New Fall Traditions

One of the hardest parts of moving is learning to let go of beloved traditions (especially surrounding holidays) and making space in my heart for new routines.   

Normally, this time of year, we'd be heading up to Apple Hill to pick apples and frolic on a bunch of farms.  This year, Apple Hill was too far.  So instead we joined some friends on a trek to an apple farm in Petaluma.  The drive was lovely, the frolicking was fun, and the apples...delicious.  Change is okay.  New experiences can make for fun memories too (repeat to self over and over). 

Nicolas, Riley and their new buddy Judah racing down the hay bales

Me and my cutie pies

We picked four different kinds of apples.  All yummy.  We even found some called "Jonah Free" apples!

Another thing I'm missing this time of year is our annual Pumpkin Carving Party for the kids on our old street.  I loved this tradition because it was such a fun and easy way to build community with our neighbors.  I thought about hosting a similar party at our new place with our new neighbors but somehow it didn't seem like the right timing for that.  Then, I saw a poster advertising an event at our neighborhood park - an afternoon of making Scare Kids.  What Fun!  We invited our next door neighbors (to the right and behind) and together, we all walked down to the park on Sunday afternoon for a completely wonderful afternoon of creating ScareKids.    

Everyone was told to bring old clothes that their kids had grown out of.  Some fabulous volunteers (neighbors!) brought the rest of the supplies and organized the whole thing.  The kids had so much fun making them!

Our group.  EZ is Jonah's age.  EJ is Nicolas and Riley's age.  Thank you God for putting boys the SAME AGE as my kids right next door and behind us!

EJ is quickly becoming part of our family.

When we were done making Scare Kids, we stayed and played for awhile at Maxwell Park.  The Prinz family even joined up with us for playtime, which spilled over into impromptu dinner back at our place.

New fall traditions are being made.  Joys are coming our way in all sorts of surprising ways. 

REWIND 2: Oakland Staycation*

Rewind to August 9th to August 15th.

We'd been going, going, going all summer (all year?!).  We'd had very little family-time. 

We still did not have a place to move to, even though the first day of school was fast approaching.

We needed a break from all the crazy driving back and forth to the Bay Area.

That break came in the form of an amazing act of kindness and generosity from strangers (friends of friends whom we'd never met) who offered to let us stay at their home in Oakland for a week while they were on vacation in Santa Cruz.

A whole week!

That week gave us the gift of time.  Time to look at houses at our leisure.  Time for Steve to still be home in the mornings when we woke up and to be home again in time for dinner.  Time for me to spend with the boys doing fun summer-like things before school started up again.  Even time to celebrate some birthdays.  All in a terrific house with a bedroom for everyone, a playroom, and a backyard.

Below are some highlights of our Oakland Staycation.

1.  Adventure Playground in Berkeley - the boys' new favorite spot.  At this very unique park, kids get to build the playground with real hammers, nails, saws, wood, and paint.  Every couple of hours, the staff takes it all apart again and the next set of kids get to build whatever they want.  So cool.  Plus, there's a zip line!  And it's just steps away from a beach area of the Berkeley Marina.   

Climbing up to the top of a rope ladder

Tucking inside this tube and then rolling down the hill

Cutting wood with a real saw is super fun - but it's hard work!

Does this look familiar?  Skipping rocks in the water soon becomes...

Soaking wet for the car ride home!

 2.  A trip across the bridge to San Francisco.  The boys and I finally got see where Steve works and take him to lunch at the Embarcadero.  We are proud of him! 

3.  Celebrating Steve's 38th Birthday.   Steve's birthday fell right in the middle of our staycation.  After visiting a church that morning, we packed a picnic and headed to Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills for some hiking and exploring.  Later that night we had some friends over for dessert. 

Celebrating your birthday with three wild and crazy boys can be, well, exasperating!

All good hikers need a walking stick or two.

If only we were alone on this hike!

A pretty amazing view of the Bay from the hills of Oakland

Jonah caught a lizard and quickly became very attached to "Speedy"

Saying good-bye to Speedy when it was time to go home was serious business

Steve didn't want any gifts for his birthday but he really wanted a chocolate cake.  It took me a bit of time and effort to find this one, but it was well worth it!  Scrumptious cake from La Farine.

A few of our special friends who live in Oakland came over to help us celebrate.  Susannah brought an apple pie that her mom made with apples from Sus and Matt's apple tree - yum! 

Happy Birthday Steve!

4.  Summer Orientation at Urban Montessori Charter School.  Our Oakland Staycation partially coincided with Summer Orientation Week at the boys' new school, as well as a Family Work Day at the School.  Had we not been given a place to stay in Oakland that week, we wouldn't have gone to either.  What an added blessing of that week!  It was so nice for the boys to be able to tour the school, meet the teachers, learn the Montessori methods, and even make a few friends before we even moved.

 
5.  The Oakland Zoo.  One afternoon when the boys got out of Summer Orientation, we headed to the Oakland Zoo.  My friend Nancy shared her membership passes with us so we got in free!  It's such a nice zoo.  We hadn't been there in a few years so it was all new for the boys.  We had a great time.

6.  My 38th Birthday.  Since we drove back to Sacramento on my actual birthday, Nancy, Amy, and Susannah took me out to dinner the night before.  It was a terrific end to our Staycation, and a great introduction to our new life in Oakland.  I learned several things that night.  First, I learned that it's freezing in Oakland at night - even in August.  The days of wearing a skirt out to dinner are long gone.  Thank goodness Amy had a pair of leggings for me to slip on.  Second, I learned that I'm gonna need a new wardrobe.  I don't even own leggings.  Plus, nothing in my closet can be classified as urban or hip.  Third, I learned that I need to bring a dictionary when I go out to eat.  I didn't know what half of the things were on the menu.  But, I loved them all!  Pizziaolo = delish!
 

Lots of years of history around this table made for much laughter and joy

7.  Finding a place to LIVE!  Just hours before driving back home to Sacramento, on my birthday, we found a home to rent.  We found it on craigslist that morning and within no time flat we were over there looking at it.  We knew right away that it was our house.  All the searching was finally over. 
 
Thank you Millheim family for welcoming us into your home while you were away.  May we be that hospitable and generous with our home when others are in need!     

(*Staycation for Jonah, Nicolas, Riley, and I.  Steve worked, but much had a much shorter commute!)

Odds and Ends: Some Really Good Reads

Here are a few good reads that seemed worthy of sharing. They are not at all related to one another, but they are all things that have impacted me this past week.    

First, this blog post on poverty. I read it last week and have been thinking about it ever since.  I am reading and processing it both as a new resident of Oakland (which you may have heard has some economic challenges), and as the leader of The GreenHouse.  My challenge as a new resident of Oakland is to not only be acquaintances with people who are "poor," (neighbors, classmates at the boys' school, people in neighborhoods I'm too scared to go in) but to actually do life with them.  Imagine the blessing that could come from those friendships!  Meanwhile, my challenge as Executive Director of The GreenHouse is to continually lead volunteers away from doing things for the poor in a non-relational, cross-the-good-deed-off-my-list-for-the-year manner and instead create opportunities for people to develop mutually beneficial relationships with the poor.  Everyone needs to start somewhere, but we all need to continually strive for the next layer in our care for the poor (and their care for us).  If you're interested, you can read the blog post here.

Second, a prayer out of my devotional book.  It was spot-on what I needed last week.  A lot of my idols were rearing their ugly head last week and I was feeling particularly broken, so it was good for me to read this prayer over and over (and over) again.  

Living God, you are the one true God, 

eternal, 

almighty, 

everywhere present, 

filled with compassion, 

knowing all things,

most wise, 

perfectly holy, 

always patient, 

overflowing with goodness and truth.   

All my idols are reflections of my broken self, and only as I fall down and worship you do I find myself whole again.  

 Amen.  

Third, this blog post written by the amazing Jen Smith.  Many of you have prayed for this family for the last several years.  It's time to pray again. 

REWIND 1: Moving with Friends Makes Everything Better

This summer was a little crazier than normal with trying to find a place to live and all.  Nearly all of our free time in the evenings was spent on ziprealty.com looking at pictures of houses and all of our free time on the weekends was spent driving to the Bay Area to look at the houses in person.  Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of time for blogging.

However, someday I will turn this blog into one of those neat little books that you can have printed and it will become the only scrapbook my family will ever know. So now that life has slowed down a little (and we have internet and I have a working computer), I want to go back and fill in the gaps of things that didn't get documented this summer.  This is the first of a few posts that will be called "REWIND," as in...going back a little in time.

We're rewinding to four weeks ago - when it was time to move from our beloved Sacramento to our new city of Oakland.

The night before our move, we had a little send-off for the kids at Big Spoon Yogurt, followed by some running around at Land Park.  It was a perfect evening and it turns out, I needed it just as much as the kids did, if not more.  It encouraged me to have so many of our special people there and it filled my cup in preparation for the following day, which was filled with tremendous sadness for me.   


Love these peeps so much!
 (Wish we could photoshop in Roy, Sarah, and Isaiah who were also there, but left before the photo)

There were others too who couldn't make it that night but who helped us in the days leading up to the move.  Heather watched my boys while I packed one morning and Darcy/Duane came to help us pack just before we left for Big Spoon. 

Our move day was filled with exhaustion and tears.  At one point, I was crying so hard in the fetal position on our bed that Steve turned on the shower, lifted me up off the bed, and put me in there.  There's something about a good cry in the shower that helps to get all of the grief out.  Though, come to think of it, I cried several more times after that, just not quite as hard.

Our move included a four-day stopover in a vacation rental so that we could be in Oakland for the kids' first day of school, even though our house wasn't available until that Thursday.  What a tremendous blessing in disguise that was.  Four days of rest.  In limbo.  Unable to unpack a single thing. 

That Thursday morning, I drove up to Sacramento to meet the moving truck while Steve went to work and the boys went to school.  More hard work.  More exhaustion.  But, I got wind in my sails from my super amazing friend Rose, who came to help me load and clean that day.  We ate lunch together on the floor of my vacant house before she sent me off on the road to Oakland. 

When we got to Oakland, we were greeted with a house full of friends, ready to help unload - friends from long ago who were ready to welcome us into their Bay Area community.  With the help of the movers and friends, we unloaded everything in just two hours.  We all slept very soundly that night (minus our two goldfish who did not survive the move). 

Two days after we moved into our new home, Rose came to Oakland and spent the weekend with me while our husbands were camping with our kids.  We did all of our favorite things - massages, pedis, a trip to the beach, eating out, watching a movie, talking, and even a few tears here and there.  When we felt like it, we unpacked a box or two.  It was so much fun and so very special.  I've decided that everyone should have a weekend like that two days after they move!

 

Last weekend, our Oakland friends came over to help Steve set-up the trampoline.  The play structure that was left here needed to be moved over a few feet so that the trampoline would fit. It was kind of like an old fashioned barn raising with all hands on deck!  They just picked up that thing and scooted it over.  Before long, they were setting up the trampoline as well.  Granted, it was a little crazy with all the munchkins running around with tools everywhere, but also heartwarming to have community with us every step of the way.

We are incredibly thankful for friends - old, new, and everything in between. They are little kisses from God, gifts that make life so much sweeter. 

Things are Moving Right Along

At long last, Cigna has approved medication for Jonah.  Our first shipment in six months will arrive on our front porch tomorrow.  Even more exciting, our copay will be just $35 per month!  Considering we used to pay $150 per month, and before that we paid $300 per month, $35 seems almost too good to be true.

On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to getting back into the routine of doing Jonah's shot every night.  History tells me that we will have several weeks of him crying every night and us pinning him down to give him the shot.  But I know that eventually he'll get used to it and before long, he'll be taking shots like a champ once again.   I'm hoping that being a little older this time will help him to cope. 

In other news, we found renters for our home in Sac.  Yay!  It's a husband, wife, and one-year-old son moving from the Bay Area to Sacramento (of course).  They will be moving in this weekend.  We are so thankful to have found them.

We are continuing to get settled in our new home in Oakland.  Our house is feeling more and more like our home.  I'll post a few pics soon.   

This past weekend we had loads of good family time.  On Saturday night, we instituted "Date Night with Mommy and Daddy," something that we've done a little of in the past, but want to do more of in the future to give our kids one-on-one time with a parent.  Since there are three of them and two of us, we will rotate who gets to be alone with a parent.  This time around, Jonah and I had dinner at Pizzaiolo where they have scrumptious wood-fired pizza and bocce ball on the back patio.  Steve, Nicolas, and Riley tried out Homeroom, a restaurant dedicated to macaroni and cheese- mmm!  After dinner, we all met up for dessert at Fentons. 

Bocce Ball on the patio at Pizzaiolo with my date

On Sunday, the boys were all hacking up lungs from a cold they caught last week.  We decided not to infect other kids in an enclosed Sunday School room, so instead of going to church we ventured outside and spent the day at Fairlyand, a fun little theme park similar to Fairytale Town in Sacramento. 

 
And on Sunday night, the strangest thing happened!  The clouds did not roll in at night!  It was a beautiful and warm (well for Bay Area standards) night here in Oakland.  So, Steve and I had a little date night of our own on our front patio - a nice little spot where we can look up to the twinkling lights of the Oakland hills and enjoy cookies and conversation after the kids have gone to bed.   

 

 

My Brave Little Boy

Today was Jonah's Growth Hormone Stimulation Test up at the UCD Medical Center.

He was so brave. 

We had to be at the Pediatric Infusion Center at 8:30 am this morning. Rather than getting up super early to make the long trek from Oakland, Jonah and I drove up to Sacramento yesterday afternoon and spent the night at my in-laws in Elk Grove last night.

Jonah woke up on his own at 7 am this morning, ready to go.  He had to fast before the test (no food or drink after 10pm the night before) so I had him quietly play with toys to keep his mind off breakfast while I got ready. (That boy loves his breakfast, so the thought of not being able to eat made him sad in the days leading up to the test).
 

On the way over, Jonah cuddled with his favorite furry friends - Shooka, Swirly, and Splashy.  He also had a very serious moment of singing "Call me Maybe," one of his fave songs! 

Once we got there and they started making up his bed, I could tell he was getting a little nervous. Thankfully, my mom just handed-down her old iPad to us so I whipped that out of the bag and had him play a few games on there.  It turned out to be a really calming distractor as the nurse was setting things up.

The procedure started with inserting an IV.  Jonah did great - no tears when they put it in!  His nurse, Tina, was awesome.  She explained everything that she was doing and made sure Jonah always knew what was coming next.  Once the IV was in, it was time for the first of six blood draws (each 30 minutes apart).
    

Thirty minutes into the test, Jonah was given a drug called clonidine.  Clonidine causes the pituitary to secrete growth hormone.  (The blood samples taken at 30 minute intervals measure how well the pituitary is working).  As it turns out, clonidine also makes you very sleepy.  Before long, Jonah was out.   

He slept on and off for the last hour and a half of the test, waking up every 30 minutes to take his blood pressure and do his next blood draw and then falling back to sleep again. In the last hour, they gave him a second medicine, L-Dopa.  Then, two more blood draws. 

Somewhere in between all of that, he tried to watch a movie but he couldn't do more than 10 minutes without falling asleep.  That was right about the time my friend Brenda came over to check on us and visit with me for a few minutes. 

When it was all over, Tina took out the IV and Jonah right away got up to use the restroom.  By the time he got back to us, he was looking awful.  He was grabbing his stomach and telling us he wasn't feeling well.  He started crying, saying that he wanted to go home.  He was very worried that he was going to throw up (a side effect of the L-Dopa).  The nurse couldn't persuade him to get back into that bed so we sat him in a chair and she put a cold wash cloth on his head.  I got the iPad back out to distract him once again and the nurse got him some grape juice and gold fish crackers.  Before long, he was feeling much better and we were ready to leave. 

Rose met us at McDonald's (Jonah's choice) for lunch.  Jonah ate well and felt MUCH better after getting some food in his stomach.  After lunch, he got to go to Rose's house to play for the afternoon while I went to work at The GreenHouse (where I was exhausted all afternoon).  Playing with Jack was a nice treat for our brave boy!

I'm so relieved the test is behind us. Yet, I'm sad that we had to do it in the first place. And still so angry at all the circumstances that led up to us being there today.  We fought for so long to get him approved for medication without taking this unnecessary test.  But all of that was for naught. We lost the fight.  The insurance company won.  They got their way and that makes me sad.

Now we wait for results.  And then we send the results to Cigna.  And we wait for their approval.  We'll keep you posted.  Thank you so much to everyone who called, texted, and prayed for us today.  Your support means so much! 

Moved In

Just a quick post to say that we are moved in and getting settled in Oakland.   Still some boxes and plenty left to do to get things the way we want them, but overall, we are doing well. 

It's amazing how well our rental house is working out.  It's not at all what we were looking for.  But as it turns out, it's just what we needed.  It's tricky how God does that. 

The boys love their new school.  Steve loves his much-shorter commute.  And I am loving playdates with old and dear friends.  Now if I could just find our phones and our iron.   

I'm so behind with my blogging that it feels a little paralyzing.  So, I'll just start with this.  A fun video to give you a glimpse of our everyday life.  MJ blasting on the CD player in Jonah's room.  Five-year-old neighbor, EJ, coming over every afternoon to play.  Jonah trying to moonwalk.  Little boys playing LEGOs on the floor.  New fish swimming around the fish tank.  Bedrooms mostly put together, but not quite all the way.   



In other news:
I've made the switch to working from home and commuting up once a week to work at The GreenHouse.  So far, it's working out just fine.  We are still searching for a new Executive Director - another area to trust God for.

This weekend, we will hopefully finish painting/fixing the inside of our Sacramento house as we get it ready to rent.  We'd like to have renters in place by October 1st.  Thankfully, my dad found a room to rent so he's all set. 

Jonah has a four-hour test on Monday where they'll draw blood every 30 minutes.  He'll have an IV and will need to be still for that whole time.  He'll also be fasting so that's going to be a challenge.

Seems like everyday is a new adventure around here.