Babywise, babyfool

I'm reading "Babywise".  I'm reading it so that I can honestly say I disagree with it on my own terms.  So far, there have been several issues with his 'science' or lack-there-of.  The first is found very boldly on page 35.

In reference to babies not having memory, "...Memory function and synapse development depend on the brain receiving highly oxygenated blood which comes from breathing.  Breathing cannot begin until the lungs inflate, which occurs after, not during birth...."
Why is it, Mr. Ezzo, that my husband is bothering to read to our baby as often as possible? Is it a huge waste of time? Or will it just be chance when this newborn baby recognizes his/her father's voice when born?  Is my baby brain dead right now because of the inability to breath?  And tell me, please, that the umbilical chord does in fact carry 'highly oxygenated blood' to the babies EVERY organ and fiber.

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

This song really spoke to my heart today.  In fact, it gets my attention every time I hear it.  How true are the words?  I know they are real for me.  I am ever thankful for my Savior.  

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

(Chorus 2x)

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

(Chorus 2x)

Christmas Letter

Hello dear friends and family!

We(I) have been trying to keep this blog up to date so that nobody is ever left wondering what in the world we've been up to.  We are probably NOT going to be sending out a Christmas letter this year but we are definitely going to at least try to get a picture out to our friends and family.  If you need a story to back it up, you can always check the blog! :-)

Christmas time is a very interesting time of year for me.  There is so much pressure from the media to shop till you drop because it's the season of giving.  Truth be told though, shopping/maxing out a credit card is absolutely not what the time of year is about.  It is about the ultimate gift.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
My favorite part of this passage is the very next verse.  John 3:17 says "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."
Too often these two verses are separated from one another.
Being raised in a "Christian" home, celebrating Christmas was always a familial time of year.  We would put all of the decorations up in one night, always thrilled by opening up the ornament containers.  But the part of this season that I will always remember with gladness is the part when my sisters and I would sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  I remember one year dressing up with Jessica and Hannah as we did a musical, singing Silent Night & Joy to the World for my Mom and her friends.  Buddy, the family dog, was always the shepherd and our older sisters' anatomically correct baby doll was always baby Jesus.  As we grew older, we and a couple of other neighborhood kids would go caroling, just for fun.  We would go every night during Christmas break, to be sure that we got every house in the neighborhood.  It was fun to sing in front of other families, celebrating this joyous season.  We learned quickly to not sing "Silent Night" at the houses with blue and white lights.  :-)



At church a few weeks ago, we did an Advent service.  I am completely unfamiliar with this type of ordeal but I must say I really enjoyed learning about the symbolism behind Christmas trees, poinsettias, evergreen wreaths, etc.  It made me feel more excited about having a tree up.  The Aviator and I have sort of prided ourselves in being a bit "Bah hum bug" about decorating and having everything just-so when it comes to different holidays.  I know people enjoy putting halloween or Easter decor up but that's just not us.
The Aviator has been playing in the worship band.  He is able to use his guitar and singing skills to serve and I know he absolutely loves it!  For the Advent service, he was asked to sing the song "Mary Did You Know".   I'm pretty sure every single person in that chapel had moist eyes.  It is such a beautiful song.  Here are the lyrics..

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am.

http://artists.letssingit.com/mark-lowry-lyrics-mary-did-you-know-hc1xwsv

What does this time of year mean to you? What are your favorite Christmas memories or traditions?  Looking forward to your thoughts!

Merry Christmas and remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!  :-)

November-December

We just finished up a lovely visit with the Aviator's parents.  They arrived on November 27th and departed on December 8th.  While they were here, we went on many adventures!  To start with, they presented us with 6 untested In N Out buns or, as we know them at INO, 6 Veggie Plain/no Toast.  :-)  To top it off, they also brought a plethora of Spread!  The following photos explain themselves.  I will say that it was a ton of fun to get to cook burgers with my main-squeeze again!  I love him!!

Double-Single Animal Style

Double-Double Animal-Protein Style

Homemade GR (grilled Onion)

The Board

One of our adventures included riding the Shinkansen, or Bullet Train, out to Kyoto and Hiroshima.  Both cities were wonderful but I think it would have benefited us to spend one more night in Kyoto.  That place has a lot to see!

The Aviator and his Dad took a "Tokyo Tour" with the Aero Club here on base. They got to see all of Tokyo with the greatest view available! 

It's that time of year!  The school I was teaching English at hosted a huge Christmas party for the students and their families.  Santa came and brought each child a gift! This fun bunch of girls are helping me demonstrate the 'Batman'... :-)

Everyone knows our dogs are pathetic.  This picture captures a very sweet family moment.  The Aviator sat down to visit with Penny and Mr. Dax helped himself in to his lap.  Dax does not enjoy cold weather.  He does, however, enjoy mooching body heat from his humans.  :-)

One night, I invited my private English student to our house for Enchiladas.  She really enjoys Mexican food but it's hard to come by around here.  Please notice our Japanese Kokeshi doll Nativity Scene... It's SO cute! :-)

After almost 3 years of marriage, we finally have our own tree to decorate!  We are thrilled to be spending the Christmas season in Japan.  We will miss our family but having the fresh pine scent in our home makes it feel merry and bright! :-)

Dax snuggling with his early Christmas present from Mom and Dad.  He loves stuffed animals.  Lately, we've been acquiring a couple of dolls for the baby and Dax was feeling quite left out...

Australia/New Zealand

This is our adopted son, Hogan.  We let him stay in Kuranda because he likes it there. :-)

The sexiest man in snorkeling gear ever. :-) The Aviator got to see some fantastic fishies and reef!!

In a semi submersible something or other at the Reef.  This made me sea sick for the third time that day. Lame.  :-)

Day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef on a day with high sea and severe wind warnings= Caitlin throwing up 3 times!!! :-(

On our way out to the Reef, our boat stopped at Green Island.  Usually it's a beautiful, tropical oasis. The day we were there, it was rainy, windy, and coldy.  :-)

While we were in Cairns, we went horseback riding.  It was FANTASTIC!  I was glad to get to ride one more time before the baby comes in the Spring.  The Aviator is a natural!

Breakfast in the Southern Hemisphere made me SO happy! This was the Aviator's brekky before horseback riding.  This has followed us home as we now grill/roast a tomato and have beans and poached eggs with brekky! SO good!

First train ride in Sydney Australia.  We are so used to how clean the trains are in Japan, that we were really disappointed when the seat we chose had McDonald's trash and a banana peel on the floor underneath. :-( You might even be able to see the tasteful glass etching done on the window there.

Coffee.  Espresso.  What more can I say?  This presentation is the norm in Australia and New Zealand from what we experienced.  As you know, the Aviator and I are rather excitable when it comes to coffee so this was quite a treat! :-)

After a VERY long day of walking all around Sydney, I needed to take a break.  We plopped down on a park bench right across from the Sydney Opera House in the middle of a beautiful park.  That 20 minute rest saved my life, I think...

We took lots and lots of 'long arms' on this trip so it was nice when we could find a stranger with a nice camera of their own to snap a photo for us on our camera.  You'd be very amused by what some people think is a good picture! Ha ha!

The sun FINALLY came out while we were in Sydney so we took the opportunity to hit Bondi beach! It was so beautiful! The water was nice and cold.  :-) Look at how clear it is though!!!

Nothing like a rejuvenating day at the beach with the love of your life! :-)

In one of the many public parks, we stumbled upon this HUGE chess game in the middle of the park! The Aviator kicked my butt once and then this kind old man offered to give the Aviator a taste of that medicine! It was awesome!  The Aviator definitely met his match that day!

After spending one week in Australia, we hopped on over to Auckland, New Zealand.  Our first stop while in Auckland was Waiheke Island.  It was beautiful!  They have a Live Music Museum that we were both really excited to visit!  The piano pictured above belonged to a famous pianist and was left in Auckland by him when he had to leave on short notice a while ago.  It's VERY old and VERY beautiful!  The best part about this museum is that you are allowed to play the instruments! 

After the museum and lunch, we headed down to the beach.  While we were there, this dog adopted us to play with her! I was trying to just take a picture of the Aviator with the water in front of him but this mutt had other  plans! 

After visiting Auckland we hopped down to the South island and visited Nelson where my lovely cousin and her adorable family live!  This is the view from the cottage we stayed in at Harris Hill Cottages.  Sue and Mike Harris are absolute sweet hearts! 

Tom.  We love this dog. :-)

Tallest rosemary plant I've ever seen in my life!! It smelled AMAZING! ;-)

How would you like to wake up to this face every morning? Beautiful!

The Aviator and I really wanted to get in to the skies, for different reasons of course!  His reason was for fun and my reason was for reliving one of my favorite memories together! This is a panoramic view from the cockpit.  We were able to have my fantastic cousin Meghan join us for the flight! It was breathtaking! 

Boulder Lake

Coastal cliffs.  

The Centre of New Zealand! :-)