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



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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