Fruit salad and friends

With the chaos of parenting comes the loss of something precious and yet so overlooked until one enters parent land. I am not talking about the obvious jewels of life... sleep or free time. Rather I am referring to a lesser known fact of parenting: the loss of both free hands. I have been surprised by how little can be done with just one free hand. So when two extra hands arrived from Florida via Delta airlines, we rejoiced in the house. Matt's mom (Mama K) has come bringing with her some extra sleep, free time, and extra hands for Matt and I. We have been so blessed by the grandparents' journeys out west to help out despite the sacrifice of money, time, and long travel involved! Yesterday while Mama K was watching Karis, I took advantage of some free time and hands to relax and enjoy a favorite activity....cooking. I prepared this seven fruit salad. While pregnant, one of my food obsessions was fresh fruit. Living on the west coast has many perks and one of them is limitless amounts of tasty, fresh, and affordable fruit. Yesterday I began to realize I had quite the collection of fruit in my home and could make a decent fruit salad {cantaloupe, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, oranges, strawberries}. Not too bad and when I actually counted how many fruit were in the home I had 9! Wow, that is excessive and I didn't even use all of them (the bananas and pears I deemed a little boring for this festive salad!) After preparing the fruit salad for Mama K and myself I snapped these shots of the dish. This is one thing I love about cooking and preparing food...it is such a sensory experience. Wonderful smells, tastes, textures, and as evidenced here, incredible bursts of color. I think Mama K probably thought it was strange that after laboring over this salad I opted to pull out the camera and snap these shots of it as opposed to devouring it right away!

This summer we have enjoyed hanging out with our small group in less structured activities. Our town hosts bands every Friday night at the downtown park. It has been very relaxing and enjoyable for us to gather down at the park, sit under the canopy of trees, lounge in our camping chairs, and share a meal while listening to great music. This is definitely the way to spend a summer evening! This picture of Karis being held by Matt was taken at the local farmer's market down in San Luis Obispo on Thursday night. I think Karis looks like she is trying to avoid being photographed by the paparazzi (her mama!). Oh well, she better get used to it!

P.S. Special thanks to Abi for the adorable hand-knitted hat and thanks to Tia Alina for the red outfit! We love them both!

Mom finally speaks

Hello, all. A lot has changed since I last posted here. As you all know I am now part of the club, the "I can't believe I am responsible for another human being...can I please get some sleep already" club. It has been a thrilling and difficult ride ushering Karis into the world. For a whole week prior to her delivery I was in early labor which means I was having contractions that grew stronger every day and inhibited me from sleeping or relaxing but were never regular enough to send me into the hospital to deliver. It was an extremely exhausting way to go into the hospital for delivery, already worn out and beyond ready with anticipation to meet the baby. Once I finally had enough of the early labor (2 weeks overdue!), I woke Matt up on Friday night and told him, "Even though my contractions aren't regular, we are going to the hospital, and we aren't leaving until I have Karis." Fortunately my water broke naturally just a few short hours later. We were on our way to begin the last leg of the pregnancy endurance race! In an effort to spare you the details I will sum up the delivery by saying it was rough...very painful. No epidural and not by choice. I WILL have an epidural next time, no questions asked! Once Karis arrived I felt a mixture of joy, completion of a race, and survivor of a war. And I knew I would rather never do this again! I am sure some of you can relate to these sentiments. The day after I delivered we had a friend visit, and she has six children. She kept asking me, "Isn't it wonderful to give birth? Can't you just wait to do it again?!" I was confused by her enthusiasm and I assured her that was not the case for me. Many parents have said that delivery is the most horrible pain in the world that is the most quickly forgotten. And you know what, I sat here checking blogs tonight and saw a picture of a newborn baby, and I actually thought, " I can't wait to have another"! Wow, as the rewards of being a mom become more abundant day by day, I am beginning to forget. The pain is giving way to sheer delight every time I look at Karis. Seriously, Matt and I have both fallen completely in love with her and we cannot wait to see more of her personality emerge.

My life lately has been filled with adjustments. There are many things I have said goodbye to and many new things that have entered our world. Sleep...where can you be found? When Karis was in the womb I told Matt that I knew she would be a night owl and sleep through the day. Much to my sleep deprivation, my prediction was right. She is on a reversed sleeping schedule. She keeps me up until about 4 am. I end up sleeping in until 11 or noon every day to make up for lost sleep. It is amazing how the body does adjust to these challenges.

I wanted to thank all of you for the kind comments, packages, phone messages and emails! Although I haven't gotten around to replying to all of them, please know we have treasured all of the thoughts and love you guys have sent our way! Thank you! Enjoy the few pictures we have taken in the last few days. The picture at the top of the post is one of me taking a picture of myself holding Karis in her sling. It didn't turn out great but I had be creative in taking the shot because Matt wasn't home to take it.

I couldn't resist taking this shot of Karis today. I was carrying her around in the sling and I opened it up to find this precious face peacefully asleep. Too cute for words.

Here Karis is sleeping in her usual pose. She loves to rest her head upon her hands.

Another father-daughter moment! (I promise Matt does more than sit on the couch and hold her...although holding her is his FAVORITE thing to do these days.)

Our little strawberry girl!

As promised, here are some photos of me with my precious baby girl.




Three generations of women.




Pretty much we know Karis is going to be a Daddy's little girl.

A whole new world!

I think this picture just about sums up the last week in our house. We have been in love with our new daughter, exhausted, sleepless, uncertain about all the newness of a baby and parenting, and sure that although this is hard, we wouldn't have it any other way. I would say parenting 101 has hit us hard and we are in survival mode at this point. But as we figure out all the newness and uncertainty, we find ourselves loving each other and our daughter more and more as each day passes while also feeling (really FEELING) our need for Jesus in such a tangible way.

My parents arrived at our house on Thursday and we could not be more relieved to have the help and support. They have helped support these two ragged people through making meals, cleaning a dirty house, and loving a neglected dog. We are so glad to have them here and they of course are loving meeting their newest granddaughter.

Speaking of dog, I must say that Keller has taken quite well to the newest member of the family. She is very gentle around her and remains curious about who she is and all of her smells. We are thankful that this transition has gone well for her and for us. In all the loss of sleep I have found myself losing some of my sanity. Last night Matt and I were talking in bed and he asked me how I was doing. I said I was tired and then just two seconds later I said out loud, "German haired-pointer" (which is the breed of our dog). Matt looked at me weird and then I realized I had just said it out loud and I laughed. Apparently I was so tired that I slipped off to sleep and into a dream in about 2 seconds flat after having a coherent conversation with Matt. We both laughed and reminded ourselves that this too shall pass and we must enjoy it while it is here, no matter how hard it feels. I promise I will try to get some pictures of Karis and me...I tend to be the one with the camera. Hope you guys have a great weekend!

More photos of Karis!

Introducing...

Karis Alina

born 7/7/07 at 12:07pm
7 lbs. 12 oz.

Still waiting...

So, yeah. We are still waiting. I am officially 1 week overdue today. Yesterday we went into the hospital but they sent me home saying I was in early labor and not ready to be admitted. So here we are, just waiting. Hopefully it will be sometime tonight or tomorrow....an independence day baby wouldn't be so bad, would it? (...firecrackers always going off on her birthday!) I am having contractions but they are coming and going. Matt and I are off to go on a long walk hoping that will disturb Karis's peace and relaxation. Say a prayer for us...I'm kind of getting nervous about the pain and I am super tired of waiting.

Waiting

Two big weeks have gone by since the baby shower. I thought these weeks without work or any real schedule in my day would drag by. But surprisingly I have found things to do around the home to fill my time. I have organized drawers, cleaned rooms (over and over), made art for the baby room, and cooked some fun meals. I think that my nervous energy has caused me to kick the activity level into high gear. Many moms would tell me to conserve what precious energy I still have "pre-baby" life, but I honestly feel like I have had a good, solid five and a half years of conserving energy without children in our lives. I am ready for action! The oddest result of my nervous energy activity has been the taking up of scrapbooking. Yikes...I never saw that one coming! I don't tend to be someone who likes to sit down alone and work on things in solitary confinement, and although I consider myself creative in some ways, I do not consider myself crafty. I enjoy activities around and with people. Well, much to my and Matt's surprise, I have enjoyed working on a scrapbook for Karis. I figure, the chances that I will work on it much after she is born are so slim, I might as well get a head start on it now so that I might be encouraged to continue when she is born. The other night I attended a scrapbook night at my church. I walked in and realized just how out of my league I was. The ladies had their mounds of supplies piled around them. A few of them had what I call the cadillac of scrapbooking supplies (a massive suitcase filled with supplies from top to bottom). They had many different kinds of markers, papers, stickers, and cutting devices to cut through virtually any material and create so many patterns. I couldn't help but introduce myself, "Hi, My name is Alina, and I am not a scrapbooker." If you could have seen me....my lone scrapbook, a few scrap pages I bought at the dollar tree that day, my tape dispenser that I grabbed off my desk before dashing out the door, and my scissors. I sat there very carefully cutting a "straight" line in my photo with my old scissors when my generous friend next to me with her "cadillac" of supplies, bashfully (and with I'm sure a ton of sympathy as her motivation) offers for me to use her handy-dandy photo cutting machine. Then she offered to give me one of her extra edge cutters. I gladly accepted. (Those things are cool!) Turns out scrapbookers are very generous! ....I wracked up that edge cutter, some stickers, and a few other items. So there it is...I have found relaxation and a sense of accomplishment in my recent scrapbooking. Check out some of the work...and hold the applause...this is amateur work, folks!

I thought I would also share a picture of the art project I worked on for Karis' room. It was fun using items all within the house to get creative and decorate her room. I found these old glass frames in a drawer and then I put the left over scraps from her quilt to good use. What do you think? I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

Matt and I have been enjoying our forced time together the last few weeks. Surprisingly, we haven't gotten too sick of each other. Because he works from home, I do have to be mindful of his need for quiet and no distractions. Sometimes that is hard to do....I mean, how long can you ignore a human being in the room next door to you? I can't go very long, much to his frustration at times. But then again, I more than make up for it by fulfilling his many requests for coffee and water refills throughout the day! Every day now we just look at each other multiple times and say, "Is today the day?" We are crazy with excitement. This coming Tuesday I will be 39 weeks, so within the next 2.5 weeks Karis will definitely enter the world. I don't know if I will post again before the big arrival so I'll say farewell to you all (for the last time as a woman with no children). We'll try to update you guys as soon as she arrives... so stay tuned.

My cup runneth over

Today my friends threw me a beautiful baby shower! I feel so blessed by all the gifts and care that went into each gift and card given to our family. I am so exhausted at the moment from a full day of activities, and I will share more later. I wanted to post a couple of pictures from the day. I am getting bigger every day as I am just 3 weeks from the due date. I feel as if I could give birth at any time now. I finished up work on Friday, and now with the shower celebrated and over, I am officially in the homestretch. Yikes! Here we go...on a BIG adventure!

Growth and changes

Hey friends. It's been a while (ahem). Seems that life has been very busy with work, ministry, and nesting. Yup, this (California)momma bird has been full swing into gathering all the twigs and straw to build a nest for her baby bird. It has been one of the most joyous parts of pregnancy to paint the walls, hang the curtains, iron the clothes, dress the bed, organize the drawers and closets, etc. all in preparation for the tiny occupant moving in within the next six weeks. Below are some pictures of all the changes in the house.

Whew! I can't believe Karis' arrival is so close, and I must admit that the old saying "how time flies" sure has applied to my pregnancy. In many ways I have been thankful for the expediency of this time in my life. Work has helped distract me from worrying any more than I have. The usual (and unusual) first time parent concerns have been present for me but probably not as much as they would have been had I not had my work to distract me. Not only do I get to do what I love in my job, but I am finished working in two weeks and then I will be left with about 3.5 weeks to go before the due date. Nice timing!

Matt and I have been totally blessed in the last few months as we have been preparing. Lately God has blessed me by allowing me to find some great sales. Regarding the aforementioned nesting habits, I found that preparing the nursery wouldn't suffice to prepare the house. I also needed to redo the living room. Thanks to some generous birthday gifts and some killer deals at Pier 1 and the always affordable Dollar Tree, Ross, and Wal-mart, I have redecorated my home and can breathe a sigh of relief that it is how I want it to be. My home environment is very important to me, and having it reflect my taste and personality is no minor feat on a tiny budget. Yet I find that I loooove the adventure of finding clearance/used items and building a room to suit my taste out of limited financial resources. I do think that God has been so gracious to allow me to redecorate on my budget. I sometimes have to fight the idea in my head that just because you are in ministry and/or have limited resources then you can't have your heart's desire in home decor. Well, the Lord has shown me over and over that I can colorfully and creatively decorate my home...in fact it speaks of His creativity and work in my life and his delighting in my personality that yearns to have a creative environment. Below are some pictures from the living room redo.

These curtain panels were the inspiration for the room redo...marked down to $11 from $50, I couldn't pass them up...even if they were a color I don't normally decorate with--blue. Then again, we are undergoing lots of changes (as the title of this post implies) so why not mix up my home's color palette a little bit!


Pier 1 had this wonderful large glass plate marked down to $7 and the wooden vase was $4.

Trader Joe's has the best price on orchids-$7 for this beauty. The hurricane vases were $2 in the craft section of Wal-mart...while 'Wally-world' usually doesn't boast of great style for the home, I love the vases in the craft section because they are often cheaper than the vases in their regular home decorations section. Classic look and cheap...I'm game.

Fun pillows from Pier 1-$3! Crazy deal, I know.

Ok, enough of the home tour. On to other growth and changes. Matt snapped a few of these shots of me today. The background should be familiar to you guys as we often shoot pictures in our backyard. The field behind our house has been home to three cows the last few weeks. They have lived truly in the lap of luxury under the California sun eating up the overgrown grass on the hills. I guess the "Happy cows come from California" commercials are pretty accurate! Anyways, these are some updated shots of me and the cows.

Here are the backyard cows watching Matt do my photo shoot.

Just a few more things to share...the baby crib quilt is back and it is fun! I am so blessed to have this custom crib quilt. Here are the pictures from the final project. The second picture is the bumper and skirt. It's definitely fun and funky. I figure the patterns probably won't lull Karis to sleep much, but at least she might turn out to be really creative and fun loving.

Well, thanks for sticking with me through this long post. I had lots to share over the last month, and this post didn't even begin to cover all of it. I am going to post again soon as I want to upload a link to Matt's sermon he preached today. The Lord really answered our prayers about this sermon...we prayed that the Holy Spirit would help him to find his preaching voice/style, and it really showed today. I have had a lot of thoughts about ministry as of late (the ups and downs) and hopefully I can process it is some and blog about it. I will say that watching Matt speak from his heart and use the gifts God has given him has caused me to be thankful that the Lord has us here and working at a church. We are richly blessed. Imperfect and ever fighting our imperfections....but nonetheless, richly blessed!

Baby bump update

Ok, so it looks either sweet or very goofy, but this was a picture my sister-in-law shot of Matt and I (at Matt's request). The background is beautiful and it does show my baby bump, as of 2 weeks ago. Thought you guys might enjoy the update. Sorry I don't have a full post this time, but stay tuned--I have been brewing over a blog post idea the last couple of days. Happy Thursday!

Vegetable perfection

Vegetables: I would venture to say I am fairly normal when I admit to eating them because I know I need them. But if I am honest, I often find them lacking in the delicious factor. Well, I have found a cooking method that is a perfect marriage of healthy and tasty. Roasted vegetables is my secret. Cut up almost any of your favorite vegetables, toss them in olive oil, sprinkle on the Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, bake at 400 for 40 minutes. I promise you that you have never had such a tasty and healthy serving of vegetables in your mouth before.

I have to say I tend to be somewhat Mediterranean in my cooking style...I love to use fresh ingredients, simple seasoning, and even simpler methods of cooking the food. Roasting is a simple cooking method with little preparation required but drawing big flavor rewards. It draws out some of the moisture in the vegetables thereby concentrating the vegetables' flavor. The only really important thing to remember is that all the vegetables need to be chopped to approximately the same size for even cooking. The cooking time and temperature is really a guesstimate on my part. For a more exact recipe check out Foodnetwork.com and look under the show Barefoot Contessa. She often roasts vegetables in her shows. There are many delicious variations you can try, depending on your mood and the other dishes being served with it.

1. Italian mix- I make this mixture most often: zucchini, red onion, roma tomatoes, red peppers, eggplant, garlic cloves (whole).

2. Roasted Carrots- an elegant way to cook carrots by themselves.

3. Winter root vegetables- parsnips, carrots, butternut squash, etc. Excellent around the holidays.

4. Roasted Asparagus- our favorite way to eat asparagus. Roast this for about half the time of other vegetables.

5. Roasted potatoes- a great alternative to fries because roasting them will cause them to become crispy. I will often toss these in herbs for a little added flavor.

There, you have it. My current cooking secret to a satisfied tummy for me, my husband, and guests in our home. Enjoy!

Fun times

Matt and I have been so lucky this past week to have his sister Kelly visiting from Florida. We've shown her some sites out here in the great west, but for the most part we have relaxed and enjoyed each others company. It has been a great rest and rejuvenating experience for Matt and I, and hopefully Kelly hasn't been bored by the whole excursion. I wanted to post some pictures of the highlights. Kelly leaves on Tuesday, and we'll be sad to see her go. Dang those states separating us from family--any wonder why I named my blog From Coast to Coast?!

Oh how I love you...sushi!

In many ways Matt and I are opposites. He is a meat and potato man; I love more delicate flavors. He is an all-you-can-eat buffet man; I love to sit down and enjoy the ambiance of a restaurant where the meal is prepared specifically for me. He is a comedy central man, and I love a good foreign film. Ahhh, but there is something so wonderful and delicious that brings us together: our love for those tiny bundles of joy called sushi. Tonight we pulled out the rolling mat, wasabi, sticky rice, all the other trimmings and created a sushi feast for two. Who cares if we ended up eating it on t.v. trays while watching Matt's favorite show on Comedy Central...we shared a sushi meal! It was awesome. We've found out that this meal which is usually crazy expensive at local sushi restaurants can be made at home for a fraction of the cost. Check out Alton Brown's sushi episode on Food Network. Special thanks to my mother-in-law for sending us the Japanese dishes for my birthday...it provided the much needed ambiance (despite the aforementioned t.v. trays!)

Amazing Grace for my Family

Ok, so I am not a fabric person normally. But I have been so excited the past few days over my recent (and pricey) fabric purchases. A friend of mine is giving me a custom made quilt with the fabrics that I picked out. She is sending the fabrics to her mom, a seasoned quilter, and having her make the quilt, bumper, and skirt. I am just so excited to be having my own stuff which has been handpicked by me with my specific taste made specifically with Karis in mind. It is going to be just how I wanted it...fun, funky, modern, and a little bohemian looking.

Lately, Matt and I have been able to get our hands on this pregnancy thing...literally. What I mean by that is the last week has been full of washing clothes, rearranging the guest room into a nursery, checking out the endless amounts of baby gadgets and high tech equipment (of which I wonder how much is REALLY necessary), and the afformentioned fabric purchase. The arrival of our baby girl is becoming tangible in more ways as well as she is using her arms, legs, elbows, and who knows what other joints to kick and jab telling me she is thriving in the womb. And for that we are immensely grateful. A few posts ago I mentioned we were going through a challenging time. With enough distance from the crisis I can safely share some of what we've gone through. We discovered I have some physical traits that have a good likelihood of being passed down to Karis. The news was no less than shocking, scary, and even had a touch of shame to go with it for me as I realized that the things about my body which were different could now be passed down to my daughter and possibly in a more severe way. Thus began a series of phone calls and doctor's visits to truly get to the bottom of the mysterious and unwelcome discovery. Through it we have discovered that Karis is looking healthy and, like I said before, appearing to thrive in her cocoon. More tests will need to be done when she is born, but for now we breath a sigh of relief as the appearance of real danger has gone away.

How crazy and amazing is grace? This is the question I am left with as I look back over the last month. We picked the name Karis because it is the Greek word for grace. Throughout the last month, the Lord has revealed to me just how perfectly her name was chosen for her and for us. Initially I casually thought, "Cool. Grace. We certainly can only parent a sinful human being as sinners ourselves by the grace of God." As these physical concerns surfaced this month, I began to realize that her name was taking on a new meaning. It is truly by God's grace that we can even have a child and that she would be born healthy. What's even more than that is that God's grace would sustain us if she were unhealthy or abnormal in any way. God's grace would allow us to be overcome with joy and fulfillment in the birth of our daughter, no matter her physical condition. That was the second realization of the powerful meaning of her name. The third meaning is what took me by surprise the most and has honestly led to the most healing in my life. I realized it is God's grace in my life that I walk the path of uncertainty, fear, and disgust at myself that came through this. God has provided healing deep within me that has allowed me to accept the things about me I have always hated and to realize God made me who I am. What's more is that if he chooses to have Karis look like me, I will adore her. I have come to accept who God has made me to be. That is incredible grace or, better said, Karis in my life.

That is all for now, folks. I have the next two weeks off for spring break, and I couldn't be more thrilled or in need of rest. I am sick once again with what appears to be some form of cold/allergies/flu. Hopefully it won't develop into any full blown sickness requiring medicine. Like I said, this job working with kids is rough on my pregnant body. But I am choosing to look at it positively and think I must have super human immunities by now! Have a great weekend.

Life is about to change!

I started washing some of the clothes we have received for Karis. I thought I would share with you what I saw when I opened up my washer tonight. Practically everything was some shade of pink...much, much more pink than this family has ever seen the likes of before. I just giggled to myself realizing how much life is about to change!

Gross! Gross!

I just wanted to post a quick note to ask that you guys pray for me. I came down with a nasty stomach bug today. This is one of many illnesses to add to the list in the last six months. I know I am at high risk for getting sick being that I spend time with kids in a small room talking in close proximity. Half of my kids this week told me they had been sick in the last week, they were currently sick, or they were 'not feeling well today.' Great! Add to that my own immune system being down, and we are here with me battling sickness #4 since I became pregnant. So I ask that you guys pray God will strengthen my body, protect Karis once again, and bring rest to my mind so that I will continue to trust that God will keep me and Karis safe for the rest of this pregnancy ride. Thanks all, and have a great weekend.

Down for the Count

Well, the last two weeks have been nothing short of exhausting. Last Tuesday I came down with the cold virus that is going around. I was out all last week from work and missed some work this week. I am still fighting it off as my body's immune system is weakened by the fact I am creating a life inside of me. Pregnant women are more susceptible to illnesses, and I have certainly seen my fair share of illness this pregnancy (the flu, strep throat, and the cold virus). But little Karis is still kicking along letting me know that mom's illness is not going to get the best of her. The weeks have been trying in other ways too. I would ask that you guys keep us in your prayers as we have been battling some personal (not bloggable at this time) stuff this week. God is seeing us through it and providing healing, but as is the case with all trials, the painful parts are never fun to walk through.

Yesterday, Matt took these pictures of me outside of our back door. I wore this shirt to work today which I bought the other day even though it screams "Hey, I am pregnant!" Normally, I look very small for my six month pregnant state. But yesterday, I decided to be bold and flaunt my belly. It was funny because the kids I counsel at school were really coming out with their observations and questions. One student told me her friends were all saying things about me. At first I thought, "Sweet, I am making the elementary gossip column." She then went to ask if I was pregnant. Another student told me he already knew I was pregnant and that I should know that the proper way to treat a hungry baby is to put a pacifier in the baby's mouth. I am getting mothering advice from a second grader! My favorite comment of the day was from a student who looked at me and said, "Your stomach is growing!" I commented, "I wonder what that means?" He just looked at me, grinned really wide and said, "Mine is growing too." Ahh, you can't make that stuff up!

I am off to a retreat with the ladies from my church this weekend. I am hoping the weekend will provide some much needed encouragement and nourishment. Have a great weekend all.