Today seems momentous given there are only TEN days left until my due date. I've started saying "next Thursday", which seems so weird after saying "Jan 28th" for almost 9 months.
So I've been getting the "Are you ready?" question for a couple of weeks now, and the answer is still, most definitely, no! :0 Not because I'm not ready to meet her... I can't wait for that! But, we've been renovating our bathroom for over 4 weeks now, and there are still tools and dust everywhere, not to mention projects that still need to be completed. I've been chronicling the renovation on FB for my fam, so you can see the pics here.
We've had a very busy month of getting ready: weekly dr. visits, 2 prenatal visits w/ our doula, lots of projects revolving around getting the nursery ready, trips to BabiesRUs for the last minute necessities/exchanges from shower gifts, lots of baby girl laundry, finding a pediatrician, writing a birth plan, making checklists for our hospital bags, etc., etc. I have had to do all of this in moderation 'cause if I stay on my feet too long my Braxton Hicks kick in and my stomach gets super tight.
I am really hoping and praying that this baby comes at least a week late so that we have time to be more ready. And, the later she comes, the less time I'll have to go back to teaching at the end of the school year. I envision that being a very difficult 6-8 weeks with a newborn, given I have to get up at 6 am to teach regardless of how much sleep I'll be getting! I know that labor can start at any time (I've been thinking about that fact for the last 2 weeks already), but so far I've had no indication that she is ready yet. She hasn't dropped; in fact, I still get comments about how high I'm carrying her, and how small she is. To me, this is a good sign- my sub is ready to go the minute she gets my phone call, and my students are prepped that it can be any time now, but I am still really hopeful that I can squeeze in a couple more weeks of teaching before the Big Day.
Of the things I'm looking forward to (aside from getting to meet and hold my daughter, obviously!!), surprisingly enough wearing my normal clothes ranks pretty high up there. Also, not having to sit down after 20 minutes of activity due to the fear of going into early labor; not having to guess what labor will be like or when it will happen; seeing family who will come to visit; having help w/ the house projects that didn't get done in time; and BETTER sleep, though perhaps not more. Sleep has been pretty elusive these last months as I wake up numerous times during the night due to back pain. My body just isn't used to this extra weight... So, shedding these extra pounds and being able to breathe easier sounds really good about now too.
I realized I haven't updated about my pregnancy since the "Adventures in Third Trimester" post, in which I had several health scares/issues. Thankfully all of that has been much better- fewer heart racing episodes, fewer panic attacks, and no worries about gestational diabetes. It has really been a very healthy end to the pregnancy and I feel surprisingly good; just a bit uncomfortable at times, which is to be expected at this point. So thanks for listening to my ramblings. Soon we'll be updating with pics of our sweet, baby girl. And, we'll finally be able to share her name! It's been fun to keep people guessing, but I've discovered that I am too much of an extrovert (read: verbal processor) to like keeping secrets!
Monday, January 18, 2010
My aunt just wrote a really helpful post for anyone who ever has to think about motivating people: "Nonprofit marketing recipe: Hope + individual stories + progress"
She points out that, "we respond to stories of hope and transformation, not stories and statistics of desperation." I remember thinking this after a speaker who visited the seminary tried to "guilt" us into joining his cause by talking (statistically) about how bleak the outlook is in his field and how much better our ancestors did at missions than we do. I left the talk thinking how much more impact speakers had who talked about their personal interactions with people and who viewed the obstacles they faced as opportunities rather than barriers. This speaker did tell one story about getting to know some men in his neighborhood by drinking with them (taboo for most people from an evangelical tradition). That one story resonated far more with the audience than all the statistics and negative outlook because it was personal, and hopeful. We got to see a snapshot of his life and some hopeful relationships he was building.
While she is applying ideas to non-profits in general, I think the insights are valuable to churches specifically (as it seems that we often look to 1950s marketing paradigms for our ideas currently...). She points us to marketing ideas that would also be endorsed by a biblically consistent Christian theology: humans are intrinsically relational (thus we connect with stories about individuals, not statistics) and humans innately know that that the suffering and pain we confront all around is is not as it is supposed to be (thus we are hopeful, and respond to hopeful ideas that look to defeating such pain).
Thank you Lois Kelly!
She points out that, "we respond to stories of hope and transformation, not stories and statistics of desperation." I remember thinking this after a speaker who visited the seminary tried to "guilt" us into joining his cause by talking (statistically) about how bleak the outlook is in his field and how much better our ancestors did at missions than we do. I left the talk thinking how much more impact speakers had who talked about their personal interactions with people and who viewed the obstacles they faced as opportunities rather than barriers. This speaker did tell one story about getting to know some men in his neighborhood by drinking with them (taboo for most people from an evangelical tradition). That one story resonated far more with the audience than all the statistics and negative outlook because it was personal, and hopeful. We got to see a snapshot of his life and some hopeful relationships he was building.
While she is applying ideas to non-profits in general, I think the insights are valuable to churches specifically (as it seems that we often look to 1950s marketing paradigms for our ideas currently...). She points us to marketing ideas that would also be endorsed by a biblically consistent Christian theology: humans are intrinsically relational (thus we connect with stories about individuals, not statistics) and humans innately know that that the suffering and pain we confront all around is is not as it is supposed to be (thus we are hopeful, and respond to hopeful ideas that look to defeating such pain).
Thank you Lois Kelly!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Christmas 2009
This was our first Christmas away from family (since I obviously wasn't going to be traveling...). While we'd been a little sad when we first realized we'd be alone, we actually had a wonderful day! God has been so good to us in giving us friends that feel and act like family, that welcomed us into their homes and gave us lots of good food!
We started out the day by enjoying french toast, reading the Christmas story from the Storybook Bible, lighting our advent wreath, and then opening presents together. Currie then stuffed his first turkey and we headed off to church at OOC. (We've always wanted to attend their Christmas service, but have always been out of town.) After church we did a little more cooking, then headed over to enjoy quite a feast at our friends' house.
More pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132402&id=500377983&l=8a59e9590d
We started out the day by enjoying french toast, reading the Christmas story from the Storybook Bible, lighting our advent wreath, and then opening presents together. Currie then stuffed his first turkey and we headed off to church at OOC. (We've always wanted to attend their Christmas service, but have always been out of town.) After church we did a little more cooking, then headed over to enjoy quite a feast at our friends' house.
More pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132402&id=500377983&l=8a59e9590d
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Project: Get Nursery Ready
Day two of Christmas break and we have seen a lot of progress already! We had a very kind friend come over and paint our whole nursery!! Plus, he put our crib together for us!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131529&id=500377983&l=1dfe5aa7e6
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131529&id=500377983&l=1dfe5aa7e6
Monday, December 21, 2009
Project: Remodel Ugly Bathroom
This morning I took an extra long shower 'cause I knew it'd be my last in our ugly bathroom!! So I have a different place lined up almost every day this week where I'll be showering (for the off days it'll be sponge baths...). I'm just thankful that I have TWO weeks off of school, and we're praying we can get it done within that time frame. Please pray w/ us that there will not be any unexpected complications (even though every single person I've talked to have told us that there will be)! So far, so good. Check the facebook link for more pics.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131241&id=500377983&l=a808be080c
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131241&id=500377983&l=a808be080c
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Thanksgiving 2009
My brother's friend from church agreed to take these pictures for us after the service...I think they all turned out great!!
Just the kids...
The whole sch-bang! Yes, all 11 of us stayed in my brother's 3 bedroom house. I was thankful that my bros slept on the air mattress in the kitchen, my bro and sis-in-law slept on an air mattress in my nephew's room, my parents slept on the pull out couch, my aunt & sis slept on the guest bed, and WE got the master suite. :) Perks of being pregnant, I guess. Anyhoo, I was very grateful since sleep is a rare commodity these days!
Just the kids...
The whole sch-bang! Yes, all 11 of us stayed in my brother's 3 bedroom house. I was thankful that my bros slept on the air mattress in the kitchen, my bro and sis-in-law slept on an air mattress in my nephew's room, my parents slept on the pull out couch, my aunt & sis slept on the guest bed, and WE got the master suite. :) Perks of being pregnant, I guess. Anyhoo, I was very grateful since sleep is a rare commodity these days!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Empiricism
"The Metaphysics of Quality subscribes to what is called empiricism. It claims that all legitimate human knowledge arises from the senses or by thinking about what the senses provide. Most empiricists deny the validity of any knowledge gained through imagination, authority, tradition, or purely theoretical reasoning. They regard fields such as art, morality, religion, and metaphysics as unverifiable."
In other words, empiricists have to re-invent the wheel a lot.
What I question is, do we have to view such fields as unverifiable? In the case of art, the content of the communication is received through the senses - watching a dancer, listening to music, even touching a sculpture. In the case of morality it seems that the claims of a given moral can be tested in our own sense experience, or that of others around us (at some level we have to have criteria for accepting some of the sense experience of others or we really do have to not only reinvent the wheel, but do molecular examination of each bite of food we take to make sure it is indeed food [not to mention that we would have to develop such examination methods entirely ourselves]). Metaphysics that claim to merely be imaginative speculation would be unverifiable, but it seems most metaphysics are based on ties (however tenuous) to sense experience--so the validity of the ties is what comes into question. In the case of religion, most religious teachings are in texts which we experience ourselves and can test aspects of with sense experience (to determine whether the authors are trustworthy), and most of those texts claim to be the result of the writer's sense experience of the deity, or extrapolations from previous writers' experiences. I'm not sure if Mohamed claimed his writing to be revealed to him by God (an instance of the former) or, rather, written through him by God (which, since it lacks the humans sense experience, would be unverifiable if we don't allow God's sense experience as valid for argument). In the case of authors like Moses, Isaiah and Matthew, they claim to be writing the result of their sense experience encounters with God. In the case of a writer like Paul, or the author of Ecclesiastes, they generally claim to be explaining or applying the work of previous writers, or that which is obvious from experience. Paul does develop new things, but he generally does so by inference from previous writings, not by just asserting "thus sayeth the Lord."
--Robert M. Persig, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals.
In other words, empiricists have to re-invent the wheel a lot.
What I question is, do we have to view such fields as unverifiable? In the case of art, the content of the communication is received through the senses - watching a dancer, listening to music, even touching a sculpture. In the case of morality it seems that the claims of a given moral can be tested in our own sense experience, or that of others around us (at some level we have to have criteria for accepting some of the sense experience of others or we really do have to not only reinvent the wheel, but do molecular examination of each bite of food we take to make sure it is indeed food [not to mention that we would have to develop such examination methods entirely ourselves]). Metaphysics that claim to merely be imaginative speculation would be unverifiable, but it seems most metaphysics are based on ties (however tenuous) to sense experience--so the validity of the ties is what comes into question. In the case of religion, most religious teachings are in texts which we experience ourselves and can test aspects of with sense experience (to determine whether the authors are trustworthy), and most of those texts claim to be the result of the writer's sense experience of the deity, or extrapolations from previous writers' experiences. I'm not sure if Mohamed claimed his writing to be revealed to him by God (an instance of the former) or, rather, written through him by God (which, since it lacks the humans sense experience, would be unverifiable if we don't allow God's sense experience as valid for argument). In the case of authors like Moses, Isaiah and Matthew, they claim to be writing the result of their sense experience encounters with God. In the case of a writer like Paul, or the author of Ecclesiastes, they generally claim to be explaining or applying the work of previous writers, or that which is obvious from experience. Paul does develop new things, but he generally does so by inference from previous writings, not by just asserting "thus sayeth the Lord."
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