Weeks 25, 26, & 27! Lots of Life Updates!

The 3rd trimester starts on Sunday--that's crazy to me! The second trimester does feel like it was really long--a LOT happened in the past 13 weeks in our lives, so I know we still have a ways to go until we meet our little guy, but we also still have a lot of things in life left to get settled before he arrives, so I'm okay that we have another 13 weeks to go! I realize I haven't written each week in the past few weeks, but here's the scoop on our lives and baby in the past 3 weeks!

Week 25--our little dude hit the weight of a rutabaga. No, I don't know what a rutabaga is or how to cook/eat it, but I do know that a rutabaga is about a pound and a half, and apparently that's what Baby K weighed two weeks ago. This week was discerning week for us, as we headed home from our trip to Los Angeles with a job offer on the table. We loved the church, our new senior pastor, their vision for youth ministry (it actually looks like FUN at this place instead of so much work!), and the idea of being back with friends who know both of us really well. We weren't so sure about the financial piece of living in Los Angeles. We sat with it for a few days, we spent time together in the SPU chapel sitting in silence, separately journaling our thoughts and questions. We researched health insurance rates and rent rates. We received a super supportive email from my dad that week as well, reminding us that the first and most important thing to discern is the call itself. Is this a church and community we can see ourselves part of? Is this is a senior pastor we can work well with who actually will support Charles? Would we be happy living there? He reminded us that if the answers to those questions were "yes" then part of trusting God is trusting that the finances will work themselves out somehow, but probably shouldn't be the #1 reason to turn down an otherwise great job offer. He reminded us that once our little guy is a couple months old I can always look for part time work to help with the bills, something I'd love to do anyway (even if it's taking in someone else's baby while I'm watching ours too, or working part time for a church in the area or for Fuller again). There are ways to make finances work. We learned here that while our financial situation was stable, the church was not and that wreaked havoc on our marriage, our physical health, our emotional health, and even our spiritual health. Choosing a job based on financial stability doesn't seem to be the right answer all the time! We were definitely grateful for his counsel and words of wisdom & support, and after a couple days we accepted the job offer! After 4 months of not being able to answer the "what's next?" question, we were thrilled to share with people that we'll be heading back to a place that was so rich for both of us in our time there.

Week 26! This was a HUGE week for us! Baby has grown as long as an English cucumber (the long skinny ones!) He's busy working on his lung development and the maturing of his reproductive organs, and the little dude has reached about 14 inches long from head to heel.

Baby and I started the week off by spending Sunday afternoon enjoying a day with my girl friends up here celebrating Lynn's upcoming wedding! Seven of us headed over to Bainbridge Island on a ferry for a gorgeous afternoon of wine tasting (well some of us tasted!), wandering the cute town, and enjoying an incredible meal at the restaurant Hitchcock. Everything we ordered was to die for. Their menu is based on what's in season, so everything is ridiculously fresh and gourmet--my kind of place! I enjoyed the ricotta gnocchi (gnocchi are like dumplings made out of flour, and in this case, ricotta) mixed with pine nuts, yellow summer squash, blue cheese and parsley. It was amazing. (This photo is the 7 of us from Darbee's wedding earlier in the summer. I will miss these amazing women like crazy when we do move and have been so grateful for another season of life spent with them here in Seattle).

The other super cool thing we did during week 26 was attend a live taping of a radio show/podcast called The Kindling's Muse. Every month at Hales Pub and Brewery in the upstairs banquet room, a group of people come together to discuss a given topic in the theological world. This past Monday they were discussing Rob Bell's book Love Wins. Dick Staub, local guru of theology and pop culture hosts the show and has usually 3 guests on to talk about the topic of the night. This past week two were Seattle Pacific professors and one was our good friend Bryan Burton, associate pastor at the church we just left and professor at Fuller Northwest. Bryan invited us to come and we jumped at the chance. It was awesome! The audience of about 70 sits at tables and can order food and drinks as they listen (and submit questions to the panel) and the theologians discuss the night's topic. Food, wine, beer, theology, community being formed as guests interact at their tables...we LOVED it! If you're ever bored, check out some of their podcasts, you can listen right on line, and the conversations are fantastic and thought provoking.

Also up in week 26....the infamous prenatal glucose screening. Da da dum. I'd been hearing about this test for years now as friends of mine have experienced it, and I knew the day would come when I too would get to drink the kool aid. For those of you who either had kids way before they did this, or who haven't yet had the pleasure, allow me to enlighten you :) Everyone I've talked to did theirs a bit differently, but mine was a 2 hour process. I headed in to the doctor's office first thing Tuesday morning having not eaten anything since the night before. They drew my blood to see what my numbers were while fasting, and then handed me a 10 oz fruit punch flavored drink with 50 grams of sugar in it (a teaspoon you add to your coffee has about 4 grams of sugar). You have to get the drink down in about 4 minutes and then sit there for an hour when they'll draw your blood again, and then sit for another hour and get a third blood test. It's basically to see how your body is processing sugar while pregnant and to screen for any gestational diabetes. I was doing okay until I visited with the doctor half way through the test and she had me lay down to take the fetal heart rate. When I sat back up the room started spinning and needless to say I lost all the fruit punch in my stomach. Which means, I had to start all over again the next day with the fasting, blood tests, and drinking the kool aid again. Not fun. But day 2 went much better & I do not have signs of diabetes, so for that I am super grateful. I am also grateful to not have to drink that stuff again til baby #2 comes along some day!

On Thursday of week 26 we became Aunt & Uncle again!! Sweet Brooke Elizabeth was born to my little sister! She weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and is healthy and doing fantastic--praise God! Apparently her birth was a super great experience, exactly the kind of birth experience Megan wanted, and my mom was over the moon that they'd asked her to be in the room this time when Brooke arrived (she and dad were in the waiting room when Lily was born). Dad was on Lily-duty for the day at home and brought her up to the hospital to meet her "baby Brooke" when Megs was out of delivery. So grateful everything went well, and now I'm working on figuring out when I can get back there in the midst of our moving to meet my newest niece!

Lily meets her baby sister and gives her sweet kisses!

This picture pretty much makes me tear up every time I see it. We have an almost identical one of me "holding" Megan when she was born.

A baby sister can never have too many kisses!

Pretty much the happiest Papa in the world! We told him he needs to grow that 3rd arm between now and January for our little one!

Saturday was a day of celebration! We celebrated Lynn & Adam's wedding at probably the coolest venue ever! The top of the Columbia Tower (the tallest building in Seattle) is where their ceremony & reception were held--it was incredible! Such a fun time with friends that continued late into the evening after the wedding at a local bowling alley. This was later that night bowling--I learned that pregnancy can really throw off your ability to bowl. Not that I was great to begin with, but I am usually better than I was!

Also on Saturday was Lily's 2nd birthday! We video chatted and she told us it was "happy birthday Lily's turn!" She told me that she got to eat cake, and open presents and I asked what she got. Her response was "baby Brooke!" Not a bad birthday gift! She also laid down on the bed next to Brooke to show me who was the bigger sister :) Happy birthday sweet Lily, you've made all our lives more joyful and richer than we could ever imagine!

She got a bike for her birthday! And her special "bike hat" that she showed me how she puts on whenever she wants to ride. Such a big girl!

Papa helping her figure it out

Yum! Chocolate cake!

We spent the rest of week 26 packing stuff up and getting our house spotless and staged perfectly for it to go on the market this past weekend. We even have our own website our realtor made us. Wanna buy a sweet townhouse? Click here!

Week 27! Well, technically week 27 just started yesterday so not too much excitement has happened yet! Baby boy is now weighing in at about 2 pounds! (About the weight of a head of cauliflower) and is developing his little brain more and more each day. He's opening and closing his eyes, moving around a TON, listening to our voices, and practicing his sucking reflex by sucking on his cute little fingers. I am eating everything in sight--amazing my husband with my constant requests for seconds. It's our last full week in Seattle together, Saturday we leave to begin our trip south and once we get there Charles will begin work and I'll begin looking for a place for us to live. The church is graciously hosting us with a family for a few weeks until we have a place to call home. Also on the list of things to do immediately? Find a new doctor since we'll be delivering this little one down in LA now. So we're trying to clean out our fridge this week--eating random things for meals because that's what we have on hand, we're seeing some friends, continuing with our packing, and praying someone wants to buy our house soon. That's pretty much it for this week, we're getting more and more excited about our new church and community waiting for us in LA!

Phew! If you're still reading, congratulations! It's been a busy few weeks, but we are so grateful our little man is healthy, kicking around in there, and growing just like he should!

Monday's Musings

I know it's been awhile since I've really posted anything, especially anything of substance. We have been busy, but I don't think that's the main reason I've been a bit quieter here in cyber space this past month or so. I think I am still feeling out life here in this new community, in my new role as the wife of a church staff member, and as already a fairly visible volunteer (they handed me a 12 week adult Sunday School class and I've been here for a grand total of about 10 weeks now--any thoughts I had about observing the culture here anonymously are long gone!). I definitely am doing a lot of thinking and processing, almost all the time, but I am choosing to censor my thoughts a bit more--not at all because they're bad or overly critical, but because I haven't figured out yet exactly where lines are that I'm going to accidentally cross and inadvertently offend someone with some random theological statement or comment about a given ministry program. I've always tried to be authentic about who I am--and for me a huge part of that is what I think about ministry and theology--and I don't want to loose that, but for this particular season I'm trying to figure out what that means exactly in cyber space. So! For now, here are a few random thoughts or updates that I know won't get me in trouble :) (I don't pretend these next paragraphs are connected to one another in any way!)

It's finally public and I don't have to keep the secret anymore! I am going to be an Aunt again!! Little miss Lily is going to be a big sister in October, in fact Megan is due with baby #2 the same week of Lily's (and her own!) birthday. The week of October 15th is going to be a busy one in the Backman household from now on! I am ridiculously excited for them and can't wait to find out if we'll be having a little niece or nephew in a couple months!

We found a delicious little coffee shop about .8 miles from our home--well really we've driven by it multiple times a day but just had never gone in. A few weeks ago we walked down to Pearls and found out they make delicious crepes, which we have now partaken of two different Saturday mornings. My personal favorite is the strawberry, nutella, whipped cream crepe--yup, a very healthy breakfast! They also made a great ham, spinach, cheese crepe that was pretty fantastic.

We've been the recipients of a LOT of amazing hospitality these days! We've been invited to share meals with a ton of families from church in the past couple weeks (and have several more lined up for the next month!) and we have been loving it! A couple weeks ago we had a delicious Irish meal with our associate pastor and his wife (who is from Ireland and cooked for us over St. Patrick's week). Last night we enjoyed Mexican food at a great restaurant on the waterfront with a couple who volunteers regularly with the youth, this morning we had brunch at the home of our senior pastor and his wife and spent about 3 1/2 hours sitting around their table sharing stories from our lives. Tonight we got to spend another 5 hours sharing conversation around the dinner table with another family. Next Monday we're having a meal with two of the older couples in our congregation who we think are just delightful--we had actually invited them over to our house to have an opportunity to get to know folks outside the youth program but they felt bad we were inviting them over and flipped the invitation on us! Next Tuesday we have the chance to have a meal with a family who has two middle school students--we are so humbled and honored by all the hospitality and invitations! We felt bad when a family said they wanted to have us over on a Saturday & we had to tell them the first available Saturday we had was at the end of the month! Sharing meals with people, being in each other's homes, hearing their stories, sharing our vision of youth ministry & pieces of our stories--these conversations are so rich for us, and we are so grateful to be in a community that seems to value this as well!

My first of a 12 week Sunday School class on The Good and Beautiful God was yesterday, and I think it went pretty well! I had fun with it at least! I had 22 folks of all ages show up--six of whom were young adults in their early 20s which was what I was hoping would happen--to give them a space they can belong and connect with older adults on Sunday morning that is less intimidating than some of the other adult classes. I'm kind of intimidated at the idea of teaching a 12 week class--that's kind of a long time, but I'm excited too. I really do love the book, and LOVE the people who showed up for conversation, so I am looking forward to a rich spring quarter.

I realized I haven't been to visit my parents in Minnesota since a year ago Christmas, so when I found out my grandparents are going to be out there the weekend of April 15th, I decided to head out there that weekend as well. Charles isn't able to join me, but it will be great spending time with my grandparents and being "home" again (even though I never lived there, "home" for now is wherever mom's garden is blooming!)

Next Tuesday I have the opportunity to guest speak in a class at SPU--my mentor from Bethany Pres, Dianne Ross, who is the children's ministry director there, is teaching a class on children's ministry at SPU for the spring. She's asked me to come in and talk with her students about the theology of children in the context of a family. Most of my thoughts will be coming straight from Chap Clark's Intro to Family Ministry class that I've now sat through multiple times as a TA, but still, teaching it and listening to it are two different things!

I've discovered an amazing new book that I'm reading--One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It really is worth it, if anyone needs a new book to savor. Last week I spent quite a bit of time reading, one night Charles didn't come home til 11, so I had several hours to sit in the quiet of my living room with candles lit and enjoy her words.

Saturday we had the chance to celebrate Darbee at her bridal shower, which was very fun and held in a gorgeous home up in Edmonds overlooking the water. Saturday night we spent the evening at our neighbor's house playing games (a new one, 7 Wonders--it was a great game!) with some of their friends from college--gotta be honest, it was really fun being with people who weren't Christians, who aren't connected to the church--it was quite refreshing!

Anyways, I think that's enough ramblings for one sitting :)

just to make you smile on monday morning

I woke up to Halloween photos of my darling "adopted" nieces today, which is just about the best way to start a Monday :) bet you can't look at these and not smile!

Bethie the Bumble Bee and Catie the CaterpillarI cannot WAIT for my wedding so I get to meet this little one!

I couldn't resist

I don't have any more photos of our last week of playing in LA, and I don't have photos to upload quite yet from Christina and Steve's wedding this past weekend in Houston, but what I happen to have is even better in my opinion =) Kelli just got home from visiting Jean, Josh, and their two little ones up in Alaska and took some great pictures of the girls, and since I'm kind of in love with these little ones I had to post them for all of you! I won't get to see them again until March at our wedding, but for now, pictures will have to do...

Jean and her two little girls, Bethie (who will be 2 in December) and Catie, who is about 2 months old)
Bethie hamming it up with Kelli--apparently she is addicted to this lime green Minnie Mouse dress and wants to wear it every day much to Jean's dismay (lime green is not so much Jean's favorite color!)

Bethie is just like me when I was her age, she HATES being dirty, sticky or messy--so this picture of her covered with chili is very rare!

Precious baby Catherine Emily! (she is apparently one of the most mellow and easy going babies ever)

Jean and her sister Gail had babies within 3 weeks of eachother (Gail's baby girl Kori is on the left, Jean's baby Catie is on the right). This is Jean and Gail's grandma--something tells me she is just about the happiest great-grandma in the world in this photo!Three cousins-baby Kori, Catie and BethieBethie practicing for her future in the WNBA

Bethie's favorite outfit--the purple cow girl boots and the lime green dress

Babies are ready to go! Bethie has her own baby and her own baby carrier just like mommy

Comforting a fussy baby Catie--Bethie runs over every time Cate fusses to say "I know baby Cate, I know...."

Introducing Catherine Emily Wiitala

I don't have any "official" nieces or nephews, but I have adopted Jean's little ones as my "pseudo-nieces" and am SO excited to have another new precious baby to love and watch grow. Catherine Emily (Cate or Catie) joined big sister Bethie last Thursday evening coming into the world at 7 pounds 8 oz and 21 inches long. She is a beautiful little girl who I think looks a lot like her big sister did when Bethie was born a year and a 1/2 ago. I just had to share these photos of this little one with all of you--I probably won't get to meet her til March which I am kind of bummed about, but I will be very excited to get to watch her grow from a distance :)wide awake and almost naked baby! (the best kind =)"hello world!"Daddy (Josh) and his new little girlBig sister Bethie was apparently not so sure about baby Catie. Her response to "Bethie, should we take baby Catie home?" was "noooo"Bethie starting to warm up to baby "sisser" as she says

Officially warmed up--Bethie is now waving to baby Catie

Hi Mommy!

The first family picture--Josh, Catie, Bethie, Jean

Bethie's Latest Photos

My dear friend Jean is about to have baby girl #2 any day now, but before that precious little girl comes to join us I thought I'd post a few of Bethie, who at 18 months is about to be a big sister! She's grown into such an adorable little girl (ok, like she was ever NOT adorable!) Enjoy!

Apparently she has turned very much into a GIRL! She loves baby dolls, purses, dress up, bows, and pink!

Creating confident kids

I've been helping out this year with a mid-week program at church called Confident Kids, an elementary school aged support group of sorts which teaches kids how to make good choices, how to take ownership of their choices (and consequences), and how to invite God into their decision making. It's been really fun, and I have loved working with the rest of the adult staff as we have tried figuring out what in the world we are doing! The girls in my group are 5th graders and it has been so fun hearing what is going on with them, praying for them, sending them encouraging pieces of mail, and letting them remind me of what it's like to be a 5th grade girl again! (and all the ups and downs and struggles with boys and friends and parents! ahh the drama!) This past week the whole group made sunvisors with the word "Choose" on them to help remind them that good choices can be a bit like sunvisors--they can help keep you from getting burned. I happened to have my camera in my purse we we started snapping photos of the different small groups, which the kids LOVED and wanted to start posing in any number of combinations! Here are a few of my favorite photos....

me with my groupJacob and EthanAnn-Marie (one of our director's of children's ministry) and her groupJoseph and his groupour huddle prayer we end with each week

This is my friend Joseph. Joseph is married to my friend Jamie. These girls are part of Joseph's fan club at church who all happen to be devestated he is married....