Anniversary getaway

This past week Greg and I went to McMenamin's Edgefield for two nights to celebrate our 11th Anniversary. Wanda was gracious and brave enough to take both kids... which was much, much appreciated. We had a fun and restful time together. The first night we got there I slept for 12 hours... it made me realize just how tired I have been. The next day I was ready for adventure. We went  out to breakfast at the Multnomah Falls restaurant and then hiked our way up Angel's rest. It was a new hike to us and absolutely beautiful.

A forest fire came through this area about 20 years ago and in the background of this picture you can kind of tell. Since a lot of the tall older fir trees are now just dead standing trunks, more light can filter through to the forest below. This means smaller deciduous trees and wildflowers have a better chance.  It also means there are more viewpoints along the way.

I made it to the top... just barely. If it had been any farther, or any steeper I may have given in before we reached the top. But it was well worth the view. Here I am showing off my 30 week baby belly.

We spent the rest of our time eating good food, relaxing in the heated (think hot tub temp) soaking pool, and doing some shopping at the outlet malls. Then we headed for home where we were still kid-free for another night. We were able to get quite a bit of work done (we've been moving into a new house on campus). All in all a great 11th anniversary getaway.

After the busy-ness and stress of moving, pregnancy, and parenting it was good to relax and take a breather together. It reminded me just how much I like this man I married 11 years ago. Thanks Babe, for all you do for me and our family. I love you so much! 

Chinese Garden Adventure

Today we went to the Chinese Garden here in downtown Portland. The brochure said it is the most authentic Chinese garden outside of China... I don't know whether to believe the brochure or not. But nonetheless it was beautiful and tranquil. It was like stepping into another world. I kind of forgot we were still downtown, except that every once in awhile over the tops of the curved roofs I would catch glimpses of skyscrapers. 

The garden takes up one city block, but it's amazing how much they fit into that little space. There are paths leading through it different ways, and different vistas from each angle. The sound of a waterfall blocks out the city traffic noise. It really is quite a calming, tranquil experience. Except, I suppose, for the sounds of our children. 

 The kids loved watching the big Koi.

They liked using the "flower" doorway as a slide.

The kids had a really fun time. When I told her earlier in the day that we were going to a Chinese garden Leesi said, "That doesn't sound very fun." But in the car when we were leaving she said, "I didn't think it was going to be fun, but it was fun!" I was glad she had amended her opinion.

August... ugh.

Every year since Greg started working in Student Development, August has been a rough time of year for me. It's an exciting time of year... RA training, students moving in, beginning of the school year... but all of this means that Greg works long hours. This past week he was on a backpacking trip with his PA staff, he was out of cell phone range. It was the third week he'd been gone out of the past five weeks. And by the end of the week I could really tell... I was ready for him to come home. Yesterday he came back... and it's been so great to have him back! Today we had a great family day with the kids, and then went out on a date this evening (thanks to Wanda, our great baby-sitter). Now the worst of August is behind us and I'm looking forward to the start of classes and getting back into a routine.

Here we are

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. We're now in Oregon (Columbia City) at Wanda's (Greg's mom's) house. Every summer we spend a few weeks with each set of parents. This year however, we're here in the Northwest to stay. It's weird, in some ways it feels like just another summer.... but not quite. I can't stop thinking about all that needs to happen in the next month. Greg still needs to find a job, and we need to find an apartment and move all of our stuff in (right now it's in Wanda's garage).

At different times I feel quite anxious about the fact that Greg doesn't have a job. But I keep hearing God say, "Rest." "Trust me," "Wait and see how I provide for you."

He also says,

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

So here we are in Oregon... in a place of dependence on God.

Diamond Digging!

So it's Spring Break here. My brother and sister-in-law came down to visit us and we all took a trip down to Murfreesboro Arkansas for a little diamond digging!

Arkansas is home to the only diamond-producing site that is open to the public, Crater of Diamonds State Park. My brother learned this as a little kid, and has always wanted to visit. So, now that we live in Arkansas, this was his opportunity.

This is what it looks like... a field of dirt. It had rained quite heavily the day before we arrived, and so the ground was sticky mud. I had worn slip on shoes which threatened to suck off of my feet with each step. Greg was a little more prepared with water-proof boots. And Elisa chose to wear her pretty pink shoes. The clay-mud built up on our shoes with each step resulting in hilariously heavy feet.

John and Kristine were the serious diamond hunters... wet sifting through the dirt. Greg and Elisa helped them a little, while I walked around with Jonathan and tried to make sure my shoes stayed on my feet. In the end we didn't find any diamonds, but we had a memorable time at an Arkansas landmark. And we made fun memories with John and Kristine. Thanks guys, for coming all this way to be with us!

Home again

Well, we are back home in Arkansas.  I definitely have mixed feelings about being back.  I like sleeping in my own bed, but I miss being around our families already.  Elisa asked for Papa, Hamma, and Hammy (Grandpa, Grandma, and Grammy) today... so I think she misses everyone too.  Here's a little slideshow of some (but not nearly all) of the highlights from the summer... 

Also, I couldn't ignore Anna's requests for prego pictures any longer... I definitely am starting to look very pregnant.  This picture was taken a week ago (at 30 weeks)... 

I'm feeling well.  The nauseau is finally behind me and my energy is coming back.  Only two months to go until the due date!  Still no name ideas... we are really going to have to get going on that.  Any suggestions?  It's a boy.  The middle name will be Gregory.  We want it to be longer than one syllable.  We also prefer that it be definitely a boy's name (not gender neutral).

Summer so far...

Well, we're off to a great summer.  We've been in the Northwest for about a month now and we've been having a lot of fun with friends and family.  It's been really good to see Elisa interact with her grandparents, aunt, uncle and friends.  

Greg and I also got to take our first vacation without Elisa (thanks to my parents).  It was just a two night trip to Seattle for our anniversary.  We had a great time!  

Here are some fun pictures from our vacation so far...

Elisa had a great time at the "spray park" on a particularly hot day.

  
Elisa eating raspberries out of her container while sitting in the pool.  She LOVES raspberries and whenever we go outside she heads straight to the raspberry bushes to pick and eat all she can.

  

Happy Fourth of July!  Homemade Ice Cream - Yum!

 

New words

Greg and I have been amazed at how fast Elisa is picking up new words now. She learns at least a word a day it seems. Some of her new words include:

helmet - "met" (she loves going for bike rides)
poop (this makes me laugh)
eye
hot
Itty - "I eeee" (Her stuffed bunny... this is so cute, she will actually walk around the house calling Itty when she doesn't know where he is)
hippo - "Po"

I can't remember the rest of them right now. But it's been so fun to watch her learn new words.

We leave to go back to the NW tomorrow. Greg and I are both frantically trying to finish all our tasks before we leave. Can't wait to see everyone back there!

Homecoming

Well, I am back home again. The reunion with Elisa didn't quite go as either Greg or I expected. Elisa watched as I came through the security checkpoint. When I got close to her I knelt down and held out my arms. She looked at me and then turned and ran the other way. She had been playing in this kids area close to where we were standing and she wanted to show me the big plastic lion, and slide down the slide. It was so good to see my little family again, but also kind of sad to see how much bigger Elisa had gotten in just one week.

Here are some pictures from the trip. The first one shows a mobile that Anna and I made for Josiah's room. Turned out cute, didn't it? The second one shows us belly to belly. Anna at 31 weeks, me at 23.

It was such a great trip. So much fun to be with them, and such a nice break from the normal responsibilities of life!

Vacation!

So here I am in Phoenix visiting Anna and Caleb. I've been here since Friday, and I leave on Wednesday. Greg and Leesi are at home, having some quality Daddy-Daughter time. It's been really fun being here. I feel really relaxed... this is the first time I've been away from Elisa overnight.

When we were first planning this trip it was supposed to be during Greg's ACSD conference. And Elisa was supposed to come with me. Every year he goes to this week long conference in early June, and every year I sit at home alone, sad that he's gone. So this year we decided that while Greg was gone, Leesi and I would go to Phoenix. Well, about a week after we bought our plane tickets Greg's conference was canceled... wouldn't you know it! So, after much deliberation, we decided that Greg would keep Leesi at home with him, and I would go to Phoenix alone. And I have to say that I think we made the right decision. I thought that I'd miss her a lot and be sad to be away from her for so long... But I am really glad I didn't bring her! It's so nice to be able to lay in bed for as long as I want after I wake up. It's so nice not to have to worry about keeping her on her nap schedule, or her bedtime routine. It's nice not to change diapers. (Speaking of diapers, Greg said that Elisa said "poop" for the first time the other day- hee hee)

Anyway, Anna and Caleb have been great hosts. I've had lots of fun hanging out with them and their dog, Shep. And it's been fun to see Anna pregnant (she is a couple months ahead of me... due in August with their first, a little boy). This evening I think we're going to make a mobile for his room.

Greg has been updating his blog regularly while I've been away with pictures of Elisa. So head over there to see the latest!

Weekend Away

This weekend we went to Oklahoma City for the annual memorial marathon. Greg was running the marathon relay with a group from JBU. He will post more about that at his blog I'm sure. But after all the activity of the weekend I just wanted to share what Leesi looked like in the car on the way home...


I would have gotten just a picture of her sleeping or at least a close up on the video, cuz it was so darn cute. But the battery ran out right then. So anyway, all that to say, we had a great weekend and now we're all pretty tired.

A couple more highlights: seeing our friends from college Sonny and Kristal and their family who now live in Oklahoma city. And once again a fun swim in the hotel pool...

Easter Memories

Well, there are no adorable pictures of Elisa in a little Easter dress this year. There are no smiling shots of family gathered around a big ham dinner. There was no Easter basket, no Easter eggs, no Easter jelly beans. These things may have been... they may be another year... but this year instead we had... THE STOMACH FLU!

It all started last Tuesday morning. Elisa was eating breakfast happily when all of a sudden everything started coming back up. She vomited and vomited... but then went on with the rest of her day quite happily. She had a small amount of diarrhea, and then threw up again sometime that night in her bed. She didn't really seem that sick, she slept slightly more, but other than that seemed quite happy. Thursday morning it was my turn, I started throwing up and thought that it was just normal pregnancy... but it soon became clear that it was something more. I couldn't keep anything down, including water, all day. Around 10:00 that night Greg made the trip to Tulsa to pick up his mom and gramma from the airport. I felt bad that they were flying into a "sick house," but at that point it was too late to do anything but hope that I would feel better and pray that they wouldn't get sick. Well, I did gradually start to feel better... but Greg, Wanda, and Gramma all ended up sick last night/this morning. What a terrible present to give your guests to take home with them. Anyway, our Easter was subdued to say the least. Everyone napped all morning. And then we drove to the airport this afternoon. Yech! Traveling sick....

Well, Happy Easter! Christ is still risen. The good news is still good, no matter how I feel.

Wanda and Gramma... all I can say is I'm so sorry. Hopefully you'll both feel better in no time. And we'll always have the memories of this Easter.

A Visit from the Brewsters

Our friends Jed and Melissa and their three kids stayed with us this last weekend. They have been on a cross-country road trip in their Volkswagon camper van for the last three months and plan on getting back home (Vancouver, WA) in another month and a half.

Can you imagine doing that with three kids?!?

Why are they doing this, you might ask? They are visiting friends and family and raising support to go to India as missionaries. They are going to be living in Mumbai, India and working with a team that ministers to the people in the slums there. (Did you know that there are 12 million people living in the slums of Mumbai? - the equivalent of the population of New York City). Anyway, to learn more about the Brewsters and their ministry check out their website.

We had a really fun time being with all of them. This is a picture that Greg also posted on his blog, but it is definitely my favorite, so I can't help but post it again...

Life Update

Well, I know the blogging has been a little sparse lately. I have just been focusing on basic survival... not a lot of energy for "extras." But I know I owe you all some recent pictures and a small update.


As far as the pregnancy goes... I feel like I may be on the way "up"... the worst may be over. I have been throwing up a bit, and of course somewhat nauseous and tired. But I really feel like it's only going to get better and better.


A lot of people have been wondering when (and if) we're going to find out the sex. And the answer is YES we will find out as soon as we can. But that won't be for a few weeks yet. I am 13 weeks along now, and I think that they will do the ultrasound sometime around 18 weeks... I'm not sure. Of course, we will keep everyone updated.


Greg, Elisa, and I had a nice little getaway over this last weekend. It's spring break for JBU so Greg has some time off. We had a really nice time just relaxing at a hotel (thanks to Kristine for the discount rate!). We didn't do a whole lot. We took Elisa swimming several times in the hotel pool... at first she clung to me like a little monkey and cried at the littlest thing. She was kind of scared. But by the third time she even got into her starfish floatie and floated around. We had so much fun. We didn't take any pictures of her swimming... But here are some pictures from playing at the park... she loved the tube, and she loves her big ball. And the sunglasses just crack me up.

Visit with the Fam

So my parents have been here for the last week. It sure has been nice having them around. They leave tomorrow... and I'm not really looking forward to them leaving. They've been such a help with Elisa... and the cooking... and the cleaning. They've let me sleep in in the morning while they get Elisa up and feed her etc... It's been so nice, especially since I've been feeling extra tired and sick.

I think they've had a lot of fun playing with Elisa too. Mostly we've just hung around home, but we have had a few adventures too. Visit Greg's blog to read about and see pictures of Elisa at the Gentry Safari.

hmmm.... where to begin...

Well, it's been quite the week.

We came home on Saturday and walked into our apartment to a horrible smell. Both Greg and I looked at each other and said, "What is that!" We spent the next two hours smelling houseplants, the christmas tree, the empty garbage cans and anything else we could think of to try to locate the source of the smell. We finally decided to take down the Christmas tree and put it outside to see if that would help. While I was taking it down I noticed that my socks were getting wet. That's how we discovered that the carpet had gotten wet and then sat for weeks while we were gone. So we emptied out our living room, and the last few days maintenance has been in and out of our apartment, tearing up the ceiling and working on the plumbing... tomorrow they recarpet for us.

So, this week has already felt like a week of upheaval: with furniture everywhere in our small apartment and maintenance workers, plumbers, and painters coming and going.

Then tonight our car broke down while Greg was "in town" with Leesi at Sam's Club. They had to be towed home.

And to cap off the week Greg's Gramma went to the hospital today. She had a stroke. She got to the hospital very quickly - so that's good news. But please pray for Gramma and the rest of the family. Greg is going to fly out tomorrow morning for the weekend just to be there with the family and see his Gramma. In the next day or so they will be able to determine the extent of the damage. Right now we don't know a whole lot, but we are optimistic.

And we're back

So, it is 12:48 am Sunday morning Central time... but only 10:48 pm Saturday night Pacific time. We got back into town earlier this evening. And I'm about to head to bed... but just thought I'd put up a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas Break. More to come!

Leesi misses you all already!

Okay, actually she was just mad that I wouldn't let her have the camera.

We made it!

It's a miracle! We made it in late Sunday night (actually early Monday morning). Our flight was one of the few that made it into Portland... so we feel very fortunate. It was an eventful night, with one delay after another (and a sprint through the Denver airport). But we arrived! And now that we see conditions here, we feel even more fortunate.

This is the most snow Portland's had in my lifetime for sure. On the news they were saying that the last time they had this much snow was '68. Wow! I would say that here in Columbia City there is about 14 or 15 inches. And they are predicting more snow over the next few days. Now I know that for many people that's not much snow. But Portland just isn't prepared to deal with these kind of condtions... in fact they ran out of the ice melt stuff (don't worry -they were able to get more). They don't have many snow plows etc. So it takes awhile to get the roads cleared off. And at the airport the runways were cleared, but that's about it. All of the taxiing was done through the snow.

Anyway, we're here safe and sound and in time for a White Christmas! Thank you God!

Flight delayed...

So we were supposed to be leaving tonight. But our flight got cancelled! Lame, huh? There's too much bad weather in Portland, I guess. But they rescheduled it for tomorrow night. Hopefully that one won't get cancelled.

Anyway, in the meantime, to hold Wanda over until we get there, here's a video of Elisa from last night. It's not a great video. But what impresses me about it is that Elisa actually squats down and then stands up again without holding onto anything.

Like Greg mentioned in his blog, Elisa is now officially walking. She took her first step at the end of October. She then progressed to taking up to 4 steps at a time if coaxed. But then she stopped taking steps altogether. Then we found out that she had ear infections, and after being on her antibiotics for a few days she started walking on her own. She didn't even need to be coaxed. She just started walking. In the few days since then she has really progressed! She even walked from our living room all the way to kitchen one night. I think those ear infections may have been holding her back. Now she's making up for lost time.

A visit from Grammy

Grammy came for a visit this week. She was here for a few days and we all had lots of fun together. Here we are at the airport seeing Grammy off today. Elisa was having so much fun crawling all around the airport. Here she is... laughing as she crawls around. Thanks for visiting Grammy. Come back soon.