Time in the U.S. and Spring is Coming

It's technically still winter so this update isn't all that over due : )  The 6 weeks Yoko and Maika had in Arizona with Erik's parents and sister were greatly enjoyed by all.  Maika had a great time having tea with Grandmama, being outside with Grandpapa, and learning new dance moves from Auntie Sarah.  Erik arrived in Arizona on the 23rd of December, so we were all able to be together for Christmas and New Year's.  Our last time all together for the holidays was 2007.

All of our flights were stand by as we were blessed to receive 'buddy passes' from a Delta employee.  These tickets were greatly discounted, but we had to fly stand by.  Getting to the States wasn't a problem, but our flight back to Japan has quite a story.  Erik's parents drove us to L.A. as our flight was to leave from LAX.  We checked as in normal for our 11:35 flight but were told that the flight had been oversold and we were numbers 13, 14 and 15 on the standby list.  Needless to say, that didn't give us much hope for getting on that flight, but we have a mighty God who has everything in His hands, so we took it to the Lord and ask Him to "part the Red Sea" and make a way for us to get on that flight.  After saying goodbye to Erik's folks, we went through security and made our way to the boarding gate to wait to see what might happen.  On the monitors near the gate there was information about those of us who were on standby and nothing seemed to be happening.  There were a number of last calls for boarding, and then it was announced that boarding was closed.  At around 11:20 they called our name to the boarding gate desk.  We half thought it was to tell us that we needed to reschedule our flight all the while believing that God could still make this happen.  When we got to the counter they informed us that we had to "get on the plane now".  We got the last 3 seats available and two of them were together.  There was even sufficient overhead compartment space available for our carry-on luggage.  Just another testimony to how God still is working today. Below are some pictures from our time in Arizona and some recent events.

Tea time with Orange Annie at Grandmama and Granpapa's house

Having fun in the nice Arizona sunshine.

Good times in the Arizona snow.

This Arizona snowman and Maika are fans of English soccer 

The Bentley family on Christmas Eve

This was a highly supervised event that didn't result in the fire department being called.

The Bentley family's New Year's Day tradition of spending the day at the Grand Canyon.

There's never a bad day at the Canyon.

Who dresses this kid?

Recently said by Maika: Mommy's not cute, she's pretty.  Daddy's cute and Maika is cute.

Yoko and Maika recently took a trip to a strawberry farm with some friends.  For 30 minutes they could eat as many strawberries as they wanted.  Maika was in strawberry heaven.  

Spring is on its way along with cheesy grins.

This penguin was being used to advertise some company, and Maika attached herself to it for a good 20 minutes.