Crazy 8's - I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend, Rachel, to do this Crazy 8's thing... I was the first person on her list, but many others have beat me to the task, so I better get busy! But first, I couldn't resist posting some photos of Sebastian from this past weekend. Enjoy!

8 things I’m looking forward to:

1. Getting a chest freezer

2. A trip to Trader Joes

3. Thanksgiving week in the Outer Banks (I've never been there!)

4. Tim coming home from work tonight and every night

5. Losing the last of the pregnancy pounds

6. Going swimming

7. Ice cream (of course doesn't help #5 along so much...)

8. Grilled beets

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Went to church

2. Nursed my baby, many, many times

3. Cleaned up more spit-up than ever before

4. Changed fewer diapers than normal - Daddy was home!

5. Celebrated 8 weeks of Sebastian's life...so hard to believe

6. Celebrated getting out of the "fever fast track" window (part of my doctor mommy paranoia!)

7. Made delicious Thai curry

8. Went to a picnic/party and had a great time with my partners

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Find the perfect balance between mommy-life and doctor-life

2. Solve the health care system problems, if not nationally, at least in my own state

3. Go to Cuba

4. Take away my hubby's daily headaches

5. Live a little more in the moment

6. Deliver all babies before midnight!

7. Go visit Cristy in Malawi

8. Make time stand still every now and then (sebastian is growing WAY too fast!)

8 shows I watch (a new phenomenon since I started my maternity leave):

1. NCIS

2. Grey's Anatomy

3. Tour de France (I know, not really a "show," but it's what's on!)

4. Deserving Design

5. Designed to Sell

6. Color Splash

7. House Hunters

8. Anything else on HGTV - notice the trend?

I tag:

Catherine, Jenny, Crystal, Felixa, Renee, Jennifer (ha!), Audrey & Duane (ha, ha!) - some of my friends need some serious encouraging to get their blog on!

In other news, Sebastian is growing like a weed and is becoming a very alert, interactive, mostly happy little guy. And just to make mommy & daddy super happy and proud, he pulled another seven hour stretch for us! No complaints here! :)

Surprise! We pulled it off ;)

Last Sunday, we had a surprise 40th birthday party for Tim. It was labeled as a "Father's Day get-together," and he had no idea what was waiting for him when we arrived at his parent's house. The party was also 11 days after his birthday, and we had already celebrated the big day, so Tim was totally unsuspecting. When we pulled into the driveway, Tim saw all the people and the decorations, and he just kept saying "oh my, oh my, oh my word..." and then he asked "did you know about this!?" Ha!!!
It turned out to be a great party - lots of wonderful family and friends, good food (and I'm so, so, so thankful for all the good eatins that everyone brought to share), fabulous music by the Old Time Liberation Front, games and trampoline-jumping for the kids, sunshine, and the beloved birthday boy! Tim had a terrific time and was blessed by all that were there... not to mention surprised! Hooray!
I could never have pulled it off without the help of so many, especially Tim's parents and his sister, Jill (decorator extraordinaire), my parents, and Marvin (thanks again for the Costco run!), Doug & Lydia, and many others, I'm sure. Thank you, merci, gracias, danke, tusen takk!
Check out the slide show of all the fun!

Humbly grateful

Today we were blessed with the presence of two great friends - Marvin & Dori - who came to our house, in the midst of our dust, dirt, construction zones and some chaos, to help us clean and tackle some more projects before the baby arrives.

It's hard for me to allow others to see our messes at times, and even more difficult for me to allow others to clean up those messes (unless it's my mom...for some reason that's very different). But, our dear friends didn't bat an eye at our dirt and disorganization, and instead they got down and dirty with us to help sort through some things and get one step closer to some assemblance of order. And then in the end, they thanked us for the opportunity to share in the nitty gritties of life with us! Incredible!

It truly is a humbling experience and a joy to share things such as these with friends. So again, Marvin and Dori, thank you, asante sana, gracias! We are full of gratitude!

Here's some photo evidence of what occurred at our house today... Marvin & Tim were totally celebrating the successful assembly of our changing table/dresser combo... and confusing themselves for Charlie's Angels!

The photographer on the beach...and some lovin'!

My friend, Julia, and I went to beach to watch the sunset on Monday night. It was lovely, and we got some great shots...including some that we took of ourselves together - you know the deal... hold the camera out, try to sort of center yourselves and snap the picture, right?! Well, we were pleasantly surprised when a woman passed by and offered to take some pictures for us. We said, "sure, that'd be great." She asked if our camera was a "single lens reflex camera," and we confirmed for her that it was. Of course, this made us believe that she knew her stuff about photography, because she knew the lingo, and that's half the battle! So, we got all cute and posed on the beach in front of the sunset, and our photographer told us how great of a picture she was getting. Julia had one arm around me and her other hand was on my belly making small talk with the baby. Our photographer friend continued to tell us how good the photos were: "I think I got some really nice ones!" She handed the camera back to Julia and went on her merry way. We were anxious to check out the "really nice photos." I thought I hadn't heard the shutter open and close, because of the crashing (albeit small) waves behind us. But much to our dismay, the last pictures on the camera were ones that Julia had taken. And that was it. Nothing else! Apparently the photographer lady was under the impression that she was taking fab photos, when all she was doing was looking at the two of us through the view finder! But, boy, we must have looked pretty darn good ;). We couldn't stop laughing at our new photos and the expertise of our photographer!

Even though we never got to see the photos that our photographer took, we did get some fun ones on our own... and a good story to tell as well!

To add a little sap for today's post, I have to share my beach-written message for my love, Timmy Dean, who is at home working very hard to get more and more projects done, while I'm learning all about infectious disease, hanging with my friend, Julia, and soaking up some sun! This is what I sent to Tim, for him to find in his inbox when he opened his e-mail on Tuesday morning! :) I love lovin' Tim (and baby loves him, too)!

Hula-Hooping in NYC!

Despite my stuffy, icky nose and upper respiratory junkiness, coupled with overwhelming fatigue (being post call didn't help), we escaped to NYC this weekend to see some friends - Jennifer Gwen and Seth James. We had a great time... I just kept falling asleep at the dinner table - nothing against the company, which was fab-u-lo-so. :)

We spent most of the day on Saturday in Central Park, romping around and seeing all that there is to see in the ginormous green territory of the Big Apple. We found a guy teaching people to hula-hoop, while he played his bongo drums, so we joined in. Check out some of the photos. I'll try to post more when I have more energy!

Aren't they so adorable! Or maybe they found a great photographer!?!?

The girls are back in town!

It's been a great, L-O-N-G weekend! Not only did we have an extra day off, but also we had a very special visit from Cristy and Amber. Cristy's in the States on a brief break from her work in Malawi, and Amber came from NYC, having just gotten back from a summer in Kenya. Plus, I took today off, I'm on call tomorrow night (so post-call on Thursday), and we're heading camping on Friday! I didn't take any time off all summer, so I was ready for a little break! And a good break it has been, indeed!

We had a fab get-together on Sunday night with lots of friends and a feast-ful of food.

One of the best moments was having a bunch of us girls together (5) on a bed, which crashed to the ground when I shifted my weight to the same side that everyone else was already sitting on - oops! Fortunately no toes were smashed!
Stephanie, Heidi, Cristy, Amber, Acacia (dog-type) and I went on a great hike on the horseshoe trail on Monday morning. Only three of us were hacking! Somehow we decided that Amber had TB, Heidi had Pertussis (whooping cough), and I had some other strange communicable disease, maybe Hanta virus or something... that's what happens when you get a bunch of doctors together for some fun!

On the way home from hiking we stopped to get some fresh produce for dinner on Monday night - I was doing my best to pick out the best sweet corn in the bunch!

In the afternoon, we went to the Long's Park summer arts and crafts festival, where Amber bought a beautiful, wool rug, then was trying her skills as a Kenyan woman, carrying her load on her head!

Having my girlfriends around has been wonderful - I love having friends that you can go without seeing for months on end (sometimes even if they live in the same town - dreadful - sigh), and you can pick up right where you left off the last time you saw them! What a JOY!

Maureen and Saif are married!

A wedding celebration at Felicita Gardens in Harrisburg - Maureen and Saif are now married! We had another excursion weekend, as we headed to a little paradise just outside of Harrisburg - who knew?!?! We were honored to bear witness to the ceremony on Friday night and to join in big time bbq fun on Saturday! The gardens where the ceremony was held were gorgeous, and the weather perfect. Maureen was a beautiful bride, and the two families united cultures, languages and religions across many miles and bodies of water.

We had some time to meander through the gardens and get some great photos, dance a little, and even get in a game of bocce ball!

Here's a sampling of a few pictures; a slide show will follow later!

25 Hours in New York

I made a trip to NYC this past week - not for it's glamour or to sightsee, but rather to spend some time with a very close friend who's grieving the loss of a friend who just committed suicide. I was only in New York for about 25 hours, and despite the fact that I didn't go with any intentions of sightseeing, we certainly managed to chalk up some interesting experiences, just by the nature of being in the "Big Apple."
Shortly after I arrived, we went to visit a local falafel restaurant, where one can get a super yummy falafel sandwich for just $2.50. This place has a signature hot sauce which is one of their 'claims-to-fame,' which we accidentally used a little too generously. Ooops! Heartburn...
My friend lives in a communal Quaker home in Manhattan, and I met some interesting housemates of hers. They are teachers, dancers, potters, business folk, models, international exchange students learning English, writers for Japanese newspapers and much, much more. They live together, sharing chores and housework. Thursday night is my friend's night to clean up after dinner, so after a delicious organic, gourmet meal in the house's dining room, we went to work on washing and sterilizing all the plates and utensils and cleaning up the kitchen. I have a whole new appreciation for industrial sized sinks and water sprayers - and so do my clothes that ended up wet!
In times of such terrible sadness and lack of understanding about life, there wasn't much I could say to my friend that would ease her pain or help her to understand why someone would take their own life. Mostly I was just there to love her and be with her, listen to her recount the stories of her friend's life, cry, laugh, or just be silent. Life seems so fragile... And so many people are broken, yet we aren't even aware of the pain and suffering they're experiencing inside.
Our time together was spent walking the streets of NYC, hopping on the subway, walking past homeless people who were asking for money (and my friend always gave them the loose change she had in her change purse), stopping by coffee shops, or looking at old photos of her friend who just died. I took some snapshots of some of the images of New York that I experienced in my 25 hours there, which you can see above. I'll have to share my experience with "The Best Back Rub" in Chinatown in another entry... coming soon!
My prayer for my friend is that she would feel God's love and PEACE surround her in these difficult times, that she would be able to REST in the assurance that God is GOOD and MERCIFUL. May she know how to process her thoughts and her grief, and may she know how to interact with other friends and family members who are suffering as well.
Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

New Years at Stephanie's

Tim & I are spending the night ringing in the new year with our friends Janel, Mark, & Stephanie. We had a yummy meal of Thai curry and fresh crab from Steph's father-in-law. Her boys (EJ and Cullen) are playing at the beach, so Steph's hosting our little get-together tonight.
We're about to play some racey game called Spicey Farkle, which Steph thought had something to do with farts, but turns out it's a game with di, and we certainly hope no one will be passing gas during the game!

I am mostly just showing Janel and Steph how to blog (and since I just started today, I'm an expert!).

Happy New Year!!!

From all of us on Quarry Lane in Lancaster - Kirsten, Tim, Mark, Janel & Steph (hopefully we'll take a picture before the night is over to remember this wonderful evening).

Addendum on 1/3/08 - Finally got the New Year's pictures ready to upload! Check out my glasses (even if they're from when I went to NYC for New Year's in 2005).