First Family Roadtrip - recap

A few of the photos we snapped along our 6 day trip from Vancouver to Fort Collins.  Phew.  Had fun, but glad it's done!

at the McNarry Dam (in Idaho?)

at a dam along the way 

in Boise, Idaho 

the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, Utah 

 Silas enjoying his daily nap

 hitting stormy weather...

attempting a family photo in windy, dusty weather...

 in Deadhorse Pass: incredible views!

Silas loving the view (mommy, getting nervous...) 

 Family shot!

 In Utah!

 More lightening storms and rough weather

 Trying to hide Silas away for sleep (not working so well!)

 Arches National Park, Utah

 Incredible Arches

 Loving the scenery

 Full family shot (baby included)

 Daddy & Silas in an Arch!

 Climbing (I needed help down from a stranger!)

 Daddy & Silas in Arches

 Family shot!

 Double Arch

 In Vail, Colorado

 Checking out a gondola!

 Ski runs behind

Entering the Mountains of Colorado

so the Adventure Continues...

We head out tomorrow for our 5 day road trip to Colorado.  (woot woot!)  We are stocked up on snacks and kids' dollar store toys and DVDs.  We hope (and pray) that Silas will survive, and that we will survive him and each other!  We're excited for what this month ahead brings as we will be doing some Bible schooling out of Fort Collins.  So many doors have opened for us in order to do this, so we really feel the Lord's leading.


We are also very thankful that I am feeling much better (no nausea!) and that I had a good ultrasound the other day!  Everything looks a-okay and we're getting more excited about this baby.  I think I felt him or her move today during worship which was exciting!  I started to get emotional the other day in the car listening to Creed (of all bands...)  Their song 'Arms Wide Open' is about the lead singer finding out he is going to be a Dad and I love his words:


"Well I don't know if I'm ready
To be the man I have to be
I'll take a breath, I'll take her by my side
We stand in awe, we've created life"
he says to his child:
"With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
Now everything has changed
I'll show you love
I'll show you everything"


Okay.  It's not that sappy.  BUT I still got this swelling up of emotion and joy that I will again, Lord willing, have the opportunity to hold a little life in my arms again.  


On that up note, in typical Shannon style, a little authenticity:  If adventure usually means good, it can sometimes mean scary and that is also where I'm at.  It's hard not to be fearful about how adapting to baby #2 will be.  My thyroid was tested the other day and I'm borderline hyperthyroid.  Oh bother.  Here we go again (?)  I pray it isn't so.  Or that somehow, I will have the maturity and grace to go about any bumps along the road in a different way (if that's the Lord's will).  


So there you have it!  We have an exciting summer ahead: Bible school, trip to Saskatoon, weddings... and are on the verge of something incredible as we continue on this journey back to the mission field [?] and back to being new parents again...  


And here I am.  Busting at the seems (okay, not quite).  17 weeks and counting:

15 Weeks and Counting

at this point, I just feel fat. grrr.

But, looking forward to my ultrasound next week!

Silas, the Curious

Jason and I were in the dining room, a room away from where Silas was playing.  We weren't really paying attention but since he was happily playing, we were content to continue working on some stuff together.  Then I said to Jason, "it seems awfully quiet in there..."

Where was Silas?  Right where we had told him NOT to go.  But how could you be mad at him when this is what we found?

"oooooh, dirt!"

A cute little mess indeed!  (He was covered, head to foot in dirt!)  Too bad a few baby tomato plants had to lose their lives though...

Death, Life and In-between

Ever have a post that has been burning in the back of your head for weeks, but you just haven't sat down to write it? 
Well, I have.  
And, now it's lost some of its freshness.  However, I need to write about it because it's important.


I'm a nurse (duh), so it may well be expected for me to see patients die.  But somehow, it still can be quite surprising and catastrophic.  I had a young patient (late 30's) who I had never met.  Upon arrival on my shift, it was quite apparent that she was beyond sick.  She had cancer.  It was everywhere.  Her devoted, gentle husband was at her bedside.


To say that her death was imminent would be accurate, but at the same time, how she happened to pass away was not peaceful.  It was graphic.  It was messy.  It was horrific.  It was devastating.  I have never seen someone pass as she did and it was scary.  Watching it was traumatizing, but I can only imagine how it must have felt for her husband to stand by and watch his much loved wife violently pass from life to death.


Death makes you think about a lot.  She was so young.  How can this happen?   How is it, that I too, will watch people I love die?  As a believer in life after death I am thankful for hope and the truth that this life is not all there is.  That even though the body is fading, the soul will never fade.  But, here's the real shocker:  what if, what if she didn't know this hope, and didn't know Christ?  What if, after enduring years of pain, suffering, and sorrow, she passes from this life to the next in trauma and violence only to find that she will now endure an eternity of suffering, separate from her creator and His love?  Now THAT is scary.  That reality is much more frightening than death itself.


A lot happened at about the same time as this work shift.  My great aunt died (I didn't actually know her) and then the next week, at my Church's weekly women's group, a hospice nurse shared about her job.  It was hugely impactful and I wanted to bawl the whole time I was listening.  As much as I hated watching this patient of mine die, as much as taking care of her life-less body was awful and, well, awkward, and as much as the reality of death is shocking and intrusive, I realize how much I love walking beside people as their loved ones pass from death to life.  Maybe that's odd, but I think that the Christ, in me, is attracted to brokenness.  He longs, through me, to touch those who suffer.  To walk with them, cry with them, hurt with them, and sorrow with them.  Maybe it's because I am all too aware of my own brokenness that Christ ministers through me this way.  I dunno.    But I feel Him most, and feel HIS satisfaction most when I am with those who suffer in this life.


I loved what the hospice nurse said: how death causes families to have to be authentic.  It causes them to need others to walk with them.  They think about things differently.  They view their own lives differently.  Conversations filled with hope and sorrow are frequent.  It made me want to be a hospice nurse.  I wonder if perhaps that is why God has allowed me to suffer in different ways in my own life.  With the shattering of my own family, with the difficulty in dealing with physical ailments, etc. 


Who knows where God will take me, but I wonder...maybe it's weird...but if I will somehow be journeying with those who are in between this life and the next.  


[Phew.  I promise the next post will be about happier, more everyday subjects like baking granola or Silas' running around the house with a hockey stick day in, day out, or maybe about how impossible making a quilt really is]

thanks

I was reading the Bible and contemplating yesterday.  How is it, that here I am, with weeks of quality, nightly sleep under my belt, and I have not stopped to just say 'thanks' again for God's gift of healing to me?  How is it that I have so quickly forgotten the misery that marked much of the last year with night after night of sleeplessness?  It was my focus, I was consumed by it, I was defined by it.  And now, here I am, having suddenly and remarkably been pulled out of the pit I was in of hopelessness and despair, and I haven't stopped to say 'thanks' again to God.  
  In fact, I feel like I've given credit where credit was not due.  No, it wasn't that I was pregnant, and tired, and that's why I've been sleeping so fabulously.  No, it wasn't that I finally got off my sleeping pills and that's why I can now miraculously sleep.  No, it wasn't that I started seeing a sleep psychologist (he didn't do much at all really).  It was God.  Simply.  Completely.  Absolutely.  Why did He choose to heal me when He did?  I don't know.  Why did He wait so long?  I REALLY don't know.  But here's the kicker: where is my marker, my pile of rocks that I go back to and remind myself of the incredibly compassionate and merciful God that I serve Who, in His great love and grace, healed me of such a horrible affliction?  I feel like such an Israelite.  They watched the red sea part before them, allowing them to escape from their enemies and weeks later they are bowing down before a statue made of gold.  WHAT?  They already forgot.  They didn't stop and remind themselves of their incredible rescuing God.
  I don't want to make the same mistake.  I want to learn lessons, LIFE-LONG lessons from what this year was.  I want to never doubt the power of prayer, and that God is willing and able to do miraculous healings today.  I don't want to forget that healing isn't just for everybody else but me, God does know me, see me, and love me and longs to pour out compassion on me, too.
  So here I am.  Just saying thanks.  Wow.  I've been sleeping and, you know, it's been such a gift.  Thanks God- for seeing my despair and when I was ready to truly give in, and give up, You came and You healed.  I am ever ever ever grateful.  

Lists. Lists. Lists

To do:
1. Must. blog. more. often. 
2. Must finish planting veggie garden.
3. Plan for crazy adventurous road trip to fort collins this summer!
4. Finish folding laundry. Again.
For some reason, today is all about lists.  It's been awhile since I've blogged because there were some things I couldn't blog about (namely, pregnancy) which created a bit of a writer's block.  How could I NOT blog about THAT which was consuming much of my thoughts and energy?  But since the news is o-u-t I can talk about baby #2 and other things occurring these days in the Brink household.
List #1: What I love about being 12 weeks pregnant:
1. I get to hear the baby's heartbeat. (sigh of relief) 
2. Nausea is going away.  (yucky)
3. I got to see baby waving at me today!  (My doctor has this way cool, hand-held ultrasound device.  AND behold: little hand waving for me to see.  Amazing!)
4. I finally can TELL people. (sigh of relief #2)
5. I LOVE pregnancy jeans.  Wish I could wear them ALL the time.  AND now I've given myself permission. (YES!)
List #2: What I love about Silas being 15 months old:  (This has been a very difficult stage for me and him, however, I'm choosing the see the positive about this age!)
1. He can walk, and is getting better at it all the time!
2. He's talking more all the time- he says ho-ck-ey and more, uppie, mommy, teddy, puppy and many more very cute (and intelligent) words (lol)
3. He can fold his hands to pray!
4. He still, most often, naps twice a day.  (lifesaving)
5. He can focus on one activity for longer than 5 minutes!  (such as playing hockey with a kitchen spoon and ball or ripping up tissue paper into teeny tiny confetti shreds) 
6. He will actually stand still and let us wipe his nose (a-mazing)
7. He is capable of helping us 'clean up' now!

List #3: What I'm looking forward to in the near future:

1. Spending a month in Colorado for bible school!!! Yahoo

2. Going to Saskatoon for Jason's staff conference this summer.

3. Camping.  I dunno when or where, but it's gonna happen this summer!

4. More hiking (Silas is still such a great little sport and will hike with us for hours at a time!)

5. More biking! (We've had a few bad rounds, let's hope this summer Silas is ALL ABOUT the bike!)

In other news:

1. We don't think we'll find out if this new babe is a girl or boy (aaaah, could I even WAIT that long to know?)

2. We're sad to see two great couples we love move away this summer, and another great couple leave our church  (hopefully that doesn't slow down our friendship!)

3. We're, in the meantime, needing to study like crazy to do an online course before June.  Not sure we'll make it...