Pictures of the baby's room

Here are some pictures of the baby's room now. We have added quite a bit to the room! I got the bedding for the crib, which will be nice for the baby so he doesn't need to sleep on a hard, cold mattress!



The thing hanging on the doorknob in the picutre below is a clean diaper holder. Not sure how much use it will get as it's intended function, but we'll see! It came with the rest of the bedding.

So I still need to clean a bit and put some things away, but as soon as we get the changing table, which is also our dresser I'll organize everything! All of these items came from our baby showers. Everyone has blessed us so much! We have a lot of diapers and wipes, toys, clothes and other important items.



Isn't this a beautiful baby quilt?! This is the quilt my friend, Amanda made for me. She had taken me shopping to pick out the fabrics and then worked really hard and put the quilt together. She was also making another baby quilt for Heidi and had both ready for us at the church shower, and she's making a queen size quilt for her brother's wedding, which is this weekend!! She's a little bit of an overacheiver. She is such a sweet servant - she's the same one who helped me paint the room and she also came over last week to give me a pedicure. Oh, not to mention she's also helping me plan Canadian Thanksgiving at my house. Wow, what a girl!



This is a picture of the cute little embroidered feet that she added for a special touch!


Mario and Luigi are a bit curious, but here you can see the back side of the quilt. It's a flannel print with stars and moons. Very cute and snuggly!

We're almost there!

It could be any day now! Very exciting and scary and nerve-wracking all with one single thing. We are about to become parents! Wow. At least I'm able to keep telling myself that although the very beginning is exhausting because of lack of sleep, the baby is very small and doesn't do a whole lot except eat, sleep and poop. So, our job is pretty easy at first. They don't come out running around and needing discipline right away. We can kind of ease into the whole parenting role. My body is getting ready, I'm having light contractions all the time. Things are happening, and I could go into labor any time. Who knows! I'm still planning things as normal because it could still be a while yet. We are definitely very excited to meet our son!

We are planning on having Canadian Thanksgiving here again this year. Last year we had it a few weeks late because we had just moved into our new house. This year, even though it's just a few days after the baby's due, we have to do it this weekend because Dan and Brandy are coming here for a wedding and want to hang out with friends on Saturday night. It's Brandy's favorite holiday in the whole world and she was so excited during their four years with us to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice! They want to get together with all their friends anyway, so why not?! We're going to do the turkey, but if Baby comes and we're out of commission, the party will be moved down the street to one of two other places.

Baby Showers

I have had two baby showers recently - one that was thrown by friends from work and one that was at the church. Both have been an incredible blessing for David and I. We were feeling a little unprepared, but have a lot of the things we needed now.

My friends at work put a lot into planning and preparing this baby shower. It was above and beyond what I was expecting! A lot of people who couldn't make it to the shower pitched in to purchase some bigger items, so we received our crib mattress, the "pack'n'play" we had registered for, our baby monitors, a toy box, a bottle warmer, and many other essential things! We also received some cute clothes, a baby tub and bath supplies, as well as diapers and wipes.

One of my very sweetest friends, Julie, from Ontario is living in Vancouver, BC right now, and she was sweet enough to come all the way down for the shower. Her and a friend of her's with her friend's little 17 month old made the trip down just for the day. I'm sure it was a lot of driving for them, but it was such a blessing to me for Julie to be there. The games they played were a lot of fun, they had to guess how many squares of toilet paper would fit around my belly, blindfolded and racing with another person we had to powder, change a diaper, and dress a baby doll... getting me ready for those sleepy nights when I just want to quickly get back to bed and am changing the diaper in the dark! It was pretty funny to watch!

The shower at the church was also a blessing. It is always so sweet to see how many ladies come out to support and care for us. This was a baby shower for myself and another girl because there are something like 17 women pregant in our church right now, due between now and March!

I want to thank everyone who might read this who participated in, came to, or gave towards the showers. As I said, David and I were extremely blessed by your gifts and generosity and your love and support! Thank you so much for helping us to be better prepared for our wonderful little baby that God will soon be blessing us with!

Baby's Room

My friend Amanda and I were able to complete the painting and wall-papering of the baby's room this past weekend. I'm very happy with it! It is very cute. We couldn't believe how well the wallpaper matched the fabric we had picked out for the baby quilt that Amanda is making. We spent all afternoon on Sunday together. It was so nice of her to help out, even though she was tired from being pregnant herself. She is a fabulous painter, and she did all the cutting in on the top and at the edges - and she did a superb job. Thank you so much Amanda!!

David was gone over the weekend to Chelan for relaxing time at his parents condo with the rest of the family. I wish I could have joined them, but I had to work on Saturday. David played mini golf with our nephews, Jack and Joe, and had a great time on his uncle's new Jetski. When he got back, he set up the crib for the baby's room. We still need a mattress, but we're excited that the room is quickly coming together!

Will and Amanda joined David and I for a night out at the Mariners game on Tuesday night, too. We had a great time - the Mariner's played a very exciting game, leading off the first two batters of the night with homeruns! It was a little scary when our pitcher was hit in the head with a line-drive ball off Vladimer Guerrero. Our pitcher, Rafael Soriano, was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, but the next day he was released with nothing more than a concussion. The sound of the ball hitting his head was horrible, as if he had fractured his skull, but we were glad to hear the report the next day that he was okay.

Leanne and Dave

I am so excited for my one of my best friends back home. Her and her sweetheart were married in a beautiful, romantic outdoor ceremony in August. I was so glad I could be there for both my brother's wedding the weekend prior and then for Leanne's wedding the following Saturday. Leanne and Dave are so much in love and had a beautiful day to celebrate that love. It was a blessing to witness their celebration.

It was so nice to be there to see old friends again and to see another of my best friend's new little baby. Janie and Tim had Kate 4 months ago, and she was just the sweetest little thing! It's fun to see what we have in store for us! I enjoyed spending a couple afternoons with Janie and Kate.

Greg and Amanda

I am so excited for my brother and his brand new wonderful, beautiful wife! Today is Greg's birthday, so Happy Birthday to you, bro. David and I went back to Ontario for the first time in about a year and a half to see family and to participate in Greg and Amanda's wedding. We hadn't even met Amanda yet, but it was so exciting to see how in love they are. I just love my new sister-in-law. She is a sweetheart. It was such a blessing for both David and I to stand up next to them as they were married. David was honored to be Greg's best man and I was honored to stand beside Amanda in the bridal party too. Thank you so much Greg and Amanda for having us be such a big part of your wonderful day. The day was absolutely perfect, beautiful, sunny, not overly hot and humid, and blessed! I praise God for bringing these two together and for the love that they share.

Summer Reading

I have been reading a lot of good books lately. I recently read Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli (who was the creator of Youth Specialities). Very good book because it made me feel like I'm okay, that God doesn't expect all of us to be perfect. There were some pretty messed up people in the Bible - everyone had moments of weakness, indiscretion, or lack of faith. Plenty of Old Testament characters had moments like that - Noah, Abraham, David, etc. And these were GREAT men of faith. Even the NT had people that weren't all together put together - the disciples were constantly bickering and not trusting completely. The biblical writers did not edit out the flaws.

I am on a journey and I have weaknesses. I have times of total trust in God and really passionate faith, and I have other times of not so much lack of faith, but more like independance and unreliance. I really appreciated the book because it shows the examples of these people as Jesus saw them - a work in progress. I am definitely a work in progress and I am so grateful that He loves me just the same, if not more - you know the Pharisees thought they had it all together but Jesus was not that impressed with them.

Great Weather!

It's been so hot here lately. I love it! It's been about 95 degrees for the past couple days. It's funny how everyone complains about the heat, because it's really not that bad... it's hot, but it only happens to hit that high of a temperature for about a week or two throughout the summer. The rest of the time it's in the 80s. If it's not heat, we're complaining about the rain. Well, I'm trying not to complain and just enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

David and I had a great day together today. We went to church in the morning and then had a nice light lunch on the waterfront in Gig Harbor, then we went to his parents house for about an hour because he had to fix their computer. After that, we went to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest so that we could beat the heat a little by being in air conditioning. It was a good movie, but I think the first one was better. Anyway, after that we went outdoor mini golfing and then a little shopping at Target. It was fun to spend the entire day with my husband! We don't do that much because there is usually a lot of other things going on.

We leave in a week for my brother's wedding. Crazy how quick it's coming up. It will be good to be back in Ontario to see family and friends that I haven't seen for almost two years.

Four Years!

Today is our Fourth Anniversary. What a blessing to be married to a such wonderful man! We're going out to dinner tonight to the Melting Pot. We had gone there for my birthday back in April. It's a fondue restaurant. It's a nice romantic restaurant and always super good food! It makes it fun when you can cook it too. It kind of makes for a long evening, but that's what's great about it!

Since I have Saturday off this weekend we thought about going away to celebrate our anniversary, but we have decided it would be better to stay home and save some money so that we can buy furniture and other baby-necessities. We may work on the baby's room, too - painting and whatever else to get ready for the baby! I also have Monday and Tuesday off for the Fourth of July, so it's a nice long weekend that we can relax together and get some things done around here.

I guess we don't have the whole weekend to ourselves. On Saturday evening we're going to look after our nephews in Seattle while David's sister and brother in law go to a wedding. Then we'll stay overnight up there and go with them to a baseball game. The Mariners have been doing really well lately, so hopefully we'll catch a good game!

The day after I posted the last blog I started feeling the baby moving - very slightly, and it was hard to tell if it was the baby, but it was! It feels like something you can't control, just little "flutters" is what everyone tells me they're supposed to feel like. I just think it feels like a movement inside me, only you can tell it's not you because it's too far forward.

We found out a couple weeks later that we're having a baby boy! I thought all along it was going to be a girl, and who knows, they say the ultrasounds are never 100% but the lady there could tell pretty clearly that it was a boy. Anyway, we're excited to be having a boy first. :)

I've still been feeling great. I went out shopping last week with a friend of mine to pick out fabric for a baby quilt that she's going to make for us. It's going to be so cute! I'm so excited and so is she! Her name is Amanda and she is super sweet.

I have been playing tennis every Thursday on my days off with another friend named Anna. Her and her husband recently moved here from California and have been coming to our church. They just live down the street from us, not quite in the same development but in an apartment community that is brand new also. She played tennis in high school and coached it as well, so she's really good. But, she's teaching me a lot - so far my serve and my forehand have improved a ton!

Polynesian Cultural Center

On another day in Hawaii, all six of us decided to take an excursion to the North Shore of O'ahu and enjoy the Polynesian Cultural Center. The drive there was an experience in and of itself. We were planning on stopping at all kinds of places that we had learned about through our Hawaii books or other people. One of the places someone told us to go was a place where they have the best shaved ice. Apparently we found the place in one of the books and we decided to try to stop there on the way up. Well, we must have turned the wrong way or something, because we never found it.

Next on the agenda was a burger place for "The Big Kahuna." Again, we never found that place and so we let it slide. Our lunch would have to be eaten elsewhere. The navigator, David, told us the map was terrible. Third on the list was to stop at "Giovanni's Shrimp Shack"... well, I'm not sure if what I saw was what it was supposed to be, but I had seen a truck on the side of the road with Giovanni's name on it, and it was in the area where there were all kinds of little roadside stands for shrimp, but we didn't even try it because the truck didn't look like it had a side open to sell shrimp. Additionally, we figured the little ponds all along the sides of road were where they "farm-raised" the shrimp and it just didn't look too good. We ended up getting a burger at the snack stand at the Cultural Center. No one's going hungry here. :)

At the cultural center, we were part of a group with a tour guide, who led us around and got us into the different shows for the different islands. We saw a guy climb a coconut tree and another guy break open a coconut in under 30 seconds, I think. That was the place where they were telling us the men do all the cooking! The guy speaking said that's why he moved to Hawaii. :) The tour guide had us see the boat dances, a drum show, and we even made music ourselves in the land of Fiji. It was all very interesting and fun, but my favorite part of the whole day was the show in the evening. We had great seats - we were about 8 rows back from the front! I have some pictures from the show, but they didn't turn out very well.

Before the show we had dinner - a traditional Luau. I had never been to a Luau. It was fun, the food was good and the entertainment during the show was fun. We even watched them uncover the poor pig we were going to eat. I have a picture, but I'll spare you. :)

Hiking in Hawaii

On one of the Hawaiian days David and I decided to go for a hike through a rainforest. We had to drive in to Waikiki to meet the tour bus. First we stopped at a lookout point where we could see the valley that we would be hiking in. If you look at a larger image of the picture you might be able to see the light green leaves in the middle of the valley. This is actually only one tree! We walked right by it on our hike and the sheer magnitude of it was amazing. Our tour guide also told us about the cliff edge that we're standing on. Hawaiians jumped to their death because they did not want to get taken into slavery. Apparently at the bottom of that cliff they are still finding bones.

The trail was beautiful. We learned about all kinds of things, trees that had been brought in as opposed to trees that were native to Hawaii. A lot of the foreign trees were killing the soil around them so the indigenous trees were unable to grow. Our tour guide here is pointing out what looks like a coconut from this tree, but it is actually not a coconut. Unfortunately, I don't remember what he said about it!

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the rooster that followed us for a little while. There were some interesting tropical birds and animals along the way. One of the places we stopped to look at was a maze of roots that grow above the ground. The tour guide was telling us that this is where pigs like to hide out because it is almost impossible to get to them. However, we didn't see a pig because a wild pig wouldn't be that close to a trail. When Hawaiins go in search of a wild pig they will take dogs to sniff them out because the dog would be able to get through those roots much easier.

My favorite part of the trail was the waterfall. We had to wade through the river to get the picture of the two of us, but it was a beautiful view. I was all proud at first that David and I were the only ones who really followed the rules because we wore running shoes as the pamphlet had instructed us to. But, when we had to wade through the water, I was sure wishing had worn open-toed hiking sandals as most everyone else was wearing!

Waterfalls hold special significance for the two of us. David had proposed to me at a waterfall. :) The rest of our little day trip was fun. After the van dropped us off we walked around a huge shopping mall and bought some gifts for friends. Then we went out to dinner together at California Pizza. We didn't got anywhere too fancy since we were still in our hiking gear and since we had been getting plenty of fancy meals all week long at the resort. We had a great day together!

Hawaii!

Our trip to Hawaii was wonderful! It was beautiful and sunny pretty much every day. We enjoyed the relaxation! David had to do some work while on vacation, so he didn't get too much sun, but hey, what's better - working at the office, or working on the beach in Hawaii, soaking up the sun and sipping a Mai Tai?! I think I'd take the latter!

The resort we stayed at was absolutely beautiful. David's parents had purchased a condo there a few years ago when we had stayed at a hotel just down the walkway after the week long cruise they had taken us on. They thought they'd go to the information meeting about the new condos with the idea that they 'might' buy one.... well, you're already hooked if you go with that mindset, so they came back with a 3 bedroom condo. All three rooms looked out toward the water. The beach is beautiful and not too wavey or dangerous because they have these large man-made lagoons for people to swim in. The pools were also gorgeous. On the one end they had fake sand for kids to play in. I think there were 3 hot tubs and 2 different pools. The pools had large rocks around the edges so it made it look nicer than just a regular pool.

There's a full kitchen in the unit, so we made our breakfasts and most lunches there, and then enjoyed dining out for dinners. My parents had joined us on the cruise two years ago, and were invited to join us again. Hawaii isn't normally a place people in Ontario go to - it's easier, cheaper and just makes more sense to go to Florida, but it's oh so wonderful!! The third bedroom in the place was actually a full separate unit, but attached to ours. My parents got that unit. David and I had the "kids" room with 2 twin beds, but we just pushed them together. My parent's room had a small kitchenette with a little fridge and an extra pull-out couch. They liked having their privacy at times. Actually, we all had privacy. There was also three bathrooms, which made it nice so we didn't have to wait for the shower. It was quite luxurious! I'd like to send a BIG THANK YOU out to Dan and Joen, who so lovingly allowed us to share this vacation with them.

It's been so long I almost forgot how to post a blog!

Dan and Brandy, our two bestest friends, are leaving us to go back to Michigan. We are super sad at this departure, but we also understand it's in their best interest. They were never going to stay here forever anyway. There was a great going-away party for them on Saturday night. It was at an Italian restaurant and after dinner, Brandy first got up to share a few things but she couldn't get very far into speaking because she started to cry... awww. So Dan came and rescued her and had a huge speech written up. He is an amazing speaker and entertainer, so he kept everyone amused for at least the next 30-45 minutes. He had things to say about everyone who have been important parts of their lives over the last four years. Funny, embarrassing, tear-jerking stories and memories. Amanda, a good friend of theirs, had made a quilt for them with memories from all of us - short little snippets of memories, meaningful Bible verses, going-away wishes, or simply "Don't go!" (from Jesse Edmunds). Such a cute idea, something they'll treasure forever.

I also contributed a little something for them, thanks to Jessica's idea from her wedding guest book. I had everyone contribute a picture of themselves for a little scrapbook and then I put it together with space enough for people to add a little something in there also. It turned out pretty well, even though I'm totally NOT a scrapbooker!! But I love looking at it, so I think they will too. It's got pretty much everyone who was at the party. I couldn't give it to them that night because there were a few people a little late in giving me their photos, but I got them eventually and just finished it tonight. The two church secretaries (of all people!) are the two couples left who have to write something in there!! Dan and Brandy are leaving on Saturday, March 25th. Very sad. :(

Mom and Dad G coming to visit

My parents will be visiting us this weekend. This will be the first time they will get to see our house. We are excited to have them out - they come in Friday evening and leave Tuesday morning. It will be a nice visit. We are glad to finally be able to see them again, and they are really excited to see our house. We went shopping on the weekend to get some home office furniture. We were able to have David's dad come by with his truck and take a few of the items to our place, but when we tried to set it up Sunday night we discovered we didn't have all the right legs for the desk. So we went back up to Seattle and exchanged a leg and now have a very nice computer desk set up so I can type this in style! It will feel great to finally have a little organization in this room. We had been using a folding table (the kind you would use for church basement potlucks) and we had no other furniture except a few filing cabinets. We still had boxes and piles of papers and books all over the room. The rest of the furniture will be coming on Thursday so we should have it all set up by Friday when they come. I'm also looking forward to taking a little time off while they're here (Saturday and Monday).

Tonight we had our neighborhood Bible study. We met these people through a lady at my work who knows them from her church. They were starting a home group with a few other couples who either live in this neighborhood, or who live close by. David and I went last week, but this week only I was able to go. David has been sick for the last couple days. It's a good group. We are discussing their sermon notes, and although David and I don't go to their church, we still have great discussions. Tonight we were talking about how we can be more open and willing to have the Spirit lead our conversations with others that we might be used in the process of them coming to know Christ. We also talked a little about how we can hear God speak to us. It is a discipline being quite and still enough to hear His voice. Something I need to work on more and more.

Seahawks WIN!

I am not normally into football, but most everyone watches the Superbowl (me included), just this time it actually means something to me! I may even get up to go to the bathroom during the commercials (instead of watching it just for the commercials!).

Seattle is super excited right now because our team is playing in the superbowl! We have had an amazing season and an amazing team! David even got to GO to the last 2 games of the playoffs at Quest field!

I have been impressed when watching the coverage of the team, how focused they are. They are not out celebrating their NFC championship win, they are staying focused on getting prepared for the superbowl championship. They are happy and excited, sure, but they seem to be level headed and focused on the real goal. I have also been impressed with how nice everyone seems when they do press conferences. This picture of Shaun Alexander, League MVP, is pointing heavenward because his strength comes from God.

Grant Wistrom bought David's grandpa's house on Lake Washington and is totally renovating it. He told the family he wanted to have us all over once it was completed so we could see the changes he made. Who knows. It would be really cool to meet a famous Seahawks guy!

It's been quite a while since I have posted... sorry Jessica!

I was late to work today. :( What a way to start out the new year! I was surprised I was only 1 minute late. But that means I still get a half-point against me. I had 2 half-points against me - one from Oct 17th for being stuck in traffic (on regular streets, not highways) and not having traffic cams so my supervisors could not verify it. It was just after having moved into our new house and I was getting the feel for how long it would take me. I thought I'd try a short-cut, but it ended up being the most travelled way with the most construction, school-zones, and slow cars that morning. I vowed to never try that way again!! So, after 2 months of perfect attendance you can have a point roll off. Well, that first point should have rolled off because I had 8 months of perfect attendance prior to it. But then a few weeks later I had another point because I woke up late or something stupid. It was my fault, so I accepted it. This morning, though, I was mad at myself. I keep thinking my alarm didn't go off, but I think it did... it was probably going off for quite a while and I just decided not to do anything about it, until we both realized it was about 7:40 and I had to be at work at 8!! Hence why I was surprised to be only 1 minute late! I actually almost made it!! But no such luck. The email came saying Cheri logged in at 8:01 for an 8:00 start time.

During that schpeel just now, I finally connected that it is Tuesday night, not Monday night. I had been trying all day to get ahold of the girl who hosts our girl's Bible study and have not been able to reach her. I realized that because it is Tuesday night, we wouldn't have study tonight anyway - we always have it on Monday nights. It may have been yesterday, but I wasn't sure if we were having it so close to the holidays, which is why I was trying to reach her. This is such a fascinating blog, I know. But hey, at least I'm blogging!

Our holidays were wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve with David's sister and her family. Our two little nephews are adorable. Jack is 4 and Joe is almost 2 - so they were so excited about what Santa would be bringing them. They left cookies and carrots out, but had to drink some of the milk and eat some of the carrots while we were setting up for a photo op. Danielle and Mike put them to bed, but Jack's mind was just racing. After they had come downstairs, Jack came tiptoeing down again because he realized they had forgotten to put out the reindeer dust - so they sprinkled oats and gold glitter on the ground outside their front yard so Santa would know which house is theirs.

We spent Christmas day at David's parents house. First we had our own Christmas time together, then visited with his Grandma Essey for a little while - she's now in a nursing home, and then we went to his parents. We had a New Year's party here at our house, with 6 other couples, and we had made pizza dough and sauce for our friends to make their own pizzas. We had a blast.

A New Years Prayer

May God make your year a happy one.
Not by sheilding you from all sorrows and pain,
but by strengthening you to bear it as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
but by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
but by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
but by showing you when people and their causes need you most
and by making you anxious to be there to help.

God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

World AIDS Day - Dec 1st

At work on Dec 1st we got to take a field trip! We all piled into a couple of buses and headed to Seattle. We were able to go through the One Life AIDS exhibit. It was incredible to walk through the life of one of the children and what he or she experiences. It is more than any of us could imagine having to deal with in a lifetime. I was "Stephen" from Uganda and I was forced from my home at night by rebel soldiers looking for children to serve in their "Lord's Resistance Army." These rebel soldiers take children as young as 7 yrs old and train them to use guns, brutally threatening and beating them to make them obey. They even take girls to use the guns as well, and to be used as sex slaves for men. It is horrendous.

I appreciated the experience of walking in the shoes of one of these children. It transforms you into their home, their culture, and their experiences. Hopefully it transforms those that walk through to know they can do something about the atrocities. This exhibit has been touring all over the US to make people aware, so we can put an end to it.

Watch a video of the AIDS experience
Test your knowledge on AIDS

Thanks for reading.