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.  

 

2012 in Review

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
It's that time of year again when we look back over what has transpired in the past year, and it's been quite a year of seeing God work in His way.
To start things off, we have moved into our own place (our new address is with our profile to the right).  It all started on January 4th this year and came to be on November 3rd.  It was a process that truly had God's hand on it.  For some time we had seen that we were in need of our own place but money, location and motive were all reasons for us to move with caution.
On January 4th we visited a company that builds houses and apartments in the area of Yukarigaoka which is located in the city of Sakura.  It's about 12 miles or 19 kilometers from where we were living in Narita.  We learned about this company and area through a flyer we received in the mail.   On that day we met with Mr. Watanabe who was very personable and over the next two months visited various properties his company owned.  After considerable prayer we decided to put down some money to hold an apartment in a complex called Bio Wing.  Mr. Watanabe patiently worked with us to fulfill our remodeling requests.  He also found all the loan options available to us, but there was just one hang-up.  Erik needed to get permanent residency in Japan for all this to happen and that would be a 6 to 8 month process.  So, the beginning of March we applied for Erik's permanent residency and waited.
Waiting was a good thing for us as it taught us more about patience, seeking the Lord and trusting His timing.  In this time of seeking the Lord we found that we had some ulterior motives for choosing the Bio Wing apartment and saw that we needed to let go of those things.  As a result, we began to pray even more about where God wanted us and even started to look at different places to move to all with the intention that we would back out of the initial place if it was God's will.
Then in September we received notification that Erik received his permanent residency.  We met with Mr. Watanabe but were still not certain that the Bio Wing apartment was for us.  In fact, we were fully ready to back out if the official loan amount didn't fit our budget, and after going over the numbers, it didn't.  It was more than we wanted to pay, so we told Mr. Watanabe this.  Surprisingly, he wasn't deterred and told us that he would check more with the bank and his company to see what he could do.  In the end, the bank agreed to waive a fee that then brought the loan amount into our range.  He brought us this news, and after two more days of praying about it, we were at peace and signed papers.
November 3rd was our first night in our new place.  The next few weeks were spent getting things we needed and boxes unpacked.  All this was done just in time to welcome Erik's parents on the 21st of November.  Looking back over this whole process we see that God was in the midst of it.  Now we are looking forward to how He will use us in our new location.
Another case of the Lord having His hand is our lives is in that Yoko and Maika went to the States on November 27th, and Erik will join them on December 23rd.  Then we will all travel back to Japan on January 6th.  This has only been made possible through a friend that works for an airline and set us up with some discounted tickets.   With ticket prices and Erik's work schedule, we weren't sure when we would be able to make the trip but with God there is a way.   
Now updates about the 3 of us.  Maika continues to grow and develop well.  Her use of both English and Japanese is growing.  She is healthy and strong.  She really enjoys the outdoors, being with animals, hanging out with her grandparents and eating cheese.   At times she is a great challenge, but we are daily thankful for her.  We know that God has placed her in our lives for a purpose, and we pray that we are pleasing Him in how we are raising her.
Yoko continues to find joy and meaning in being a stay at home mom.  She is looking forward to connecting with people in the building we are now living in.
Erik's job continues to go well.  Since we have moved, he now takes the train to work.  It is about a 30 to 40 minute commute, depending on the trains.
As always, we would love to hear from you.  We pray the coming year finds you resting in Jesus and His great love for you.
With love,
Erik, Yoko and Maika

Getting Out

Back in October we were having some excellent weather and took advantage of it and some free passes to a local farm.  Maika has really taken to animals.  Maybe we will need to get her a four legged friend.

Even goats need kisses.

Racing Mommy down the hill.

Fun on Daddy's shoulders.

We are blessed with some nice parks near by. Maika is always game to go to the park.

Another nice day to be out at the park.

Look!  I can do it all by myself without falling.

Sumo

A while back we had a chance to watch sumo live. Erik and Maika are big fans of sumo and Yoko shows her love for them by taking interest in it, too. Here is a picture inside the sumo arena in Tokyo.

The parade of wrestlers before the bouts begin.

The Yokozuna, the highest raking wrestler.

The Yokozuna's bout. The sequence starts at the top left and goes down. Click on the picture for a larger image.

The Yokozuna"s bout. After watching sumo we walked over to Tokyo Sky Tree and had dinner. It was a fun day out.

A Birthday and a Trip

July saw Maika turn two, and August found us at our church's family camp near Mt. Fuji. With there being 8 family related events from the beginning of May through the end of July we are kept quite busy with doing things for each. With Maika's birthday being the second to last of the events, we made sure she was uniquely celebrated. This year we had a small party but were blessed with a lot of tasty food and thoughtful gifts. The birthday girl showing how old she is. She can say how old she is in Japanese "ni sai" (ni = two and sai = years old).

The party is about to start. Erik's parents joined in via Skype and all Maika's stuffed animal friends can be see hanging out is the background.

Yummy birthday cupcakes

Birthday balloons that amazingly last over 3 weeks. The box they came in ended up being Maika's favorite thing to play in, on and with for quite a while.

Hard at work opening the thoughtful birthday gifts.

In the middle of August we went with our church to the east of Mt. Fuji for family camp. It was held at the same place we went last year. Click here for the link to last year's blog post. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't all that good and we rarely had a glimpse of the mountain. We did however, get to know the area a little better and if we go there again, we have some new places we would like to visit. We had a good time being with the other families and spending time together. On the second day we went to a farm nearby, and all of the following pictures are from that farm.

The last time we were at a farm was in June and Maika wasn't all that keen on interacting with the animals, but this time she wanted to get up close and personal with them.

This farm had wallabies and they were quite used to people as the following pictures show.

May & June

May started with us taking in an event for kids at our church in Tokyo. The night before the event, we were able to meet and have dinner some friends from Tsuyama, where Erik used to live. We hadn't seem them since March 2009, so it was great to see them again. On the 5th, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary with pizza and tiramisu. It was a low key event but every enjoyable. Here are a few shots of our daily life in May. "Home girl" out for a walk.

Ready to go out.

A Totoro backpack from "Baba"

Winter clothes are getting packed up.

This area of Japan was one of the prime viewing spots for the eclipse. It was unfortunately very cloudy that morning. Nonetheless, Erik got up and had a few glances at this wonder of nature.

June arrived, and we started to have some short sleeves and shorts weather. Maika got a pair of sunglasses and...

likes to wear them upside down.

For our anniversary we have taken a family picture each year. This year we took it at a "farm", but it didn't happen until the middle of June. Life seems to have a way of speeding by. 2012 Anniversary picture 1

2012 Anniversary picture 2

The farm, Yume Bokujo (here is a link), has cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and ducks to interacts with. Maika enjoyed seeing the animals but was a little hesitant to touch them. The farm grounds are quite nice and there are many grassy areas. It was nice seeing some of God's handiwork and getting out into nature a bit. The following pictures are from the farm.

Investigating the treat of the day, nacho cheese tortilla chips

The farm is quite large and there was an area we found that was less congested. We spent quite a bit of time there taking pictures.

Trying to get the hang of blowing dandelions

Fun with Mommy

Trying to imitate Daddy as he makes funny noises by blowing on blades of grass

The main family outing event of June was the trip to the farm, but June also saw Yoko turn another year older. Happy Birthday to the greatest wife Erik has ever had. She is a blessing from the Lord.