Malachi likes picking lemons from the neighbor's tree

is it time for a potty party?

I was shocked yesterday when Malachi asked to sit on the potty and then actually peed in the toilet, ok some missed because I wasn't expecting it to happen. I also was not expecting to have this whole process of wanting to sit on the potty happen until the fall at the earliest. So instead of reading the new Donald Miller book I just got I sat and read "Potty Training Your Child in Just One Day." They should have a best seller's list of books new parents read. So, having a potty party for a day sounds like an adventure and potentially a fun day. And my conclusion is that we'll just wait a little longer before we venture into the potty training world - diapers will continue to be our friend for awhile. I think I'll hide the Elmo potty training book too because I'm not sure I can survive hearing Elmo's voice talk about going potty everyday for the whole summer. We'll let you know when finally have a potty party in the future.

family visits

Malachi looks a little tired after his bath, but nice and clean thanks to Oma. My dad just happened to have meetings in CA over Mother's day weekend so my mom came along for the ride. It was great to have the extra help during a busy week of work. Plus Malachi loves hangin' out with his Opa and Oma and they love hangin' out with him, there is definitely a mutual love relationship. Opa also prefected Malachi's use of "uh oh" during their visit. So even though there a lot of miles that seperate us from family, visits always help.

church

This was our gathering to send off the Copelands. Its a crazy and wonderful group of people.

saying see ya later to friends

this past weekend we said see ya later to our friends the copelands. they are off on an adventure for the summer and then leave for indonesia in august. they have lived around the corner from us for over a year. malachi and their youngest hazel are just 2 weeks apart and the older boys, gavin and paul, let malachi be their sidekick. we have shared a lot of random moments, like playing in the dirt, laughing at kids, and beach days. we have also shared a lot of significant events like baptizing our babies, gatherings where we shared about God's work in our lives and around us, tears streaming down our faces on a bad day, and joys that made us smile until it hurt. we will miss sharing these day to day moments, but we are excited that they will bless a new community with their family's humor, grace, service, love, joy, wisdom and friendship.
So, if you know the copeland 5 you know what i'm talking about and if you don't you probably have friends like them that you've said goodbye to. it's a sad day when good friends move. the strange thing is that i think this was one of the hardest goodbyes because i don't know how to explain to malachi that they are not just around the corner like always. so when we take a walk we won't hear their laughter greet us and malachi won't start squealing because he sees the kids. we know from experience that you can still be friends across a lot of miles and now with skype we'll just have computer moments together...

ok one last thing i made them this cd and this song was the first one...

FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS by Bruce Cockburn
An elegant song won't hold up long
When the palace falls and the parlour's gone
We all must leave but it's not the end
We'll meet again at the festival of friends.

Smiles and laughter and pleasant times
There's love in the world but it's hard to find
I'm so glad I found you -- I'd just like to extend
An invitation to the festival of friends.

Some of us live and some of us die
Someday God's going to tell us why
Open your heart and grow with what life sends
That's your ticket to the festival of friends.

Like an imitation of a good thing past
These days of darkness surely will not last
Jesus was here and he's coming again
To lead us to his festival of friends.

Black snake highway -- sheet metal ballet
It's just so much snow on a summer day
Whatever happens, it's not the end
We'll meet again at the festival of friends.

cleaning up the house

this week i worked to organize and clean the house so i could take pictures for a potential buyer. although i do feel like i cheated because some of my piles just moved to another location for the photo moment. i have to say my living room looked great without any toys or various other items that usually grace the table or entertainment unit. i had to post this picture because this moment will most likely never happen again, that is, my living room not lived in.

a new day

a day of thought and prayer always seems to shed light upon our life's decisions and happenings. although its not like today offered a lot of quiet moments to reflect, it was full of activity. this morning i had the pleasure of having 5 kids in my kitchen eating breakfast together. it was fun to hear the house full of laughter and children's chatter. this afternoon i sat with a ministerial association to share about kingdom causes. it was a blessing to hear stories from them about how people in the city are following Jesus and loving their neighbors. later in the afternoon malachi and i made a trip to jamba juice and home depot, and saw the Copelands on the road (malachi recognized their van and got very excited). then it was off to pick up oma from the airport and of course watch some airplanes land.

so after a full day ryan and i have an overwhelming sense of peace tonight. we are not going to have an amnio done. we'll have a follow up ultrasound in a few weeks to check the baby's kidney. we know our baby is in the care of Jesus every day as his little body develops and we are anticipating the day we get to meet on the outside. ryan felt him kicking me the other day for the first time, so I guess they've offically met now. malachi keeps on giving the baby (aka mom's tummy) kisses and little waves hello. he'll be a great big brother.

we continue to see providence happen in our day to day. it demonstrates to us how close God is to the details in our life and how its all his plan, not ours. we are talking this week with 2 prospective buyers for our house and making an offer on the 4-plex on Eucalyptus. Yikes! if anyone has advice on how to quickly clean and organize all the closets in your home let me know.

and the picture of malachi is a milestone. he actually wanted to put on a hat for more than 2 seconds the other day.

our follow up ultrasound

Today we went in to have another ultrasound of our baby and see if we could get some more pictures. This ultrasound was done with a doctor who could tell us what we were seeing as our baby's pic came up on the screen. We're not sure after our appointments today if we have more conclusive answers, but we do have more information.

This ultrasound was done to find the baby's nasal bone and they found one, but it is on the small side (we're thinking he may not have the Knibbe or Van Grouw signature nose). The other thing they discovered was that his left kidney is slightly (in the normal range but high) bigger. So after learning this we met with a genetic counselor to go over family history, the results of a blood test, and the ultrasound. Our family history for chromosomal problems is non-existent. My blood test (AFP) was good, indicating low risk factors. Then there is the kidney and the small nasal bone, what they call markers that could indicate a chromosomal issue. So we were offered an amnio test today, which we declined to have today. We will for sure have another follow up ultrasound to check the kidney and see if it gets bigger.

We haven't been able to talk with our mid-wife, who left a message for us indicating she thought the ultrasound was good. We are trying to decide if we are going to have an amnio done (this is a diagnostic test that would determine clearly whether there are any chromosome issues with the baby). We're not sure that we heard medical advice to have it done or just a suggestion that we could have it because they need to tell us it's an option.

We are going to talk with our midwife to clarify some things and then make a decision. So those are the facts, I haven't really gone in to how we are feeling emotionally. Ryan and I are both tired tonight, emotionally drained. Sometimes I'll start crying if I talk about it and other times I feel an overwhelming peace. So it's an emtional roller coaster. We'd ask that you join with us in praying for our baby's health and wisdom in the next steps we take. We trust that God is knitting together our little guy. Pregnancy is always a faith journey and we are learning once again to trust God with our whole hearts.

We'll keep you updated with what's next.