Into the wild

So what's all this building out in the woods about? Part of our training here is to build a temporary house in the woods and live in it for 4 weeks. 

Why are we doing this you might ask. We are doing this to: 

1. Learn how to deal with change and the unknown: dirt, bugs, weather, leaky roofs, smoky stoves 

2. To devolp teamwork and conflict resolution skills 

3. To live in close community, providing the opportunity to recognize their own needs while giving plenty of opportunity to be a blessing to others

Basically they want us to experience life in a different way. We will not have all the modern convinces that we are used to, but we will learn to do "life" without them. Everything from cooking on a wood-burning stove, washing our clothes in a tub to showering with a bucket-drip system. We will have two lights in our house that will be powered by our car battery. (We had a 3 day class teaching us about water filtration and how to wire lights in a house. Super awesome!) 

While this is very exciting, it is also a lot of work. Having a baby has made it twice as hard for Brion because I cannot be out helping as much as I would like to. We also had to buy all our groceries for a month and organize our meal plan in advance, and if you know me, you know I am the opposite of organized. But all things are possible with the Lord's help and boy are we learning that more than ever these days! (Like running on very little sleep and sore bodies) 

After our jungle camp adventure, we have a four week break till we start our final semester here in Canada. We are so excited to visit our family and our friends and for everyone to meet Eli, because he is just the best! It seems like we just moved here and we are already done with school in December! Time flies when your pregnant, going to school and have a baby :)

We would love if you could keep us in your prayers over these next few weeks. Pray that we would continue to trust God, even with the small stuff. Pray that we would have patience with each other as we are low on sleep and will be living a plastic house. Pray that we would remain safe and healthy during our time in the woods, especially Eli (it gets pretty cold at night). 

If you have any questions feel free to write us. We would love to answer any questions :)

Eli Keith

Welcome to the world baby Eli! Monday, April 23rd, changed my life forever. I have a love I have never felt before. This is a story of how that day went.

It all started around 12:45 am Sunday night or Monday morning, which ever way you would like to look at it. I started having contractions. I didn't want to assume they were the real deal or even really contraction so I just tried to go back to sleep. Well that didn't work so about an hour later I woke Brion to tell him. Bad idea, poor guy didn't get any sleep. I took some tylenol and 3 hours later was able to fall back asleep. I woke up the next morning exhausted from not sleeping well and the contractions were getting closer together. I told Brion that I was going to skip the first class, but come to the rest of the day. I also told him that I was going to have a baby that day and I really don't think he believed me. Or he was just in shock. So I rested some more, went to class, decided going back to class was a bad idea, came home, skyped with Marie (my bestie who is currently in Hong Kong) and figured I should start timing my contractions because they were getting a little more intense. Poor Marie, I totally freaked her out too. I was having contraction 5 minutes apart when I was on the phone with her.

Brion came home from class at noon and it was a good thing because I was starting to get very uncomfortable. Sometime within the next hour or two I called my mom, called our doula, called the midwives and started to prepare for our homebirth! By the time the midwife arrived, I was already 6cm dilated. I was super excited about that news because I didn't feel like I was really working that hard. The excitement soon faded when the contractions got worse and I was feeling a lot of pressure, like I already wanted to push. I got out of the birthing tub thing so she could check me again and I was still at 6! I wanted to cry. My water still hadn't broke by this point so my midwife broke it for me (super weird). After that it was 10 times worse. I wanted to push so bad, but she told me I had to fight that urge because I wasn't ready. When women have back labor, which is what I had, because of the positioning of the baby, it makes you feel like it's time to push when it's not. So we tried a couple of positions to try and move the baby and boy that was awful! I had to breath so hard just to keep my muscles from pushing that baby out. I would get super frustrated because I couldn't always help it so I would end up just letting my body push a little and then I would freak out that I was hurting my poor baby boy.

My midwife could see how frustrated I was getting and she checked me again. I was ready to go! (She told me after word that I probably was ready quite a bit earlier than she thought I was, so I was holding those pushes in for nothing. Oh well.) She then told me that baby boy had taken a poo in the womb, which is bad because they can inhale it and be in some trouble. Because of this, she called an ambulance so they would be here when the baby is born. Then she called her second (and third in my case) midwife who  come for the baby. While all this was going on, she told me I could push and I was not going to delay that any longer!

So I'm pushing away and my midwife starts to worry that the other midwives won't arrive in time. Soon after that the EMT's arrived and then the other two midwives arrived and boy we had a full house! All modesty out the window! After pushing for an hour, our son arrived! Oh my word, when they put this little boy on my chest I was in awe! God is so good. What a miracle. This little person was inside me and then before I knew it he was on my chest.

Luckily the EMT's were not needed, baby boy was just fine. They said their farewells and clean- up/check- up/snuggle time began. We had such an amazing homebirth. There is nothing more comforting than snuggling your baby right in your own bed the second he is born. Unfortunately we did have to make a trip to the hospital because I needed to get stitched up and it was more than the midwife felt comfortable doing. Now I am the kind of person that almost passes out when I get blood taken. Hospitals make me so sick, literally, so I was not looking forward to leaving our comfortable house and getting stitches for the first time in my life, but looking at Eli's face made it all worth it. I know that in the middle of that awful, no-pushing stage, I wondered why people have more than one child. Once he was in my arms, it all seemed like a piece of cake.

My little turtle :) (he really looks like a turtle!)

In the end we had a great hospital experience. Eli was a champ and slept the whole time. We didn't end up getting home until about 1:30 am and we were so exhausted, but all so worth it. For all you number people, I was in active labor for 5 and a half hours and pushed for an hour. Little Eli Keith was born at 8:30 p.m. This little man has changed us forever. We are so excited to watch him grow and explore his new world.

New Location :)

Hey everyone who reads this blog, Brion and I have a new blog site now through New Tribes Mission. I will be writing on there from now on, although if I write my birth story, I'll put it on this one. You can find our new blog at ntm.org/brion_kendzora. Hope you like what you see :)

Almost there!

Wow, I cannot believe that any day now I could have this baby. It's also crazy to believe that I could realistically be pregnant for a whole month yet. Babies are funny business :) We are so excited to meet this little stinker, so I hope he doesn't wait a whole month!

Every midwife appointment we have we listen to his heartbeat, they take my blood pressure and measure my uterus (which is just stretching a tape measure on my belly from the bottom of the uterus to the top). For the past couple appointments I have had, the midwives (I see lots of different ones) have said that my uterus seems a bit small or is not measuring quite what it should be. Last week at my appointment it was 5cm less than what it is suppose to be. Anything more than 2 or 3 cm off is suspicious. What this means is that on Thursday we get to see baby again! We go in for an ultrasound just to see how big they think he is and to see if something has possibly caused him to stop growing. In order to have a home birth, the baby has to be at least 5 pounds 10 oz, I think or something around that. We would really love to have this baby at home so I'm hoping that we find out on Thursday that he is bigger than they think he is :) I never thought I would be hoping for a bigger baby! I know that this baby is in the Lords hands and nothing is more comforting than knowing that God is in control. Whatever the outcome, that is what God has planned for us.

Last week seemed like an emotional roller coaster. I wanted so badly to be with all the people that we know that are hurting and going through really tough situations. Sometimes we get so caught up in the here and now and we forget that God is good all the time. He does not change. We may go through suffering and hardship, but that is nothing compared to the future glory we will have. I feel like I could go on forever about that, but you can just read Romans 8 and Paul will explain it better than me.

Our lives are about to change in a very huge way. We are excited, but would appreciate prayer for the weeks ahead. We have about a month and a half left of our second semester and then we start building our jungle camp house, which we will live in for four weeks. Between having a newborn, finishing up classes, having family visit and preparing for jungle camp, we are going to be some busy people. Please pray that God would give us strength and endurance for these next few months!

Baby Kendo- Week 38!

Think Spring :)

Well, when it's not one thing, it's another. Seems we have a bit of strep throat running around our little house. Brion and I have both been feeling under the weather. I really didn't want Brion to get sick too, but misery sure does love company. Lets just say it's nice to have someone to lounge around with without feeling like a burden to him :)

The only super down side to this sickness is that it is BEAUTIFUL outside and all I want to do it sleep and missing classes is a super big bummer too. But we are getting lost of rest and that's a good thing since in 6 short weeks our baby boy is due! I cannot believe how fast this is going by! I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing when he walks across the stage at graduation, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

I have had lots of people ask me if I'm getting nervous or excited and frankly, it still doesn't seem real. I feel this little boy kick me and move around at all hours of the day, but for some reason it still doesn't seem like in a little over a month that Bri and I will be parents. We will have a little bundle to take care of and love and cuddle. I don't know what to expect. I don't really know how to prepare myself to be a good mom. I just know that God is going to be playing a big part in this whole parenting thing!

I cannot wait to meet him. We wonder what he will look like and if the poor boy is doomed to have acid reflux as well. I keep wondering what else we need to be "prepared" for his arrival and want to have everything ready and planned. But babies don't do well with plans, so I'm trying to just sit back and go with the flow. So I am excited, nervous, and a million other emotions all put into one, but I do know that my God is in control and that's the only thing that I really need to focus on.

                              Happy spring to everyone! And happy 34 weeks Baby Kendo!

Dreams

As baby Kendo's due date draws closer, I feel like my dreams are only getting even more bizarre. That is one thing about pregnancy that I truly do not think I will miss (well that and feeling sick). 2 nights ago I had a dream that we didn't have any cloth diapers ready and washed, therefore we were putting towels on our little boy. He was peeing so much that it was just going everywhere. Now this only points out that I spend way to much time thinking about diapers.

Last night I dreamt that someone gave us a $400 Target gift card. Lets just say when I woke up, I was really sad that it was just a dream. We are making a list of things to buy in the states when we go back next week and it found a way to plague my dreams as well.

All this to say that those are only the dreams that I have had the past 2 nights. Every night it's something different and even more bizarre than the last. They are so vivid and I remember them all. Sometimes they are a bit too vivid and I wonder how on earth I could really dream about some of this stuff. Oh well, less than 10 weeks and this baby will hopefully be here and then I won't be sleeping so I don't have to worry about my dreams then, right?!

Well, it's Saturday and there's a baby room that needs some putting together! I just cannot wait to get it all set up and I finally got Brion to agree to help me start setting it up. We've got our Timmy's ( that's Tim Hortons coffee, for all you people who think that Timmy is our baby's name) and a blizzardy day. Wish us luck :)

Change :)

Here is our living room when we first moved in. We really didn't change much with the furniture because our living room is really large and nothing else seemed right.

This is our new set up now. We wanted to put in some carpet so we can put baby on the floor without felling bad. And we moved Brion's computer into the living room and out of what will be the baby's room. 

Next step: Baby's room! 

Starting from Scratch

Starting tomorrow, as part of our training, we are not allowed to use any of our kitchen appliances (Except fridge and stove) and have to cook EVERYTHING from scratch. When I first heard that we had to do this, I was a little freaked out, but I think (if all goes well with my health this week) that it should be pretty fun.

So what's on the menu for the week?

Monday we are making tortillas and taco fixings for dinner. I figured we would start out with one thing super easy, taco meat, and one thing a little more time consuming, tortillas :) For breakfast we have powdered skim milk (eek) with some awesome homemade granola (Brion made it and gave it a special name, but I forgot what he called it). We are keeping lunch simple too with sandwiches on our homemade bread with some fruit.

Tuesday we'll do some breakfast burritos with our leftover tortillas and for dinner some awesome cheddar, potato, cauliflower, bacon soup.

Wednesday we'll make some more bread and have leftover soup and sandwiches for lunch and some crepes for dinner!! I just love making and eating crepes!

Thursday for lunch we are having grilled cheese with bacon and avocado and dinner is a spin off of shepherds pie. We are having company over so i'll probably try and make some sort of dessert. Maybe some chocolate pudding cake...

Friday I really don't remember what I planned for lunch, but for dinner we have a potluck with the rest of class to celebrate our survival of scratch cooking! I'm making a chicken pot pie and I think i'll do a apple crisp for dessert.

In the mix somewhere I'm going to try these awesome peanut butter cookies and maybe some other oatmeal snacky things. If all goes well, I will be the one making these meals, but maybe if you think about it, pray for Brion in case he has to cook this week on top of his already busy schedule.  :) I'm going to miss my toaster and my food processor this week, but luckily we have a hand crank coffee grinder and french press, so Brion will still have his coffee. Hope everyone has a great week. We are excited about ours!

Wasted

Holy conviction, Batman! That's what I feel like saying today. My thinking has been so off and today as I was looking in the mirror, I realized how wrong my attitude has been. This pregnancy has been hard for me for a number of reasons and I have been so focused on the negative and when everything will finally start looking up, that I have wasted 28 weeks of thankfulness and rejoicing in exactly where God has me. There have been so many days that I can't do anything but lay in bed and instead of praying for other people and getting into the Word, I was just feeling sorry myself. I should have taken advantage of every second of down time that I had and put it to good use, but instead I was self absorbed and wishing the day by.

My goodness it has taken me a long time to figure this out! I could just keep waiting and waiting for a time when I will feel better and rejoice in that, or I could rejoice for this moment I have right now. Even if that means I am rejoicing in my bed or on my couch. I have such a huge privilege of having a sweet little baby inside of me and instead of thanking God everyday for the challenge that this bringing us, knowing that we can grow from this, I am focused on the prayer of health. I know that God can heal, but He doesn't always choose to do so.

So I may not be making it to all my classes and I may not have the same fellowship opportunities as everyone else, but I still have the ability to pray and study God's Word. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes! From this point on, I am going to have a better attitude. If you catch me with a bad one, please call me out it. As I have 12 weeks left, give or take a few, I want to rejoice daily in the fact that my son is alive and kicking! He is healthy and growing strong for the day when he makes his grand entrance into this world.

My Goals for the next 12 weeks:
1. Wake up everyday and be thankful for whatever it holds. Before my feet touch the floor, I want to thank God for what He is going to use me for and teach me that day.
2. Spend quality time with my Savior. Whether it be in deep prayer or studying His Word. If I am not setting my mind on things above, there is no way my attitude will transform.
3. I can't really think of something right now, but I'm sure I will in the future.
I am going to need some help in keeping my mind and my heart in the right place, so as my brothers and sisters in Christ, if you see that I may need some work on something, please feel free to tell me.

Stuffed to the Brim!

Brion and I just sent out this e-mail update. If you would like to be added to our e-mail list, please shoot us an e-mail at thekendzoras@gmail.com. ~ 

One down, two to go! Or is it two down, one to go? Well, actually… it’s both. We just finished our first semester of school and have just 2 more to go before we complete our training. And next week marks the beginning of Annette’s 3^rd trimester. Time sure does fly!

Two Down one to go

Our baby boy is already the size of a head of lettuce. That’s right, it’s a boy! We are very excited for this new chapter of our life to begin. We are already starting to accumulate a lot of baby essentials.

When we were driving back from our Christmas break in the states, our car was so full of baby stuff that we didn’t have any room for grocery’s, which are much cheaper in the states. Even though our car was full, we couldn’t resist those low prices! So we were left shoving the items we bought into any nook or crevice we could find. Some things got a bit squished, but still tasted great! We are so grateful to everyone who has blessed us in preparing for our little man’s arrival, which should be around May 2^nd.

One down two to go

We are three weeks into our second semester and are diving into the language-learning portion of our training here in Canada. We are starting off with phonetics in our sounds and symbols class. So far we are learning how to listen to someone speak and detect where and how they are producing the sound they are making (Brion is finally putting all his strange noises to good use!).  This will help us in the future when we are hearing a new language for the first time to truly understand what we are hearing. 

As we continue with our training we have grown even more passionate for the salvation of the lost. We are confident that this is where the Lord has put us. Ultimately our goal is to reach tribal people living in remote areas of the world, but before we get there, our ministry starts right here. There is so much God wants to do through us before we head off to some foreign land and we don’t want to miss out on that.

Having our brothers and sisters in Christ behind us is a huge encouragement to us.  Please continue to pray for the health of the baby and Annette as well. Also, as our schooling becomes more challenging, that our focus and dependence would remain on God. We sincerely want to thank you for your prayers and support. Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

                                    In Christ,

                                             Brion and Annette Kendzora

Growing, growing, growing!

Well, here we are at week 26. Some call him Mario, some call him Hank, but either way he is getting huge! I think he should be about 2 pounds now (so say the books) and his lungs are now capable of breathing air. He gets the hiccups at night sometimes now. We thought that maybe if we scared him his hiccups would go away.... we may be awful parents already..... Either way, it scared me more than the baby and his hiccups remained. Maybe the fact that we tried counts as something :) I still find it absolutely crazy that I have a baby inside me. And that the baby is going to come out eventually and then that means that we are parents. Life is just nuts. I love it, but man it is nuts! 

Heavenly Blessings

What a crazy 3 weeks we had on Christmas break! So many blessing I can't even begin to count them all. Brion and I had an awesome time visiting our home church in Arlington Heights. It was so great to be back in our church and feel all the love! We wished we could have had more time to hang out with tons more people, but surprisingly getting together with people to eat is very tiring.

We then had a week to spend at my parents house which was absolutely wonderful. My sisters and mom threw us baby shower which was so great. It was so wonderful to spend that time with family and my awesome friends who traveled a long ways just to celebrate with us. Our baby is a lucky one :) After a week of fun there, we went up to Brion's families place. We had such a great, relaxing time with them, but of course the week went by in a flash.

We have been back in Canada for 2 weeks now. It's good to be back in the swing of things. We are already learning tons this semester! Our first week back we had 2 guest speakers/teachers come and train us in how to approach the huge task of partnership development (support raising) and 1 tech helper to teach us how to use nifty computer stuff. You can tell Brion's the computer dude in this relationship... It was a crazy week filled with a massive amount of information, but we are so thankful for it! This week was our first week back in normal classes and we have been having a lot of fun with phonetics! I was very intimidated at first and wondered how on earth we were ever going to learn anything, but so far, it's been awesome. Yes it's challenging and no I don't understand everything, but it is super cool. :)

We have had so much homework, which is new for us here, and we have been so busy that today, I just don't know what to do with myself! Brion just went off to play ping pong with some guys. I would love to play but one girl intruding on guy time is always a bit awkward. Maybe I'll try to make some bread.....

Happy Weekend!

Baby Kendo

Baby Kendo at 24 Weeks! I kind of want to name this baby Mighty Mover, but I guess we might get weird looks if we did that.