(Note: I wrote this post on Oct.24, and it is only now actually getting posted... so I will have to update again soon. Also, the "belly shot" of me was from when I was 25.5 weeks pregnant, and I am now almost 31.5 weeks, so let's just say that I don't exactly look the same right now, just so we're up front and honest here.)
Once again, time just passes by so quickly. I thought I'd better go ahead and update the blog, since otherwise it would just get too far gone and I would never do it. In the last month and a half, Hyatt has turned 30 (on September 30th!), his parents came to visit, Kaiya learned to walk much faster (she probably thinks it is running), the last of our "gang" moved away, I have grown a lot bigger (the baby inside me probably has, too), we started the Daniel study (Beth Moore) in my bible study, and Hyatt has cracked down on his GRE studies (he writes the test on Nov.6).
That's pretty much life in a nutshell. We're sad that our friends are gone, but God has been so faithful. Much tears were shed when Brett and Tiffany flew out (and before, and after...), but as much as I had dreaded that time, God has really brought other friends to the forefront and is allowing us to develop new relationships that maybe we would not have otherwise. All that to say that once again, God is good, and that once again, when I couldn't imagine how He could make us feel surrounded by family while we're over here in Japan and ready to have another baby this far away from most of our support, He has surpassed what I could have imagined. My friend, Rachel, has gone through doula training and will be our doula - major answer to prayer, as our doula moved at the beginning of October. Our dear friend, Abi, has booked a plane ticket to come visit in January, right over the time of the due date, so chances are that she will be here for the birth (again!). And we have had so many new people join our church recently - and not only join, but jump right in and get involved in things. So, that has been another answer to prayer. So many more women for me to be friends with, too! I'm just feeling very thankful.
Now I will let pictures tell the story. Well, one more thing. For Hyatt's birthday, he had requested 2 things. He wanted to go surfing, and he wanted chocolate banana parfaits from the Cakehouse. Well, we drove all the way to the beach in Hachinohe (the military people aren't allowed to go in the ocean north of Hachinohe because of strong rip currents and some people who made them make the rule for everyone a couple of years ago) and there were NO waves. Not even little baby ones. That was a bummer, but we still had a fun time walking along the coast on a trail that we had wanted to explore for a long time but had never had the chance. We also went to the "aquarium" in Hachinohe, which we have wanted to check out since we first drove past it. Well, the highlight there was that we saw a fish die! I thought that Hyatt was just joking about it dying - we had seen it floating vertically instead of swimming horizontally... but he saw them come and scoop it out of the tank! It's just not everyday that you see that at an aquarium (probably because most aquariums would take care of that kind of stuff at night time, but still). We grilled sausages for dinner, and then headed to the Cakehouse for our parfaits... but they were closing! So, no surfing, and no Cakehouse chocolate banana parfaits. We ended up going to Coco's and having their version of the parfait instead. So, there was Hyatt's 30th. Not what we had planned, but a fun day with his parents and Brett and Tiffany, anyways.
Alright, now for a few pictures of life the last month and a half...
