Happy Sixth Day of Christmas

Justice River's First Week

He's sleeping well and gaining weight now. Our boy is a very content little boy. Aedyn's in love and kisses (and licks) his brother whenever he can.

Justice River Boehmer

Just a short post and some teaser pics announcing the birth of our new son (more later). Justice River Boehmer was born on 20 December 2008 (his actual 'due date', which rarely happens!) at 18:12 EST after 38 hours of labor. He weighed 7#10 and was 19.5 inches long. He and mom are now home and doing well. The entire event is quite a story to tell.

As a related matter of unknown significance, Eliannah Anissa Sartori (spelling?) was born to Eric and Rachel Sartori (Eric was Eric's Best Man in our wedding) only 10 minutes later (Eric and Eric also share the same birthdate).

Sorry to disappoint

Justice is enjoying the womb, it seems. Calm uterus Monday and Tuesday and lots of contractions on Wednesday which got very intense in the evening and then suddenly stopped at 1:00 a.m. Today, just a few intense ones.

Aedyn has been HAPPY today and yesterday and we've had a lot of fun. I'm enjoying the last few days of his only-childness.

Thank you for your prayers for a quick labor and birth and especially a well boy!

Nope, not yet

He's still in the womb. I feel good--and expectant.

Early Labor

Last night we were expecting a Friday birth but the contractions stopped just after midnight. I had a great night's sleep and the contractions are fewer today than they have been all week! So. Maybe we'll meet our boy this weekend!

Thanksgiving Pictures

I know 10 days have passed but they have been interesting baby-born-any-day-now days. Lots of contractions and the stomach flu have added to the fun.
WELL! Thanksgiving was great. Eric's sister, Rachel, and her fam came for the holiday and Aedyn loved the entertainment his cousins provided. Our friends Jenny, Jen, Carrie, and the Kims all traveled here for at least part of the long weekend. Everyone had long or really long drives. THANK YOU for the gift of your presence here with us! We love you all so much and I needed to see each one of you!

I Was Tagged!

I was tagged by my sweet friend, Angela. I get to do what she tells me.
These are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th picture folder on your computer
2. Choose the 4th picture
3. Explain your picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same

Communion at our wedding! I love this picture. Our pastors and parents prayed over us after Eric and I took communion and prayed together. Our friend, Angie W, sang "How Beautiful" through it all.


I tag
my S-I-L, Georgeann
my friend, Hannita
my college roomie, Rachel
my college roomie, Jodie

Relaxing Before Bed

Here are a few minutes just before book-time. I know he's a typical toddler but I can't get enough! Grandparents, here's what you asked for, to see a bit of our day.

35 Weeks Pregnant!

A baby this age is, on average, 5.25 lbs! Our boy has moved into my lung space. Aedyn can almost say the baby's name; an accomplishment as he never says his own name.

You must see Aedyn's smile close-up! Click on the photo to enlarge.

Autumn Day (Updated)

On this very chilly Saturday morning we went to the park so Eric could be one of the on-site doctors for a 5K and a fun-run. We had a package waiting when we came home, homemade pretties from Tia Hannita! She made me some peachy-glass earings and for Aedyn's room (soon to be Brother's room) a darling pillow and plastic bag holder. Aedyn also received a sweet cloth bird. He loves it! Below, he's 'flying' his bird as he swings on our front porch.

updated: After we spent the morning at the park we went to our county courthouse to vote. I am HAPPYy to vote for Obama!

Visitors!

Aedyn's new friend, Giovani, and his parents came over for a fun afternoon. G's mom is one of Eric's fellow residents.








Aedyn loves wearing our shoes.

The big excitement of the week! GG (great-grandma, Eric's grandma) and Great Great Aunt Carole came to visit! Aedyn loved the non-stop cuddles and captive audience for his little speaches.

let justice roll like a river . . .

This is a quote from Justice in the Burbs. I linked it in someone else's post about a year ago, but thought it was worth posting the actual quote.

Jesus lives next door. He's an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack whore. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her "Johns" do things to him.

Poor King of Kings.

Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps!

He needs to get fixed.

The Lord is a crazy man—paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is--if he's got one. Digs out of the trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.

Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.

I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.

Somebody ought to do something about him.

Somebody.

Try reading this out loud to your spouse. I dare you not to cry.

Beautiful Bad Hawk

Hannah requested an update on the chickens. Here are 4 pics taken yesterday. The gold ones are called Buff Orpingtons (there are 2). The black are Black Australorps (2). There are 2 mongrels. One unknown (silvery, perhaps a Silver Laced Wyandotte?). And then there are 3 Easter Eggers (1 white, 1 brown-grey-black, 1 brown). That last part is the sad segue. There used to be 4 Easter Eggers. A hawk got one the other day and ripped out its innards. The others were terrified and haven't left the coop until today. Since then, I've got this netting to cover a large part of the yard to keep the hawks out. The chickens are still not impressed.

BTW, chicks stop being cute chicks by the time they are 4 days old. Then they go through this awkward stage as their feathers come in. Now they look like little hens! We expect them to start laying eggs around January or February.

Book Club Announcement

I've started a new blog for the book club as indicated earlier this month. It is linked at the side under Book Club under Readings of Note. Anyone is welcome to read it, but you need to email me if you want to be a member and to be able to add comments. The first post will go up later today. Also, let me know at that time if you want to receive an email when new comments are made.

Concluding Prayer

I love the concept and practice of 'the offices.' This morning's concluding prayer for the morning office (from Phyllis Tickle's series) was beautiful and extremely heartfelt. I hope others of you can also pray it:

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through King Jesus, our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the holy Spirit, one god, for ever and ever. Amen.

Smiley Days

The little mechanic trying to 'fix' his new circus from cousin Miles.








A boy and his apple.
















We picked apples from a neighbor's tree this weekend.



















The dress-up picture is from my birthday dinner.














Aedyn with our chickens.











Eric is on vacation and we are enjoying relaxing!

Be a Smart Voter

My friend and college roommate, Rachel, is married to a political science professor. Prof and Rach made a great list for us to be informed voters. PLEASE check them out. The links are in the sidebar. Eric found the top site, Voting for a Culture of Life, and added it to the list. We have found all these sites useful.

Book Club

A friend of mine (E.S.—the best man in my wedding) and I are planning to start an online book club. I have a few titles I'd eventually like to explore, but the first is The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren and available here. We'd love it if you joined us at any time. There is no time limit, since it will be in blog format and you can just pop in on the chapter you happen to be on at any time. I hope some of you will hop aboard! I'll start it some time next week to give people a chance to purchase it and me a chance to start reading it. I'll announce it with another post and a link!

19 months and 1 week old

Our sweet, funny boy enjoys eating with a spoon or spork by himself. He giggles during "Little Bill" and loves talking to the chickens. Today, when I asked him where our baby was, he pulled up his own shirt and patted his belly.



Aedyn is now sleeping, I'm drinking chai and am about to do ironing, Eric is FINALLY on his last 30 hour shift until February.

We miss you, friends and family.

Golden Boy

He is himself again. Now that he feels well, Aedyn is sweet as honey. He happily runs into our legs to hug them and sits with us to read his books and plays contentedly. Last week I was worried that his strong will was turning an ornery shade and now it's back to jolly-ness. He is, of course, still strong willed! But his name does mean "fiery one!" He's napping now. Eric just got home from a call day/night/day and I need a little nap, too.

I'm feeling good most of the time and am really happy with 3 of the 5 days of my water aerobics class. (The teacher on the other 2 days just isn't as skilled.)So far, no symptoms of the nasty liver disorder and we pray it doesn't develop. The baby moves a lot and seems to be resting transverse. Aedyn likes to shout and sometimes his little sibling responds with a solid kick. So fun.

Happier Day

Today was much better for Aedyn. He woke up cheerful and didn't throw any tantrums. He did seem to practice throwing his body to the ground but he wasn't screaming at the same time. We visited E at the hospital and had supper with him. Aedyn went to bed peacefully. Ahhh.

A challenging week

Aedyn was really sick and crabby and then more crabby while a tooth came in and Eric is on hospital service which has a terrible schedule. Ugh. Eric won't have a day off until next weekend, that's after 14 long days (plus 4 nights) of work. Boy, I'm tired. Aedyn really knows how to do a tantrum in big way. Several times a day. No cute pictures this week because none of us were very cute. Except maybe the chicks who are growing beautiful adult feathers.

Chicks!

Our chicks are here! Three of the 5 eggs we incubated hatched. They are in the lower pictures. The little box that Aedyn is inspecting is our mail-order batch of beauties. We have two Black Australorp hens, two Buff Orpington hens, and 5 mixed Aracanas (they lay blue-green eggs.) The hatchery sent a surprise chick and we think it may be a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
They are all so beautiful. We currently have them in a big box with a heat lamp in the dining room and they are so fun to watch. They pile around each other to nap.

Girl or Boy?

We have tried twice now to determine what the new baby is. Unfortunately, both times the baby's position or movement has prevented us from figuring it out. At first, I thought perhaps this was due to my skills at ultrasounds not being as honed as I expected they were, but some lengthy consultations with the OB doctors and their own attempts only confirmed what I was already not seeing! So, we still don't know, and chances are we will not be looking again since I start hospital service this Monday and will become much busier than I currently am. We didn't find out for Aedyn, either, but back then, by choice, we didn't even look.

The baby's very squirmy. I am able to feel it moving now (Heidi has been able to for more than a month). Looks healthy. Heidi has not yet had any liver problems. Please pray for us for that: keep her liver functioning appropriately and keep the baby safe. We'd like to deliver as naturally as possible.

Family Reunion Highlights

The cousins on Rodeo Night: Miles, Aedyn, & Ethan

Family wagon ride through the prairie and forest

The guest of honor and birthday girl, Grandma Peggy, and her daughters, Kathryn (mom), Sue, and Jane

We had so much fun together!

Our Visit with Angela and the kids

Over on the right, click on Elliot & Family to read about our little visit with Elliot, Isaiah, and Angela this week. I was so glad to be with my dear friend and watching our kids play together was great. Below one of her photos Ange has a link to her picasa photo album with more pics of the boys. SO CUTE!

Summer Vacation Slide Show

Here are some pictures from our 3,000 mile road trip to Il, IA, and NE. We saw both sides of the family and some friends, too. We had a great time and really wish we lived closer. We didn't take enough pictures but I have a few discs from my mom to upload and some from my sister-in-law's blog to 'borrow.'

Thanks for reading about us!
we miss you, too.

Back from D.C.

Sorry it has been so long since updating. This is just a teaser until Heidi returns and can blog some more (she is currently visiting friends in Columbus). This month has been wonderful as far as my schedule goes. Have been able to spend lots of time with Aedyn and Heidi. We tried to determine Baby's sex, but the umbilical cord wouldn't get out of the way the entire 45 minutes we played with the machine (there are advantages to working in the hospital, including access to ultrasound equipment if you are nice to the OB residents--who are great, here, so it's not that difficult!). We have two months of pics to go through, but I thought I'd give you a couple. The first is H & A in D.C. with one of the decreasingly rare moments when A actually wants a snuggle. The second is A discovering he enjoys summer rains, a lot. As always when on the porch, with his broom in hand.

Beacon of Hope

Some of you may be aware of Heidi's activities in Moçambique before she met me. One of the many things she did there was to partner with another young woman named Angie to start a ministry called Beacon of Hope. The intent was to help prepare some of the orphans for life as an adult in MZ by taking them to a residential farm (which BoH purchased) away from the orphanage to train them in various life-skills from interpersonal relationships to farming and other trades to allowing them space to finish high school (a rarity in MZ). They themselves are also involved in various service efforts to the surrounding impoverished community. The need for many many more ministries like this is paramount in MZ and other places in the developing world. Angie has run this ministry very well with some very promising results in the lives of the children she cares for.

Various factors have come to bear upon the feduciary aspect of the ministry and it is in dire need of some new funding (which we just found out from and emergency email she sent us). I'm posting this in hopes that some of you out there, after becoming aware of the ministry and the need, will decide to help her out either with a one time gift or on a more permanent basis, both of which are needed urgently right now. Click on the link above for more information on the ministry and how you can help.

On a similar note, I would like to recommend two books by Tom Sine for those who are looking for a good read: Mustard Seed versus McWorld and The New Conspirators. Pick up a used copy, read it and pass it on. I hope to do a minireview of them sometime soon.

Kevin and Evie in D.C.

as mentioned before, we were able to see some dear friends of ours a couple of weeks ago. below are some pics that they took while they were here. Their daughter is Ellie--cute!