summer recap 2007
here's a summary of our summer. the last two summers seem to have been particularly full and hectic. but i wouldn't trade them for anything.
vocation decisions
we have continued to pray and consider what i should do about a job. at this point the plan is for me to enroll in a licensure program to teach in january 2008. charles will continue to prep for his gre and apply for his phd program in educational psychology. in the meantime, we continue to pray that God would provide income for me that would allow me to work part time from home. this is all i know at this point. the unknown is un-nerving- but whatcha gonna do? it would be so nice if the Lord showed us the next fifteen steps of life... but alas- He only seems to show us the next thing to do. probably a good thing- i'd have an anxiety attack otherwise.
summer conference
we had a conference here in columbus for 2million prayers for nigeria. it was pretty great. it reminded me of how little faith i have. the Lord exceeded my meager and embarrassing expectations. our mostly anglo church represented well which made me feel so loved and like people 'get' my husband and how freagin awesome he is... which most women i know will tell you your love factor goes up in their book when you love and respect her husband. there were two nigerian pastors that spoke and our pastor as well. we met a number of other nigerians and our friendship with overcomers (a nigerian church here in town) grew. one very cool thing to note is the traditional ethnic strife between tribes has been taken head on. i love that from a ground level there is partnership between people groups who histrionically have suspicion as the norm and instead have cooperation and encouragement as the norm.
buckeye village:
i have spent an unusual amount of time at buckeye village this summer. this where many teaching assistants and gradute students live at ohio state. it is the refuge camp of residence life. the conditions are pretty meager. as a church, we have a heart to serve residents in practical ways. buckeye village is a stone's throw from our church and in our neighborhood. we've spent many a saturday doing prayer walks, weeding garden plots and handing out school supplies to the kids. our kinship will start hosting a potluck there each month. good stuff.
i think everyone needs opportunities to at least feel like a foreigner (but preferably be a foreigner) and feel stupid and pronounce mandarin incorrectly. i've been taught the word for basil, garlic, and lettuce and butchered them completely- but to the delight of my teachers who seem thrilled i even bothered.
trip prep
our big news this summer has been that we booked tickets to goto nigeria in october. we have been busily preparing and cannot wait to arrive and be with our family! this will be my first time there and constance is the first grandchild on charles' side of the family. so it will be quiet a big deal to be there. we will be doing a conference for 2MPFN similar to the one we held in early august here in columbus. we will be solely in lagos and don't plan to travel this trip to charles' father's village. i am both thrilled and terrified about the trip. more to come on the trip soon.
constance
she's still a little peanut wieghing about 15lbs. she still loves nursing (as do i) and can sit up well. she isn't super wiggily or discontent not being able to move more but being on her stomach is more bearable.
we got a old school johnny jump up (i think that's what it is called) which provides hours of entertainment. constance loves it and it s a great way to have her with me in the kitchen and make her happy while expending energy. we've spent most of the summer watching her do this to date. constance stopped her passifier and doesn't want a bottle anymore. we've moved to a sippy and it's not going so well. but i figure she'll get the hang of it sometime. here's a shot of her:
this is all in efforts to help her 'self soothe'. the most effective tool for that is not beatrice or the blanky. constance loves her hair. and just lays on her back in the crib with her hands just above her temples and rubs her hair. and who can blame the kid? she does have some pretty great hair. when she does it- i seriously get weak kneed with oochy gooshy love. i've actually began to stroke her hair to soothe myself. it works pretty well for me too.
dedication
me, charles, constance (note her rhinestone paton leather shoes), jennifer and my mom
this was our highlight of our summer. in early june- we dedicated constance at church. my sister in law who lives in nyc came in and brought felicia (her best friend) and felicia's son c.j. we had nigerian friends here in town attend as well as other friends from different parts of west africa. then, of course were all our peeps at church. it was a very sweet and tender day and i get teary just thinking about how meaningful and special it was to me.
we hosted a party afterwards complete with nigerian food. we had jallaf rice, goat , stew, plantains and other things i forget. jennifer and felicia did all the cooking which was incredible and so helpful. i remember being awakened at 4am that morning to the sound of clevers on cutting boards as they prepared the meat for the stews. needless to say- it was quite a celebration.
more recently we've addressed our famine in our dating life. we have done a kid swap with a friend and charles and i have spent lots of good time over coffee talking and enjoying eachother. being home full time and having charles' work schedule has made for more time together than we're used to- but somehow we don't get away and chill together. i'm very grateful for the chance to be alone with charles and talk and chat and ask questions. charles is seriously one of the most interesting and intriguing people i've ever met! i love hearing his perspective and stories.
boston
we went to boston for a couple of days courtesy of skybus. we stayed with friends kyla and michael who were so helpful to us during our engagement. we had a great time at the beach and met up with friends nelson and nkem who live in revere. we did a lot of resting and talking and connecting. it was wonderful.
cousin visit
my brother's family came in early july. we don't get to see those guys enough- but they're a ton of fun and we love them. the kids are all growing and it's so great to see their personalities evolve. i really respect my sister-in-law and brother's parenting and this year- i saw it w/ new eyes being a new parent myself. aidan just started fourth grade, jack second, maggie kindgergaren and sweet sweet nora another year at preschool. LUV those guys!
me, charles, constance (note her rhinestone paton leather shoes), jennifer and my mom
this was our highlight of our summer. in early june- we dedicated constance at church. my sister in law who lives in nyc came in and brought felicia (her best friend) and felicia's son c.j. we had nigerian friends here in town attend as well as other friends from different parts of west africa. then, of course were all our peeps at church. it was a very sweet and tender day and i get teary just thinking about how meaningful and special it was to me.
we hosted a party afterwards complete with nigerian food. we had jallaf rice, goat , stew, plantains and other things i forget. jennifer and felicia did all the cooking which was incredible and so helpful. i remember being awakened at 4am that morning to the sound of clevers on cutting boards as they prepared the meat for the stews. needless to say- it was quite a celebration.
dates:
more recently we've addressed our famine in our dating life. we have done a kid swap with a friend and charles and i have spent lots of good time over coffee talking and enjoying eachother. being home full time and having charles' work schedule has made for more time together than we're used to- but somehow we don't get away and chill together. i'm very grateful for the chance to be alone with charles and talk and chat and ask questions. charles is seriously one of the most interesting and intriguing people i've ever met! i love hearing his perspective and stories.
boston
we went to boston for a couple of days courtesy of skybus. we stayed with friends kyla and michael who were so helpful to us during our engagement. we had a great time at the beach and met up with friends nelson and nkem who live in revere. we did a lot of resting and talking and connecting. it was wonderful.
cousin visit
my brother's family came in early july. we don't get to see those guys enough- but they're a ton of fun and we love them. the kids are all growing and it's so great to see their personalities evolve. i really respect my sister-in-law and brother's parenting and this year- i saw it w/ new eyes being a new parent myself. aidan just started fourth grade, jack second, maggie kindgergaren and sweet sweet nora another year at preschool. LUV those guys!
we have continued to pray and consider what i should do about a job. at this point the plan is for me to enroll in a licensure program to teach in january 2008. charles will continue to prep for his gre and apply for his phd program in educational psychology. in the meantime, we continue to pray that God would provide income for me that would allow me to work part time from home. this is all i know at this point. the unknown is un-nerving- but whatcha gonna do? it would be so nice if the Lord showed us the next fifteen steps of life... but alas- He only seems to show us the next thing to do. probably a good thing- i'd have an anxiety attack otherwise.
summer conference
we had a conference here in columbus for 2million prayers for nigeria. it was pretty great. it reminded me of how little faith i have. the Lord exceeded my meager and embarrassing expectations. our mostly anglo church represented well which made me feel so loved and like people 'get' my husband and how freagin awesome he is... which most women i know will tell you your love factor goes up in their book when you love and respect her husband. there were two nigerian pastors that spoke and our pastor as well. we met a number of other nigerians and our friendship with overcomers (a nigerian church here in town) grew. one very cool thing to note is the traditional ethnic strife between tribes has been taken head on. i love that from a ground level there is partnership between people groups who histrionically have suspicion as the norm and instead have cooperation and encouragement as the norm.
buckeye village:
i have spent an unusual amount of time at buckeye village this summer. this where many teaching assistants and gradute students live at ohio state. it is the refuge camp of residence life. the conditions are pretty meager. as a church, we have a heart to serve residents in practical ways. buckeye village is a stone's throw from our church and in our neighborhood. we've spent many a saturday doing prayer walks, weeding garden plots and handing out school supplies to the kids. our kinship will start hosting a potluck there each month. good stuff.
i think everyone needs opportunities to at least feel like a foreigner (but preferably be a foreigner) and feel stupid and pronounce mandarin incorrectly. i've been taught the word for basil, garlic, and lettuce and butchered them completely- but to the delight of my teachers who seem thrilled i even bothered.
trip prep
our big news this summer has been that we booked tickets to goto nigeria in october. we have been busily preparing and cannot wait to arrive and be with our family! this will be my first time there and constance is the first grandchild on charles' side of the family. so it will be quiet a big deal to be there. we will be doing a conference for 2MPFN similar to the one we held in early august here in columbus. we will be solely in lagos and don't plan to travel this trip to charles' father's village. i am both thrilled and terrified about the trip. more to come on the trip soon.
constance
constance is doing great! she's growing and started eating solids this summer right at the six month mark. she likes pretty much everything i've given her. i'm using that super baby food book and like most first time moms- i'm very by the book. i never thought i'd be one of 'those' moms that was semi neurotic and vigilent and makes home made baby food to boot. but it somehow happened. i'm basically martha stewart.
she's still a little peanut wieghing about 15lbs. she still loves nursing (as do i) and can sit up well. she isn't super wiggily or discontent not being able to move more but being on her stomach is more bearable.
her disposition is very easy. she's laid back and very pleasent pretty most of the time. she seems to like to sing- which is so funny. she needs time to warm up to most people and still seems to flirt with boys. literally, i've seen her tuck her chin into her little chest and bat her eye lashes. oye. give this fifteen years and we might have some problems. she particularly seems to like people that are darker complected.
we got a old school johnny jump up (i think that's what it is called) which provides hours of entertainment. constance loves it and it s a great way to have her with me in the kitchen and make her happy while expending energy. we've spent most of the summer watching her do this to date. constance stopped her passifier and doesn't want a bottle anymore. we've moved to a sippy and it's not going so well. but i figure she'll get the hang of it sometime. here's a shot of her:
her sleep has been a bit stressful. she's moved out of that super flexible stage of sleep and takes some time to rebound if she misses a nap. the big news in this arena is that we no longer swaddle her. it was a bit of a traumatic transistion and i'm glad we're past it. this was the first move i made where i knowingly caved due to motherpressure. while the close tight swaddle used to be comforting; now- we're pulling out all the stops. she's got beatrice the bear (who is the same size as constance). this was my mom's contribution (god love her). then there's blanky. i'm hoping that the blanky attachment isn't pattern dependent. if it is- i'm screwed. i've just been switching out these amy coe flannels. we'll see.
speaking of oochy gooshy love- i still fight the urge daily to give her hickies or eat her. people can tell you, 'marriage is hard work' or 'being in love is wonderful' or 'the love for your kids is indescribable'- but i guess you can't know- until you know! what a wonderful surprise!
this was a long post... thanks for reading and here's to a wonderful autumn!
3 comments:
how i love you, maureen. you are just fantastic.
A great read, thanks. Wow, headed to Nigeria this month!!! Big trip. We'll look for details and more importantly, pictures.
Somehow I just can't picture my old single friends with husbands and babies. Does not compute.
Maureen
Autumn as you know has not really arrived. Hopefully it will soon. I am tired of this heat and humidity.
Anyway I can relate with the vocational decision. I am burning out on working two jobs. I would like to find something else. The New VP of Michaels will make life unbearable, since he wants employees to bring customers to the product which is something I have avoided since I really don't do crafts. My other job is so short at times. I just would like to find a more permanent job. I really do not want go to Everest if I can avoid it, since that would mean more debt and I am already paying on my debt from college which I had to defer once again. A friend who works there is trying to get me into medical billing. But I just want to say I can relate about the whole vocational thing.
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