Attempt at Craftiness

Our church has a craft night - maybe monthly? I don't even know how often. Anyhow, I've always been tempted to go, but I typically have had things going on those nights, or my fear of being the only one under 50 has held me back. This month, however, the lure of making a 'fall wreath' conquered that fear, and I ventured all the way across the parking lot for my first official "Craft Night". There were mostly incredibly fake looking leaves available to add to the wreath, so I went with all the more 'natural' things, like pine cones and cattails. It's not exactly what I was dreaming of, but for my first attempt at being crafty since Calvinettes, not too bad.

Growing like a weed

Not even 48 hours old

5 weeks 5 days

She's grown! Not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but after holding her in church for over an hour, I can certainly feel it!

10/22/10

One year since my miscarriage. I thought about it a few times, but more than that, I tried to not think about it. My due date of May 17 was much more difficult than I expected, but this day went by without much thought. It's amazing how much has happened in that year, and how I have continued to see and experience God's faithfulness despite some trying situations. Last year at this time, we were grieving and dealing with a trashed rental house. Those two situations caused months and months of time, tears, sweat, money, humility, health, gratitude, and loss of sanity. This year we are celebrating Hope, Marc is 1/2 way done with student teaching and a mere 7-8 weeks away from being DONE with school!! WOW!

Found!

The private investigator has tracked Betsie to Arizona. She is safe, healthy and said she did not want to be found. The family is still trying to figure out what she's doing there, who she's with, etc, so her and her family could still use everyones prayers.

I am so grateful that this has a 'happy' ending to some extent. It could have been so much worse.

Missing

This is Betsie Kruse. She has been missing since 10/11/10. She willingly left her home (off 4 mile rd) at 5am in a white car/taxi and has not been home since. The police called her cell phone & someone called back saying it was her and saying she was okay, so the police have closed the case. BUT she has not been home or been found yet! She is 19, wheel-chair bound and needs her medication which she does not have with her. Her family has hired a private investigator and he has asked people to spread the word about Betsie, since the police and media are not covering this. Her parents are speculating an online predator might have her, but of course, they don't know anything for sure. She is a member at Sunshine church and a former youth group student of mine. Please, spread the word and pray that Betsie is safe and comes home.

For the Mommas out there!

I just entered a giveaway for an Ergo baby carrier on this blog.You should all check it out! Not only for the giveaway, but the other posts here as well! Just reading this woman's about me' section of her blog made me like her! :)

If I don't win one here, I'm asking for gift cards to EcoBuns for my birthday and Christmas so I can get one.

I have a baby bjorn which I used a bit with Isaac, but it hurt my shoulders and I just never fell in love with it. I have a maya wrap sling, but I never felt Isaac was very secure in it, and it also hurt my shoulders. I have a moby wrap now, which my sister gave me and I really like that. It does take a bit to get Hope in and out of it, but it gets easier each time I use it. But what I really want is a Ergo - I have heard amazing things about it from everyone I know who has one. And every time I see a babywearing mama in public and I think "that looks like a great baby carrier" it's always an Ergo. So, there's my plug. Hopefully I will win one and can post a review after using it! :)

Biggest Loser

My biggest loser challenge starts on Saturday! I'm really looking forward to facilitating this for this great group of women!

If you're interested, check out www.grbigloser.blogspot.com - I'm going to update it with recipes, tips on healthy living, links to great articles, etc. It's more than just for those in the challenge. I'll add it to my blogroll on the side of this blog so you can easily access it if you are interested!

10/15/10 - One Month Old!!

My little Hope Anneliese is one month old today! Each month I'm going to take a picture with her adorable white teddy bear (Thanks K.B.) to see how much she's grown.

We went to weigh her in today at the doc,and she's gained 11oz in the last 10 days, which is perfect. She is up to 9lbs 5oz - still 5oz smaller than when Isaac was born! She's eating like a champ now, and still sleeping really well. She had to have her belly button cauterized with silver nitrate today, which I wasn't expecting. Her little cord fell off at 2 weeks, but since then has still been a bit, well, gross. The doc said the healing had 'gone wild' and she will need another 2 treatments, most likely. So, we will go back on Tuesday and see how it's doing.

She's smiling already and starting to 'coo' and talk a bit - it's so cute. I love my little girl!!!

My little pumpkin

Biggest Loser Challenge

So last year around this time, I did a biggest loser challenge online with a bunch of women I didn't know. I got 2nd place :(, but it was very helpful to have some accountability and something to motivate me towards healthy living/eating.

So, I decided to start my own challenge. Here are the details. Let me know if you're interested (excluding probably most of my blog readers who are all currently pregnant! :) )
and feel free to invite your friends too! You can let people know to email me at gretchendriesenga@gmail.com if they want to join. We won't start until October 23, so that gives us over a week to recruit some more people! Feel free to post the challenge as your status, or email friends or word of mouth. People don't need to be local to GR to participate.

Biggest Loser
October 23-December 23

Each participant will pay $10 to join. The winner of the challenge will collect 75% of the pot, 2nd place will get 15% of the pot, 3rd place will get 10% of the pot. So, obviously the more people we get involved, the bigger the pot will be.

We will weigh in and record our progress every Saturday, starting on October 23 with our starting weight. If you fail to weigh in by Saturday midnight, you will owe another $1 to the pot. If you gain during the week, you will owe $1 for each pound gained (due at the end of the challenge).

I’m planning to start a blog dedicated to this challenge, so you can email me your weekly weigh in or comment on the blog. Your starting weight will not be posted, just if you gained/lost each week. The winners will be determined by overall percentage of weight loss, not merely who lost the most pounds.

I will also post articles/inspiring ideas/exercise routines/healthy recipes, etc to the blog as a way to encourage everyone & would welcome any links to things you find helpful in our journey towards health!

Just think - even if we merely do the 1-2lbs weight loss per week that is recommended, that would be anywhere from 8-16lbs by Christmas time! How exciting would it be to buy a size smaller clothes with our Christmas gift cards! :)

my sleeping beauty

Hope is an incredible sleeper. She is already mostly going through the night - at least 6-7 hours each night, and sometimes even more! I feel so incredibly blessed by that, especially since I will be starting back to work this week (part time). I'm feeling good about starting up work again. I miss the students and leaders, and I miss the work! I'm looking forward to easing in part time though, and think going back to 40+ hours a week will be tough, but I've done it before & can do it again!

Funny sidenote: I am sitting on the couch drinking coffee while typing, and I just tried to rest my coffee cup on my belly like I did when I was pregnant. Didn't work so well!

Another funny sidenote: Did anyone else notice something funny in the pic of Isaac & Hope? Look at Isaacs head - the little tiara in the background looks like it's on his head!

Quick update

* Isaac has gone to bed 3 nights without his nuk now. It actually makes me a little sad, because it's one more step of him becoming a 'big boy' instead of my little boy. :(

* Hope weighed in on Tuesday at 8lbs 10oz. Still not back up to birth weight, but she had gained 3 oz in 5 days so the doc was pleased. We have to do another weigh in next week to make sure she's continuing to gain, but she's on the right track.

* I know at least 1 person due with a baby every month through June 2011 with the exception of May. Wow - lots of babies coming. Some of them are people I have been praying for continually as they have experienced a loss or have not been able to conceive. I continue to pray for those who are waiting on the Lord in this area. As my miscarriage date rolls around (10/22), I know it will again be a reminder of many who have experienced this type of heartache and of the blessing a healthy pregnancy and baby really are.

* Marc is really enjoying student teaching at Northpointe. 2 more months folks. 2 more months.

* I start back at work on Wednesday (part time). Has it really been 4 weeks already? Wowza!!

Clara Catherine Pluister Zuidema

My dear grandmother, Clara Zuidema, passed away on Sunday, September 26. She was 95 years old and completely ready to meet her Lord and Savior.

Maybe a week or so before she died, she went into the hospital with pneumonia, which is never good, but especially when you're 95 years old. She was doing okay for a few days - still eating and getting up to walk around a bit. As the week went on, she became weaker and lost some of the spunk she was known for.

I called her on Saturday to tell her she needed to get better so that she could meet Hope. She said, "I don't know, honey, I'm in the Lords hands now". I could tell she didn't want to fight. She was tired. She was ready.

Our family went down on Sunday to see her, thinking it could be only a matter of weeks until she died, not really thinking it would be that day. On our way down, my Aunt called to tell us that she was pretty much waiting for us to get there and then they would be just making her comfortable until the end.

When we got up to her room, I went over to hug and kiss her and she almost immediately asked "Where's your baby?" I brought Hope in and we got to snap a few pictures. It was hard to understand what she was trying to tell us with the big mask on, and she was getting really frustrated. After we had some time with her, the nurses came in to take off the mask and give her some morphine - we realized it would be only a matter of hours. We were all looking forward to the mask coming off so she could finally say whatever she had been trying to tell us. At one point, she was even trying to spell something, which we still couldn't make out. Anyhow, the nurse came in and gave her morphine, which immediately knocked her out. She never woke up.

She lasted about 2 hours before taking her last breath. We sang "It is Well" as she lay with her breathing steadily slowing down. We held her hand. We talked about her life. We cried.

I am so thankful that we got to say goodbye, that she got to meet Hope and that she died very peacefully. She was a woman of faith, and while I wish I had more time with her while she was alive, I know she is in heaven with our Lord.