Oh Noooooo!

Tomoyuki sporting his new bed. No more back aches for me, he says.

Bethany and Juda sporting their new bedroom. Woooooo, been a long time coming.

Tom, Bethany and Tomoyuki. I find them like this often.

"First a bow then a dress, I know how Bethany operates, I've seen Juda during dress up time", so says Tomoyuki.

But, I still love her dearly, and she loves me, even tho I am just a toy to her.

Mia, Casey, Bethany, Juda and a new friend at a nearby park.

Tom, Bethany and Tomoyuki before I dropped the camera on Tomoyuki's head, they seem so happy.

Tomoyuki after I dropped the camera on his head, fortunately for him it is a small camera.

Michiko and her husband enjoying Tomoyuki. They were so sweet to visit Tomoyuki when he was in the hospital too.

Chihiro Katsuren and Bethany sharing homemade ice cream.

Well...................I've done it again, gotten so busy and have neglected posting. We have all been semi sick, you know when your not sick enough to spend time in bed, but not full functioning either and it seems to be lingering and starting the cycle over again, yukkkkk. Tomoyuki is much stronger this go round and is managing quite well. We did however make a trip to the ER the other night, and after a chest x-ray, we returned home much more confident that he was going to be fine.

Our friends the Katsuren's daughter went to Seattle this summer for a few weeks for a home stay. Upon her return we offered to prepare a meal for her of her favorite american dish she had while there. She requested Spaghetti and homemade ice cream for dessert. Well the spaghetti part was a given, but I don't have an ice cream freezer any longer. After a few phone calls we acquired one from none other than an American family friend. The evening was great fun. We were blessed with their entire family and our neighbors Candy and Cho to translate for us. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Last week was full with paperwork and meetings. Our Saturday morning started off with breakfast for our english class. We had plenty of waffles and such so Candy and Cho came down to join us after the boys ate their fill. During breakfast, one of the upstairs bedroom air conditioners was being replaced, well overdue, a month now with no air in that room therefore no one would stay in it, who would be so daring to sleep in a sauna. So in the afternoon, once the upstairs rooms cooled off we began the "Bedroom Shuffle". You see during the down time of the A/C, Ben moved in with Caleb and Juda moved in with us, (US, being me, Tom, Bethany and Tomoyuki) so yes, you counted right, 5 in one room. What would Extreme Makeover think of us, certainly they would build us a bigger house with American ratings of one person per room. Anyway, we moved Ben and Caleb into the bigger of the two non-master bedrooms, moved Bethany and Juda into the smaller of the non-master bedrooms and kept Tomoyuki in our bedroom, but assembled his new crib that someone from church so generously gave us recently. First time for a "Baby Crib" in 18 years. Yes, that is right, Juda nor Bethany ever used a "Baby Crib", we moved so often when they were little that they slept in "Porta Cribs", poor things. Tomoyuki had to be woken up on Sunday morning, he claimed that for the 4 months he's been here sleeping in the porta crib with a back ache, that he slept like a baby. Yeah right, we didn't believe him, because he always sleeps like a baby, all night long, that is why we are able to go so strong by day, because he gives us a great night sleep.

Yesterday was a big day for our church. We had our first service in our temporary location (probably 9 months). 4 of the 8 Japanese ladies who are in our Sunday school class came over for lunch then bible study, then we whisked off to the ground breaking ceremony for the building of our new church, completion date projected to be March/April/May time frame. It is so exciting to see God at work, answering many/many prayers regarding Koza Baptist Church. Today was the beginning of the demolition of the old Koza church, what a time we live in, how exciting.

Smith Updates

Tomoyuki reading to Bethany, yeah right, he's not even looking at the book.....

Bethany reading to Tomoyuki, that's more like it................

Junko, Shoko and Baby Saran on our way, in the typhoon, to the family court to file Tomoyuki's petition for adoption.

Juda sharing his favorite book, "Go Dog Go" with his first grade class.

Juda trying to decide who to call on for questions to ask him about himself.

Just wanted to update the blog with the goings on of the Smith Clan. Been busy with the school year starting up and both Bethany and Juda are doing quite well adjusting to the new schedule. Tomoyuki and I are staying quite busy by day while they are in school. We have been able to get alot of things caught up at the house, ie...spring cleaning (after summer vacation cleaning) and some Ai no Kesshin work. He is really blossoming since he is staying well. He is now eating bananas on a regular basis with oatmeal cereal, green peas are one of his favorites, imagine that. He is grabing at everything in his reach, jibber jabbering all the time with da da da , blah, blah, blah. Always in response to some silly question we ask him, he is keeping us laughing. Yesterday we went to have our weekly Thursday lunch with Bethany and Juda and before lunch we went to Juda's 1st grade class that he spends a little bit of time daily with. It was his turn to be interviewed, ie, favorite color, favorite toy, what do you want to be when you grow up etc.....he did quite well with signing his answers, we are so proud of him. I shared with his class about Down Syndrome, the class was great at asking good questions and understanding the answers. They are so good to Juda and love interacting with him, as he is quite a funny fellow.

Junko, Shoko and baby Saran went with me today to fileTomoyuki's petition for adoption in the Okinawa Family Court. The clerk said he has never filed a petition for adoption and quite possibly that office has not processed one since Bethany's 5 1/2 years ago. WOW....He was not quite up to snuff with the way the process works. For instance, he thought we wanted to adopt Tomoyuki and Tomoyuki's birth parents......Junko tried her best not to laugh, she didn't tell me what he said until we got back to the car, probably because she knew I would laugh out loud, she knows me oh too well. We spent an hour with this clerk and walked him through the process ourselves. He was a little embarrassed that he did not know the process, however, he did have a manual to check from and sure enough, we were guiding him correctly.

Bethany is so excited about school and reading. She wants to set our books up just like the school library, and she is serious. We bought stickers to put on the binding of all their books. She says the easy readers should have "A" on them and as they get harder move onto "B", "C", etc..... sounds like a plan to me. So we made the first step toward running our own library and bought the stickers.....maybe during this typhoon we'll get motivated to open the library.

We are currently in TC1, or Typhoon Condition 1, as a typhoon is approaching Okinawa, and so is Tom. He should be in Tokyo now, returning from a week in Chicago at a conference and visiting with Andy. We are hoping that he will be able to make his way back tonight, if not, he will stay in Tokyo til the Typhoon literally blows over.

First Day of School and some

Yes, they are all growing up. Juda and Bethany are in 1st grade, not together, but they see each other often throughout the day, this helps Bethany out tremendously, and me too!

As we make our way to school for the first time for Bethany. Juda is an old pro at this since this is his 4th year going. I managed to not cry........at least not in front of Bethany.

Mr. Kenny is Juda's teacher again this year. He is picking up where they left off a few months ago, we are so pleased with Juda and his teacher/aids and his progress.

Bethany's classroom. She is in the middle of the pic in red. She is sitting beside Sam, a very sweet boy. So far all is going well, we have just completed week one though. It was a great week, I made my way in there on Thursday and had lunch and recess with the two of them. Their lunch time overlaps, makes it nice for me, I don't need to eat lunch twice.

Juda got a much needed accessory in the mail this week. He was so funny looking around the house, opening the door to look outside, at night he looked up at the stars. We will begin wearing them gradually as the first thing he wants to do is take them off. It will be a challenge, but nonetheless, we will work through it.

Technically Tomoyuki is not sitting up on his own. It is just a technicality, called a laundry basket. We are in between stages. He is not satisfied to lay on the floor and roll around, the swing doesn't offer him much exercise, just entertainment, so I put him in the laundry basket, that lasted about 1/2 an hour of fun and enjoyment. He is wanting to grow up. I guess that is warranted as he is 9 1/2 months.

A few days in Shizuoka Japan

Well....We finally made it to Shizuoka to spend a few days with the Gordon family and to pick up some much needed paperwork to get Tomoyuki's adoption started and filed in the family court of Okinawa. Of course there always has to be some excitement, so how about SPOTS (they were bright red, this pic does not reveal the full effect) . Upon our arrival to Japan I noticed a few spots breaking out on Tomoyuki. As we drove to the Gordon's (2+ hours from Tokyo) I mentioned to Micah, "Does it look like there are more and more spots appearing on Tomoyuki??" Well, yes, there were. So many that when we arrived, Sarah thought he might have the "Chicken Pox" and we took him to the DR. before we could let him be around too many folks/babies. As it turned out, he had the "Summer Flu" a great virus with a 24 hour fever then some folks get spots like Tomoyuki. Sadly enough, we did leave the virus in Shizuoka and the Gordon's are dealing with it presently.

Here we are preparing to be entertained by Hannah and her ballerina's, of course enjoying a cup of tea and cookies while we wait. There is no such thing as "Tea for Two" at the Gordon's, it is more like "Tea for Twenty Two"!!!

Hanah, Emma, Bethany and Aya entertaining us and doing such a fantastic job.

Juda felt a little left out and thought he'd give it a try.

Madi, Kaz and Jason trying their best to enjoy such a femine event.

Erica getting her neck scratched by Tomoyuki while Ricky, the head of this household, tries to relax for a moment.

Bessy enjoying the most recent Ai no Kesshin baby girl. She was the smallest baby I'd ever held, so precious. Bethany told Sarah, "I know we can't have this one, but can we have a baby girl this small some day?"

Mason, Ando, Akihiro and Megumi preparing dinner. What a well run household.

Ako, Sarah, Micah and Lou working hard on paperwork, well Micah was taking care of the baby.

Akihiro and Micah, my means of transportation upon arriving in Tokyo. They did such a good job finding me at the airport and getting us safely to Shizuoka. Good driving Akihiro and good talking Micah, to keep Akihiro awake and me informed and updated on everyone.

Ando tried from the minute Juda walked in the door to be friends. But Juda was a bit overwhelmed with the whole event that he just wanted to do his own thing. This is on our way out the door to head back to Okinawa. Thanks for not giving up Ando, you two will be friends for life.

Baby Einstein entertaining Tomoyuki and Shouta while the baby girl sleeps away. Actually, I think Shouta is more entertained by his own hand at this point. His arm is casted due to surgery on his hand. They made the cast so big so he wouldn't pick it up and hurt himself with it. They underestimated him, he was able to wack himself pretty good a few times.

Dr. Juda checking out Tomoyuki.

Ballerina girls, oh so beautiful.

Everyone flew like champs. Good to know before we head to America in December. Of course this 2+ hour flight is no comparison to a 14 + hour one, woooooo, looking forward to that.

Dog's - Man's best friend

Enjoying another Saturday afternoon at Pallet, this was Tom's first visit, he had so much fun with the children. We did not have a translator today, we managed. Again, no telling what we agreed to, we think we are invited back in two weeks, we'll see. Tom and Shuji pretending to be FROGS.

Fuji was not sure about the dogs and preferred to be held.

The children loved rubbing and petting the dogs as they were so soft. They also enjoyed throwing their balls for them to catch/chase/retrieve.

Asatosan thanking us for coming to"Pallet" again today with Elizabeth and her therpay dogs. Two beautiful French Poodles, Alex and Kallie. The kids and the adults loved them. Big dogs are not the usual pet for Japanese folks. They like the toy class of dog much better, fits better in their houses/cars/arms. So we weren't sure how they would react to such large dogs, but they are trained therapy dogs and did a great job and are invited back in two weeks, at least that is what we think.

Nana loving on Tomoyuki. We said Tomoyuki was a therapy baby for these children, they loved on him just like before.

These girls live in the neighborhood and spend as much time as they can at Pallet. Just what Asatosan wants from the community.

Juda went immediately to the big trucks and made himself at home.

Mad dash to OKUMA

We finally made a trip to the Aquarium on island. It was great. I think every Japanese person from mainland was there too. A few times we lost sight of Bethany, kindof scary. There is always hope of us standing out for her benefit as she certainly blends in.

Juda must be thinking to himself, "What is so PEACEful about these big sharks."

"Garden Eels", were exactly what they looked like. As if someone had planted them in the sand just a few inches apart from each other with there heads bobbing around saying "HELP", get me out of this garden of sand".

Juda is attempting to "Peace" us, however it didn't work. Check out those HUGE fish in the tank.

HOT, while waiting to see the Dolphin show.

There is that "Peace" sign we were looking for.

My cheeks look a little flushed don't you think.

One of the blessings of being on Okinawa is the beautiful view of the ocean we get to experience daily.

We spent a few days/nights at Okuma and enjoyed the nearly private beaches. I tried to capture a "Rainbow" that was bowing over this hillside, but it faded faster than my battery.

But I did capture this rainbow fish. She is a mermaid, truly.

Juda is getting more and more sure of himself in the water. He is trying body boarding here. Not really, I think he fell down, with a smile no doubt.

Washing off their beach treasures to bring home.

We made a mad dash to Okuma before school starts in a week. Usually they are all booked up, but we were so glad some folks cancelled at the last minute and we got to enjoy for three nights and 4 days. Ben was able to join for one night, then back to work, Caleb stayed for two and helped us with Tomoyuki during the day, allowing him to nap and Caleb to watch movies in the A/C while we played in the sun with Bethany and Juda. What a very relaxing vacation we had, no phone, no cell phone either (I forgot the charger, nothing new for me). Just fun/fun/fun.

We were taking "Funny Fotos" and captured this one, kindof like those up close photos of pets with big noses.

That Juda, always clowning around, even on Ben's head.

It wouldn't be a vacation complete without "Putt Putt" Golf. Let's just say, it was an adventure to play with Juda.

Say "Cheese" or is it say "Yuk".

Do you see the resemblance of father and son. Check out Juda's hand wrapped around Tom's neck, what a guy.