The First Part: The Baby Story

There are times when we make plans. We have a certain way we would like things to go. We pray for events to occur in the way that we think is best. But things don't always happen the way we want them to. For instance, I prayed for a quick and easy deliver. God said no. I prayed that my baby would be safe and healthy. God didn't answer in the exact way I wanted. I made a birth plan in which I would have no episiotomy. I was to hold me baby right away and nurse him immediately. I wanted him skin-to-skin, in my arms, and to spend the first hour absorbing him, just me and my husband. Funny how none of those plans came to be.

My last night pregnant. 40 weeks and 4 days.

Saturday, the eighth of September, Adam and I took a trip to the hospital, which ended up being a false alarm. Both the midwife and the nurse I saw while there said they thought my baby was close to 7 1/2  or 8 pounds. I breathed a sigh of relief that maybe this baby would be smaller than Joshua was after all. Josh was 8 lbs, 9 oz at birth. I spent the next several days as normal and even ran all my errands with Josh on Monday afternoon. I had been having minor contractions for weeks, so I thought very little of the ones I had while walking through Target, the library and everywhere else we stopped that afternoon. After dinner, I asked to accompany Adam and Josh on their nightly walk, and we walked the mile-long trail around Big Field. My thought was, that since my contractions hadn't disappeared entirely yet, that maybe some more walking would do me some good. That night I went to bed exhausted, but I would get no sleep.

I lay in bed for an hour feeling minor contractions, just like every night for the week previous, and tried to sleep. The contractions were coming regularly, but were unconcerning to me and I just tried to get comfortable. Sleep evaded me. Sometime around 10pm, I felt this "pop" inside my pelvis and suddenly it was as if my contractions were turned up a notch or three. It wasn't long before I told Adam he should probably take Josh over to his parents house, who live not more than five minutes down the road. By quarter after 11, I had talked with my midwife and we were on our way to the hospital. I was only 3cm dilated by the time we arrived and I knew this wasn't going to be the "quick and easy" I had hoped for. Already the contractions were painful and I wasn't anywhere close to the 6cm I had been when the contractions got painful when Josh was born. I labored for the next four and a half hours, with Adam by my side. It was very intense and I fought to keep myself from crying. I progressed very slowly, compared to my expectations. (I learned that the second time you go through labor is not always faster than the first.) It took forever to go from 8cm to 10cm and finally they gave me the okay to push. It was 4am. There was some concern with the baby's heart rate being too high, so the pediatrician was called in, just in case. Soon there were a few more people in the room and I remember asking Jesus to help me. There was the mention of "if his heart rate doesn't come down". Adam was saying they were getting things ready, he's coming, he's coming. Time kept going on. I could hardly do it anymore. His heart rate... Was it getting better yet? I don't remember. The nurse, my midwife, whoever else was there at the time were telling me, "Come on Bethany, you can do it. Push harder!" Finally his head was out... They were still urging me to push. But this is supposed to be the part where I can stop pushing and his body will just slip out, right? There seems to be at least a dozen people there now. The mood in the room goes from urgent to emergency and I hear Adam begging God to help his baby. The midwife asks how long it has been. 1 minute. Adam begins to panic. That is what clued me in that things were not going as they were supposed to. What was happening to my baby? My strength was gone and still they urged me to push. Now it has been two minutes. I feel them pulling at my baby trying to get him out. I try my best to push with anything I had left. Adam is on his knees. And then they pull him out. He does not cry. I don't know what to think. They are tending to him under the lights. Finally he makes a noise and my midwife says, "Did you hear him? He is going to be okay." Before they take him to the Special Care Nursery to check him over more completely, they let me hold him for a couple seconds. And then he was gone.

The proper name for what had happened is Shoulder Distocia. He had gotten stuck at his shoulders for two or more minutes. Adam believed that our baby was not breathing or getting oxygen during those minutes, but in reality he was still receiving oxygen via his umbilical cord. The pediatrician in Special Care confirmed that his oxygen levels were okay and that he had no nerve damage in his arms due to the pulling on his arms during delivery. Thankfully they did not have to use forceps or vacuum or anything worse. But he still needed to be monitored in the nursery and we could go see him. His face was swollen and purple and we were told we could touch him, but not stroke him, because of his traumatic birth. He recoiled at our touch because he was in pain and I tried to be so gentle. I placed my hands by his feet, knowing his feet had to be the least tender as they were the last and smallest part of his body to be born. I cried with both exhaustion and sadness. My poor baby. I so wanted to wrap my arms around him and coo in his face, but instead he lay under the heat lamp in pain.

My baby:

Jacob Alfred

10 pounds, 2 ounces

22 1/4 inches long

at 40 weeks and 5 days,

4:48 am, on September 11, 2012.

Trusting

It'll be three weeks tomorrow since we've been on the market. And we've had zero walk-thrus. We are trying not to be anxious about it and I've made it a consistent matter of prayer. I have been praying that a Christian family would buy our house and they would be a godly witness in our neighborhood. Perhaps my request has narrowed the field too much? I know that God has someone for our little house, but we may have to wait a while for them to show up. That's typically how things go on our little street. Houses sit for long periods of time before they sell. Our house was on the market a year and a half before we bought it. Hopefully it won't be that long... We are supposed to close on our new house in July, so we at least don't have to rush in the moving process. Well, except for the fact that Little Brother is due in the beginning of September, and I'd like to be mostly settled before he gets here... And I'd like to at least have Joshua's new bedroom painted from pink to blue before we move. I think if his room looks as much like his does now, it'll be an easier transition for him, though I still expect to have him climbing into bed with us for the first several days in our new house. (How comfy will that be for me, at eight months pregnant, sandwiched between a sweaty husband and a squirmy little boy?)

This is time for us to trust God (isn't it always?) and commit the transition to Him. He knows all the details and He knows each and everyone affected by our move. Even my young neighbors here. And how my commute to work will grow by a half hour after we move, even if it is only temporary. Maybe it'll be good to stay here a little longer. I'm not looking forward to the 50 minute commute, though it'll only be until the end of August. See? God knows.

Honest About Houses

So, last week I was stressing about looking at houses and looking for a home. I felt I had let my husband down by not loving the house he loved. I tried to love it for a whole day. I honestly tried to convince myself that this house was for us. But for some reason it didn't feel right to me. Was the house too small? Was the yard to small? Was it the kitchen? The bedrooms? The perfectly manicured yard? Nothing seemed like a good reason to not want to live in this beautiful house. I felt like a rat in a cage, with no where to run. We planned to go see the house one more time and probably put in an offer afterwards. Two hours beforehand, I finally broke down and said I did not think that our second scheduled visit was going to make me love the house. We canceled our appointment and spent several agonizing hours hating each other. He was upset. I was unsettled. Maybe I made a mistake... Why did I have to be the one to decide? We knew that time was of the essence, because an offer had been put on the house by a different couple the night before. We couldn't spend days debating it. Finally, I told Adam to call our realtor back. See if we could change our mind and see it. See if we could put an offer in. I felt horrible because Adam was so crushed about the house. He was already convinced this place was perfect. By the time our realtor got back to us, it was too late. The other offer was already going before the home owners. I'm not sure if I felt relieved or more guilty.

Two days later we saw two more houses. The first one we looked at felt like home when I walked in. Large rooms up and down. Over a half acre of land, with room for a garden and room for my boys to run and play in their own yard. Roomy kitchen. Fenced in patio area to play in. Big trees. It did need a new oven/stove and the bathroom was severely outdated. It was missing the extra family room that would be so nice when company was over and the kids got noisy. Adam said it was too small. I said okay. That night, I couldn't sleep. My mind kept going over and over about the house. I knew how Adam must've felt over the weekend. I was figuring out how we could work things in the house. Where we could make extra room appear, so our boys could play in their own space. Could we make a play space in the basement? And my new stove with oven would go right at the end of the counter. That stove-top would go and so would that built in oven that was half the size of a normal oven. How long did it take me to go to sleep? Maybe hours? Wednesday I practiced being honest. I started with my community group and how I needed to put my family first this week. I told my friend and employer about our plans to move and how, after the baby came, I planned to stay at home and watch a couple kids there. How I was not planning to come back to work and how the commute would be too long after we moved and I had two little kids in tow. I don't know how I managed that part, since I was dreading the whole conversation, but it was taken very well and given rather matter-of-factly. Then, at suppertime that evening, I practiced being honest with my husband. I told him how I felt about the house we had see the day before. I liked it. I really liked it. I gave my suggestions as far as family/play rooms go and about the stove and what not. He heard me out and we had a pleasant conversation. The next day we saw another house and both hated it. And we put an offer on the house that I loved. Adam was coming around to it. And, by Friday afternoon, after a counteroffer or two, the house was ours. Even Adam was excited! We will be moving this summer. In July. Before the baby comes! And I just may have time to settle in before September arrives.

Home, Sweet Home

My mind won't turn off this evening. There's too much to think about. Too much for me to do in the next week and a half. And figure out. We have exactly one week to finish prepping our house to be on the market. Yes, we are planning to make a move. Yes, while pregnant. Hey, last time I was pregnant we moved, so why not this time too? We are not going too far, just closer to where we always are. Closer to where Adam typically works. Closer to church, to the store, to the other Grandma. Farther from where I work, farther from the close-to-us Grandma, farther from my vegetable garden... We are excited and stressed too. I'm trying to give it all to God and not worry about finding the perfect house, but I am still thinking about it, especially when I should be sleeping. We have four months before baby brother is due and I would love to be settled in our new home before then. And God knows that. He also know where that will be and how long it will take to sell our house. He knows my tomato plants just came in the mail and that they need to be planted in my garden soon. And He knows I would like access to them in August when they are producing big, juicy, red tomatoes. God knows my husband is tired of driving so far to and from work each day. And He knows that I currently drive 25 minutes to work three days a week and if we move during mid-summer, I will have to make a 45-50 minute commute until the end of August. He knows that I would need to supplement the family income somehow after I stop working outside of out home and He knows how that will happen. He knows exactly when baby brother will arrive. He knows our families needs and desires in a house, even if we aren't sure exactly what they are ourselves. And I think it is GREAT that He knows ALL these things! He even tells us to cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares about us! So why am I still awake at night thinking about details? (Oh yes, there are many more details I have not shared. For instance, the bridal shower I am hosting at my house in 11 days... How can it be pretty and dainty and lovely and wonderful and a blessing and a success all at the same time? All at the same time as I am cleaning and boxing and sorting and tossing and getting no sleep? I guess God knows that too...)

Oh yes, and baby brother is 23 weeks tomorrow. An amazing, unexpected miracle and gift. God's timing is perfect. Who am I to second guess Him?

You Don't Have to Read This

Just wanted to say this has been a rather hard/wonderful summer. Some things have been wonderful and, well, some things super hard. The whole changing churches thing I feel is taking it's toll on me. Having a church family and regular fellowship is really important to me, but not only have we left our home church of eight+ years, we also are not regularly attending or going to be regularly attending the church of our choice for quite a while. Adam is going to be helping do sound at another church in the city through the months of September and October. And more than likely, we will not be able to get plugged into our new church until November. Thankfully, I have been attending a small group Bible study midweek through the summer. The group is made up of young married or single adults in their 20's or 30's and I feel like I've made some good connections with people or at least am starting to. It helps that one of my bff's was part of the group to start with. But now our group leader has just informed us that he will be leaving our group with a new leader in the fall and going off to start another group. Yeah, the one part of "church" that held some normalcy is now going to be... well, different. It just stinks extra much because our group leader was good at making everyone feel welcome, accepted and, I guess, part of the group. It's hard... Especially when every other night or so, I dream about things going on at the church we left and in my dreams I end up crying because I am missing out on what's happening. I don't want to make friends at the church Adam is helping at because we aren't going to stay there (nor do I want to). The new church is absolutely huge and the only thing that makes the huge part not so bad, is the small groups. I just wish Adam could come with me... I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it's not easy. I know it'll be for the best, but right now I have a lump in my throat and I wish Adam was awake so we could talk about it... But he is sleeping and the next best thing in to blog it.

Chruch Directions

Can I blog this late at night? Because every time I get ready to blog, I realize what time it is and exactly how tired I really feel...

This blog was going to be about church. It's been a very strange "church summer". That of course makes no sense to you, but what I really mean is that our regular attendance of our regular church has been erratic and irregular. Between Josh being sick two Sundays, Adam helping a friend with sound at a church in the city, and being out of town, there has been a slight "disconnect" with our home church. And not only the afore mentioned reasons, but also this past Sunday we visited a friends' church and we really liked it. Adam wants to go again. And if Adam wants to go again, so do I. I have been attending a small group Bible study with some young people who attend there, and I am excited to see how Adam could get plugged in too. Keep us in your prayers as we are stepping in a new direction.

FYI

By the way, we're friends again. That is a "Praise the Lord" moment.

To My True Love

Will you...

hold my hand?
gaze into my eyes?
stroke my hair?
wink at me?
dance with me?
pray for me?
pray with me?
pursue me?
talk to me?
kiss me?
guide me?
lead me?
hold me?
share with me?
dream with me?
never leave me?
always be mine?

Six years ago he asked me if I would always be his, and I said yes.

And I will.

The Crazy Wheel of Life

I was told that life is like a wheel, with it's ups and downs. Gotta say, this week has been totally like a wheel. I know that God is at work in my life, but I wish He would would just hurry up, cause His work hurts. It's a good thing that He has balanced His work with some wonderful things along with it. Like Jim is in town this week. And my Gramanita is here from Nova Scotia, for the first time since Adam and I got married. And Leta will have a new baby any day (or hour?). So I have been spending a lot of time with my immediate family and at my parent's house visiting with the family. There is a wonderful sense of community when I go home. Something about not being alone, having someone to share burdens with- even if it is help folding laundry, working together and loving together. I am one of seven kids, so I feel most at home surrounded by people. I'm not much for being alone. I guess you might say that it gets a little lonely around my house. Adam goes to work, comes home tired, and goes to bed early. I miss having time spent with each other, whether it is playing a game together, reading together, going for a walk, or sipping tea while sitting on the deck together. I think quiet time spent together is important and healthy in a relationship and when those quiet times don't happen, a relationship can suffer. I think both of us are to blame here. I fill up my evenings with activities that take me out of the home and away from my family. It's not that I don't want to put my family first, it's just that somehow I want to do other important things too. Before I know it, my weeknights are filled with just snippets of time left for those who really matter most. How do I fix it? How do I make sure that Adam and Josh know that they are the most important to me, with the only exception of Jesus Christ? And then how do we make sure that we have enough Glue (Jesus) in our marriage to keep it strong? Take the "Glue" and time spent together out of a marriage and what you have left is a crazy spinning wheel, careening towards the cliff's edge. And that is the story.

Keeping it Real

Sometimes we like to put on a facade and parade around as someone else, whether it is "Miss Happy Face" or "Mr. Perfect" or "Mrs. Wonderful Housekeeper". I am here to tell you people that, when it's blog time, I am who I am. And thanks for letting me keep it real here. My faithful blog readers know that I get tired, I get cranky, I get frustrated, and I am wimpy. Okay, maybe you didn't know I was wimpy... I'm not sure about that one anyways... But sometimes, I need to let it out. And to spare Adam an earache, this is often where I go to vent. And I thank you for your encouraging words and even for relating to me. It's good to know that I'm not the only crazy female out there in the world. Oh, and in relation to my last post, I went to church that evening and the Lord had it all planned out... I ended up being reminded time and time again that God is the one who makes us strong and gives us the strength for each day. One song we sang went like this,

"Let the weak say, 'I am strong!' Let the poor say, 'I am rich!' Let the blind say, 'I can see!' It's what the Lord has done in me."

The Lord knows just what we need and somehow He knows how to encourage us and how to put things together like that. Those kinds of things just make me love Him more. :)

And as far as the photo goes, it's another way of "keeping it real". Yes, Josh is wearing moon boots and sweat pants. He's the hippest boy around. And he wore those boots around the house until nap time.

Ain't He Sweet?

Josh and I had a real good night together tonight. Adam had gone out for the evening and the little guy and I had already been to the outlet mall together making returns at four different stores. It's not always a fun thing to do, going to the store with Josh, but this time he had a little motivation to be good. He had spied one or two of those coin operated ride on toys that are conveniently placed outside of stores to tempt small children, and was so hoping for a ride on one. I have never let Josh ride on one before, and in the first store we went into he didn't use his "best listening ears" and I told him he couldn't sit on one despite his desperate pleas. But he would not be too discouraged, and was on his absolute best behavior in the remaining stores in hopes that he could earn some brownie points. This was the start of a very nice evening together. When a small child is doing his best to please his or her parent, the parent is going to be a little more, let's say generous, than normal. (Kid's make sure you learn this while you are young.) Let's suffice it to say that before we left the outlet mall, Josh got his ride on the Mickey Mouse fire engine.

So our good evening continued on together. We ate our supper together, just the two of us. I offered him a choice of reading our new storybook together or cleaning the basement, and much to my amusement, he chose cleaning the basement together. He helped me get the newspaper ready for starting a fire on our wood stove, and wrinkled much to much paper. He dusted the tables while I swept the floor. We shared hot cocoa in his new Sponge Bob mugs he received from our family gift exchange at Christmas. I helped the little guy with his bath, though we made sure that his bath toys would not go down the drain before we filled the tub. And then we looked at the new Highlight's magazine that came in the mail, thanks to Aunt Leta. After wards, we delved into our new storybook, The Jeremy Mouse book, by Patricia Scarry. I decided that I like her stories. By the end of our evening together, Josh and I were both in such good moods. He was tucked into bed very pleasantly with two of his tractors and I didn't hear another peep from him. I guess our good night wore him out. I like being a Mommy. :)

Another Out of Town Adventure

Let me start by saying that it is unhealthy to eat greasy potato chips at quarter after 10 at night. Not only that, but they are not very tasty. :P

*Adam and I in Central Park*

Last Thursday, Adam, Jim, Wilson and I went on an adventure. We drove seven hours to stay in a city that is noisy, dirty, packed with people, and extremely prone to visitors. The place was New York City. It was my second visit. My first visit was last year. Last year we seemed to do more things, so I am trying to decide if this was a more relaxed visit or more stressful because we did less. We went with a small list of places to go or things to see, but we crossed Ellis Island off before we even got into the city. I still want to go there, but the consensus was that Ellis Island was more of a summer kind of thing to do. And since it was not summer... *duh*. But we did get everything else crossed off our list by the end of two and a half days. We visited Santa Land at Macy's, saw the King Tut exhibition, walked through China Town, got lost on the way to our favorite restaurant, admired the store windows along Fifth Avenue, and went to the Top of the Rock all on the first day in the City. The second day we split up, Jim and Adam going their way and Wilson and I going our own way. We wanted to be able to do girly things without the guys getting in our way. ;) The boys found their way to the "flat iron building" and Katz's Deli. Us girls went uptown to Alice's Tea Cup for breakfast tea. The tea was most enjoyable, although they lost our order and we waited for one hour for our food and drink. To make up for their mistake, we were given double scones, which made for good breakfast the next day. The two of us took our time getting back to the guys, and we leisurely strolled through the little shops on the street and in Grand Central Station. The rest of our day was spent waiting in line at TKTS, shopping at the Bryant Park shops, "oohing" and "ahhing" over the New York Public Library, and seeing the amazing Broadway show, Mary Poppins. Our last day in the city, we managed to squeeze in Jim's request, going to the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. They currently have a very interesting display of "green", earth friendly, economically friendly ideas and designs. Quite fascinating, the things that people have come up with or done in recent history.

When I get to it, I'll share some more photos and tell more about our adventure. Now it is bed time. Good night!

Wrapping Up the Journey

Maybe you are all tired of hearing about our trip to MN and our visit with Jim. After all, we've been home since the 4th... But I still have more photos and since I'm sure at least my Mom wants to see them, I insist upon sharing them. (So deal!) One more photo journey. This time to Gooseberry Falls and then a couple additional shots from the next day, so this brings our journey to a close...

Days # 6 and # 7:

We started the day off driving around Duluth, which is where we had spent the night. We were looking for a good place to eat breakfast and our GPS led us to this little cafe. It was quite funny actually... Adam asked Jim to look up bakeries in his GPS and the first one that was on the list was the Amazing Grace Bakery. It was 0.0 miles away. It just so happened to be in the basement of the building next to us. Talk about delicious, homemade, good cooking. And a great atmosphere to boot. I'd recommend any day.

After a hearty breakfast, we headed a bit north to see the falls. They are as follows.

Falls #1 (or 2) Notice the bear cave in the background. We climbed
up and peaked in, but it wasn't really big enough for any bears.

Jim, being a good mountain man, commandeered the falls for us.

Another view of the above falls. In all there were three or
four different falls. We saw all of two of them. Boo to that.

Jim, being a good photo bomber. I will unfortunately never be as good as he is.

And now we are onto the next day, back in Minneapolis. The weather was cruel to us while we were in MN, but how could anyone expect Minnesota weather to be any different than cruel? The week started off in the 90's but by Friday, it was 55°. We were freezing and ill prepared. I had forgotten to pack Adam a sweatshirt so that was our first order of business. The second order of business was to toss around the "ol' pig skin" at the park down the street. I am not much on playing catch, but I brought a book and found a park bench. Before too long, Adam and Jim had some company. Three neighborhood boys came along and asked if they could play. And they played for over an hour and a half. It was a riot!

We wrapped up the day with a baseball game at the Target Stadium. I got some great picture of the guys and I waiting for the game to start. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Day #2

(Overlooking the City of Red Wing, MN)

Minnesota, Day 2:

Jim goes to a church in Eagan Hills, MN. It's about a 1/2 hour away from where he lives. I was excited and nervous to go to his church. I was nervous about meeting his friends and feeling awkward, but really I didn't have any awkward moments meeting his friends. Really, I loved everything about the church service. The congregation stood during the entire worship session. Some lifted their hands, some swayed with the music and some were just as stoic as could be. Just like our church, I suppose. I learned some new songs, which I have been craving to sing. And the message was very good. I could still tell you what it was about a week and a half later. Wanna try me? I dare ya. Anyway, if I ever moved to Minnesota, I would probably go to church there, with Jim.(Jim, the prepared Minnesotan, on the top of Barn Bluff)

After church, Jim had a great adventure for us. We drove to Red Wing, MN, home of Red Wing boots, where there is this mountainous hill that rises out of the ground. This hill is called Barn Bluff and it rises 350 ft up, up, and into the sky. After stopping for lunch, we put on our hiking shoes and made the trip up and around and back down the bluff. The view was so picturesque. And hiking up took our breath away. Good thing we brought water, because it was 90 degrees out there that afternoon. We found that Barn Bluff was not only a good spot for hikers, but for rock climbers too. On our way down the bluff, we went around the other side where the bluff does all it's "bluffing". The hillside gives way to a sheer, rocky, cliff-edge and we passed several groups of rock climbers. That was an activity for another day though... Adam wanted to go to the Red Wing Shoe Store, but he was disappointed that Red Wing shoes doesn't make more of it's shoes in the USA. He also couldn't find just what he was looking for, so he put off his new work boot purchase until a further date in time.

(Myself, checking out the view and being quite hot and out of breath)
(Rock Climbers climbing up the face or Barn Bluff)

When we were done touring Red Wing Shoe Store, we drove on back to Jim's apartment, which was nearly two hours from Red Wing. By this time it was already evening and we were exhausted. Both the guys fell asleep and I puttered around Jim's apartment for a while. I decided that, once it got to be 8:00, it was time to find something for supper. So I looked through Jim's cupboards, and started to "rub up some grub". He had some good ingredients and it wasn't long before the guys were awake and dinner was ready. Rice, beef, beans, and tomatoes. And that was the end of day #2. Photos forthcoming.

A Camping Trip

*Hiking up Bald Mountain. Josh hiked all the way up
and half the way down before asking for a ride.*

We finally took Josh camping last weekend. He had been asking to go since April. One sunny April afternoon, while driving down the highway, something must've triggered a memory of camping. Because from that moment on, at least once weekly, Josh would ask to go camping. Last year, we had taken him up into the Adirondack's to Old Forge, and this year we returned, just one campsite over from the one we had last year. This year we had an addition to our camping party, as Adam had invited his friend Dave to come along. Dave brought his own tent and his own snacks, but other than that, did everything else with us. We did some hiking, some canoeing, mini-golfing, some cooking over the fire, some bear-hunting, and some hiding under a tarp. Yes, it rained a bit. But I'm not one to complain about the rain. It wasn't all that bad. The sun shone at least for a bit each day and our tent didn't wash away in the midnight torrential downpour. So all in all, other than me being in such a sour mood the whole time, it was a fine camping excursion. But next time, Adam is making the pancakes.*At the top of the Bald Mountain Fire Tower. Over 2, 350 ft up.*

*Dave attempting to get washed down the Moose River. I was so paranoid.*

*Mmm, mmm, good.*

Toronto: Day #2

Adam and I had only planned to go to two different places while in Toronto. The rest we were just going to "wing it". We had planned to go to the CN Tower and the Toronto Zoo. We thought Josh would really enjoy all the animals at the zoo. We left our hotel early, paid for parking, and drove off to find somewhere to eat breakfast before heading to the zoo. Hotel breakfast was just too expensive. We have this handy GPS, but let me reiterate lesson #1: Do not rely on a GPS when looking for a restaurant. The restaurant we were looking for was nonexistent but thankfully just around the corner was a hopeful looking place. The George Street Diner was just the spot for breakfast. It was small and quaint and reminded me of someplace from the 50's. There were maybe 6-7 booths and a counter lined with bar stools. The cook was cooking right behind the counter and the place was filled with patrons except for two stools at the counter. We stood awkwardly at the door for a few seconds before a thin, black man with a heavy accent started waving us in and calling us to come in, sit down, and relax. We weren't sure what to make of it because he was sitting at the counter next to the two empty stools, but Josh didn't hesitate as long as we did. He went right up to the man with the accent, climbed up onto the stool and sat there as is they had been friends for a long time. I would've been nervous, except that we were right there... Adam and I eventually decided that we'd go sit down with Josh and the very friendly guy at the counter proceeded to tell us how he was a sailor and had traveled the world, but Canada was the most beautiful country he'd ever seen. Then he bid us farewell, picked up his coffee and was gone. He was the most colorful character we met while in Toronto... literally. :) Anyway, our breakfast there was delicious enough to recommend the place to anyone who is going to or lives in Toronto. Don't you think it's cute too?

On to the Zoo... Sunday was a good day for free parking. Twice actually. Toronto has free parking from 9am to 1pm on Sunday mornings, so we parked for free at breakfast time. AND we found a spot to park for free at the Toronto Zoo too! We had to walk a bit farther, but it was well worth the $10 savings. While the zoo was fun, we weren't sure if we really loved it. The grounds were sprawled out over 700 acres and there were over 1,000 animals. There were miles of paths and even a mini water park at the Kidzoo. One has to ride the Zoo mobile to even see half of the animals and I think it was well worth spending the extra money on the Zoo mobile passes. It was a hot, sunny day and we had forgotten to bring sunscreen. A kind family let us use some of their sunscreen for Josh, who is so pale that he was sure to be a lobster by the end of the day, had it not been for their kindness. Though I am pretty sure I turned into a lobster instead... Being at such a large, expansive zoo made Adam and I appreciate our smaller city zoo. We may not have every animal possible in our zoo, but it's compact size makes it good for walking with smaller children and you don't feel like you're missing out on half of the exhibits. We have decided that we should take Josh to The Seneca Park Zoo sometime this summer and then he could actually see the monkeys.

The last thing we managed to see before dusk settled upon us was the Eaton Centre, where we once again paid for parking. The Eaton Centre is a large, multi-leveled shopping "centre", right it the middle of Toronto. Adam thought maybe he'd buy some sunglasses, but seeing as he is still wearing mine, I guess he didn't find any to suit him... The mall really was just that. A really big mall. With a three-story H & M inside...

Just two more things about our trip home. We booked out of the hotel, only to find out that the parking rate and more than doubled over-night when the weekend turned into the weekday. Adam nearly blew a sprocket when he was charged $26 for using the parking lot over night. Lesson #2: Next time we go to a big city, get acquainted with the public transportation system. Or ride a bike. And I nearly blew a sprocket when we waited an hour and a half in line to get back over the border, when I knew we could've crossed at Fort Erie with little to no wait. But all in all, it was a very fun weekend. We should travel again sometime.

A Weekend Excersion: Part 1

We spent this last weekend in Toronto, just me, Josh, and Adam. Though this internationally-known city is just over four hours away, I had never before visited it. I had mentioned visiting Toronto a few different times to Adam and he finally decided that we could go. We only had two days to see all that we could see, but I think it was enough with a

The very first thing we did in Toronto (besides pay for parking) was to see the CN tower. We went up to the main floor and checked out the view... Pretty cool! Sad thing was that I thought I had forgotten my camera at home, as I couldn't find it in our suitcase. Thankfully my cell phone has a camera, so I was still able to get a few pictures. We stood on the glass floor and felt the wind whip around our bodies when we peered out over the city, but we did not eat at the fancy revolving restaurant. The view was magnificent.

After the CN Tower, we happened upon a train exhibit right across the street at The Steamwhistle Brewery. It was at the original train station, which had a real round-about. Everything was free and we were able to get inside a real steam engine and a caboose, and check out some other engines and train cars. There was a mini train chugging around the grounds that we were able to ride. Josh insisted that we ride it twice, which of course we did, because it was free. Josh had a marvelous time and thoroughly enjoyed everything about the trains. He was even given a train whistle by one of the guys on the train. He very promptly put that to use on our mini-train ride. Great fun. It's funny, cause I looked up The Steamwhistle's website, but it's all about beer and we were totally not there for beer! We were there because something really cool was going on with all these trains!

I'm amazed at how much we fit into the day on Saturday, because our day didn't stop there!
We also managed to get over to the St. Lawrence Market before it reached 3pm. After paying for more parking, we tucked our now-snoozing boy into his stroller and roamed the market. I always enjoy the public market in Rochester and this one was even more enjoyable, except for the fact that I really couldn't buy much. Adam and I shared the most delicious homemade cheese ravioli with tri-colored sauce (highly recommended!) and found a couple goodies at a bakery for our lunch. We also purchased some delicious honey from New Zealand. Josh slept marvelously the whole time, though we made sure to get him something to eat for when he woke up.

We then found our hotel, paid for more parking, and then proceeded to The Distillery District, where we paid for even more parking. The Distillery District is an artsy area with galleries, shops, restaurants, studios, and more stuff good for browsing. Unfortunately, a lot of the shops were closed by the time we arrived, though we did get to take a peek in a few places. By now, Josh was cranky, Adam was hungry, and I wanted homemade ice cream. We did manage to find somewhere to eat on location, though Josh was the most restless he has ever been while out to eat. He was pretty horrible. It was embarrassing...

We spent the rest of our evening trying to find someplace to eat ice cream. Lesson learned #1: Do not rely on a G.P.S. when it comes to finding a Dairy Queen or any other restaurant. After two+ hours, we finally landed in China Town, where we saw a Dairy Queen and satisfied our ice cream craving.

In order to keep from boring you, I leave you here. More to come shortly.

Discipline and The Act of It

I think we need help. Our opinions differ sooo much. We have no idea how to discipline a child *together*. We don't agree one bit. And I am ready to give up. Fine. If you don't like how I do it, then you do it. All by yourself. Don't come in and tell me to apologize. I'm not sorry and I think he deserved it. I am tired of being told not to do something right in front of small child. No wonder he cries, "Daddy, daddy!" all the time. No wonder he doesn't care what I say. I think we need to have a series of "consultations" with older, wiser couples who have had years of experience raising and disciplining children. Maybe I am too strict. But if I am, I would like to know how I should be doing it, and still get my child to listen to me, to sit when he is supposed to sit, to be quiet when it is time to be quiet, and to respect me, and those who need to be respected. And I think we need to be able to agree on how to raise this boy. Right now there is still time to get our act together. But we don't have long until he could morph into a monster who knows exactly how to divide and conquer his parents to his benefit. So, yes. I am asking for help. How do we come together as one parental unit and actually begin acting like it?

Our 2009 Christmas Letter

The following is this years Christmas letter, just in case you won't be getting a Christmas card from us this year. I finally got my cards sent out on Monday. Nothing like waiting til the last minute!


December 2009

Greetings of Christmas and New Years!

I often laugh at myself when I sit down to write our Christmas letter. I am always running behind during the holiday season. Here it is the 19th of December and we just yesterday began our Christmas shopping and I am just now writing this letter to all of you, our most loved friends and family. Which, of course, is why I included a New Years greeting above. It's all due to either over working or tardiness. Narrowing it all down to which the blame is deserved, is entirely too much guess work...

What a wonderful year here at our house! Many ups and some downs. A rollercoaster year for sure. Our son Joshua turned two years old in October. He is not one to bore his audiences. He is always talking and getting into "man" things. Josh can typically be found with one of several things in his hand: a flashlight, a screwdriver, a truck or a pen. This summer he so lovingly drew a mural across my lower kitchen cabinets, which caused a flurry of Internet research to find a way to remove permanent marker from wood. Thankful I am for toothpaste... It just so happens to be a "cure all". A little scrubbing and a bit of elbow grease removed most, if not all, remnants of his artistry. Joshua's speech continues to astound not only Adam and I, but other members of our family as well. He has an almost complete range of vocabulary and can carry on a nice conversation with us. So, if and when you come and visit, please season your speech with salt and keep in mind that our small child can and will repeat every word he hears you speak. Another thing people find fascinating about Josh is his size and weight. Yes, he weighs a ton. And yes, he is in the 95th percentile on the growth chart. He also will tell me at times, "I have big hands." Which he does. Our most current struggle with Josh is food. After eating anything and everything for the past two years, Josh has decided that he doesn't like supper. We are currently using several different means of manipulation to get him to eat without complaining or saying, "Me no like it." Don't you worry. I have already stated that Josh is plenty healthy and will not starve due to our manipulation tactics. We are also working on potty-training. If I could get complete family support, I think he could be diaper-free (daytime) by New Years.

Adam continues to work for LMC out of Avon, NY. Heating and Air Conditioning is his cup-o-tea. To me it is just pipes, vents and a lot of hot air. That's why I leave it all to him. He drives a company van here and there and tries to get home in time for dinner. This year, during his spare time, Adam refinished a room in our basement. He drywalled, painted, put down laminate flooring, and redid the stairs, with a bit of help from my Dad and a pinch of help from me. I was more than happy to do the tiling around the wood stove but I have yet to finish painting the stairs. Maybe by Christmas.... (ha-ha)

This past April, Adam and I were hit by a drunk driver while driving to Nashville. We ended up rolling our SUV and totaling our vehicle, leaving us stranded just outside of Louisville, KY. I believe God uses times like that to draw you, not only closer to Him, but closer together as a couple. God was so good to us and protected us through the whole incident. We walked away with four staples in Adam's head and 33 stitches in my forearm and, after renting another vehicle, we continued on our way to Nashville. Many thanks to our family and close friends for your prayers over the course of that weekend.

Another highlight of the year was the ten day missions trip I was privileged to take part in this summer. A group of nine from our church flew to El Salvador to minister to a group of boys and various area churches. It was amazing. We passed out gospel tracts to nearly every person we saw on the street and taught Bible stories to the kids who attended the after-school program at the orphanage where we stayed. I was so blessed and God is still using the experience to work in my heart.

This year also brought to pass the most difficult thing I have ever had to endure, which is saying good-bye to someone I love dearly, though it be only temporary. On September 28, my dear Grandpa went to be with Jesus, after being diagnosed with lung cancer only four weeks prior. Those last four weeks were, and will be forever, so precious to us. We soaked up every moment we could with Grandpa and he continued to shower us with stories and wisdom and his favorite scriptures. The night before he died, I whispered in his ear that if I didn't see him again here, I would see him there (meaning heaven) and he answered in a resounding, "Yes!" The first thing he had been able to say for several hours. What a comfort that is to me. I'm looking forward to our reunion someday.

So there you have a brief synopsis of our year. May the next year have more ups and more glorious meetings with my Saviour. I love my Jesus dearly and I pray that this year you will grow to know Him like you never had before. He is the true reason why we celebrate this Christmas. Because of Jesus, I can confidently assure you that I will see my Grandpa again, though not on this earth. Because of Jesus, I am free. My debt is paid, because of a little Child born so long ago. May God bless you all in the up coming year! Good wishes from us to you!

With all our love,

Adam, Bethany and Josh

A Weekend Camping Trip

Over the last weekend in August, we went camping in the Adirondacks. Adam and I had never been camping together before and Josh had never been at all. We were surprised to find out how inexpensive it was to camp and Adam gave me the job of collecting everything we needed. Thankfully my parents had a bunch of camping stuff lying around and we were able to borrow almost everything we needed. We drove up to Old Forge and enjoyed a wonderful time together. It rained on and off, and was very cold at night, but it was sooo fun. Josh really enjoyed himself. He pushed his Tonka truck around our campsite and played in the water dripping from our drippy faucet. We brought Molly along and she loved playing with our neighbors' golden lab. The wildlife was insane... There were deer everywhere in the village. Literally everywhere. Front yards, parking lots, meandering slowly through the road... Totally comfortable with people presence. It was wild. There were bears in the camp. They wandered about at night and if you didn't put everything containing food away in your car, they would finish it off for you. (Like our neighbors' crockpot.) We took Josh canoeing, hiking and mini golfing. He fell asleep during our canoe ride and while we hiked down the mountain. We really had a great time, and although Adam really would like to get a pop-up, I still think there is nothing quite like tent camping. Especially when there is a bear sniffing around outside your tent...