Fell off the blogging wagon again...

Where DOES the time go? :-)

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving next week...we are driving up to Oregon on Saturday and are excited to see family and friends. I can't wait to spend the week at my sister's house, hanging out with her and my nephews and niece! Praying for safe travels, as there will most likely be stormy weather on our drive up (once we reach the Northwest), and most likely snow in the mountain passes. After having been spoiled with sunshine here in California recently, I am not really looking forward to all the cold, wet, windy weather next week...but it will be worth it to spend time with my family!

And I know that most of you have already heard our news, but I am so blessed and thankful that we are expecting our first baby! I will be 15 weeks along on Sunday...over the past few years there have been three family Thanksgiving gatherings where my sister was the one pregnant, and now it's going to be me...surreal! Praising God for the blessing of new life this Thanksgiving...it's a miracle, for sure! And His timing is absolutely perfect!

Praying you all find many reasons to be thankful this year as well!

Summer Fun!

For those of you not on Facebook, I just published an album of some pictures from our summer. You can view it by clicking here, even if you're not a Facebook member!

It feels like this summer has gone by so quickly...of course, being in Sacramento we'll still get "summery" weather well into October, most likely! But soon, we'll be able to break out the sweaters and start lighting fires in our fireplace again. That will be nice!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer as well! Enjoy the soon-coming change of seasons as we head into the fall!

A trip to see the family!

I enjoyed a great visit with my family Thanksgiving week...here are a few pictures from our time there!

Anna with Aaron and Ben:

Mom and Dad enjoying an after-Thanksgiving-feast nap:

Ben and Aaron playing in the tent I brought them ($9.99 at Ikea!):

Sisters:

Here's an adorable video of Ben and Aaron playing in a hall cupboard. They are so cute!

And finally, a video interview I did with Ben...now that he's 3 1/2, he has a bit more to say (if you're reading this via e-mail, you'll need to go to my blog to see the videos)!

I look forward to seeing them all again in February when I go up to help out when Baby Grace is born!

Weekend Fun

Andrew and I spent the weekend in Napa, California, attending an event with Strategic Renewal, one of the ministries I volunteer for. The former pastor of our church, Daniel Henderson, is the President of Strategic Renewal, and it was great for Andrew and I to be able to spend some time with him and his wife, Rosemary, while at the event. They are a great encouragement to us! We were in a beautiful location, surrounded by wonderful people, and able to spend quality time worshiping the Lord and being reminded of why this ministry is so worthy of our support!

After the event ended on Sunday afternoon, Andrew and I drove to the nearby town of Calistoga to see California's Old Faithful Geyser. Every 20-40 minutes it erupts, shooting a stream of hot water high into the sky for a few minutes. It was pretty cool! Here's a video:

There were also some animals at the same location...goats, sheep, and llamas. Here's a video of me interacting with some of them!

We had a relaxing drive home, thankful for the chance to spend a few fun days together exploring some places we'd never been before!

(Don't worry...that's not a working well! The bottom of the well is level with the ground!)

Orlando Recap

I spent last weekend in Orlando, Florida attending a retreat/meeting with four other members of the Board of Directors of Hannah's Prayer Ministries. The flights there and back were long for me (around seven hours of travel time each way), but worth every minute to be able to spend time with these awesome ladies (Jenn from Florida, Arica from Ohio, Becky from Arkansas, and Michele, who is currently living in Puerto Rico)!

We stayed at a cute little vacation house with 80's-era decor that provided endless amusement (just imagine everything teal and coral, with lots of floral and lace motifs -- and butterflies). Our meeting was productive, and the rest of the weekend was very fun! Jenn, who is from the area, has a friend who works at Epcot who was able to get us in for free using her guest pass! The weather was beautiful, and we saw some Christian skywriting, which apparently is not uncommon around there these days (hence the very cool picture above). We didn't see any alligators, thankfully! We did see a turtle crossing the road, though. And on Saturday, we had lunch with some other Hannah's Prayer members who were in the area.

(At this point, some of you may be wondering what in the world Hannah's Prayer is...it's a ministry for married, Christian women who are dealing with all aspects of infertility and pregnancy loss -- the major aspect of the ministry is an online Community Forums message board, where I am very active. And I'm on the Board of Directors, hence my traveling to the meeting!)

So here, for your enjoyment, are some pictures from the weekend (most of them have just four of us because Jenn had her little 8-week-old daughter with her and couldn't come to Epcot with us)!

Arica, Sarah, Becky, Michele

Goofy wanted a kiss on the cheek, but I told him I didn't know if my husband would approve!

Jenn and little Lila

What God has joined together...

While in Oregon, I was privileged to be part of a vow renewal ceremony held for my parents at the Christian counseling center they've been attending for a while now. My parents would be the first to admit that they have not had an ideal marriage relationship over the years -- both of them were dealing privately with various issues in their lives and neither of them put much effort into keeping their relationship strong. Through God's grace and following the counsel of Scripture and wise believers, my parents have made great strides over these past few months, both personally and as husband and wife, and we (their children) could not be happier about it! It is so refreshing to us to see the changes in how they interact, and especially in how they now hold hands and hug often (something we rarely saw before). All I can say is, thanks be to God! What we sometimes thought could never happen is now unfolding right before our eyes!

Just for fun, here is a picture of my parents on their wedding day, January 3, 1975

L-R: Al, my dad's counselor and head of the ministry; my brother, Nathan; Dad; Mom; me; my sister, Anna; my sister, Elisabeth

Dad and Mom...33 years of marriage and counting! :-)

Kittens are cute!

While visiting my sister, I enjoyed getting to play with the kittens their cat Missy had -- they were about a month old. Enjoy the pictures! The black one was everyone's favorite...his name is George (but Ben pronounces it "Gorge") -- he's very curious and will just stare intently at you when you talk to him. He's also very fast!

Surprises are fun!!

Last week, my brother and I drove up to Oregon to surprise my sister Anna for her 30th birthday...we showed up on her doorstep, along with our parents and younger sister, and gave her quite a shock! Here's the video of her reaction (sorry you have to stare at the door for so long...she didn't answer right away)!

We spent a few days at their house and enjoyed the time with our nephews Ben and Aaron...here are a few videos (I just love the one of Ben singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")!

Here are a few more cute shots of the boys that I took:

Aaron and Elmo coloring

Ben and his buddy Elmo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry it's been so long since I've written here...I need some more inspiration for things to write about, I guess!

Andrew and I are here in Oregon this week with my family, and I'm loving getting to hang out with my nephews (Ben is 2 1/2, Aaron will be a year old next month). It's neat to see how they have changed even since I was here a few months ago. They're so fun!

I am so thankful for all that the Lord has given me...much more than I deserve. I have a wonderful husband, a loving family, and precious friends. God provides for all of my needs, over and above. I am truly blessed!

Praying you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

The Cow Train

My brother, Nate, and I were in Oregon on Labor Day, and we spent a few hours with my parents, my sister, Anna, and her two boys at a farm. My 2-year-old nephew Ben really enjoyed sitting on the old tractors and going down the inflatable slide with his Uncle Nate, ascending the climb-able hay pyramid with his mommy, and imitating the rooster in the barn. Then Anna and I decided it would be fun to take Ben on the “Cow Train” for an idyllic little tour of the cornfields and pumpkin patches before lunch. So we paid our $2.00 and settled in to enjoy the ride. Don’t we look happy?


That sense of joyful expectation soon gave way to a sense of “What in the world did we get ourselves into?!!!” and “How soon is this going to end?”

The way this “train” was constructed is there’s a guy on a four-wheeler type of vehicle pulling a chain of these little “cars” made out of plastic barrels with wheels attached, painted to look like cows. They did include seatbelts, which is a good thing, seeing as how….well, we’ll get to that in a moment. But the seats were not padded in any way, shape, or form, which was not a good thing, seeing as how…well, just keep reading.

The man driving this train (I shall fondly refer to him as The Torture Master from here on out) either had to go to the bathroom really bad or he thought we were being chased by a swarm of angry wasps, because once all the victims, er, riders were in place, he tore off down the bumpy lane as if he were racing a cheetah! I think I caught a glimpse of some corn fields before the first turn, but I was bouncing around so much that it might have just been tall grass. Thank goodness for those seatbelts I mentioned earlier, or I’m sure Ben would have bounced right off of Anna’s lap and onto the side of the road! I’ll just say that it’s a good thing we decided to go before lunch and not after.

As we sped along, I noticed that the roads were very dry and dusty. I could tell because the huge wheels on the contraption The Torture Master was driving were showering those of us in the first few barrels with a fine, gritty layer of terra firma. “So that’s what I’d look like with a tan,” I thought as I looked down at my darkening arms. As our dusty hair blew in the wind and we tried not to breathe, I thought I glimpsed some large oranges lying in a field – oh wait, those were pumpkins! Too late to get a closer look, though…they were already far behind us.

After what felt like hours (but was, in reality, probably less than five minutes), we came to a fork in the road. Finally, we were going to head back! But wait, oh…no! He turned left instead, away from where we started! I gripped the sides of the barrel, white-knuckled; steeling myself for more jolts; closing my eyes against the dust; feeling a new kinship with the tin cans people tie onto the backs of newlyweds’ cars.

If you had been watching as we raced by, you would have thought that my sister and I were having a good time…we were even laughing! But it was more a laughter of bewilderment, of shock, of “We paid good money for THIS?!” – it was not a laughter of enjoyment, I can tell you that!

Finally, we rounded the last corner and the cow train screeched to a halt back at starting position. As we unbuckled and shakily stepped out of the barrels, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the dust from our hair and clothing, I had to suppress the urge to shout out a warning to the people waiting in line for the next ride: “Spare yourselves the agony and get away while you still can!” But I kept silent as I glanced at The Torture Master, who was busy accepting people’s dollars and strapping them into the plastic cows. I think I heard him give a sinister little laugh under his breath.

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I didn’t get any “after” pictures, but just imagine something like this:

Scrabble-tastic!

While I was visiting my sister in Oregon last week, we came up with a fun way to spend an evening. She suggested playing Scrabble, and then I suggested that when we were finished, we should each write a story – using all the words from the game at least once. So that’s what we did!

Anna thoroughly enjoyed my tale of a hapless teenage boy smitten by a girl he knew from band, only to discover upon visiting her home that she was a bit, um, odd. And I was laughing so hard that it hurt when she read what she had written about pirates trying to appease the sea after an oil slick (complete with pirate-y voices). It was really cool how we were using the same words as starters and came up with such completely different stories!

We had so much fun that we decided to do it again the following night, and I think it will become a regular event during future visits!

Both of our husbands (hers from the other room and mine when I told him on the phone about it later) expressed their opinion that our choice of entertainment was something akin to Chinese water torture. All I can say is, it’s their loss!

Oregon

A few weeks ago I flew up to Oregon to spend some time with my sister Anna and her family, and then to go to Women's Camp at Camp Tadmor with my mom and Anna. It was a really good time! I love hanging out with family...below are some pictures of the trip!

We shared a special moment with Anna and Matt as Benjamin (2) and Aaron (7 1/2 months) were dedicated at their church (where Matt is the youth and worship pastor)

Ben and Aaron -- the next "little boy" band..."Hadley" ;-)

Brothers

Benjamin

Aaron

Anna, Mom, and me after Women's Camp

Pictures!

I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

I love being an Auntie!

It was so great to spend 10 days with my sister Anna and her family following the birth of my nephew Aaron on Dec. 5th -- I love these little guys so much! Ben has such personality, and is so smart! I can't wait until he starts talking. And Aaron is just so sweet and new...I can't wait to see his personality develop over the next few years!

















And of course, I miss Anna already. It was a privilege to get to help her through that first week with two little ones at home. She's a great mommy.
















Hopefully I'll get to see them again in a few months when we go back up for my cousin's wedding. I really wish we lived closer!

What a cutie!

So I got to hang out with my nephew Ben all last week -- it was great! He's developing quite a little personality!

Here we are enjoying some mindless entertainment...



















I think this kid is advanced for his age...he sat here with his mommy for more than half an hour coloring. How many almost-18-month-olds have that kind of attention span?

















Of course, he deals with the normal toddler temptations of forbidden fruit (in this case, the computer room). I'm sure he'll soon figure out the door-opening thing, and that will make life a lot more interesting for his parents!



















I am very excited to fly back up to Oregon this coming week for the birth of Ben's little brother, Aaron!

Ahhh...the lovely liquid sunshine of Oregon!

I'm currently visiting my sister in the lovely state of Oregon. And I'm trying to figure out what all this wet stuff falling from the sky is...oh yeah, RAIN! I remember rain! :-) All kidding aside, we do get rain in Sacramento (although we've had some lovely, sunny weather there recently). Oregon wouldn't be the beautiful, green state that it is without all the rain, though, so it does serve a purpose!












I'm loving hanging out with my nephew, Ben, and getting to know him a little bit. He's much more fun now that he's almost 18 months old (last time I saw him was in June). Here's a recent pic of the little cutie:

















I'm thankful for my family, and for the opportunity to spend time with them this week!

Celebrating our 11th anniversary

Andrew and I had a lovely vacation to Southern California last week to celebrate our 11th anniversary, which was on the 8th. We drove down on Wednesday and spent two nights at a KOA in San Diego, staying in one of their one-bedroom Kamping Kabins. While in San Diego, we explored Seaport Village, Point Loma, Coronado, and the San Diego Zoo.

Then we headed to Riverside for two nights at the Mission Inn. On Saturday, our anniversary, we attended the wedding of Andrew's cousin's daughter, then on Sunday we visited the Slavic church in Hollywood and then had lunch with friends afterwards before driving home to Sacramento.

I'm so grateful to the Lord for giving us 11 years together. The years have gone by quickly! I look forward to many more years together as we continue on in this journey of marriage.

A few pictures:

The view from Point Loma














Us (the happy couple) :-)














Andrew enjoying the Pacific Ocean