Change...We Must Thrive On It

This year has brought a lot of unexpected surprises. The end of January brought the joyful news of our third child. February brought more news, which reminded us that we don't know what our lives will be like tomorrow.

A year ago, we thought we were temporarily leaving Oklahoma for a 10 month school trip to Alabama, which, upon finishing school, we'd return to our home in Oklahoma. Once we got to Alabama, we learned that we weren't going back to Oklahoma but we'd be traveling a lot further west...all the way to Utah. We were making Utah (plans in our head) when this February rolled around and Jason got a surprising phone call, "We want to deploy you to Spangdahlem AB, Germany for six months beginning in August." What?! I can't even explain how much we LOVED living in Germany and have dreamed about finding a way to get back there. What an awesome opportunity, right?! Jason gets deployed to a location he's been before and where he can take his family. There was only one major hang-up. Our baby is due during the time of his deployment.

When Jason came home to tell me the news, I thought, "We can make this work. I'll just have the baby in Germany." Jason felt certain that there was no way his superiors would allow him to bring his family (on our own dime, of course) when his wife was pregnant and due to give birth during the deployment. I didn't think it was so crazy. I thought I was the only one who should have had a problem with it, and since I was thrilled to go to Germany and birth there, why should anyone else care. After all, I was the pregnant one and the main one affected. :-))

There were a few other issues to take care of. Where would we live...we could only take what we could pack into suitcases? Where would I labor and birth? Would I be able to find a good midwife to assist me at home? How would insurance handle this? Where would we live in June and July - the two months we'd be in transition from AL to UT.

I'm not sure why we should be surprised, but would you believe that the Lord flung every door wide open and gave us everything we needed AND desired?! I'm serious. Everything! And He's still taking care of things that we never thought of and adding blessing upon blessing.

So here's the summary of what we currently know: We leave here in early June and head to Oklahoma for a week. After our time in Oklahoma, we drive to Utah and spend almost two weeks there. We plan to use that time to look for housing that we'll need in January and to get to know the area. After our two weeks in Utah, we leave for Germany in the first week of July. (One of the blessings was that Jason deployment dates were moved from August through February to July through January. This was a blessing because it allows us more time to get settled in Germany before having the baby and frees us from finding a furnished place to live in July since all of our stuff will be in storage while we are in Germany.) When we get to Germany, we get to live on base in a completely furnished, three bedroom, two bathroom housing unit. I've lived in them before for a few weeks and they are wonderful!! Right outside is an awesome playground. The commissary (grocery store) and most other things are within walking distance. They have a cleaning staff that changes linens and cleans the bathrooms! There's free wi-fi and we'll get AFN (Armed Forces Network), which is American television for the military stationed in Europe. Yay! Jason will get to watch football games!

We'll be in Germany for three months before the baby is due. Through friends, I found a girl who was stationed in Germany at the same time we were and birthed at home. As it turns out, we have very similar birthing histories and perspectives. It's always so fun to find someone who I can identify with. She gave me the name and information for an excellent midwife that she used with her German homebirth. How amazing, right?! I really want my children present at the birth and I wasn't sure how easy that was going to be if I had to birth at a hospital. Plus, after having Jackson at a hospital and Allison at home, I know that I LOVE birthing at home...for me, baby and family. Getting this information was HUGE for me. Talk about putting an ear-to-ear smile on my face. And even better, our insurance pays for it!

After the baby is born and I'm back to normal, we hope to squeeze in some additional traveling that we didn't get to do pre baby #3. I'm super excited about Jackson's 5th birthday and Christmas markets. I love spending the holidays in Germany. It's wonderful, relaxing and slow-paced...just very opposite from the States.

At the first of January, we'll head back to Utah and get ourselves settled. Of course, this is the plan at this time, but we know full well how fast it can all change. I know it will be crazy, but I'm so excited about it. I'm wondering how the Lord wants to use us and how He wants to use this experience in our lives. I know that moving to Montgomery was one of the best transitions He ever brought into my life. It was SO HARD but it was so worth it, and I'd do it over and over again just to be closer to Him. Growing in Him is worth any amount of hardship.

Earth Fare! Thank you!

I finally live in a city with a large, whole foods grocery store. I can actually buy bulk now!! I also love stores that think of small children and my children love them too!

Alli did end up losing her cart and riding in mine. Like I told Jackson, "She's not ready to embrace the rules of grocery cart pushing. She's still got a mind of her own!"

Swimming and Other Lessons Learned

Starting in February, we enrolled Jackson in swim lessons at our local YMCA. Jason and I both grew up knowing how to swim from very early ages. My parents put a pool in our backyard when I was 1, so I was always swimming during the summer months. We have not had the luxury of a pool, so teaching Jackson how to swim has been difficult. We're never near a pool long enough to get him past swimming a couple of feet to us. We decided that we couldn't delay any longer. We really want him to learn how to swim before this summer. Not only will he have a blast with it, but it could save his life.

I was excited for his first lesson (except for the timing...6:15-6:45 every T and TH, which makes it hard to eat before and too late to eat after) and thought he would be too. When the day arrived, he did not want to go. (He actually had to miss the first lesson because he was sick; but, it was canceled due to bad weather so he didn't miss out after all.) We tried to pump him up but he was no happy about going. We made him go anyway. I'll confess that it was hard for me. I teetered between not wanting to push him in an area he's not interested in because I felt like I was heading for an uphill battle and wanting to push him because he needs to be prepared to stand behind his commitments even when he doesn't feel like it. I'll also confess that I wasn't excited about the time of the class and how hard it was going to be on our schedule. Wow! I'm already a wimp. This is nothing compared to what's ahead when we have three children involved in activities!!

Jason said that Jackson had to go, so that made the decision easy! When we got there, he barely spoke a word. He wouldn't really talk to his coach and he wasn't interested in participating. Even at the end when they got to jump in the water, he wasn't thrilled. And this is coming from the boy who jumped in my parents' pool hundreds of times in July. I didn't worry too much about it. When he started gymnastics in Oklahoma, he acted like he could barely use words. By the second class, Coach Sam couldn't keep him quiet.
He agreed to jump...

but it was a very timid jump...timid for Jackson.

You would think by the looks of it, that he was happy about it:

But he definitely was not:

And there was no convincing him to go for round 2:

I was so surprised by his behavior. Welcome to the world of understanding young children! Boy, do I have a long way to go. Why is that the grandparents have the knowledge when we are the ones needing it on a daily basis?! We have to learn through experience, just as they did, but once we figure it out, they're grown! I guess this is one way of guaranteeing that I keep on my knees with hands folded; otherwise, I'd be tempted to think that I can do it all on my own. And I know for sure that I cannot. It's nice to depend on the One who knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING! And He created Jackson, so He is definitely the one I need to be consulting.

His second class was almost humorous. I could hear his coach asking him to do something and Jackson would reply, "I can't." His coach would say, "Yes, you can." And then Jackson would say, "No, I can't!!" (And Jackson absolutely could. He should have been saying, "No, I won't!" because that was the reality of it.) They would go back and forth but his coach was so patient with him. I had told his coach after the last class not to let Jackson boss him around but to make him obey. I wanted him to know that I fully supported his efforts to make him participate.

He made a little progress with the next few classes. He willingly participated in everything but jumping. On his seventh class, they were practicing floating on their backs. Jackson didn't want to do it and said that he couldn't. His coach told him that he either had to float on his back or jump. He chose to float, with his floaty on, and he did it like he'd been doing it forever. Even with a floaty, he still had to relax his arms, legs and head.

His last class was a make-up class from the first canceled class and they had it on a Monday night. His coach, Andrew, wasn't able to be there. Jason took him because I was teaching a childbirth class. In the middle of my class, I got a call from Jason, "Jackson's coach isn't here and Jackson is refusing to go." Seriously! The coach he's argued with and wouldn't do much for the past four weeks?! We both agreed to make him go to his swim class. If he wasn't willing to participate, then Jason was going to throw him in the pool. Just kidding!!! Jason made him sit on the side of the pool and watch for the entire class time.

Tuesday night was the start of his second four week series. Coach Andrew was there and he was so happy. In fact, he wanted to swim on his own without floaties! I left my camera bag at home, but I did have my phone and managed to get a video clip.

I was so proud of him! He's swam on his own like this before, but it was always toward the end of our time near a pool so he never got past this stage.

I know that his behavior over the past four weeks is typical of children and that we don't need to make a big deal out of it. Even though it might sound like it, we honestly didn't make that big of a deal out of it. It was hard because I knew he could do everything he was being asked to do, but we just let him do what he was willing to do each week and encouraged him through the process. Our main concern was the lessons he is learning. We want him to understand what commitment is. We want him to learn that circumstances won't always be exactly what he wants them to be, but that doesn't mean he can quit or choose not to participate. I'm glad we stuck this out with him. He loves it now and looks forward to going every week. Lots of lessons were learned from this experience - for child and parent!

G & S Donuts!

I'm currently teaching childbirth classes. One of the couples in my class lives down the street from me. They meet each other every Friday morning at Starbucks. The wife, Sarah, always has some kind of decaf coffee drink (I wish I could remember the exact drink) and a cheese danish. The husband, Greg, brings donuts from G&S Donuts. I had never heard of G&S, which is about 4-5 blocks from my house. The lady who runs the place wakes at 1:00 am every day to make the donuts! We don't get donuts very often...maybe three or four times a year...so I decided to surprise my kids when they woke up. Jason was up late studying and didn't have to be at school early, so I grabbed the kids and headed out the door so he could get some uninterrupted sleep.

We made our way in their cars. They both got donuts with sprinkles!

Jackson was in heaven. He had his own makeshift drive-in!

Allison picked off all of the sprinkles and left the donut!

Mornings like these make great memories.