Happy Anniversary

Wednesday marked three years of marriage for Conrad and I! I still can’t believe it’s been three whole years! And I still can’t believe it’s been ONLY three years! These years have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, been the best of my life! Not only did I get to spend them with the Love of my life, but we got one and a half little “arrows” in our quiver. Who could ask for more?

Conrad is the best husband in the world. I know you think you have the best, but I do! God seems to have made us for each other, even though we were born and raised oceans apart. How wild it is that God brought us together from different counties, continents, and languages…amazing! And I love having a bi-cultural family!

We celebrated with take out Chipotle and a dozen red roses my thoughtful husband brought home to me! Every day, especially when I’m at work or traveling for work, I always think of Conrad and think how lucky am I?? I love you babe!

Rock On

Thanks Vicky for posting this on your facebook. All our old Teen Mania Internship friends have been posting scary old pictures lately. That's my bedroom, and Gwen was one of my(six)roomates and good friend. You gotta love the hair, don't you??

American Prom, in Review

Recently while traveling I was listening to This American Life from NPR. They were mulling over the American tradition of Prom. Besides being fascinated by the subject, having lived through the Public High School experience, (By the way, I didn’t go to prom. My logic? Well, I was saving for a missions trip and just couldn’t fathom spending the money involved!) I was also appalled, and a little scared. And I started to realize I was also developing a nervous twitch in my eye, as I thought about my sweet little daughter ever experienced this ridiculous right of passage.

The twitch began as the narrator was talking about covering a local prom in Chicago. Apparently at this prom, all of the “serious” couples go out on the dance floor with a chair. The girl sits in the chair, moves her dress up to expose a garter…yes..a garter! And the boy has to remove the garter with his teeth. Okay…I’ve seen this at weddings (still tacky and just a little too much information for me)…but we are talking about HIGH SCHOOL PROM. The ultra-liberal-NPR reporter was also a bit taken back by this and approached teachers to ask their response to such a display. He was told (by the teachers) to basically get his head out of the sand, this had been going on for years!

I know girls really look forward to having this pseudo-wedding day in highschools all across the country, and boys look forward to the pseudo-wedding night in highschools all across the country. I guess not much has changed in that aspect in the past few decades. But, as a Believer, I have to tell ya, I got issues with this. And this event takes on a whole new light when you become a parent…and my children (in womb included) aren’t even near this experience yet.

At this point, maybe we’ll take Conrad’s preferred plan and just send them to India.

What's In A Name?

We are bouncing around some names for Baby Michael #2. Our (i.e. MY) number one choice on the list for a boy is Hudson Taylor. Of course, named after the famous 19th century missionary and founder of China Inland Missions. I think keeping up the tradition of naming our children after missionaries is something I’d like to keep. But Conrad thinks this name is crazy. All he can think about is the Hudson River. And wonders if we are really going to name our child after a river. At least he doesn’t think of Rock Hudson, right


For boys, we also like Phinn(as in Phinneas, but I’m not sure we can do that to a poor child), Solomon, and Boaz. But again, not sure if we can do that to a child. But all shorten-able to easier to manage names like Sol or Bo. Still manly, but less mockable in a middle school setting. Can you see where I’m going with this?

For a girl, we are tossing around Grace or Elle. We like Elisabeth, but Isabelle is the Spanish form of Elisabeth, so we don’t really want to do that. I may have to peruse my Guardians of the Great Commission book to check out more names. Can you think of any girl names? I do need to preface that statement with good names. I guess that is subjective. Although I like Lottie Moon…not sure how I feel about Lottie. Maybe Charlotte?

A Sink Bath

Last weekend we went to my mom and dads for the dedication of their new church building. It was great to connect with friends and family from all over and see my parents’ new building, which looks really good, thanks to their interior decorator!

Some of you, who didn’t grow up in a pastor’s family, may not have experienced the drama of building a new church. Church’s (that shall remain unnamed) have split over choosing carpet colors! Not to mention, it’s always good to avoid hurting feelings when Sister Good-Intention-And-Bad-Taste goes to the local Wal-Mart and purchases her favorite statue of Jesus pouring water into wine for the church sanctuary. I know you think I made that up. I didn’t. You can always just reject the good intention and blame it on the decorator. Who should NOT be a regular attendee of your house of worship.

Unfortunately, the night was so busy, I didn’t get any pictures. I’ll try to remedy that later. I will say it was a lovely weekend since my friend Heidi and I went for a massage on Saturday (always a happy occurrence!) and I made dinner for all of my family and extended family on Sunday for mother’s day.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of Isabelle taking a bath in Grandma’s sink. Lately, she HATES baths. Which is odd, since she used to really enjoy them. I think it’s some kind of subconscious fear of the potty. But she loves when Granny gives her a bath, and in the sink…no less!

The Big Tease

As every pregnant woman knows, you begin counting down the days till your due date as soon as you have a due date! Every day is one day closer to the blessed event. Some of us count down because we can’t wait to see our little bundle of joy, some of us count down because it’s one day closer to feeling normal again! Okay, I am counting down for both reasons, obviously! But, honestly, some days I really resent all of you happy glowing pregnant women, tho! I’m surly, nauseated, and waddling….eesh.

A couple of weeks ago I had my first ultrasound and besides Michael Baby #2 being healthy and active, the tech also told me that I am due 5 days earlier than my original estimated due date. Well, let me tell you, I was jumping up and down for joy! Five whole days earlier! So I changed all the dates on my calendar and my tickers and took pride in the fact! Unfortunately, my doctor nixed this when I saw her several weeks after this. It’s like a big let down. Oh well..still happy about the healthy baby!

By the way, we aren’t going to find out the gender of this one. We figure the second child doesn’t get nearly the hype that the first one gets, so maybe this one will add to the hype. I guess the next question will be, will this one have a baby book/scrapbook?

This and That

We are officially in the spring cleaning mode. Sunday night we were at Wal-Mart and Conrad decided he wanted to paint our guest bathroom. So we picked up a gallon of paint and off he went! Actually, he pretty much finished his project before he went to bed that night! So we are officially down to only two completely white rooms left in our house to paint.

On our “To Do” for summer, included projects we need to “save” for before we complete them is fencing the back yard. This, we decided was important, after repeatedly having to chase Isabelle and catching her right before she went into the neighbors back screen door!! Also, we would like to install hardwoods in our kitchen area, and tile in our kitchen and bathroom backsplash. I keep telling my husband that he is an engineer, there has got to be very little that he can’t figure out to do himself…am I right? I should say this list is called the “Well-it-looks-like-we-are-going-to-be-here-a-while” List. Or the “Conrad To Do List, While Pregnant Wife sits on Couch.”

Isabelle is simply LOVING being outside. She runs up and down the driveway pushing her stroller. She also jumps on and off our swing. She calls it “winging.” When she sees the swing in the morning, out the window, she starts to cry, “Wiiiinnnnng.” She’s hilarious.

Good Parenting: Lesson 1

Yesterday when I dropped Isabelle off at daycare, I stopped at the one way window to watch her for a minute on the way out. I saw one little girl, Emma, who is several months younger but about ten pounds bigger than Isabelle, take off after her. Isabelle screeched and started to run as fast as she could around the room. Emma, with a big smile on her face , chased her until she caught the traumatized Isabelle and gave her a big squeeze. I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. Isabelle then sat in a seat and Emma smooshed herself in the same seat next to her, both looking at the one way window. I think Isabelle then noticed that her mother was watching her through the window and laughing. She got a little upset at this point, but I quickly left so I wouldn’t have to see that part.