Homeschooling...

Can I just say there is WAY too much information out there on homeschooling. One word sums it up totally... OVERWHELMING!!!!!!!!!

I could research for a decade and never exhaust all the resources out there. And one could spend a FORTUNE on anything and everything that you can imagine.

So I was pleased yesterday when a friend recommended that I listen to a podcast about developing your own philosophy on education. I loved the speakers four main points...
1. Sit at Jesus' feet and hear what it is that he wants for you and your children!
2. Get His way for you and your children.
3. Get to know your child (style of learning)
4. Get to know yourself (style of teaching, goals, philosophy)

It is going to be quite interesting to see where this road takes us. I feel so scatter-brained and unorganized at the moment. I'm sure I've probably already begun, but I feel like I don't know where to begin. Does that make sense??? LOL

Here goes nothing! (and yet it is everything really)

New computer...

Yipppeee! We decided to use part of our tax return to get me a little netbook computer. These are really inexpensive right now and it is really all I need to do the things I need to do most of the time. Since out notebook crashed last year Rocky and I have been sharing a computer which was/is doable but just means that I get a lot less done. My lack of blogging shows it I think.

Anyways all is well here. Kai is just growing so quickly and developing so much faster than Hana did it seems. He had to have a haircut this week which just amazed me. I've never heard of a 5 month old needing a hair cut. But he was Mr. Shaggy, so we had it cut and he looks so handsome it just melts Mommy's heart!



Hana is growing and changing as well. She is constantly surprising me with her vocabulary and sweet little spirit. I am currently overwhelmed with options on what to do with Kindergarten homeschool this fall. I need to make some decisions soon and I have still a lot to research. But I am looking forward to teaching her on a more structured basis. She is already going through some preschool workbooks with me when we have time to sit down and do some pages. and we are reading through some early reader books I've ordered. she is slowly picking up on sounding out words as we do this. It's so fun to watch them learn, it is addictive!

Our schedule took on a more normal crazy pace in the last few weeks and I have been feeling less frazzled. Maybe it is because Kai is getting older too, but for some reason I feel like myself again. I was able to work out a few nights last week but then lost the motivation and time to do it again this week. But anything is better than nothing!

I am loving teaching English classes at our church. I always said I would NOT be an English teacher, but here I am with a pretty full schedule of English teaching and I am enjoying. When I first came to Japan, I had a couple English classes and I did not enjoy it very much. More than anything the great way to connect with and get to know new people who might become interested in the Bible and God is really motivating!

I hope to be more frequent at blogging now as I need to be better about documenting our kiddos lives. So here's hoping my new little computer whom I have nicknamed Whitey "together"! If only Whitey could also clean and do laundry I'd have it made!

Sorry I have been missing in action!

Kai is home! Ummm has been since last Wednesday. Sorry for the lack of communication. When I am home so many other things take over my time!

Kai is all well, and we go back in the morning for a follow up visit. But I do need to let you all know about some developments with his health...

God had a big purpose for it. The first day that Kai was there, they ran a routine urine test and it came back high with white blood cell count, but his blood test did not show elevated levels for fighting infection so they assumed he didn't have a bladder infection and something else must be the source. They ordered an ultrasound on his abdomen and it showed that one kidney was retaining fluid which it is not supposed to do. So they ordered another test which is a series of xrays with contrast dye in his urine. That test showed that the left kidney was very swollen with urine, and the urine was blocked in the ureter (the tube which leads from the kidney to the bladder). So they ran a third test which was a CT scan of his kidney to get data on if the kidney was still functioning and if the ureter was totally blocked or just obstructed. The last test showed that he has a condition known as Hydronephrosis. He was born with an obstruction in the ureter. The obstruction is only partial so the kidney is still functioning and he is totally fine. He is not in any pain, and none of those tests were painful either. In fact he charmed the nurses and technicians at every test and is the talk of the hospital because he is such an easy going baby!

The RSV was a blessing! If it hadn't been caught at this stage we wouldn't have known he had an issue with his kidney until the kidney was completely ruined and he became very sick because of it!!! Praise God for that!

We will watch his growth and development from here. More than likely he will need a small proceedure after he gets over 10 kilo to open up the ureter and that is it.

God has big plans for all of this. Because of his hospitalization, I was able to share our faith and our family with many other mothers whose children were hospitalized and with LOTS of nurses at the same time. We also have three doctors who will likely be joining our English/Bible classes!!! What an opportunity to reach totally unchurched people! It has been amazing.

Kai is in no pain and no physical danger from the condition right now. His kidney just drains slowly and we have to watch for infection but I know it isn't going to be a problem!

Kai also had test for a very slight heart murmur they were hearing, which turns out to be no problem either. It is simply because one artery is a little narrow and this is common in babies and usually corrects itself as they grow! But he will be checked for that in about 6 months as well.

When I think about all that God has done in this baby's little life! We don't know the conditions of his conception or the environment he was in while he was growing in the womb, but God saved his life and brought him to us! We are thanking Him for Kai's life and how he is going to use it for His glory!

Hospital Day 4

Kai is MUCH better today! That is his birthday present to Mommy! He is still wheezing but his cough is sounding better and he was his smiley happy self today! Keep praying he will get back to eating normally. blessings everyone and goodnight (^O^)/

Random stuff...

cause Kai is sleeping and I'm bored! There r a couple interesting Engrish signs around the hospital。 The fire escape route is titled "refuge guide" and the hospital rules or signs requesting you comply with certain guidlines is titled "wishing"! just random stuff that catches my eye. OH and on street corner near the store I go get food and stuff at is a place called "Re-BBone、 family relaxation salon" I am not sure if it is a spa、 message or chiropractor!? Whatever it is the name does NOT make me think of relaxation! Especially with the studder on the B... What about you?

Kai in hospital again...

Just FYI、 Kai has a bad respiratory virus and was hospitalized again。 He is slowly improving but we are expected to be here at least a week。 We appreciate your prayers!I am set up to send posts here to blogger by email from my phone so if u are able to view Kai's private blog I will put detailed updates there。 And I'll try to post short updates here when I can!

My Sugarpie...

Nine years ago today I married the man of my dreams. It's amazing that it has been 9 years. It feels like it was just a few weeks ago! Time really flies when you are having fun!!!

Tonight we went out to dinner, and left the kiddos at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We didn't watch the clock, we ordered WHATEVER we wanted off the menu and we just enjoyed several hours of sitting and talking about anything and everything. He's still my best friend. He still amazes me with his love for Jesus and his wisdom and patience. He's still one of the funniest people I have ever met! I still can't believe I get to be the one who gets to be married to him!

We told Hana that today is our 9 year wedding anniversary and she didn't really understand. She kept asking this morning before going to preschool if we were getting married today! Then when I picked her up from school she asked if I am married to Daddy now. I explained over and over again that we are already married and today is just remembering and celebrating it kind of like a birthday. So when we picked her up from Baba and Jiji's house she asked if someone sang Happy Birthday to us while we were gone! LOL! Do you know how hard it is to explain that you were married on this day 9 years ago to a four year old. I would say, "We are already married, we got married on this day 9 years ago." And Hana would reply, "So you get married today, now?" The "years ago" part doesn't make sense to her. So in her mind, we left her at Baba and Jiji's house to go get married! Ha! I guess you could say we eloped today!!!

I finish today praying for all the other marriages out there that aren't happy like ours. So many marriages around us struggling and even breaking up. In the midst of my overwhelming joy today, there is a ting of sadness and my heart is crying out to God! I want everyone to know what it can be like to have this kind of love, trust, friendship, passion, partnership and fun in a marriage!

Sugarpie, in the midst of our crazy life right now I don't get to tell you very often but you are an amazing husband. I am so thankful for you! I love you!!!

The Mommy of two...

I have soooooooooooo much respect for Mommy's of more than one child. I don't know how they get it all done. I have a friend who has four girls, each of them like less than 2 years apart, and she amazes me. She sent me a gift with a homemade card in it. I have only two and I'd be hard pressed to find time to pick out a gift for someone, much less package and address it AND make the card for it. How do they do it?!

Our newest little miracle turns 2 months old in just a few days. I'm sure that is one of the reasons I can't seem to get much done. But oh what fun it is to be the Mommy of a newborn. I LOVE it! He's a good baby too. Started sleeping through the night this week. From about 9 or so, to about 6 am. Hooray! Now if I could just get my toosh in bed earlier, I could enjoy all those hours of sleep too. Gotta work on that. I married a night owl, and it's somehow contageous or something.

I finally cleaned a little bit this week too! It's been all I can do for the past 7 weeks to keep the kitchen clean and laundry done (and that is with Rocky washing and/or putting away the dishes FOR me most of the time). But I keep telling myself that this stage passes soooooooooooooooo quickly, the house can wait and it WILL wait! Have I mentioned how much I love taking care of newborns!?

So that means also the fitness area is totally non-existent for the moment. YEP, I haven't worked out in like exactly two months! I did a Billy's Taebo video like the second night Tiffany was here in early January and that was it! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I WANT to work out so bed. I look at my gym shoes on the shelf with longing everyday. My big plan is once littlest muchkin makes this sleeping through the night thing REALLY consistent, then I'm gonna try to get up in the morning and do something. TRY being the operative word there. I am so physically tired by the end of the day. But DO NOT want to get out of bed each morning, so it is going to be a challenge. We'll see what I can do. And I REALLY want to cleanse again, but that won't be happening while I am nursing so oh well. But the good news is, NO weight gain. This nursing thing ROCKS! I can eat and eat and eat and don't gain at all. But I am also quite aware that this might catch up to me, so I have got to get with it again with some excercise! Besides I miss it so much. It was my ME time, and I need it! So I am praying I can find the dicsipline to get going again before he turns 2.

Well I am really procrastinating right now, which is something I have to cut out if I'm gonna get discplined again so I'm signing off. Gotta go sterilize tubes and make milk and fill bags so I can keep up this nursing thing!

Conversation with Hana about Jesus...

This morning on the way to preschool Hana and I had a pretty deep conversation about Jesus, well I guess deep for a 4 year old anyways. Lately she always wants to read the story of his death on the cross and resurrection in her children's Bible. She talks about it often. But for some reason she is a little confused and thinks Mommy is also going to die on the cross someday. I have told her many times that I don't have to do that cause Jesus did it for me. Anyways, today's talk went something like this.

Hana: Mommy, Jesus was on the middle one!
Mommy: Yes he was, he was hung on the cross between two thieves. Do you know what a thief is?
Hana: Yes, that friend of Jesus.
Mommy: No, Jesus friends were his disciples. The two men on each side of him were people who had done something bad. The took something that wasn't theirs, they stole something. They were being punished for doing something bad.
Hana: Jesus wasn't bad, right Momma.
Mommy: No, Jesus did nothing wrong but he had to die on the cross anyways.
Hana: Mommy gonna go on the middle one.
Mommy: No, remember Mommy doesn't have to do that cause Jesus already did it for me.
Hana: Then Jesus came back right. Mommy come back too?
Mommy: Well first of all I'm not going to die on the cross, but when I do die I can't come back. Jesus is the only one whose ever come back after dying.
Hana: Yea, that's cause he is God!

I am amazed at her comprehension of some parts of this. Although, I don't think she fully understands what dying is yet. Once we trapped a mouse and we've seen some dead bugs and that is how she knows the word, but I don't think she gets how final it is. But I was so impressed to hear her say that Jesus came back because he was God! She is absorbing some things from our Bible reading.

So fun to watch her understanding grow and her comprehension develop!

The Question...

I really should be sterilizing things and making milk and then getting to bed. But I have to record this evenings exchange with Hana for my own remembering. I finally got the question I've been waiting for tonight.

Kai's coming has really triggered Hana's questions about her adoption, how she came to us, etc. Sometimes when I go upstairs to put Kai in bed after his last feeding, she is still awake and calls on me when I walk down the hall. I go in and crawl in her futon with her and cuddle and talk for a minute. She almost always wants to hear her adoption story. So I tell her all about how anxiously Mommy and Daddy waited for her, about the night we got the phone call and about the day she came home! She loves it. Tonight however, she started the conversation with a different question...

"Mommy, was inside your tummy?"

Wow. I've been waiting for this one. Thinking of how I will answer it for a while. Wondering how it's going to make me feel to hear the question and what her reaction to the answer will be like and how that will make me feel.

I just simply told her that no, Mommy's tummy is broken and can't have a baby inside so she was inside another woman's tummy. So she asked who that lady was. I told her I didn't know her, I'd never met her but that Tsujioka-sensei knows her (that is the director of our adoption agency and the man that brought both Hana and Kai to us, Hana knows him well). At that point I was expecting a string of questions, but she just kinda shrugged her shoulders and asked for the rest of the story.

Hmmmm, that was easy, almost too easy. I expected more. Somehow I'd worked it up in my head that it was going to be a big deal for her to realize that her adoption means that Mommy didn't carry her in my tummy. But to her, I guess so far, it's just the way it is and it's no big deal.

Her reaction being what it was makes facing that question for the first time so much easier on me. But at the same time, she is so much a part of me, so incredibly speacial to me, sooooooooooooooo much my precious daughter, even I can't believe that I really didn't give birth to her myself... I guess I just wish I could have carried her in my tummy. I missed 9 months and 9 days of her precious life (she came to us at 9 days old).

Don't even know really what I'm wanting to or trying to say here. It was just a big thing for me that she finally made that connection tonight and I'm wondering how much more will come in the future. But I'm thankful for the openess that we have established in being able to talk about it and her freely asking questions. Praying that continues!

Kaikai's blog...

We have set Kaikai's blog to private until after his adoption is finalized. If you want to keep up with him, please just drop me an email and let me know you'd like to be added to the list of readers allowed on his blog. email marla at aromaministries dot org letting me know that you want access and I'll add you and send you an invitation!

We are just doing this for privacy and protection until the adoption proceedure is completed! We don't want you to miss out on Kai's growth, so don't hesitate to ask for an invite!

Blessings!

The ant hill effect...

Rocky and I tend to have what we call "the ant hill effect" often in Japan. It just seems like in so many ways our situation always presents a challenge to officials at government offices, medical facilites and so forth. We walk in, ask a question, and the ant hill comes a live. One employee doesn't know what to do, and he goes to conference with another person and the next thing you know the whole place is gathered around with proceedure manuals, making phone calls, etc trying to figure out what to do with us.

Sometimes we go for a while without having this effect on things, but Kai's arrivals has revived the ant hill effect in full force. Our ward office obviously hasn't had ANY experience with an adoptive placement and they can figure us out! We've been to the ward office three times and each time we've created the ant hill effect. It is actually pretty entertaining to watch!

Maybe one of these days I'll take a hidden camera and catch the ant hill effect for you live!

All about Kai...

What a whirlwind! But a whirlwind of blessing for sure. Amazing! There is just no way to describe what it has been like. I don't even know where to start.

I had really begun to talk myself out of wanting another one. After all these years of infertility, I have learned (to some extent) to pray for the best but not WANT for anything. Becausing wanting brings with it it's friend discontentment and that leads to heartache and grief, which I've had enough of already! So I was putting aside thoughts of another as much as possible, even though we'd told the agency we were ready for another two years ago.

So imagine our shock and suprise when we got the call. It's really a miracle. I can't even begin to describe how in awe I am of God's grace and mercy. The timing, perfect! The baby, perfect! Everything, perfect! Just like Him, to do this in this way. And He knows how much I love suprises!!!

That morning we were doing our thing around the house and Rocky's cell phone rang. I thought nothing of it, until I noticed the person on the other end was asking our ages. It was then that I began to wonder... "maybe it is a church asking about us coming and wanting to know more about our family? maybe it is another tv show wanting to interview us? maybe..." And then suddenly my heart began to pound and I just KNEW it had to be the adoption agency. Nothing about Rocky's conversation that I could hear on this end mentioned a baby or gave any clue as to who it was, but I just KNEW! And I just started to cry.

I was even more shocked to find out it was a boy. For some reason we just thought we'd have all girls. Picking the names was so hard, and we have still yet to choose a middle name. Someday we'll get around to figuring that out.

He's a wonderful baby. Sleeps well at night, wakes up only to eat and goes right back down again. Eats everything 3 hours almost like clock work! We've seen very little crying. And he is soooooooooo patient. It's amazing. Once he knows you are getting ready to feed him or change his diaper he stops crying and waits! I'm so in love!

So, now we are extra busy and I have no idea how much my blog will suffer as a result of it. But I'll try to keep with Hana's and Kai's blogs very everyone to watch them grow!

Love and blessings from the new mommy of TWO!

Pictures of Kai...

www.kaikais-place.blogspot.com

Check him out!

It's a boy!!!!!

We are getting a baby boy. We waited two years, almost to the day. We got the call yesterday, he comes tomorrow. Can you say, "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He's newborn, and his name is Kai which means ocean in Japanese. I have so much to do that I can't even think so I am not going to write a lot tonight. Pictures soon... I promise!

Wow, this is just unbelievable.

Politics...

I wasn't going to get into the political arena on my blog but I read an article today and just have to share it.

http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2008/11/5_Is_it_Over.html

amen, Amen and AMEN! I'm sorry but that lets the cat out of the bag on my political oppinion. And when you finish reading that article go click on the "bio" of the author, it just might suprise you who he is!

Just want to end with Praise God that HE is still on the throne in my heart and that matters more than who is the leader of my country. I will support and pray for our new president and know that God will do what He always does best, work miracles! And that's as far as I go with my political oppinion on my blog...

November, ALREADY!?

Where does the time go!? I am in shock that it is November already. I've been pulling out the long sleeves this week! That little spot on my thumbs that always gets dry in the winter, it appeared this week, and I have been covering up at night and wanting to cuddle with my little bed buddy! Fall/Winter is my FAVORITE time of the year! My favorite things about this time of year (in no particular order)...

1. My XXL sweatshirt! Love it!
2. My pink fuzzy slippers!
3. Warm foods (soups and nabe)
4. Lots of HOT tea!
5. Oatmeal for breakfast!
6. The warmth of the sun!
7. Cuddling with my sugarpie at night!
8. Less laundry (less sweat)!
9. Walking out into the cool evening air after a hard workout at the gym.
10. Japanese spa baths, especially where there is a really hot outdoor bath!
11. Getting back out clothes that I haven't seen in a while!

and I could go on and on!

Well, I must admit, I am so nervous about election week. I want to know what happens, and then I don't! ahhhhhhhhhh

I have a football crazed cousin in the house tonight. Her team (texas tech) played t.u. in the states and she's waiting for iTunes to upload the game so we can watch it. She's staying off the internet in the meantime so she doesn't know who won. I on the other hand, saw a friends status on Facebook a moment ago that gave away the results of that game. So watching the game won't be that fun for me. Not that it was gonna be cause it's the two school I dislike the most, playing against each other. But I haven't seen a football game in a couple years I guess, so it'll be fun to watch.

Let's see, what else is up...

My husband has taken a likin' to the Wii Fit! He's in there sweatin' away as I type! I am soooooooooooooooooo glad we finally got something he enjoys doing. We had a stepper, he did it every now and then. We have a simple elliptical trainer now... he's used it maybe 3 times? And he won't join the gym, don't know how we'd possibly both workout when Hana needs someone at home with her anyways, but still. I'm just so glad he is excercising!

I am now enjoying the wonders of making my own whole grain breads! It is so fun. I have one particular VERY yummy recipe that we keep using over and over again! I love it, and I may wear out my 8 year old bread machine any day now! Wouldn't that be neat cause I'm really wanting a new one!

Oh my goodness Christmas is right around the corner and I am so excited about one present we got for Hana. She loves to pretend to be your server at a restaurant and take orders. We were at a restaurant the other day and they had a little toy display at the checkout counter and she found this little toy that is like a computer-ize order taking machine. Do they have those in the states? Here in Japan they have this machine that has all the menu items on it, and they punch in your order on their little machine and it goes back to the kitchen automatically. She saw that toy one and wanted it sooooooooooo bad! I wanted it for her, but we said no. We never buy toys for her on the spot. I couldn't make it back to that restaraunt to buy the toy without her for several weeks but the other night we stopped in and they still had them. I got her one! I can't wait for her to open it at Christmas! We never get her plastic electronic toys, but this one is special. It just fits her so well. Now we have to come up with one or two more little things for her! I can't come up with anything that is going to be as neat as that little order taker thingy!

So, we will have our Thanksgiving on Monday the 24th here, it's a Japanese holiday anyways, so all us foreigners get together on that day for Thanksgiving. And we want to have a turkey but we are without our resident turkey expert this year. So myself or one other missionary (who has also never baked one) has to make the turkey... hmmmmmmmmm, this could be interesting! To be continued...

Well, I better go, just thought I would ramble on for a while! Rocky is almost done punching a virtual bag on the Wii, and I could do a couple more things before getting ready for bed I guess!

Blogging slump...

Ever been there!? It's been tough to get on here and do an update.

It's like one things leads to another and before you know it, it's just more than you even want to think about.

A couple months ago my laptop computer started to give us trouble. We thought we fixed it, but issues kept creeping up again and again. So much so that at times I didn't even want to turn my computer on not knowing when it might choose to make my day a living nightmare! So frustrating. Never had this kind of trouble before with a computer. Every man made machine has it's flaws, I know. I don't really need a seperate computer from Rocky all the time anyways, so it works out well. To eliminate more time consuming stress, we are just going to share a computer again. We did until about two years ago and it was always fine. So that problem is solved.

But in the meantime, I got so far behind on blogging, it just seemed like too much to try to catch up. At this point it is beyond hope of REALLY catching up, so I am just going to start over again.

Not a whole lot on the personal front to report. We won a Wii and Wii Fit a couple weeks ago. LOVE that little machine and could easily get addicted. Wii Fit is so fun! But at the same time my cousin is here to stay for a while and we joined the gym for the duration of her stay! I am enjoying being back in the gym again. It's just a much more intense workout on their machines, and I love lifting weights. Wish I had my own home gym! A woman can dream can't see.

So anyways, I am going to go get down to the REAL business which is updating Hana's blog! Lots to share there... so don't forget to check it out!

One more day...

Okay, so I am sooooooooooooooo spoiled! I have been married to my best friend and the love of my life for 8.5 years now, and we have only been apart for the 5 days that Hana was in the hospital with a fever at 4 months of age. Other than that, never been apart more than the daylight hours. It's the nature of what we do I guess. When we first married we knew the day would come in our ministry where Rocky might have to go without me, so we decided for as long as we could, if at all humanly possible, we would spend every night together in the same place as a family. It was just something we felt was important, setting an example for a culture where the husband and wife relationship is usually the least important of all relationships. We wanted it to be a testimony.

And now I am soooooooooooo spoiled! Rocky had to have a little bit of minor surgery (which there is no such thing as anything minor with the medical system in Japan). Minor surgery here will land you in the the hospital for a week or more. Rocky's in particular, 10 days AT LEAST! ugh. In America, it would be totally outpatient, you'd be home within the hour. NOT here, but I won't get on my soap box about that one. Tomorrow is day 9 and I am about to go out of my mind! Of course I can see him in the day, but at night I have to come home to this big ol' house and that big ol' bed all by myself (of course my precious little girl is here, but she goes to bed early and I'm lonely once she's down for the night). Not to mention it is sooooooooooooooooo boring. I was looking forward to the downtime after our crazy busy summer of ministry, but I haven't been able to sleep well with him gone. I'm spending all kinds of time on Facebook searching for every person I've ever known whose name I can remember! LOL!!! And I've done a few sewing projects in the past week, which I was looking forward to getting to do some crafts, for my own sanity, something of a hobby as a bit of a break from the craziness.

Just one more day and he'll be home. Ha, I know I know, so spoiled! But I'm just still so in love with that hubby of mine and I miss him terribly.

So can I just say the American media drives me absolutely bonkers. Just a few words to sum it all up -- double-standards, hypocritical, one sided, non-sense! Sorry but just gotta get that out there. Take every statement that has been said about Sarah Palin and say that about Hillary Clinton and the backlash would be unbearable. Take all those statements and say them about ANY man in office and people would look at you like you are complete idiot. Total hypocricy if I've ever seen it. Maybe now people will realize that they aren't really getting the "news" when they watch the "news". What they are getting is... brain-washed.

I'm totally stoked! My cousin is coming to stay with us for a couple months. Can NOT wait! House decorating buddy! Work-out buddy! Shopping-buddy! Ministry-buddy! Absolutely ADORE my cousin! She's more like my baby sister. I can not wait to have her here. Hana's gonna drive her nuts! ;)

Speaking of Hana. What's with the independent streak they hit when they turn 4. NO BODY ever told me about this one. They warn you ALL about the twos! The twos were a breeze, I kept wondering when the terrible part happens. The threes??? A tad bit more challenging but still a blast. But something happened a couple weeks before this kiddos 4th birthday. She became Miss Independent. It ought to come with a crown and a sash, I wasn't there when she won the title, I don't know when it happened, but it must have, cause she is definitely Miss Independent. She wants to butt heads about EVERYTHING. I thought I was going to go out of my mind until her grandmother made a very clever observation today. She said that Hana's reasoning skills sure have developed. That's when it hit me. This is part of her development and mentally she is reasoning through now why she is told to do things, why she has to do things she's always had to do, etc. When I saw from that perspective it was a revelation. I have to start parenting from a whole new perspective now. She is thinking through the why's and how's all of the sudden, so I have to be prepared with reasons and help her understand. This in no way changes the fact that what Mommy and Daddy says is the way it is gonna be, but she is a human being a deserves to know why. The question is, do I have the patience to add this new dimension to my parenting. OH boy, this is where it starts getting fun! I'm learning already that explaining it once is not enough. Usually I have to explain it again and again and again and again until she gets it. This is where the patience plays a big role. Not my best virtue, just ask my hubby. Someone once said that parenting is not only about the parenting training the child, but the child training the parent. Getting schooled right now, that's for sure!

That cafe ministry I inherited at church!? Totally a blast! Lovin it! I'm a business woman at heart, I truly am. Got that from my Momma! What a blast!

Okay so I think that's an update that got me closer to bedtime. ugh, now I'm lonely again! ONe more day...

The call that changed our lives forever...

I wrote this earlier but somehow it just got saved instead of published, so it is just going up today...

4 years ago today we got a phone call.

I will never forget this day. The days leading up to AND on this day I was especially unsettled and wanted our baby BAD. I was searching the internet frantically, making phone calls to try and find new avenues of adopting in Japan, trying to get Rocky to do the same, and grieving because several friends had new babies and my arms felt soooooooooo empty! I had no idea what a suprise God had in store for us.

Rocky had to go out for dinner with a pastor that evening. I was at home alone trying to pass the time, when the phone rang. A man on the other end of the line asked for Rocky and I said he wasn't home. Then the caller just said, "Please have him call Mr. Tsujioka when he gets home, right away." and he ended the call. I grabbed a note pad and began to write "Call Tsujioka" when I realized that name seemed very familiar. My heart lept and I jumped as I began to realize that this was the director of Pro-Life Japan, whom we had applied to adopt through. I called Rocky's cell phone and told him to GET HOME, NOW!!!!!!!!!

He was only 10 minutes away by car. Those were the longest ten minutes of my life. When the pastor he was meeting with drove up outside, I couldn't stand to wait in the house for him to come in. I was out the door and on the street practically pulling him out of the car. The pastor wanted to exchange pleasantries and chat but I was having none of it. I dragged Rocky away and into the house and wouldn't even let him set down his things.

I sat as close as I could trying to hear what Tsujioka-sensei had to say on the line, but I couldn't hear anything. Rocky had a note pad in front of him, and he wrote the Japanese character for "girl" on the note pad. He wrote a weight and some measurements and that is when I knew! We had a baby girl. A precious little 5 day old baby girl! They talked for several more minutes and he hung up the phone and said, "Her name is gonna be Hana!" I cried and he laughed and we both just sat in awe!

We had to wait four more days to have her laid in our arms. Those were the longest four days of my life. But oh, what a special day this was! And time has flown by so quickly! We are so blessed!

I was so restless in those days and I think that somehow my heart already knew that she was out there, and she needed her Mommy! I am so blessed and still can't believe God chose ME to be her Mommy! Thank you Lord, with all my heart!