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

"Bare Feet On the Pavement" a poem for my dear brothers

I remember we dancing all around
As rain the came falling to the ground
We left the front door open wide
We couldn't stop smiling even if we tried

Suddenly all our worries gone
Washed away as we sang that song
We used to sing when we were small
Before you'd grown to be so tall

We used to fight
So much back then
You always had to be right
And I always had to win

But right there in that moment
With the rain upon our heads
Our bare feet on the pavement
We forgot all the things we'd said

And we all live so far apart
We're all grown up some how
But I often think about that day
And I keep you all close to my heart.

June 2008
I wrote this poem on a rainy day last year thinking about my dear sweet brothers. My loving husband told me I should blog it.
I love you and miss you so. Love, Yaya

14 and 15 week belly pics

Hello friends and family. We are so looking forward to this Easter Sunday when we can celebrate not only the new life growing within my womb but the new life that our heavenly father has given us through the loving sacrifice of His only son. I also think of Mary and the agony she felt as she watched her beloved son lay down His life for her and for all humankind. What an amazing mother she was and how I hope to be even a little like her. I am so thankful for this gift of motherhood and I pray that I will have the strength to endure it's challenges with grace.

14 weeks


15 weeks

The Beating of A Heart

Yesterday we heard the most glorious sound we have ever heard. We were finally able to hear the beating of our little baby's heart. Gabe and I went to the doctor around 3:30 yesterday and we both felt anxious waiting for the doctor to come in. I was lying on the table and Gabe was sitting beside me holding my hand. We laughed together as we waited. Finally our sweet doctor came in.
I was pleasantly surprised that the gel that he put on my belly was comfortably warm. I just expected it to be cold for some reason. Then he placed the Doppler device on my belly and began the search. As I waited a million worries rushed through my mind but then I looked into my sweet husband's beautiful eyes and felt his calming gaze wash over me. Finally that miraculous sound came through the speaker. At that very moment I began laughing and crying at the exact same time. Then as I laughed my stomach muscles tensed up which made it impossible to hear the baby. So I started trying to take deep breaths and tried to calm down again. But it was no use. I cried tears of joy the entire time. The doctor let us listen for a few minutes and said the heart rate was about 160. I felt that my heart rate must be about the same as it seemed to be beating out of my chest! We felt so relieved and so blessed.
When we got home we got a package of books from someone here in Japan. She was giving them away and we requested some of them. One book is called "The Child Within". This book is a devotional for pregnant moms. It couldn't have come at a better time. Before bed we read the chapter for the 3rd month of pregnancy. It spoke so deeply to me. It helped me to remember that God is in control of this pregnancy and that He alone can form this life within me. He only asks that I take care of myself as best I can and leave the rest to Him. For only He knows the perfect plan for this life. I rested so peacefully last night and fell asleep to the sound of our precious baby's heart beat playing over and over in my mind.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. We are still so overwhelmed with joy by this miracle God has so graciously granted us.

Phillipians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

12 Week Belly Shot

Our baby is growing so quickly. We are at 13 weeks and baby is the size of a peach.
This is a photo of me at 12 weeks.

This was our home

We have been so blessed! Today we signed the contract on our new home! It is actually our 4th home in Japan...crazy.
We found it about 10 days ago and now we can start moving in tomorrow! We got the key today and headed straight over to take some before shots.
It's so clean and smells so new. It has new tatami mats (grass mats) in three rooms and they fill the house with their lovely fresh scent. It was all recently re-modeled. It has 3 rooms a big kitchen and an empty store front that will become our new "shop" as Gabe and I call it. It is going to provide plenty of storage for all of our teaching materials. We are so thankful for that. With two teachers it has become pretty much impossible to have anyone over because all of our materials are spread out on every empty surface we have. Now it can all be organized OUT of the house!
Another huge blessing is that it has a fan system that runs under the house to control mold. Ofunato is a really moist city (it is a "port city") so we are truly thankful!
Well here is a video of the house room by room. It's 8 minutes long so... so watch when you like. Enjoy!




This will be our new address starting April 1st (but don't worry all of our mail from our old address will be forwarded to the new one):

38-10 Aza-Jinomori,
Ofunato-cho, Ofunato-shi
Iwate-ken,022-0002JAPAN

in Japanese:
日本岩手県大船渡市大船渡町字地ノ森３８－１０
And here is the link on google maps:http://tinyurl.com/gnsnewhome



View Larger Map

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)

Feed Kids for Free

From a facebook group with lots of great links:

========================

CLICK on the Links BELOW to "Feed a Child with just a Click!"

FREE FOOD DONATION CLICKS
=Staple Foods=
** http://www.freerice.com - Free Rice
** http://www.freeflour.com - Free Bread

=Free Water=
*** http://www.freepoverty.com - Lots of free water!
** http://www.helpthirst.com - Free water

=Free Meals=
*** http://www.bhook.com - Just Click!
*** http://www.pajacyk.pl - Click the green button!
*** http://www.ripple.org/give.php?p=food - Just Click!
*** http://www.porloschicos.com/PorLosChicos.NET/index_english.htm - Click the blue button!
*** http://www.feedsa.com - Click the white button!
*** http://www.hungerfighters.com - Click the green box!
*** http://www.povertyfighters.com/ - Click the blue box!
*** http://www.thehungersite.com - Click the yellow box!
*** http://www.okruszek.org.pl - Click the Bread button!
*** http://www.chintai.net/contribution/index.html - Click the blue box!
*** http://www.kct-uk.org/click - Just visit the site!
*** http://www.straatkind.nl/ - Click on the small red ball.
*** http://www.worldhunger.org/contributefood.htm - Just click!

Help the kids:
** http://children.care2.com - Click the blue box!
** http://www.hungrychildren.com - Click the blue button!

Causes change monthly:
** http://www.youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=2335 - Click the red button!

Others:
* http://www.definition-of.com - Submit a word
** http://www.spendu.org/beta/index.php - German Rice Game!

[ CLICK RATINGS: *** = excellent **= good *= could be easier? ]

OUR HEARTS GO OUT:
♥ We find it hard to feel for these people, and importantly children, as they are not our own sister, son or relative.
♥ But if you just open your heart for 1 second you will be Flooded by the Despair facing the starving children of Humanity.

WANT TO KNOW MORE ?
-World Hunger: World Interactive Map - Where is World Hunger?
http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/hunger_map/map/hungermap_popup/map_popup.html
-World Hunger: A Study of families - How much do you eat?
http://worldfoodinequality.googlepages.com/

DONATE:
-Donate! 25 cents a meal @ http://www.causes.com/hunger
-Please Donate spare money! A Meal is just 25 cents!
Currently: over $15,000 USD donated (this Cause plus others)

11 Week check-up

Today I went in for my 1st trimester testing (blood work, blood pressure...etc.). I also got another ultrasound. Unfortunately I didn't get a copy to bring home and I forgot to take my camera to take a picture of the ultrasound pic. I really wish I had because for the first time you could actually tell that there was a baby in there. I could see a definite head and body form. The doctor said that the baby was growing at a healthy rate (crown to rump 1.63") and that the baby's heartbeat was , in his exact words, beautiful. It was wonderful news. My blood pressure was normal and I will get the results of the other tests later. I go back again next week for my 12 week and we will finally be able to hear the heartbeat! We are really excited about that! All in all things are going really well.
I did think that my morning sickness was passing but unfortunately it caught me by surprise this morning. But not to worry, I will make sure to have my trusty banana beside my bed tonight so I can eat it before getting out of bed. (^-^)


We also received good news about our housing situation. Our current landlord is going to let us move whenever we like and the new landlord is going to allow us to move in a the end of this month. With a few days rent free for moving our things over. The new house is actually right across the road from where we are now so it shouldn't be too hard. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways. Thank you all for your prayers and love!
Here's a fun video for you to enjoy...note I am eating organic all natural peanutbutter.

Change of Scenery?

Gabe here.
Steph has been researching the local area for a bigger place...
So, we've been looking around a little... but what we found were mostly high prices and small places :(

But, recently we saw a remodeled older home which has a store (like a little shop/businness) space attached in front...
Steph (and I) really like the space for kids and visiting family... plus there is a BIG front room for storage or whatever) and a computer controlled ventalation system tp prevent mold under the home (something that has been a real annoyance and concern for both of us in the last 3 years). Steph loves the place and we may be able to swing it finacially. So..., we might be moving soon :)
We'll see...

Blessed News

We're having a baby! We feel so blessed and are overjoyed to be experiencing this miracle. Our due date is September 28th. (2 days before Gabe's Bday!) This beautiful gift that God has so graciously given us is already so loved! Today I (steph) registered my pregnancy at the city health care center. We have National Health Care here in Japan and in order to enjoy the benefits I had to go and officially register the pregnancy. I received many booklets and 2 free diapers (we'll take em!)
I received my mother and child health record book too. Actually I got 2. One is bilingual and the other is the normal Japanese version. Another wonderful thing is my doctor likes to do ultrasounds at every visit so we have already seen 3 pictures of our little miracle.
We thought we would share some photos: (for more photos click here)

FLOW: For Love of Water (Movie)

http://www.flowthefilm.com/
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Watch it here:


About Water
* Of the 6 billion people on earth, 1.1 billion do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.
(www.charitywater.org)
* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently does not regulate 51 known water contaminants. (www.foodandwaterwatch.org)
* While the average American uses 150 gallons of water per day, those in developing countries cannot find five.
(www.charitywater.org)
* The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
(www.water.org)
* According to the National Resources Defense Council, in a scientific study in which more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water were tested, about one-third of the bottles contained synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. (www.nrdc.org)
* Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil.
CBS News, FLOW.
* There are estimates that from five hundred thousand to seven million people get sick per year from drinking tap water. Erik Olson, Deputy Staff Director of Barbara Boxerʼs Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPW), FLOW.
* Californiaʼs water supply is running out – it has about 20 years of water left in the state.
Maude Barlow, author of Blue Covenant and co-author of Blue Gold, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, FLOW.
* There are over 116,000 human-made chemicals that are finding their way into public water supply systems.
William Marks, author of Water Voices from Around the World, FLOW.
* In Bolivia nearly one out of every ten children will die before the age of five. Most of those deaths are related to illnesses that come from a lack of clean drinking water.
Jim Schultz, founder of the Democracy Center in Bolivia, FLOW.
* The cost per person per year for having 10 liters of safe drinking water every day is just $2 USD.
Ashok Gadgil, Senior Staff Scientist in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, FLOW

Graffiti: Doodle Art

Hello... Gabe here... Nice to have some time-off to play around and be a little creative lately.
This is "graffiti" that I made using an online application called Graffiti.
I made it for my sister-in-law. The Chinese character means "snow".
Sadly, I accidentally deleted it so I only have this picture.

But, Graffiti is really neat because it's kind of like a doodle documentary.
Here is another one that I did for Steph. The Chinese character means "green". Hit the play button to watch. You can slow it down or speed it up too.

Here is one I did today: "Rain"

Beer Jell-O!

A Present from friends... very interesting!

5 Years of Wedded Bliss

Today we will celebrate 5 blessed years together! Thank you to all of you who helped to make it such a beautiful day.

Ozōni 雑煮: Traditional New Year's Food

ozoni
Originally uploaded by G&S Eco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoni_soup

Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしくおねがいします！

Christmas Eve Service in Tono

Off to Semi Onsen

..to celebrate 5 years of marriage. \(^-^)/

http://www.semi-onsen.co.jp/

This will be our second time to go to this particular hot spring.
Check out old pics:
We went there 3 years ago for or 2nd anniversary.

Aidan Born Nov. 2, 2006

Gabe here... been awake since 4:30 AM.... uploading pictures to flickr (a great site where you can privately or publicly store your photos without a limit for 25 bones a year)...

Well, flickr also allows you to upload and short video clips now (Yay!)

Here is a rare one from our archives:

My lttle bro Aidan Elizondo on his birthday (November 2, 2006)

Not Everything is Small Here

A big one from Yonesaki... near here.

Nativity by Steph

Our Church (in Tono)

Hoshigaki 2008

Recent Video from the Okirai train station:

My train ride and video from last year.

This is kaki (Japanese persimmon)-video from Gabe:

This is what the kaki look like after they have been peeled and hung outside to be dried for winter (now they become "hoshigaki")-video by Gabe:

First Snow 2008

November 5.2008

November 5. 2008 from Tarek Milleron on Vimeo.


http://november5.org/

School Lunch

Todays menu was "ika po po" (squid).... pretty rare actually...

Fun In Tokyo Airport Last Summer

Not the usual commute

Hey everyone this is Steph. Today as I was taking my usual ride home on the train I had quite a surprise. The train I take also provides scenic tours of the coastline. I am blessed because I get to ride it at least 4 times a week. The scenery is quite breathtaking and it allows me to observe the changing of the seasons from the comfort what is sometimes my own private train. Today, however, there was a tour booked for the time I needed to ride home from work. During the tour rides they sell different souvenirs and also tell the travelers about what they are seeing. Today there was something extra special though. The man leading the tour finished off the ride with our own private tiger dance. The tiger comes around and "bites" your head for good luck. He wasn't sure what to do to me though...being the only non-Japanese person on the train, so he "bit" my arm instead. Hopefully that will prove to be lucky too. (^o^)/ So here are some pics and a short video that I took. Enjoy!

Sanshin: Traditional Japanese Instrument

This elementary school teacher is a really nice guy and plays a mean sanshin (and guitar too)... :)




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanshin
The sanshin (三線, literally meaning "Three strings") is an Okinawan musical instrument, and precursor of the Japanese shamisen. Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings.

Early Autumn Bike Ride Around Town

Went on a bike ride today. You can see a little of our town--nothin'special but we had fun.
Hope to make a summer memory video soon :)

Brookgreen Gardens

Live Oak #2
Originally uploaded by beforethecoffee.

We went here while in South Carolina.
Highly recommended.

http://www.brookgreen.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookgreen_Gardens

Ofunato Fireworks Festival July 2008

We saw soooooo many of our wonderful students (together we both teach over 3,000 elementary and junior high school students). Then we watched over an hour of fireworks... here is short video with music from our local radio station:

Thanks to Steph for all the firework photos and videos:

Steph's Eyes

Gabe here... happy that my bride's eye were well-taken care of:

Dancing, Drumming @ Our Festival Part One

Our Town's (Ofunato) summer festival Part One:
Dancing and Drumming...

"Somen" Lunch @Tono Church

Sayonara Party for Alison & Patricia (;_;)

It's the 4th of July in Japan! Seems like yesterday that Alison & Patricia came to our neck of Iwate... Recently our good friends the Ozawa's had a goodbye party for them....

We arm-wrestled. Why? Why not?

Many Beautiful Sundays in Tono

We really enjoy our Sundays in Tono. Here are some pictures and videos of some memories with our dear parents here in Japan, the Yoshidas.

More Beach Recuperation

Another couple hours at the beach:

We stopped by after weekly shopping;


Sure is nice to live only 20 minutes from one the nicest little beaches in Northern Japan :)

Video: Stopped by our beach today

The rainy season has begun here in Japan. Last week we had many gloomy days but finally this weekend we had some sunshine. So we decided to head out to the local beach to soak up some sun! We had a great time, it felt like a mini vacation!

Video: Car/Flowers/Dinner in About 1 minute

A short update...

Thailand Pictures & Short Video (finally!)

Hey everyone...Steph here...sorry for the long absence.
School is back in session here and Gabe and I are getting back in to the swing of teaching after a month straight of days in the office. With, of course, the exception of the week we spent in Thailand! We had a wonderful time relaxing on the warm island of Koh Samui! Which sounds funny if you speak Japanese because samui means cold in Japanese! (^_^)
Anyways here are just a few pictures to wet your appetite! Gabe and I want to make a little movie with videos and pictures so we will post more later! Love you all!

Snickerdoodle Christmas Cookies

Hey everybody...I made this back in December but never got around to posting it. This is one of my favorite schools! The kids and the teachers are great! We had a great time making Snickerdoodles together.

Ikebana

Hi Friends and Family! A couple of weekends ago I was able to go to an Ikebana (flower arrangement) festival in a nearby town. It was really amazing. One of the best parts was being able to see some old friends and neighbors from Sumita (our old hometown). I went to the festival with my friend Teresa. She is also an ALT here in Japan. We enjoyed some "girl time" and really enjoyed visiting. Here are a few pictures from the festival. If you would like to see more please click on this album.

Anniversary Trip to Furofushi Onsen

To celebrate our 4th year of marriage we went to an onsen which was right on the Sea of Japan. Here's a video:



And....
Pictures from our stay at Furofushi Onsen

Video & Pics: Four Years of Marriage

Today we give thanks for 4 years of blessed marriage. Each year on our anniversary we are reminded of all you who made our wedding so perfect and we think of each one of you with love and give thanks. Thank you all so much for all of your support on that day---and continued prayers and support.
Love, Gabe and Steph



And...
Some Pictures from Our Wedding

Video & Pics: Christmas Eve in Tono

Some Pictures of Christmas Eve & Day

Video: Scallops for Dinner

The Legend of the Raven

Merry Christmas everyone! Thought we might share this:



"A long time ago, the raven looked down from the sky and saw that the people of the world were living in darkness.
The ball of light was kept hidden by a selfish old chief.
So the raven turned himself into a spruce needle and floated on the river where the chief's daughter came for water.
She drank the spruce needle.
She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, who was the raven in disguise.
The baby cried and cried until the chief gave him the ball of light to play with.
As soon as he had the light, the raven turned back into himself.
The raven carried the light into the sky.
From then on, we no longer lived in darkness."

As told by "Marilyn Whirlwind", Northern Exposure, Episode 3.10, "Seoul Mates"

This caused us to read John 1:1-14 in a new light.

Charlie Brown's Christmas

A classic...never gets old:

Watch Charlie Brown's Christmas

Circle Christmas '07

Merry Christmas Everyone! This is a little video from a party we went to last night with some wonderful friends! We had a great time! Hope you enjoy the video!

Snowball Fights!

At Mom's
At Dad Craft's
At the Yoshida's

Video: Hoshigaki & Train Ride Home

Steph happened to catch locals drying persimmons at one of the five rural train stations she passes through. She took some pictures and videos and we put them together with some local autumn folk music. You can also see some of the mountains and seacoast of our area on her train ride home. Hope you enjoy!

Video: Light In Darkness

It's getting dark early these days...it's a tough time of year. Tonight we watched an episode of Northern Exposure. This is a clip from that episode. It's one of our favorites.

Video: All Saints Day 2007

Last Sunday we went to Tono to see our dear friends, the Yoshida's. We were able to join then in worship at Tono church for All Saint's Day. Here is a video of our Sunday. There were some amazing fall colors and the sky was astounding.

Video: Halloween 2007

This is a video from the Halloween Party we attended last weekend in Murone village. Our friend Greg, from North Carolina, and his wife organize this Halloween party every year. We had a great time!



And if you would like to see the pictures check out this online album.