The Eisenga Escapades

our typical conversations

2012-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

Somehow, my conversations with Jeremiah during the day work themselves into including Buzz and Woody or Lightning McQueen 90% of the time. Today's conversation went like this:

Jeremiah: Mom, don't feed Grace!

Mom: Why can't I feed Grace? She is hungry.

Jeremiah: Because, Grace is broken.

Mom: Grace is broken? What happened to her?

Jeremiah: Remember yesterday we watched Toy Story 2. Andy was sad because Woody was broken.

Mom: I remember Andy was sad. But why can't I feed Grace?

Jeremiah: Because Andy fixed Woody and he was happy!

Mom: That's great! Can I feed her now?

Jeremiah: Yes Mom, you can.

Love this kid!

oh the funny things you say...

2012-01-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

I LOVE the age Jeremiah is right now. Every day he continues to learn and pick up new words that he puts into sentences that continually make us laugh. I realized I better write some of these things down so I don't forget and can share them with him when he is older. I thought I would share with you some of his latest and greatest:

- We always give Jeremiah a hug and kiss before we leave for school in the morning. Yesterday as he waved goodbye he said, "See you later, folks!"

- The first thing I ask him when I get home from school at lunchtime was, "How was your day with Corrine? What did you guys do together?" Today, after he shared with me all the things they played, he asked me, "Mom, how was your day at school?"

- Lately, he has been wanting to go into the bathroom with Corrine when she is going, and she told him that he needed to wait until she was done. Earlier this week he was crying while she was in there, and she heard him run down the hall. Soon, he was back at the bathroom door knocking and said, "Open up, Buzz and Woody have to fart!"

- Grace has surprised us with her ability (I don't know if you would call it that, but don't know what else to call it) to go a whole week without pooping. The last couple times we had to give her something to help her poop. Last week she pooped on her own, so we made a big deal about it and had a "pooping celebration" for Grace. Yesterday, Jeremiah was watching me change Grace and saw she had once again pooped on her own. Jeremiah said, "You go girl!" And after a little bit, when I wasn't getting as excited as I had last time, he said to me, "Come on, Mom, cheer on her butt!"

- Last weekend I went to a teacher conference with a few other teachers from our school and I took Grace along with me. Jeremiah and Tim had a fun boys night planned at home watching a movie together Jeremiah received as a Christmas present. When I called later that night to see how they were, Jeremiah told me on the phone they were watching his new movie, Milo and Otis. Then he said, "Dad made us hot chocolate juice! You NEVER make me hot chocolate juice!"

- There is a commercial on tv of a monkey that has a cold and looks up his symptoms online so he knows exactly what cold medicine to buy at the store. Whenever that commerical comes on tv, Jeremiah gets excited and says, "Look, that's me! I'm a monkey!" No sure where he got that, pretty sure we've never told him he is a monkey!

Jeremiah is so thrilled to have this new double stroller and be able to sit by Grace while we are out on a walk. He is a very protective, loving big brother, and I hope he always stays that way!

Thank you, Jeremiah, for the joy you are in our life!!

Christmas in Heaven

2011-12-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

I think of my dad often at Christmastime. The silly lights he had hanging in the garage, how he loved Christmas songs but hated when singers changed the tune or added lots of extra notes, putting up the tree with him as a kid, watching him clear the driveway with his famous big board that did the trick so well, his generosity in blowing all the neighbors driveways clear when he got a snow blower, his love of getting everyone that special gift from Goodwill that fit us each perfectly, his famous line "maybe we should just not open the gifts and save them for next year".... the list goes on.

I LOVE Christmastime too: putting up the tree, listening to the same Christmas Cd's over and over, the snow, shopping for everyone and finding them something they'd love.... It just makes me wonder how Dad is celebrating Christmas in Heaven, where he is with that sweet baby who was born so many years ago. This song by Sara Schieber, Christmas in Heaven, says it perfectly for me right now...

December hasn't changed
This town looks the same
They still light their tree in the city square
There's red, white, and green shining everywhere
And I wish you were here
And I wonder......

Is there snow falling down on the streets of gold
Are the mansions all covered in white
Are you singing with angels silent night
I wonder..... what Christmas in Heaven is like

There's a little manger scene
Down on Third and Main
I must've walked right by it a thousand times
But I see it now in a different light
'Cause I know you are there

And I wonder......
Are you kneeling with shepherds before him now
Can you reach out and touch his face
Are you part of that glorious holy night
I wonder..... What Christmas in Heaven is like

Once again, Dad, we will miss you this Christmas. We love you!

3 days and counting...

2011-12-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but we have a big boy on our hands and I am super excited about it! Jeremiah has been doing just great with potty training and now wears his underwear just fine throughout the day. Well, we have now gone 3 straight nights with him waking up with dry underwear in the morning! I've been putting him in diapers at night because his nights would be sporadic...one night he would wake up dry, the next completely soaked. Well as of lately he REALLY wants to wear his underwear to bed as well, which I figured was maybe a good sign. So the past three nights he has woken up during the night once crying because he has to go to the bathroom, we go, and then he wakes up dry! We are so proud of him and hope this is the start to being diaper-free all the time!!

Besides potty training, we are finishing up Movember in our house. The past couple of days Tim has been changing the look a little each day just to mix it up and have fun with it. Tonight is the final party and he has to trim his mustache the way he wants it to look. I will have to do an updated blog after tonight's party of Tim's newest look :)

Grace had her 2 month and 1 week check up and weighed in at 9 lbs 11 oz! Fun to see her growing up and filling out. She was 25th% in her weight and 20th% in height at 21 1/2 inches. Just in the past week she is starting to smile a little bit, especially soon after a feeding. Looking forward to more of those smiles! Maybe she will perfect it when we have hours in the car together over Christmas break!

To end, I'll post the video of Jeremiah cheering on the Packers. Every time a football game comes on tv, he asks if the Packers are playing and where Aaron Rodgers is. We took this video especially for Aunt Shana!

Movember

2011-11-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

What is Movember? - I am participating in MOVEMBER. Movember is the male heath awareness month during the month of November. It is similar to the breast cancer awareness month of October but for men’s health. The idea is for male participants to grow out as much facial hair as they can over the month of November and then to have a moustache at the end of the month. My friend Charlie Baker is a teacher in Zuni and organized our team called MoRez. MoRez consists of 22 people in Zuni. We are raising support for this cause and growing out our facial hair. At the end of the month we will have a team party celebrating Movember. Here is a statement from the http://us.movember.com/ about the purpose of Movember.

The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the US support prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Together, the three channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programs in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

My Story – Each of my grandfathers battled prostate cancer over a period of time while they were in their 70s. Both of them had radiation treatment and by the healing of God did fully recover from the prostate cancer they each experienced. I thank God for my Grandpa Newton Eisenga and Grandpa Gary De Boer and the Christian heritage that they passed on to my parents and to me. They each passed away of other causes later on in life and are with the Lord now. By supporting me in my Movember effort you will help raise money to help men recover from prostate cancer as each of my Grandfather’s did and also increase the research to fight this form of cancer. Thank you for your consideration to donate to Movember.

How to Donate - Our team captain Charlie is having each member of the team collect money individually before our team’s money is sent in together. If you are interested in donating to Movember please send the money to me. My address is:
Timothy Eisenga
PO Box 445
Zuni, NM 87327

If this presents a problem to you please let me know by emailing me at tim.eisenga@gmail.com . Check out my Movember page to see my pictures and learn more about Movember: http://www.movember.com/m/1776530. You can also donate to Movember through the website by clicking the link to donate at the top of my page. Then click to someone you know and type Timothy Eisenga and the money will automatically go to Movember. As you consider giving, think of the good it can do as it can help men you know in dealing with prostate cancer or other cancer’s that affect men.

Beginning of the Month

Half way there!

Our big boy

2011-10-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, this may seem weird to you as you continue to read that I am so excited to write about Jeremiah's potty training. But, we are so proud of Jeremiah's improvement, I just thought it deserved to be written about!

We have been working with Jeremiah for awhile now on potty training. This summer since we were both home and had more time to devote to it, we introduced him to his "Elmo potty" and tried getting him used to going potty in something other than his diaper. He started doing so well this summer and went backwards a little when we went to visit our families in the Midwest. This school year he has been doing well playing at home during the day with underwear on and letting us know when he has to go. Slowly but surely he was getting the hang of it. This week he has taken another step forward and we are so proud! He has now gone potty on the big potty standing up on a stool, and today also sat and went poop on the big potty! You should see how proud of himself he is when he starts to go. We also have been testing him wearing underwear outside of the house when we go on walks, someone's house for a little while, etc. and he has been doing well. We decided to test him wearing underwear to church yesterday and he stayed dry! I really think we are on the road to being fully potty trained! Now to figure out how to keep him dry during the night...

This weekend we had a friend take some pictures of our family outside in the beautiful fall colors...which I will post more later. But for now, here is a picture of my two beautiful children! (yes, not going to lie, it is still taking some adjustment saying childREN instead of just child!)

Big baba, Jeremiah

2011-10-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah is now a Baba, the Zuni word for big brother. After receiving all the attention from us and everyone here in Zuni the past two years, I'd say he is adjusting quite well to a new role. I was a little nervous how he would handle the transition and changes at home, but have been wonderfully surprised how well he has done. He is so protective of his little Ikena (little sister)!

A few examples of his love for his sister:
- Whatever we are doing with Grace, Jeremiah thinks he has to be doing the exact same thing. Grace had a duck sleeper on one of the first days at home, so Jeremiah found his duck robe (that was WAY TOO SMALL) and he had to wear that as well after his bath. The robe was even worn to bed, a little damp, just so he could be like Grace.
- Whenever Grace begins to cry, Jeremiah will run to wherever she is, get up close to her face, and say "Don't cry, Grace, be happy!"
- Diaper changing time, Jeremiah is standing on the chair by the changing table watching all the action. He brings me a new diaper and then he NEEDS to see the poop in the diaper before I wrap it up. He then is my "big helper" by throwing the diapers away in the trash.
- Often, when we wrap Grace in her blanket, Jeremiah finds his blanket, lays on the ground, and wants us to wrap him up as well.

- Jeremiah's favorite toys are Buzz and Woody, and he takes them most places we go. When Grace was sunbathing to prevent jaundice, Jeremiah wanted to lay on the ground next to her too. However, when it came time to take a picture of them together, he wanted Grace to only take a picture with Buzz and Woody - how thoughtful to share his toys!

- The staff at school threw Grace a baby shower last week, and Jeremiah was very excited to go and open presents. He brought us each present to open and was very excited when someone also bought him a new book he could read to his baby sister.

Besides learning his role as a big baba, Jeremiah continues to learn and grow and entertain us each day. His vocabulary is starting to take off as he remembers words we have said and some how surprises us with other ones. He's putting together longer sentences and lets us know when he sees or wants something. Some of the bigger or funny things he says quite frequently:
- After doing anything, such as going potty or just throwing away a diaper, he runs back into the runs and says "I did it!"
- Lately he's been praying to himself even when we are not sitting at the table or getting ready for bed. He was in the bath tub the other night and started praying and said, "Thank you, Father for Dad, thank you for Mom, thank you for Reggie, thank you for Grace, thank you for Buzz, thank you for picture, thank you for moon, in Jesus' name Amen."
- Last week Tim took him to our schools cross country meet, and since the kids start running already in 2nd grade, they often walk throughout the race. When Jeremiah saw the kids running he yelled at them, "No walk. Just run!"
- His favorite movie by far is Toy Story, and knows most of what is going to happen throughout the movie, but lately his favorite line to repeat is, "Your helmet does that whoosh thing." (while doing the actions)
- On a bike ride with Tim, he saw a horse in a field far away and said, "Look, Dad, horse way over there!"
- When he asks a question or tells us something, and Tim or I respond, he 90% of the time responds back with "Why not?" even when that doesn't make sense.
I know there are a million other ones that of course don't come to mind when I want them too (definitely should be writing more things down!) All I know is God has blessed us with two wonderful kids that both bring us great joy! :)

Thank you, Jeremiah, for being a great big baba for Grace! Looking forward to watching you grow together!

Grace Suzie

2011-10-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed there are no longer any belly shot pictures and updates on how the little one is doing inside my stomach, because on September 24 our beautiful little girl arrived! She decided it would be nice to arrive 3 1/2 weeks early and meet her family, which was ok by us! This is a short recap of the events leading up to her arrival:

Thursday night, Sept. 22 - I laid awake most of the night with different feelings in my stomach, but not painful enough to think they really were contractions. The sleepless night kept my mind racing 100 mph as I started to think about all the things I had to make sure were ready and done when the baby arrived. I got up that morning SO EXHAUSTED - no sleep and too much brain activity!

Friday daytime - I felt fine during the day, which made me think again I was just getting overexcited. I couldn't concentrate well at school as I thought about the details that needed to be finished: bag packed for hospital, arrangements made for Jeremiah while at the hospital, house and baby's room all ready, classroom ready for Ashley so it would be easy for her to take over for me while on maternity leave....the list continued.

Friday night - Heading to bed I told Tim I thought my water might have broken. I was a little cautious saying that, because it didn't seem like a ton of water so thought maybe again I was just overthinking things. However, waking up numerous times during the night to go to the bathroom it was confirmed that it must have been the water. I was able to fall asleep a couple times for awhile in between the beginning of contractions. They were inconsistent, some harder than others, some closer together. By 4 oclock, I told Tim I think it was time to head to the hospital. Living in Zuni, 45 minutes away from the hospital, I don't like to risk anything and would rather be at the hospital longer than have something happen far away! We left for the hospital at 4:45 am.

Saturday morning - It was confirmed I had started labor and proceeded to get hooked up to check heartbeats, etc. Throughout the morning the contractions again would slow down for a time, then speed up again. My shower at 9 a.m. really started to get things going I believe. I asked for a little pain medication to ease the contractions about 10 a.m., so for the next hour or so Tim thought they had again slowed down since I didn't seem in as much pain. However, they were continuing to rise and the meds were just helping a little :) 12:00 - I asked Tim to find the nurse and see if I could go to the bathroom. While in there, I told him I thought I needed to go number 2 (sorry for the details!) Those feelings, however, were the baby telling me it was time to come out. With the last 3 contractions and a few pushes for each, Grace Suzie was born at 12:13 p.m. on Saturday, September 24.

I was shocked when the dr. told me we had a girl. We had kept it a surprise on what we were having, but I felt throughout the whole pregnancy again we were having a boy. I was just expecting to hear that, so when I heard girl, I was speechless. "Tim, we had a girl!" was all I could get out at first. Arriving 3 1/2 weeks early, the dr. was surprised she did weight 5 pounds, 7.6 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. She was healthy and we were so thankful for the new gift God had entrusted to us!

We have had to bring her in to the dr. a couple times in the first week to check her billirubin level. With her weight and age, she was consistently staying in the intermediate risk category. However, since she was gaining weight and they didn't think the level was high enough, we never had to have her under the lights or a bili blanket, which we are grateful for.

We picked the name Grace already when we were pregnant with Jeremiah. We have always like the name, and of course the meaning of grace God gives to us each day that we don't deserve. We like to have some sort of family name for the middle name, and decided on Suzie for a couple reasons. Tim lived in Kenya for a year teaching his cousin Sam with his Aunt Sue, and she has always been a wonderful woman of God we can look up to. Tim's sister Melissa's middle name is also Sue. After talking with Tim's mom when Grace was born, we also found out Betty's grandma's name was Suzie, so it seemed like a God-thing we picked that for her middle name!

We are so thankful for Grace and her addition to our family. It is hard to believe I'm a mom to 2 kids already, almost too weird to wrap my brain around. But I am loving it! Jeremiah has been a fabulous big brother, but I'll write more about just him in the next blog!

36 weeks...getting closer!

2011-09-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

36 weeks and doing well! Dr. says I'm measuring at 35 weeks and could be soon but could also take the full time (doesn't tell me much!)

We decided it would be a good idea to make sure we are ready when this baby arrives. When Jeremiah came three weeks early, I didn't even have the bedding on the crib yet, since he arrived on the last day of school and I figured I had the beginning of the summer to finish those details. I am deciding not to 'figure' on anything this time, so this weekend we raised the matress on the crib again, put on the new bedding, took some things out of storage we will need for this baby, and just made sure we are more ready. We were going to use the same bedding we used with Jeremiah, but decided it would be fun to get something new and yet neutral. I now need to just make sure things are ready with Jeremiah when the baby comes so I know he is taken care of while we are at the hospital in Gallup. Then, we are ready anytime for this baby to come! :)

Whirlwind Weekend

2011-09-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Although the weekend flew by, we had a fun time showing another friend where we live, what we do, and people we work with. Tim's high school and college friend Jon came to visit for the weekend from WI. We picked him up late Friday night at the airport in Albuquerque. Saturday we spent the day showing him around Zuni, the school, hiking DY mesa, and eating at Zuni's one restaurant. Sunday we enjoyed church, a potluck, Jon and Tim went searching for elk with Chad in the afternoon, and youth group at night so he could meet some of our students. This morning the alarm rang at 4:10 am so Tim and Jon could leave for Albuquerque in time to make Jon's flight back home. Whirlwind weekend... but it was fun to have a visitor! Thanks for coming, Jon :)

Another belly photo for those interested. Talking with Tim the other day, I reminded him that Jeremiah came three weeks early, and if this baby would decide to come that early also, we are looking at only 2 weeks away! Hard to believe we really are getting that close, but looks like we better make sure we are ready on our end!! Going to church and hearing people's comments are one of my favorite parts of pregnancy. One person is convinced you are having a girl because you are carrying it low, and then you turn around and the next thinks a boy for the same reason. One person tells you, "Wow, you are really getting big!" while the next says, "I can't believe how small you are for how far along you are." Everyone says different things and are convinced they are right. I just like taking in all the ideas and using it to get excited for this little one's arrival!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend! We were going to camp a night at a friend's land, but decided since Jeremiah had a little cough we would skip the sleeping outdoors and just spend the whole day outside. We arrived early in the morning so we could have three meals to make the day seem long :) The Newell's have two boys, James (3) and Sam (2) so it was nice for Jeremiah to spend the day playing with some boys his age. Besides a few disagreements on who got to play with which truck at the beginning, they did well playing together.

Besides just relaxing and getting away from Zuni for the day, the Newell's are building a hogan on the property, so Tim and a few other guys helped Andy fill earth bags with dirt/cement for another layer around the house. It was a neat process to watch and will be a neat house when they are complete! Jeremiah even got his hands dirty and helped too - his little scoopful of dirt was VERY helpful I'm sure!

Games of beanbags, playing in the dirt, a nice hike, and then butchering and cooking 3 ducks for supper completed the day. Pretty sure I wouldn't need to kill ducks again to eat, but it was an experience to try once. The rest of the weekend we've spent at home relaxing and playing with Jeremiah. His newest love is trying to climb up and ride on Reggie. Today he even would throw his blanket on top first acting as his saddle and then see how far he could get without falling off. Quite the imagination!

My dr. appointment went well this week, showing a healthy, growing baby and mommy! I am 34 weeks and measured 31.5 weeks last Thursday, so we're moving right along! This baby seems to give less 'kicks' than Jeremiah did, but just prefers to move around and keep some body part resting up against my tummy that I can feel quite frequently. I guess he/she is just letting me know they are in there!

This past week was a hard week also, however, as we have reached 2 years since my dad passed away. Some days it feels like a lot longer than that while others feel like it was just yesterday. My mom suggested all of us write down special memories we remember having with dad, things we admired about him, ways we are/aren't like him, etc. All my brothers got together with my mom on the 2nd to read what they had written while Tim and I just read them together at night. It was special remembering dad in so many fun ways, the silly things he did, the wonderful lessons we learned from him, and hearing ways my siblings are like my dad. I still can't say that time has healed all hurt, or that I truly understand his death or timing. But I am learning more each day God's goodness and that His purposes are great and beyond my understanding at times. Although my dad is daily and forever will be missed, he was a great man that I will talk about with Jeremiah and other kids someday so they know too why God thought he was so special to take him to his Heavenly home early. Love you, Dad.

Zuni Fair Weekend

2011-08-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

We had the annual Zuni fair this weekend which always makes the weekend fly by but is very fun. Friday night we went to the Zuni vs. Ramah football game, the only game we go to during the year. Many of Tim's graduated students attend one of those two schools and play for the team, so it is fun to actually watch and cheer for people we know.

Saturday was a very busy day! Tim was out the door already a little after 6:00 am to get ready for a half-marathon race in Zuni. Jeremiah and I decided to make sure we were there to cheer Tim on for the finish, so we could sleep in at least a little longer than him! Tim finished the race in first place! After the race, we went straight to the softball diamonds for our end-of-the-year softball tournament. We were out at the diamonds all afternoon cheering Tim on. In between a couple of games we hit up the parade. Jeremiah loved seeing all the fire trucks and floats, as well as the candy they threw to him. Only in Zuni will you get thrown a shower cap off of a float! That night, after a day in the hot sun, we were ready for some good food from one of the local vendors from the fair and then a night to relax watching a movie.

Sunday started just as busy. After church and praise team, we went straight back to the diamonds for the rest of the tournament. Although disappointed by a 1-point loss to finish 4th place, we were happy to get out of the sun!

I am now 33 weeks along and feeling fine! I have an appointment this week again so we'll see how I measure up. Now that I have to go every 2 weeks for my appointment, I feel like the time is flying by! Before I know it, the baby will be here! One of my students asked me when the due date was and asked what I would do if the baby was born on Halloween. Since the due date is Oct. 19, I told them I would probably cry if the baby was born on Halloween because then he/she would be almost 2 weeks late! They had only one request for me from this pregnancy: please don't go into labor while you are teaching us, just wait until you get home :)

32 weeks

2011-08-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

First real week of school this week which we are pretty excited for. Time to start getting into the normal schedules and normal teaching again for the year ahead. Today it warmed up quite quickly here and my classroom was very warm after morning recess. I was walking around during Math checking that all the students were writing in their notebook the problem on the board and I got a little dizzy and needed to stop for a bit and hold on to a chair. One student said, "Maybe you should sit down. No wait, I think you need to take a little time off." I said, "I plan on taking many weeks off in a couple of months, that good enough for you?" She was quite satisfied with the answer while another student said, "Why you are taking time off?" All I have to do it point to the ever-growing belly and he finally understood.

Another funny student story for the week. One of the boys in my class was here for the first time today because he was out of town last week. As we are walking int o the classroom together, he says, "Mrs. E, I brought you an orange." I said, "Wow, that was really nice of you, thanks!" He kindly replied, "Yeah, I figured if I brought you the orange you wouldn't want to steal my breakfast burrito!!!"

Every meal we eat together at the table we say a prayers first and then have Jeremiah repeat the same prayer that I learned as a kid:
God is great
God is good
Thank you Father for this food
In Jesus' name, Amen.
However, lately, when we ask if he wants mom or dad to pray first, he says, "No, Jeremiah pray." So we let him pray and he always begins by folding his hands, squeezing his eyes closed and saying, "Thank you, Father..." and then he trails off and just waits for us to add something else in for him to finish. Same thing every night, and now starting to be the same routine before bed, but each time it just warms my heart. I love hearing him pray in his simple way to his Father and be proud to say the prayer. Gotta love the little moments in the day that bring a smile to my face! :)

4 years

2011-08-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here is our latest annual anniversary picture. I have a photo album that I am putting only our anniversary pictures in each year to see how we and life have changed for us over the years. Hard to believe Tim and I have been married 4 years already. To some that may seem like a small number, but it makes me realize how long I have been out of college and that seems so unreal! Seems almost unreal we have a little boy over 2 and another one on the way. My how life continues to roll on! :)

We watched our wedding video the other night on our anniversary...what a fun way to remember the special moments of our wedding day: the many friends and family who came to help us celebrate, my dad walking me down the aisle, our family joining hands up front to sing "My Friends May you Grow in Grace" before the ceremony was over, my dad's poem and the hilarious jokes Uncle Den and Uncle Orv said at th
reception... it was a great day.

So many things have happened already in these 4 years of marriage, here are just a few of the bigger things to get the list started:
- first, before the marriage the many emails Tim and I sent back and forth while he was in Africa to plan the wedding
- traveling to Fl before the wedding to start school and find a place to live, then travel back to SD to get married
- honeymoon in TN on our way back to FL in a beautiful cabin in the woods
- 1st year teaching in FL (2nd for Tim) and getting to know some wonderful friends
- my parents visiting us on our spring break which was my dad's first airplane ride in his life and doing so many fun touristy things with them
- road trip back to the midwest in the summer and then moving to Zuni, NM
- getting to know a new place, culture, school, church, friends in Zuni...and still learning but loving it
- surprising our families at Christmas that we were expecting #1
- Jeremiah Newton Eisenga born on May 23, 2009
- both my parents and Tim's parents visiting us after Jeremiah was born
- horrible news my dad had died and traveling back for his funeral Sept. 2, 2009...but very thankful he was able to meet his "Figgy"
- Spring breaks in Sedona and Mesa AZ as well as the Grand Canyon with Lindsey and Matt
- fabulous Christmas and summer vacations back to visit family
- watching Jeremiah grow and learn
- announcing baby #2 on the way in Oct. 2011
- finishing my teaching classes and officially getting a teaching license

I mean, really the list could go on and on...and with every memory I remember how good God is and the wonderful family and friends he has blessed us with. I hope and pray God continues to guide and love us as we hopefully add many more years of marriage to our current total of 4. Life will become very different for us again in a few short months with number 2's arrival! As much as I love and cherish the stage we are in right now, I am looking forward to the changes....

31 weeks

2011-08-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

So the latest dr. appointment has me measuring right on at 31 weeks so seems like things are moving along just right! We started school today and some of our old students go right back to their old ways when I was pregnant with Jeremiah and touch my stomach. I'm ok with it as long as they are :)

Funny story from today at school. We always start our first day of school with an assembly in which all the teachers are introduced. We always try to come up with some way to do it that is fun rather than just saying who we are and what grade we teach. This year we decided that everyone had to bring in something that they either did or gained this summer. One of the teachers showed all the items to the students, and then we had student volunteers come up and place some of the items with which teacher they think they fit with. The only thing I could really think of that I 'gained' this summer was pounds, so I decided to give the kids an easy one and bring a pair of maternity pants. I figured mine would be the easiest. Tim brought our hiking carrier since we did a lot of hiking this summer, another teacher brought a picture of a new car he bought, another a large pinecone they picked in Yosemite, etc. So the students start handing items to the 'appropriate' teacher, and my maternity pants was given to our administrative officer Alex! He just started to laugh, which I was laughing so hard I started to cry. Eventually someone came and took them from him and gave them to Tim instead before they ended up in my hands! I was shocked...it seemed that the kids have no idea what maternity clothes are. When they finally came to me, I said, "In case you have never seen anything like these before, these are called maternity pants. Only PREGNANT people wear them." The kids all thought it was really funny then that they have given the pants to a man!

My Big Boys

2011-08-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

We finished Jeremiah's bedroom this week now. We decided not to paint his new room since we may move out of this house when the new houses are built for the school, so decided a new bedspread and stickers on the wall would be just fine. It turned out really cute! Jeremiah loves seeing the trucks outside everyday and now gets to sleep on them too!

This week we also celebrated Tim's 27th birthday. I am so thankful for Tim and the wonderful man God created and continues to form him to be. He is a great husband and a fabulous father and we are grateful for everything he does for us! Love you, Tim! We celebrated with some friends the beginning of school as well as both Tim and Charlie's birthday on the 9th.

My updated belly shot for those of you patiently waiting. I'm 30 weeks and doing well!

Silly story about Jeremiah and the baby. If we ask Jeremiah where the baby is, he always picks up my shirt and points at my stomach. He gets the idea there is a baby in there. Lately I've been having him talk to the baby. The other day I told him to repeat what I said to the baby, such as: "Hi baby. I'm Jeremiah. I'm your big brother. I love you. I can't wait to play with you." He had fun talking to the baby. Then, we were both quiet for a bit, and he all of a sudden looked at my with that look in his eye like "I have something else to say to the baby". He looked down at my stomach and said, "You like pizza too?" It was so funny...he was very curious whether the baby was a pizza fan like him! :)

the end of summer

2011-08-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, after many miles on the road and beautiful places seen, our summer travels have come to a close. Although I enjoyed every minute of visiting friends and family, it does kind of feel nice to be back into the normal swing of things and falling back into a some-what normal routine. However, our last trip to California was fabulous with many wonderful memories and places visited.

We started our drive heading to Modesto, CA to visit my Uncle John and Aunt Marge. I hadn't been there in 9+ years and Tim had never been there, so I was excited to spend a little time with them and their family. Tuesday we spent the day hiking at Yosemite which was beautiful! With a large amount of snow and rain, the waterfalls were gorgeous! A well-worth-it trip if you've never been there!

Besides Yosemite, we spent the few days visiting with cousins and exploring the dairy. Jeremiah loved seeing all the cats, cows, and 'baby cows' and even witnessing a couple calves being born. Thanks for the fun trip and wonderful hospitality!

After Modesto we headed to Folsom for Josh and Sarah's wedding as well as spending some time with Tim's relatives. The wedding was beautiful, and before the ceremony Tim and his relatives took on the American River and did some rafting. They had such a fun time! Since Jeremiah is too young and I'm probably too pregnant, Jeremiah and I spent the morning at the zoo instead.

Before finishing up our travels in CA we went with Tim's parents to Lake Tahoe and camped in Emerald Bay. Another display of God's handiwork in creation! Camping went great and we were able to take in a few hikes with Tim's aunts and uncles as well. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous entering the campground when the ranger asked us, "Have you ever camped in bear territory before?" But our wishes did come true: we didn't have any problems with bears ourselves but were able to see a bear quite close (in our neighbor's campsite!)

All in all, our trip to CA was wonderful and we were able to do so many fun things outdoors. Now, we are back home, our mountain of laundry from the trip is washed and put away, and we are spending these last few days of summer enjoying our time as a family. Next week we will get back into our classrooms to get them ready for the students to arrive and start school on the 17th.

Jeremiah continues to amaze and entertain us each day with the new things he can say and do. His latest accomplishment is sleeping in a "big boy bed". Seeing the trucks and construction work outside our window every day, we thought a new comforter with trucks would be just the thing. He's adjusted quite well to the change and now we can focus on making his old room into the new baby room once again. I'm nearing 30 weeks, feeling good, and hoping the beginning of school goes well as I continue to grow :)

Summer Vacation to the Midwest

2011-07-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

We’ve had an eventful couple of weeks visiting family and friends in SD and WI! We spent a week with each of our families and were able to do so many fun things. Here are a few of our highlights:
SD:
- girls (and the 2 babies) afternoon out to lunch and watching a movie at mom’s
- Tim took Jeremiah and Boston to the spray park
- Grill out at Derek and Jamie’s
- Hamburgers and swimming at Jeff and G’s
- Supper with Matt and Lindsey and time to catch up
- Setting up for the wedding, rehearsal, and rehearsal supper at mom’s
- Jeff and G’s wedding! What a fun day to celebrate their new life together! Tim and I were both attendants, we sang two songs during the ceremony, and poured punch at the reception
- Gift opening at Jeff and G's and then swimming and Cherry Berry (yummy!)
- Wild Water West with everyone Monday and Pizza Ranch

WI:
- Play day and swimming at Randolph pool with Melissa, Carson, Kaelyn, and Kenzie
- Early 4th of July party at Randy and Rose’s house with a fireworks show!
- Lunch at Green Lake with many Eisenga relatives
- Grill out with Tim’s friends at Green Lake and Frisbee golf
- 2 ½ days at the condo at Northern Bay Resort with all our family. We spent a day at the lake, many times swimming in the pool, morning at the park, great meals, and a fun late birthday party for Jeremiah. What a great few days!

It was so fun to see Jeremiah interact with all his cousins again and see them grow up together. We had many discussions with all the kids about needing to share toys, but with that many kids together they played really well together! Reggie came along and spent a lot of time outside since many of the kids were a little afraid of him at first. However, most became fairly comfortable petting him towards the end, so I’d say that it was a success.

We head to CA tomorrow to spend some time with my Aunt Marge and Uncle John, celebrating with Tim's cousin Sarah and Jason as they get married, and spending a few days camping in Lake Tahoe with Tim’s parents. It will be another great week of vacation before school begins again!

And for a quick baby update: I’m now nearing 27 weeks along and feeling good. I had an ultrasound this week and the baby looks good and is growing right on schedule. The placenta previa, which we discovered at an ultrasound many weeks ago, has seemed to move to its correct place and the dr. was sure things were good and I could expect to have a regular delivery (praise God!)

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, Timothy! It was hard for me to imagine that I could ever love him more now than I did the day I married him, but I certainly do! Seeing him play, interact with, and teach Jeremiah, watching him lead his students in a godly example even when they can be most difficult, showing compassion to many in Zuni that probably have seen little from others, sharing his faith with everyone he comes in contact with even when they don't necessarily want to hear it or maybe even understand....I could go on. Daily I am reminded of how blessed I am to be his wife, and I pray that I never take him for granted. Thank you, Tim, for everything you do for us! Jeremiah and I love you!

I let Jeremiah pick out his own card for Tim for Father's Day, and without surprise he found a Lightning McQueen Father's Day card to give to him. He held that card so tightly around the store and had a hard time giving it up to even pay for it. He ran that card to Tim today and after he opened it Jeremiah has played with the card the rest of the day. I tried working on "Happy Father's Day" with Jeremiah so he could say it to Tim this morning. It usually, however, came out as "Happy Birthday". He did end up saying "Happy Dad's Day" to Tim today, so I would call that a success!
This picture had to include Reggie today because it is his 2nd birthday! We bought him a new toy to play with, sang Happy Birthday to him, and gave him a ham bone to chew on we had been saving for this very day. I'd say it was a happy birthday for him as well!

As for me, I just continue to get bigger. I'm about 23 weeks now and enjoying every moment. I'm thankful the dr. has for the time being given me more clearance to do activity again. It is so nice to be able to go on walks or bike rides with Jeremiah again after feeling like a bump on a log for so many weeks. With less than a week before we head to the Midwest for fun family vacations, I just pray my bladder doesn't become too much of an annoyance and makes us have to stop more than we are used to during long trips.

I have a long to-do list to get done this week of little odds and ends I want to accomplish this summer, but the last thing on the list is for Friday after Tim is finished with his last day of summer school: Eat lunch and get on the road by no later than 1 pm! Looking forward to some great family times ahead!!

Swollen Eye

2011-06-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

It is safe to say Jeremiah is back on the mend and we can finally see both of those beautiful blue eyes again! Thank goodness! He gave us a little scare this week. Saturday night we had a cookout with some friends where Jeremiah got two bug bites by his right eye. We didn't see the bugs, but assume it was probably a gnat or a mosquito. Sunday morning he woke up and the bites had little bumps around them, definitely noticable enough that everyone at church asked what happened to him. After he woke up from his nap Sunday afternoon, underneath his eye was now swollen. It just kept getting worse! We gave him some benedryl and prayed Monday morning it would look better. Monday morning report: WORSE! Not only was it swollen underneath, but it was now on the top of the eye as well, covering a large portion of the eye. We decided we needed to take him in, fearing the worst in our heads that he might lose vision or something in that eye! The dr. report came back with a bad allergic reaction to the bites, with little chance that it was infected as well. After some medication and careful watch, we are now a couple days in and it is looking almost back to normal. I certainly hope this isn't the normal reaction he gets to bug bites from now on!

I am now into week 21 and feeling fine. Baby tends to move around most when I'm sitting eating and when I'm lying in bed. I feel like the baby is sitting lower than Jeremiah ever did, because I can't wear everything that I could when pregnant with Jeremiah. Oh well - comes with the territory I guess!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jeremiah!

2011-05-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe our little boy is already 2 years old! Time truly flies when you are having fun! Jeremiah currently is really into: Woody and Buzz, Lightning McQueen, and Elmo, so after searching online for what looked like the easiest cake ideas to make without having to buy the fancy cake pans, we chose an Elmo birthday theme. Jeremiah loved his cakes and the Elmo signs hanging around the house. We invited some friends from church and school over for a small birthday party and had such a fun time. Although watching him eat his cake on his 1st birthday was a little more fun than this one, we enjoyed watching him open gifts and interact with people more on this birthday. He is developing a fun, outgoing personality that really enjoys interacting with people. Here are a few pictures from his birthday:

The birthday boy with his two Elmo cakes

Jeremiah and his friend Mekai playing "hide the car" after the party

We woke Jeremiah up on his birthday before school to eat a special breakfast together

Enjoying strawberry smoothies and waffles!

Good night, birthday boy! We love you!

Since he loves watching the trucks at the school, we thought a ride on truck was a good idea for our gift to him to play with outside

Besides celebrating Jeremiah turning 2, we can officially now say we are on summer break! School ended last Friday with a big annual water fight, so we enjoyed watching the kids (and Tim!) soak each other before saying goodbye for the summer.

If you remember me saying in the last post I was asked to be the 8th grade graduation speaker, I can now say it went alright, although I was really nervous to speak in front of all the parents and grandparents! Since this graduating class was the first 6th grade class I had when we moved to Zuni, I began talking about funny memories I had of the class, which eased the tension and began things off alright. However, I am very glad that it's over and would not be offended if I wasn't asked to be the speaker again for a long time!

Now that summer has started, we are enjoying extra play time with Jeremiah, deep house cleaning, classroom cleaning, Tim preparing for teaching a 2-week summer school on National Parks, dental and eye appointments, and preparations for visiting friends and family this summer. Its going to be a great summer!

And I guess, since I am now in my 20th week, I should post the wanted "belly picture" some of you have been asking for. I definitely feel bigger with this baby than I did with Jeremiah, but have been feeling well with relatively no complaints and have really started to feel the baby move which really starts to make it fun!

I hope everyone enjoys their summer, because I know we will!

Happy Spring!

2011-05-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

Minus the crazy wind here in the Southwest lately, I am thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather! Along with the weather, there are wonderful things happening around here that it's about time I write about again (Yes, Shana, I know I am horrible at keeping my blog updated! I will try and be better!)

First, the picture below is the latest family picture we took while my mom was here for a week long visit. What a fun time to spend the week with her again! The definite best part of the trip was surprising her with the news that we are expecting baby #2 in October. She was shocked, and it was fun to tell her the news in person!

Jeremiah had such a fun week playing with Hotda every morning while we were teaching at school. They played cars, read numerous books, took a few trips to the park, and just got reacquainted! Since we hadn't seen her since Christmas, I was afraid he wouldn't recognize her in person. However, saying good night to her and the other grandparent's pictures every night must have worked, because he ran up to her in the airport and said, "Hotda!" Pretty sure it made my mom's day! He will be very excited to see her again this summer in a few short months!

For other exciting news, I can finally say that I see some definite progress in our school's building project. For the past couple of weeks the crew has been preparing the dirt. Turning and watering, bringing in about 300 truck loads of fresh dirt, packing it down, and now finalizing by smoothing it out. It has been so exciting to watch the progress at home and with our students so they can actually envision a new school in the future!(despite the fact that my classroom is right next to all this commotion and our classroom is constantly vibrating while they are working!

Jeremiah LOVES watching the trucks and has a perfect view of the work on a chair from our living room window. Tim has brought him to the trucks at night, and he is trilled to sit in the seat and move the wheel like a real worker! Other than the big trucks, he is really starting to talk our ear off and we are loving it! He loves to read books, say animal sounds, repeat what we say, copy our singing, and learn new things every day. I loved Jeremiah as a baby, but as he gets older, he gets more and more fun every day!

As school comes to a near end for the year (HOORAY!) I am happy to announce that I have finished my 3 years of taking night classes to earn an official teaching license! Sure feels good to be all finished with that! Tim is busy getting his 8th grade class ready for graduation and also training for a triathlon at the beginning of June. I, with some serious doubts, accepted to be the 8th grade graduation speaker, so I guess I better get going on a good (and not embarrassing! speech! And did I mention to add to the exciting news that I will have another sister-in-law this summer? Jeff and G are getting married in July!

Happy Spring everyone! Only about 1 1/2 months until our summer travels to visit family - can't wait!!

best sound in the world

2011-02-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

To go completely opposite of a previous blog post in which I described the worst smell in the world, I have come to realize what the best sound in the world is...a child laughing! Either from students at the school or Jeremiah's giggles, I can't get enough of that sound. Hard not to smile from ear to ear when you hear it. Last night Tim and Jeremiah were playing soccer in the living room. Tim would pretend to miss the ball and fall over, which Jeremiah thought was the best thing in the world, and he would fall too just giggling away. Nothing beats a night at home like that!...

copy cat

2011-02-25T18:06:00.000-08:00

Jeremiah is definitely in the stage of trying to repeat what we say and do. He is picking up on so many new words after much practice and "can you say...". We are working on the names of his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins especially. Here is a video of his showing his love for his aunties!

Worst smell in the world!

2011-01-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

I heard Jeremiah crying at 2:30 last night. I got out of bed to listen for him again and check if he was alright. I opened his bedroom door and BOOM!...the worst smell in the world! I believe he had coughed too hard for some reason and had thrown up in his bed. That smell (especially when it is unexpected) is awful! I felt so bad for him, having to change all his clothes and bedding during the middle of the night when he just wanted to go back to sleep.

As not wonderful of a night as it was, I was able to use it as an example during school today. I had taught a Bible lesson on Joseph's dreams and have given my students an assignment of pretending they were either Joseph or one of his brother's and writing a journal entry about their day. One of my boy students said, "I don't want to do this right now." I shared with him, "Sometimes we have to do things in life we don't always want to do. I didn't want to get up at 2:30 this morning, clean up throw up, and then lie awake the rest of the night...yet I had to for Jeremiah as his mom."

On a lighter note...we had a wonderful Christmas break spending lots of time with family and friends. Jeremiah loved spending time with his grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins. It was so fun to watch him interact with his cousins. Can't wait to see them grow up together! Jeremiah is trying to say more words, although they still often come out as "mama or dada". He is always on the go, and has made me realize that bringing him along to Tim's basketball games of his kids is not the best idea at this age!

Have a wonderful new year!

Christmas checklist

2010-12-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

A few things I need to do before I am able to take off for Christmas vacation...

1. Help Tim and other men from church chop wood ... check! (and yes, I even successfully ran a chainsaw without chopping off my leg! here's the picture to prove it!)

2. Address Christmas cards ... check!
3. Buy gifts online ... check!
4. Ship gifts ... check!
5. Go to Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Tim's class tomorrow since they just read the book and see my first 3D movie ... yah!
6. Trim Jeremiah, Tim, and Chad's hair ... in progress until tomorrow
7. Grade papers, tests, and prepare report cards ... in progress until Thursday
8. Pack ... in progress all week
9. Practice family names with Jeremiah ... in progress probably for a lot time yet!
10. Get in the car and go ... Friday, 12:00 noon ... can't wait!!

See you soon!

Life....

2010-11-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I find the time to sit back and think about life, I am left with so many wonderful thoughts and yet millions of questions.
I think about the perfect boy God has blessed Tim and I with: Jeremiah's smile, his ever-growing personality, the proof of his love and concern for us, his ability to learn and develop new words and abilities, his love for being around people...
I think about the wonderful husband God gave me over 3 years ago: his ability to make me laugh, his love for Jeremiah and desire to see him happy, his passion for Christ, his often tough-love for his students as he deals with middle school issues every day while still upholding care and concern for each one....
I think about my wonderful family: 2 brothers expecting a baby in March, 5 nieces and nephews that are so adorable, parents who constantly pray for us and the ministry in Zuni...
AND YET, recently I have been left with so many questions about life that often leave me hurting deeply inside: why do so many of our students experience such hurt and pain from their home lives? why are addictions so powerful here in Zuni that just tear families apart? why is the pain of losing my dad over a year ago still so real and painful? why is it God's right timing to take our child before we even had the chance to meet them? why must a young man lose his life so undeserving and leave his family with so many questions and pain? Although I don't know the answers, I know it leaves me clinging to God and His promises and relying on His strength daily. Please help pray with me for a few things:

This week we heard the terrible news that a friend of ours in Zuni who played on our softball team in the summer was murdered. We don't know many answers to what happened, although an investigation is still underway. The funeral is Monday, and what a sad time when you know his death doesn't seem fair. Please help us pray for strength for his family...

Last week Tim and I heard the news that I had a miscarriage after being 13 weeks along. Although not having felt the baby move yet or seen him or her in person, it has been such a hard loss to deal with. We loved that baby so much already, talked about our plans and future, and all of a sudden it was just over. I keep hearing that is was God's plan and His timing, which I know. I realize things like his happen because of sin, which frustrates me. Yet, I am left thanking God for Jeremiah and pray someday he will have a brother or sister to love, play with, and teach the ways of life he is currently learning...

On a happier note, Tim's parents were able to visit us for a week a couple of weeks ago and we had such a wonderful time with them. A few days we had school during their visit, so they stayed home and watched Jeremiah while I taught in the morning. Jeremiah loved his time with Grandma and Grandpa as they spent a lot of time running around playing at the school's playground. Tim and I had a teacher conference to attend in Albuquerque while they were here, so they came with us and spent the morning at the zoo with Jeremiah. They said they saw so many grandparents with their grandchildren, all pushing empty strollers while the children were all running around! Jeremiah loved the animals, walked around most of the day at the zoo holding their hands, and waved goodbye when he left each animal. What fun memories!

After the conference, we spent a night camping near Alb., took a beautiful fall hike in the Sandia’s, and then prepared for Tim's first big half-marathon race! We planned out the route we could cheer for Tim during the race and get to as many places as possible. Although we thought we would have more time to wait for him during the racec, every time we got out of the car and made our way to the path, Tim ran by shortly after...it worked out great! Tim did so well, all the training he had done with Reggie paid off! Out of 1300 runners, Tim got 2nd place!!! He was hoping to run around 1 hour 20 min, and finished in 1 hour 13 minutes, even better than expected! It was so fun to watch him run, and when he would be approaching us I would point at him to Jeremiah and he would smile and say "dada!"

We are anticipating this week to have a Thanksgiving potluck at church Sunday, Jeremiah's babysitter making profession of faith in church Thanksgiving Day, a small Thanksgiving break from school, and then getting ready for a 2 week trip to the Midwest for Christmas! We are planning to set up the tree this Wed. when we get out of school, but maybe I can convince Tim to do it tonight!

Great observation??

2010-10-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wonder if our students are spending so much energy on non-important things and not enough on the learning we are trying to teach them? Example: Tim went to school the other day with a nice navy blue shirt on with a few small white stripes. He comes home from school and said a couple students told him this, "You look different today without a collared shirt on." The statement was true I believe...he usually wears a polo or button-down shirt to school, and this was probably the first day he wore a shirt without a collar. Would everyone notice that, or just very-observant students? I don't know, just a question, but thought it was pretty funny.

2010-10-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a few months since we have written a blog. Chelsea has written the blogs in the past, but she has been busy with her classes over the past few months along with the other responsibilities as a teacher, mother, and wife. It is her last year of classes to get her official New Mexico Teaching Degree. Her classes have always demanded a lot of work. Being the last year that means even more work as she has to put together a portfolio.

We had a great summer! We were able to visit our families and many relatives during July and early August. We went to Michigan 1st for the wedding of David Klein and Karissa Phelps (Chelsea’s college roommate.) We saw many college friends and stayed with some friends who lived in Zuni our first year. Then we went to Wisconsin. All of my family was home at the same time. We all went to a condo together at a resort which was lots of fun. There was lots of fun things to do: swimming in the pool, swimming in the lake, watching golf and sprinklers from the deck, tennis, grilling, and spending time together. Jeremiah had lots of fun playing with his cousins, being with aunts and uncles, and getting spoiled by grandparents (just kidding ). After a week in Wisconsinit was on to Sioux Falls. We had a fun night at each of Chelsea’s brother’s houses with special activities planned. We had opportunities to take Jeremiah swimming many times which he really enjoyed as well as visiting and feeding the fish and geese!

The school year started shortly after we arrived back to our home. The building project is still not quite fully in progress, but it continues to get closer all the time. The plan for major construction is to begin at the beginning of November. This summer the portable classrooms were moved to their positions so that they are not in the way for the new building. I guess a building project is another lesson in patience. We are praying that the major beginning will happen in early November and that the project can continue moving smoothly. As far as school, each of us have pretty full classrooms of 18. This includes about 5 new students to our school in each of our classes. Each of us have had some ups and downs as is typical teaching 5th – 8th grade students. My class especially enjoyed making some potato race cars as a highlight to learning about motion, speed, and acceleration. Chelsea’s class really enjoyed a computer presentation project on favorite family recipes of the students. Jeremiah enjoys spending the mornings with his babysitter, Corrine, who still comes to our house to watch him. He continues to bring us joy every day and is starting to say more and more words.

The beginning of Sept. also brought the 1st year death anniversary of Chelsea's dad. Although it was a very difficult day and week, we were thankful to be reminded of many great memories of him as well as many important things he taught us. Of course each day he will be greatly missed. But, we are daily reminded to be thankful for the little moments and memories, as we never know when God's timing will be.

We are anticipating the arrival of my parents, Jim and Betty, in 10 days. They will be able to watch Jeremiah during our school days. We have a long weekend while they are here and plan to see some pretty fall colors and do some things in Albuquerque. Among those things, I am going to run in my first half marathon. The past few years I have been able to run pretty consistently in the summer time. Once the school year begins it becomes more difficult for me to consistently run. However, this year with the plan for this half marathon, I have been able to increase my running even with school. I am excited to run in this half marathon. I have gotten into pretty good shape, but I do not know what my body will do on the 2nd half of the race since I have never raced that far. But it will be a fun experience no matter what running along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

We can always hope that this blog post will help us stay on track and keep this thing updated....but we'll have to see! :)

celebrating!!

2010-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Father's Day, Tim!! The older Jeremiah gets, the more I enjoy watching Jeremiah and Tim interact. I love seeing Jeremiah light up when Tim comes home. I love hearing him say "da-da" and giggle when Tim tickles him. I love watching Tim read books to Jeremiah and play toys with him. I look forward to watching them continue to grow and bond together. Most importantly, I am thankful for Tim's leadership in our family and teaching Jeremiah about God's love for him. I pray someday soon Jeremiah will know Jesus and continue to learn from his dad. I appreciate Tim so much, more each day, and want him to know how much he is loved! You may notice the bright yellow cast on Tim's arm in his Father's Day picture. Needing to have a cast on for at least 3 weeks, Tim chose his favorite color, yellow, for the cast. Quite bright!!

Although this Father's Day was a day to celebrate Tim, it was also another 'first' for our family. This was the first Father's Day that my dad was celebrating with his Father in heaven. It was another hard day without my dad, without the opportunity to tell him how much I appreciate him and all he does for us, to tell him how much I love him, to thank him for his kind and servant-like personality. A typical Father's Day growing up consisted of dad grilling something for dinner after church, opening his gifts (something thoughtful from me, something golf-related from my brothers), and then games usually outside. My dad would never take credit for what he did, and did everything selflessly. Although I know he was having a great day celebrating with our heavenly father, he was definitely missed.

Our last celebration lately was celebrating Reggie's 1st birthday on June 19. This past Monday we headed as a family to do hiking. We went first to El Calderon, which is a trail taking you past lava tubes and caves. It was a beautiful hike we had not done yet.

The last hike we did was hiking to the top of Mt. Taylor in Grants. Last year Tim took part in the Quad on Mt. Taylor and did the biking portion, but otherwise we have not been up to the peak. Reggie always enjoys the hikes, and usually stays about 15 meters ahead of us and leads the trail for us. He stops occasionally in a shaded area to make sure we are following closely behind. Although quite windy at the top, we made it and had a great time together! Jeremiah does really well on the hike and slept most of the ride back down from the peak. I think it is safe to say Reggie had a great 1st birthday :) Aren't my two 1 year old boys cute together?

Jeremiah is walking! (well, pretty much!)

2010-06-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah is SO CLOSE to walking all the time. He usually tries to walk from the beginning, but then if he falls he continues to his destination by crawling. It's so fun to watch him grow and learn from his mistakes, and his excitement in his own walking. He is so proud of himself...its so cute!

Jeremiah has always loved watching and playing with Reggie, and even more now that he can walk to him. Here is a video of them playing with a ball together :)

On a little sadder note, Tim found out last week that he not only got a cut and needed stitches after he fell at a basketball tournament, but he also broke a bone in his wrist. He is getting his cast on (finally!) on Friday, and then he will find out how bad it is, how long it needs to be on, etc. His wrist has never really given him a lot of pain, which is why the nurse did not x-ray it on the day he got his stitches. He is very hopeful he won't need to have his cast on very long, but we'll see what the dr. finally says on Friday.

Patty Cake

2010-06-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah loved the road trip we took while his Hotda was visiting us, mainly due to the fact that he convinced her to continually sing Patty Cake for him over and over again. Thought you'd like to enjoy it as well, because Jeremiah certainly did!

1st birthday, Hotda's visit, and stitches

2010-06-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is one! So hard to believe a whole year has passed since that last day of school last year when we spent it not handing out awards to our students or participating in the school water fight, but sitting in a hospital room watching the NBA playoffs having contractions :) That day changed our lives for the better, and we are so thankful for Jeremiah and all he brings to us.

We had such a fun time at his 1st birthday! We were so excited Jeremiah's Hotda could help him celebrate the big day! Baking his cake was a blast,and we were quite excited about how it turned out! Jeremiah's Papa had given him the nickname Bullfrog because of the song "Jeremiah was a bullfrog...", so we thought a frog cake would only be appropriate! Many of our friends from school and church came to help us celebrate, and the day was memorable. He wasn't so sure about the sweet icing at first, but after a little time, he devoured the whole piece :)

Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Jeremiah - he loved it!

We had a fabulous time with mom here visiting, so thankful for the time she could be here, although it flew by too quickly! We did so many things while she was here - we even got her to sleep in a tent camping for the first time in 35 years! She claims she even slept all through the night, so I'd say the camping was a success :) We went on a beautiful scenic drive in southern NM and found a few great hikes to enjoy.

While Hotda was here, Jeremiah hit another milestone - he took a few steps on his own! The most he's done so far is about 10-12, but he is getting steadier on his feet and starting to take a few on his own without us encouraging him to come to us. Oh my goodness, I have never been more excited than when he took those first steps! Jeremiah also has enjoyed a Christmas gift we got - a bike seat! Although he does not enjoy the helmet, he sits in the chair, just holding on to the bar in front of him enjoying the ride! I might be a little biased, but I certainly think he looks cute in his helmet!

Now, I mentioned in the title stitches. Tim played in a basketball tournament today on the playground at our school. Because he gives his best at everything he does, he was hustling back on defense to make a play and had a little accident with the pole - making a gash in his chin and a sprain in his wrist. After 2 stitches in the chin and a little ice on his wrist, he finished the tournament and helped his team to a first place finish. What a man :)

It's summertime and we are loving it! Tim starts a 2 week summer school on Monday at our school with one other teacher and is looking forward to teaching an African-themed unit. I, on the other hand, will enjoy spending my days with Jeremiah :) Have a great summer!

Making Music

2010-05-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah loves to make and listen to music. He seems to always listen intently on Sunday during the singing (especially when his mom is playing the piano for praise team!) He sees me up front and loves to smile and wave at me! Anyways, he always seems tuned in during the music and singing. Today he had a blast banging on Tim's guitar, loving the sound he heard coming from it! When I uploaded the video to the computer, he wanted to watch it over and over again!

In other news, I just made bank at a garage sale! Someone from our church with a 4 year old was selling some things, and I found so many cute pairs of shorts and polo shirts! They are all 3 or 4T, so he has a while to fit into them yet, but I bought 5 pairs of plaid shorts! (sound a little obsessive??) I just think they are so cute on boys :) I asked how much everything was and she said $.50...seriously? You can't go wrong then! Then she told me, "Well, I could probably sell you the shorts for only $.25. I told her that wasn't necessary, I was fully capable of paying the full $.50!!

Thinking back to last years last day of school...

2010-04-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

School is nearing an end, less than one month away...which brings be back to thinking about what I was doing on the last day of school last year: labor! Crazy how fast the past year has gone, how things in our lives have changed (some for the better and some for the worse). Jeremiah is almost one year old already, can't hardly believe he's been ours to love for that long already. Each day brings new things he enjoys, he learns to do, he makes us smile about. Lately, he's really been excited about eating all the food we eat, even enjoying a bowl of spaghetti last night. And his begging is still funny to me every time sees food. Here's another video for you to enjoy of his begging. Tim was watching the Bucks game on the computer the other night, and I couldn't even finish putting Jeremiah's pants back on after changing him before he was up and begging from his dad! :)

Begging

2010-04-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

So I used to think that dogs could teach children to learn how to beg. However, we've really been glad that our dog Reggie does not usually whine. However, he lately has started to beg because of watching Jeremiah! Tim can not eat anything at home without Jeremiah at his heels begging for some of the food! Jeremiah's favorite food lately is bread. Tim sometimes comes home to eat his lunch during school, and Jeremiah stands right next to his chair begging for some of his sandwich, it is so funny to watch!

Here's a video to prove it:

3rd time is NOT the charm

2010-03-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

If you remember earlier I talked about my grand idea of "One Can at a Time" to help clean up Zuni, help teach my students that they can take ownership is doing something good around here, and also to earn a little extra money for the school. After getting started with it and our first successful pick up day, a full container of cans raised $25 dollars for the school! Although it sounds kind of little, having my students hear that they were really impressed that just picking up cans around Zuni really can do a little to help the school. So, I wanted to continue this idea. My students have been bringing cans in from their homes every couple of weeks, and we've been planning on heading out and picking up cans again as a class. However, every time that I sign out the school van to bring us around, that night it snows and we have to postpone our trip! This has happened three times now! I want spring to come so we can continue...so praying for some beautiful weather! :)

Jeremiah is now easily on the move! He crawls where he wants to now, especially aimed at Reggie's bowl most of the time! He enjoys crawling up to the intable to stand up by it. Hard to believe he is growing up so quickly. I can never get enough of his smile, especially now with 3 teeth filling the mouth!

Last weekend Tim and his friend Chad continued their annual tradition of winter camping, 2nd year now! :) They hiked up a nearby mesa to camp in a little cave we found last year while we were hiking. They had a little 'scare' as they saw a police car on the road near their truck. Chad called his friend to turn on his radio and see what was being said, and sure enough they were running the plates to see whose vehicle it was. Chad called the dispatcher to give the police officer his phone number. They talked and he said he had seen their headlamps on the mesa and wondered what they were up to. Tim and Chad mentioned while hiking up that they forgot to get a camping permit this year, so were hoping they wouldn't be fined! After talking it through, the officer told them as long as they got a permit the next day and brought it in, they were fine. So after a little scare, they had a wonderful time camping. Tim even took Reggie along this time, and although it took him awhile to settle down to sleep, he did a great job!

I have enjoyed continuing my tradition of including some things I like or see around Zuni, just to give you a little inside look at where we live:
- Especially this time of the year, houses have huge wood piles by their houses for their wood-burning stoves. Many of our boys in the school tell us that their main chore at home is chopping wood.
- During basketball season, frito pies are all around! Frito pies, if you are unfamiliar, contain a bowl of fritos covered in beans or meat and nacho cheese sauce. I must admit, I think they are wonderful (although Tim would disagree!) so I personally enjoy basketball season! They are still around after basketball is over, but not in normal supply.
- Continuing on the food category, I mentioned before pickles in kool aide, but you can also find hot pickles. Pickles are put in a jar with jalapeno juice so they are hot! The kids around here love them.
- I also mentioned before that rain or snow makes Zuni very muddy! When that happens, and I am traveling to Gallup, you find many cars on the edge of highway 53 because they can not make it down their road unless they have a truck. So they park the car at night on the road and have to walk (however far it is) to their homes.
- Highway 53 contains not only cars but many hitchhikers. They are found on both sides either leaving Gallup and needing a ride home, or wanting a ride into Gallup.
- Lastly, Walmart checkouts in Gallup are ridiculous! I can try and get to Walmart and pick up a few things before my class some nights, and often push being late just because of the checkout lines...there are never enough open, and the lines are so long! Last week I rushed through the store and got everything I needed in just under 15 minutes. Then, I proceeded to stand in line for 45 minutes, having time to completely read through a People magazine, before I made it to the checkout. I hate going to Walmart...

2 weeks before my friend Lindsey arrives for spring break - very excited!!

2010-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say that Tim and I have officially now been married longer than we dated. On February 18 we celebrated our first date five years ago. On February 19, we were married for 2 1/2 years and one day...and we dated for exactly 2 1/2 years before we got married. I consider this a milestone! :) The picture above was taking by my wonderful roommate Lindsey before we headed out on our first date. Our first date went like this: Tim asked me to go to Sioux Falls on a Friday night for supper and an early movie because he had conference track meet the next day. Later in the week, he said we would have to change the plans a little bit: he had a PLIA supper he had to serve at for the service project he was going to go on for spring break. So we decided to still head to Sioux Falls to see the movie. Then, another day later, he called to say that their track team was going to have a spaghetti supper together before the big track meet, so we would have to change the movie to a late movie instead. I agreed, but with a little hesitation, because I knew if he called to change the plans one more time it was probably going to be to cancel! However, we were still able to go and see Hide and Seek...and it must have gone well, because 5 years later we are still going strong! :) I remember coming home from that date excited and I told Lindsey, "It went well, I was able to sing in the car with him." I guess that must have shown me that we could be ourselves around each other very early on and I liked that!

For other news, Jeremiah has now moved 4 successful movements forward crawling 2 times now...so he is making progress! We gave him some mashed potatoes today that we were having for lunch and he did NOT seem to like them very much! He made funny faces and turned his head when I went to give him more. He usually likes all food, so that was funny to watch!

Last post I wrote a couple things I see frequently around Zuni, and thought I would add a few more to the list tonight (some normal animal sightings!):
- 2 sheep that graze in the grasses by the river bed right behind our house. If Reggie is outside, he barks and barks at them. Sometimes they even wander onto our school playground! On Thursday during P.E. outside, I was picking up some pop cans on the playground and they were following me around!
- A turkey in a cage right behind our school playground. So far I've been grateful that he has survived two Thanksgivings! He likes to gobble when we are outside playing.
- 6 dogs that were outside the front door of our grocery store yesterday. They just sit there watching people go in and out of the store.

Catch up

2010-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

I have been KINDLY reminded on more than one occasion that it has been since Nov. 11 that I posted my last update. I feel like I always start my blog with "I'm sorry it has been so long since I last wrote," and today could be no different. I'd like to say I've been SO BUSY that I have had no time to update. And in some instances, that would be true. However, now that I think about everything that has happened since November, my update could be 20 pages long. So I'll do my best to update in a reasonable way!

The picture above is our Christmas picture we took this past year by the mesa a couple miles from our house. We still thoroughly enjoy getting outside and taking in the beauty of the area around us. I still am amazed at times when I look outside, seeing everything around us, and marveling at the work of God's hands. I can never get bored of the views!

I looked forward to Christmas this past year with excitement and dread. Of course I look forward to any time we get to spend with our families and friends (although I don't always like the 20 hour drive it takes to get there!) However, this year was going to be so incredibly different and hard, I almost dreaded the thought of Christmas. The first year without my dad there, saying his typical line: "Maybe we should just keep the presents all wrapped up until next year." The first year without his Goodwill gifts to us kids. The first year without his crazy lights hanging on the house or the windows. The first year without him sitting in the chair in his robe each night. The first year without him...and I knew that was going to be hard. And although there were many times that were difficult, Christmas was a very special time of remembering many good memories of my dad. My mom gave us kids each a very special wooden memory box of my dad, including his picture and part of the speech my brother Derek gave at his funeral. My mom also made 2 teddy bears, one for Jeremiah and the other for my nephew Boston, made out of my dad's robe. Those gifts will forever be treasured. My brother Jason also spent many hours writing an incredible poem about my dad for our family, remembering so many fond memories of my dad, meeting my mom, growing up with us kids, and all his many talents and gifts. He captured my dad with some perfect words, and I am fondly reminded of him every time I read that poem. I know that will time pain is supposed to heal. Yet I know that no day will go by that I will not miss the wonderful presence of my dad.

Jeremiah has grown up so much lately! Hard to believe in a little over 3 months he will be 1 year old already! Every day he gets closer to crawling all over the place. He easily gets up on his knees, rocks back and forth, and has just begun to move his hands and legs forward one or two steps before he falls. Before long he will be on the move! He is continuing to babble more and more. Many people around here think he is older than he is because of how tall and skinny he is. He is taking just after his dad in that category! He really enjoys cereal, different veggies and fruits, and lately his favorite is apple juice and Gerber puffs. He's getting really good at picking them up and putting them in his mouth. Tim's favorite thing to do with him lately is play peek-a-boo. Jeremiah will just smile and giggle every time Tim pops from around a corner or Jeremiah is able to find him. He brightens our day so easily! He currently has two teeth on the bottom, with another one on the way on the top. His racing outfit below is complements of his Uncle Jeff as a Christmas gift. I am swarmed with compliments every time I put him in it - so I think my brother did a pretty good job!

I continue to take 2 classes this spring, while Tim is finishing up coaching the boys 6th-8th grade basketball team. Jeremiah and I ride along as often as we can, and Jeremiah cheers "ya ya ya" during the games. He loves watching people and the basketball moving around... hopefully someday he'll like to play it just as much!
There are some things around here that we see or hear on a regular basis, that never get old and bring a smile to my face:
- the smell of Zuni bread cooking in their ovens outside
- the smoke filling the air from the wood-burning stoves inside their houses
- kids at school rubbing Jeremiah's head every time I bring him to school
- Reggie howling at the sound of the ambulance and police sirens going off around the village
- people knocking on our door to sell us either a carving or some jewelry
- Halona chicken the kids buy for lunch every Friday
- hot Cheetos every day at recess, pickles or sunflower seeds in kool aide, or Indian Taco meals
- the sound of night dances around the village
- turquoise jewelry
- mud, mud, everywhere! whenever it rains or the snow begins to melt, there is mud all over the place. We've almost gotten stuck many times in people's driveways
- cold, chilly mornings and evenings, but beautiful, sunny days
- Jeremiah waving goodbye to Tim and I in the window every morning when we leave for school
- gorgeous sunrises through my kitchen window
- 2-hour delays for neighboring towns in the smallest amounts of snow
- kids getting super excited about eating at McDonalds on the way home from an away basketball game, and everyone ordering a Big Mac meal
- homemade Zuni salsa - so good!
- my list could go on and on, but maybe I'll keep it at that for now!

On President's Day Tim and I went out with some friends hiking near the edge of the Zuni reservation. There was more snow and mud than we expected, although the temperature got to 50 degrees in the afternoon. We are excited to spend more time outside as the days continue to warm up and the ground continues to harden once again. Hopefully spring is just around the corner! Thanks again for all your prayers for us and for Zuni - we really appreciate it and can feel God working in this place! We were also very excited to hear that my brother and sister-in-law are going to get remarried on May 15! God is good. Through many prayers and some of the help of my dad, Derek and Jamie have put their family back together, and are going to renew their vows on my dad's birthday. We look forward to the day and are so happy for you guys!

Success!!

2009-11-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned earlier that I had a field trip with my class today, and they were going to have to work in order to have fun. I didn't mention my plan to them until this morning so that they would be surprised and go along with it. So this morning I told them, "In order to go on the field trip we have a mission we have to accomplish first. This is your mission, if you choose to accept it, (and you must!): With your group of 3, pick up as many cans as you can on our walk. The team with the most cans would win extra tokens at Big Cheese today." They all seemed pretty excited about the idea. I told them we were doing it for many reasons - so that our class would learn that they can help even in small ways, to help make Zuni look beautiful, to clean up the environment, and to earn some money for the school, even one can at a time. They fell for my slogan - and it went great! By the time we piled into the van and drove to our destination, we only had a little over 20 minutes outside picking up cans. They all did great and had awesome attitudes about it - once the van came to a stop they flew out of the van and were running around picking up as many cans as they could. By the time we got back to the van, some of them said, "But there are more to pick up!" I said, "Another time, we will be back!" and they seemed very excited about that. We went back to school, counted every groups cans, and in one 20 minute clean up, our class picked up 516 cans!!! I was so impressed, and so were they! They couldn't believe how much they did! On the way to Gallup then for our field trip, I heard many in the car say, "Oh, there's a can..." I'm hoping they start to notice those things around town, and maybe slowly they will all start to help pick things up even when we aren't doing it as a class. I plan to do this a couple more times this year, keep track of how many cans we collect, and try to calculate for my class how much money they earned the school so they can see how such a simple little act went a long ways! I'm so proud of them! :) Hopefully my dream of "One Can at a Time" is truly beginning.... Here are a few of the pictures from our adventure...

one can at a time

2009-11-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

So I have discovered a new calling here in Zuni. Although to some it may seem small, time consuming, and maybe even pointless, I have decided it is a fabulous idea in so many ways. I'm going to call it, "one can at at a time", and this is how it came about. Today I went out on a walk with Jeremiah, enjoying our beautiful 70 degree day. As I'm walking, I'm disgusted by the number of cans (mostly beer) cans lying along the side of the road, so I decided to start picking them up. By the time I was only a 1/4 of the way done with our walk, my stroller was filled to overflowing with cans. I had them in the pocket right behind Jeremiah, as well as filling the whole bottom carrier to the brim! In about 15 minutes I had picked up 75 cans, and that was leaving still so many behind! I hated turning around and walking back home, walking past all these cans that I didn't have room to pick up today. So, I decided that every time I go on a walk, I will bring a bag and pick up as many cans as I can, and this is why. First, it helps fulfill the motto on the signs around Zuni that say "Keep Zuni Beautiful". Secondly, it helps clean up the environment. Thirdly, every can that I pick up I can bag up and give to Zuni Christian Mission School to turn in for cash. And you might be thinking, "What a dumb idea, you get nothing these days for cans!" However, I have decided that one can at a time can help. Not only is it cash for the school, its makes Zuni look so much more beautiful! Every time I go out on a walk I know I could come back with at least a bag full of cans, because there are so many around yet and every day the ground accumulates more! It'd be fun to see in a years time how much money I could earn the school just by picking up cans on my walks... we'll have to see! Next week while my mom is here my class is going on a field trip to Big Cheese Pizza (if you are unfamiliar with this like I was moving out here, it is similiar to Sioux Falls' old Gigglebees) and then bowling. Because we are not leaving until 10, I am going to take my class out in the morning picking up cans for "one can at a time". If they are going to have fun during the day, they will have to work for it first! :)

5 months old!

2009-10-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's about time for another update... seems like life continues to fly by. To start off, Happy 5 month birthday, Jeremiah! Wow, God is good and Jeremiah makes our life complete! His smile and giggles (which he continues to do more) light up our day. One of my favorite parts of the day is bringing Jeremiah to school and seeing the joy he brings to our students as well. They love seeing him, trying to make him laugh, hold him...it's great! Jeremiah has been eating rice cereal for a couple weeks now, some nights definitely better than others, but he is getting better. Each day he continues to 'coo' at as more, telling us stories with much expression! (I think he takes after his mother here!) He's getting better at rolling over from his back to his stomach and enjoys watching us eat and Reggie run around.

Two weekends ago the teacher's had a conference on Friday in Santa Fe, and then Tim, Jeremiah and I spent that night with some friends in Angel Fire in a cabin and hiked Wheeler Peak the next day. The colors around there and Zuni are beautiful with the changing colors - God is so amazing! Our family actually only made it half-way, but the time we had finished eating lunch, Jeremiah was getting a little restless and we figured we better call it a day. Little disappointing to not make it to the top, but we had a great hike anyways! While we were eating lunch, however, I was holding a pb & j sandwich in my head, and when I turned my head, Jeremiah pulled my hand with his and put my sandwich in his mouth! Later he ripped off a corner of my sandwich and held it in his hand. He hasn't quite mastered the cereal yet, but is starting early on the sandwiches!

We also finished parent teacher conferences and our 1st quarter of school already. These conferences we travel to each of the students homes which we really enjoy. It gives us a little better picture of our students, their families, and their lives. I'm helping coach our volleyball team - 5-8th grade boys and girls - we have 21 players on our team this year! Going to be hard to give them all good playing time in our 2 games, but we are having a lot of fun learning and playing.

Tonight for Halloween we dressed up Jeremiah as our little giraffe - he was so cute! We brought him around to a couple houses of people we knew, but he was so tired, so we headed home and he's been taking a long nap. Yesterday many classes at school has parties, so I dressed him up and brought him around. The kids loved it!

We are very excited that Grandma Gerdes will be here in 1 week to visit! She's going to enjoy watching him in the mornings while I'm teaching, and then we can spend the afternoons together. Going to be a great week!

A life never forgotten...

2009-09-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been awhile since I've written, and honestly, I've been avoiding it. I didn't know what I would write or how it would come out. You see, life changed a couple weeks ago. I know God has life in control and His hands, and that His timing is better than our own. I know that we are God's to begin with, and He takes us back home when He is ready for us. I know that when someone dies who loves the Lord they are experiencing the joys of heaven. I know that God gives peace to the weary and strength to the weak. I know all of that. But I just wonder...why do I still feel so sad? Why do I have so many questions? Why do I struggle not to be mad at God some nights? Why do I wish God would not take someone home until WE are ready to let them go? Why won't Jeremiah have a papa to look up to and love anymore?

Wednesday, September 2, I received a phone call I never thought I would have to get. My brother Derek called, and I could tell something was wrong. After a short while he told me that dad had a heart attack that night and passed away. I thought he was joking, although I know he would never joke about that. I just couldn't believe it - my dad, invincible, healthy, strong, wonderful...how could it be true? Why would God take him away without letting us say goodbye? Why did I have to be here in Zuni when my family needed me in Sioux Falls? Did he struggle before he died? Did he know he was going to die? Did he know how much I loved him? Why didn't I call him that night like I was going to? My head was racing...

Flying home to SF the next morning, I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of why we were headed home. I usually get so excited to go home to my family... and now I was headed home for my dad's funeral. It just didn't seem fair. Walking into my house that night I still pictured that I would see my dad sitting in his normal chair, watching tv or taking a nap, but he wasn't there. As great as it was to see my family again, it wasn't the same without the quiet presence of my dad filling the room.

I learned a lot and was reminded again about my dad while at his visitation and funeral: 1. He was loved by so many people! We were amazed at the numbers that came to give their sympathy, send cards, calls, food brought..amazing. 2. My dad, though often quiet and in the background, touched so many peoples lives. I heard so many tell me how much they appreciated my dad, how much he would do for them without wanting recognition or anything in return. 3. He taught his children a lot. Through my dad's gentle ways I could see how much he touched my brothers and my life. He wasn't one for a lot of words or affection, but he touched our lives and taught us so much by his few words and many actions. 4. He loved my mom so much, and her life will never be the same without him here. 5. He was a man of great faith! It was so fun to have my parents visit us after Jeremiah was born. It was my parents first trip to the Southwest, and my dad was just amazed by the scenery. It was neat to hear him talking about how he would ask God so many questions some day about why he created the southwest with all the mesas and the midwest with miles of plains. But then he told me, "I wonder if when we get to heaven, we really will ask all the questions we say we will. Will it really matter all that much when we are there? Will we just know all the answers already without asking? I wonder now if he has his answer...

I know I still have questions, but I think that is ok. I know I have hard days thinking about my dad, knowing we will go home at Christmas and he won't be there, but I think that is ok. Jeremiah may not remember his papa, but he will surely learn what a great man he was through us. Although he didn't always say it out loud, I know how proud of us and Jeremiah he was.

Dad, you will never be forgotten. Thank you for all you taught us, you prepared us well for life. Thank you for all you did for us without sometimes even a thank you, may we not have taken you for granted. Thank you for your faith and for teaching us about God...that was the most important thing I ever learned. You will be greatly missed, but the memories we have of you will help us during the hard and lonely days. Thank you for being the best dad... I love you.

Thrush...

2009-08-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

I've heard of thrush before, but experienced it the first time with Jeremiah this week. I noticed a few little white patches on his lips and in his mouth, and knew that didn't look normal. It wasn't too bad yet, but I didn't want it to spread more than it already had so we made a trip to the doctor. I love making an appointment, driving 45 minutes to Gallup, waiting to be called into the appointment, just to see the doctor for 2 minutes, have them look in his mouth and tell me, "He has thrush." I already knew that! Oh well, it was necessary so he could get a prescription, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I just wish sometimes it was easier to get into the hospital here in Zuni so we wouldn't have to drive 45 every time we need something. His mouth is doing better already after only a day or two, and he takes the medicine really well, so I'm glad. It seems to make him a little fussy at times and a couple times have a fever, so I will be glad when it is completely gone.

This weekend is the Zuni fair, which is a huge deal here in Zuni. A large (at least large to this area) carnival comes to town, parks their rides at the softball diamonds/fair grounds, and the kids really enjoy spending all their money there! Many of our students are involved in dance groups that dance during the parade they do each night and Saturday morning down main street, many fry bread and meat pie vendors, softball tournaments, horse races, runs, etc. The town is a buzz! : It is fun to walk around and see all the action around Zuni and every one having a good time. The students usually even go to the carnival Thursday night already, coming to school exhausted Friday morning, only to do it again Friday night! So we should be in for a fun weekend.

Reggie is getting his sets of shots and continues to grow really quickly. After sleeping all night, he is so hyper in the morning! Jeremiah has had two nights in a row now sleeping from 10pm to 5:30 am...it feels amazing! Hopefully this starts to become a pattern. His latest thing is to pout before he cries...out comes that little lip and he lets out a little whimper. It's so hard not to laugh at it because it is so darn cute!

When I get home from school I usually bring Jeremiah back to school while the students eat lunch and have recess and they really enjoy seeing and playing with him. They are amazed by his smooth, soft hair and are constantly touching his head. They always say to me, "Is it sleeping?" or "How is it?" I always respond with, "No, HE is awake" or "JEREMIAH is doing just fine." They struggle using pronouns or his name when they talk about him :) But the kids adore him, so it is fun to bring him to school for them to play with him. He weighed 10lbs 14 oz. at his appointment this week, so he continues to grow! We love him more each day :)

He makes me smile!

2009-08-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah is now 13 weeks old, and smiles all the time! He loves to lay on his changing table, looking up and smiling away! The past week he really seems more interactive as well, enjoying laying on his play mat or in his bouncy seat swinging at and staring at his toys. It is so much fun to watch him grow and develop. He hasn't begun to giggle yet, but he does like to "talk" a lot more with us too. I smile every time he smiles at us - it never gets old!

Reggie has been pretty good the week we've had him, although we are still trying to break him of his biting/chewing habit. He hasn't quite figured out what he can and cannot chew on yet!

School started this past week and went really well. Both Tim and I are happy with our classes and feel we will have a good year with them. I have 14 students in 5-6th, and Tim has 17 in 7-8th grade. We've been really happy with Corrine who watches Jeremiah in the mornings while I teach. She writes everything down for us during the morning that Jeremiah did, when he ate and was changed, etc. She loves Jeremiah and spending time with him which makes it easier to leave him in the morning when I don't want to. She has two boys, Amillio and Seth, who come to our school this year. They come with her in the morning and play with Reggie before they go to school which he loves! The more attention he gets the better, and the boys love him! Although I hate leaving him in the morning, its nice to feel confident with someone watching Jeremiah.

Its my parents anniversary today - Happy Anniversary! We are so thankful for the many years God has blessed you in marriage and for all that you do for us. Tim and I will celebrate our 2nd anniversary tommorow (18th). I cannot believe we have been married 2 years already! Tim and I have done so much and been so many places in the past 2 years and experienced so much together. I appreciate him more and more everyday, and cannot wait to grow old with him. He's such a wonderful father to Jeremiah, and I smile just watching him play with Jeremiah. God knew what He was doing when He placed Tim in my life and I thank Him everyday for it! Happy Anniversary dear!

Our newest family member!

2009-08-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest member of the Eisenga family: Reggie, our golden retriever puppy! He's 7 weeks old, born on June 19. We are excited for him and Jeremiah to become best friends!

We picked him up on Friday after our teacher retreat, and Saturday afternoon we took him on his first hike. Being the hike was quite uphill, Tim ended up carrying him most of the way, and would put him down to run around when we would stop. He did great! He's a very good puppy...doing quite well with training, and learning each day not to bite! Since I get up at night with Jeremiah, Tim is in charge of the dog at night, and the first night ended up getting up more often with Reggie than I did with Jeremiah! Although it's a little nerve-racking with him around Jeremiah yet, we think very soon he will be trained and will do just fine!

It's almost that time again...

2009-08-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

The time is approaching too quickly and I am not looking forward to it! It feel like this summer has just flown by, and already this week Thursday we will be back in school starting teacher’s meetings. School officially starts next week, Wednesday the 12th! It seems we start so early and don’t really get out much earlier than anyone else, so we are short at least 2 weeks of the summer! Tim will again be teaching in the 7th-8th grade, and I will be teaching part-time in the mornings in the 5th-6th grade room. We look forward to another year, just aren’t quite ready for it to start again! Teacher’s definitely like summer as much as the students do! I am not looking forward to being away from Jeremiah in the mornings, but we are glad we found a lady from our church who will watch him at our house while I’m teaching so he can stay right at home! That way we won’t have to get him ready in the morning or bring him anywhere, and that will save us a lot of time getting to school! What a blessing!

I can’t believe we have already spent over 11 weeks with Jeremiah! We are thoroughly enjoying learning the role of being parents! What an incredible job God has enables us to do! Jeremiah brings us much joy – I never knew I could love someone so much!! He has definitely started to work those smiling muscles which has been so much fun to see. He still hasn’t mastered the skill – and usually smiles for us more in the morning after he eats, but he’s getting better and it makes me smile every time I see it! His legs are getting so strong, and he loves to be held so he can stand on our legs and work on strengthening those running legs. I can tell already he’ll be an early walker! And as I write this, we are finishing our drive back home from the Midwest. We spent two weeks visiting family and friends back home, and Jeremiah has done a great job riding in the car. He sleeps most of the time, has a few moments of fussiness as he fights sleeping or wakes up hungry, but for the most part he did great and we are so glad. Jeremiah was able to meet his cousin’s for the first time and really enjoyed it – Ashton, Addison, Carson, and Boston. I’m excited to watch them grow up and play together when we get together with family since they are all so close in age. I hope they have as much fun together as I did with my cousins!

Tim and I were just talking and Jeremiah is right now averaging a different state a week that he has either been in or driven through! He’s been in 11 in all our travels: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas! Pretty sure we can’t keep that up, but boy has he been all over the place in his short life!

Wednesday Jeremiah had his 2 month check up and got 4 shots. He continues to grow well - he now weights 10 lbs 3 oz. and is 23 1/2 in. long. We had a lot of fun hearing from our family who Jeremiah looks like – we heard many say he looked like Tim, and a few people also thought he had some features of his Grandpa Gerdes – so it will be fun to see him grow up and see who he ends up looking more like (or maybe just have a great mix of both of his parents best features!)

I’m going to try my best to keep updating the blog regularly once school starts and my classes I am taking begin also, but please forgive me if they are a little slower!

Baptism dedication song

2009-07-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Tim really wanted to write a song for Jeremiah for his baptism, which he then sang and played his guitar with on the Sunday he was baptized. I thought I would share it with you, so you can all pray for us that the words of the song will truly be our prayer as we raise Jeremiah to love and serve the Lord. It was so neat for me to watch Tim playing the song, knowing what a great dad he already is and knowing he truly wants our children to know the God we love and serve. It brought tears to my eyes, giving me another reason to be thankful to God for the two wonderful men I have in my life!

Chorus:
We thank you Lord, for blessing us
We thank you Lord, for our child
We thank you Lord, for blessing us
We thank you Lord, for our son

Verse 1:
You blessed us with our first born son
A gift from above named Jeremiah

Chorus

Verse 2:
You've entrusted us to raise our boy
In the light of your ways and the truth of your Son

Chorus

Ending Chorus:
We pray for guidance, as we raise our son
We pray for wisdom, everyday
We pray for guidance, as we train our son
We pray that he will follow You, all of his days.

Baptism and a vist from Grandpa and Grandma!

2009-07-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last week Sunday, July 5^th, we had Jeremiah baptized. What an amazing day and event. Although we know right now Jeremiah doesn’t understand what it all means, its so special knowing and understanding that he is a member of our church, that people in the church promise to pray for him, and that Tim and I promise as his parents to bring him up to love and serve the Lord. I pray that one day the plaque that is hanging on his bedroom wall commemorating the day will truly mean something special to him as well. Although he had a few tears during the service, for the most part he did great! Everyone told me not to worry about his tears anyways – it lets us know that he is there!

After my parents left, Tim’s parents arrived shortly after for a week. We had a great time with them as well. Its amazing that after doing so many activities and showing my parents so many places, we did completely different things with Tim’s parents. A few of the highlights of our week:

We spent most of the 4^th of July in Gallup, first hiking Pyramid trail at Red Rock state park, then watching a great firework show in town. Although a little scared at the site of it, Tim’s parents did great and we made it up to the top!

All around town in Zuni you will see little round ovens outside each person’s home, where they make Zuni bread quite often. The town smells great when many homes are making bread all on the same day. We were able to go to a lady from our church’s house and watch the process of making the bread. The process usually takes all day, so we went when they were at the stage of forming the bread into loaves, getting the oven to the right heat, scrapping out the coals, and placing the bread in the ovens for about 45 minutes to bake. They cooked about 24 loaves at one time. Zuni’s make two types of bread – yeast and sourdough and were able to take home a couple of sourdough loaves. Tim and I have grown to like the taste, although Jim and Betty would have preferred yeast loaves!

Another huge art in Zuni is jewelry making, and we were able to go to another lady from our church’s home and watch he make a pair of dangly turquoise earrings. What a process and such intricate work – but they turned out beautiful and we were very impressed.

Most people are hopeful they will see Zuni religious dances when they come through town, and Tim’s parents were some of the lucky ones ( if you want to call it that). No one is allowed to take any pictures during the dances, so I don’t have any to show you. But the colors and outfits they were are amazing I guess you could say, if only they didn’t mean what they claim them to. We weren’t sure what the dances we saw were for, but we think it had something to do with the rain dances that had happened a few weeks earlier.

The last things we did were travel to Canyon de Chelly (which we did also do with my parents).

After a day at Canyon de Chelly, we drove to Mesa Verde that night and camp, and then hike Mesa Verde the following day. Jeremiah did so well on his first camping experience. We had him all bundled up in the tent, and when he got up to feed during the night I took him to the car so that we wouldn’t wake up our camping neighbors. Mesa Verde was beautiful, and we had a great time hiking and exploring the ancient ruins of the Anasazi people. Hard to imagine that people used to live in those buildings!

Jeremiah has been growing like a weed and we are so thankful for how well he is doing. We had him weighed yesterday and he is up to 8 lbs 9 oz and 22 inches long. Hard to believe he is growing so quickly and is already 7 ½ weeks old!! He hasn’t really started smiling at us yet, but I can tell it will be happening soon! We plan to leave this Friday to head to the Midwest to visit family and friends, so we pray the long car trip will go well with him. Tim and I are used to getting in the car and just going, so taking more stops to feed and change him will be a little different for us this trip. However, we are so looking forward to visiting our families, having them meet Jeremiah, and meeting our new nephew and niece as well for the first time.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Hard to believe our school starts in less than one month now again! Ahh..summer is almost over and I will have to leave my boy at a babysitter in the morning while I am teaching. Not sure I’m ready for that yet……

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been awhile since I've written. I guess I had thought in my mind that even though having a child I would find plenty of time to do things like keep our blog updated. And even with my parents being here right now, and my mom taking over the role of Grandma quite well, I still find myself busy all the time! We've done quite a bit in the last couple of weeks....

Tim I and tried to work hard the first couple of weeks we were home after Jeremiah was born getting our classrooms ready for the summer and completing the checklist we had finish. Jeremiah would gladly come along, usually sleeping while we would work. Jeremiah also had his first babysitter. Our friend Cara Mulder came down to Zuni before she plans to teach in Honduras next year, so a group of friends and us went out and had a fire at Turtle Rock and watch the sunset. The night was a little chilly and rained a bit, so we didn't think it was wise for him to come along, although the sunset was beautiful! Pastor Mike and Ardy gladly offered to babysit, so we sent him with them for about 2 hours. Since I am still feeding Jeremiah, I was nervous the whole time thinking he would be fussing for them and they wouldn't have anything to give him to calm him down! However, when we got back to pick him up, he was sound asleep! He did great for his first babysitters!

And finally 3 weeks after Jeremiah was born, his Grandpa and Grandma Gerdes came to visit him. They were quite excited to come and meet him as well as see where we live and work here in Zuni. And we have done so much since they've been here, and Jeremiah gladly comes along and does so well with everything we have done! The night my parents arrived we had a baby shower put on by the staff at ZCMS. We had so much fun and my mom was glad to meet so many of the people that Tim and I work with at the school. Tim and my dad worked on a project in the garden, mom and I sewed buttons on Jeremiah's curtains and painted the letters of his name to hang in his room. We went to Gallup and experienced the flea market which was so much fun and showed my parents a historic hotel where a lot of old movie stars stayed. My dad knew so many of the old pictures and had a lot of fun looking and naming them all.

My dad has come up with a nickname for Jeremiah - Little Fig or Figgy. Since his middle name is Newton, and one of my dad's favorite cookies are Fig Newtons, he thought the name fit him perfectly. So in honor of Jeremiah and my dad's nickname, we took pictures of him by a package of the cookies with his Grandpa! :)

We have also done some hiking with my parents. At Red Rock State Park in Gallup we hiked a trail by Church Rock mesa and spent an afternoon hiking Nutria canyon near Zuni. Not having much experience hiking trails and mesas, my parents did a great job! We had a hiking carrier that we put Jeremiah in and he slept through all of our hikes! He's been such a good boy when we take him places - not a trouble at all!

And last Sunday we had such a wonderful time celebrating Tim's first Father's Day. I am so thankful for Tim and the father that he is to Jeremiah. I look forward to the day when Jeremiah can learn from and understand Tim, because he will learn so much about being a godly man. He is so good and patient with Jeremiah. It is hard for me to imagine loving two men anymore than I do with Tim and Jeremiah! God blessed me with a wonderful husband and now an incredible father for our child. I also had the privilege of celebrating Father's Day again this year with my dad here. Although often quite a bit different from me in personality - I admire him more than I could ever know (which is why I found a husband that is so similar to him in so many ways!) Thank you dad for everything you continue to do for us! I appreciate you so much. On Father's Day morning there was a Healthy Lifestyles walk/run by DY mesa for families to participate in. All the dad's there got a camo-colored shirt that said "Super Dad". Tim and my dad looked so cute in them together in a picture with Jeremiah :)

My parents will leave again next Monday, and soon after that Tim's parents will arrive for a week or so to spend with us as well. As much as I will be sad to see my parents leave, we will look forward to Tim's parents spending time with us and meeting Jeremiah as well! We are so thankful that our nephew Ashton's heart surgery went will this past week in Minneapolis. He is back home recovering now after a long time in the hospital. We pray he continues to recover and heal quickly and that his holes in his heart will continue to close on their own.

Jeremiah's first week

2009-05-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

After Jeremiah was born very early Saturday morning, we were brought to another room down the hall. Once Jeremiah had been given his bath, his footprints were taken, and his vitals checked, he was able to be in the room with us. Tim and I just looked at him thinking, "He's ours. I can't believe that he is really ours!" Definitely a weird feeling looking at your little baby and realizing that he used to be inside my body for 9 months! How did he ever fit in there? How much different his world must be now outside of his warm, cozy home? We tried to get some sleep but that first night came and went pretty quickly.

Pastor Mike and Ardy, Chad, Ruth and Tara all came to visit him on Saturday. It was so nice to have them there and admire our little one with us! Saturday night went pretty well - Jeremiah slept a lot of the night and I had to try and wake him up a few times to feed him. As far as I knew (which wasn't much!) he seemed to be eating fine and doing well. Because he was so little, the first day he had a hard time keeping his body temperature up, so we had to keep him all bundled up in a couple blankets to keep him warm. By Sunday afternoon we were ready to go home. I thought to myself, "Shouldn't you like test me on a few things first to make sure it is safe for me to bring him home?!?!" All in all, our first 2 days went great and we were so excited to take him home with us and begin summer break with him!

Monday afternoon there were 2 graduation parties that we wanted to go to, so we bundled him up in his seat and took him on his first outing. He did so well - he just slept though all the noise and people at both parties! We didn't take him out of his seat just because he was still so young, but everyone was very surprised and excited to meet him already.

Tuesday it seemed like Jeremiah wasn't eating quite as well as he did the first 2-3 days, but not really knowing what was good eating and what wasn't, we didn't know what we should do. We knew we had an appointment the next day, so we just waited to see. Tuesday night was his worst night of sleep. He would wake up fussy, and after changing his diaper he would seem ready to feed. But by the time I tried to feed him, he would even fussier and wouldn't eat much at all. After all his crying, he'd be too sleepy to do anything else by sleep.

Wednesday morning at his appointment we were told he had dropped to 4 lbs 12 oz, having lost about 15% of his birth weight. He asked how things had been going and we told him that it seemed like he wasn't feeding as well the past couple of days. He then had his blood drawn to test his billirubin, and we would be called in a few hours with the results. The dr. thought he was looking a little yellow. We ran a few errands and were at a friends house eating lunch when they called back to say that we had to come back in and draw more blood. Somehow they didn't draw enough the first time and couldn't even run the test. We were frustrated! You have to poke our little boy again? How did you not get enough blood the first time!? They poked him again and we were told to wait again. He was really fussy and wouldn't eat, and so we called the number of a lactation specialist we were given, and she agreed to meet us then. She was so encouraging and helpful! She helped watch me try to feed him, checking that I had enough milk to give him and then checking his sucking and how he would latch. We found out that he wasn't latching very well, so after trying a few things he began to eat! What a great feeling! After having been crying, feeling like I am a terrible mother who can't feed her child and give him what his body needs, he now was getting it and eating like a champ!

After that good news, we were given some more bad news. When we left the hospital his bilirubin level was at a 7, and today it was up to 18. They wanted to admit him to the hospital so they could put him under the blue lights. Again Tim and I were crying. We knew it was where he needed to be, but it was so hard to have to go back in and watch him lay there under the lights. They thought since he was having a hard time eating, he wasn't going to the bathroom as much as he should which would have helped his bili level.

We woke up Friday morning to more great news - his level overnight had dropped to 11 and we could go back home! Since it had dropped so much, and he was gained 2 ounces back, they were confident his levels would keep going down. They were also glad to see he was eating a lot better and more consitently. We were so proud of him that night having to lay under the lights. The only time we had him out was to quickly feed him or change him, and then back to sunbathing. By morning he had had enough of them, because he was tired of having his eyes covered by the glasses. So after a little time out in the sun, we headed back home again.

Things have been going so much better. He sleeps better now that his stomach gets full. His color looks so much better now that his bili had gone down. He makes us smile everytime we just look at him. We even brought him to his first basketball game last night. Tim's co-ed basketball team was in their end of the season tournament, so we went to cheer daddy on. He did great again - slept through the whole thing! And our presence must have done the trick - Tim's team got first place! This morning he enjoyed sleeping while Tim played the guitar for him.

Tonight we plan to stay home and relax together as a family and maybe watch a movie. Although I used to think I would get so much done while he was sleeping, the days quickly move by and I don't get as much done as I had planned. However, just having him home with us, knowing he is doing better, and enjoying being a family of three has been such a blessing this week! Thanks for all your prayers and comments on our pictures! We sure think he is one handsome guy! (takes after his daddy!) The video is during one of Jeremiah's sun-times. He loves laying in the warmth of the sun!

Jeremiah Newton

2009-05-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Wow will this blog update will be different than I had originally thought it would a few days ago! Rather than a usual 37 week update with a belly shot, the week went a little differently than normal. It started out like this:

Wednesday night was 8th grade graduation so we spent the afternoon decorating and preparing for the night. The graduation went great! Each of Tim's students had a little speech they had written telling about themselves and their families, how long they had been at ZCMS, where they were headed for high school, and any fun or special memories they remembered from ZCMS. Diplomas were handed out and then I had duties to cut and pass out the cake. We had a fun night with the kids.

Thursday was the last day of actual school so we had to finish up anything school-wise in our classes, start cleaning out the desks and taking things off the wall in our classrooms. One of my students was bursting with energy all afternoon and was starting to frustrate me. I told him, "Caine, you are making my blood pressure rise! If I have this baby early, it might be because of you." We had plans to watch a movie in our class and celebrate a student's summer birthday in the afternoon, which we did for awhile after the power had gone out for about an hour (which only increased Caine's energy level!). We spent the rest of the night then getting our report cards ready to be handed out on Friday at school. We stayed up late getting everything ready.

Friday morning - 2am - I started feeling really funny. I say funny because I felt like they were contractions and I had felt some of them before, but this time they were coming more consistently throughout the night. I traveled to the bathroom many times, and each time just told Tim "I'm not feeling that well." By 5:30, and a night of no sleep, I woke up Tim and told him I was going to lay in the chair in the living room because I thought I was having contractions. Tim was shocked because I hadn't told him that earlier in the evening. We laid in the living room wondering what we should do. Is this the start of labor? Are these part of false labor that many women talk about? How soon should I go in to the hospital? Are they going to send me back home and say you're way too early? Too many thoughts racing through my head!

8:00 am - called the clinic and they thought it sounded like I should come in that morning as soon as I could. I said to the nurse on the phone, " I was actually wondering if you thought it would be ok for me to wait a few hours until I am finished with school, it's our last day here." She didn't think that was such a good idea I guess! So we quickly packed our bags for the hospital, trying to think of everything we would need with not much time to think about it. Being we thought we still had three weeks to go until the baby came, the bags weren’t even thought about yet! We headed over to school to tell our principal we had to head in and say goodbye to our classes. When I got to my class and told them I had to head to the hospital, Caine said, "Is it because of me?!"

On our way to the hospital, I was thinking of all these things that I didn't get done at home before the baby would come. Tim tried to tell me not to worry about it, but of course I kept thinking of things! The ride went pretty well, I had contractions but they weren't too strong and were bearable, so it wasn't as bad as I had pictured in my head! At the clinic they told me I was dilated to 2.5 cm, so they hooked me up to the monitor to check the regularity of my contractions. After 20 minutes and 4 contractions, my dr. decided to send me over to the hospital. I had to be hooked up to an antibiotic and so she wanted to get that going.

Friday afternoon - the contractions slowed down a bit to 7-10 minutes apart and were a lot easier than I would have thought they should be. We asked the nurse what she thought, and she said at the rate I was going I could still be waiting by Sunday morning. Sunday I thought! That did not sound good to me!

6 pm - They were back on and I was at 4 cm! Pretty regularly coming about 5 min. apart and were starting to get a lot stronger. As we tried to pass the time by watching the Cavs vs. Magic game, Tim helped me through the contractions by helping me concentrate on my breathing in and out. He was a big help!

8 pm - my dr. checked me and I was up to 6 cm. They continued to feel stronger and stayed about the same regularity. Can't say I remember much of what happened in the game, but it was a nice distraction for part of the time. I remember hearing the sound of a woman pushing in the room next to us and then hearing a baby's cry. That's going to be us so soon!

11:30 pm - 8 cm and feeling it! It was at this time that Tim helping me with my breathing didn't seem to be helping and I was debating taking some pain medication. I had all intentions of doing it naturally and really wanted to be able to do that. But as contractions would come and it wasn't as easy to stay relaxed, I would cry and tell Tim that they hurt! But when the dr. told me she was going to break my water and it should probably be soon after that, I decided I would try and keep toughing it out.

Saturday, 12:25 am - The pushing began! A couple pushes and my dr. told me that our baby was almost here. What an amazing and yet overwhelming feeling – we are about to be parents! As it was getting closer, she told me that it sounded like there was a little irregularity to our baby’s heartbeat which might mean the cord was wrapped around their neck. This of course really scared me, but she said right now I had nothing to worry about and should just push. Once we could see the head, she told me “Keep pushing, the cord is wrapped and we need to get the baby out.” I was ready by that time to push no matter how hard it hurt to get my little one out safely. One more push and out slid our baby with the cord wrapped around his neck 2 times. She quickly unwrapped the cord and he began to cry. What an amazing sound! His body was a little blue because of the cord, but by about 30 min. he was back to normal color and doing well! Tim had such a fun time watching him in those first minutes once he was out getting cleaned up, checking his heart beat and vitals…his eyes were so wide open!

So at 12:41 am on Saturday, May 23, we welcomed Jeremiah Newton Eisenga into the world (3 weeks early). He weighed 5 lbs 9 oz and was 18 ½ inches long. We picked his middle name Newton after Tim’s Grandpa Newton Eisenga. I can’t even describe in words the feeling of being a mom, holding Jeremiah and looking into his eyes and knowing that he is ours forever, and what a special gift from God he is! Although there are the overwhelming feelings of being parents, wondering if you know what you are doing, etc… there is nothing sweeter than looking into Jeremiah’s eyes and knowing how amazing the gift of life that God created truly was. Thank you for all your prayers for us throughout the pregnancy and now please continue to pray for us and Jeremiah as we raise him to be a servant of God.

Shop til you drop!

2009-05-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

With only a few weeks left before our little one arrives (36 weeks this week!), Tim and I knew we still needed a few essential things before the baby comes. So yesterday we headed to Albuquerque to pick up the last few things we would need and we had such a fun time doing it. It definitely felt different and somewhat weird buying all these things for our little baby, although it makes us excited thinking about him or her actually wearing the clothes soon or sitting in the bouncy seat. We started the day looking at a used jogging stroller we had seen on craig's list and were quite disappointed with it. However, our next location which was another jogging stroller ended up being a wonderful stop. The lady that was selling a stroller also owned a used baby store which we were unaware of when we went there. So little did we know, we walked out of there with quite a few nice sleepers, onsies, and a bouncy seat rather than just a stroller. It was so fun to pick out some outfits for him or her to wear. Since we aren't finding out what we are having until the day comes, we had to find some neutral outfits that could go either way at first and we were successful. We then made a few stops at Walmart and Target to buy burp cloths, socks, lotions, more onsies, etc. So by the time supper came we were very excited with everything we were able to find.

The Zuni fitness series has begun again for the summer as well, so this morning Tim participated in his first competetive race of the summer. There are races around here about once a month through our healthy lifestyles program, but those are usually non-competetive and just for fun. Tim decided to run the 8K (5 miles) and came in 4th place overall, 1st place in his age division, so it went well! With school ending soon he knows he'll have more time to do some running and getting back into shape, so he's excited about the other races this summer. A couple ladies at the race recognized me from some other races we have done and asked if I was still going to run today since I went along to watch Tim. I told them I figured I better not with only a month to go. They thought it was probably a good idea on my part, especially since I would like to finish out the school year here first before this baby comes out! I feel like my belly continues to just pop out straight in the front like a basketball. It also seems to me that I don't feel as many kicks from the baby, but rather feel body parts moving across my stomach as the baby continues to grow and the room inside my belly continues to become less and less!

We have one week of school left and then school's out for the summer already!

Field Trips

2009-05-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Tim and I had a great week with our students enjoying some activities outside of our school classrooms. Tim spent Wednesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon camping in El Morro National Monument. Wednesday afternoon they headed to the park and spent some time setting up camp. Everyone in the class helped to set up the 18 ft. tepee which took a lot of patience, teamwork, and instruction from Scott. After they set up the large tepee, they set up a smaller 10 ft. tepee and a Baker's tent. After cooking super, they went through a haunted mine, learned about the constelations and how to navigate in the dark, as well as hearing some Native American stories. The next morning they played some Native American games such as throwing the students up in the air on a buffalo hide. The afternoon was spent hiking and touring the monument, seeing all the inscriptions on the rock by Native Americans and early Spanish explorers hundreds of years ago, and the ancient Zuni pueblo (village) on top of the mesa. He arrived back home at 7:30 on Thursday night exhausted but had a great time on his trip with his class.

Setting up the tepee poles

The students held the stakes while Tim pounded them in

The finished tepee

Posing inside the smaller tepee

Throwing someone on the buffalo skin

Class photo before they headed back home

I also took my students to Rehoboth to the ropes course on Monday. Although a couple of students were a little nervous to tackle the high ropes, in all we had a great day. We started doing a few of the shorter ropes to get the kids working together and used to the ropes course. Then they spent some time teaching them the techniques they would have to use when they were on the higher ropes. Once they climbed the rope net, they went around a few of the top rope challenges and finished coming down the zip line. It was fun to see them working together and having a good time. Some of them asked me if I was going to climb up the ropes. I told them I didn't think I would go up this time since I was pregnant. One of them said, "Probably a good idea, or you could go into labor flying down that zipline!" Wouldn't that have been a fun ending to the field trip, "Class, change of plans, we're headed to the hospital... your teacher is having her baby!" The class voted on eating lunch at Taco Bell, and then we finished the afternoon bowling at Gala Bowl in Gallup. I don't think too many of my students have bowled very often, so it was fun to watch them learn, try new things we would try and teach them, and just enjoy some time together.

The high ropes course at Rehoboth in Gallup

Climbing up the rope net while others helped hold it on the bottom

Bowling at Gala Bowl

On Saturday Tim and I spent the morning at childbirth class. We didn't know exactly what to expect going into the class, what we would learn or have to do. However, we were glad we could go and learn as much as we can before we embark on this new adventure in our lives. There were 6 other couples there with us, which felt really weird sitting in a room with 6 other pregnant women. I guess we were both surprised to find out more about the stages of labor and how I actually go through a lot of the labor at home with the smaller contractions that are more spread apart. I told Tim that I hope I can stay calm during that time and not try and rush him to take me to the hospital only to have them tell me to go back home and wait a bit longer! On the other hand, I hope our 45 minute drive to the hospital is uneventful! It was nice, however, to have a tour of the birthing center and where we will be having our baby. It was great having Tim along so he could see what things will be like and how he can be a big help to me during the labor and delivery. So far I think he's doing a great job!

I crocheted a blanket for our baby and finished that on Friday - so slowly but surely we are getting things ready for our little one! Kind of weird to think about today being Mother's Day, and how I am able to celebrate that holiday this year. Definitely brings along some fears but also many excitements and thanks as I consider how lucky I am that God is giving a child for Tim and I to take care of. What a blessing and privilege! So Happy Mother's Day!!

34 weeks

2009-05-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

This past week kept us pretty busy with school activities. Tuesday night we had Creative Expressions, where the 5-8th graders each had to memorize a poem either by themselves or with a partner and perform them that night. We had a video to watch from last year so that we knew what to expect and how we needed to get our kids ready, and we think after having watched the video that the night went well. Some kids were definitely very nervous but still did a very good job - made us very proud! :) Then on Friday night we had our annual Sacred and Silly concert. Each class had a Christian/sacred type song they had to sing and then the second half of the program was a silly portion which was very fun. A couple of mine and Tim's students also then performed their Creative Expression piece again for everyone and did a good job. We had some volunteers that were here for a couple of weeks and she was a music teacher previously, so she helped us out a lot getting our students ready for their program. It ended up being a great night - fun to see the students performing and just having fun!

This week both Tim and I have field trips with our class. Tomorrow I am going to Gallup to Rehoboth's ropes course and they will do the high ropes (hope it goes alright, some of them are afraid of heights!) The class then voted on eating at Taco Bell, and we will finish the afternoon going bowling - so I hope it goes well! Tim is taking his class camping on Wednesday night and Thursday. They are going to El Morro which is a national forest about 30 minutes from here. Scott, a guy from our church, is going to go with them and he does a lot of living history with New Mexico, so he is going to try and make it as primitive as possible. The kids will be sleeping in tepee's, being thrown up in the air on a buffalo skin, work with tomahawks, etc. Then on Thursday they will hike El Morro and check out all the artifacts around that area. So Tim is excited and prays everything will go well with all his kids!

I have another dr. appointment this week so hope to find out that things are continuing to go well. I would love to go outside and run, but I've tried that recently and it just doesn't feel very good. I'm used to running and feeling good and not having problems breathing - but now with the extra weight too it just doesn't feel right and I don't like that feeling at all! So I've resorted to just walking. Tim and I enjoyed a beautiful day outside today on a walk by the mesa. Because the weather is nicer again though, the snakes are out - so I pray everytime I'm outside that I don't see a snake! Besides that, my belly button continues to push out which means I must be growing right? :)

3 weeks of school left and then 3 to go after that! We're getting closer....

33 weeks

2009-04-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

The weeks continue to fly by! To think, we only have 4 weeks left of school, and then 3 weeks after that we will have a little child! (if the timing goes the way I have planned!) I get more and more excited about it the more I stop and think about it - Tim and I are going to be parents in less than 2 months. We will have our own little bundle of joy to give thanks for and raise and bring up to love the Lord. But then I also get myself a little nervous thinking: wow, less than 2 months, we have to finish getting ready! Am I ready to be a parent? Will I do ok? Do I know enough about taking care of a child? Makes me realize I need to continue to pray for God's strength and guidance as we enter this new stage in our lives and marriage. We are going to a parent class on Saturday, May 9 where hopefully we can both learn plenty more!

Seems weird we only have 4 weeks left of school - its gone so quickly! This week we have Creative Expressions on Tuesday night where all the students in mine and Tim's class have memorized a poem by themselves or with a parnter and they will recite it and get judged on it. Then Friday night is our Spring concert called Sacred and Silly, so we'll have plenty of preparation for that this week. Next week I'm taking my students on a field trip to Gallup to the ropes course at Rehoboth, then out to eat at Taco Bell (their choice) and then bowling in the afternoon before we head back to school. I'm excited for a day to just relax and have fun with them. Tim is also finishing up planning his field trip for the end of the year - he's taking his class camping overnight and then spending another morning working with a man that goes to our church that does tanning of animal hides to teach the students some of the history of their culture. So should be some fun things to end the school year!

And then there was light!

2009-04-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

Wow have Tim and I been blessed this past week! Last week I wrote that a group from California was going to be at our school for the week working with our students and helping out as much as they can. One adult in their group was an electrician, and he agreed to do some work in our house. Besides our kitchen, we had no overhead lights in our house which just seemed so weird to us and made our house seem dark with only a few lamps. Now, however, we have an overhead light in our living room, spare room, baby's room, and bedroom! Bill was very considerate: when he put the light in the baby's room he included a dimmer switch (which is amazing!) and in our bedroom we also have a beautiful fan. We couldn't be happier! Just a few small improvements that really make a huge difference. We were so thankful for his work! This picture is of our bedroom fully equipped now with a light and fan and newly painted walls (I still need to hang some things on the wall and made some new curtains that match!)

We also had a great time with the students and adults that helped out during the week at school. Both Tim and I had a group come in and do some creative writing with our students, and Tim's class also had fun doing some photography. They took charge of our PE during the week and had our students in teams where they did Survivor-type challenges. It was fun to see our kids working together and really enjoying themselves. On Friday they lead chapel and showed a video they had made of our kids throughout the week which was so fun. Our kids were so sad to see them leave - they really enjoyed having them here! Our school was very blessed by their work this week and we thank God for people willing to spend their spring break from school working at ours!

Last week I also had another check-up appointment. They said I was measuring well and gaining adequate weight which was good to hear. Tim was able to come along for this appointment, so he really enjoyed hearing the heartbeat and the actual valves in the heart opening and closing. Today we hung up a shelf in the baby's room that Tim had made when he was in high school, so it's fun to have that hanging in his/her room! This picture gives you a little taste of what the crib will look like, although its just sitting in there and not actually on the crib yet. The time is getting closer and we continue to get more excited!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

I am reminded of so many things to be thankful for this year. Although we've grown up hearing the Easter story year after year, we were again reminded of God's incredible gift of sending His Son to die for us....for our sins. I guess it maybe hit me a little more this year as I am expecting a child soon, and thinking about giving up our child to die for the rest of the world. I couldn't be more grateful for the gift that He gave us.

Tim and I are thankful also for the gift of life God gave Ben and Laura this past week in the birth of their beautiful twins Addison and Ashton! We are quite proud to be their aunt and uncle! They made the pregnancy full term and everything went well so - what a blessing! We can't wait to see them this summer, although it's sad to think how big they will be already in a couple of months!

I made it through another week of pregnancy with no complaints... still feeling well, sleeping fine, and able to do full time work at school which makes me very thankful. Apparently my students think I look way smaller when I wear white, so I'm considering wearing that more often in these last couple months! :) They continue to touch my stomach when I walk past their desks, with the same reaction of "gross" everytime...you'd think they would learn! (although there is nothing gross about it!) We are starting to talk more about baby names and naming a few we like, although we have not narrowed it down completely yet. All in all, I'm very grateful for how well these 31 weeks have already gone and look forward to the final weeks as we get nearer the arrival of our child!

Last night we had a scavenger hunt around Zuni for Ruth's birthday.... pretty fun, although it was snowing while we were outside which was a little cold! This coming week we have a group of 14 students from California that are volunteering at our school, so it will be nice to have them in and out of our classrooms doing extra work and activities with our students. We are thankful for all those who are willing to spend their extra time down in Zuni with our kids and school. We look forward to the week ahead!

Speeding ticket?

2009-04-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

So on Wednesday I checked my mail and saw an envelope that said New Mexico State Police Traffic Ticket Bureau. I looked at it and thought, "Yeah right, this has got to be an April Fool's joke." But then I opened up the envelope and there is a letter, with a picture of my license plate, telling me they took the picture at an intersection in Gallup. I asked Charla in the office where the intersection was and she said it was the first corner coming into Gallup from Zuni. I asked her what direction I would have been traveling if I went west as the ticket said, and she said turning left towards Western. I thought, "Oh my goodness, I do that turn all the time going to class on Wednesday and Saturday's! What did I do?" The ticket said I ran a red light. In my head I'm thinking that isn't possible because I can only turn on a green arrow there, but thought wow I am so terrible! I continued to look over the ticket, and asked others who were now in the office wondering what I was getting all worked up about how they would have gotten my information like my height, eye color, etc? They told me that since they got my license plate they could trace my license through that and find the information. Then my eyes rolled down to the price... $250!!! Holy cow, New Mexico has such steep tickets!! I couldn't believe it, how could I have been so dumb! Then I thought, "man, what day was it I got this thing?" so I looked at the date which said Tuesday, March 24....BINGO! Tim and I weren't even in the state of NM that day, we were on spring break in Arizona! At that time, Pastor Mike walked in grinning from ear to ear...just watching me. I saw him and said, "Pastor Mike, look at you made me do!" I had become all worked up over this ticket that my face was all red and I was beginning to sweat all over. He thought it was so funny and it would work on me because he would get a good reaction....he was right! I told him maybe it wasn't the best idea to play a joke like that on a pregnant woman! :)

30 weeks this week.... 10 to go! (if all stays on schedule). Wow, the time just keeps going by so quickly! Yesterday at my Saturday class I told Tim that in the afternoon when we were visiting one of the middle schools in Gallup that the baby was being so active...he/she must have loved learning already and being in a classroom! I can't get enough of the kicking and moving around.... glad the baby is having fun moving around and keeping busy. I think he/she is following in his parent's footsteps!

I had my last class of this semester on Saturday which is so great.... I'm looking foward to not having to spend a whole day Saturday sitting in class anymore and going on Wednesday nights. It is also nice to be done since I am now teaching full time this last quarter at school, so I will have more time to do things for school rather than for my grad class. Hard to believe we have 7 weeks of school left this year! Tim has been a little sick this weekend, hopefully starting to feel a little better now, so pray for him to feel better by the start of our school week tomorrow.

Spring break and 29 weeks

2009-03-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

So we've made it back from our spring break and what a fun and relaxing week we had! What a blessing to be able to get away together, do some awesome things outside in God's beautiful creation, visit relatives and friends, and get rejuvinated for the last quarter of our first school year in Zuni.

A few brief details about our trip: Tim and I left Sunday afternoon and headed to Sedona, AZ to the Sedona National Forest. The area is surrounded by beautiful red rocks which was amazing! We camped two nights in a campground by the red rocks and next to a river which was beautiful. It got a little cold at nighttime: 31 degrees! During the days we found a couple awesome hikes to go on and one nice mountain bike trail which kept us busy. We were saying how thankful we were that I have been feeling well and still capable of doing so much even though I was 28 weeks so that we could do so much on our break outdoors. I felt great on the trip - although during some climbing I found my legs getting more tired and I'd be out of breath a lot quicker, but Tim allowed us to take as many breaks as I needed which was wonderful! He did a good job making sure mom and baby were doing fine!

We left Sedona and headed to Phoenix next. That afternoon we hiked up Camelback Mountain which took us longer than we expected it too but was a beautiful hike. We had a great view of Phoenix and all the mountain ranges surrounding it from the top. Since it took longer than we thought, we weren't able to do anything else that afternoon, so we headed to Mesa to visit our relatives and friends. Rollie and Joyce Christians had a room all ready for us to stay in when we arrived and had planned a potluck for supper with my aunts and uncles and some other friends from Edgerton. My Uncle Bern and Aunt Verla Walhof as well as Uncle John and Aunt Marge Prins were spending a vacation in Mesa the same time we were, so we planned to spend the day with them which was great! On Wednesday we played a game of boccee ball and spent the afternoon/evening at the Desert Botanical Gardens which was beautiful! I was so surpised how many types of cacti there are and how beautiful they can be!

We left Phoenix and headed to Tucson and went to the Desert Museum in Saguaro National Park which was also a lot of fun. We ended up leaving a little earlier than we had planned and headed back to Zuni Thursday night, which gave us Friday afternoon to finish the painting in our bedroom which I was thankful for. Tim thinks we are done painting in our house for awhile now - although there is always more I'd love to do!

As for the baby, it has been doing great and continues to move around a lot. Often on our trip when we'd be in the car it seemed to stick its foot up into my ribs which was a little uncomfortable but I guess that's ok for all the hiking I made the baby do! According to my aunts this week they think I'm doing well so I hope that continues to be the case! My 29 week picture is taken in our newly painted bedroom!

Rearrangements....

2009-03-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend Tim and I kept ourselves busy rearranging some rooms in our house. Our office has now been changed into our new guest room (ready for visitors anytime!), and our previous guest room is now ready for the arrival of our baby! The picture shows the crib that we finally were able to get set up now that the bed was moved out of that room. Because we will have quite a few weeks to go, I didn't put the crib sheet set on yet, but it is a lighter green dot/stripe set to match the lighter color on the walls. My next project for the room is to make some curtains, which I might need a little help with because I've never used a sewing machine before! But it is so much fun to walk down our hallway now, look into the room that is all set aside for the baby now, and picture what will be in there in a few short months! Makes us excited just thinking about it!

I'm 27 weeks along now this week, feeling good (besides a few backaches at night) and feeling like I'm really starting to grow. I looked at the picture after we took it and thought I have grown a lot in the past week. Baby is still moving around a lot, making him/herself known, and hopefully starting to hear and recognize our voices as we talk to the baby.

Yesterday Tim and I went to Rehoboth church at night to hear the Dordt band play because they are on a spring break trip and traveling through our area. We weren't sure if we would really know anyone, but it was fun to end up seeing a few people we know. One guy that was on the same track and cross country team with me couldn't believe it when he saw us. Last year when we lived in Florida we went up to Orlando on our spring break to watch the track team run and saw him there. Now, when he travels to NM to play in the band, there Tim and I show up again! We're following Dordt around whereever they go... :)

We're looking forward to spring break next week. We're going to travel towards the Phoenix area, spend a few nights camping next to the huge cacti, and visit some family and friends (can't wait!!)

Week 26

2009-03-10T10:30:00.001-07:00

We just got back from our 2nd ultrasound this morning, and can I say how much fun it is to see our little one moving around inside of me?! Although the pictures were not incredibly clear, to see all the organs, the spine, the little face....what a blessing! Currently the baby is measuring to be born June 11, and since my original due date is June 14, I'm right on schedule! Once we were finished with the ultrasound, the dr. checked the pictures he had printed and none of them turned out - there was a problem with the printer! We were a little bummed, but figured it will be better to actually see our baby when he/she comes out, so we were just going to leave it. He said he could quickly do it again if we wanted a picture of the head and face, so we gladly agreed to quickly see the little one again! 14 weeks ago we had our first ultrasound, and Tim said if all goes smoothly, 14 weeks until now our baby will be here! How exciting (and a little nerve-racking!) I had blood drawn this morning also after I took a glucose test to check if I am at risk or have any gestational diabetes, so pray the result come back negative (I'm not too worried about it.)

The picture above was taken in our baby's room. I don't have a bigger picture of the room yet because we don't have the crib up, the bed moved out, etc. So once we have it a little more put together I'll put up a picture to show. Right now, you can see we painted it a darker green color and I ragged a light color green over the top to match the crib bedding set that we bought. Can't wait to get it all put together and ready to go!

On Sunday after having a cookout at some friends house in Blackrock for dinner, Tim and I decided to do our bike/run back to Zuni. We decided not to take the normal road but take some round-about paths more around the mesas back to Zuni. Boy did we forget that spring is in full affect here in Zuni and the wind is crazy to run/bike in! We were told, "March is known as windy month, and April is even-windier month", so we're in for a treat for awhile yet. However, after an hour and a half, we finally made it back home very sick of battling the direct head-on wind the whole way back!

This Friday is the end of our 3rd quarter - where has the year gone?!?! We're busy this week finishing up grades, getting report cards ready, setting up parent teacher conferences, and preparing for our last quarter of this school year. Hard to believe that we are nearly done with our first year here in Zuni, and shortly after this quarter is over our baby will be here. Better get moving!!

The nursery is underway...

2009-03-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

We are entering week 25 and starting to get things in order in the nursery. I spent yesterday painting two coats, and I still have one to go. Once it's painted we can move the bed out and into the new spare room, and then hopefully set the crib up and get the room looking ready for a baby! We will have another ultrasound in a week, so that will be very fun to see the baby more developed than when we had one in the earlier weeks. I've been feeling great - still haven't had any sickness which has been a blessing! I've trying to keep myself motivated to exercise, sometimes I would rather not! But since Tim wants to get back into running more often, he does the running and I bike next to him which has been fun. Yesterday we did a bike/run when it was like 60+ degrees - so beautiful! I forget sometimes since we've had such beautiful weather lately that people in other places in the US are still experiencing winter and snow!

Tim and I went to Phoenix last weekend with the other teacher's from our school to a reading convention. We sat through a few seminars giving more helpful hints to use in our classes and many book ideas to add to our libraries. Hopefully the information will help us become better teachers! Driving home from Phoenix back to Zuni we went past these Saguaro cactus' in the Arizon desert. They were huge and there were so many of them! It was amazing again seeing another creation from God's handiwork!

This week marks the end of Tim's basketball team's season which is sad because it has been fun but also nice to have it finished. To end the season the younger Cubs team plays the staff and Tim's older Cougar's team plays the parents. Some of the younger kids have been asking me if I'm going to play, since they have it in their heads it seems like that pregnant people can't do anything! Tyla, one of my students told me the other day that her mom saw Tim and I when we were running and biking together. Another student, Tre', said, "You were biking?!" I was like, "Yes, I am still capable of biking even with a little one inside! The baby wants me to stay healthy!" So I don't know if my students' mother's never worked out when they were pregnant, but they sure thought it was odd that I was!

Mt. Taylor Quad

2009-02-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the mountain Tim's team conquered for the Mt. Taylor quad! They had to reach the peak at 11,311 feet!

So driving around Grants, NM with Ruth, Tara, and Tim, looking for the building they had to check in for the quad at, I said "It seems so weird to me that you guys are involved in a race where one member of the team is a snowshoer!" Then Tara said, "Well, have you ever been in a race before with a cross-country skier?" I was like, "No, I guess not!" And Tara said, "Have you ever been in a race where you were a biker?" And again, I had to repeat No. I mean, Tim and I have been involved in many races over the years, but normal races that involve only running! However, Tim had such a good time last weekend in the quad. He started the race as the biker, biking up like 1800 feet in thirteen miles. He passed off the baton (well, actually just a timer chip they had to wear on their leg) to Tara, who ran uphill 5 miles. Tara passed the chip to Jon (a Santa Fe skier who we found when we desperately needed a 4th member!), who cross-country skied 2 miles, and Ruth finished the uphill a mile to the peak in her snowshoes. Then the process worked backwards until they finished right back where they began. Although Tim had to wait a couple hours for his teammates to get back down to him, and he was cold at times waiting up on the mountain, he really enjoyed it and hopes to do it again maybe next year. They had no idea how long it would take them to do the race - maybe 6 or 7 hours. So they were presentely surprised when they finished in 4 hours and 56 min climbing and descending 4800 feet! He thinks it would be fun to do it as a pair and maybe do both the biking and the running and pass it off to one teammate to do the ski/snowshoe leg. And what did I do the whole day while they were racing?? - you might think I was there supporting him with cheers and banners. But unfortunetely, I was sitting in class all day just thinking about them having fun and me, well, not having the fun they were having. Their team got 2nd place in their age devision and 11th out of 49 teams overall!

As for me and a baby update - my belly is starting to grow more and more. My kids are thinking they can actually tell I'm pregnant now which they think is so "weird"! If I walk by them in the classroom, some of them will poke my stomach and then say "Oh weird! It's hard!" Last night the baby felt like it was just doing flips because we could feel it rub against my stomach all the time - so fun! Our staff is going to a conference in Phoenix at the beginning of next week, and Kathy said "Bring your suits so we can go in the hottub!" Then she looked and me and said, "Well maybe you can just watch us from the pool!" Gotta love not being able to do everything... but I won't complain, it all comes with a wonderful outcome! We hope to head and buy some paint this weekend to paint the baby room and our room before the baby makes me too busy to do some house projects. Happy painting! (and don't worry mom, I'll get the paint that isn't bad for pregnant people! :) )

22 weeks

2009-02-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

So the baby has officially began moving around enough that I can feel the movements (and Tim can too!) which has been so fun the past week or so. Now I can say I finally feel pregnant since I know the little one is actually in there! I'm still feeling really good through it, and can say I am starting to understand what my sister-in-law Laura was telling me at Christmas when she would be hungry for a meal but then fill up very quickly. The little one is taking up more room and the stomach just doesn't have too much room in there I'm afraid! My mom sent me a package of some maternity pants that she found in SF since I told her I can't find any around here unless I went to Albuequerque, but I was convinced that someone else found the package and was wearing my pants. It took 2 1/2 weeks to get here! I know we live on a reservation, but I didn't think it would take that long!

One bummer about being pregnant is that I wasn't able to go with Tim and Chad skiing yesterday. There is a very nice ski lodge about 2 hours from Zuni, and they spent the day skiing the slopes together. They had a blast! On their way home, Tim called and I asked how the day went. He told me the day went really great up until the end. Of course I had to ask, "Oh no, did something happen?" He said, "Well, we had a little accident. Chad got the better end of it with just a concussion." I was like, "What, the better end? What does that leave you with?" And he told me he tore his ACL again. I started to panic... my breathing started to increase, which in turn caused my heart to start beating frantically, and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I could tell the baby must have noticed how my body changed because it gave me three pretty strong kicks. Tim then was like, "Just kidding!" I couldn't believe it - all that stress for nothing! Since it was Chad's idea to scare me like that, I told him that if I would have been further along, say 8 months or so, I could have probably gone into early labor with my husband 2 hours away and I would have been VERY upset with him! :)

Tim is one week away from his quadrathalon - hope it goes well!!

20 weeks

2009-01-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

So I gave in and took my first "baby bump" picture. I felt a little strange taking it because I don't feel like I look TOO pregnant yet, but thought I might as well join the bandwagon and start taking the pictures! :) I wore a little tighter shirt so you could tell, otherwise if I wear a little bigger shirt you can't tell I am pregnant unless you know. Things continue to go well, don't think I've felt any movement yet, but wait anxiously everyday for that to happen! I want to really start feeling pregnant :)

I started my next class at Western - meeting Wednesday nights and a couple full days on Saturday. Can't say I enjoyed the full day of being in class on Saturday, but hopefully they will be interesting and continue to go well. Tim was planning on filling that day I was gone by going skiing with some friends about 2 hours away, but those plans were pushed aside until hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Tim is in traning-mode for a quadrathalon he is going to be in in 3 weeks on Mount Taylor. It's a four-part race: biking, running, cross-country skiing, and snow shoeing. Tim's part is the biking... he's not quite sure how much of an incline he's have to travel up the first time, but by the time the snow-shoer gets to the peak, they will turn around and come back down and everyone will repeat their part. Hopefully it goes well - he's excited! I wish I could go and watch - but unfortunely I have class :(

Otherwise, Tim's Cougars are 3-1 with another game tonight - let's go Cougars! :)

Outdoor camping in the winter?

2009-01-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

Camping is something we both really enjoy and have so much fun doing; however, I can't say I've ever considered camping outdoors in the winter in 0-10 degree weather. Tim, Chad, Kent, and Dana, however, thought this would be such a great idea! Last weekend they planned their meals, clothing and supplies, and headed up a nearby mesa to camp for the evening. On an earlier hiking trip Tim and I took with Chad, we found this little cave-like hole in the mesa that they thought would be the best spot to camp! They spent the afternoon/evening keeping warm by a fire, cooking food (and lots of it!) and sleeping in 2 sleeping bags with a water bottle in their sleeping bag they had boiled on the fire before heading to bed. Sound fun to anyone else?! :) The girls and I decided a night out to eat in Gallup sounded a lot more fun, so we enjoyed an evening spending time together eating and talking til late. This picture is a view of Zuni and the Window Rock from where Tim and his friends camped that night.

I started my new class last night - yikes! It will be a lot of work and a lot of time in class. Hopefully I don't get burned out too quickly! I also had a dr. appointment yesterday and am now 18 weeks along and doing well! I'm ready for this baby to start moving around so I can feel for sure he/she is actually in there! :) I decided not to post a picture yet, just because you can't really see much at all yet...maybe 1-2 weeks and I'll post those lovely tummy pictures as well. Stay tuned :)

Well, I have some grading to do before Tim's middle school basketball team's game tonight....go Cougars!

Late start!

2009-01-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

Can you believe I'm actually writing again the following day?! :) Told you I'd try to keep this more updated!

It was wonderful this morning waking up to the phone call that school was a 2-hour late start due to the snow we received yesterday and last night! Got to love those extra 2 hours of sleep on the first day back into school after break! I had to laugh when I got to school today - one of my students that came into the classroom said to me "Mrs. E, did you lie to us before break about being pregnant, I just can't believe it!" She was again quite surprised when I told her the news was true :)

Tim and I feel back into the swing of things after getting back from Christmas break, putting away all the stuff that accumulated in our car on the trip back, and hearing from many friends and family about our news. Thanks for your notes - they have been awesome!

Well, can't say I have much to write about since I just wrote - but thought I'd surprise you with my speed at posts now :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year (a few days late!)
We want to start by apologizing for our lack of communication this past semester. Since moving to Zuni this summer, our life has stayed very busy which does not find much time to write update emails. I will try much harder this semester to get a couple more out!

Things are going very well for us in Zuni. We have already finished our 1st semester of school and begin the second semester tomorrow. After the first semester, we felt like we had a pretty good swing of things around the school and in our classrooms. Of course there are new things to discover and learn everyday, but we feel very blessed to be at this school.

One of the highlights of this past semester was our schools 100th year centennial. Many activities were planned for alumni, grandparents, and the children throughout the weekend, finishing up with a whole school performance during the church service to celebrate God’s faithfulness to our school for the past 100 years. It was a wonderful weekend, and we were once again reminded of God’s goodness to us here in Zuni. We continue to learn more about this culture as we are able to observe some of their religious dances and ceremonies. Continue to pray that the hearts of the Zuni’s will be opened to the truth and light of the living God.

Tim is currently coaching the 6-8th grade boys basketball team, which he is really enjoying spending some time with his students outside of the classroom and getting to coach a sport he really loves. I usually tag along and help during practice, so the boys have given me the name “Coach’s Wife”. J

I finished the one class I was taking last semester to work towards my teaching endorsement and will begin another class in a couple of weeks. The school is in Gallup, so I have to drive about 35 miles to class one night a week. I am enjoying the program so far and hope it continues to go well.

We really have enjoyed getting to know the people here, making close friends with people from the school and church, and just getting involved as much as we can. Tim and I have a couple times been able to participate in the praise band at church which we really enjoy.

Tim and I find some time to enjoy the beautiful landscape around us either biking, running, hiking, or camping by ourselves or with some friends. The mesa’s continue to amaze us in their beauty throughout the different seasons we are going through.

And although we love our students and our work here, we were very excited to head to the Midwest for Christmas to visit our families. We had a wonderful break spending time with our family and friends. Probably the most exciting part of our break was surprising our family with the news of a baby on the way in June (for those of you that haven’t heard yet!). We are very excited for the new stage in our life we are beginning and thank God that everything has been going well so far during the pregnancy. We are again reminded of the incredible gift of life God gives to us to enjoy and gives us the responsibility to take care of.

We pray each of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and look forward to the upcoming year and all God is capable of doing through you in whatever He leads you to do. I do plan to update more often on our blog if you would like to check up on us: tceisenga.blogspot.com. Thank you for your continual prayers for us while we do the work God has placed us to do in Zuni.

Our New Home - Zuni, NM

2008-07-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings family and friends

For those of you who did not know, Chelsea and I have moved from Florida to New Mexico this summer. We enjoyed our time in Florida but God has moved us in a different direction and as long as He is leading we are excited to follow together. This coming school year we will both be teaching at Zuni Christian Mission School in Western New Mexico about 15 miles from Arizona. Zuni Christian Mission is part of the CRC Home Missions and serves the Zuni Native American tribe. It is located in the center of the Zuni Indian Reservation. The Zuni Christian Mission has been here since 1896.

We moved to Zuni on June 24. We have enjoyed this part of the summer here getting to know the other teachers, pastor and his family, and the Zuni people including some of the kids we will be teaching. We have both been looking over our new curriculums while we have been here so that we are prepared for the school year. There is only so much you can do before the school year starts though. I will be teaching close to all the subjects in the 7th-8th grade classroom. Chelsea is teaching the 5th-6th grade classroom in the mornings. There are about 70 students K-8 so that is why 2 grades are combined in 1 classroom. Her subjects will be Math, Science, and Bible. She also will begin pursuing getting her teaching license by taking classes in 1 of the 2 colleges in Gallup about 35 miles away. Pray for wisdom for us as we have to decide which school she will pursue a program at. Pray also that we will both adjust well to preparing for and teaching more subjects. We each only had 2 subjects to prepare for in Florida. Pray that we will also establish good relationships with our students and a positive classroom environment from the beginning of the year.

The Southwest landscape around us is beautiful. There are red rock mesas all around the village. Many of you are probably thinking it is very hot here in New Mexico. Well, we are at a high elevation of 6,200 feet so that keeps it cooler than other parts of the state. It is a much drier heat also. The elevation also keeps things looking a little greener around and will allow us to have some snow in the winter. We have been enjoying the beautiful outdoors on hikes, biking and still running too.

The Zuni reservation stretches approximately 15 miles in every direction. There are about 10,000 Zuni people on the reservation and probably 80% of them live in the village. Zuni is a pueblo (village) tribe as they have been for hundreds of years. That is why such a large percentage live in the town. Even though there are a lot of people in the town there are just a few gas stations, a small grocery store, and one restaurant to speak of. There is a large amount of poverty among the Zuni as there are not many job opportunities on the reservation. The main source of income for most of the people comes from their beautiful jewelry, paintings, pottery, and crafts that they make. The people are still very similar traditionally, culturally, and religiously to how they have always been. While we have been here we have seen the same summer rain dances that they have been doing for generations. Their dances were to bring the summer blessings of rain, blessings to all people, and drive evil spirits away. The whole community lined the path of the dancers coming into the town which represented their gods visiting the village. Pray for the Zuni’s eyes to be opened to the truth of the gospel and the one true God. Pray for the mission, school, and Zuni believers to remain strong and share the truth with those that are lost. There is a strong group of families and individuals that meet for church on Sundays but it is a small percentage of all of the Zuni people.
Challenge
Nehemiah 4:14 – "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome…" Returning from exile, the Jews had much opposition to rebuilding the city's wall. I love this quote from Nehemiah in this situation reminding the people they have no need to fear because they have the Lord. When difficulties arise in life, we also do not need to be afraid but in that instance REMEMBER the Lord who is with you. He will give you the strength you need. Cling to Him!

Well, we just wanted to tell everyone where God has taken us now and introduce you to Zuni. Please pray for the mission here and for us as we get started here. The school year starts already August 12. We are headed back to the Midwest this coming Monday for 2 weeks. Pray for safety on the roads. Most of the time we will be in Wisconsin as we have not seen my family yet this summer and we have a friend's wedding August 2. Praying for God's best for all of you. Love to here from you all too!

In Christ

Tim and Chelsea

New Mexico Address
Tim and Chelsea Eisenga
PO Box 445
Zuni, NM 87327