First Impressions

Here's my new bike! I rode it around today and I really like it. Lots of people here ride bikes to get around, so that's nice. Luke is going to get one soon and get a child's seat on it so that Sterling can ride with him.

There is one Starbucks in Okazaki and we went yesterday with some of our team. It's at the mall and we had to go there to get pictures so that we could get alien registration cards. Luke wanted to take a picture of the menu for everyone to see. Their drinks are more expensive than in America!

This is the preschool where Sterling will attend with at least one of the other kids on our team. I was a little apprehensive about it, but once I saw it I really liked it. There are two rooms for them to play in and lots of toys. Sterling and Brayden, the other boy on the team, jumped right in and loved it all. They will start on Feb. 4. Luke starts school on Thursday, but I won't start until Sterling starts.

Before we left the guys Luke always went to breakfast with prayed for him to find a restaurant like the Monon here in Japan...so we think this place is it! It's really close to our house and a taxi driver told us that it's a really old place. We went this morning and unfortunately they had NO pictures on their menu. So the waitress just came and asked us something in Japanese, and I just shook my head yes. So she brought us out coffee, a one inch thick piece of toast and a hard boiled egg. (At first I thought it was a raw egg, but then we saw someone else cracking it open, luckily). It was a pretty decent breakfast, but it doesn't really compare to the Caden's special at the Monon! Sterling really liked the toast but didn't care for the egg.

This is Sterling with jet lag. He's actually a lot easier to deal with when he's like this and we're trying to get some shopping done...

Japan!

We made it! Here are some pictures of our travels and first few hours here:

This was our flight to California. Sterling got a little snack on the plane and he was sitting there so nicely eating it!

This is at Steve and Stacey's house (we stayed with them for 2 nights in CA.) They have a new little dog named Kobe and Sterling LOVED it. He constantly wanted to carry him around and Cade always had to help him do it right. They played together and had lots of fun for the day they were together.

Unbelievably, we have cows right behind our apartment! I honestly think it's hilarious that we moved from a farm into suburban Japan and we still live with the cows! But Luke and Sterling are very excited to be able to look out the window and see them, and Luke even took a deep breath of the stink when we walked by because it reminded him of home :)

We walked to a little shopping center with our teammate Andy this afternoon and this octopus was walking around. Sterling really liked it.

This is our bathroom...

Sterling's room (the Mickey Mouse mat is going to be what he sleeps on)...

The kitchen, which has no oven,two burners, very little storage, but a nice refrigerator...

And our bedroom, with Luke and Sterling sitting on the mat we're sleeping on.
So this is it, I know it's hard to get a good idea of what it looks like from pictures, but you get the idea :) I mentioned this in the email I sent out, but the ceilings are really low! Luke has hit his head already once in the doorframes!

Leaving Indiana

Well, this will be my last post until we get to Japan! How exciting is that?! Hopefully the next pictures you see will be of our little apartment at the school :)

This was a picture taken back during Thanksgiving. Luke's cousin Katie took some pictures of us and they were really good!

Here is Sterling with his second cousin, Jaxon Birt. He was born on New Year's Eve and Sterling was all about holding him and giving him kisses.

As most of you know, Luke has really gotten into farming over the last couple of years that we've gotten to spend time here in IN. So the other day they found our bull in the back with a section of the hay bunk stuck around his neck. He had evidently been walking around like this for 2 day before dad and Luke were able to free him by pulling it off with the tractor.

Both of Luke's parents have come to visit over the last two weeks, and here is a picture of him swimming with Luke and Steve. Sterling went swimming five times within 24 hours!

This is my cousin Daniel with his new little baby Jaxon, along with our dad's, our grandad and our great grandmother.

This is my cousin Shane and his wife Sara (yes, we have two Shane and Sara's in our family!!) They live in Cinncinati and came up for the weekend. We were glad we got to see them once more before we leave.

This is Sterling with his Great Papa Nelson. We all watched the Colts game together on Sunday, but unfortunately they lost.

We went to lunch at McDonald's one last time with my parents this week and I snapped this picture. I'm sure we'll eat McDonald's in Japan too though!

More Christmas Activities

I caught Sterling and his aunt Kara playing under the table one morning-- I don't know what they were doing but they were having fun!


Sterling has really gotten into playing with tractors lately. During Christmas he just wanted to push them around and pretend the whole time. He knows the difference between all the equipment too- he knows tractor, plow and combine!




Here's our little foosball champion. He's been playing since we lived in Thailand, so he's getting pretty good :) Here he's playing with my cousin Kolten.

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo because they put up all kinds of Christmas lights and decorations. Sterling really loved it. He loved seeing the animals and running around everywhere, and he thought the dolphin show was really cool.

Christmas 2007

Here is our little reindeer! He thought he was pretty funny putting these on.

Here he is with his aunt Kayla on Christmas Eve. I wanted to get a picture of him all dressed up for the service we went to at church. He did pretty well for the firt 30 minutes, but then he got mad at me because I didn't have a snack for him (I'm a bad mom). He started crying so Luke had to take him out. :)

This was also on Christmas Eve. He stood there so well to get his picture taken in front of the tree! We taught him to say "cheese" and he thinks that's pretty funny.

This was Christmas morning. We got up around 7am to open presents. Unfortunately, Sterling ended up with us in our bed at about 4am. The night before was his first night sleeping on the floor on a little mat, and he did well at first, but then kept crying and wanting in bed with us. He's done better and better each night. Hopefully by the time we get to Japan he will be all adjusted to being out of his beloved pack n play!

This was a present he got for Christmas-- it's a little Thomas the train backpack. We're hoping he will carry it through the airport with his stuff...we'll see!

Children's Museum and Basketball

These first three pictures are from the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We went last week and Sterling had to go with ALL girls, but he still had a fun time. The first two pictures he is playing with Alexandra Dobbs (Kyle and Alison's little girl). The third picture is in the dinosaur area and he's with his friend Keeli Pastore. He really liked everything we saw that day- esp. the dinosaurs!



We took this picture at the highschool basketball game. We have some friends from the youth group that play on the team so we go to watch them. Sterling isn't too interested in watching, he mostly wants to go out on the court and play too. He's only managed to run out there once when my dad was supposed to be watching him. Luckily, it was only during half time, not the real game!

Wintery Fun

On most days, Sterling goes out farming with his daddy and grandad. He's gotten pretty ornery about getting his picture taken, so I just have to snap them when I can get them. Here are two right before they left one day.



We went and had dinner one night with our friends that have two little girls. The top picture is Sterling at their little table with them, and the bottom picture is of him with their slippers on and carrying their baby doll. I couldn't resist taking a picture even though Luke didn't want me to!


Another fun winter activity is drinking hot chocolate! In this picture Sterling is sharing with his aunt Kara.

A Day At Uncle Brian and Aunt Erin's

During the time we were in St. Louis for Thanksgiving we went over to Brian and Erin's house to visit with Tom, Cindy and Meemaw. I went shopping with all the girls, while all the dad's stayed with the kids! :) They had way too much fun while we were gone!

Sterling and Paige having a snack together.


Sterling, Ava and Granny playing with Elmo- which Sterling loves these days.


I wanted to snap a picture of the two dads with each other's boys, but Sterling wasn't behaving very well. He was ready to go outside, not get a picture.


They all went outside and played with Ava's toys while she took a nap. Blake and Sterling rode in the wagon and on the John Deere together.




Sterling got his granny to push him around on the John Deere.


Sterling loves to wrestle, and Ava put up with him pretty well, even though he was completely overpowering her!


Here they all are for a picture...Ava is being so sweet, but Sterling wasn't...It's hard to get that many kids to at those ages to sit still.