20 Weeks

2013

I am still here. Just not writing quite yet. I have so much in my head right now, that I just can't seem to find words for it all. (Not to mention that I am 20 weeks pregnant with #3 today.)

So we'll see. Maybe 2013 will have some words and pictures to be remembered by.


Well, here are three for starters.

 Snuggling with baby brother or sister.

 Happy New Year.

HOPE

Hope - That is what Advent is about!

I have always loved this season. Ideally it is the quiet anticipation of the birth of Christ. Joey and I naturally shy away from things that can make this time hectic and stressful. We both avoid the mall, and we don't even go crazy with the gift giving.
However, the older I get, the more I see how Advent really is about hope. We lost our first child during Advent, and the only hope I had that year was the hope of the coming Christ and the destruction of  death. Hope is what healed.
Last year we were sick during a chunk of Advent, and some of my dear Austrian Advent traditions had to be skipped. In the midst of a sick Advent, I learned of my need and a loving God who came, who will come again, and is deeply involved and interested in the details of my life.
This year Advent is restoring my hope that God is active and moving. This year I have seen ministries struggle with various problems. Honestly, my heart has become a little bitter. I see a lot of stress. I have witnessed friends grieving various losses; including the loss of dreams and the loss of children. And this is also the first Advent I have actually listened to some of our Christmas music with women and children in mind who have been trafficked. I wonder of they scoff.
Last night, as I was driving home, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen came on the radio. Here is the first verse:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Isn't this what Advent is about? We don't have to walk through life with our heads hung in dismay. Why? Because Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day. This does not negate the grief, the hurt and the evil that I have seen and felt. But it does mean that the story does not end in grief, hurt and evil. We have a Savior who came to save us ALL from Satan's power, even though we were the ones who left. That is indeed news of great comfort and joy. So as the preacher at church said on Sunday, "Lift up your heads! We start the church year by remembering the end of the story. Hope draws near!"

A Time of Need, A Time of Provision

 It has been way too long since I last posted, and I never did follow up with all that I learned in the DR. Hopefully, that post will come at some point.  As for now, Joey and I are excited to announce that K3 is in his or her way. Since it has been on Facebook for a while it will come at no great surprise to anybody (I think.) We are excited. The boys are beyond excited. They consistently suggest names, and all have to do with animals or food. To say this pregnancy has been bliss wouldn't be true. I have had all day sickness for the entire first trimester. I had certain food aversions with the boys, but nothing like this. I had a few weeks when opening the fridge was too much to handle. Church of the Apostles came to our rescue and provided meals 3 times a week for 3 weeks. I am so thankful for them because Chick-fil-A was getting way too much of my husband's hard earned money as a result of me not being able to cook or even go to the grocery store.

It is very hard not be be physically fit. I am not necessarily talking about being in shape. Rather, when you are just not functioning at 100%, life and responsibilities are a little more difficult.

Let me just pause here and say that I have an amazing husband. He has taken on so much. I have felt guilty at times for not being able to keep up with anything. He comes to my rescue time and time again, gladly and never complaining or giving me the feeling that I need to pull myself together. That is grace (and really hot.)

12 week "belly"

This Thanksgiving we decided not to travel, and I was excited to have a very low- key relaxing time as a family. I was especially looking forward to Joey having four whole days off. Tuesday night Will started coughing very badly, and when Max woke up the following morning, he looked terrible. He even said he felt awful. As the morning past and Will was hardly awake for any of it, I decided to call our nurse. Thankfully she set up an appointment for us with the doctor because it turned out that both boys had the flu. Will was so out of it, he fell asleep on the examination table. We then had to go to two different pharmacies to get their medicine. They were two sick little boys, and they are still recovering.

Wednesday evening I started to feel achy, and come Thanksgiving morning, I was a sick girl. My entire body hurt. My limbs were heavy. I was coughing and sneezing and constantly blowing my nose. So Joey spent Thanksgiving tracking down some flu medicine that our doctor friend called in for me. (Most pharmacies were closed, and most pharmacies were out of the medicine!) He also went to Walmart to get some food since we had nothing to cook at the house (because of morning sickness.)
We ate a frozen lasagna and garlic bread for Thanksgiving,  but we really did have a lot to be thankful for.
 

Again, I have an incredible hubby, who really went out of his way to take care of his family on his vacation.
We have a wonderful friend who is a doctor, and cared enough to find an open pharmacy for us.
Michi was with us (although he might have wanted to be somewhere else...i wouldn't blame him.)
Doctors and medicine at our fingertips.
Hot showers to help ease aches and pains.
Soft clean beds.
Clean water.
Tissues and more tissues.
Food to eat.
Beautiful Fall days.
Rest.
Oh, my morning sickness is gone...almost. I can actually see food on TV and not get queasy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Dominican Republic

 Bath time.

 The Tree of Fire

 We made it up the mountain!

 The little guy in the plaid is Elvis, and he has the most infectious laugh. Be on the lookout for him in pro baseball 20 years from now because that kid can throw!

 Teenage girls really are not that different regardless of what country you are in.

 Rainbow rocks for Max. All of them were at the riverbank where we went swimming. It still blows my mind, that all of these colors were in one place.

 Last morning in Boma. How I miss the sound of rain on a tin roof!

 This is the family with which we stayed.

 Our house in Jarabacoa, where we stayed two nights.

I intend on writing more in detail about my experience in the DR, but for now let me just say that I was very blessed by being in a place where I could take in the incredible beauty of nature, childhood, and culture without having to look after my little ones. It was such a luxury to be able to take pictures unhurriedly.

A Simple Grace

He was screaming uncontrollably. I was beyond exhausted and Joey was still working at the Olive Garden. Max was tiny, and would not nap. Nothing would soothe him, and I had no clue what else to do. I called Joey, and was probably crying myself. Once he arrived home, he was able to settle me down, and Max did eventually fall asleep.

Fast forward a month shy of five years, and I find myself exhausted once again. I didn’t sleep well last night. I had too much on my mind. This morning my brain was in a fog, so I told Max that I needed to take a nap. So I set the boys up with a movie, and my little man occasionally checked in on me, prevented his brother from waking me up completely, and graced me with some time just to sleep. Max is such a blessing. God has used him to stretch me and grow me, and shower me with his grace. I am humbled by what a wonderful child Max is turning out to be, and I am in awe of how God is shaping and molding the tender heart of my son.

Homesick

Last night it took me a while to get to sleep. Images kept marching through my mind:  powdered covered Alp peaks glistening in the sun; warming up in a tiny drift covered ski restaurant; waltzing at midnight; laughing until late into the night; running to catch the subway; and faces of friends, dear friends.

I was there. I really was. It isn’t just part of a good dream. I was there on the slopes the day the Schilling was replaced with the Euro. I went to school there. I knew God there. My life was there. Austria, how I miss you.

Sometimes the best way to get close to you from across the Atlantic, is to recreate your food. So today I am eating a cinnamon roll, the closest thing to a Zimtschnecke. I savor each bite. The clatter of customers is around me, and I miss hearing German. I even miss the smell of cigarette smoke. I am tired hearing people discuss American business, American problems, American births.

I miss just being with people. My memories are full of times when there was always room and opportunity for deep conversation; when the heaviness of life was shared over a beer or cup of coffee or on foot in the gardens of a palace.

I am starting to find such relationships here, and I am grateful. But Austria, dear Beheimgasse, you have taken over a part of my heart that cannot be conquered by anyone else. So thank you for your friendship, for being part of my life, for shaping me.

I long for the day to see you again.