Arizona?

Can you believe this is the forecast for Mount Lemmon? It had 1/2" of snow this morning. :) No, Dave did not got snowboarding yet.

True Fans

Go Irish!

Thanks to Johnny, we have this year's "The Shirt" from Notre Dame. :) We wore them on Saturday, November 25, for the game against USC. We watched the game until the very last second, even though it was quite painful. It is truly tiring to lose to SC AGAIN!

It's okay--we will continue to cheer for the Irish.

Cheer, cheer for ole Notre Dame! Cheer with us (click on the "us")!

Oh, no!

It was difficult watching the Irish lose (again!) to USC this past Saturday. Our little Irish girl stayed up to cheer. She loves watching Mommy do the Irish jig when the Irish score. Unfortunately, there weren't enough of them for victory in this last regular season game of 2006. :(

Give Thanks

We are so grateful that God provides a family for us wherever he takes us. Here in Arizona, the chapel community has embraced us as ohana--family--and for that, we are truly grateful. :)

We enjoyed having The Ground Floor (ministry for young airmen) community come over for Thanksgiving Day. It made me feel at home with all the people milling about. :) Hey, and I didn't have to cook any of the 3 birds (Well, I did make shoyu chicken in addition to them, though.).

Every place we move to makes us miss the people we used to celebrate with in the past: family in Vermont & Hawai'i, the Hospitality House family, our international family in the Kentuckiana area (especially Jian & Jill), & our Crossroads to the Nations family. However, we are constantly awed by God's provision to allow us to serve him in another part of his family whenever he takes us away to a new place.

1st Annual Turkey Bowl for the Ground Floor

On the 23rd of November, Dave gathered some friends gathered before the feast to make room for some turkey. Without a coin, they tossed a dollar bill to see--heads or tails?--which team would get to kick off. They enjoyed it so much they went to work off some of the feast after the meal as well. :)

God also painted a beautiful sunset that day. Alas--it's printed in our minds, since we don't have it captured to post.

Hi, Auntie Jung Min! :)

A Tribute To Uncle Johnny

Can you see the writing on Zayne's outfit? "Little Stinker" is a tribute to Uncle Johnny for several reasons, but here are two main ones.
1. Uncle Johnny teaches children (to the parents' chagrin) the true meaning of flatulence.
2. When Uncle Johnny was living in Indiana with his sister and brother-in-law, a skunk sprayed Uncle Johnny as he road home on his bicycle one hot, summer evening. Yikes! Uncle Johnny and the house smelled like the stinky critter for WEEKS! Mon called Dave's mom for advice, for there are no skunks in Hawai'i. Advice: Skunk-be-gone (or something like that) works tremendously with the tomato juice/sauce.

Bug-Eyed

What goes up . . .

Whew--came down nicely! Chaplain Dave did ministry on Saturday, November 18th at Marana Skydiving Center by jumping out of a former crop plane. About 17 people from the base did the jump, and Dave's friend from a chaplain school--Chaplain Rick, serving in New Mexico--jumped from the same plane. :)

It was Dave's second skydiving adventure, and he is looking forward to serving the Lord in similar ways in the future. :) Makana thought it was cool that Daddy had a huge balloon attached to him as he came down. :)

The S . . . Word

Today in our Ephesians Bible study, our leader asked how 5.22ff are linked with the previous verses. "Wives, s . . . to your own husbands" seems to stump the North American female today. Why? Because we've worked so hard to lessen the gap of disparity.

However, as Dave always remembers to link 5.21 with 5.22ff: "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ," I also like to go back to 5.1, where Paul exhorts us to be imitators of God. V 18 also tells us to "be filled with the Spirit." If that is the case, within the triune Godhead, there is submission. Jesus submits to the Father. The Spirit is sent by Jesus. If I am to be a true imitator of God, an image-bearer of God, I should be willing to submit according to his design in my marriage.

Gladly.

Happy Birthday, Donna! :)

Happy Birthday, Donna! :)

We love you and hope you have a blessed next year! Perhaps AJ and Dominic will be good to their Mommy today?

Thank you for being a great sister and aunt! :)

(BTW--You look great!)

A Gift by any Other Name . . .

How did we come to name Makana? Loooong story, but here's the quickie of it.

Dave and I could not agree on an English name; there were too many name-associations (like word-associations). The names I liked for biblical reasons, Dave didn't like because of pop-culture ones. I thought the ones he liked were either TOO common (especially amongst Christian circles) or reminded me of former students (we'll leave it at that).

We were forced to choose a name in April in order for us to be considered in the Marshall Islands. Dave also wanted to name our daughter after me. If you know anything about me and how I feel cheated regarding my name, that idea did not sit well. I had always liked the name Makana, as it means "gift." Dave actually liked it, even without me pointing out that it has the same phonetic consonants as my name.

Having a child has truly been a process we could not really plan nor coerce into happening. Our child is a gift. We could not earn her nor deserve her into being. God has given her to us. (True, we had to fill out all the paperwork, ETC., but it was in God's timing and matching.) Thank you, God! BTW--Dave likes to remind people that a definition of "grace" is that we could never earn it nor deserve it. More on that to come. :)

Happy Birthday, Lisa! :)

Hau'oli La Hanau! Otanjoobi Omedetoo Gozaimasu! :)
To my sister whom I followed around relentlessly as a child: sorry for tagging along! At least you know you were loved by your little sis' to the point that I followed you to kindergarten when I wouldn't stop crying for you at pre-school.

Things I remember you liked as a child: purple (any shade of it), lace (You had your lacey blanket.), pickles, to be the doctor when we played hospital, to be the mommy when we played house, and to be the teacher when we played school. :)

Have a wonderful birthday! :)

Makana's Eyes: Kason's Perspective

Kason: Grandma, everybody has different size eyes.
Grandma: Yes, Kason.
Kason: Grandma, you have the BIGGEST eyes, and Makana has the smallest!

(Mom + I figured Kason must be including Grandma's big glasses in his calculation of her eyes. Perhaps?!)

Happy Camper :)

The first weekend of October found us camping with about 50 military people on Mt. Lemmon. Dave was the sponsoring chaplain speaker, or something like that, and it was fun to be out in the low 40 degree weather (at night). Makana, as usual, was a happy camper. She is quite amenable to all sorts of situations. :)

She enjoyed the 3+ mile hike through a beautiful area that allowed us to see some fall foliage--in Arizona! Makana was fascinated by the bon fire and ate up all the attention she received from her "aunties and uncles" from Davis-Monthan AFB, Luke AFB, and Yuma Marine Camp.

Things we feared:
1. We'd run out of food, diapers, etc. When Makana's on the road, her tummy tends to get a little hungrier than normal.
2. Makana would be too cold.
3. Makana would feel uncomfortable with all the new faces at the campground.
4. She would start to not like the hike about halfway through. Yes, there is turning back, but it would have been just as long as proceeding forward.

Once again, God is gracious. None of our fears were realized! Actually, the second one was, but Daddy gave up his sleeping bag in the middle of Saturday night for his baby. The Vermonter toughed it out. (We had lots of wee wittle blankies for Daddy to use!)

A Lesson from Makana

As you can see, Makana is not lacking in calories or nutrients. Sometimes, however, when she cries, I need to tell her, "Baby, you are not dying of starvation. You just ate 3 hours ago." At that point, she is not in the reasoning mode, though, and she just cries all the more, sounding like she has been deprived of food and drink for days. When she sees her bowl of poi and veggies or cereal and fruit, she leans over toward it, batting her hand to try as hard as she can to get it. As she sits in her chair, waiting for me to place the spoon in her mouth, she opens it fully, exposing her tonsils. She actually made my mom laugh hardily, for even after having raised 7 children and watched so many more, Mom had never seen a child so prepared to receive the food about to enter her mouth.

One might think that after the first bite or so, Makana would settle down and not be as excited nor ready for the next spoonfuls. Oh, so wrong! Many times, she sits there, scolding me (as she does her Uncle Johnny, although I must say, Uncle Johnny deserves his . . .), with her mouth wide open. Makana's also been observing all the adults around her eat. When she gets her mushy concoction in her mouth, she chews on it with her gums, more than necessary for ample digestion.

After her meal, she looks at her bottle and goes into her scolding voice again until she gets at least an ounce of milk into her system. All the while, she makes little noises, implying, "Finally!"

God is exceedingly gracious! Mommyhood does not usually bring the luxury of spending uninterrupted time with the Lord as I had in the past (except for when I decide to stay up at 2:30 or 3:00 am sometimes). He has challenged me to "hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matthew 5.6) through my child. Do I crave spiritual food as much as Makana does physical food? If I miss a "feeding" of his nourishing word, do I go into withdrawals and yearn after it, understanding that it is my food for life? Do I thirst after him as though I will wither with weakness from dehydration? Do I chew (thanks, Krista H!)--meditate--on God's Word as I take it in? Does the first morsel of God's Word make me desire more of it? "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!" (Psalm 34.8). Am I merely satisfied with a morsel of his truth, or do I go after his feast he offers?

Theology in a Football Game

Last night during the U of L (vs WV--GOOOOO CARDS!) football game, the announcer commented on one of the players who had previously fumbled the ball but just made a wonderful catch, "He just atoned for his previous mistake with this great catch!" (mon's paraphrase) He was hailed for his talent.
That naturally made me think of my atonement. No matter what I do, I CANNOT atone for my mistakes, aka sins. Humbling. No praise for me. All praise to God. :)

Grandparents

Are grandparents truly there to spoil their grandchildren? If spoiling is loving the grandchild abundantly, missing her tremendously, doting over her in person or via picture, then I'd surmise that Makana is definitely SPOILED. :)

Makana loves her Grandpa Morris and Gigi (Grandma Grace) in Vermont. They visited for a few days in September. It was great to see Makana's reaction to Grandpa when he picked her up. She looked at him as though he was very familiar. She always seemed to react to him in the manner she responds to Dave. Makana can recognize Gigi's voice on the phone. She started to kick her legs and flail her arms when she heard Gigi's sister Auntie Jeanne on the speaker phone. Auntie Jeanne sounded just like her Gigi.

Mon's Mom was able to come back with the two girls from Hawai'i and stayed for 6 weeks. We had a great time together. Makana was able to see Grandma in her curlers quite often. The first time Makana saw the blue rollers in Grandma's hair brought an initial look of confusion and then a laugh of recognition of her Grandma. Grandma had 2 extra rollers and placed them in Makana's hair; the little girl thought it was funny! (Isn't it amazing at 5.5 months she has enough hair for these rollers?)

Papa (Mon's Dad) is half Marshallese and very proud of his Marshallese granddaughter. From the moment he discovered the adoption was even a thought, he relished the thought of having a daughter come from his father's homeland. He kept saying, "I cannot wait until you go to the Marshall Islands to get my grandchild." He says he keeps Makana's pictures by his bedside and looks at them every night.

It is amazing how Makana knows her relatives, especially her grandparents. She took to them all immediately. :) Praise be to God!

(Okay, here I go again! I can't seem to get the pics right.)

Chaplain Dad

In the last six months, God has blessed me with two new roles (Active Duty Chaplain and Dad). Let me begin by saying I am loving both. I would argue they were both in the works before the creation of the world in my understanding of God's sovereignty. Through much prayer and paperwork, Monica and I (as well as countless others who have known our heartbeat) have been on this faith journey together.
As chaplain in the United States Air Force and father of Makana, I see these roles having similiar meaning and responsibility. I long to see true worshippers from every people around the globe. I pray that my vision and passion is in synche with God's . . . mainly to make disciples, who will, as they are going . . . reaching, training, and sending out others to live out the rest of their lives with the same Great Commission mindset which is found in Matthew 28:18-20. I am being stretched and molded for God's glory each day. Please pray for me as I try to live out both of these new roles in a way that honors Him.

Lessons learned in the past few months:
-I can do neither role well without God's moment by moment grace.
-Prayer is essential.
-Monica is a superhero: Mom, Missionary, Military wife.
-Diapers/Bottles/Baby Einstein/The trust of a child.
-Gas Masks are great tools but when you have a plogged nose and dry throat it becomes a bad situation.
-Arizona rivers don't usually have water in them.

Not Quite Celebrities!

On my plane ride from Honolulu to Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, I sat next to two sisters and their children. The sisters grew up in the RMI but now live in Hawai'i. They are hapa (in Hawaiian, what we call a half Caucasian, half something else mix), and they spoke English and Marshallese fluently. I asked them what I should do in the Marshalls since I was to be there for at least a month. As a result, they called me up at the hotel and asked if Makana and I wanted to go on a "picnic" with them. Surely! They actually took us on a boat to another island that their family owns. :) We spent the afternoon there and had a great time! We met some of their other relatives and friends that day as well. It felt like I was back in Hawai'i, when people just invite others they meet and welcome them into their homes.

One of the people we met that day was another sister, who still lives in the RMI. She works for her father's newspaper (the only newspaper in the RMI) and asked later if she could interview me for a human interest story. She thought it was neat that my grandfather emigrated from the Marshalls in the early 1900's, and that is the reason why Dave and I decided to adopt from there.

I called my dad to get some info on my Papa (grandfather), but I nonetheless got information mixed up. More clarifications to come. . . . :) While in the Marshalls, my cousin Marjorie and her husband Gary had us stay at their house for 3 weeks. :) That was an ENORMOUS blessing! They have been living there for four years thus far as missionaries. We are praying that God will work through them mightily as they spend the rest of their years there.

Like Grandfather . . .

The saying goes, "Like father, like son," right? Looks like its applicable for the next generation as well. :) Sweet dreams, Dominic!

Happy Anniversary, Dave! :)

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I think it is because of my husband's competitive nature that causes us to try to be the first to wish the other an anniversary greeting on the 2nd of EVERY month. It is a good reminder, though, to think about every month's progress on our journey together in life. It has been a great 11 years and 2 months. God is incredible about pairing people.

Since last November, so much has transpired. A good renewal for our marriage is that we are currently teaching a marriage enrichment class on Tuesday nights at the base chapel. We love the people in it, and we are getting much out of the content as we prepare and teach the class. (Thank you Dr. and Mrs. Cutrer for prepping us!) :) It has also forced me to read (Do I have time for reading now? I guess so!) some new books (to me) on marriage. Fun! One that I am especially enjoying is His Needs, Her Needs: How to Affair Proof Your Marriage (Or something like that; sorry, don't know how to italicize nor underscore the title. Yes, things like that still bother me.).

I am glad Dave and I still enjoy hiking together. The great thing is that Makana loves to go with us as well. Yeah! I wonder if she'll enjoy snowboarding . . . . I told myself I had to learn to snowboard if I wanted to see my husband during the winter time while we were in northern Japan. Now it is fun to do so, even though I like to take in the scenery, while Dave's motto (along with a lot of our guy friends) seems to be, "Full speed ahead!"

Cousins

2006 has brought Makana 3 cousins born after her birthdate of March 31st. The first to come was Dominic John Mazzariello, and he joined his brother AJ in April. They are Dave's sister Donna and her husband Tony's sons. :)


The next was Zayne, born on the Big Island in May to my youngest sister Malia and Garrett. (Sorry, don't know Zayne's full name.)




The newest to join our family is Koen Kekaulakuha'oamekanawai Kazumasa Ing, born on the 30th of October to Mary and Kawika. Congratulations! (I'll post a picture when I get one, hint, hint.) He joins his other brothers (youngest to oldest): Kavin Kawika Keitaroo, Kason Kekoaokeakua Yoshio, and Kyle Keli'i Kiyoshi, and his sister Kayla Kawailehua Emiko. Kayla was able to visit us this past summer with Jeffo and Lisa. It was great to have them over. I left for the Marshall Islands the day before they flew back to Hawai'i. (More on that escapade later. . . .)





God is awesome, indeed, providing the miracle of life.

(After checking what this looks like published, the pictures are out of order. I don't yet know how to correct this disconcerting glitch. Can you tell I'm new at this task?)