Christmas and Things

We had a great Christmas ourselves, so glad to have everyone home this year, what a blessing. After serving all the children with the "Box of Love" ministry, we had already been blessed greatly, and with our new home, what a treat to get moved in and unpacked, had a few open house parties, then for Christmas Day and beyond.
Ben and Andy got new watches and wanted to try them out in the darkness of the pantry. It looks more like they are high jacking Caleb.......
Juda was not sure about coming down for Christmas morning. He finally did and enjoyed.
Look what we found in the box of packing peanuts, a different kind of peanut.

Andy offering his morning drink of choice to Caleb as they wait for Juda to come down from the stairs.
Little by little we are gathering for the morning festivities.
Okay, okay, now we are talking fun. Once he got his sights on his new bike, he was ready for the party.
Bethany's first deodorant, strawberry freshness.
Ben and Andy wrapped Caleb's gift in a box then zip tied it multiple times. It was a challenge to get into.....

This must be the encouraging wave for Caleb to keep on cutting, pulling, opening his gift.
We tried to tell Andy, "It is a WATCH, not a TELESCOPE", he is usually a smart guy, but there is always that time or two that we doubt.
Juda quietly picking out the cashews......
The prize behind all the zip ties, tape, etc......
B ball for the little ones.......
A new weight lifting exercise......
Tom was so excited to get his gift from the boys......a new grill......not sure what was more fun.....opening it or putting it together......none the less......the fun now is using it.
Madagascar was the viewing pleasure.....that topped the bike.....
Although, putting together and taking apart his truck was a close top hit too, even among the big boys................
Tom tried to convince us he was reading the directions to the new game by osmosis.....Brody said...NOT
In between delivering "Boxes of Love" we were able to get moved into our new home and put up the tree......with the help of the cats.



This is probably the last picture we have of Juda in his "Harry Potter" glasses before he twisted them for the last time......then we were onto our 5th pair of glasses. The supply here on base is getting narrow, although we are keeping the vendor in business...glad we can be of help to his economy.

We've been P ing!!!

PARTYING...Tomo turned 2, Juda turned 8, Caleb turned 19 and Andy turned 24.....(more pics to come)
PACKING....to move next week 3 doors down the street to a new house...................
PRESENTING....a new baby to the Kuba family.....................
PREPARING...the "Box of Love" gifts.....................
PASSING OUT the "Box of Love" gifts to the children of Okinawa.........
Check out our other blog @ www.boxofloveokinawa.blogspot.com to see how God is blessing this outreach ministry once again. What a mighty God we serve.........

Long time no see!!!

I'm sure to you it seems we've been hiding out over here in Okinawa kindof like Tomo is hiding out in Andy's shirt, however, it is not true............................
Maybe it seems to you we've been over here taking cat naps, however.........................


For some of us this is obviously true..................

Jiffy Pop, Jiffy Pop......

I couldn't resist posting this one of Tomo giggling. He is so funny these days and laughs alot. We are seeing such a funny personality emerge, what a character to add to our collection.
This was a trip to the park this summer. Andy has his hands full for sure. We look forward to seeing him return from Korea in a few days after a being gone a month. We will celebrate his 24th Bday with all the trimmings. In case you are wondering it is Japanese culture to give "Peace" signs in photos. Juda's peace sign looks more like the number three in japanese. He holds up fingers #2,3,4 instead of fingers #1,2. Well, there's always got to be one in the crowd that is different and yes, it is Juda. Andy thought he'd join him to not make him feel so different, ha ha ha. How does it go, "Jiffy Pop, Jiffy Pop, the magical treat, so fun to make and more fun to eat". That is so 70's, my mind doesn't go back that far, I was just a babe then, ha haha. We were getting ready for a typhoon to hit, got our supplies together, ramen noodles, chocolate, jiffy pop. You know, you need these things to survive when loosing power. I thought, we can always fire up the grill and pop some pop corn, ha haha. Not really thinking that who is going to brave the wind and rain and go outside to grill popcorn, so.....we got into the survival kit and popped the corn. Fortunately the typhoon missed us, no doubt the chocolate is gone from the kit as well....wonder how that happened.

My how time goes by!!

Technology wizards at work
I can't believe, I have climbed Mt. Fuji!
Neighborhood BBQ and Water Gun Battle to celebrate the end of summer and to celebrate the long recovery of a near fatal motorcycle accident of our neighbor and friend Bull that happened a year ago. Can you guess why he's called Bull.
Juda getting ready to dance to his favorite VBS tunes.
God Bless America

Loosing teeth while brushing, somethings wrong with that.
Giant baby takes over tunnel
Summer Tea Party Fun with friends.
Water Park Fun
Lego building project

Inline Skate practice, nonetheless in the living room, on the carpet, in PINK.
Watching our house grow, two more levels to go. The door to the left of the pic is to the grocery store. Can't get much closer than that to convenience. Adds new meaning to "Go next door for a cup of sugar"!
First day of "2nd Grade"
Enjoying the zip line at the beach at night. Much cooler under the moon, vs. under the sun.
Jerry Seinfield has nothing on bee, I mean me.

This is taste like gold, no no no, it is worth gold, it is watermelon. At $20 a melon, it is gold.
Cat nap anyone.
"That's my brother and I love him soooooo." "How does he keep that glass on his face"?

"MMMMMMgooooood, we wish it was our Birthday"
Oh, the element of surprise, watch out Tomo.
Savoring the flavor, it doesn't come in this form very often.

I don't know where it went, I just know it is gone. The summer was just here, school was out, we were in the summer library reading program and now, we are a month into the new school year. Wooo!!!! I don't think it is a dream, but then again, you never know!! Summer was great, with 100+ books read, Little House in the Big Woods and on the Prairie being just a few of them. Since that accomplishment, we are now watching the TV Series, what a wholesome way to spend some time with Bethany. She just loves Pa and Laura and she can't believe that I actually met him once and have a picture with him. I'll dig around, probably won't find it here, sure it is in storage, no, really, I promise I do have one somewhere, Andy is in it also as a 4 year old. Lots of pool time in the cool of the evening with Andy after work. We didn't dare try sizzling in the hot daytime sun. Craft projects weekly, from building Mr. Bones, to making a Garden Flower Fairy from a kit given to Bethany on her Birthday. VBS was definitely a highlight with "Outrigger Island". Juda LOVED the songs and signs for them. He still enjoys the CD and dances and praises the Lord with his favorite "Yahweh". Tomoyuki is speed crawling, climbing stairs, creeping along the furniture and laughing with a mouthful of teeth. Andy is in Korea training, Ben is in the Fall semester and working, Caleb is working and beginning an online class with Mount Olive College in order to gather a few credits to be eligible for the Air Force. Tom is returning home from Iwakuni today after a few weeks there. God is blessing Ai no Kesshin with some breakthroughs with getting the Free Dial Card in a clinic, reaching some passionate folks and joining with them in prayer about the children of Okinawa and how to find and reach them. Getting back into a routine with volunteering activities in an attempt to meet the needs around us. Enjoyed another neighborhood BBQ and Water Gun Battle to end the summer. Watching our house on the corner grow. Projected date of completion is in December.

Welcome to Okinawa "Home" Andy

We welcomed Andy back home on my birthday, great gift idea. So I'm only about 2 months behind on posting, so sorry. But with Andy's arrival also came summer and and all the fun that comes along with it. Andy is doing so well and looking so good. We see him on weekends and sometimes during the week. Just last week he went with us to the "Twilight Swim" at one of the base pools. We do allow him to have a life of his own, it is hard for us, but we are getting better, ha ha ha. I will post more pics ASAP as I don't want to get behind anymore. A few highlights/news is we are officially a FARM now. Having a dog, two cats, one indoor and one outdoor. In Japan this certainly qualifies you as a Loony Farm nonetheless. So, we try to live up to the expectations of our peers. Although, now that the dog and cat aren't out to kill each other and are very civil, life is manageable. Upon the ending of school, we immediately made a mad dash for OKUMA Resort and spent a week, just the 5 of us. Tom and I are getting old as we got up early, played in the water for a few ours, brought the kids in for food, reading, crafts, naps (us too), then out again in late afternoon for more water fun. Even at that Bethany started out as a Japanese princess, ending up looking like an Hawaiian princess all brown and beautiful. And this was with layers of sunscreen. The past few weeks have been filled with summer school for Juda and summer home school activities for Bethany along with many visits to the library for summer reading programs. Water park visits, pool visits, fireworks demo in the front yard for the 4th etc.......We continue to meet many new Japanese folks, bringing them home with us and hoping they'll come back again, ha ha ha. Oh, did I mention we will be moving in Dec. So stay tuned to the blog to here more about that. Tomoyuki is crawling and doing a great job at it, getting into the dog/cat bowls, etc....... The Ai no Kesshin Ministry is going strong and keeping us busy, just the way we like it. Pray for birthmothers that they will choose life for their babies and that if they can't raise them to please not put them in orphanages, to let us place them in christian homes. We seem to be getting so close to some mighty work here and it is exciting for us, still with lots of hard work ahead. All our children are doing quite well and are all healthy at present time, which makes for a happy household. More to come, keep watching for some pics, I'll do my best. Oh, one more thing.....we have an up and coming model/models among us, take a look at the pic again and see if you can guess who it is. Keep checking the blog for more late and breaking news.