Now Introducing . . .

We are overjoyed to announce the birth of our daughter, Giselle Shiloah Jen Ford.

Here are her stats:
Weight: 5lbs 8.3oz (tiny!)
Length: 19"
Hair: black and long and straight
Face: red complexion and beautiful, with a pointy nose!
Date of birth: Sunday, January 3rd.
Time: 9:02pm


We didn't have mittens with us, so we used socks for her hands to prevent scratching her face.

Meaning of Names:
Giselle means "pledge" or "promise". Shiloah represents peace or peacefulness, as in "the gently flowing waters of Shiloah...", mentioned in Isaiah 8:6. Shiloah symbolized the Lord's gentle, silent protection rather than worldly sources of strength. When one trusts in the Lord, the Lord promises his gentleness and peace, as referenced also in Psalm 23: "he leads me beside the still (or quiet) waters". After we lost Lael in December 2008, despite the profound sadness we experienced, we knew the Lord's peace in a very intimate way. And now one year later the Lord has blessed us with this daughter, whom Cristina has perceived as being gentle ever since months ago in the womb. And now after birth she seems so gentle and peaceful. So this meaning fits her well. Moreover, the Lord blessed us with a beautiful birth. Jen is Cristina's sister's name, and she has been an instrumental part of the last 4 births Cristina has gone through. So we wanted to honor her by using her name as the second middle name.



Labor and Delivery:
Labor began Sunday morning around 10:30am, to my ignorance. Only later in the afternoon, did Cristina inform me that she "may be in labor". Around 2-3pm, the labor got more intense, and we were discussing when to call her sister, Jen, who is a midwife, to help Cristina labor. Jen was with us for the births of Ethan and Carmelita, as well as Lael's delivery. She has been such a valuable support. Cristina kept expressing her fear of the labor stopping all the sudden, or not laboring long enough and showing up at the hospital with minimal progress. We were waiting to call the doctor until ready to leave for the hospital. Cristina packed our hospital bags while enduring contraction after contraction. Martin juggled getting other items ready, like the carseat and cameras, so we could have plenty of room for taking pictures and video, along with comforting Cristina through contractions occasionally. Finally Cristina agreed to call Jen when the contractions started getting really intense. Jen brought Kiana to help watch the kids with Uncle Daniel. Cristina's mother was sick. After Jen arrived, we called to ask Uncle Daniel to come over. After his arrival, we immediately left for the hospital, at emergency speeds, because Jen said we needed to hurry; she knew the baby would be coming out very soon. After getting to the hospital I found a wheelchair and wheeled her running with the guidance of a security guard to the elevator and up to Labor and Delivery where they took her in and wanted to calmly get all the info and waivers signed. But when they saw Cristina break into her contraction, they knew they had no time to spare, exclaiming, "She's ready to push! Get her to a room fast!" So we and 3-4 nurses went running through the hallways to a delivery room. They put her into a gown, broke down the bed into delivery mode, and within 15 minutes after arriving to the room, the baby was born in all of her beauty. Cristina, although having expressed repeatedly that she couldn't do this, did push the baby out and endured through a drug-free labor for the first time in all her deliveries- a long-awaited dream fulfilled! We want to thank the One who made it possible- Jesus Christ, who did in fact give his life for us, and gave my Cristina the strength she needed to push our baby out when she was at wit's end. She repeatedly expressed her desperation and called on the Lord for His help and recounts with all her heart that she couldn't have done it without His strength. Jesus deserves all the glory and credit! Cristina deserves credit for enduring and trusting in her Savior to bring her through this greatest life challenge.

We want to thank you for all your prayers for a safe birth and baby.

Mommy and baby are resting well after the marathon (or shall I say sprint?).

With love in Christ,

Martin and Cristina Ford

So Many Posts, So Little Time!

I have so many posts ready to be written and posted, yet so little time.

Martini, Ethan and Carmelita are sitting at the table right now with their friend Kolbi drawing treasure maps. It is so fun for them and so simple. They have such great imaginations:

Ethan: "Here's a web."

Carmelita: "Huh? A web?"

EThan: "Yeah, a web."

Carmelita: "I'm gonna draw my house now."

They talked about how to draw the map compass and which directions go where, skeletons to resemble the bad guys' place, a pumpkin . . . Such fun to listen to.

***

After we got home from dropping Martini off at school, Ethan got out of the van and said, "Who wants to play with me?!" Carmelita was sleeping, so I was the only one to respond and my heart just melted for him. I said, "I do!" and he said, "you do? You want to play with me, Mommy? Ok, after you eat, we can play." Which is normal protocol.

I ate my breakfast and spent a little time in the Word and we drew and colored maps for our treasure hunt adventure. Ethan then led Carmelita and I on a grand adventure through the forest, mud, snakes and scorpians, mountains, and alligator infested waters to the treasure. We did this three times and danced to "Shake your Bon Bon." It was fun and they enjoyed it so much. It is such an effort for me to get the imagination going, but the kids just loooooove and appreciate it. Relatively, it is little effort to the amount of enjoyment they get out of playing with Mommy (and Daddy).

***

Carmelita came out of the restroom this morning and walked up to Ethan on the coffee table and gave him a hug. Ethan told her thank you.

Ethan's Observation

"Mommy! You need new clothes!" Ethan tells me this morning.

"Why, Sweetie?"

"Look!" He says pointing to my belly poking out from under my shirt!

It was so funny.

Bento Boxes

I had mentioned in an earlier post a new hobby of mine. Bento Boxes. They are a style of lunches the have migrated here from Japan. My sister-in-law, Ruslyn, used to make them for a company when they were stationed in Japan while Mike was in the Navy. Hers were "to-go" bentos sold in different stores.

The philosophy of bento boxes, and Japanese cuisine in general, is beautiful, eye-catching food that is colorful and healthy. They like to incorporate red, green and yellow veggies/fruits, rice, some kind of meat.

Now, Martini is not a fan of rice. Even though he has had it since infancy, and we eat it for most dinners, he prefers potatoe wedges or some kind of bread roll. He enjoys pasta, but even though he tends to be picky, he likes meats and certain veggies. For this reason, making his lunches has been a challenge. Many times in 1st grade, he would come home without touching hardly anything, let alone his sandwich. I tried cutting his sandwiches into different shapes and that has helped some, but I still want him to eat other things.

So, this year I happened upon bento boxes and the whole culture out there of over-acheiving mothers who wake up in the morning sometimes to steam veggies and cook little drummettes. I love the concept, the look, and the ideas so I am excited about this journey. This school year I have bought and used a few things to help.

A Sterilite container with an easy lid. If you were to initially see this, you would think it was only enough to hold one whole sandwich. You would be right, but creativity is in order. I have looked online for genuine bento boxes but I am not willing to pay the price or the shipping. There are all sorts. I am due to go to our HongKong Market, so hopefully I can find some there. In the interim, this is what I use.

I just purchased four of these cute Tupperware containers for sauces and dips. They're great, but a bit difficult to open.

I use two cups to make circle sandwiches that seal in the middle. There is a tool for this, but I am imporvising. One day I will probably invest in one, but I'm taking it slowly.

Anyway, this is a little look into my new hobby of bento boxes.

Here is the first layer. I am not sure why it posts sideways. I tried changing it but it wouldn't line up correctly.


This is the second layer sitting on top of the first with a folded paper towel in between.



Here is Ethan watching me make Martini's lunch one morning. He looks so tired.

Not a Graceful Gainer

Here I am at 29 weeks pregnant

Getting bigger has never been the enjoyable part of pregnancy for me. I love having a big round belly, but it's everything else getting bigger that doesn't quite float my boat. I have always said that I am not a graceful gainer, and this time is no exception. I have had various comments that are completely innocent, but reflective none the less.

1.) Are you having twins? (either 2 or 3 times)
2.) Are you sure there aren't two in there?
3.) You have to be due any day now! (Said to me last week)
4.) Annacong, I think this is going to be a big baby! (by my precious mom)

I truly, with all my heart, have not been offended at these comments. I think with my other pregnancies, I would have had a hard time with these comments, but after Lael died at 20 weeks gestation, I am just so blessed to be pregnant at all. I just don't care how I look as much. I am enjoying this time of pregnancy. I am enjoying every little movement of my daughter. It reassures me every time. Knowing that she is alive and healthy really changes your perspective on things.

But, still, I feel big and round.

Trick-Or-Treating

Well, we decided this year that we would take the kids trick-or-treating. In years past, we told them that we didn't celebrate death or evil or monsters or ghosts and that it wasn't anything the Lord meant for us to celebrate. We have always handed out candy with a verse about darkness or hope or salvation through Jesus.

The boys have been asking and asking if they could go trick-or-treating for the last couple of years and we decided that after explaining our position and knowing that they had a good understanding that what we were doing was letting them dress in their favorite characters and showing others while getting candy was fine. Actually, I really didn't know what to do and thankfully, MyLove decided what we were going to do.

So, they went out with Daddy and Grandma while I stayed home and handed out candy to the little ones . . . and not so little ones. I always love giving candy to the shy ones because I can so identify with the mothers who are trying to build their confidence and security.

Well, in the end, the kids had a good time except for the end. Sadly, it ended on a not-so-good note. They weren't gone for long. They all came back and MyLove dropped Grandma and Carmelita off. The boys and Daddy went out one more time for only a couple of minutes and at the door I heard someone crying. I opened the door to find my little Ethan crying. They came in and I held him as MyLove explained that they went to a neighbor's house who was quite "enthusiastic" about celebrating Halloween with elaborate, scary decorations in the yard and the couple dressed the part. Ethan heard the scary voices and just couldn't take the scene. It was too much for his little heart to take and he had enough. He was so scared, poor thing, and they came right home. Martini quickly piped in and said that he wasn't scared. :-)

How does this affect our position on the whole thing and the latest decision? I really don't know. MyLove and I will talk about it more and pray and see. We are learning as we go. It definitely became a good teaching moment to the kids about why we don't celebrate evil things, but things that are good and of the Lord. Giving candy away always feels good and the kids enjoy acting like their favorite characters. We talk about why these characters are good and what qualities the Lord would like us to have.

The journey of parenthood continues. . .

Knock-knock! Who's there?! Why, it's IronMan, Minnie Mouse and Obi-Wan Kenobi!


"Trick-or-Treat!"


Ethan, so handsome and confident in his costume; Carmelita looking for candy; Martini looking out for other little characters to bond with!


Grandma with the kids starting their journey.


***Side Note:

We have never bought costumes at full price. The kids have either gotten them as gifts and one year, I happened to go to Target after Halloween some time. I found the costumes in disarray, but at such cheap prices. So, I made it a point to go this year to see what I could find. Yesterday, I found various ones for the boys and settled on Power Ranger costumes for $10 each that were regularly $20 each. There were no costumes for Carmelita's age except for ugly gothic costumes. We will head to Walmart today to see what we can find. The kids love to dress up and play all year round, so this is a great opportunity for us. Carmelita really wants a princess costume. Hopefully we can find something.

***

We made it to WalMart and found Carmelita a Snow White costume that she is wearing right now on my lap as I type. We found some discount Halloween table cloths that we will use for camping this weekend and some %50 off fall cookie cutters and fall sprinkles!

Hunting for Geckos

One of the activities the kids and I have enjoyed late this summer has been spotting and catching geckos. When my brother and I were kids in Okinawa, we used to catch them all the time. Well, my kids see them and they get so excited just the same. They aren't quite ready to try to catch them on their own yet, so they call me over and we try our very best to catch it. I think we've caught about four of them so far. We hold them, look at them, put them in our little mesh bug house for an hour or two and then let them go. They fill the little house with hybiscus leaves and flowers, grass, bugs and acorns. They have such fun just watching the gecko move around and try coaxing the little thing to eat.

Initially, catching them always is a bit of a rush for me. They are so fast and squirmy and have tails that can easily be broken off. Thankfully, I haven't broken a tail yet, but when we were little, it used to happen all the time. Your hand tries to come down quickly but gently and catches only the tail. When you look down, all you have is a twitching tail and no gecko! Ewww! So, I have to put any squeemish feeling aside and be the kids' hero.

Well, here is one we caught last night. It was a feisty one! He would move so fast wherever he went and went all around the bug house like a whirlwind. The others were more calm and not as jittery. MyLove took these pictures so we could remember the fun. It was a high of 62 today, so our gecko hunting days are coming to a close. Hopefully, we will get to catch a couple more before they're gone for the year!










The bug house