2008 Year in Review

Happy New Year Everyone!

What Happened?

Wow, we have a kid and nobody hears from us ever again. Sheesh. What a bum deal. I think it's funny that we started this blog to keep people updated on our life, but we never post updates so it turned out to be a big frustration to both you and us! Sorry. At least we update our picasa web photo albums! That's b/c Frank is in charge of uploading pictures and I am in charge of updating the BLOG. It has turned into more of a photo-journal instead.

But, for those few and far between times, like this, I have an urge to write. So here goes:

Frank is enjoying the summer break from school. He is now working part-time at Best Buy in Modesto in their Geek Squad. (No, he can't get you any deals like we previously had been told. Big bummer, I know.) He makes for a VERY cute Geek, I might add. Haddie and I are enjoying Frank being home more now that school is out. He will (Lord willing) finish up his pre-requisite classes next semester and be ready to apply for nursing school in the fall (please pray). Since we're living so close to downtown now, we enjoy going for walks to the park, library, post office or grocery store together.

Haddie's newest hobbies include taking her diaper off in public and picking her nose for boogers and giving them to mommy. Her vocabulay is slowly increasing, saying shoe and kitty most of the time and making various animal sounds. Currently she has a cold, maybe due to allergies or teething or both. And, at 15 months we are proud to announce that she is FINALLY sleeping through the night. You don't know how long I've been waiting for this day... well, okay, I guess you do....I just told you (15 months). Duh.

I am also enjoying summer break from school, that is, from substitute teaching. Hopefully I can fill in a few times for summer school teachers if needed, babysit and pick up odd jobs from friends and family to help with the ever increasing family budget (those darn gas prices). I will, Lord willing, be teaching a class at the Turlock Adult School on community gardening next semester...finally put all that schooling to use.

Our summer plans are wonderfully uneventful this year. I guess we will be spending lots of time playing in the yard with the water hose, or something. Our spring was actually wonderfully busy, if you can believe it. My lovely sister got hitched to a splendid catch of a man. A perfect fit and a great addition to our family. He brings lots of laughter not only to us, but he makes Daphne shine like I've never seen before. We enjoyed a few days of celebration twice in Omaha, NE. In April mom, Haddie and I flew out for 4 days for Daphne's shower. Then mom, dad, Aunt Joy, Andrew, Leah, Frank, Haddie and I went for the wedding at the end of May. Great wedding, even better reception, and tomorrow we get to see them again as they come to Cali for another reception for all the guests who couldn't make the out of state wedding. They've been fun events to plan and prepare for.

But, right now I need to prepare for tomorrow. So that means I've got to hit the hay. In our family, that means go to bed. See all the cool sayings you learn when you grow up on a farm! I guess being deliriously tired makes it sound cool to me right now. It's 10:45 pm and I'm losing it. Ta ta for now.

Life?

So, are we alive? By the activity on our blog, you wouldn't think so! We've been reminded by multiple people lately that our blog has sat around inactive.

YES, we are alive!!! We could blame our blog's inactivity on many things, but it boils down to 1) we don't have the time, and 2) we don't have the energy.

We don't have the time because we have been busy moving, getting everything lined up for substitute teaching, working, trying to catch as much shut-eye as possible, and much much more.

The shut-eye part explains why we haven't had the energy. Hadassah, while doing everything wonderfully (such as walking, growing, baby-talking, eating, etc.) has not managed to start sleeping through the night. This means that between daddy working the closing shift at Starbucks, and mommy not being able to nap during the day, and both trading off trying to get baby to sleep, the only one getting any sleep at all is Haddie... We think that we have found out how to help her sleep longer at night (thanks Megan!), but only time will tell.

So, spring semester starts up this week, and Subbing is coming up soon which all basically means that we can't guarantee how much activity will be seen here. But we vow to try, right? I guess only time will tell. :)

Frank

We've been holding out on everyone

Well, many of you already know this, but as of this morning I (Frank) no longer work at California Natural Products. I had a wonderful time working there, and loved working with pretty much all the people there.

Currently I am enjoying a little bit of time with my family before I head into my next chapter in life.

And so... to let all those who don't know (there's probably not too many) what's going on, know what's going on... starting September 4th, I will be going back to school. I can hear it already, "To do what?" Nursing. When we went to Lamaze classes before Hadassah was born, during our breaks we would roam the halls of the hospital admin building, where the classes were held. This was the same building where the HR office was(natch). So we perused the job postings and of course said "WOW, nurses earn a LOT of money".
So that got me to thinking, "I really don't care for sitting on my growing-fatter-every-day butt at the computer, all the time. Why didn't I ever think about nursing?" The answer was that male nurses have a certain "stigma" that I wasn't comfortable with, and I just always assumed I would do a business oriented job, rather than a science oriented job.
Well, with the the reality of having a child now setting in, and knowing that Amelia and I had decided that she would stay home with our children, and with the realization that my job at CNP would not, probably ever, pay for that, I now bravely put away all preconceived ideas, and thought, "Could I do this?" Could I quit my job, go back to school, get good grades, graduate, pass the state boards, etc.?
Fortunately, I didn't have to do that all at once, and God has given me a lot of strength so far. So much so, that I can say without a doubt that He will see me through this!
In the mean time, I have been looking and applying for part-time jobs, in order to not have to live completely off of student loans, yet allow for a school schedule.

So, it's definitely not about the money! It's about the best for our baby and future children, too. I want Amelia to be able to stay at home, and the only way we can afford that is for me to do something drastically different.

Not too much has been going on on the home front. Amelia is loving having her thesis done, and Hadassah is changing every day and constantly becoming more mobile. She is flipping over, scooting around, and becoming much more vocal. Her vocabulary is constantly changing and it seems like she is trying to say actual words. (I know, not possible yet, she's not even 5 months old, but that's what it sounds like.) We entertain ourselves most evenings either swimming with her at Oma and Opa's or trying to make her giggle (it's oh, so adorable).

Well,...

We're getting really bad at this. Now that Amelia is pretty much done with her thesis, hopefully she will have time to do some more blogging...

So,... what been going on lately? Well with Miriam's wedding and all of the busyness there of, Hadassah's progressively-longer-each-night sleep at night has definitely taken a turn in the opposite direction. She went from 2 hours her first month or two to 3 to 5 hours by month 3, but now is back down to 2 to 3. Thanks auntie Miriam :)
She of course is cooing, she is "singing" (cooing along with us when we sing), she rolled over (we think it might have been on accident), she has been laughing, she has found her feet and loves to play with them, she "picked" apricots, she's gone swimming, I'm sure that there's more, just can't think of them...
Now is definitely the season in her life of firsts.

Other than what's been going on with her, and with Amelia (her thesis), not too much has been going on with us. I guess that means that I'm(Frank) boring. No news from me.

Here's a taste of the pictures we've been taking lately.



As you can see, our life pretty much revolves around Hadassah now. :)

Frank

30 years ago....

These baby pictures of Frank and I will explain why Hadassah has such thick, dark hair!
(That's Amelia above, and Frank below)

2 weeks later...

It's been 2 weeks since Hadassah came home, and well, all we can say is "wow". I know that I (Frank) don't have the words to express what becoming a dad is to me. I guess I can run down a list of some of the things I'm feeling.

1. First... Definitely JOY! I know what many of you were thinking, and no, it's not tiredness. That would be #3.
2. That we're blessed. (would that be "Blessedness"?) That GOD would give us such a wonderful gift, that we would want to give everything we own to, and yet receive even more back from her, it's just amazing. No words to describe it.
3. Tiredness. But it totally takes a backseat to both #1 and #2. If I had the chance to say whether I wanted to do this all over again, even knowing how tired I would be, I wouldn't hesitate. (How does it go Dennis? No hesitation.)
4. Amazed. At the strength of my wife. All of labor; sleepless nights; waiting hand, foot, and ... well let's just say everything, on a baby that needs her for everything. I guess I shouldn't be so amazed, she's a wonderful person, capable of so much, but I guess when I compare her to me, I know that I wouldn't be able to do it...

I'm sure there's more. But I can't think of any right now.
I just can't help staring at my monitor, looking at the wallpaper. It's a picture of my wife laying there, with Hadassah laying on her, perfectly serene and asleep. It makes the workday extremely hard...

Oh, btw, Amelia took Hadassah to the pediatrician yesterday(3/19) and we found out that she was 9lbs, 4oz. Thats almost 2 lbs in 2 weeks... she loves to eat, more than her dad, I think.

Our Christmas Card

Dear family and friends,

This year the miraculous birth of Christ takes on a whole new meaning as Frank and I are expecting our own little miracle in February. As we wait in expectation I have to admit that we have many questions and fears about becoming parents. But when we look to the Christ child, and read His comforting words in the Bible we have found great peace. Just like Jesus, our baby will teach us many things. God, in his compassion and humility, thankfully starts these lessons with a cute and cuddly baby that has developed love, anticipation and wonder for 9 months while in the mothers womb. We are very excited to start this journey. Unlike Mary and Joseph, we have wonderfully supportive family, friends and church family who are excited and hopeful with us! Thank you!

Our bundle of joy is expected February 27th. We have been busy getting ready for his/her arrival (we want to be surprised on the gender). In September Amelia quit her job at Stanislaus County Agriculture Dept. to devote more time to her schooling (my goal is to have my masters thesis finished before the baby comes, and now it looks like a reality!). This month I will finish up my last 15 units of classes and will graduate in May. I plan to stay at home with the baby. In October we moved to a beautiful home in Patterson owned by Frank’s parents and located next door to them on the cucumber farm. Now we are enjoying country life again with a great view of the foothills. Frank is still enjoying his job at CNP (California Natural Products) in Lathrop. Now that we are in Patterson he has a better commute for which we are both very thankful. But now our commute to church is 20 minutes long! We are still involved in community life at Westside Ministries even though we live in Patterson. For Christmas we will be traveling to Holland to spend the holidays with Frank’s extended family. All of Frank’s siblings (and their families) will also be going! We will be enjoying the holidays with family, sight seeing and attending family reunions / parties. Well, it looks like I’m out of room. Merry Christmas, and we wish you all of God’s best in the coming year! Love…. Frank and Amelia

Movin on up...

Lot's of moving going on these days....

1. Felt the baby move for the first time--on my last day of work after eating tons of sweets at the surprise baby shower they threw me!

2. Moved in with Jake and Ada (Frank's parents) in Patterson last weekend. All of our things are in storage for an undetermined amount of time. The plan is to move into the double-wide mobile home next door to them but the current renters are late in moving out. Pray that their new house will be fixed quickly.

3. My status moved from employed, completely stressed out, full-time student to unemployed, fully content, full time student and wife. I'm loving life.

4. Franks commute to work moved from Hwy 99 to I5. We are both very happy about that.... so much less traffic which means Frank gets home earlier even though it's the same travel distance as before.