A Bad Week

So this week was supposed to be great. We were supposed to catch a hop back to Seattle on Thursday and then fly to St. Louis on Friday but instead we are still at home in Okinawa. We had it all planned out and ready to go except one thing...Josiah's passport. On the way to the terminal on Monday I noticed his passport was expired! Yes, expired. How could we let that happen! I am still asking myself that question. Who knew it would expire while overseas...we just thought it was good to go until we came back to the states like the rest of our passports. Nope! So Monday and Tuesday we spent the days trying to figure out a way to get back. We heard about getting a one time stamp to enter the country on but that fell threw. We thought about trying to expedite a passport but there was no guarantee on getting it in time and then we were told about a one day passport but that is for emergencies and I don't think us wanting to vacation is an emergency in the Red Cross's eyes. So thats it. No more vacation! I've been so bummed out and I still am. I've cried and been mad. I am trying to see the good in all of this though. I know God has a plan for us and us going home wasn't in that plan. Maybe He was protecting us from something. Maybe we are needed here more than at home. Who knows and we may never know why. I still feel very blessed and am thankful for what He has done for us. I am thankful for our healthy family. Thankful for our loving and understanding family in the states who are trying to make us feel better about this whole situation. Thankful that the tickets we bought can be used later and that we are not out 1300 bucks! Thank you God! :c)
Hopefully my future posts will be happier and I will have gotten over this. Oh, and I'm thankful for my 2 boys who were so understanding of the whole situation and didn't fuss and cry about not getting on the plane!
I hope to see my family and friends in October! We sure can't wait!

Laughing Out Loud

On Saturday night Tara laughed for her first time and it was so sweet and funny and unexpected! So she is 3 1/2 months old and still had not laughed! We had heard a couple small giggles...barely even qualified as "laughing". I think both my boys had laughed by around 2 months...so we have been waiting to hear that noise come from our daughters lips for a while. Ok, so Saturday night I sat on the floor with Tara on my lap and called Chloe, our dog, over so Tara could get a better view of her. When Chloe came over she shook (the dog shook not Tara) and Tara laughed...not just a little giggle but a laugh! It was so funny and shocking! I turned and looked at Jeff and his eyes were huge with amazement! She ended up laughing at Chloe a couple more times that night. Who knew it would take our oki-mix doggy to make our serious little Tara crack up!

Mom to Mother

I got this in our church bulletin on Sunday:

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy oven and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask "Why me?" and get their answer when a little voice says, "Because I love you best."
Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grad. It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

4 Years of Age - My Mommy can do anything
8 Years of Age - My mom knows a lot! A Whole Lot!
12 Years of Age- My mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 Years of Age- Naturally, Mother doesn't know that either.
16 Years of Age- Mother? She's hopelessly old fashioned.
18 Years of Age- That old woman? She's way out of date.
25 Years of Age - Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 years of Age - Before we decide, let's go ask Mom's opinion.
45 Years of Age - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
55 Years of Age - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

I think this is so true. I remember thinking these thoughts, especially as a teen, and now I know my mom might know a bit about it! I usually call home to ask her opinion and glad I can! :c)

Pictures

I couldn't figure out how to type above the pictures I posted so I decided it would be easier to just do a new post. I love taking pictures of the kids and thought I would share some of our most recent ones. Most of these are from March, I think a few are from the end of February. I had to do 2 posts of the pictures b/c it would only let me do 4 at a time. Not sure if I can do more so if anyone knows how let me know!

Recent Pictures

Tara and Siah
Big smile!

Gaber giving Tara a puppet show

Just Some Pics

Gabriel, Tara and Josiah ~ March 2009
Tara and Daddy

At the Park

Taking a break

I've been busy all week, as I'm sure all of you have. Every day I wake up, nurse and change Tara and then make about 4 slices of peanut butter toast with syrup. Gaber likes jelly on his too, so he has pb & jelly with syrup. I don't know where he got that idea because no one else in the house eats it like that. Sometimes Josiah wants 3 slices of toast...which is more than I even eat! I'm not using the little white bread slices, I'm using the bigger, whole grain wheat bread that is very filling and he is usually still hungry! Sometimes he even wants eggs to go with it, I think our boy is growing!!! If Jeff is home from pt I make him an egg burrito, if he wants one, and then finish taking care of the boys. Next I get school going for Josiah and get the kiddos dressed. Usually by 9:30 I have time to eat myself. I don't get to have a yummy bowl of cereal any more because it seems poor Tara isn't too fond of milk. I try to drink some milk every once in a while but when I do she ends up spitting up a lot and being a lot fussier than normal so I usually have toast or a bagel, today I had strawberry poptarts with orange juice...mmm! After breakfast is done and about 3 classes of school is done its already time for lunch and Jeff is getting home too. I make lunch, nurse Tara, feed the boys and Jeff. After lunch we finish up school, I clean up the kitchen and try to clean the front room. I then send the boys outside to play or upstairs if its yucky out. Now its time for chores and preparing dinner. Jeff gets home then around 4:30, we eat supper at around 5:30 and then Jeff usually cleans up supper for me...thanks honey! :c) Then we may watch a little tv together or go outside with the boys and then whatever else needs done. Last, bedtime...YaY!!! Jeff gets the boys down and I take care of Tara. Thank God she goes to bed at around 8:30 now! Now its our time, no kids...just relax! :c) Today I've decided to take a break this afternoon to try to come up with something to blog about. I thought it would be a good idea to talk about how my days go since in about 6 months it could be very different and I may like to know what I did back in March when I had a 6 year old, 4 year old and 3 month old. I was thinking how much our lives will change this year. Josiah is turning 7 in 10 days, we will move to the states, Gaber will be 5 and our baby girl will turn 1! We will go from having all our kids at home to 2 of them in school, maybe if it all works out, and having our baby girl grow up and walking every where, all in about 9 months!!! I'm so excited about all the changes that are coming but want to take a time out and enjoy what I have now! I love my family and I love where we live, I love our church and our friends here. I love the weather here and I love experiencing Japan! Well, thats it for now. I guess I should end my afternoon break and get some more cleaning done before Tara wakes up from her nap!

Tara: Not sure about you or this place!

So last night we had our game night with friends from church. We try to do this every 2nd Friday but since we all have very busy lives it usually only happens once a month. Anyways, when we got there Tara was just fine. I got her out of her car seat and took her upstairs to nurse. Well, she was obviously very aware of her new surroundings and didn't want to nurse for all the new things to look at! So I gave up and took her back downstairs thinking all was well. I handed her off to daddy, who laid her on the couch beside him, and I went to the kitchen to get my food. The next thing I know, she is wailing, a cry I had only heard once before. I know this cry though...this is her, I don't know you and I don't feel comfortable in my surroundings cry! So I try sitting down and eating while Jeff deals with her, thinking she will be ok but her cry got louder and louder! I finish up my food and go pick her up but not even that works! She was so worked up and sounded so sad! Well, I did finally get her to calm down after about 5 minutes. She spent the rest of the night in Jeff and my arms. I really think she was overwhelmed by the amount of people and people who she didn't recognize, the noise level and just a place that wasn't home. So this is my concern...this is the one thing she will get from her mommy! My mom told me that when I was a baby and little girl I was very shy! When others would come near me I would cry and hide from them, usually behind my mommy or between her legs! I so hoped that all my kids would be like Jeff, outgoing. I guess we'll see what is to come with our little girl, maybe our trip to MO will do her good b/c she will be around many new faces and surroundings. I can't believe at 3 months old she is already showing this side of her! I didn't think this would start until at least 5 months old! But it is kind of neat to see how much she's grown in the last 3 months. She went from a newborn that didn't know who mommy or daddy was to a baby who obviously recognizes us and people who are not us!

Missouri Bound!

This morning I finally bought our plane tickets to fly from Seattle to St. Louis to visit our family in Fulton! We are so excited about seeing our parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and friends! It has been 2 1/2 years since the boys and Crystal left the states and we are so happy to get off for a while! Jeff got off the island our first summer here for a deployment, although not a vacation but he still got off for 3 months. We plan on staying in Missouri for about a month, I wish we could stay longer but if we did I may not want to come back home to Okinawa. I can't wait for our boys to see all their cousins and for everyone to meet our newest little addition, Tara. She will be almost 4 months old when we arrive in Fulton. I know our vacation will go too fast, like all vacations do, but it's ok since we will PCS from Okinawa in October. No, we don't know where we are headed yet, but we are praying for somewhere near MO, like Scott AFB or Whiteman AFB.

Me in my kid's eyes

ME in my kid's eyes (Josiah and Gaber)

So here's the deal. Ask your kids these questions and see what answers you come up with.
It's a very enlightening experience.

1. What is something I always say to you?
good morning (josiah), good night (gaber)

2. What makes me happy?
when I obey (josiah), play outside and eat our food(gaber)

3. What makes me sad?
when I disobey (josiah), when I do bad stuff (gaber)

4. How do I make you laugh?
when I do funny stuff (josiah), when i do funny stuff (gaber)

5. What do you think I was like as a child?
she was a little girl and happy (josiah),

6. How old am I?
27 (josiah), 26 (gaber)

7. How tall am I?
3 yards (josiah), 20 feet (gaber)

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
play with her children (josiah), share (gaber)

9. What do I do when you're not around?
look for us (josiah), look for us (gaber)

10. If I become famous, what will it be for?
for cooking

11. What am I really good at?
cooking (josiah), giving flowers (gaber)

12. What am I not really good at?
climbing (josiah), driving (gaber)

13. What is my job?
clean house and play with boys (josiah), wash dishes and play puzzles (gaber)

14. What is my favorite food?
strawberries (josiah) jellybeans (gaber)

15. What makes you proud of me?
doing funky stuff (josiah), doing happy stuff (gaber)

16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
Jerry off of a Tom and Jerry (Josiah), a ninja turtle, Rapheal (gaber)

17. What do you and I do together?
watch t.v. (Josiah), play games (gaber)

18. How are we the same?
our eyes (josiah), our noses (gaber)

19. How are you and I different?
Mommy is big and I'm medium (josiah), we play with different toys (gaber)

20. How do you know that I love you?
b/c mommy is so kind (josiah), share (gaber)

21. Where is my favorite place to go?
taco bell (josiah), shoppette (gaber)

Just Beginning

So I'm new at this and trying to figure it all out. I figured this would be a good way to document our life with each other and our 3 little kids. I'll type more later, need to see what all there is to do in here!