If you need a good laugh...

just watch this and it'll make you forget all your worries and stresses and you'll just LAUGH!!!!!

Busy as always in the fall...

So it is just the busiest season of the year around here so that is why I haven't posted on my own blog lately.

This is just totally random but I mostly blog for my own sake and I gotta write about this. EVERY night at around 10:30pm the guy next door has a sneezing fit. He's sneezing his head of right now! It totally cracks me up, you can almost set your clock by it. And he sneezes SO loud! I wonder why he sneezes at the same time every night.

So we had dinner with our missionary friends tonight and we took them to our favorite Bolivian restaurant, La Paz! oh it was sooooooooooo yummy! They ended up brining one extra taco to our table and I'm not sure why but I ATE it! It was yummy. But my FAVORITE thing on the menu there, and probably my favorite thing in the whole world is their cheese empanada! I seriously grieve every time I am getting to the last bite. These are the yummiest things you have EVER had! I can't wait to go back.

So anyway, it has been a busy month, and therefor working out has been random. I have only been able to go about twice a week all month. And SO, my one kilo that I finally lost is creeping back on. With that said however, I bought jeans last weak and they were two sizes smaller than the last time I bought! So that rocks, and I am VERY pleased exactly where I am.

Two of my good friends have gotten videos that are popular in Japan right now called Billy's Boot Camp. It is a really intense work out. I've seen the info-mercials on tv and really wanted to order the DVD set, but they are expensive and our DVD player only plays region one DVD's. But anyways, my two friends and I are planning on getting together one night this week and doing the workout together. It should be fun. I am curious to see if I can make it through one workout. It is REALLY intense from what I hear. I wish I had the DVD set.

Well, other than that, it is just concerts and more concerts. And more and more of that over the next couple of months. To think that by this time December we'll be done with this crazy season! ahhhh, I look forward to some R&R and some fun with my little family!

61.ZERO

that is what my scales have said for THREE morning in a row. 61.ZERO

WOW! I am one little bitsy, teeny weensy kilo away from my goal of 60 kilo. I thought I was never gonna make it. I'm almost there. I'm thinking of having a 60 kilo party when I get there! the BIG 6 0 ! Can I be proud of myself? (I hope so, cause I am)

So anyways, today on my way home from taking Hana to preschool I saw one of my gym buddies out on the street hanging out store signs in front of a noodle shop I pass almost daily. So I hollared at him and we talked a minute. Turns out that is his shop. I've passed that shop a hundred or more times in the last year and half since I joined the gym, and never saw him there. Never even noticed there was a noodle shop there. I guess Rocky and I have a new noodle shop to go check out. This is one of the guys I have been building a friendship with in little three to four minute conversations between machines at the gym. He seems like a REALLY nice guy. I hope we can get to know him better. He was going to come to our concert last Saturday night but didn't know what time it started and I had been unable to get a flyer to him. If I'd known this was his shop, I could have taken it by there. Ugh, the timing of these things.

SOOOOOOOOO much going on here right now. We are having a charity concert for the organization that brought Hana to us this month. I have to get the program ready. It has snuck up on me without me realizing it. Poor Sugarpie also has so many projects going at once. I have to give him credit though, he has REALLY learned to juggle it all.

well that is all my random ramblings for the evening. I need to get in bed. Tomorrow IS another day!

Just an update...

My best and biggest news, I am ONE kilo away from my goal!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!! I thought I would be stuck at 62 kilo for forever, but I finally got over that hump. I have been weighing right at 61 kilo all this week. I hope to see that SIX ZERO at some point in the next week or two!!!!! When that number pops up on the scale, I may very well dance myself a nice little jig! I finally did it.

It could be the fact that there is something in the air right now that has my allergies so worked up, I can't smell, I'm sneezing constantly and I feel horrible. I've been having one constant major hay fever attach for a couple weeks now (except the days we were in Guam). I had been almost totally allergy free for the past two years since I started taking supplements, but man, SOMETHING is really getting me right now. I hope whatever it is, quites blooming or dies or goes away really soon. ugh!

So since I can't smell or taste anything, maybe that is why I finally lost the next kilo, I don't really care what I'm eating, it all tastes the same!

BUT the good news is, my health is SO improved over before. These supplements have made all the difference in my life, not just is losing weight, but in my overall health (which is why I've been able to lose the weight!). My respiratory system used to be so weak that 2 weeks of allergies would leave me REALLY sick, with a respiratory infection, asthma, the whole works. But I have had NO asthma at all, and the allergy issues have stayed in my nose. Usually the trouble would creap down into my throat and chest quickly. Not anymore! Praise God for HEALTH! I have never been this strong in my whole life, even when I was a teenager and did sports daily. I love it!

Nothing else really that exciting right now for us. Just the basic fall stuff. Weather is finally cooling off I think. Concerts are picking up. And we continue to do our thing!

Love to all!!!

Back from Guam!!!

We had a blast! but we need a vacation to recover from vacation! The trip back especially was rough, we had to get up 2am to take a shuttle to the airport at 3am to make our 5am flight! WHY in the world they have flights to and from Guam at such crazy hours, I will never know! But it was so fun. Below are some videos. I gotta get to bed, but there will be more details coming soon!

Oh and check out the digital scrap book I made online too, just click here!

Tug of war in the pool

Our resort had tons of fun things to do at the pool. Here is Rocky EASILY beating Baba at tug of war in the pool! Incidentally, I also lost to Rocky EVERY time we played, he's got incredible balance!

Guam Chamorro dancing

The indiginous people of Guam, the Chamorro are making a great effort to preserve their culture. We went to Chamorro Village and enjoyed food and this show. It was awesome!

PIC Guam introduction

This a video of the resort we stayed at. It is in Chinese, but you can see how amazing it was!

Blogging makes a liar out of me...

OK, so in my last post I said the scales haven't moved since January. Well that was sort of A LIE because I did say that when we came back from our summer trip, I had gained about a kilo (but not quite). So I take that back. The scale moved a little bit...

So that kilo, GONE! And a little more actually seemed to have just melted away. I mean it just like fell off in 24 hours or something. Two days ago I was weighing the same and now it is just gone. And I can tell it isn't just like water weight or something, I slimmed down a little. I wonder if this could be the big break to get off this plateau and get the last couple kilo off to meet my all time goal? Which if that never happens, no big deal, but if it did, that'd be cool

I'm trying to figure out what is causing the sudden loss because it is NOT my eating habits. I am not being that careful about sweets. I'm doing fine with portion sizes, but am allowing myself a little more carbs than normal. So who knows? The only thing I can figure out is I added lifting weights on my legs for the last 3 or 4 workouts. Maybe building that muscle is burning more calories? But I heard that one pound gained = 3500 EXTRA calories consumed which means one pound loss means a deficit of 3500 calories, I don't think I'm burning that much extra? ?????

So I was chatting with one of my buddies at the gym tonight and he asked where I'd been lately and I told him. He asked if I gained any and I said yea, and how it just fell off all the sudden. He says the same thing happens to him when he travls, EVEN when he is more physically active while away. His theory, you eat more sweets and salty foods and therefor drink more liquids too when you are not in your normal daily routine. And all that salt makes you retain a good deal of water, plus you do gain a little fat from all the sweets and eating when you aren't hungry, etc. But that is easy to get off, especially the water weight, when you return to your normal routine. hmmmmm, wonder if he is correct? I have no idea, MAYBE it is this...

new fat is easier to get rid of than old fat!?
HAAAAAAAAAA, I have NO idea, LOL

So anyways, I worked out Monday and was gonna go yesterday but I had like a freak fever yesterday. My allergies have been bothering me a little and that could have been the cause I guess because today I'm fine. But yesterday I felt horrible and slept almost all day. So I didn't go the gym. But I made it tonight and I tore it up on the elliptical. beat my last workout, last time was 500 cal in 35 min, today 510!!! Hey it ain't a lot, but I was pushing myself HARD and it was extra hot in there today for some reason (except the locker room was freezing).

So one of my other buddies asked my why I didn't come yesterday and I told him about the weird fever. He said I had, saboritai-byouki! I'd never heard of that before and I was acting all serious, like what is this disease, is it like a 24 hour flu? And he proceeds to explain that basically it is playing hookey, like a kid when he doesn't want to go to school. I smacked him the arm! Silly guy! A thermometer don't lie MAN!

Anyways, it is so fun to hang out with my buds at the gym. Tonight our local pro-baseball team was on the tube and I just happened to be doing my floor excercises and ending with a stretch when they were in the 7th inning, down by three. We all watched as they scored 5 runs in that one inning and the score became 8 to 6. I had to hit the shower though and didn't see if they won in the end. Gotta go check that. It was fun to watch that string of 5 runs, we were all clapping and hollaring (not something you see often in public in Japan) but there at the gym I guess we are all like a little family. We had people running across the gym to see what we were all so excited about! Ok, so I am easily entertained, but it was fun to watch a little baseball with my gym buds!

Anyways, tomorrow is a long day so I better go to bed. We just finished two days in a row of early morning chapels which has me up an hour earlier than normal, and today I also had to teach kindergarten English twice after chapel. Tomorrow morning I have another kidergarten English class. YAWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

good night all...

Random stuff...

Well, we have settled back into a routine around here! I have the house fairly clean, I am totally caught up on laundry, and I've been getting some work done on the computer while Hana is at preschool.

We had a fun little Mommy daughter evening tonight. Daddy went to play with a group that does street evangelism every Tuesday, so we had the evening to ourselves, just us girls. It was fun. We had an early dinner of "noonles" as Hana requested. She ate and ate and ate, and even ate Mommy's left overs! Then she chowed on some leftover cucumbers until they were all gone. and she chattered about her day all the while. Evidently there is a boy in her class today, I think it was Taiga-kun she was talking about (I forget cause she names off so many people all the time), anyways, he was crying during nap time. He didn't want to lay down. I asked her if that kept her awake, because she was very sleepy this afternoon so I wondered if her nap had been short today. She said, "No, I already sleeped! I did it at school. Taiga-kun cry cry anyways." I think she was meaning always? I am not sure, but evidently she did sleep!

After dinner we had a fun time in the bath. We caught all the fish, several times. Then we located alphabet letters in English and Japanese. I found a neat way to get her interested in the Japanese alphabet. I make noises as I am drawing the characters, and she just thought that was wonderful. After the bath tonight, she could identify "a" "i" and "wa" and maybe "mu". We'll have to see how well she retains those. She just thought that the noises I make while I trace the character "mu" were hilarious!!!

Then we cuddled on the couch for about 30 minutes before I took her up to bed. It was a fun evening.

so Tuesday is the day the gym is closed, so I didn't workout today. But yesterday I did and it was awesome! I did only 35 minutes on the elliptical but burned over 500. when I first got back from our trip last week I was having a hard time getting up to 400. I pushed myself hard yesterday. And I did total body weights too.

OK, so EVERYBODY is commenting that I lost more weight, and I haven't. I have quite a few people saying that I especially lost weight in my face. The scales have not budged in months. Not since January really. So I am wondering, am I continuing to lose fat and replacing it with muscle. but I'd think I would be able to tell the difference in how my clothes fit, and nothing changing there either. Especially since workouts were so random through the summer, I wouldn't think that would be the case. It is a mystery to me???

Anyways, I am still coutning the days till we go to Guam. I can NOT wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh something random, I think I deleted a message off our answering machine tonight by mistake. When we were having our serious bath session (NOT) the phone rang a couple times. No way I was going to try to come answer it, and leave little munchkin in the tub alone. But we have a new phone and I don't know how to work it, so while trying to listen to the message, I deleted it accidentally! If you called and left us a message tonight, call again! LOL

OK, I am off to bed, preaching at chapel in the morning...

I am a Mommy!!!

Yesterday was the big party for Hana! Really this is the first time we've gotten to have a really good birthday party where we had lots of people over, had cake and presents and the whole works. It felt a little surreal for me. My dream of being the Mommy is reality. It hit me again yesterday. I really am this precious little girl's Mommy. As she sat in my lap and I helped her open presents, my heart was full of so much joy and awe. This is what I waited for! Moments like that, are the ones I grieved over when we didn't know if we would ever have a child. Yesterday, I was amazed to be throwing a party for my three year old daughter. It is a miracle really! How amazing that we have a child!!! Every child, every life of course is a miracle. But our Hana, she is OUR miracle. I am her MOMMY. Sometimes it seems unbelievable. It is real and so amazing! I just can't put it into words...

Just me junk...

You can ignore this post. This is just my "me" update thing. It'll be random and probably boring. But I enjoy writing stuff down so here goes...

So it was a CRAZY summer! Did I say crazy!? Yep, absolutely CRAZY! But then it always is. We always overbook ourselves, and when we are in the middle of it, it is awesome and a blessing but exhausting and we say we'll never do it to ourselves again, and then we always do! But it was a great summer. I really enjoyed having the girls from Colorado with us again. Then the two week trip was awesome, it has been a while since we've done a trip like that. Hana was AMAZING on that trip. The 9 hour drive home the last day, we only stopped ONCE! one stop in nine hours with a 3 year old. I never imagined it was possible. She's a dream!

So because we were so busy, working out was RANDOM to say the least. I tried my best, but it was tough. I missed almost 3 weeks of working out there at one point do to various reasons, almost always associated with our schedule. Then I got back into it for a couple workouts before going on the long trip. On the trip, I jogged 3 or 4 times (can't remember for sure) in Karuizawa, and boy was that rough on my bod. But I was surviving it, until we got to Nagoya. The first morning in Nagoya, I got up and went jogging and even though nothing seemed off during the run, throughout the rest of the day my left knee kept getting tighter and tighter and pulling in the back. Until I couldn't straighten it and it was hurting to walk around and especially climb steps by the end of the day. So I decided to lay off the running and within about 5 days, thanks to my Joint and Muscle supplement!, it seemed pretty much healed. The last 4 or 5 days it has felt a little bit off, but it doesn't hurt. So I am back on my game...

on Monday I hit the gym again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it felt soooooooo good! I went today too. My full regular workout routine! It is awesome.

So I gained about a kilo over the last two months, and should be able to drop that again really quickly. But other than that, all is good in the fitness area of life.

So on Saturday we are having a Birthday/Gotcha day party for Hana. We actually got Hana on the 31st of August, and since we were still out of town on her birthday last week, the 22nd, we decided to combine the two parties. It should be tons of fun! I don't think I am going to be able to make her cake this year so we are going to buy one at Costco. Maybe I'll be able to make a cake next year again! I gotta remember to buy a new cake pan next time I am in the States.

Then lets see, what else is going on. So we are going to GUAM in a couple of weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not wait. I made the hotel reservations earlier this week. We are staying in a cheap smaller hotel the first night cause we are arriving at 2 a.m. in the morning and it isn't worth it to pay for that first night in the resort place we want to stay in. But the next morning we are going to get up and go shopping and kill time until 3pm when we can check into our resort. PIC Guam. It is sooooooooo awesome. We are staying for 4 nights, and this place is huge, right on the beach, with a waterpark ALSO. There are more than 20 activities to choose from, all included in the stay. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. I can not wait. It has been 4 years since we took a REAL and LONG vacation! It is gonna be so much fun. Rocky's mom is going along too, so we can sneak away one evening and go on a date she says! YIPPEEEE!!!!!!

so other than that, life is truely back to normal. I am so glad. We need a few weeks of this before the fall concert schedule begins. whooooo, I don't want to think about that right now.

I guess that is all for now.

My Daddy...

11 years ago yesterday we lost my Dad to Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). I can not believe it has been that long. It just dawned on me yesterday on the long drive home from our ministry trip, that yesterday was the anniversary of his passing. I would have written this blog last night, but was too tired to write all my thoughts down then. I thought about him a lot as I was driving my half of the ten hour drive yesterday and most everyone else in the car was sleeping. It brought many smiles to my face as I re-lived so many memories of my precious precious Daddy.

Daddy was a pretty unique guy. The thing I remember most about him is that everyone he knew loved him, and he really made people laugh a lot. At home, he was quieter and more reserved most of the time, but was prone to do something silly now and then or say something hillarious that would leave us all in stitches of laughter. I remember spending hours upon hours sitting on the front porch swing with him most evenings, watching the sun set, or watching a thunderstorm go by. He loved to sit outside in the evenings, and I loved to join him out there.

Daddy had all kinds of funny sayings. Like almost every evening before bed he would come find me and say, "You're gonna look around here in about 37 seconds, and I'll be gone!" I have no idea why, but it was always 37 seconds! That was his way of saying good-night and I love you! ;) When he would tell me that something was about to happen and I wouldn't believe him he'd say, " You just hide and watch!" That little saying threw me for a loop when I was little, I remember always pondering that or even telling him outloud, "but Daddy if I am hiding, how can I watch?" and he'd just laugh. I'll never forget when I finally figured out that it was a joke! He'd also tell me, when he was about to do something that was unique or creative, "I learned this in the Army." I remember always thinking to myself (again, before I figured out it was just a saying of his) that Daddy was in the Air Force and not the Army, so how could he have learned it in the Army? :) He had all kinds of sayings and other little quirks that I will never forget.

I remember he used to call me by two special nick names. One was Marlarilla and the other was Marla Kay Kaddidlehopper Jones Rudd (of course Marla Kay and Rudd were my real name, the other two "middle names" must have just come out of no where somewhere along the way. I now call Hana, Hana Grace Kaddidlehopper Jones Ayatsuka sometimes. She usually cocks her head and looks at me in confusion... ;) Someday I'll tell her about how my Daddy gave me those extra middle names too!

He was so precious to me. He had a beautiful tenor voice, although I only heard it about two or three times when I caught him singing loud enough at church and I happened to be sitting beside him. I will never know why he wouldn't sing loud enough for others to hear, but for some reason he wouldn't. He also had a tender heart, that he didn't let show very often. He had a lot of compassion for people. I think he helped people in more ways than I'll ever know, when they really needed someone. His love languages were acts of service and gift giving. He did both of those well.

When I was 12 years old I told Mom and Dad I wanted a diamond ring for Christmas. My Daddy went out and specially picked out a heart shapped ring with a small diamond in it for me. At the time, we really couldn't afford it, and I didn't know that I was asking for something expensive. But Daddy rarely denied me anything I asked for. He spoiled me rotten, and I knew it was his way of saying he loved me! This is just one of the MILLIONS of times he went over and beyond to get me whatever I asked for!

He is missed by so many! I miss him so much too. I wonder what he would have thought of me becoming a missionary, moving all the way to Japan, then marrying Rocky? I wonder what it would be like to see him with Hana, and how sweet he would have been with her. Another little girl to love. Mom says he wanted a little girl so bad when they were having me. They didn't even think about boy names. He was so excited when I was a girl, and he used to come in from working on the tractor all day and just lay me in his lap and watch me for hours, Mom told me. He would have loved his little grand-daughter and spoiled her rotten too!

Daddy's are so precious to their little girls, and mine was so special to me. I wish he hadn't gone so soon, but I was so blessed to have him even for just 22 years, some are not so blessed. Even still, I will always miss him. It is bitter sweet now to celebrate the joy of my sweet daughter's birthday each year, just one day before remembering the loss of my Daddy.

And yet, I realize, if he had not died, I would not have gone through the changes I did in my walk with the Lord that led me to become a missionary which brings me to the life I have now. God works through even the most difficult and painful events in our life, to bring good to those who love Him. The scripture promises that, and He was true to that promise in my life.

But I still miss my Daddy...