Happy Birthday to me!

Okay, first things first, I'm grovelling on my knees to all of you who have faithfully checked this blog during months and months of inactivity! Not that I didn't want to be blogging, and many times composed posts that were never written, but one day leads to another in this resetting up our life process, and blogging just never gets to the top of the list. Not to mention that this includes also doing some rearranging emotionally and mentally, and sometimes that gives me writer's block. Yes, we are all fine, and good actually. Tio is 10 crawling, standing, teethy-grinning baby months old already! Sage, Kai and Lucas are three brown,(the line between dirt and sun is questionable:), happy, very busy boys, and the other boy, Kenji is a very busy man actually-remodelling the house we bought at all hours of the day, while trying to fit in work at my mom's bowling alley where he's learning maintenance on the bowling machines and enjoying working in such an environment, and of course being a daddy, not to mention helping a contractor friend for extra money on some weekends, back in our old hometown of Columbia. Occasionally casting a line in my parents' lake, oh, and tonight "cooking me a years' worth of a meal, so he'll be caught up". His back tightens up a few times a week and he'll need to take something to relax it, but it's so much improved, for which we are so thankful. I'm being mommy, what else would I be! And working at my old hospital Boone, in Columbia, a few shifts a month, while getting to stay with my sister and her family who live there, and occasionally visit friends. It sort of feels like a treat to me, while my family and Kenji keep all the boys:). We did swimming lessons this summer, Sage and Kai did wonderful and had a blast at the local pool, while Lucas and Tio enjoyed the baby pool. And the numerous family gatherings, I love being able to be close enough to do these, as well as be involved in the church my dad pastors. The boys love going to Sunday school, and Sage and Kai enjoy having Grandma Velma teach them there.

We are living with my parents, along with my youngest sister, at my childhood home, what fun! And I'm not being sarcastic, my little sis has been gone from the area since she got out of high school, out in Rhode Island. I didn't expect to ever live close to her again, and I'm so excited. She's the owner of the diner in the bowling alley, and she's working very hard to make a go of it, which isn't a piece of cake in a small town. She does a book club there once a month, which she convinced me to join, it's rare that either one of us get the book finished, but it's fun anyway. Last night she helped the boys to clean out our old, spidery, dusty playhouse. It's great to have aunts!

My parents and the rest of the family have been overwhelmingly helpful, we couldn't be doing what we're attempting without them, that's for sure. We bought 30 acres of land and a house the end of May, finding what we wanted sooner than we expected. The house, although sturdy and really fitting our needs, does need to be completely remodeled on the inside, and that's what has mainly consumed us since then, although we have many sidetracks of course! Mostly good ones at least. I go whenever I can to help, sometimes more than others, usually I can at least make it after the kids go to bed, when the two of us go and work for a few hours. The house is about 15 min. from my parents. We love the location, it's almost a mile off the main road on a semi-private drive(we share with one neighbor further on down-and an awesome one at that). A big yard surrounded by trees, and so many things we were looking for that i won't go into right now. God has been good. We're trying to do everything we can ourselves, with putting in a wood floor maybe being the only thing we get someone else to do. We get help from friends frequently, which is so nice! Our initial goal was to get in by Sept. so we could have the chaos behind us and jump into homeschooling the boys when public school starts, we may not make it, but goals are meant to be broken right? Mom's house has had years of homeschooling, so I'm trying not to get too worried. Anyway, there's always learning going on here, just not official, ha!

So, in case you've been out of the loop, yes, we came back from our adventure in Japan April 10th, and it's been a whirlwind since. It's been great to see family and friends again. I had no idea how the move back would affect any of us, and I still haven't processed it all as of yet. The kids have seemed to seamlessly integrate back into life here. It helps of course, that they were coming back to something they knew. Living with my family has kept them busy in relationships and doing things so much that they haven't really had time to miss things too much in Japan, although we hear comments here and there(which I'm glad for), nothing to keep them down. I have found it somewhat difficult to reconcile the completely different life, this makes me appreciate what missionaries go through, who experience this to a much greater extent than we have of course! Not that I can't just slip right back into life here, after all it's what I've lived for years, it's more the fact that I CAN, that somehow bothers me, I do like to have some problem to chew on after all! Japan and our life there feels light years away already somehow, and I don't really like that. I am so involved in life here trying to get settled in that I can't reconnect much and of course, my main link, email, I can't use to communicate to my Japanese friends and family unless I use Kenji's services, and he's far too busy, which means I don't communicate much.

Anyway, I'm not trying to whine, we are very, very blessed, although sometimes, in the interest of honesty, I lose my focus and choose to do so...until something reminds me how blessed we have been and are, and I'm ashamed of complaining, which I should be!

This is why I don't do this very often....I just blab on and on; I was actually not posting to toot my own horn and get some birthday greetings!:) This is my present to me, to sit and make myself do what I really want to do, but keep putting off. Thanks to my mom I can pull it off. This post is more of a "get into it again", sort of thing, one of these days when I hook up our hard drive I'll get you some pictures. Kids, of course, house, cute, white, fluffy kitties and the dog who found us(more stories:),family....

Our birthday season has officially been kicked off, my birthday is the "first",as the kids like to say, then it's Kai, Lucas, Tio, Kenji, and then Sage who finishes up the season the end of November, just in time to think of Christmas:).
The kids are always very excited and my first gift is a "ruby" ring from the redemption counter in the game center at Jester's(the bowling alley/family entertainment center my parent's own with another couple and my mom manages)-it's from Kai, who looks very forward to birthdays, and according to my mom, saved up his tickets from earned tokens and knew just what he wanted to get me! He was so sweet, couldn't wait to give it to me this morning. He counts down for days to birthdays. They are with my mom and little niece at Jester's now, so I could have a few hours while Tio sleeps on my birthday-my mom is tireless and amazing, have I said that yet? Sage is picking out my present now I'm sure, he was upset that he didn't have time to do it the other day, because he went with me to pick out Kai's present! There have been lots of whisperings and "don't come in here mom!" lately, so I bet I have some special pictures coming too. I found a vase of wildflowers waiting outside for me, that came from Kenji, from our land,(he came home to take a shower and get rid of the seed ticks he got picking them-I'm putting two and two together now...) that's the best! And he didn't fail to get me my yearly splurge of dark chocolate and sour patch kids(remember those?, we used to go through a big box when we went to the movies together, aaah, those were the days:)that I hide and only rarely share with the kids-adult candy right? He presented them to me at the stroke of midnight as we were driving home from working on the house last night.

I'm 33 this year, which doesn't feel young or old....I remember my own mom turning 30 when I was 10, and thinking that she was getting old, so that does somewhat color my perception! (Funny, isn't it, how young she seems now!) In 33 years what have I been blessed with? A loving family, with all its' quirks... hmm,when I typed family, I remembered a recent conversation with a friend. We were talking about how we thought our families were so normal growing up, (and other people's were wierd!),but as we've gotten older, we see that there is no such thing. Every family has its own brand of pathologies/idiosyncrasies and although accepting that is tough sometimes, it's surely better to get it done and move on! Especially since seeing things how they are, in all their reality, is much healthier than a false picture...where am I going with this? I'm really getting off on a rabbit trail, I was talking about blessings...but this is kind of more interesting anyhow. I think I'm saying this because I have been forced to face my own weakness of building up an ideal image of what something is, instead of facing what's actually there and dealing with it, that would be too hard, wouldn't it? Ironically, controlling the facade is really much more difficult work and problematic. And not too fun....or interesting either. Doesn't leave much time or energy for more rewarding pursuits or relationships. Maybe, as I get older, I am/ will do more/ pray, that I can just take things as they are presented to me, not get in a hurry to see where they will take me, or how they will turn out. God needs to stay in business after all!

see you soon I hope, Heather

Ps. you know the blessings anyhow, right? But just in case...my four lively boys, my husband, who puts up with my exhausting cycle of ups and downs and freak outs, and still gives me flowers and chocolate:), my friends who put up with me not keeping in touch, being late, etc...,Many awesome people who love us, even though we give next to nothing back to them, Our trip to Japan, the friends and family we got to spend time with there, the experiences we had, and I hesitate here...both good and bad, just like the rest of life, and mostly that God is relentless in His pursuit of me, no matter how hard I run to get away, and try to somehow senselessly control what is out of my control(wow, is that a two-year old's sentiment or what! Don't let me complain when my kids do that...)and mess stuff up in the process. He is good and faithful, even when I am far from it. To Him be the glory forever and ever, Amen!

Sage's 8th birthday party

Sage's 8th Birthday Party-well, unbeknownst to me, Sage and his classmates had made plans for his birthday party again this year:), his party was the talk of the class last year,(they don't have so many big bday parties in this rural area, although since last year, one of his classmates did as well), so they began talking early this year I guess. I was telling him several months ago that maybe this year we'd do family only, with a new baby and all, and he says, mom, we've already been talking about my party, everyone is coming. The people who missed last year really want to come! He, like his father in this way, loves to party! So...we compromised and decided not to have a meal, just snacks in the afternoon. It ended up being a little bit of a fiasco with the date, after Sage made announcements and handed them out, there was a blizzard in the forecast for that day, so Kenji thought we should change it and he printed out little notes for the parents. Well, Sage came home teary-eyed saying we had to have it the original day, or not even one kid could come(it was in the middle of a four day weekend), so we decided to follow the mailman's creed and go full speed ahead on the planned day, whether it be through rain, snow or sleet....:)The weather ended up being just fine in the end. I'm really glad we had it, the kids had so much fun. He invited the other 9 kids in his class and the 3 from here. They all get along so well and after being in class together so much, fit together well. We cleared some furniture out of their bedroom and they played games and ate lots of snacks and he blew out his candle over a plate of cookies instead of cake-I'm happy he likes cookies better. My choco chip cookies did not receive a "but Grandma's are still better" comment this year, so I am satisified, ha! I enjoyed the conversation I had with a little group of girls who clustered around the table and ate the quesadillas I was making. Man, could they eat, especially one little girl who never stopped. They were laughing about how the boys weren't going to get any. I guess it will be a few years before the tables are turned! Kai and Lucas had as much fun as Sage, playing with the kids, and Tio was perfect-slept through the first half of the party while I was at the other house baking cookies(Kenji was playing with the kids-he says they kept him in line), and was awake and happy watching the general hubbub aand getting held by all the little girls, after he woke up. We had a pizza party with some cousins and Jiji and Baba on his actual birthday-that kid and his parties, just kidding, we had lots of fun! We are all just coming out of birthday party hangover mode.....

Catch up time:)

Well, it's a crazy whirlwind here, but I am just determined to catch you up on all this craziness-so here goes...take a deep breath and hang on!

Fall has come and gone....











That was just a sample of the views around here...That was Nai-Nai and Kenji bringing in a load of daikon(huge japanese radishes). And a bunch of Hokkaido winter squash.

Here's Tio at 5 weeks, sleeping with Daddy


Kenji finally found some good fishing streams---three hours away! But the boys did not let it deter them from convincing dad that they needed to catch their own trout(they raved over the ones Kenji caught, they were really yummy!) and so flattered:)he took them on the long trip the next Sunday along with uncle Shunsuke, and guess what--after great success the weekend before, only Sage and Kai caught one fish each! A mom couldn't make that more fair:). They had good naps on the trip in and out, and had a great time it seems.












Here are some pics about 10 days ago, the last really warm, nice day, it was spent harvesting and storing the last of the daikon. It was Saturday and the kids helped out. Kenji was the only one who could work on it in the morning and he was truly grateful as the kids were pulling the daikon and he was packing them into the crate on the tractor(the earlier pic). He was amazed at how hard they worked...and how much fun they had! They all munched on the raw daikon through the day too. Lucas is being daikon-man at Sage's request-as soon as he saw me with the camera he looked around and found something as a stage and posed and danced around. One of the girls here told me he's going to be a TV personality or something:). Sage helped cut the tops of the daikon, which really thrilled him! These vegetables are really huge and they all lugged them around, even Lucas, pretty funny to see!






Some pics of the kids that same day, playing with the keyboard and having a blast...







Here's Ray accepting an award for Menno Village, we were nominated to be part of a contest that judged many farms, the award was for connecting farmers and consumers through our CSA(community sponsored agriculture). Ray and Aki, Toshi, Kenji and Orie-san all attended the award banquet and fancy meal where they were served food that was made from the products of the top 14 farms and top 4 fish farms!


Naptime!




Well, I had a few more pics to post, but the photo posting process is not working at the moment, so I'll hit the sack, this is enough for now anyhow, isn't it?? We had our first snow today, we woke up to a few inches on the ground. The kids were so excited and played all morning out in it, it's all gone now, but fun...and muddy while it lasted!

Welcome home Tio Shiro-my baby album

my last pregnant night:) reading bedtime stories to the boys



The morning dawned a beautiful day, regular contractions had woken me up at 2 or 2:30, Kenji went back to sleep, I emailed people and tried to rest but just couldn't, then we called the midwife at 4:30 who lives an hour away and wanted to be sure not to miss the birth but..it would be a long day, my labor wasn't extremely painful, but it was long and I got tired, a few times I wasn't sure Tio was going to come this day at all! I was glad that I was at home and could do what I wanted and eat and drink to my heart's content. My contractions slowed and spread out in the afternoon when we thought he might be born soon...but my midwife had a few tricks up her sleeve and almost 16 hours from the start of my labor Tio Shiro was born at home, healthy and without complication. Thanks to all who prayed for a healthy, uncomplicated delivery...Thanks to God! We are very happy we had this chance to have Tio at home and for our wonderful midwife, who I have managed to communicate quite well with, despite our language and culture differences, thanks to Kenji of course! She has been like a doctor, nurse and mother who knows all about birthing and babies, wrapped up in one-the after birth care-she has been here on home visits 6 or 7 times since Tio was born- has been so helpful and reassuring. We've so appreciated the chance to work with someone who not only has the same goal in mind as we do, a natural birth and life, with as few artificial interventions and medicines as possible-but also is a very experienced professional-a first for sure. Here are many pictures from Tio's birth day and the days since....




our midwife, with the boys, she was there for the long haul!

morning walk...a good long walk, we met neighbors we hadn't met before and got grapes and onions from their cute little homestead, wish I would have taken pictures of their cute little cabin and organic gardens and orchard...







Waiting! A long labor, lots of people....


4:59 pm, The baby is here!!...ahhhh..mommy said,who thought the moment would never come.. daddy caught him and pulled him right up to my chest, and big brother Sage asked, is it a boy or a girl?? the long wondered question... and daddy felt...and said...it's another boy! We laughed then...

cutting the cord after I'd been holding him and delivered the placenta..he weighed 3226 gms(7lbs, 1 oz-not 11 like we first reported, our conversion was wrong:)) and was 50.6 cm long(19 in.)

Kenji's little sister Sayoko, who was there for the boys and her two little girls holding Tio.

Murakami-san, our midwife and Tio

The big brothers, very happy to see their new little brother and I'm sure glad that mommy quit screaming-you are getting more done when you are loud my midwife said...ahh! (by the way, they seemed to work through that fairly quickly and don't seem to be scarred for life, ha:)!)




Kenji's older sister, Makiko and family who came later that evening to say welcome to Tio...me on my futon on the floor in the living room, where I'd kneeled earlier to deliver Tio. I stayed there for one day then moved to our bedroom..this seemed to please Kai who likes things to be routine!






taking a nap together, one day old






2-3 days old




5 days old

one week





two weeks


Baba is here to help! playing with kids, doing loads and loads of laundry and cooking, thank you!


Oct. 9-when Kenji told one of the women here Tio's name she said did you take that from the novel, Southern Island Tio? No, we'd never heard of it, but Kenji lost no time going out to buy it, it's a children's novel, and has won some awards...fun, so here Kenji is reading it to Tio:).SO that brings me to Tio's name, I know people are wondering where we got it, as I've had questions...Kenji and I have to think of being able to say a name in both languages, with Sage and Kai we chose names that would be easy to say in Japanese-Sage has a Japanese equivelant-Seiji(different meaning, but close to the same sound, sounds like Sagey) and Kai is a Japanese word meaning ocean, used as a name in Hawaii where there are lots of Japanese, with Lucas we compromised and used a Japanese middle name-Yuta, and with Tio, we were thinking of Teo, from Theodore, I like short names and we liked the meaning, which is gift from God, however, Kenji thought it was pronounced like Tio(tee oh), and thought this was better for Japanese people, and also is the same pronounciation as some very good friends of ours last name, the Teoh's. They have been great and godly mentors and role models for us and they have three lovely boys that we would love our boys to grow up like as well. So it was decided! Shiro means literally fourth son in Japanese:) and with the Chinese characters Kenji chose to spell it, it means ambitious boy. Middle names are confusing to Japanese people as they don't use them, and their name order is the reverse of ours, last name, first name-so people don't know what to call our kids if they hear their middle names! But they figure it out eventually, and it's all their name so whatever! And that's the rest of the story!






Oct.10

Oct. 11


Oct 12



Oct.13
At two weeks Tio had gained a pound, and I know he's gained more since, I think we've been through several growth spurts since(you know, sleepless nights and endless hunger! oh, and fatter cheeks!)