Thanks for the concerned emails about the earthquake! It happened in the northwest part of Japan, so we were completely unaffected here in the southern part. (We’re actually closer to Taiwan than mainland Japan. Before we got here, we had no idea that the Japanese islands spanned so great a distance!) I think if we had experienced that earthquake right after the typhoon, I would have been booking a flight back to Texas. You know, since tornadoes and flash floods are SO much better.

My parents have arrived in Okinawa. Excellent timing, as Ana is cutting another tooth and needs excessive amounts of cuddling. I’ve been doing my best, but all of the cuddling has pushed Emma down so far that even the doctor, while checking my progress, exclaimed, “Wow, the baby is REALLY low. Are you already feeling some pressure?” Why, yes. Yes, I am. But I thought it was just my body falling apart under the stress of back to back pregnancies, so I’m relieved to hear you say that it’s just someone’s head pushing its way through, whether or not there’s any dilation at all. Whew! (Seriously, I am relieved. I was beginning to think that my recent inclination to waddle-walk was a permanent side effect of too much mommyhood too soon. As if there is such a thing!)

Anyway, based on all of this, it looks as though we’re good to go for induction on July 26th, which just happens to be two days AFTER Ana’s first birthday. Woo-hoo! They’ll have their own birthdays! We’re had a very low-key family party for Ana this weekend. I’m sure she won’t begrudge us years from now for not having a blow-out celebration. I may begrudge myself, as I’ve felt really guilty about it, but with all that’s happening at the church, with the birth, and involving the typhoon that we’re still cleaning up after, a small party just made the best sense. (At this point, I think Ana is more excited by cardboard boxes and wet wipes than a room full of guests and gifts. And we just happen to have a huge cardboard box full of wet wipes in her closet, so party on!)

It’s so hard to believe that it’s been a year since she was born. Wes and I had no idea what we were doing. In a lot of ways, we still don’t. I remember leaving the hospital with her, wondering how in the world she was going to survive with such amateurs. And here we are, a year later and half a world away, and she’s still alive! God would be good even if He didn’t aid the ignorant and inept, but… well, you get my point.

I have to brag on my husband, who recently received an invitation to a conservative theologians’ think tank event back in the US. There are only one hundred invites sent out to pastors and scholars worldwide, and after the organizer of the event somehow happened onto a blog Wes had written in response to a piece on open theism, he invited him to participate. We’re waiting to see if it will be possible, but even if it isn’t, Wes has been honored to have been asked. In all of this, I think I’m most proud of the fact that he didn’t write the piece to look smart or to win an argument. He wrote it because he wholly desires to serve Christ and to make the truth of Scripture known. Even though I prayed for years for a guy like that, I’m still so shocked at times that God had one for me who was all of that and more. Sappy but true!

Well, this will be my last post before Emma arrives. I’m not expecting any sanity from anyone in our house, least of all myself, after we get her home and begin the adjustment process, so this might be the last word for a while. Wes will likely post an update and a picture on his blog as soon as he can, so I’ll have him copy it to mine. Please pray for us, that the induction, labor, and delivery will go smoothly. (And that Wes can sneak some Happy Meals into the hospital while I recover. I’ve heard horrible rumors of an all-vegetarian cafeteria! Yeah, like a woman who has just delivered a baby wants a salad. Bring on the hamburgers and fries!)

And the last preggo picture. I’m every bit as tired as I look. (And in that wonderful last few weeks of pregnancy where my face swells like I’m the Pilsbury Dough Girl.) And Ana? Ana is certainly going to miss riding on that bump.

Till then…