New Wheels

I am scared to ask God the big stuff sometimes. I don't know if it is lack of faith or afraid of not getting the answer I want, probably a bit of both. Our car is old and I have come to despise it over the past year. We had to take it into the shop twice for gas issues within the last month. I was really struggling with putting money into a car that is going to die (or fall apart from rust) at any given moment! Ok, I mean, it still runs, but when you add two babies to the equation, it changes things.

Part of me never wanted to ask God for a new car because he should know how bad our car is, right? Well, I came to realize this was flawed thinking. God wants us to ask him things. To talk to him about our life. To place our worries at his feet. So that is what we did. We put the whole situation in God's hands before Brion left for the mechanics. When Brion returned a half hour later, he told me that someone at our church wante to donate a car to someone and our pastor was going to find out more info about it for us.

One week later; we now have a 2001 Jetta sitting in our driveway that was completely free. And that wasn't all. We still had to fix our car (it was actually leaking gas!), but God provided all the money to cover that expense and then some!

We gotta trust God with the little things and the big things. His reminders of his goodness and sovereignty are always nice too!

The birth of Jonah Roger

(Warning: this is a birth story, so if that stuff grosses you out, read no further)

My three boys are sleeping, as I should be in this quiet moment, but alas, I know Jonah will wake soon. Before he wakes, here is the story of how he entered the world and stole our hearts.

Friday had come, the first due date of two that we were given for Jonah. We were somewhat glad that I still wasn't in labor because we had a breakfast date with a couple from our church that were moving the next morning. So as anxious as we were to meet Jonah, we were glad that we were able to make our breakfast date and say goodbye to an awesome couple.

Anyway, so woke up Friday, went potty and noticed slight pink-ness down there, slapped a panty-liner on headed to breakfast. After breakfast I told Brion that I was slowly loosing my mucus plug, so anything could happen. I had no contractions or any other signs of labor, so I was a bit bummed and tried not to get my hopes up that we would be having a baby that day.

Alas after taking a walking and eating pineapple, I started having contractions at about 9:45 pm. At around 11pm they became consistent and were all at least a minute long, so we called the midwife! I was happy, anxious, sad, nervous and just about every other emotion you can think of at this point. (Sad only because I knew this baby would be born in the night-time which meant even more loss of sleep. Eli came very nicely in the evening.)

With the contractions strong right from the beginning, I had no idea what to expect about this birth. I went into it pretty set on delivering in the birthing tub and I really wanted to stick to that plan. Our midwife arrived and checked me right away and I was already 6cm dilated, which is the exact same thing that happened with Eli. Brion then began to fill the pool and I thought I was gonna rock it and have the baby in no time. Well, little Jonah took a little longer than my brain planned out my labor, so I started getting even more nervous about the actual pushing part.

And pause to feed a baby....

The contractions got a lot more intense and then all of the sudden I couldn't not push. But as soon as that urge came, it pretty much left. I was given the green light to start pushing, but I just could not do it in the water. I was trying different positions, but it just wasn't working. I knew that this wasn't gonna happen in the pool, so we decided to relocate. Once I was in a better position (out of the water) I felt like I had so much more control. But about half way through pushing, I really didn't want to do it anymore and I know I was talking about how much I couldn't do it anymore (like I had a choice or something! Ha!) My midwife broke my water at this point and a couple pushes later and my midwife was telling Brion to grab the baby and put him on my chest.

Jonah was born at 3:46 am weighing 6lbs 9oz and 19 inches long. They said he looked about 38 weeks, so I guess the second due date was the "real" one. As much as the head coming out stinks, when the rest of the body comes out it feels so crazy awesome! The placenta pretty much just shot itself out right after Jonah came out. The cord was still pulsing and we could actually feel it. Super nuts.

So with the help of my amazing husband, awesome sister and two great midwives, we welcomed little Jonah into the world. I have loved the two homebirths that I have had, but I know it's not for everyone. I am already amazed at how different two little babies can be from one another. Eli and Jonah seem nothing alike with their eating/sleeping right from the start. And of course, again, I said to myself that I will never do this again (during transition) and right now as I type this, I'm thinking "how hard was that?" God is good. Babies are miracles. We are beyond blessed!

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!