The blackout continues for this household while 100 feet behind us still has sturdy power and I think I saw a kitchen light on in my neighbor’s house. Part of me yearns to be awoken at 3am to 60-watt floodlights and a ceiling fan. But Matt’s words, “I don’t think there are really that many people working the third shift to repair power,” seem to hold some truth. I’m trying not to be complain-y and ungrateful. I mean come on, Matt and I have running water and a roof. But it does make it a bit harder to be grateful while standing in the darkness and missing essential clean-clothes items. My creativity is starting to drain as I am finding less nutrition in those microwaveables, I ate half a less-fresh yogurt for breakfast that was “saved” from our power outage, work presses on, and the night’s rest seem less and less satisfying with varying temperatures, church emergency exterior lights waking me up (have to crack the blinds to keep from overheating) and my white-noise fan silenced. Matt’s also getting behind in his school work. Again, I’m trying not to be complain-y and ungrateful, but as I skim over the words I just wrote I’m not sure if I was able to accomplish such. Let me tell you one thing that is nice that happened as a result of the blackout: Matt and I got a chance to spend unexpected time with his family, mine and a good friend’s family for mealtime and candle-lit fun. Last night we were even spoiled by the taste of electricity when we went to a friend’s in-law’s home for taco night. (Matt even got to play video games.) So really things could be much worse. It’s just that the joy of playing survivor is starting to wear off a bit. I keep waiting in eager anticipation of Matt’s phone call reporting that the ban has been lifted. Oh what a joyous day that will be.

Hope the rest of you out there are coping well with the blackout.

And I also hope the rest of you out there with electricity are appreciative of that blessing.

We got our piece of Ike and I am grateful that it wasn’t the same piece others have received. I mean can you even imagine being stranded for who knows how long while water recedes from your living room? It brings back pictures of New Orleans disaster relief to my head. All the mud, all the mildew, all the lost memories.

Sunday at 2:30 or 3pm or maybe it was 3:30pm (can you tell I was about to fall asleep on the couch) our power went out. It had been a wonderfully windy day with gusts of wind that tore the American flag from it’s pole and broke tree branches in our backyard. But other than laughing in the pulsing wind gusts, Matt and I were fairly unscathed until the power cut. So we did what any sane person would do… we took a nap and then went for a walk in the crazy weather. But we weren’t prepared for turning the corner of the block. Trees down, power lines down and everywhere you looked neighbors were on porches to avoid the dark. Some of the youth were sitting on a skateboard with a huge tarp-kite harnessing the wind for riding power. Dakota scurried like a psycho, smelling every tree branch as we surveyed the damage. Trees hit houses and cars.

Today the trees are mostly cleared and the new hype of this morning is that a few more traffic lights were blinking on the main drag to the highway than the past few days. But our blackout continues. We are blessed that the church office has power so we were able to move our fridge and freezer items to the cold of the office fridge. So yeah for actually having food! Matt also was able to get his paper finished and sent off to Kentucky, utilizing the much-needed Internet connection in the office. But the same routine happens each night after the sun goes down… Matt and I light our 7 candles and stare at the wall… bored. But it’s cool. The blackout has given us some fond memories like sitting on the couch going stir-crazy because our cars were trapped in our garage. Or there’s the candle-lit games with Matt’s siblings and the laying on the couch with 3 candles lit listening to the school closings and rejoicing with the kids. And then there was last night and the cooking of every meat Mom and Dad had left in their freezer via the grill and the candle lit feast down south. Yeah for creativity! Oh and then don’t forget the candle-lit showers in the mornings. Those are nice (shut up Matt).

So, in all it really could be a lot worse for us. Work has electricity (go figure) so at least I’m getting caught up on paperwork since I have no afternoon off-site school groups to run (schools are shut). But the reports do say that it could take til the end of the week to restore all power. So, I wonder what other joys this week will bring along the trail of darkness. Who knows? We may even get desperate enough to bring our taco meat down to our friends down the street and share in their gas-stove goodness!

Until the power is restored or work continues in it’s slowness… “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine….”

Welp, my friends, for those of you who have been asking (nonstop) Matt and I had our first real name conversation last night. No one left in tears. No one’ feelings were hurt. No one brought baggage into or out of the conversation. There was absolutely no expectation of landing on a name last night, just brainstorming. I think I’m going to keep our brainstormed list on the fridge. We’ll just keep adding as we go along.

We came up with a list of six or so girl names and boys names… three. We struggled a bit more in boys names off the cuff. And do you know what? The conversation was kinda funny as Obediah and Habakkuk were tossed in. And we landed on a great gender-neutral name… Bleppo!

But it is funny that other people seem to be stressing out more about Matt and I having a name conversation and finding out the gender of our baby than we would ever dream of stressing. It’s hilarious to watch the faces of these overly-stressed people and get the endless advice. It’s as if 4.5 months has turned into days in their eyes. We’ve got some time here folks. And I’m sure with our list of names that we look at and think about occasionally, one of those names will pop out and stick at some point… maybe even on the way to the hospital in between contractions. =P

But anyway, we came up with some really cute girl’s names and some “eh, they’re okay” boy’s names. So we need a bit of work in the boys names category. We haven’t even attempted the realm of middle names. That I’m looking forward to having fun with. No, Bleppo won’t be in there. But middle names can be opportunities to pass on heritages and history, even if for some reason our society teaches people to be ashamed of their middle names. (Who knows why?)

Anyway, enough rambling today. We have a Sunday School Corral and festivities today that should last from 9:30am to 4 or 5pm. Matt and I are stoked… our sixth graders are coming up today. We’re gonna go get donuts and all kinds of fun (not to mention the 8 foot ranch gateway that has appeared in our side yard as church decoration). It should be an afternoon filled with gunny-sack races, ice cream, pot-luck lunch, and so many more things. I gotta tell you, it’s really quite fun to be in a small church that still enjoys the simple pleasures of hours of eating contests and festival joys.

Oh and also, I am now officially 22 weeks pregnant. Shhhh, don’t tell the baby that they have built more strength for those kicks and punches. =) It’s actually quite fun to feel and pretty soon Matt will be able to feel them from the outside too. What else does 22 weeks mean? It means baby can hear us now, is sensitive to light (so putting a flashlight on my belly can cause movement) and that baby is now 1lb in weight and about the size of a small baby doll (8 inches). Kinda fun, huh? So now the talk that Matt does to my belly can be heard, the dog barking, my music selection, my heartbeat, and much more fun. I personally think that’s kinda cool. Oh and baby’s sense of touch is also now developed so sucking thumbs/fingers and yanking on that umbilical cord are daily priorities. Again, kinda cool. (Thanks again, Renee for the book.)

Have a great Sunday, all!

Flea Bath Friday. That’s right, folks, we attempted the first bathing of our big dog. And with splattered walls, Matt’s drenched t-shirt, soap all over my legs and water all over the floor that poochie is still biting those fleas. Oh well… we tried. And it was perty fun too. Dakota kept turning backward and trying to sneak her back legs out of the tub. hehe. Silly dog. We had fun.

In other news, Matt and I got the privilege of having a Saturday off. It will be the only Saturday off for the next month to month and a half. I was so excited to get the opportunity to sleep in that I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30p. So here I am.. fully awake since 5am. Oh well… that’s life!

Oh and for those of you who care and will probably never see (because of modesty issues), my naval is beginning to stretch out and is getting closer to flatness at this point. Kinda funky, friends, for one who has an innie.

Ok, enough anatomy. I think I’m going to head over next door to play the piano for a while. Afterall, I have a whoppin 2 or so hours to kill until Matt even thinks of opening an eye.

Happy Saturday all.

I just woke up from this funky dream. I was at my High School graduation with some familiar High School faces. But my best friend, Robin, was there… thrilled as anything to be finished with her college degree and walking at our graduation. My sister was there… in the same boat as Robin. And in some instances of the dream I was at a High School graduation and in other instances I was at a college graduation. Those are dreams for you. But there was a sort of point to this one. All throughout the dream I was caught in this feeling of “this is the last big thing I will do in my life… it all ends here. All my dreams end here.”

I never walked at my college graduation. And I really don’t regret that fact. I didn’t want to graduate, get a job and then come back from my job one weekend to walk at my college graduation. It seemed a bit backward to me and due to my internship falling through in the first quarter of my senior year, I was bumped into a 4 yr and one quarter graduate candidate. So I missed the graduation with my classmates who I took all my classes with and with whom I completed my entrance into the Social Work department. A bummer initially, not because I had any special bond with those people, but just the sheer feeling of overcoming what we all thought would overcome us would have been nice to walk acknowledging. But to walk by myself? And two-three months after I had completed school and moved on in life? neh.

Nothing, though my dear friends, could express the amount of pride that I had for my husband as he was handed his (mock) BA diploma and I sat 2 months pregnant about 100 feet away. I was so thrilled for him. What an accomplishment!!! And with his completion of his undergrad we were tossed into the second and final phase of his pastoral education degree. It was SO exciting and still is here at semester one of Matt’s seminary degree.

I knew at the completion of my college degree that I would never be back to pursue my Masters. There are Masters people and then there’s me… satisfied with a bachelor’s degree. A waste? It is often implied through co-workers who hear of Matt and my family goals. Oh and you should have seen my professor/counselor’s face when I notified her that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and it was Matt and my choice for likewise. Oh how she tried to alter my thoughts to the business world. The fact is that some are cut out for the business world and others just aren’t. Am I giving up on my education? Absolutely not… I’m using it in the way that best fits our family.

I got a change to walk and talk to a sweet friend of mine last night. It was neat to hear of her family plans and agree with her that the politics of the working field are quite frustrating when you just want to serve the population. We spoke of how tricky and obnoxious it can be to try to avoid all the work-drama and power-hungry bosses in order to have a smile for a client. And it was fascinating to think of how much and how quickly life came at this wonderful woman. It was funny how the prestigious college pride of “no one can do anything without a college degree” has been overturned in the life of many families. I am appreciative of my degree because it’s enabling Matt and I to get good insurance coverage for this little one’s entrance into our arms. And I have overall enjoyed working with the populations. But when it comes down to it, a job is just a job to me. Yes, I want to work with a needy population.. one needing more than just fries and a drink. But throughout the day my heart yearns for my family and my home… not a longer day at work or one more client. When I’m at work, I do work. But that drive away from the office has never felt more freeing. My job is just my job, it doesn’t even come close to defining me. And at some point my job will change beyond this transition into motherhood to a full-time stay-at-home job that I can say has much more bearing on who I define myself to be. Some time soon… some time soon…

What parts of your life do you think defines you?