Today is a day to chant (warning, a little gross)

FUN NO MATTER WHAT.

Ok, so it's not really that bad. But I woke up exhausted today because the rain woke me (it was raining really hard--it does that here a lot apparently) and then Liam had, how can I put this delicately?

I can't.

He had projectile poop. That's right folks. This morning he launched operation poopy mommy and as I was changing him he shot a small brown ehem, turd, right at me! Luckily, thanks to the fiber in his new diet, it was more solid than poops in the past--but because it was more solid it flew out of his bottom (powered by more gas than I thought possible) and bounced off of my shirt and onto the floor--at which time I burst out laughing.

FUN NO MATTER WHAT!

Then as we were eating peas and brown rice, he managed to hook his little hand into the container and tip the whole thing out of my hand before I even knew what was happening. Result? Baby covered in 5oz of green food. Needless to say, the bib did not help. Did I mention that he just had a bath this morning? He grinned and I sighed.

FUN NO MATTER WHAT! (Say it with me now.)

So then I put him down for a nap only to discover that at some point earlier in the day he had peed in his bed. Don't ask me how this happened because none of his diapers were soaked through, but there was pee there all the same. So, with a very tired and beginning to be cranky baby, I changed the sheet and put him in the crib. And guess what? He smiled up and me and went right to sleep. And in that moment it was all worth it.

A good morning

Today Ryan started his first class and I am at home with Liam until work at 1pm.

I feel like God really blessed our morning because everything has run very smoothly so far. Liam slept in until 6am this morning (I know, that's early, but he's usually up by 5am) and so I got to sleep a little later as well. After I fed him, he went right back to sleep until almost 9am.

I made pancakes (and eggs for Ryan) for breakfast and had time to take a shower, do the dishes, fold a load of laundry and make the bed before Liam woke up. Now he is taking his second nap of the day and I am getting things ready for Ryan to watch him this afternoon.

I'm feeling very blessed that I have my mornings free so that I can spend time with my little man and take care of a few things at home also. I am well aware that not everyone has this luxury.

Yesterday I made Liam some baby food. Sweet potato and brown rice puree, and peas and brown rice puree. He likes them and is now eating about 6oz of "solid" food a day. We really need to get a highchair! It was on the list for yesterday, but we haven't gotten to that part of the list yet.

That's all for now, I need to fold his diapers and make lunch before the town crier wakes up again. :)

Into the Seminary

The end of this week has been busy. I finished studying for the Greek Entrance Exam on Wednesday, and I ended up doing well on it. Immediately following the test, the New Seminary Student Orientation began. That kept me busy for much of the afternoon. As soon as I was done there, I began seriously studying for the Bible Knowledge Entrance Exam. The study guide I received indicated that the test would cover significant amounts of material from the Old and New Testaments including dates, names, places, and events, as well as general material about the culture of biblical times, theology, etc. There were also a number of scriptural texts that I was expected to have memorized as well.

The orientation program continued at the seminary Thursday morning and afternoon. There was a Hebrew exam Thursday morning which I did not take. I'm planning to take that next year. On Friday morning I took the Bible Knowledge Entrance Exam, which I also passed, and then went to more orientation meetings for the rest of the morning. All this time, Jenn has been working around my schedule at her new job as the Executive Assistant to the Dean. Thanks to Dr. Fortin for his understanding and flexibility!

So while I've been at school, Jenn has been taking care of Liam, and I've been watching him while she has been at work. Liam and I had fun on Thursday afternoon memorizing scripture together while pacing back and forth through the living room (not many paces). It's tough to study while taking care of Liam, but I think if I plan right, I will be able to make some use of our time together in the coming months. Perhaps some of the time we'll be able to go on walks together while doing some studying or reviewing of material, but most of my reading and writing will have to be done while he's napping, or while Jenn is watching him.

Friday evening we all had an enjoyable time at the welcome banquet for new seminary students and their families, which was hosted in two of the large conference rooms at the cafeteria. There are well over 100 new MDiv students beginning their studies here this semester. Add to that all of their families and all of the faculty and staff and their families, and you have a pretty good sized group. I was somewhat surprised to learn that including the extension campuses and distance learning programs, Andrews University has one of the larger seminaries in North America, with close to a thousand students.

Dinner was very good, and we got to meet another family who has recently moved here to Berrien Springs in pursuit of the same degree. I spent a lot of time walking Liam around until he finally went to sleep. Unfortunately, he soon woke up, and we had to leave halfway through the vespers service so that we could put him to bed.

Classes begin Monday, and we'll soon get settled into a regular routine: me going to class mostly in the morning, Jenn working mostly in the afternoon. We will say a brief hello to each other as we hand over Liam and exchange places. I'll probably be spending most evenings as well as Fridays (when I don't have any classes), reading, writing, and doing other classwork. So the busyness of this week has probably been a good warmup for the routine of seminary life we're about to experience. I hope that the sense of community we have been finding here this weekend will also prove to be predictive of the things to come.

Greek genuis

Update: Ryan passed his test with flying colors. I never doubted him--he's a smarty pants. We went to dinner to celebrate the fact that he does not have to take any Greek classes at AU. Liam sat in a highchair for the first time! That's his front pack stuffed behind him for support. So handy that Ergo pack! He enjoyed some cold watermelon in his teething/feeding mesh thingy while we ate dinner.

Working: Better than expected

Today was my third day of work and I finally started to feel like maybe this will be a good thing after all. I spent a good part of today doing actual work (not just filling in employment paperwork) and liked it a lot. My boss, Dr. Fortin (the dean) is very kind and also extremely organized. Two qualities that I hold in high regard.

And since I work just a few hours a day, I only have time to miss Liam a little before I see him again. I will work one morning a week, Friday, and then not until nine. I feel spoiled by this schedule because it means I get breakfast with my boys and I can spend all morning with Liam. Then I spend a few hours in the afternoon acting, talking and dressing like a grown up and am home in time to make dinner, put Liam to bed and spend time with Ryan.

Ryan took his Greek exam today and the results are being posted soon. I'm sure he did great. As you may have noticed by reading his last post, when he is likes something, he REALLY likes it. He likes disc golf and he likes Greek.

Liam is taking a nap. I have finished the dishes, the ironing and a load of laundry. I'm feeling very accomplished and that makes me happy.

Tournament Recap

On Sunday, as Jenn has already mentioned, I played in a disc golf tournament a couple hours north of us at Flip City Disc Golf Park in Shelby, MI. This course is ranked on DG Course Review as the top course in the country. It has 24 holes on private land owned and maintained by one man, "Flip City Bill" since 1980. A lot of the holes play across a small valley that runs through the property, and every hole presents a unique challenge. There's great variety and lots of elevation change. It really is a great place to play!

One of my favorite holes was #7, where you tee from an elevated location across a steep valley to a basket elevated on a ridge 300 feet away. Trees and shrubs line both sides of the fairway, and the bottom of the valley has a number of tall trees on the left that block a direct route, as well as some small but thick apple trees that will block your upshot if your drive misses the smallish gap on the right and your disc ends up at the bottom of the valley. Once you get up the steep hill and near the basket, putting can be dangerous as the ground slopes away in both directions, and a missed putt could end up rolling back to the bottom of the valley. It's a beautiful hole with great risk/reward.

My first round on Sunday started fine. I was playing solid par golf for the first 12-15 holes, and eventually moved to the top of my card (meaning my score was better than the other players I was grouped with). That was really my goal for the round. Just win my card. After a few bogies and one double bogey, I held on to win my card by two throws with a 77, or 5 over par.

The second round, my goal again was to win my card, but this time I also wanted to make up the 3 strokes that I was down from the top round of the morning. I started out well, with a par then two birdies. My putting was better, and in spite of a string of bogies later in the round, I made a few more birdies and ended up winning my card with a 74 (2 over par). That score was good enough to win me 4th place out of 38 players in my division and a few discs as prizes. You can see the full tournament results on the PDGA website here.

All in all, I felt a lot better about my play than I had the previous weekend where I played significantly below my ability. Plus, I had a lot of fun.

Now it's back to work. Jenn starts her new job this week. I'll be preparing for my entrance exams and doing some tasks such as assembling our Ikea furniture and getting our car fixed. On Wednesday, the seminary orientation begins. Then classes start next week.

Disc Golf and the beach

Ryan's just headed off to play in his last tournament before school starts and I am trying to get Liam to take a short nap before feeding him again and heading out to find myself some breakfast. We're in Muskegon, which is on the beach, for the weekend. I start work again tomorrow and Ryan starts school next Monday so we decided to take a short trip before we have to start our new responsibilities.

Life goes on

Well, the week is coming to an end and I will be going back to work on Monday--part-time work, but work all the same. I hope that it turns out to be a really great. This morning I'm headed over to the HR office to fill out my employment paperwork.

Now that my kitchen is finally all the way unpacked we've started eating normal meals again. And yesterday I made a peach cobbler so the house smells nice and homey.

Liam's having a tough time adjusting to our new time zone, schedule and home. We're having to do some retraining for naps and bedtime I'm afraid. I hope he gets the hang of it soon! I hate to see him have a tough time.

Getting Ready for Classes

In spite of the condition of our home, the fall semester at Andrews University continues to draw closer. This week I've been taking care of those somehow unforeseeable, yet seemingly endless series of tasks that are part of moving across the country. The theme lately seems to be: "I can't unpack this box until I have this space clear, but I can't clear off this space until I have storage for these items." Now that Ikea has been conquered, I'll spend the next few days assembling furniture. (Why did I pay to work in Ikea's sweatshop? Oh yeah, it was for the great bargain.)

Anyway, I'm finding it hard to get into the mental mode of school. I don't quite feel like a student yet, since I'm not constantly thinking about what tests, projects or assignments are coming up. And yet, my seminary entrance exams are coming up next week. I should be more concerned.

It's not that I'm not preparing. I've been going to the optional Greek review sessions this week (actually I'm in one now). They're helping me to get back into a deeper mode of Greek. (I've been reading my Greek New Testament off and on since college, but haven't been doing a lot of really technical study.) But I still need to get more serious about preparing for the general Bible knowledge exam. Can you name the major kings of both Israel and Judea in order? How about the names of the 12 apostles? Me either. Yet.

In any case, I'll finish registering for class hopefully by tomorrow (just got the last registration hold removed today). I'll assemble at least some of the Ikea furniture by the weekend, and then do a lot more preparation for these exams.

The new student orientation at the seminary begins next Wednesday. Classes the following Monday. Then I'll be in the thick of things. Since Jenn got the part time job as the executive assistant to the dean (Denis Fortin), I should be in class mostly in the mornings, and home watching Liam mostly in the afternoon (so she can be at work then). Hopefully we're able to finish settling in between now and so that I will be able to focus on my studies without trying to set things up or unpack boxes or make extra trips to the store.

Ikea has been conquered, now for the living room

Well we went to Ikea and got a lot of things to make our house space more workable. For example, a nifty wire shelf thingy that now holds my major appliances, and a plastic drawer with our silverware (that's right, it doesn't fit in the drawer!). So the kitchen is better. We also got our bed frame, which we've been saving for and planning to buy for like a year now. It has night stands that attach to it. And a TV stand for the living room since I'm using the chest of drawers that we used to use for the TV stand as, you guessed it, more kitchen storage space (baking dishes). We got a curtain rod and curtain to cover up the ugly hot water heater space and hooks to hang our mugs from underneath the cabinet. So now my living room is once again filled with boxes. Sigh. But we couldn't finish unpacking until we got some storage! I got spoiled having tons of closet space at our last house.

Photos as promised

Still a lot of unpacking to do.

Across the street view.
Our new townhouse apartment.

Ryan gave him his own mini disc, but Liam mostly just wanted to put it in his mouth.

We all went disc golfing yesterday afternoon. This was Liam's first time!

Liam asks, "Is it time to eat again, Mom?"

Liam asks, "What do you mean, moving?"

Ryan and Liam sitting on the couch in our old house two days before leaving.

Here's Liam looking cute on his rainforest mat a few days before we left for Berrien Springs.

Getting settled

It's Monday morning and we have now officially lived in our new place for more than a week...and it's still not unpacked all the way. I gave it the good college try yesterday, but wasn't able to get all the way done. Ryan played in a disc golf tournament yesterday, sadly he didn't do very well and was feeling a little down about it last night. So we ordered a pizza and watched a show after we got Liam to sleep last night.

Liam is fighting some kind of bug I think. He's got a mild fever and is super fussy. It could just be teething, but whatever it is, he isn't himself. Yesterday he had a tough day--which meant that I had a tough day. I hope today is better.

I am actively searching for my camera cable so that I can upload photos. It's here somewhere....

Not feeling like home yet

Whew!

Now that I've finished uploading my road journal I can give you an update since last Sunday when we arrived. I can't believe we have been here for a week already.

First of all, when we got to our apartment/townhouse (whatever it is!) all of our things were already here because the landlords let the movers in on Friday to unload. This was really great. :) However, our apartment was not ready for us. It was really dirty and several things needed to be fixed. So after a very minor melt down (I think, though Ryan maybe doesn't agree) we decided to do what we could to clean and meet with the landlords on Monday night to discuss what needed fixing.

Ryan used all of his diplomacy and I um...well, I actually shut my mouth for once, and the landlords agreed to fix the broken things during the Monday night meeting. All ended amiably. So then began the massive cleaning and unpacking campaign--which I can assure you required much reminding of the family motto!

Yesterday was Sabbath and we took a break from all the cleaning and unpacking, slept in, and went to the park. Ryan played disc golf and Liam and I walked alongside. It was a nice course and we had a good time.

Today, Ryan is playing in a tournament and so Liam and I are at home. I'm trying to finish some unpacking and household chores when Liam will let me. He's had a hard time adjusting to our new home (and the new time zone!) but seems to be doing better today. He did sleep all night last night and the night before, so that's an improvement. :)

I have some cute photos that I'll post later on.

So close and yet...

August 2

We are on our way to Berrien now, just had breakfast at the Country Kitchen restaurant, which was actually the best breakfast we’ve had for the whole trip. They had really good pancakes. I got blueberry, which reminded me of my mom since that’s her favorite. Ryan had plain with an over-easy egg and turkey sausage. Liam was crabby, so we didn’t linger over our meals, but the food was tasty all the same. I’m feeling mixed feelings about going to our new place. On the one hand, it will be SO great to not be traveling anymore. On the other, it means that things are final, that we are actually doing this crazy thing--moving to Michigan. And it’s that second hand that makes me want to delay getting there. My heart hurts because I miss my friends and family so much. I can’t believe that we have actually moved so far from them--and the distance is painfully obvious when you make the drive. It’s taken us almost a full week to get here.

Almost there

August 1

Well, we called our landlords about an hour and a half away from Berrien and they said that they can’t meet us until tomorrow. So we stopped driving and took refuge at the Comfort Inn, which actually seems pretty comfortable. Tomorrow we’ll pack up and get to our new home, I hope! I’m so tired of driving every day. But this will be nice because since the movers already put all of our things in the apartment, we can get started tomorrow with putting stuff away instead of getting there late tonight and having to set up our beds. I really hope that the landlords are nice. Going to watch the Daily Show with Ryan now (using headphones and a laptop), Liam’s asleep in his crib. I hope he stays that way.

Deer in the headlights

July 29

Well, we hit a deer last night in Wyoming. It wasn't too bad, actually, and the car is still running. But now we are going to have to get the car fixed when we get to Berrien, which will be interesting since we only have one car. Ryan and I are practically chanting it now...."FUN NO MATTER WHAT....."

Michigan Bound

July 28

We’re on our way to Michigan after a very tearful goodbye to our friends in Walla Walla. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to our friends yesterday, but we got through it and now we are driving across the country on I-90 to Michigan where we will start over again. At least that’s how it always feels to me when we make one of these moves. Starting over isn’t all bad, but it’s always difficult because it makes us step outside what’s comfortable.

I have a job interview with the seminary dean to be his executive assistant a week from tomorrow. I’m not sure if that job will work out or not, but it might be a good thing if it does. I’m hoping that it would help me to feel more connected to the faculty and to Ryan’s friends in the program--I’m sure it would mean that I would have a better idea about what is going on and maybe I’d feel less awkward than I did participating in events when Ryan was at Walla Walla.

Right now we are going through the continental divide in Montana (the Rocky Mountains). It’s over a mile high here. The Rockies are weird looking, it just looks like piles of big rocks with trees growing out of them. Not the type of mountains I’m used to seeing. I’m sitting in the backseat with Liam who is trying not to fall asleep much to my disappointment. He has a cloth book that he’s looking at and we are playing very soothing music, which I think is making us more relaxed than him! He was is so tired, but he’s also so tired of being in his carseat. I hate to think what the rest of the week is going to be like, this is only day two of our five day drive.