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".

Daddy's Little Helper

Crawling is officially a thing of the past. Maika is up on her feet walking whenever she can. This is great for us as we don't have to carry her all the time, but it is not always good for Maika. She had her first face first dive into the ground this past Friday. Normally she catches herself when she falls forward, but she was moving at top speed and couldn't get her hands out in time to prevent her face from meeting the ground. Thankfully it wasn't pavement or concrete she dove into; dirt was her landing place. A few little scratches and some tears but no worse for the wear.
Watching a child's development is a great thing. The other day Erik told Maika he was going to change her diaper and asked her to get one for him. She went straight to the diaper box, got one out and brought it back to him. It was a great moment and would have been even better if she had willingly allowed her diaper to be change.
Seeing Maika's need for repeated correction is helping us see more and more how it must be for God concerning us. We so much want to be godly examples for her and at the same time know we have so much to work on ourselves. Thankfully, God is patient and His love and grace never run out.
Styling, now if I just had some place to go.Full speed ahead. I know I can get these legs to move faster.Daddy told me to do something, but I'm not sure what he wants.PDA makes me want to run away. How can I get out of this?

Getting Out and Going for a Walk

Since the report on the birthdays, we have welcomed two great additions to our home, gates. They do a wonderful job of keeping Maika out of her "off limits" places. She is now fully walking and that is making life more and more interesting. Today Yoko took her to the kids' play area at the mall, and the space that used to contain Maika is now of no use as she has found that anything but the kids' area is way more fun. A funny thing about Maika's walking is that it seems she wants to run at times but just can't figure out how to do it. She then resembles a mini Frankenstein. Oh, the endless entertainment that a baby provides.

Erik got a few days off from work, and we all headed to the western side of Mount Fuji for our church's kids' camp. It was held at a YMCA lodge (English website) (日本語 website) (video of the lodge). We were there 3 days and 2 nights. Maika was the second youngest kid attending. There were 70 people in total with about 40 of them being kids mostly between the ages of 4 and 15. For half of the events we were divided into small groups according to the age of the child for activities that were age appropriate. Maika fell into the preschool/kindergarten group. The other half of the activities were mixed age activities where the older kids had to be in charge and help the little kids with what we were doing. We went on hikes, made curry, had a bonfire, watched the sunrise (twice), made kites. The theme of the camp was that everyone is a "wonderful treasure" because God made them. It was a great time in a very nice setting.
Maika found a way to keep herself entertained at kids' camp. Mount Fuji prior to sunrise.Waiting around for the sun to come up. This day the clouds rolled in just before sunrise so most of us went out the next morning to see the sun rise right over the top of the mountain.Can't say Maika enjoyed getting up at 4:30 to go hang out outside.Sleeping in the stink bug position.

Birthdays and Memories

It's official, Maika is one year old. It is amazing that a year has gone by already, but we imagine that most new parents say that. We celebrated her first birthday with a Japanese fruit dessert for Maika, a citrus birthday cake for us and bagels. Yoko made them all, and they were great. We had a little party before Erik had to go to work. It was a simple event, but a memorable one at the same time.
Walking with a walker (see video below) and standing unsupported are Maika’s most recent developments. She has also learned how to lower herself off the bed in a very controlled manner. Once she starts walking we are really going to have to be on top of her movements. Right now she gets around really well on her hands and knees, and that keeps us busy. Thankfully, the space she has to move around in is not all that big, but every day she tests the barriers we have set up to keep her out of the kitchen and the bedrooms. She is one chatty little girl and now has 5 discernible words in her vocabulary: mama, papa, baba (Japanese for grandma), bye bye and amen (she says it with us when we pray). She also likes to give “high 5s”. She holds up her hand with a grin on her face and waits for us to give her a “high 5”. It has been a great joy to watch her develop.
Erik also had a birthday 9 days before Maika. Yoko and Maika treated him well and made sure he wasn't forgotten.
The birthday party: citrus birthday cake (Maika needed some help blowing out the candles), opening presents, eating homemade bagels, Yoko's beautiful and tasty bagels, the birthday headband that Maika would wear for a maximum of 1 second. The testing of the barrier. As you can see we are into "use what you can to keep her out" barriers. We have since added something to beep her from getting on it. Super active B.O.B. wears out eventually and Mommy takes advantage and gets a little rest, too.

Learning to be Flexible

With hot and humid being the norm, we are finding that Maika has no problem sweating. The heat and humidity doesn't seem to bother her much during the day, but it does seem to affect her sleeping. This doesn't come as a surprise as we struggle with it too. Sometimes there is a nice breeze at night, but we often have to use a fan to move the air.
We are learning that even the best laid plans are of no certainty. Erik got a day off so we could go hiking, and the day before we were to go, Maika came down with her first fever. It wasn't all that high, but it was enough of a concern that we canceled our outing. The fever subsided, but it turned into a cough and runny nose. It lasted about a week, and she was back to her normal self.
Father's Day was nice for Erik. In the morning before church, Maika and Yoko gave Erik two shirts and a pair of exercise shorts. After church, we went to our favorite bakery where we had a tasty lunch. In the evening we were joined by Yoko's brother and kids and we all went out for pizza.
Yoko had a birthday recently. We celebrated her with presents, ice cream at Baskin Robbins and tasty coffee latter in the week at our favorite coffee shop. Good coffee and dark chocolate keep Yoko happy.
Maika sporting her nursing student outfit on a recent outing with Mommy.Give me a high 5!
Am I ready for the beach or what?This past week Yoko organized a 1st birthday event for the kids in her "mommies group". This group is composed of 7 women who gave birth within 2 months of each other and at the same birthing clinic. There was good food, ice cream cake, sharing time, a gift exchange and a foot/hand print activity. Here is Maika's masterpiece. The origami shoes were made by Erik's students at the airline college.Everything is not always giggles and cute faces.

A Month Late but Better Than Never

We finally got our anniversary picture taken. We have been taking one each anniversary since we got married, but this year's took a month for us to take it. It also happened to be a day in which we took a lot of pictures of Maika, that is why she is in the same outfit in all the pictures.
Since our last post, we have been trying to find our own place to live. Since we are only able to look on the weekend, it has been a slow process. We are also finding restrictions we have to deal with. Today we were scheduled to look at a place only to find out that the owner did not rent to foreigners. It is far different from renting in the States, so we are learning as we go and trusting the Lord will guide us where we should be.
Maika is becoming quite skilled at holding on to something and walking like a crab in a sidestep. She has recently started to raise her hand, so we give her a high 5 which brings a big smile to her face. Today she ate a whole banana in one sitting; we didn't know she could fit that much in her tummy. We are continually amazed and thankful that the Lord would choose us to care for this beautiful creation of His.
4th Year Anniversary Picture

There's a kid's room in our complex that we like to take Maika to. In it, there is a shelf of books that she likes to get into.
Mommy: "Maika! What are you doing?"

Maika: "Just looking for a book I like."

Maika: "This is the one I was looking for; it tastes the best."
Mommy: "Can't you find something better to chew on?"

Maika: "Is this better?"

Oh how can one face change oh so very quickly.

10 Months and...

Maika is 10 months old and growing well. We are growing too. God is using this precious little creation to teach us a lot and help us grow. Since we don't know what lies ahead, as Maika must depend on us, so we must depend on the Lord. He is faithful, and we look forward to what He has ahead for us.
With our daily lives consisting of taking care of Maika, work, and the numerous other daily activities, we keep busy. Sometimes, it seems our week was a repeat of the previous one, but it never gets boring. We enjoy the time we have together, and thank the Lord for each day.
Maika's is now fully crawling properly, eating a variety of solid foods, and resisting confinement. She used to be okay with her car seat and stroller, but lately, when she doesn't want to be in them, she lets us know in a very clear way. It's always especially nice when we are in public.
Here's a collage of pictures we took on Saturday.

We have a favorite bread shop we go to, and this week when Yoko was there, she asked the owner about when he thought it was okay to start giving bread to kids. He said that in France, parents give infants pieces of a baguette as a pacifier. So if tiny French kids can chew on bread, why not Maika. So, this weekend, Maika got her first taste of bread and finished the whole slice.

Lets talk about sleeping, or the lack there of. Maika has recently decided that she doesn't want to seep more than 3 hours at a time. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if she was in a sound proof room as her waking up is accompanied by very unhappy crying. This of course is a great burden on all those who live with her. She is also a very active sleeper; she moves around enough during the day that you would think she doesn't need to do it while she sleeps. Last night we found her in this position.

Looking out the window is fun, but do you know what else is fun? Putting my mouth on it.

Maika snores. It's not like her Grandpapa, but she is sawing logs. Have your volume up.

Enough Hair to...

The rainy season has started. Fortunately, we had some nice days that coincided with a few national holidays. On the 3rd (Constitution Day) we visited an herb garden and had a good time getting out. On the 5th (Children's Day) we celebrated our wedding anniversary with a tasty lunch at a nice restaurant. Maika stayed home with Grandma (Baba), so we were able to relax and take our time. Yoko's first Mother's Day was a little busy with church, but she did have time to open her presents in the morning. Maika felt bad that she had ruined so many of Mommy's shirts, so she gave Yoko some new shirts for Mother's Day.
Maika's eating solid foods is improving day by day. She really enjoys bananas and strawberries. She will soon have four teeth to bite with as her two top teeth are coming in. She likes to stand up and has recently learned how to get herself down. This is very good because she used to holler every time she stood up. She is getting better at crawling properly. She often crawls a yard or so and them plops onto her belly and scoots around. Her hair is getting longer resulting in... bed hair and

Daddy's great styling.

M&M at the herb garden.

I found a rock, and I will try to eat it.

You'd think my parents could put some socks on me, but they let me go barefoot all the time.

Why sleep on a nice soft pad when you can sleep on the floor.

9 Months Old and Already Making Boys Cry

It's been nine months since we were blessed with the arrival of Maika, and each day we have with her is a gift from God.
The aftershocks continue but will less frequency. We had a good sized one last Saturday, but it has thankfully been pretty quiet since then.
Yoko keeps plenty busy taking care of Maika and making sure Erik is well fed. She continues to work her way through the cook books we mentioned on Feb 15th.
Erik started a new school year (it begins in April in Japan) and has been busy with his new class schedule.
Maika made a boy cry for the first time. The other day Yoko and Maika met a lady who has a boy that is 10 months old. He is very mellow and is content to just sit in one place and play with whatever is in front of him. Maika scooted quickly over to him and in her boisterous voice said "Aaaah". All of that was just too much for the little fellow, and he started to cry. Needless to say, Erik is one proud daddy.
Winter is on its way out, but I need to keep warm when I go out in the evening.

Do I want to be a ballerina? I don't know yet.

Sporting some of the latest Spring fashion.

A day in the park.

I miss Aunt Sarah (she returned to the States on April 8th).

Mommy's the best! I love her!

Doing exercise in the park. 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2

Daddy says I am pretty like these cherry blossoms.

I can put anything in my mouth.