How are things?

I haven't had much time on the computer so I'm going to write as much as I can in a short time. It won't be pretty, but it will be informative.

How are things?

WinterFest on "The Hill" - food, sled dogs, cookie decorating, live music

Location: We are really falling in love with our new community. We enjoy all of the good things, but also feel strong burdens for the broader community of Detroit and its current struggles. I feel as though it is no accident that we are here in this place at this time of such uncertainty for people. It has made me so aware of all the blessings that I have and all I have to be thankful for. We really enjoy walking and driving around our area. We live a 5 minute walk from "The Village" which is one of the retail areas for Grosse Pointe. It is a couple of blocks of shops, including a grocery store, hardware store and big book store. One of our new favorites is Trader Joe's. Isabelle loves it because they have kid-sized shopping carts that she gets to push, and a treasure chest full of free suckers. She wants to go every day. The houses are fascinating. They have such history and are all so different. It is also wonderful to live by a body of water again. I often take the kids on an extended drive after being at the library or on an errand simply to drive by the water. It reminds me so much of home in Ontario. Our rental home has been an absolute gift. Although we have had a few challenges baby-proofing the place, there is plenty of storage and living space. And it is nice.


Church: We are getting to know our new church and it is lovely being in the honeymoon stage. Ben's installation was a very joyful day and the church hosted a really nice lunch for us at a community center. People took turns holding Charlotte so I could talk. I find that I am very excited for Sundays and the kids are as well. Isabelle is transitioning to being in the service and she attended Children's Worship for the first time this past week. In the service, she always wants to clap, especially after prayers, choir anthems and songs. This past week we had a guest choir and after their two offerings, she clapped and shouted out "Thank you for helping us worship!". My heart sung. People giggled. Ben is enjoying his work. His rhythm is very different from his last post in that he is alone in the building a lot and gets out to go meet people instead of people dropping by all the time. I am going to be doing some music leading and planning for Children's Worship, as well as helping with connections for children in the morning service. I found it so funny that I was SO excited to get on the nursery list and get involved with Children's Worship. It feels like a privilege because I couldn't do it before.



Home: We are mostly unpacked, but the last 15% has been the hardest bit. My energy and mood has been low since after Christmas and the kids have been squirrels. They don't seem to play by themselves but I am seeing improvements each day. We are all adjusting to being together full-time. I joined a community playgroup on Tuesday mornings and we have been twice. The kids love it and it is a 5 minute walk from here. Isabelle is doing swimming lessons for 8 weeks, and I signed up for a Cardio Circuit class for 8 weeks at the public school across the street. I figured winter was the time to do activities b/c once it is warm we can do so much more on our own.

I think my time is up.

First Day

Today was the beginning of new jobs for Ben and myself. It felt a little like the first day of school as we gathered up his new work bag and travel mug and said goodbye this morning. For Ben, he is officially beginning his work as pastor of First CRC of Detroit. For me, I am officially beginning open-ended tenure as a stay at home parent.

I know that there are days when I will feel frustrated, isolated and very, very tired, but for now I am feeling optimistic about my new position, as well as Ben's. I have been scouring the papers and area for activity ideas and there are lots. I'm hoping that these things will give me opportunities to make connections with people outside of our church community. I continue to be thankful that I have the privilege of parenting these two wonderful girls.

This week Ben will lead and preach his first services as the church's pastor. He will be installed on January 4th with John Rottman as the guest preacher.

Arrival

We are here.

After one of the longest days and weeks and years of our lives, we are here. The move went very well, although it had some interesting moments.

Low points:
-watching the piano be dragged up the hill behind our house in a full out snowstorm
-leaving the house in a less than perfect state, with some of our stuff that did not fit in the truck
-getting stuck in traffic and 30 minutes of crying by Charlotte in transit
-some hard goodbyes

High points:
-arriving at our new house to find it stocked with food from our new church
-realizing that the house and all of its rooms were much larger than I remembered
-a house provided by someone at church for our kids to play and eat while we unloaded
-having my parents with us

We are very relieved to be here with no accidents on the roads and no damage to any of our stuff. We are loving our new house. We'll be spending the next few weeks settling in. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and help along the way.

Birthday Bash

We celebrated the girls' birthdays together since they are only two weeks apart. There were balloons, presents, aunties and uncles and most importantly, lots of sprinkles.

Final Days in GR

I'm going to squeeze in a quick post while taking a break from packing. Did I mention the house is being dismantled? At least I've decided not to clean AT ALL this week. No picking up toys. No nothing. Only dishes. It's just going to be one chaotic mess all week. Packing is going okay. The kids have had some terrific play dates with friends while we've worked.

Some recent activities included playing in the first snow, and a visit to Meijer Gardens. The Christmas displays and trains are up so we enjoyed being out and escaping work at home. Did I also mention that Ben's idea of dealing with the move is to avoid it by watching movies and going on outings?????

Up and Down

We've got a place. We've got a moving date. It's been a long month.

I've had the whole range of emotions over the last few weeks, from excitement to terror. The search for a place for us to live just encompassed many of my fears and hopes. With the market being uncertain and not knowing when our house will sell, we felt that renting a place for at least the first year was the right decision for us. But finding a place that was adequate that we could afford was seeming a bit impossible. Last week, on the day that I was the lowest out of this whole process and feeling like our only option was for me to stay here until the house sold, we got a message on our machine saying that the house that we'd pinned all of our hopes on was ours if we wanted it. It was such an awesome answer to prayer that for the first hour I didn't really believe it! We are going to just take the plunge and move together, hoping that somehow we will be able to pay for both places. One of the things we are considering is renting our place out in the New Year.

Our rental house in Grosse Pointe has three bedrooms with a garage and a fenced-in yard. It is walking distance to a playground and the shopping area/grocery store. It two miles from church so good biking distance for Ben. Compared to some of the tiny apartments we looked at, it seems like a mansion.

Now it is time to begin sorting and packing. I plan to be quite ruthless about the amount of stuff that I allow to come with us. This from the woman with 5 strollers in her garage.

This will be a crazy month. Next week I am having a surgical procedure on my heart done (by catheter, not open heart!) to correct a fast heart beat that I have had since my teen years. Both kids are celebrating their birthdays. And I need to shop and plan for Christmas. But what I have found throughout this entire process of discernment and waiting over the past 18 months is that the most important thing is for me to be quiet before the Lord and trust Him. I get so tempted to research and be busy with tasks, and those are not bad things. But my priority, as the title of my blog says, is quietness and trust.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

Oma and Opa's House

During the last week of June, we had a week of vacation in Ontario. It began with a departure time of 12:30pm after church on a Sunday. We arrived in Ottawa at midnight. For the most part, it was a good trip with minimal crying. We realized later, when Isabelle kept repeating "You put that thing down!" and "I'm going to give that pig a buttermilk bath.", that she had probably watched Charlotte's Web too many times on the trip. Ah well....and we said we'd never get a portable DVD player.

We spent 3 1/2 glorious days in Ottawa at Ben's parents' house. Isabelle thoroughly enjoyed roaming the garden and yard with Oma and Opa, playing in the dirt and discovering wild strawberries. Highlights were a trip to Mooney's Bay complete with swimming, Isabelle's first sushi experience (loved the rho!) and a trip to the experimental farm. Oma and Opa's house is everything you hope it to be as a kid - new places to explore outside, interesting toys and books, favorite foods and people to play with!

Eating goldfish crackers with chopsticks at the Japanese restaurant

Quietness and Trust

Here's a few words about my new header and quote.

The picture is from a 2004 family vacation to Culebra. This was our final day of the trip in old San Juan, on Puerto Rico. This was our last big family vacation prior to my older sister and I having kids and the younger siblings dispersing for college - a special time of being together in a beautiful place before changes were to come. Ben and I are the tiny people sitting on the lawn.

The scripture verse is meaningful to me right now because it represents rest from striving and being frantic. In The Message, it says,

Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down
in complete dependence on me—
The very thing
you've been unwilling to do.
You've said, 'Nothing doing! We'll rush off on horseback!'
You'll rush off, all right! Just not far enough!
You've said, 'We'll ride off on fast horses!'
Do you think your pursuers ride old nags?

Whenever I want to solve a problem or find a solution for something that I am very anxious about, I tend to rush about and make myself busy with finding an answer. Fast. But I feel God saying that the answer is in the stillness. It is in dependence on Him.

I am in a season where I would like an answer fast. But God is slow.
And I trust Him.

Ready to Talk

A new look. New perspective.

I felt as though I couldn't talk this winter. Even though my time was limited, and that was mostly what kept me from blogging and talking with others, I mostly just didn't have a lot to say. It was a hard winter. And I was just quiet with myself. I spent a lot of time reflecting, thinking and praying. There have been a lot of changes this year, and many changes ahead. And I look forward to sharing all of this, the easy and the difficult, the fast and the slow, the joyful and the hard to understand, here. With you.

Getting Ready

Here's an update on baby #2. I had an appointment on Monday, including an ultrasound. The baby is roughly 7 pounds, and measuring as if it was 38 weeks (I am 36). I am having some contractions, although they always stop, so it's not like we're going to the hospital anytime soon. My prediction is before November 20. But you know how dangerous that is!

This week and last I have been focusing on finishing up church work. It feels good to at least finish SOMETHING, and to be able to mentally let go of at least one part of life. Next week I will turn again to the house and doing more things to get us more prepared for life with two.

Baby, Baby

I'm just getting in under the wire with a post during September.....here's hoping that the next few months will be a little more blog friendly.

Many have asked how my pregnancy is going so I thought I'd do a little recap.

During months 1-5 I was very sick. Tired. Laid down as much as possible. Hungry but little success with finding foods that relieved my nausea. Down. Wondered how I would manage with a nursing baby and an active toddler.

In early July, when I was probably at my lowest point in the pregnancy, my mom announced that she would come visit for awhile and that changed everything. She stayed for 10 days and cleaned, organized, watched Isabelle, cooked and just generally cheered me up. I mean, I appreciated all that she did, but the best part of her visit was her company. Each night at about 8:00pm we would quit working and then play Scrabble, eat snacks and talk. When she left, I felt completely different about facing the rest of the pregnancy and the early days with a newborn and toddler.

My morning sickness finally left in mid-August (around week 25) and that was a welcome relief! I have gotten a lot bigger, faster, during this pregnancy and so in August I started having all the discomforts that I didn't have until month 8 with Isabelle (difficulty finding a sleeping position, tying my shoes, etc.) That has slowed me down somewhat, but also given me an excuse to avoid picking up things off the floor. :)

I continue to feel enormous, and I've both been physically uncomfortable with size/weight of the baby, and also a lot more self-conscious this time around. Last time I felt special and cute. This time I feel huge and awkward.

The baby has been active, but in different ways than Isabelle. She kicked a lot, repeatedly. This one does a lot of large motions, stretches and changes of position. It also gets the hiccups a lot, sometimes four times in one day. Here's the ultrasound photo at 20 weeks (late June). We chose not to find out the gender (again).

This post would not be complete without mention of how amazing Ben has been during this pregnancy. He has cooked a great deal, gotten groceries early in the morning before going to work, helped try to find foods that would relieve my nausea, taken Isabelle outside after dinner to let me lie down, never complained about the state of the house, changed his work hours to allow me to go in during higher energy times, calmed me down during irrational outbursts of fear and exhaustion, rubbed cream into my feet every night and just generally has been a ray of sunshine at all times.

I am currently 32 weeks......
Due Date: November 27

Splash Pad

It has been very, very hot here. Isabelle trots to the door first thing in the morning and says "'side, 'side?" We've been sticking to the basement most days, with the exception of morning walks. Today we met up with some people from church at our neighborhood splash pad.

Isabelle loved it. She got completely soaked and was not afraid of the water at all (must be thanks to Ben's hair rinsing techniques). She did fall at one point while running excitedly and skinned her knee, but after a quick hug got right back out there.




I took the video with my digital camera so it's rough, but I thought it'd be nice to see!

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

We got the bike trailer back at Christmas as a present to ourselves and Isabelle. We've used it LOTS as a stroller, but kept waiting for the right time to try it out behind the bike. Friday morning was it and we had a glorious ride. Isabelle was very happy to have her snack, drink and books with her, and she didn't complain about the helmet until the very end, as you can see in the photo.

We look forward to a lot of good rides this summer.

Wedding

Last weekend we were at my cousin Mark's wedding in Windsor, Ontario and it was a great time with the extended family. We really enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma had a stylish new dress with a crocheted sweater.....she looked not a day over 60!

Isabelle was not yet ready to experience a wedding so during the ceremony she and her dad picked rocks in the parking lot. During the reception they went to Swiss Chalet for dinner (their first time at a restaurant alone!!), played at a park and then watched Shrek in the hotel room. Fun was had by all, especially me, who got to eat a sumptuous wedding feast while it was hot and participate in adult conversation. Family - you were a lot of fun to be with!! More pictures from Alison and Shawn.

Ben and Joanna

Picking rocks with Grandpa

New Pictures

We had a great visit this week with our Toronto friends Eugene and Nancy and their daughters J and T. We went to Meijer Gardens, visited the indoor playgrounds at the malls, ate good food and enjoyed being with each other's kids.

A lovely bonus was the fact that Euge takes very nice photographs and took many pictures of Isabelle. I have not been able to capture her very well over the past months so it was exciting to see these nice pictures. Here's a preview - visit my Flickr site for the rest.

Another Baby

Well, I think the secret is out. Ben and I are expecting a baby on November 27th. We had an ultrasound at 8 weeks after a brief scare, and then an appointment yesterday where I heard the heartbeat, so we're finally ready to spread the news.

I have been very sick for the last 6 weeks....all day long, all night long. This week was finally much better, so I'm hopeful that the bad part might be over. But I'm not holding my breath or anything.

We're excited.

Small Step

One of the things I enjoyed right after Isabelle's birth was my empty calendar. I gave myself permission to cancel everything and just get used to taking care of a baby. I let my Palm gather dust in the drawer and left it uncharged. And for the last 17 months, it has stayed there. As I gradually returned to work and social activities, I kept things minimal and was able to keep everything in my head. But then as months past, even though I began jotting things down on the calendar in the kitchen, I forgot a lot of things. And I felt stressed keeping all of that information in my head.

So today I dragged out my charge cord and sync cable and I booted my old friend up. And she even remembered all my contacts! It was interesting to see what appointments were "weekly" in my pre-baby life.

In the past months and weeks I have felt that there are so many projects to do around the house, let alone the regular work, that I have given up hope of accomplishing anything. Today I made one small step in my attempt to take back control of my house and my time.

So, does anybody want to schedule anything?

Splish Splash

On Sunday night Ben was preparing Isabelle's bath. While the water is running, she usually runs around the house yelling and enjoying various states of undress. But she has become more and more fascinated with the water and trying to get into the tub.

This particular evening she was wearing a dress and sandals since she had been at church. Ben stepped out of the room for a moment to grab something and heard a splash, followed by a lot of howling. He returned to the bathroom to see Isabelle standing in the tub, holding onto the side, fully clothed, including sandals. She was screaming, of course. He rescued her and she did end up having a perfectly nice normal bath.

There are very few instances in which we can now actually leave the room. Pretty much only when she's in the highchair or the crib.

Spring

Well, dear readers, it seems it is time to end the blogging hibernation. Spring is here and we spent most of today outside. Isabelle has been dutifully working in the garden, emptying the beds of all the old mulch.

Here's an update on her latest:

• new words: bib, knee, kids
• she will sign "please" consistently when asking for something or when prompted
• knows how to push a kitchen chair up to the counter and climb up to stand on it
• LOVES washing the dishes with me, insists on using the dish brush, and is very, very sad when it ends
• is having full out "lay on the floor, kick and scream" tantrums
• likes to grab the microphones at church and shout "HA"
• LOVES to be outside
• has begun resisting the stroller and would much rather walk
• in the morning shouts "Da?", in hopes that Ben will rescue her from the crib
• says "Da?" all day long, to which I respond "Daddy's at work."
  

Sister Dominique

Back in the fall I got an e-mail from Sister Dominique, a dear soul and classmate from Queen's, saying that her choir would be in Grand Rapids in January. It was such a joy to see her again. We last saw each other at graduation 8 years ago. In fact, because of the way our names fell, we walked as a pair to receive our hoods.

Sister Dominique is part of a faith community called The Community of Jesus. Music is a large part of their life, and her choir, Gloriae Des Cantores, was unbelievable. It was a packed out concert, and a privilege to attend. I hope someday to visit her and see her community.