Merry Christmas

I hope and pray this season brings many blessings & great joy. God bless.

Dog...

This morning Jeff took Denali to go to the bathroom, 20 minutes later I fed him, 5 minutes later he pooped in my shoe. It looked like one huge Hershey's kiss on the heal of my shoe. Oh what a beautiful day.

Baby Taquito?

At our last doctors appointment we had an ultrasound. Which was exciting in and of itself - followed by a doctors appointment.We had a few questions for the doctor. Here's a snipit of how it went:

Doctor: Do you have any questions about anything?

Krista: Yea, I was wondering if it was "safe" to ski at Christmas

Doctor: Umm....no....probably not.....

Jeff: I was wondering how big the baby is right now? Would you say he is the size of a burrito? a taquito?

Doctor: (laughing while measuring my stomach) he's small...(lauging)...like the size of an enchilada.

Doctor: I have never had anybody ask about the size of a baby in comparison to Mexican food....(still laughing) I'm gonna remember that.

It was a good time...I'm glad we could make our doctor laugh. We feel very blessed to have the doctor we do. She is really rather incrediabe, she reminds me a bit of Jeff's mom which I think it why I like her so much. She did go on to show us how big the little guy was with her hands...but after a good laugh.

Jeff comment when we were leaving: He is about the size of a taquito.

Baby's Second Picture

Here is a picture of our son at 21 weeks. Enjoy.

Doctor says...

It's a Boy! Ultrasound pics to come.

Happy 31st Jeffrey!

Friday marks my very wonderful husband's 31st bday! Happy Birthday Jeff!!

Final Finals

I am entering into my last REAL (*see note) finals of what I pray is my entire academic career. THANK GO0DNESS! Three more weeks of pain and suffering and ideally I will have only a few more firey hoops to jump through to finish my doctorate.

*note: I take two classes in the spring and two in the summer...reportedly there are no finals. :) Thus this marks the end.

Dec 3rd

We find out the gender of our first born child on December 3rd at 10:00 am. We will update our blogs if you care to find out!

Going home...

Thursday we get to go home. I can't wait. I look forward to seeing family and old friends. After our time in Spokane we head to the dessert for Thanksgiving....again, can't wait to see family! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

4 Months...

We have crossed the 4 month mark. Which means I'm almost 1/2 through pregnancy. Which is great. So far it has been very easy. People ask me often "how is it going" referring to pregnancy. Some of these people have never had kids...so I feel like they ask me honestly...no knowing what the response will be. Others though, many are those that have had kids, many a while ago, ask and I feel like expect some strange answer. I don't know what they expect? Maybe something like, "oh boy...it's so hard", or "I feel awful". I don't know. I am curius to know what they are expecting?

So far...I feel great. I was tired, really really tired the first trimester...which was weird because I'm not a napper - but I was a really really good napper for three months. Now, during the second trimester...I feel relaxed (maybe too relaxed as I have TON to do for school) I have a lot of energy. I am excited about the baby but not overly excited that baby is all I think about (I'll reserve that for next trimester, ha). I am able to get out and excersize. My body doesn't hurt. I feel normal. I still fit in some of my clothes (not my professional ones), but am just barely starting to show...a very little bit. People still can't tell. I get asked that a lot..."when are you going to start to show". I have started to tell them to ask my stomach. I get a quizzical look when I do that. It's humorous to me. I think thats all...just thought I'd give the update.

Dec. 3rd we have an ultrasound. We can find out the sex then if we want. I think we will. But we are taking votes on what people think...boy or girl? What do you think?

heart beat

heard it today...pretty amazing

Rumors....uYup. They're True.

It's true. Baby in April

Dog before Infant

I drove home from Calvin Crest (6 hours for those unfamiliar) with Denali. Jeff, Colleen, Mike, Ryan, and myself had a wonderful hike with Denali that we were confident would allow for a peaceful ride home...well...it did for the first 4.5 hours. Shortly after hitting Glendale the beast (said with a fond and loving tone) woke. For the next hour I thought of all the ways that traveling like a puppy is similar to that (or what I imagine to be) as an infant. Here is my list(s)


1.Prior to departure exhaust child or dog
2.From the point of departure (if not before) you pray for a peaceful trip where infant or dog sleeps most of the way.
3. You pack an arsenal of distraction (arsenal's are very different - but still you are prepared)
4. When dog or infant begin to make noise you frantically try to understand these cries or barks as quickly as possible in order to return the previous moments of peace.
5. Always pack pacifiers (or raw hide - the doggy pacifier)
6. Stop for potty break or diaper change and pray that your guess on time is similar to the schedule of your little creature.
7. Truck is filled with the "little ones" things...stroller, crate, toys, food, towels, diapers...you decide which is for which.

I know understand why they say dogs are good to have before children!

Denali & his buddy Mac

Denali is a very social little guy - he has a few favorite friends. Mac we have decided is one of his favorite's. Here are the boys lounging on the lawn. Denali is six months old next week. He is getting big!

Sanctuary

Jeff and I are spending a few days at camp. We have retreated here many times over the years - but in the last few months this place has become more life giving than most any place in our life. Thank God for a place of incrediable beauty and amazing friends!

Denali

growing...growing...growing

The power of tape

Junior highers love duct tape. Thank God for J.H. Volunteers

Dissertation Proposal...

It's over. I passed. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. On to internship applications!

a TwIsT on tWiStEr

a little ketchup + a little mustard + a little yogurt colored green + a little yogurt colored blue + a twister mat or two = an AMAZING afternoon of fun

Denali...the Dog

We got a puppy!!! His name is Denali. So far so good - potty training is underway, crate training is on the up and up, and we might actually get some sleep soon!

Dissertation Phase 1...check

I have officially turned in the first phase of my dissertation...proposal on the 25th.

Class pictures...do they ever end

As many of you know - I am working on my doctorate. I have been working on it for two years, I am entering my last year of course work and can't be more ecstatic. I have spent the last year studying with these folks...and will spend one more (if I pass my dissertation proposal on the 25th of June). Just thought I'd share with you those that I spend a lot of my time with.

Business Trip...Destination Home

Home is where the heart is...so where is my heart?

We went home for the weekend, on a business trip. Thanks to the Lilly Foundation I was blessed by a weekend at home for research purposes, and Jeff came for fun. We got to see my family, Jeff's family, friends, our beautiful niece as well as hopefully move our research forward. It was great.

The thing I noticed is that although I have lived in California for almost five years now, I still say I am going home when I go back to Spokane. Then when I leave Spokane I say, I am going to California, never am I going home. Our stuff is is California, for the most part our lives are in California, some of our great friends are in California, but it seems our hearts are in Spokane. I wonder if this will ever change.

My Phone

So, Saturday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

It started, 7 a.m by my alarm going off...remind you...it's Saturday.

I roll into the shower, in the car by 8...why you ask? for class.

So, Saturday morning, 8 a.m I embark on my 60 mile drive to school. On SATURDAY.

I get there early enough to get coffee...great! I think (briefly) that my day might not be as bad as I thought it was going to be...things are looking up I thought.

Then I arrive at school. Then the professor begins to speak. Then she reads her syllabus for well over two hours. Line by line, word by word. Then she continues to talk...about nothing...literally nothing for 8 hours. 8 whole hours of nothingness.

Now I have had a fair amount of teachers, professors, other educators...this one, takes the cake. She handed out an outline of the day's events. A plus I thought, at least she is organized. Right hand column, time. Left hand column what we should be talking about. We never made it past 10:15 in the 8 hours she was alotted. Aghh!

Then I get to head home. My phone...well...it has had some problems recently, as electronics and I generally have an adversarial relationship. But I had kindly taped it together, I thought for sure we had another six months of life together. Saturday however, it took one step closer to the grave. It broke in half.

Don't worry. It still works. If I use my blue tooth headset and speak clearly - I can call whoever I want. Unfortunatly, I have nobody's number. So, if you could be so kind...could I please have your number?

State of Life

I spend a lot of time in Starbucks. Starbucks and I hang out Monday and Friday morning in Torrance, Tuesday and Thursday in Azusa, and Wednesday in Laguna Niguel. It was a strange realization that I am more aware of who works at Starbucks than I am of my neighbors at home. Strange.

This semester marks the middle and second half of my doctorate. It is also the most gruelling schedule I have had to maintain, leaving me exhausted by Friday. I have found that this semester I have asked the questions of "why" and "how" more often than any other semester in my academic career.

The question of "Why". Why do I do this, why did I choose this profession? Why a doctorate? Why this schedule. I have to say that I love what I do when I am with patients, when I am with those precious little children. Hearing the stories is often painful, but as horrible as the story is, to sit, to play, to laugh, to offer hope to parents is beautiful, is renewing, offers hope, to parents but also to me. It is for me, evidence of Christ at work.

The question of "how". How am I ever going to make it out of this program? That is asked far more often than I ever imagined. How am I going to get through the amount of work that I have? How am I going to ever complete my dissertation? I ask these questions often.

In my very narrow focus of school I have to say that God has been amazing. In a year where all budgets were cut Jeff was granted money for a full-time intern. Something desperately needed for the youth at our church, and for Jeff's sanity! I am TA'ing a class with an incredible professor that continues to provide me an opportunity to read material that I love - spiritual formation - and be reminded of Christ's work in my own life and the lives of students behind me. The girls that I work with at our church are being nice to each other - most of the time. They are showing up to small group regularly - they are invested. My prayer for them, answered. I have really funny friends, who although I rarely see, make me laugh and remind me of the days of having the time to just "be" with good people. I need to be reminded of these little things - which I so rarely take time to note.

Resolution?

Happy New Year!

Last night we returned from an amazing Christmas holiday. Every time I get to go home, I find it more and more difficult to return to So Cal - the mountains in the NW I think call my name.

At any rate - it is now 2007 and it seems that the talk is about resolutions. Now, I'm not one for a resolution as I unlikely to keep it. But I did want to tell you a story of someone else.

Today, I went to Costco. I was quite surprised with how quickly I made it through the time sucking mecca of a grocery store. Then came the check-out. With the lines being surprisingly short I wheeled my cart to the end of a line. As I stood - and waited the register proceeded to break, twice, so I had the opportunity to listen to several people's conversations around me. Several surprisingly were talking about their "resolutions". Just as I was about to become annoyed with my wait this boy, probably about 8 years old, glasses, collared shirt, you get the picture - announced proudly to his mother that his New Years resolution was "not to eat candy anymore". His mother chuckled just as his father approached their cart with an assorted box of candy bars. The boys response, in an annoyed voice, "Dad, I don't like those, I want Twix".

I wonder if he will keep his resolution?