Vista Family Reunion

We didn't have a huge amount of time in San Diego with the Phinneys, so most of the time we stuck close to home and played with our nieces. It's hard to believe how big Madison and Abigail are now! They've also got very distinct personalities. Madison is shy around strangers, but a big, opinionated ball of energy once she lets her guard down. Abigail is very sweet but also has a ton of energy and is eager to do everything her big sister does. Our little guy better watch out... I'm pretty sure these two girls could beat him up if he doesn't play nicely... ;^)

Sam and Alison have done a lot of work creating a nice backyard. They've got various seating areas back there, plus a chicken coup, play ground and gardens. We spent a lot of time out there playing with the girls and soaking in the warm weather!

The new Phinney cat, Penn. He loves exploring outside

Grandpa Bob had his hands full with these two firecrackers. Clearly I was doing a lot to help...

When the adults needed a break, we watched a little TV. It was really fun for us to watch Sam in action as a daddy extraordinaire. I hope we can be good parents like the Phinneys!

On Saturday night, James' cousin Alex was able to drive up from San Diego where he is going to college. We took advantage of this opportunity to get another big family portrait. Love Madison's duck face in the background. hahaha.

Sadly, Sunday morning it was time to go our separate ways. Jon and Claire drove up to LA to see a basketball game on their way home to Santa Barbara. James and I grabbed some lunch at In-N-Out (James' favorite fast food restaurant) before continuing our road trip west!

Baby Wentzel's Gender Reveal

Our first stop in San Diego was at a 4-D imaging company to get an ultrasound of our baby and find out if we're expecting a little girl or boy. The verdict was...

A BOY!!!

Our ultrasound session lasted for about 20 minutes, and transitioned between the usual black and white images and cool 3/4-D images that really allowed us to get a good look at our little man!

profile at 19 weeks!

No doubt about it - we're having a boy!

4-D image of him curled up in there

Sucking his thumb. Aww...

Smiling and waving!! Can't wait to meet him this summer!

After our session was through, we went to the mall and bought our little boy his first pair of Vans old school tennis shoes. (This is all his father wears. ;^) Then we met up with the family at a brewry and surprised them with the result by letting Nancy open the shoe box. As soon as she saw those little blue shoes, she knew - It's a boy!

So excited!

Cousin Madison was not surprised. She knew it would be a boy...

looking at the ultra sound photos

Cheers to the Wentzel genes! We needed some little boys in this family!

The next morning we took some fun gender reveal photos to send to friends. We are a Vans family so we thought it'd be fun to focus on shoes as a motif. Enjoy!

The Wentzel/Phinney men and their Vans old schools

There's a growing boy in there!

Santa Barbara

James' first day of Squadron Officer's School was on March 18th. We decided to take a couple weeks of leave before then to drive cross country and visit some family and friends. Our first stop was in Santa Barbara, CA to visit James' family. This was James' first visit home to SB since we moved to Japan three years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do! Jon and Claire also took leave around that time so it was a full family reunion on the west coast! Below are some highlights from our three day visit:

Visiting with James parents and grandparents!

Out for pizza with the Wentzel's youth pastor Mark and his kids

On our second day in Santa Barbara, we took a two hour walking tour of the impressive gardens at the Lotus Land estate in Montecito. This is something James had never done before! Below is the official description of the property, with some of my favorite snapshots:

Ganna Walska Lotusland

Madame Ganna Walska, a well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, purchased the estate in 1941 and spent the next 43 years creating Lotusland. The spectacular collections of exotic plants throughout the 37-acre property are a very personal expression of Walska’s penchant for the dramatic, the unexpected, and the whimsical. After her death in 1984, Lotusland became a nonprofit botanical garden and opened to the public in 1993.

You can see the mansion peeking through the trees across the main lawns

The tour ended in a Japanese garden. We felt right at home!

Out to dinner with Jon & Claire, and Claire's best friend Alexandra and her fiancee

LOVE Southern California cuisine!

It was a pretty quick visit, but thankfully our time with James' family was not finished. On Friday morning we drove down to his step-brother Sam's house north of San Diego for more family fun!

Sayonara, Japan! Hello, America!

Before we knew it - the day of our departure was upon us. That morning I went to the protestant women's Bible study one last time - just for a few minutes to say good bye. Then we ran a couple more errands, grabbed some Subway, and drove to the passenger terminal on base to check in for our flight back to America.

We purposely checked in a couple hours early so we had time to sit in the waiting room and hang out with all the friends who stopped by for a final hug. James was a little surprised I didn't whip my camera out and snap photos of everyone. But it felt like I should be present in conversation, not snapping photos. The hardest farewell was with some of my high school girls who came out over their lunch break. While we know it's likely we'll run into squadron friends again, I'm not sure if I'll ever see those kids again. They were such a blessing! Now we get to focus on ministering to our own little one next year.

Finally, the time came to go through security and get on the plane. I am thankful for a free, direct flight from Misawa to Seattle. But we definitely got what we paid for. The "meals" and in-flight amenities left a lot to be desired. It was also a lot more difficult for me to relax and rest on the flight since I was 18 weeks pregant. The flight only lasted nine hours, but I could not wait until it was over and we were back on American soil!

Our first several hours in the U.S. were pretty exhausting - with long lay-overs, delays and last-minute flight changes. But the Lord got us through it, and after a little over 24 hours of travel we were home with James' family and enjoying a delicious meal cooked by Claire.

We loved living in Japan and were very sad to leave. Our Misawa community was amazing, we loved the Japanese people and exploring the country. But we are excited about everything on the horizon - including visits with family and friends in the States!

Last Day in Misawa

Our final day in Japan was very surreal. Even though we were living out of suitcases at the Inn and running around taking care of the final items on our check-list, the reality that we were leaving the next day had not sunk in. However, we still tried our best to make the most of our final hours in Misawa. Most of that involved eating at our favorite restaurants in town and spending as much quality time with friends as possible.

For lunch, we went out to enjoy something we know it will be difficult to get outside of Japan - real ramen! It was delicious!

That night we were joined by several of our closest friends and neighbors from the squadron at our favorite restaurant in Misawa. We didn't make a big deal about saying farewell... we'd been through enough of that over the last couple weeks. It was just a casual opportunity to hang out with the people we love till we meet again.

Sadly, our departure finally hit me at the end of the dinner as we were saying farewell, and the waterworks began. But it was a brief period of mourning. It was time to leave and we were ready to go. On to new adventures!

Chapel & Bible Study Farewells

Before we knew it, our final Sunday in Japan arrived! The chapel wouldn't let us go without a few more final salutes. James sang in the pilot quartet one more time during the 8 and 11:00 services. People were particularly complimentary of his strong bass part. =^)

After the community prayer, the chaplain called us up front to say farewell and present us with a chapel coin. Then he asked anyone in the congregation who had been blessed by our ministry or fellowship to come forward and lay hands on us and pray for our move and future at Osan. James literally said "Woah!" as 75% of the congregation stood up and came up. We have made many friends through our service here!

After church, people were invited to join us for brunch at the club. We filled up about 3 long tables and enjoyed some final fellowship with friends and co-workers. Then the chaplains and other friends stood up one by one to thank us for our service, share funny stories, and give us their blessing as we move on (though they all readily admitted they'd rather make us stay forever.) It was a very humbling experience. Then James and I had an opportunity to thank them for their support. We were not expecting to find a great church home when we arrived here and were pleasantly surprised by all the opportunities God presented to us within the chapel walls.

I got a little choked up during my speech. I managed not to cry during my squadron farewells. I love those people and will miss hanging out with them. But I know they'll be fine when we go and there is a good chance our paths will cross again. But I've invested so much in multiple ministries here at the chapel and it will be very difficult to walk away. Thankfully, this is all in God's hands and I know He will continue doing good work in their lives and hearts!

One table full of friends!

Robin Lech was my co-leader for the young adult ministry

Me with the Club Beyond leaders (and a great photo bomb by the students)

Sad to say farewell to the Jantz family who have been great mentors and friends here

The kids kept trying to block the exits so I couldn't leave. =^(

Later that evening, we had a potluck dinner with the couples in our pilot Bible study and said farewell to our closest network of believeres here. This community provided so much support and encouragement as we grew in our individual and married walks of faith. We are so glad that, even with all of the turn-over as people move away, God keeps bringing new couples into our midst and so this ministry continues to thrive! We will miss them, but look forward to finding or building a similar community at Osan!