There is a great giveaway going on at Simple Mom as well. Check it out.

Check out the crafty crow for some great giveaways.

The little boy inside of me is kicking up a storm right now and it is making me feel a bit sick. We have our second doctor's appointment tomorrow and will hopefully get to see the maternity ward. Having a baby in a foreign hospital will definitely be interesting, since we are not really sure what to expect. Will anyone even speak English? Our doctor doesn't seem to (though she is a woman and she gets points for that). It is just funny how different things are here. After our last appointment, which was short but we did get an ultrasound, we had to stop at the little desk to pay. We paid 100,000 Rupiah which was about $10.00 U.S.! Only $10.00? How crazy is that. Supposedly from what we were told, a normal birth should only cost us about $660.00 U.S. and I think that includes your staying in the hospital for a few days in a private room. Imagine if you could pay out of pocket for giving birth in the states.

We shall see how it all goes. I might need to come back here for all of my subsequent births. :)

mother's day memories

Mother's day was yesterday and it turned out very similar to last year for me. So far in my brief stint as a mother I have had two mother's days that involved sickness. Last year Jeremiah was about 2 months old and the day before mother's day was my sister's wedding. I was in a dress all day and had pumped breast milk for Jeremiah so I didn't have to worry about him during the ceremony. The downside was that when I woke up the next morning I had a very sore duct-clogged breast that gave me a fever and pain for days. So the day was spent watching t.v. and feeling horrible while at my parent's house.

This year I woke up and got ready for church, including a new dress (being pregnant and wearing a dress kind of makes me look like a whale though). After Jeremiah woke up he began throwing up a little. While he didn't throw up again really, he had a fever on and off all day. We spent the day watching t.v. and he kept falling asleep on my lap, which was continued into today (It takes him like 15 minutes to get comfortable on my lap because my big Silas belly gets in the way of his comfort). He has been living off of graham crackers since he can eat them on his own now. And we are at my parent's house.

I wonder what awaits me next mother's day?

74 days and counting...

We have 74 days until we move to Indonesia! How crazy is that? It is so weird to think that we will be moving to such a new life in so few days. It will be busy up until then as well. May involves trips to our churches in Eugene, Salem, and Yakima to let everyone know what we are up to and how to pray for us. June involves spending two weeks with Evan's family on the East Coast including North Carolina and Florida (our hot weather and plane practice runs). After that trip we have about a week and then we fly far, far away.

Lately we have been preparing by buying things. Evan has to get two years worth of clothes, including ones for work, here since he is bigger than most Indonesians. So we have been spending money right and left, which is a bit unnerving, but fun at the same time. We never get to just spend money, but right now we have to. We have bought a whole bunch of other things as well and since we are actually doing pretty well time-wise we can still shop around and get good deals.

On another note...I am 22 weeks pregnant and I am starting to feel big and bulky. I have had the pregnancy belly for sometime now even when my sister who is farther along than me was not showing. I guess my uterus got excited that it gets to go to work again and popped right back into doing what it knows how to do...stretch. I just think it's funny. I love being pregnant and it's exciting because you get a cute baby as a payoff at the end. I still can't even imagine all the work having a newborn and an 18 month old will be, but I am sure having a maid in Indonesia will help. :)

Jeremiah is head butting Silas

Yesterday we went to the doctor and had an ultrasound and the news is...(drum roll please) we are having another boy! At the moment we think he will be named Silas Edward. That is our exciting news for the week. It is weird to find out what the sex of the baby is because now we can call him by his name. With Jeremiah we had an idea that he was a boy but we weren't 100% sure. So Silas is doing well, all 11 0z of him.

Jeremiah on the other hand is going through the terrible two's early. He is throwing tantrums all the time. He whimpers, wants to breast feed like he is a starved child (which isn't extremely conducive to weaning), is hitting his head against things on purpose when he can't get his way... needless to say he is being difficult. He even has been throwing his head against my belly and poor Silas has no choice but to take the abuse.

Life is going...sometimes it is easier than others.

Boxes and boxes of chaos

Since this week was spring break for Evan and my dad was home all week we decided to finish off the storage unit. On Saturday we borrowed my dad's truck and went down to Salem and got our bed (finally a comfortable queen!) and a few other things. His truck isn't the biggest so we were going to have to make many trips it would seem. Tuesday we took his truck down as well, but Wednesday we decided to rent a budget rental truck and just finish the job off. Driving down to Salem everyday was too much and we had to keep having my sister and dad watch Jeremiah all day, which messed up the poor kid's routine.

So Wednesday we packed up the whole storage unit and paid the last of our dues. When we left for Yakima last year we thought all of the things we put into storage we our important, couldn't live without, belongings. Now when we look at the things we saved we just see junk. It is kind of hard to get rid of your whole life's worth of stuff, but a bit relieving as well. To come back here after a few years and to just have a few boxes in my parents spare bedroom sounds a lot nicer than boxes upon boxes of things to unpack and repack... Frankly I am tired of packing and repacking.

Anyway, we packed up everything and brought it home, to my parents house that is. My parent's living room is now trashed, I mean stacked to the ceiling, with all the rest of our belongings. We managed to give away most of our big furniture to my sister and a few things to my parents in exchange for rent, but we still have a lot. We have been going through each box and making piles of things to save, take, give away or sell. The problem is that we are doing all of this in a house that is already furnished and full. There is no room for our junk while we sort. So life is chaotic at the moment. It is also extremely hard to sort all of these things with a one year old. He can be very helpful at taking things out of boxes and putting things back in, but soon he wants to play with something from the boxes that he is not allowed to play with and a fit ensues. The poor kid has been extra emotional lately anyway I think from all the changes.

So here we are practically giving our life away for free to whoever wants our stuff. Let us know if your need anything. We probably have it and will need to part with it soon.

Let it out

I love this video! The song by Starrfadu is wonderful and the commercial makes me a little mushy inside. Enjoy.

Guest Blog: Jeremiah's First Digit

Jeremiah, our son, hit his first digit today. And since this is (at least to us) a momentous occasion, we thought that I (Evan, Jessica's husband) would have the honor of blogging his day.

The actual birthday party won't be until this Saturday, the 8th of March. Still, there are still some pretty exciting things that occurred today:

• The first thing didn't actually happen today, but one year ago on this day. One year ago at 12:35 pm in the Birthing Center of the Silverton Hospital, my son took his first breath of fresh air. At that point he was already 9 months and 2 days old (he was 2 days late) and was ready to continue his growing, but this time on the outside of mommy. And so with much joy our son went from his mother's belly to her chest. He's remained there many days since. I suppose, since he was already alive 9 months and 2 days when he was born, that means he has been alive for 21 months and 2 days. He's already an old timer.

• The second exciting thing about today again wasn't today, but a year ago. You see, our beautiful baby boy was born on a special day. A math day. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a history teacher through and through, but a little math distinction is kind of cool in my book. Jeremiah was born March 3, 2007 or 03/05/07... which are three consecutive prime numbers. And, he was born at 12:35 in the afternoon. If you divide 12 by the number of fingers (not including the thumb) on Jeremiah's left hand (four), you get 3. Then if you divide 35 by 5, you get 7. Or in other words, our son was born at 3, 5, 7 on 03/05/07.

• The third thing that I would like to share about today actually happened today. For some reason, as though his mind and body knew that today he was one years breathing, Jeremiah has made leaps and bounds in his development. Its all in the little things too. One example is that normally in the bathtub he is very docile. Not tonight! Tonight he started splashing and splashing and splashing. And when I would tap my hand on the side of the tub, he started doing it right next to mine keeping perfect time. Also, when I told him to put his toys into the tub at the beginning and to take them out at the end, he did so with such understanding and seemingly happiness. He seemed pleased to follow directions.

These are not the only things that I've noticed about my son today, but they are a few of the cute things that have just warmed my heart. It is a great privilege to be a father. Tonight, watching my son play in the bathtub, it was almost as though I were watching myself. It was surreal but very pleasant. I have the joy of raising my son. In a sense, I am raising myself. That's one digit down. Let's make it to two.

News, news, news...

On Monday Evan had a Skype phone interview with the principal at the Cikarang middle school, along with the principal of the high school who was also present. It started at 8pm our time (11am their time) and lasted an hour and a half. The principal, Eric Semler, was really nice and went into a lot of detail about things. They asked a lot of questions, but Evan did an awesome job answering them and really showed his teacherly ability. By the end of the interview Eric said that Evan was just what they were looking for and was a good fit for their school and that "this is a job offer."

We were a little shocked. I figured it would be a long wait again with the constant check of emails and the daily reminder that "it is 8am in Indonesia." But there it was, a job offer. If he were to accept he would be teaching 9th and 10th grade Language Arts and Social Studies. He would probably also be involved in some after school sport as well. We told him we pretty much knew our answer, but would pray about it for a few days to make sure and then email him back. We will probably email him tonight with the answer.

INDONESIA! We knew it could really happen, but it's hard to believe it really will be happening. There are still some concerns, such as having the baby. The school can't cover us with insurance when we get there. We will either have to pay for having the baby ourselves, which might work since it is a cheaper standard of living, or me possibly staying behind and Evan coming to get me and Jeremiah and the new baby in October when they get a week break. Eric was going to find out the prices for us to have a baby there and get back to us. We have to really get going too, there is so much for us to do before we go. We need to sell everything in our storage unit, buy a bunch of stuff, do a lot of planning, sell the car... etc, etc.

The only really hard thing to think about is leaving family. Our families would be happy if we stayed here and yet we would be miserable. If we go, we will be happy and our families will be upset. My parents are having a particularly hard time with it all. My mom worries a ton about things and this is like a worry hay-day for her. Also they have had Jeremiah here for almost a year and refer to him as "my baby." They wouldn't see the new baby in person for at least a year, but possibly two. Hard things. I keep thinking about what pastor Keith has said in the past. If you are following God, sometimes those around you will have to make sacrifices and suffer for your obedience. It's true and a bit sad all at the same time.

Since this is getting long, one last thing. Today Jeremiah is one year old! Can you believe it? My baby is not a baby anymore, but a toddler. It goes by so fast.

The Waiting Game

We finally heard back from Indonesia. It was not the day after as we were hoping, but a week later. Evan emailed the principal and politely asked if we would be hearing any new soon. The principal responded saying that "staffing was a complex process" and especially since he was talking with the other schools about their positions as well and so who know how long it would be before they could nail down an offer if they had one.

Then the email came and it was not the one we wanted. "It looks like I will have to use my last expat position elsewhere and will not be able to offer you a position in Karawaci. However we feel you are the kind of teacher we are looking for within our organisation so I have passed your application on to Mr Eric Semlar the Principal at out Chikerang campus. He may well have a vacancy that would suit you."

After all the waiting and hoping it seemed like there would be no position at this school for us after all. The principal had made it seem like we had more of a chance than I guess we did. Evan emailed the Chikerang principal, but it is kind of like starting all over with another school. Application, references, interview...etc. He also might have a position available. Needless to say we were a bit upset and disappointed (he emailed at the end of the day Indonesia time which was about 12:30am here). Then a few minutes later we get another email from this principal. "Evan, sorry. I may have a position open. I'll email you tomorrow."

What? You just said there was no position. We eagerly awaited an email the next day, but to no avail. It was then their weekend so we are waiting until it turns Monday morning there to see if we might hear what position he might have available. We are both losing patience with the school and the process of job hunting. If they have a position we want them to offer it. If they don't we want them to tell us it is over so that we can move on.

All in all it looks like the waiting game will continue another week.

kleenex mountains

Last week Jeremiah and I went to playgroup and there was another baby Jeremiah's age there who was sick. Jeremiah and this baby played together and most likely slobbered on the same toys since they are both in that phase. Two days later Jeremiah got sick. One day later, after holding the sick child, I was sick. Now it has been five days and Jeremiah is finally getting over it and I am hoping for an end to the stuffy nose and the coughing fits.

Though it is sad when Jeremiah gets sick it is cute as well. Sickness is the only time he will slow down enough to be held and cuddled with and when he is sick all he wants is to be cuddled. That is why my mom and dad are now getting sick as well. They couldn't resist his little sicky eyes and runny nose. My sister is also sick because she made the mistake, I mean choice, to come over here and then my mom kept telling her that Jeremiah wanted her to play with him. So sickness abounds around here and hopefully will end soon.

On another note we finally heard back from Indonesia after two long weeks of waiting. The verdict...keep waiting. They said that they really liked Evan's application, references, and interview but they had to give the economics position to another candidate who was more qualified. But they also said that they would love (actual word used) to have Evan as part of their team. The principal was going to look into a couple more possible positions at the other campuses so we shall see. We are hoping to hear back tonight. I know that it boosted Evan's self esteem to have them really trying to find a place for him because they want him to come. Since we are married and are a team, even though I will not be teaching I feel like their acceptance or rejection of Evan is an acceptance or rejection of me as well.

We both really want to go...to have a little bit (or a lot) of adventure, but it is also incredibly scary. Knowing soon would be nice, things here are getting a bit tense.

Many mouths to feed

The other day we saw another show with the Duggars a Christian family with 17 children. The show we were watching was an earlier one called "Raising 16 Children." Every time we watch one of these shows we get fascinated with the family and Evan does all the Google research he can to find out more about them.

There are a lot of people who disagree with the fact that they have so many children, but really what right do you have to say that they should or shouldn't? It is their life. Their children seem happy, well mannered, and well provided for. They live debt free for goodness sake! Shows like this make me think of our possible future of who knows how many children. Our philosophy on birth control and how children are a blessing is very similar to the Duggars. To us they are an inspiration.

One of the things people like to point out is that having so many children is bad for the kids because they don't get enough attention or one-on-one time with their parents. I don't like that reasoning at all. In America, even families with only two children are not guaranteed time and attention. There are many families where both parents work and the kid is in daycare. I think that whether you have 17 kids or two it all depends on how you raise them.

I only have one sister and growing up I was lonely. I don't have a huge bond to either of my parents and my sister and I are very different. As a young adult I don't remember my mom ever coming into my room and having deep meaningful conversations with me. My parents were always there for me in the ways that they should be, but to this day my parents still miss out on a huge chunk of my life because we don't have the relational part of our relationship down. So despite the fact that we only have two kids in my family there are still many things missing.

Anyway, I think I kind of got off topic and opened my heart a bit much. That is all for now. I just really appreciate these families who stand unafraid against a society that does not agree with their lifestyle. Plus all 17 kids have names that start with "J" crazy huh?

God and His sense of humor

I have to love God and His sense of humor. The day I posted my previous post I was at the end of my patience when it came to waiting for direction. I just needed something to happen...anything! I blogged about my frustration and by the end of the day two of my frustration blockades had been torn down.

1. Evan got his substitute license.
2. Evan received a time for an interview.

I was a little bit ashamed at the end of the day that I had so lacked patience in these areas. I am convinced that God chose that day for these events to happen to show me that He is indeed still working behind the scenes even when it seems like everything is at a standstill.

Since then Evan has had his interview and we are waiting to hear back from the school in the next week or two. He has also registered with the school district here and is awaiting their call to substitute. This is where we are in life at the moment.

Since it was Evan's birthday yesterday we get to go out for dinner and a movie tonight...baby free. Let me just say that I am quite excited about this. If we were to move away I think I would miss the baby-free date we go on every week the most. Because it was his birthday we should get to stay out a little later than usual. My parents should be able to get Jeremiah down to sleep since we have resorted to the cry it out method. While I hate putting him in his crib and leaving him to cry, he is 11 months old and still cannot go to sleep without us "holding his hand" or continuously laying him down for an hour. It has worked for the last two days and he has been crying less and less so we are crossing our fingers that this is our final solution.

That is all I have to post about today though I heard through the grapevine that I need to post more often. Getting more comments which would show me that people actually read this would help me to have the desire to post daily (which Evan said he would provide time for). We shall see.

" I'm stuck in the middle with you..."

I feel like I am stuck in a place where I don't want to be or maybe, where I don't know how to be.

Part 1: We are still living with my parents (six months and counting) and will probably be here until the summer at least. While I love my family it is just so stressful for me to have to live here. I am in desperate need of my own space to have some control over. My parents were gone for the weekend and we had the house to ourselves. Let me tell you, I was so much more relaxed and less stressed.

Part 2: The people that do the licensing for teachers still have yet to get Evan his substitute license. While Evan reminded me that it has only been three weeks or so, it feels like forever. He has been at home, jobless, since the middle of December. That is a long time for us to just be sitting around the house...together. When he was working I felt like I had a routine and some purpose for my days. Now I just feel like I am wasting my precious moments to television and sitting. I can't stand it.

Part 3: Evan has applied at many International schools and has gotten many responses in the negative. He doesn't have the two years of teaching experience that every school wants. We have however heard favorably from Sekolah Pelita Harapan, a Christian school in Indonesia. They have looked over Evan's application, checked his references and are now wanting to schedule an interview. If he were to get the job he would be teaching Economics to grades 11 and 12.

It is just so hard to continue waiting and hoping and being scared. What if they say no? We have been trying not to get our hopes up, but it is a little bit difficult. What if they say yes? We will be embarking on a huge, scary adventure. Plus there is the fact that I am having a baby in September...in Indonesia? I know that the Lord is directing all of this to whatever His will is, it is just getting so hard to wait. I don't know how to live my life in the waiting process. It seems like everything is at a standstill and there are just so many unknowns.

Lord give me patience and wisdom to know what to be doing now while I wait.

The ideas are rolling around inside of my head...

For the last week or two I have had moments of, "I need to blog about that" but never did it. Of course I have an excuse and my excuse is Evan. When I asked for the computer today he said that I could have it when his fingers were dead and cold. As you can see I am married to someone who is quite attached to his electronics. In reality he lets me use the computer whenever I ask and is much more gracious about it than I am.

Lately I have been having "you know you are pregnant when..." moments.
For example: "you know you are pregnant when..."
*If in the movie, School of Rock where Jack Black is talking to different students and telling them that they are great at this or that...makes you want to cry, then you are probably pregnant.

Ok, so I had a lot more examples but have forgotten them. Oops...I must be pregnant.

Jeremiah and I went to the Gresham Mom's Club playgroup today. I was very excited to get to hang out with some other moms and babies. I can be a bit shy in the beginning of things or meeting people, but I have thought about going since September. During the fall I didn't have a car so that was my excuse for being cooped up in the house all day and not having any friends. Now though I need to be around other moms so badly that I faced my fears and did it. It was actually a God thing. I had been thinking about getting involved in one of the mom's clubs around here and on Sunday I was really convinced that I needed to go to one. When I got home from church and looked at my email I had a message from the president of the mom's club inviting me to come to the playgroup. So I did.

It was at a church in Gresham, though not affiliated with a church. I had to drive there all by myself and I think I did some pretty good stick driving (that was the part I was more scared about). I found the church and went inside to where they were having some sort of meeting. I knew that the group met downstairs, but when I went down there were a ton of children's classrooms and I didn't know which one they met in. I listened to see if I heard any children and after a few minutes (I got there early) I heard someone go through a door. So I followed whoever it was and found where the group met. Yay! Jeremiah had fun playing and I had fun being there though I was not as outgoing as I would have liked. There were about six moms and nine kids all three and under. It was good. Good to get out of the house and good to be brave.

I thought I had a lot more to say, but if I don't blog right away I guess it goes out of my brain.

The 9 month mark

So you may or may not have heard the news, but...I am pregnant...again! The nice thing about not using birth control is that we don't really worry about getting pregnant or are surprised and unprepared when it happens. We actually expect it every month. Each month we wait for "the time" to come and if it doesn't, well then we probably have another child on the way. Usually every month I think I am pregnant. "I feel kind of queasy...I must be pregnant." "I have to go to the bathroom a lot...I must be pregnant." So forth and so on. This month I actually thought I wasn't pregnant which makes it funnier that I am.

After I had Jeremiah I asked God for at least 9 months before I got pregnant again. Sure enough I got pregnant when Jeremiah was 9 months old. God is funny like that, but he sure does answer prayer (I joke that next time I will ask for a year :). It is not surprising though considering how Evan's and my life together has followed a 9 month pattern fairly closely.

Here is the breakdown:
Dating-Engaged: 9 months
Engaged-Married: 9 months
Married-Jeremiah: 9 months
Jeremiah-Pregnant #2: 9 months

Now in 9 months we will have another baby and 9 months later...who knows? Every 9 months though we do expect some big change in our life to occur which keeps life interesting.

We are excited about having a baby. This time it is a lot easier to not worry so much since I have a good idea of what will be happening. It is nice to already have that experience. The second pregnancy is also a bit harder though. Taking care of Jeremiah is a big job that demands a lot of attention so the thought of being pregnant gets pushed out of the way a lot. I am sure when I am huge then I will think about it more, but at the moment it is easy to forget that there is a little "bean" inside of me that will someday be my son or daughter. We will hopefully get on the Oregon Health Plan again, so soon I can visit the doctor. I want to hear the ultrasound of the little heart beat and make sure there is just one and not two.

A new year already...

I can't believe that it is a new year already. I also can't believe that Jeremiah is 10 months old tomorrow! Time flies so fast when you have kids.

At the moment we are trying to undo some "accidental parenting" that we did in the sleep department with Jeremiah. We have never really had a plan with him when it came to sleep. We just kind of did whatever worked for the night, including him sleeping in our bed consistently for awhile. Well no one gets good sleep with that arrangement and frankly I don't want him to be sleeping in our bed till he is 5. I like a little alone, away from baby time each night as well. I have also been getting him to sleep in his crib every night at least for a few hours.

The problem is that he never learned how to soothe himself if he wakes up and how to go to sleep on his own. Consequently, he is almost a year and is still not sleeping through the night. That fact is further frustrating because he was such a great sleeper in the beginning. We thought we'd have no problems in this area! We are serious about this now and are engaging in a battle of the wills every night from now on in an attempt to get him to sleep on his own and to sleep for the whole night. The hard part is that he has a very strong will. We'll see who is still standing after a few days.

Wish us luck!