On vacation and mommy boot camp

Exhaustion and Relaxation
The last two weeks have been a doozie for us. Matt and I have been working crazy long hours, spending tons of time doing church stuff (this does fall under Matt's job but my involvement is voluntary), and we have had very little time to spend with each other. Last weekend we and 5 other adults drove 25+ students to the Sierra Nevada mountains for the annual youth group snow trip. Matt went into that event being completely exhausted and depleted of energy. That is not a great way to enter an action-packed, responsibility-heavy weekend. Yet in the midst of the activity, we were blessed once again by the wonderful relationships we have with the students and the amazing youth staff. We love the youth staff and consider them all to be such good friends. We came back from the trip on Monday afternoon and jumped right into a crazy, hectic week that included a church activity every night. Then, to really round out a completely exhausted Matt and Alina,...Matt went to the San Jose area with our Pastor for the bi-annual denominational meeting with other pastors in the region. This was an overnight excursion. Yeah...we are beat. And now we are going to crash. The two pastors of our church basically ordered Matt not to come back to work until Wednesday. I love our pastors and am so glad that they fight for Matt's sanity (and therefore mine as well). What do I plan to do in my two days off with Matt? There are really three basic items on my agenda for Sunday and Monday. 1. Go to the Coast and soak in some of the natural beauty, 2. Watch the Oscars, and 3. Watch some of the Oscar-nominated movies. I plan on eating a lot of popcorn and getting some ice cream to go with the movie watching. I figure there aren't too many more days of freedom, pampering, and relaxation left in my future so I might as well eat it up while I can.

Youth leaders should never curse!
...especially in front of one of the youth. Long story short--I was driving to the mountains this weekend and another driver was driving recklessly beside me and almost caused me to get in an accident. My brain freaked out and before I could apply the filter to my mouth, it was spoken. I felt horrible! I apologized a number of times to the one youth who had heard and then shared what happened with the youth staff later. It was awesome because I saw grace in action as they consoled me and sympathized with the situation and assured me God even forgives youth leaders who curse.

Mom boot camp
Lately, I feel that I am being trained for mommyhood. Yesterday, I was awoken to Matt coming in and waking me up in a panic saying, "I have to leave on this trip in 30 minutes and I need you to get up and take care of Keller." Let me explain what Matt was referring to. Keller got into the trash a couple of days ago and ate some raw pork that I had thrown away....gross, gross, gross. But it gets even grosser because raw pork sitting in trash overnight does not mix well with our dog. What Matt was referring to by saying I needed to take care of Keller was that there were 5 "piles" in his office due to Keller's sickness. I spent much longer than I wanted to cleaning up the mess only to say goodbye to Matt for the night and then head to work myself. The morning was tiring and hectic and I felt like a mom juggling many responsibilities. This morning I woke up to Keller being sick again, and this time she had also thrown up as well as leaving some more "piles." I had to attend traffic school this morning (which was a bummer to begin with), and so I spent the little time I had early this morning cleaning up Keller's mess and praying that she would be ok as I left her for the day in her kennel. I didn't have any choice, but as I sat there in traffic school I felt like a single mom caring for a sick child while still having to go to work. Matt was out of town, and I alone had to make a decision to let Keller ride out her sickness. I dealt with some serious guilt while I sat there learning about traffic signals and safe driving speeds. But fortunately Keller seems to be doing ok, and I don't feel like such a horrible dog mom. I managed to weather the storm alright, and the Lord was very gracious to answer my pleas to keep Keller alive while I was gone.

Well, I am exhausted and headed to bed. Matt and I just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine. It was awesome and I highly recommend it. Enjoy the picture from last weekend of me with the girls in my cabin. They were awesome and we had such a great time together. I love all of these girls.

Such a friendly little girl!

Hi everyone! Whew, well if you are reading this, you have been so kind and patient to follow me through the multiple changes my blog has been through. I am glad to be back and to see you back. I welcome you to the new blog address with a picture of my very friendly daughter waving hello. These were pictures that were took at last weeks ultrasound. How wonderful and precious to see her for the first time, even through the grainy quality. Matt and I also received a VHS of the ultrasound and have proceeded to show it to anybody and everybody who has walked through our door in the last week and would humor our first time parent giddiness. Enjoy the pictures, and thanks to all of you who have let me know you followed me over to the new address.

Ultrasound's Eve

The last few weeks have been busy with the normal goings of our family: lots of work, juggling home life and work/ministry life, a belly (and whole body) growing weekly, and mounting excitement for tomorrow's doctor appointment. I look forward to each doctor's visit with bated breath for a whole month. On the day of my appointments I can hardly concentrate at work because I am just so excited to talk about my pregnancy with my doctor and have her validate/calm any questions or fears. When I mention to Matt my excitement, he is surprised. To him it is just an appointment. Now, don't get the wrong impression...Matt is excited and is being changed by the idea of becoming a father soon. But it is different for each of us. For me I am pregnant and reminded of it on a moment by moment basis because the baby is growing IN me. I have read that it is obviously harder for husbands to grasp the full reality of the pregnancy until the baby comes out the chute. How many times do you hear about the man feeling faint at the first sight of the baby as the weight and reality of the baby finally hits him. For the woman, she has lived with the physical reality for 3/4 of a year. All that being said, tomorrow is an extra special doctor's appointment. Thanks to the amazing advances in technology we will meet out baby via 3-d ultrasound, and hopefully (if the conditions are right) find out if I am carrying Asher or Karis. Soooo exciting!

I am beginning to really show. I'll post another picture here soon. For a couple of weeks now I have been turning other adults heads at work as they do a double take at my tummy but politely refrain from asking and satisfying their curiosity. But today was the first time that the kids I counsel started doing double and triple takes. It's funny because even they are culturally trained that it is impolite to ask (and thank goodness...how embarrassing it is to be asked when you are in fact not pregnant!) One such student today kept peeking glances and then quickly looking away. I smiled and said, "Would you like to ask me something?" She looks at me and cautiously asks, "Are you pregnant?" Very funny and cute.

Well, I have cooked one of my favorite Cuban dishes tonight and the smells drifting in my office tell me it is done. I know I am not the most frequent of bloggers, but rest assured you all can expect a post again very soon!