Christmas picture fail

This morning both Zarya and I were ready for church early, and since today is Christmas Sunday, we were decked out in our holiday best. Thinking it would be a great moment to seize for a fabulous photo op, I got Andrew to take a picture of us in front of the tree. Here's what we got...

It would be a great picture if I hadn't moved:

And it would have been great except that Zarya moved:

Followed by possible greatness ruined by scowling and weird facial expressions:

We tried. Maybe next year...

Two weeks old

Getting pictures of Jerod is pretty easy, since he's stationary. Getting one of my mom and Zarya, however, is a different story - they are up and about all the time! You should see my house; the floors don't have a trace of dust on them, the laundry is all done, and the bathrooms gleam. Zarya suddenly has a few new toys and lots of new books and has learned how to play with Play Doh and has grasped the concept of coloring within the lines instead of scribbling all over the page. But despite all of this activity, I did manage to catch both my mom and Zarya sitting down for a minute and managed to get a picture.

As I said, stationary is easy for pictures. This is Jerod sporting his new coat, which he loves. He thinks he should be allowed to wear a full-body fleece outfit all day, every day, even when his social agenda doesn't include leaving the house. His arms end up a bit like the kid in "A Christmas Story" who can't put his arms down, he's so bundled up, but it doesn't seem to bother him a bit.

This is to prove he does wake up on occasion. Open eyes!

Little Zarya, er, I mean Jerod

Jerod, one day old

Jerod, six days old

Zarya, five days old

Zarya, eleven days old

To answer the questions of all who wonder if Jerod looks more like me or Andrew or some other relative, may the pictures above answer your question: the little guy looks like his big sister. Apparently whatever combination of genes Andrew and I contributed to Zarya, we gave the same mixture to Jerod. If not for the birthmark on her forehead, we might start mixing their pictures up! Oh yes, and the pink and blue outfits/blankets help, too.

Jerod Ezra Sandeen - the birth story

When I did a post about Zarya's birth back in 2012, it was pretty popular (http://www.amsandeen.blogspot.com/2012/11/zaryas-birth.html). So, for those of you who like to read about labor and delivery, read on. For the rest of you, just enjoy the pictures and come back another time.

One day old

Chillin' in his little hospital bassinet

Home! Big sister! First outfit!

Jerod's due date was in mid-December, so I thought he'd probably come sometime between the 10th and the 20th. I was trying not to focus on any particular date, but just answering, "December," when asked when he was due and trying to think of it that way. But apparently Jerod takes after his paternal grandfather (and father), for whom being early is standard.

At church on Sunday, Nov. 23, I started feeling a little funny. I don't mean I was having contractions or anything like that - I was simply sensing that things were changing inside of me. I figured Jerod must have changed positions a bit or something, trying to write off my illogical intuition with some practical reason for feeling that way. However, my physical intuition was telling me that this baby just might not wait too much longer before making an entrance, and I couldn't help but kind of believe it. I thought, "Maybe it'll be more like December first or second when he comes."

On Monday morning (Nov. 24) I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning with a few pre-labor contractions. They were more than just Braxton Hicks contractions, which I'd been having for months, but certainly not the real thing, either. I couldn't get back to sleep and wondered if I was going to be having a contraction every hour or two for weeks or what. They kind of abated during the day, so much so that I even went to Walmart and the park with Zarya. That night right when we went to bed, because, of course, these things always happen just when one is tired and very ready for bed after having been up since 2:30am, I started having more pre-labor contractions. They were still pretty wimpy and were usually 15-20 minutes apart - close enough together to not be able to go back to sleep, but far enough apart and mild enough to know that real labor was a long ways off yet. So, I did what any avid reader would do and went downstairs and polished off a good read (On Viney's Mountain by Joan Donaldson, should you wish to read it yourself). It was engaging enough to keep my mind occupied on something other than wondering if I was ever going to go into real labor or if this was just a cruel, sleepless, tease weeks before the big event.

Around 3:00am, I realized that my near and dear friends in Tanzania were all quite awake, so sent them an e-mail asking them to pray that things either moved onwards (like, having a baby) or quit (so I could sleep). It was really encouraging to get several reply e-mails immediately. Usually the time zone difference between Tanzania and here is annoying, but sometimes it's really nice! Not too long after writing them, I was able to fall asleep for about 30 minutes. Little did I know that it would be the last sleep I'd be getting for a while.

Andrew debated going to work or not that day, but since all that was happening was mild and irregular contractions, it seemed silly for both of us to be sitting around waiting for something more interesting to happen. So, off he went. As for me, I decided I'd better pack my little hospital bag so I was ready, just in case. I also called the woman who was going to be taking care of Zarya to make sure she was around and knew that she might be needed that day. And then since there didn't seem to be any point in just sitting around, I made bread, did some computer stuff, read books with Zarya, and took a very long, hot shower that felt wonderful (Zarya got to watch two episodes of Daniel Tiger during it, so she thought it was pretty fun, too).

Finally, FINALLY at about 11:30 that morning, the contractions changed from wimpy to strong, and started happening a bit closer together. I texted Andrew that he should come home from work, and started making Zarya lunch and texted my family so they knew what was happening. Unfortunately, having some major contractions and taking care of a toddler and feeding her were quite enough to handle and my parents and sister ended up with nothing more than a text saying I thought I might be in labor. I kept hearing my phone beep and ring, but wasn't up to responding to anything. Andrew got home and took one look at me and said, "We're going to the hospital." I was like, "Okay, soon, let me clean this up first," but he had more sense than that and got us out the door pretty quickly. We dropped Zarya off, at which point I had my one negative thought of the day, thinking as I waved good-bye to her that sometimes people die in childbirth and I might never see her again, and even in the best possible scenario with a healthy birth, she had no idea I wasn't going to be around to tuck her in bed that night.

Since we weren't sure if our insurance would charge us extra for going through emergency or getting a wheelchair or something, we just parked in the normal parking lot and walked into the hospital. We went into the labor and delivery room about 12:30, where, oddly enough, the staff seemed to be semi-panicked that I was having a baby quite soon, yet they seemed to be moving in slow-motion (in my perception). I'm sure in reality they were dealing with three women all having babies at once, me walking in unannounced and having to be put in a room they don't normally use for deliveries, and just trying to find extra pillows and equipment was keeping them plenty busy.

Lots of folks came in to stab me with needles, check me to see if I really was having a kid soon (I was at nine cm when I walked in, so the answer to that was a resounding yes), and register me. It was kind of a negative blur in my mind - I was more interested in having a baby than having an IV line put in. My doctor happened to already be at the hospital to deliver another baby, so that was quite handy. She was great, as was the labor and delivery nurse. They kept complimenting me on how calm I was, which of course made me feel much better after being annoyed that they weren't letting me push yet.

Finally they had everything all arranged and ready and said I was ready, too. I have no idea what time it was by then - maybe 1:30 or something. When Zarya was born, I only had to push a few times and then there she was, so I thought it would be similar. I have no right to complain about anything, knowing that many women push for hours, but honestly, when one is thinking three pushes will bring forth a baby, having to push like 10 times feels like a lot. But at 1:47, out came little Jerod Ezra!

With Zarya's birth, we went home two hours afterward and spent the night at our own house. This time, though, I had to stay in the hospital overnight. I discovered that various staff come in and out at all hours, waking you up to ask you a question they had forgotten during registration (if I had a living will), taking your blood pressure at midnight, meeting with a lactation consultant at 5:00am, drawing blood at 6:00am, etc. Let's just say that hospitals are not a great place to get lots of sleep. Everyone was apologetic for waking me up or keeping me awake at odd hours right after having a baby, but it still happened.

And now we're home. Jerod enjoys sleeping, except between the hours of 8:00pm and midnight. Sometimes he likes to eat. He loves to be held. If you live nearby, he might appreciate visitors, too!

Leaves!

We have leaves! They are pretty annoying and pretty fun all at once. Leaves are the blessing of living in Western PA in a house that has lots of big trees in the backyard...

That would be a mouse hat on her head, if you are wondering.

How could you dislike raking leaves when you have a helper like this?!

And despite the sun in the background, our selfie didn't turn out too badly:

Second birthday

Birthday-eve dinner

Birthday breakfast

Listening to her singing birthday card

Zarya is two years old! Astounding! We had a very pleasant, low-key birthday weekend. I think Zarya quite enjoyed it, and the fun is still going on this week, too, with a few extra play dates with friends.

Her actual birthday fell on a Sunday, and we had a friend from Tanzania passing through our town on Saturday evening/Sunday morning, so we did her birthday dinner the day before her birthday. Unfortunately, our friend's travel arrangements didn't work out quite as planned, so Zarya ended up eating her dinner by herself. She didn't seem to mind at all, and had two giant helpings of chicken and broccoli casserole and rice. She opened some presents and dug into a third bowlful of rice and casserole and had some strawberry ice cream while we were eating a bit later.

On Sunday morning she got two eggs to celebrate being two. What can I say, the kid loves her scrambled eggs! She's also a big fan of raisins, so I made Welsh Griddle Cakes (think stovetop scones) for her birthday breakfast. We stuck two candles in it, which she required a bit of help in blowing out. At least she wasn't scared of them this year, like she was when she turned one.

After some more presents, it was time for church. She got to go to the two-year-olds' class, which lasts for the entire service. That was our present for two years of parenting! No more wiggly, heavy child wanting to be held for thirty minutes of worship and announcements! We should have about six weeks of freedom until we have a new baby, and I plan to thoroughly enjoy every child-free Sunday.

Our little cutie is a happy, smart, sweet little (okay, she's big) toddler. We love our two-year-old! Thus far there is not a sign of anything terrible, but then again, we're only two days into being her being two.

North Korea books

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

In the past year I've read two very, very good books about North Korea. It's a place that has intrigued me for quite some time, and I was happy to find some books about it that not only were informative, but exceedingly well-written. One was fiction (Orphan Master) and one non-fiction (Nothing to Envy), but both are thoroughly researched and steeped in facts.

Should you wish to read more about either or check out other readers' reviews, try Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6178648-nothing-to-envy?from_search=true

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11529868-the-orphan-master-s-son?ac=1

I must say, I do find it impressive that after over 25,000 people reading and rating Nothing to Envy, the book has an extremely high ranking of almost 4.5 stars (out of a possible 5). Apparently I'm not the only one on Goodreads who thought it was a good read!

Corn maze

We went to a corn maze! Having never been to one before, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, the word "maze" made me think that there was an entrance and an exit, and you were supposed to find your way from one to the other, and avoid getting stuck in dead ends and having to backtrack. Maybe there are some like that out there, but at the one we went to, the idea was to find things hidden inside of the maze. We pretty much always knew how to get out, but didn't really know where we were inside of it, or which parts of it we hadn't been to yet. There were lots of paths, and they all looked alike!

We went with two international students who are studying at the university in our town for the year. We've become friends and will miss them when the return to South Korea and Taiwan at the end of the school year! Afterwards we bought pumpkins and then returned home to carve them - more fall fun. It seemed like a good cultural event to introduce our friends to some quirky American things, as well as giving us an excuse to do something we wanted to do, but probably wouldn't do on our own.

Zarya had to go to bed halfway through the carving experience, but every time we go outside, she runs over to the pumpkins and pats the one Andrew did and informs me it's Baba's pumpkin, and then identifies Mama's pumpkin. I guess halfway-carved was enough for her to know whose was whose! Because we are not amazing artists, I'm intentionally not including pictures of our pumpkins here. Whatever you are imaging them to look like is probably better than reality, so we'll leave it at that.

Jesus Film update

For those of you who read my ministry newsletters, you might recall that The JESUS Film has been a major undertaking of late. And by "of late," I suppose I mean for nearly three years now! The Zanaki and Kabwa people groups now have the film in their own languages, as of earlier this year. The Simbiti and Jita people groups will both have it before too much longer - they will start recording next month.

I was quite excited to receive a recent update from a colleague in Musoma about what has been happening with the Zanaki and Kabwa film. Back in August, an organization called Life  Ministry did some evangelism/church planting/Jesus Film showing training for Christian leaders from these groups. Exciting stuff! They equipped them with generators, projectors, and a way to transport these things - motorcycle carts, so now these leaders can travel around their areas to do evangelism and church planting through showing the film. Hooray! I haven't heard a progress report on how it's going, but I'm just excited to know that things are continuing and these films are being used to spread the gospel in people's heart languages!

Fall Fun at Vale Wood Farm

"Baby Ben" - a calf with a perfect 7 on his face

They were squealing, "Cow! Cow!" as they ran up to this big picture

Exploring straw. Fascinating stuff if you are under age 2.

Don't like sandboxes? Try corn boxes!

My very near and dear friend Shannon and I met up today for some fall fun. We started off at the sunken gardens of St. Francis something or other... it was a monastery across the street from St. Francis College in Loretto, PA. Anyway, it was kind of wet and not the right season to properly enjoy it, but we could tell it would be smashingly gorgeous in the spring and summer. We plan to go back next year to enjoy it once again when there are flowers and waterfalls.

Next we went over to Vale Wood Farm (http://www.valewoodfarms.com) and weren't quite sure what to expect there, but it was fabulous! As you can see from the pictures above, it was quite the farmy day for our little ones. Joel and Zarya were just barely old enough to really enjoy it, which means we can keep going back for years of more fun in the future.

In addition to games (everything from corn slingshot launches and hay slides to a table with toy tractors on it), there were piglets, goats, chickens, peacocks, and a calf with a 7 on his face. Apparently if you are a football fan, you immediately think of some Pittsburgh Steelers player who is #7 and named Ben, but to me and Shannon, it was just cool that little Ben the calf had a 7 on his face, and to our toddlers, it was just ridiculously exciting to see a calf up close. We appreciated that they also had picnic tables for us to eat our sack lunches, toilets (you'll recall I'm quite pregnant, so this was a must), and lots of grass for running around. We didn't even get around to the adult or kid hay  mazes or go on a hay ride farm tour, but should we have had older kids who didn't require getting home to take naps, that would have been fun, too. Our kids were more at the corn box stage, and that was fine with us. Shannon and I got to talk and visit while they dug around in dried corn. And corn is just as much fun as sand, but a whole lot cleaner.

We finished things off with teensy weensy ice cream cones, and of course I felt compelled to buy milk, ice cream, and yogurt in the dairy store because it looked so fresh and good.

All in all, a very fun fall day!

Visit from Nammie

Andrew's mom came out to visit us earlier this week, and Zarya soaked up every minute of attention from Nammie! It only took her an hour or so to figure out that while parents might sometimes be too busy to read your entire library to you, grandmothers aren't. Let's just say that this first picture was enacted about six hundred times during the course of five days.

Although the pessimists who run weather websites predicted rain during Wendy's visit, we enjoyed lots of crisp, sunny days. We went up to the Amish town in the north of the county and did the tourist thing one day, went to our favorite park (pictured here) another day, and enjoyed our other favorite park the following day. Our town might not be a major metropolis, but we have some very nice parks here! Of course Zarya thought spending multiple mornings at various parks was a great way to show her Nammie her new town.

Other grandmotherly treats for the adults included her making us an apple pie and spending her final evening here babysitting while we went on a date. Months ago we'd been given tickets for a fun event, but weren't sure how we were going to make that happen. However, it fell right during Wendy's visit, and voila! Off we went all by ourselves, knowing that Zarya was happily being read to, fed, bathed, and put to bed by a very capable person.

It's a long trip from Oregon to Pennsylvania, but we're sure glad that Wendy took the time to come visit. She didn't even appear to have any jetlag!

What I miss... what I don't miss

Passion fruit in my backyard

Beautiful views of Lake Victoria

Fresh tilapia and chips

Are there things I miss about life in Tanzania? Most definitely! Are there things I am happy to have left behind? Of course! I was happy to be there, and I'm also happy to be here in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of perks in both places, and I have found that I really like both locations.

What I miss:
-Fresh, cheap tropical fruit
-Cheap phone plans
-Interaction with the translators
-Missionary women's Bible study
-Being near a large body of water
-Never wondering what the weather will be
-Not having to have seasonal clothes (see point above...)
-Fresh fish caught within sight of where you're eating it
-Ease of obtaining drugs (j/k... I mean not having to get a prescription to buy medicine)
And I could keep on going, but those are the ones that are coming to mind right now.

What I don't miss:
-Mosquitoes, snakes, lizards, cockroaches, millipedes, ants, etc. in my house
-Sweating year-round
-Dust
-Shopping, working, interacting with officials, and going to church in Swahili
-Being a day's drive from the nearest reliable hospital
-Errands like getting a driver's license renewed taking all day
-Being the center of attention all the time
-Power outages, water outages, internet outages
-Stores running out of basic things and not knowing when they'll have them again
-Having to decide whom to help and whom to deny, seemingly constantly
And I could keep on going here, too!

6 months / 27 weeks pregnant picture

This is me and Jerod. We're both growing. :-) I'm at 27 weeks, which is 6 months. In fact, I'm due three months from tomorrow, so I guess that means I'm entering the third trimester!

It's a little funny and sad to realize that when I was pregnant with Zarya, I always knew exactly how many weeks along I was, what fruit her size was comparable to, what developmental things were happening, etc. But for poor #2 kid, this is like the third time I've had to check my calendar just to remember how far along I am, and it wasn't until writing this that I realized I've now hit the third trimester.

We'll see how I do at remembering to take pictures of him, weigh and measure him, write every first in his baby book, and all of those things that I have done so faithfully with Zarya. I was a second child and never felt like my parents forgot me or thought I was any less amazing for not being the first, so hopefully I'll follow in their footsteps, and Jerod will grow up oblivious that I didn't keep exact track of him in utero. He moves around enough these days that I certainly don't forget he's there, at least!

Kids Bible memorization music

Back in the day when I was a sharp-minded youth, I was very good at memorizing Scripture. Really, anything I memorized before age 15 is in my mind to stay, especially if I learned it to a song. Anyone can learn a song, but sometimes memorizing a passage of Scripture seems like a lot of work. I can still sing verses I learned in some Sunday school class eons ago. They are stuck in my head forever, and that's a good thing!

Our family has a morning tradition of lolling around on our king bed after Zarya wakes up. Andrew has usually been up for over an hour by that point, but even he comes back to bed to hang out with a happy, wide-awake Zarya as she drinks her sippy cup of milk, and me as I gradually become coherent after being jumped on by a toddler. Thanks to Zarya's obsession with music, we always have a CD playing (we're a little old-fashioned on this - we have iPods and listen to Pandora and all, but the technology hasn't made it upstairs yet). We started out with a little kids' Bible-based songs CD, which Zarya loved, but it kind of drove us adults batty after a while. What I didn't like is that the songs were close to Scripture, but not quite. It was like memorizing it just a bit wrong for all the verses, and the tunes were catchy... obnoxiously catchy.

And so my great search for the perfect accompaniment for our mornings began! I wanted something that was straight Bible verses, quality music that adults can appreciate, and fun enough for toddlers. Here's what I found:

This was the winning one for us. Zarya LOVES that there are kids singing the songs and saying the verses (along with Steve Green), and the tunes are a nice mix of bouncy and serious. Andrew and I recognize a lot of the songs from our own childhoods, proof that these CDs aren't exactly brand-new! But they don't sound dated, and it's not like the Bible gets old. Great stuff for toddlers on up through elementary years, and the parents don't go crazy listening to it, either. You can have a listen at: http://www.christianbook.com/steve-green/hide-em-in-your-heart-2/5099921378522/pd/CD78592?event=ESRCG

Many friends have recommended Seeds Family Worship to me. I am really impressed with what they've produced - this picture is of their "Seeds of Courage" CD, but there are also many other albums with names like Seeds of Faith, Seeds of Praise, etc. I have friends with whom I was in a Bible study, and often when we came across a verse, they'd burst into song, thanks to having listened to Seeds music. I think these albums look pretty great for families with kids who are preschool age on up, and they are definitely on my wish list for the future, when Zarya is just a little bit older. You can listen here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_20?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=seeds%20family%20worship&sprefix=seeds+family+worship%2Caps%2C232

So if you're thinking that learning verses set to music appeals to you, that's what my research unveiled!

Side note:

Available for a mere cent here: http://www.amazon.com/Word-God-Speak-Shelter-Various/dp/B000JJS7JI/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=word+of+God+speak+Shelter

I have this album and like it, but it didn't quite fit into this blog post because it's for adults, not kids. The reviews are not amazing, but my personal opinion is that I enjoy it!

Garden Bread Recipe

It seems every time I make a Facebook post involving food, at least a few people request the recipe. And since I just wrote about baking in my new kitchen for the first time and included the detail that I made carrot/zucchini spice bread, I thought I'd better put the recipe here so I'm ready for those requests!

It's actually a recipe I call Garden Bread. As with everything I make, I use recipes as suggestions and vary them a bit every time. But this is what I generally start with as a base for my variations:

4 cups grated zucchini and carrots (whatever percentage of each you want)
2 1/2 cups sugar (sometimes I use part brown and part white, sometimes all white)
1 1/2 cups oil
4 eggs
1 Tbls vanilla
6 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 Tbls cinnamon

Variations: Add 1/2 cup of cocoa, add chocolate chips, or add cloves/allspice/nutmeg (I just shake in a bit of each).

Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients, then combine the two. Pour into three or four (depending on if you prefer bigger or smaller loaves) greased loaf pans or three dozen greased muffin tins or some combination thereof. Bake at 350 - generally it takes at least 50 minutes for loaves, and 20-something minutes for muffins.

And if you think it sounds ridiculous to make that much at once and your freezer doesn't have space for loaves to lounge around, just halve the recipe and you'll have a more reasonable amount.

New House

Making fried rice with the help of my sous chef

Not a great picture, but you can see the entire kitchen in it

Somebody got a brand-new zebra bean bag chair!

Sunset over the neighbor's backyard (and ours, up to the fence)

We have a house! We're moved in! It's a little exhausting and overwhelming, but also very exciting. We're still just kind of getting used to life in our new digs. I'm happy to report that we're almost entirely unpacked. We're down to the dregs, the "where on earth do we keep old college yearbooks/light bulbs/used batteries/etc." kind of stuff. You know, the stuff that eventually ends up in a box or closet somewhere, but we have to figure out exactly which closet and box!

We haven't quite gotten around to taking many pictures, but here are a few. We love the view out the back - the neighbor's former horse pasture (no horses anymore, just fences and grass). It's really quiet and private! After living in some pretty noisy places (Musoma, an apartment), we're thoroughly enjoying the peacefulness of our new setting.

The kitchen is a bit short on counter space, but it looks better now than it did in the pictures above, when I had just gotten home from a shopping trip and had stuff strewn all over. Then again, I suppose right now it has a breadmaker out on it and the dishes from lunch are drying on a towel on the counter, so it's still full, just with different things that don't seem quite as messy.

Zarya's favorite part of the house is her new zebra bean bag chair, particularly if Curious George is on TV. She and her rabbit (who used to be my rabbit) like to spend a little time there in the morning, if I'm feeling desperate/generous enough to let her watch a bit of Curious George. And these days, a little time to unpack without her help has been motivation enough!