A Christmas Visit

 Earlier this December, Isaiah had a visit from his Uncle JM! We had a fun and relaxing time together. We celebrated Christmas a little early with lights and a few gifts and we even made Christmas sugar cookies while listening to very Glee-tastic Christmas music.

Hiatus

hi·a·tus

   [hahy-ey-tuhs]  Show IPA

noun, plural hi·a·tus·es, hi·a·tus.

1.

a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series,action, etc.

~dictionary.com

It's been awhile. A really long while. Suffice it to say...I've been a little busy. And mostly a little unmotivated. I've decided that the most likely way to "get back to the blog" is to sum up the last few...er 6months?!? is that possible?...

June-Our trip back from Ohio was more eventful than I'd like to talk about and let's just say, the following few weeks were full of phone calls and frustrating conversations. It rained 21 out of 30 days in June. It was a bit of a downer. A positive end was when Jason was [finally] approved as my sponsor! Hooray! This meant that I could maybe possibly be covered by MSP for the birth of the baby. More on that later. 

July-It was a rough month as we learned that our baby in utero had "the most irregular heartbeat" that the midwife had ever heard. Consequently, the rest of the month was full of specialist appointments, multiple ultra sounds, seeing the midwife literally every other day and lots of praying. To take our minds off things (and celebrate my birthday a little early) Jason bought me tickets to see Neil Diamond in Vancouver. It was fabulous. I think even Jason didn't mind it so much. :)

August-My birthday month! Let's see...this month was full of baby prep! Packing bags, taking pictures and getting pedicures. I was tired most of the time, as was expected, but still worked a bit on getting the house ready. We were so blessed by friends and family who stocked up our supply of baby clothes and necessities like a swing, cradle and carrier. We even found out that I would be covered by Jason's medical. I got my very own care card!! And then...the baby didn't come. I suppose he just wanted his own birthday month...

September-Isaiah Daniel van Leeuwen was born on September 2nd. There will be more details of that "experience" on Isaiah's blog (which will also hopefully be updated and ready for viewing soon). It was a beautiful month filled with sunshine and joy. Gina came up for a visit and we also had a meet and greet for Isaiah. We felt so blessed by everyone's presence and for the meals that were also prepared and dropped off at our home. The best part of all, though, was that little Isaiah was in perfect health. Praise God!

October-Fall is by far my favourite season. The rain started in this month, which was a little disappointing. However, the colours were still vibrant, even against a backdrop of grey. We celebrated 6 family birthdays and had fun visiting Alder Acres again. 

November-This is a month to be thankful! I am thankful for a super fun girl's shopping weekend to kick off the month. I am thankful for a trip to Ohio to show off our amazing son. I am thankful for lifetime friends who are always good for a laugh. I am thankful for a hardworking husband. I am thankful for nights with a little more sleep than the last. I am thankful for a house that is still a work in progress. I am thankful for having family in two countries that I love and I know love me. And so many more reasons....Happy Thanksgiving! Here's to more blogging in the future!! ;)

May-The Recap

Yes, I know. It is almost August. Time flies when you're having fun...or when you're traveling, renovating, paper-working, and preparing for a baby. Whew.

May 2012 was so busy from start to finish. Some highlights were going to my beautiful nieces' first dance recital, celebrating my first Mother's Day (it counts!!), lots of time with friends, and finishing up the month in my favourite city in the world (sorry Vancouver, you have a long way to go)--New York, New York.

The girls with their seemingly too large bouquets (thanks to Uncle Jason :) ).

Oma and I took Maria out for her birthday. I think she liked the goats.

And last, but not least, here are some highlights from NYC. 

          Baby's first plane ride!                                        For the Canadians...it was right beside our hotel!

Visit to the Flower District...for Jason. 

 "There are like 30 Ray's Pizza's..." Elf

Found something for Baby at the Hard Rock. 
Because we have a rockstar baby.

                                                

Jason's favourite places...

The M&M Store. Yum!

Seriously...

And some of mine...

AND we (finally) got to see Wicked!! Jason was thrilled. Well, at least I was. 

And the baby moved the entire time. 

Ice cream stop before the show. 

On May 2nd, we also celebrated 2 years of knowing each other! We met at the NALC Leadership Conference 2010. I never would have guessed on that day that my life would be like it is now. Good thing the plans are in His hands, not mine.

My crazy friends--old and new!

And the happy (soon-to-be-at-that-point) couple

Bob Marley- Three Little Birds

I heard this song a few weeks ago on my Pandora.com station and really liked it. Then, two weeks ago we went for a midwife appointment and the baby's heartbeat was irregular. Long story short, we ended up going to the hospital after that, followed by more frequent visits to the midwife and a visit to a heart specialist. It has been really hard not to get worried about the baby. But, oddly enough, this was the song that kept popping into my head. And--the funny part is--both the midwife and the heart specialist said after listening to the heartbeat that it sounded like the baby was just listening to Reggae music. I went back to the midwife again today and the heart beat was actually completely normal. Praise God! She said that it might go back to being irregular, but the baby will most likely be just fine. So, the lesson learned (really still learning!!) is to not worry. 

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

Baby!

WEEK 22

WEEK 24

WEEK 26

Joy Williams - One of Those Days

Basically sums it up.... :)

Pictures!

And here's what we were up to in April (ish) of last year! Ok, confession, most of these pics are actually from March. April must've been, um, somewhat un-interesting. However, it is fun to think about spring of last year. And to see how much the little kids have grown! Wow!

These pics are from a little day trip to the, uh, "beach" that Michelle and I took with the kids. The tide ended up coming in and there actually was no beach that day, so we went to the park to fly kites instead. One of my favourite memories of this trip was actually on the car ride there when Maria was singing "Amazing Grace"--about 3 octaves higher than it's written, I'm pretty sure. Oh my. It was sooo funny! I wish I would've recorded it!

The amazing long car ride!

Wheeeee!!

Esther in her licking phase

Danny! He looks so small here! And so terrified of the slide! haha

The next few pics are from our very first place in Walnut Grove (not next to Laura Ingalls). It was small, but perfect for our first year! 

The view when you first walked in

Yes, our bed was too big for the bedroom. Laugh it up. Our bed is awesome.  

The actual "master bedroom". It was a nice sized closet. 

The bath

"2nd bedroom" a.k.a living room 

Kitchen on the other side

April-The Recap

 Oh, April! How you have come and gone so quickly! This year is absolutely flying by. I've heard most people say they feel like their pregnancy is soooo long and that it seemingly takes forever for the baby to come. I have not yet had that feeling. Granted, I am only a little over half-way there, but it so far has just sped by. I can't believe that in a few more short months we will actually get to meet our little guy/gal. Incredible! This month Jason and I also officially "moved in" the house! It has been quite the experience so far. Interesting, to say the least. It's a bit like camping, but getting cleaner and closer to being done [almost] every day--which is exciting!

And despite the fact that it snowed on April 1st-good prank, God-the weather hasn't been absolutely terrible. Mostly rainy days, but the sun has peeked out a few times. We decided to take advantage of this on Saturday and visit the Tulip Festival with Bryant, Michelle and the kids. Tulips are Maria's favourite flower. She may have gotten her fill of them for awhile...

Jason, Me and Baby

Danny boy-actually by the flowers for this one. Playing in the dirt the rest of the time...

Such a pretty flower princess!

Jason and the girls

oh, the mountains....lovely

pretty flower in the hands of a pretty girl!

The cool sunglass girls

Bryant and Michelle

Thomas-completely unaware of his surroundings




     And that was April!