a year and 1/2 in the making

The wait is over!

And we are breathing sighs of relief. Which is an interesting experience when that distinct emotion plays second-tier to those of excitement, elation, and overwhelming joy.

It seems to me that typically the relief that is experienced after the culmination of a painful waiting period would primarily bring rest. And peace. And we certainly are experiencing those at a new level today. But in a way it's like those feelings are being trampled underfoot and laid to the wayside by the rush of just pure joy.

In a strange way I also feel somewhat compensated. Which doesn't necessarily feel like the right word now that I've said it, but somehow still fits. Perhaps satisfied is a bit closer. Whatever it is, when you go through this and this and this and come out the other side with answers and solutions, there are obviously emotions that you're not sure how to express. The problem I have with compensated and satisfied is that ultimately those feelings seem to point to God's character. And I'm just not sure that He necessarily works that way. At least not all of the time. I mean, aren't there millions of people who go through the crap and never find answers or solutions? At least not in this life. Ultimately, I guess, that's one purpose of heaven.

Perhaps simply blessed is the best word. As it usually is. After the roller coaster of 3 miscarriages last year, we feel extremely blessed to be able to announce the arrival of Harper Mae.

She popped out this morning at 7:55 am after a planned c-section, weighing only 5 pounds, 12.5 ounces, and stretching out to 18.5 inches.


And as I mentioned before we obviously are absolutely overwhelmed with joy. Kari is recovering nicely and Mason is pretty excited himself.


We think of all of your prayers when we look at this little miracle. Thank you.

36 weeks

1st camping trip with the boy

While I'm not the best at establishing and keeping traditions, one that I want to take very seriously is an annual camping trip with Mason. Since he's at that ripe age of 3 I figured it would be a good summer to start. The problem is that I'm somewhat new to the planning phase. Still, I've learned a good deal from my father and father-in-law in terms of supplies. For a one-night trip, we were certainly ready.


Where I lack in experience is in the administration realm. I had not made any reservations, so we went to an area near Deckers with 5 public no-reservations-required sites. My rookie mistake was that we left Saturday morning and ended up seeing this at every single site:


So after 4 hours of driving around I had to make an executive decision. Luckily Mason was feeling flexible at that point and was on board. So, we went home.

Still, we made the best of it ..... we weren't allowed to go inside, and mom wasn't allowed to come out back. And as you can see, Mason was so excited about the sleeping arrangements that he wanted to go to bed at 4:30.


After some convincing otherwise, we cooked hotdogs over the stove...


...played "Stolf" (Stump Golf, a new Camp Elim favorite....or in Mason's case, Stick Golf)...


...went to a local park to kill some daylight...


...and made our way back to roast some marshmallows.


We did cheat a little, as I brought out the laptop connected to an extension cord to watch Spiderman as we fell asleep. But in the morning we got right back at it. After peeing on the fence we got dressed...


...cooked some eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast....


...and then went on a nature hike on the Stonegate trails across the street:


In the end it was probably a better "trip" for a toddler, as he was ready to call it quits at 9am after the hike. Perhaps we'll consider the backyard trip again next year and watch Spiderman 2. Then when he's 5 we'll make a man out of him and do a 3-mile backpacking trip into the mountains.