Our Photoblog on Tumblr

 This new little curating project is linked in the sidebar presently. Tumblr is so easy to use on a mobile device that it is just an easier way of sharing photos for us. If we could migrate the whole blog over to Tumblr we might do it but as of speaking that is not an option. Well, we will see how it goes. For now most pictures will be going to the link below:

Craft Camera Roll: Our Mobile Photoblog hosted on Tumblr

16 and 17 week belly pics

Today we are actually 19 weeks. The time is flying by so quickly and I am torn between feeling sad that this precious time is almost over and feeling such impatience wanting to hold this precious baby in my arms! I love being pregnant and I love knowing that this life is growing so perfectly according to God's plans inside me. It is more than magical. It is the greatest miracle I have ever experienced. On Thursday I felt the baby move for the first time! Well the first time that I knew it was baby and not something else going on inside there. It was so wonderful. First it felt like a bubble. Then I felt a little bump like someone was poking me with a finger from the inside of my tummy. Next it felt like little butterflies fluttering around in there. It actually tickled and I started laughing. Then, of course I started crying. I just can't believe how beautiful God has designed this process. It is more amazing than any words I can think of to describe it. I still can't believe that this is all happening to me. By God's grace alone there is life growing inside me.
I was so happy that Gabe was there to witness me feeling baby for the first time too. We were working in the office together that day. It was such a blessing. Ever since that day I have felt baby more and more often. In fact, as I write this I can feel my little tickler inside me! :) I love it!!
We also went to the doctor again that day and had a good appointment. The doctor said that the baby is in the normal range as far as weight, length and heart rate. So we felt very blessed. We asked again to know the gender of our little sweet pea but the equipment was not strong enough to see. But at my 20 week appointment I will be going to the hospital to see a new doctor and there they have a 3D ultrasound. So if the baby cooperates maybe we can find out then. Even if we can't I just can't wait to see a clear picture of our little angel.
We are slowly getting unpacked and settled into our new house. It is hard to unpack when I feel so tired at the end of a work day. But we got a lot accomplished yesterday in preparations for our friend Nathan coming to visit. So today we are relaxing in a clean house. There is a nice breeze and beautiful sunshine. As I write this my sweet husband is planting marigolds around the windows outside our house. Marigolds are supposed to be good mosquito repellents! Mosquitoes LOVE me for some reason and since we don't have air conditioning we will have all the windows open all the time this summer, sweet Gabe is trying to do all he can to prevent me from being boiling hot and itchy with bites! I'm so blessed! Well I guess that's it for now. I will post 2 belly pics. Hope you enjoy

16 weeks

17 weeks

12 Week check-up (Pics & First VIDEO)

Hello everyone! Steph here,
Today we went to the doctor for our 12 week check-up. Gabe came with me today. It was our first time to go together. We were both so excited. I was a little worried that they wouldn't let him come back with me because they way the exam rooms are set up. They are only divided by curtains. But they did! We were expecting to get a regular ultrasound (the kind on the tummy) for the first time and to be able to hear the heartbeat. But for some reason he decided to do the inner ultrasound again and told us we would have to wait until the next appointment to hear the heartbeat. Because of our lack of Japanese we were unable to fully understand the reason. But it's ok because for the first time we got to watch the baby on the screen! It was amazing. We could really see baby's heart beating away. It's an absolute miracle the way God creates life. It is so beautiful. I had seen the pictures but to actually see the baby on the screen was wonderful. I just couldn't believe that all this was happening inside of me. It was indescribable. We are so thankful and so blessed. The doctor said the baby was growing perfectly healthy. The baby is 2.2 inches now. Gabe was so sweet and caring. He held my hand during the exam and took a video of the screen when the doctor was explaining the parts of the baby. He's going to be a wonderful daddy! So without further ado...for your viewing pleasure here is the first video of our "Sweet Pea". ps the video is after the pics :)

11 Weeks belly shot

waiting for the ultrasound....
12 week photo
on the big screen
when the picture is flipped upside down I think you can see the baby's profile. If you look closely.

HERE'S THE VIDEO: (click the Google button for a full-screen view)

Concert Pics

Here's pics of me Steph on stage during the "We Are the World" International Fellowship Concert. Many thanks to Matsuo for giving us these pictures. I like to think we ended up looking like a modern day Johnny and June Cash. I'm, of course, not as cool and Steph is much prettier in my opinion (see below).
And below is a pic from the finale of the concert when many local foreigners living here in Japan along with several Japanese got up onstage to sing "We are the World". It was a real success! Everyone, including the audience was singing and doing the "two-hands-above-the-head-waving-and-swaying-thing". We were just so happy that everyone enjoyed the concert.
Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make this concert a wonderful success and one of our greatest memories here in Japan!
We love you all!!!


--------------------------------other posts-------------------------------------
the poster:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/04/pretendin-to-be-famous.html

Steph on Iwate TV:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/steph-on-japanese-tv.html

pics from and thank you to all the people who made the concert:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/concert-pics.html