February - April

If you were wondering if we dropped off the face of the earth, well we are still here. This post has a number of pictures from the past three months. In the last three months we finally saw Spring arrive, and we took a trip to Kyoto. Day to day life continues at a quick pace. Maika likes to be on the go. We fondly refer to her as "Mighty Maika" and are amazed by how powerful she is. She is not just powerful in being active but also in personality. She is definitely her own unique person that we are daily thankful that the Lord has put in our lives. Our challenge is to love her in the way our Lord and Savior loves us especially when she has her moments. Thankfully we have His example in how He loves us when we have our moments. The big difference is that we know better; Maika is still learning. We are thankful God's mercy is abundant because if He removed it from us for a moment we would not have a leg to stand on.------------------ -Spring was late in springing this year, but when it finally got around to it, it was beautiful. Yoko and Maika got out to several parks to enjoy the cherry blossoms. Erik went out one morning in an attempt to capture the amazing beauty of God's hand at work.

The end of March beginning of April found us in Kyoto. We have some good friends who live there, and they kindly opened their home to us. We had a great time visiting with them, eating good food, hiking, and seeing Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. We mentioned good food. Our friends took us to a great ramen shop. Not only was the ramen delicious, it was resonably priced, smoke free, and very kid friendly. We don't have any pcitures of our own of it, but here is a link to someone who wrote a nice review of it. It is call Takayasu.------ Taking a break during our hike to get a kiss from Mommy.

What to do after our hike?

How about playing in the creek. The water was cold, but Maika really enjoyed it.

Hiking and playing in the water finally got the best of "Mighty Maika".

A video is especially fun to watch while chewing on a table. Maika does her best to put everything that is within reach in her mouth.

In mid March we visited one of our favorite parks in our area and were pleased to see the plum trees blooming.

Don't confuse this picture with someone who is deep in thought, it really is just Maika demonstrating that bad habits don't fall far from the tree.

Fun at a small local park with Mommy.

Maika and blueberries still have regular meetings with varied results.

On the move in "exercise class". Maika is still swimming on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and going to exercise class on Tuesday and Friday.

A Few Favorites

In our last post we mentioned that Maika had been sick. She had something that affected her digestive system for about a week. During that time she didn't eat much solid food at all, but once she was over it, she had a great appetite. Some of the foods she really likes are: noodles, nato (fermented soy beans), senbei(rice crackers), and fruit. Her favorite fruit is buuwa or more commonly known as, blueberries. The below picture is right after having some blueberries before bed.
Since this post is titled a "A Few Favorites", we will share some others. Maika really likes books. A first, she was quite rough with them, but as she has grown, she has gotten to the point where she doesn't need supervision. Other than the occasional chewing on them, she does real well. Here she is looking at her Bible.Her favorite animals are dogs. She points them out in pictures and when she's out. When she sees one she says, "Row row". Here she is with a figurine that's in our house.
Posing nicely for the camera. Sleeping can be hard on the face when it's a zipper you fell asleep on.As always, thank you for your prayers. We are thankful for what the Lord has done in the past month and look forward to what is ahead.

A Look Back and a Start

2012 is off and running. Right now we are dealing with a sick little girl. Maika has been throwing up for the past two days and now is also having diarrhea. It's tough to see her sick, but we know she is in God's hands so that gives us comfort.

This post is a look back on the past couple months.

New Year's was spent with family and friends. On December 30th we were with Yoko's dad, her brother and his two girls. The 31st we were with some friends of ours. The 1st was spent at church. It was a busy but enjoyable time.

When you're cold you do whatever it takes to stay warm. Let's see, how dirty can I get and still be cute?Peek-a-boo, do you like my pink top? I got it for Christmas from my friend Karin.Christmas Day here was an enjoyable day spent at church celebrating our Savior's birth and afterwards opening presents. Maika has no problem tearing into paper.We hosted a Christmas party for some of Yoko's mommy friends. This is a picture of some of the food and decorations.Erik's school had 7 Christmas parties in total; one of them was for the preschool students and Maika was invited. Erik was Santa, but Maika didn't like him much at all.Erik's school also had a Halloween party for its preschool kids. Maika was invited to this one too and went as a ballerina angel. Erik was a strongman. Not being on top off our posting, here are some pictures from the end of summer and fall.

The Bentley Family’s Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It is a wonderful time of the year for us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and look back on all that transpired this past year.
This year was a one of a tremendous first for all of us. For the first time in our lives we experienced a major earthquake. The March 11th earthquake will leave a lasting memory and constantly serve as a reminder of how fragile life is. We still are experiencing occasional aftershocks, but we know that the Lord is in control and our lives are in His hands.
In April, Sarah, Erik’s sister left Japan to return to the U.S. It had been so nice having her near. July saw Maika celebrate her first birthday. She has been a tremendous joy to us. Raising her has taught us so much about ourselves and has given us a new perspective on how the Lord must see us. In October and November, we were privileged to have Erik’s parents visit us for a total of 11 days. Maika took to them right away, and she had a lot of quality time hanging out with her grandmama and grandpapa.
In terms of our daily lives, Erik’s work continues to go well. We are so thankful for this relaxed, flexible job. Yoko’s full time job of taking care of Maika and Erik is never short of some challenge. However, we are thankful that she is able and wants to stay home to carry out this noblest of professions. Maika is to put it simply, Maika. She loves to be held when she wants to be held. Outside of the house she as independent as one can be, but inside, she can be very needy. She enjoys music and dancing to it. She has 4 music books that she plays many times a day. She is very expressive and has a lot to say. We have been teaching her some sign language so that she can communicate with us until she starts talking. Everyday is a treasure, and we are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with Maika.
As this year comes to a close, we look back at all that took place and see how much we have to be thankful for. This year has been a joyous one as the Lord is helping us be content in whatever state we are in. Because of the March 11th earthquake, we saw even more how much we need to have a light touch on the things of this world. Everything here is so temporary. Even the families and the things we hold dear will not last. We see even more clearly that we need to be “accumulating” things that will last forever.

With love,
Erik, Yoko and Maika

They Came, They Saw, They Bonded

It's been a while since we last posted, but it hasn't been for a lack of things to share. Life is a daily test in what we will make a priority, and as a result, some things get put off and put off. The last 2 months have been filled with Maika developing more and more, and us as parents growing more and more. We so want to be godly examples for her. We want our faith to be absent of hypocrisy and something that will bring her into a very close and intimate relationship with Jesus. Please keep us and her in your prayers.
For 6 days in October and 5 days in November, we were blessed to have Erik's parents with us. We were the bookends of 3 weeks they spent in Taiwan. We talk with them quite regularly via Skype, but we weren't sure how Maika would react to them. We were all quite pleased how she very quickly warmed up to them and within a day or two was hanging out with just them. They had a great time together, and it gave Yoko a chance to get a few things done, too. While they were here, we took two day trips; one was to an aquarium and the other was to Narita Temple. We had a wonderful time with them and were sad to see them go.
Getting ready to go for a walk.Reading time with Grandmama and Grandpapa.Fun with Grandpapa in the park. Grandpapa loves Maika and calls her "Maika Sweet Cheaks".At the aquarium. Grandmama loves Maika so much.

Some Enjoyable Things

Even though we have a pretty regular routine each week, it doesn't mean that things are boring. Each day is a gift from God and with Maika around even more so. It is funny how the simplest things impress us. Maika has some flash cards of various fruits and veggies that she was going through the other day with Yoko. When she came to the banana card, she promptly picked it up and walked over to where we keep the bananas and pointed to them letting Yoko know that she wanted one to eat. A simple and small step in her development, yet a great thing to witness.
Maika's increased mobility and dexterity has opened up a whole new world of enjoyable things for her. Here are some of the latest: opening zippers, banging on the closet door, climbing on the baby gate, going to the park, feeding herself, dancing to music, seeing herself in pictures and videos, trying to use the telephone, picking on her toe nails, putting her fingers in her nose and ears, banging her head with her hands and against anything, moving furniture, opening dresser drawers, falling onto piles of blankets, getting out books and flipping through the pages, sitting in Baba's (grandma) chair and noticing dogs. The pictures below capture of few of these moments.
At the park with Mommy and Daddy, and my first time to go down the slide without being held. Yeehaa!!Sleeping in the blankets after repeatedly falling into them.Lounging in Baba's chair. This is one of my favorite places.Mommy took this picture with her phone and sent it to Daddy. She titled it "Wild Monkey Eating an Apple".