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2 months ago
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thanksgiving 2010
We celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's this year. The day was full of wonderful food and even better people. It was the usual bunch - Grandpa & Grandma, Uncle Jeff & Aunt Cheryl & fam and the Stevens' clan. Between my mom and her brother, there are 29 (plus 2 in utero) of us - I love it! Being part of a big family is so much fun! And growing up so close to each other, we are all like brothers and sisters. Such a blessing!
Baby Zack
The newest member of the Stevens family arrived November 6th . . . Zakarian (Zak-air-ian) Robert Stevens. He was a big boy, weighing 10lbs, 3oz and was 23 inches long! According to my grandma (who also had a 10 pound baby), I should have one, b/c "10 pound babies are really good." LOL! He IS a good baby and we love him so much.
Zack was Baptised on December 19th and we were honored to be his Godparents. He was a little fussy right before, but as soon as Father poured the (cold) water over his head, he settled down - just the opposite of what most other babies do!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Little Visitor
While Veronica and Brandon were working on their house, we volunteered to take Sophie for the weekend. My dad brought her up to Grand Rapids Friday morning and I took her to the John Ball Zoo Boo. Since she loves animals, she was in heaven! Since she is a girl on the go, we kept her busy all weekend . . . took her to the park and shopping Saturday and then to Anna's gymnastics meet Saturday night. I was a tad nervous about this, since . . . well, Sophie likes to be involved in everything around her. She did really well (thanks to the coloring book, crayons and suckers) and Brook only had to take her out into the lobby at the end. Sunday, we went to Mass and then met my parents in Kalamazoo to drop her off. It was a lot of fun having her visit, but very tiring! Just a taste of what's to come! ;-)
What a character!
I love my Sophie Mae!
Out in the lobby with Uncle Brook."Let me in there, Aunt Chrystal!"
Kid Stuff
We spent a lot of time in the fall with our nieces and nephew. Soccer games, a gymnastics meet, and an apple orchard . . . it was a fun and busy time, but we wouldn't miss spending time with them for anything!
"Hi chicken!"
Livia's Soccer Game . . .
Maria's Soccer Game . . .
All bundled up for the apple orchard.
It was freezing that day!
"Hi pig!!!" (Sophie LOVES animals!)
"Hi chicken!"
(She ran back and forth between the chickens and pigs, saying this.)
What a motley crue!
Livia's Soccer Game . . .
Coach Trent (AKA Daddy) in the background
Anna's Gymnatics Meet . . .
Monday, December 20, 2010
October 25th
Monday, October 25th changed our life forever. After having Miss Sophie Mae for the weekend, I took the day off to recover. (Just kidding, Veronica!) I decided to take a pregnancy test, even though I “knew” it didn’t happen this month. After 11 months of negatives, I wasn’t expecting any great news. But, what the heck, why not waste one more test? So, I got out the last Dollar Tree pregnancy test in the bathroom cabinet and . . . within a minute a second line appeared! I didn’t even have to hold up to the light or turn in 10 different directions to see that line! LOL. I was in shock! Complete shock!
I knew Brook had to be in court that morning, but I called him anyway and asked him to come home. I didn’t tell him why and he was pretty worried when he got there. I showed him the test and asked if he could see a second line. He was in shock, too . . . for the first time in the 3 years I’ve known him, he was speechless! Ha! We just stared at each, both of us not believing I was pregnant. Later that day, I went to Walgreens to pick up a couple more tests . . . just to be sure, of course! Both came back positive – each one stronger than the last. I was 4 weeks pregnant at that point.
I would say I was in shock for the 1st week. I really had no emotions and was living in a fog-like status. Could this really be happening? We told our parents and siblings right away. They were so, so excited for us; especially, with knowing the struggle we had gone through to get to this point. Over the next few weeks, we told aunts and uncles, grandparents and close friends. Each of their reactions, with the genuine joy in their voices, is forever etched in my mind. My 87 year-old grandma, who constantly told us she was praying for us every time we saw her for the last year, said, “Now, I have something to live for. I have to see that little baby.” There are no words for that reaction and I pray she will be able to meet our child.
The nausea set in about week 6. It slowly got worse and I am not a good sick person. Not. At. All. It’s all I can do to make it through work every day. Plus, I don’t sleep well on nights I have to go to work – ugh, the mind is a powerful thing! So, intense nausea + lack of sleep = very bad combination. Once I get home (from work), I am pretty useless. Luckily, I have the most amazing husband who has pretty much taken control of everything around the house. He cooks (or gets take-out), cleans and pretty much everything else.
I am repulsed by most food, except grapes, bananas, oranges and peanut butter toast w/ hot cocoa. I do force myself to eat other things, though. The great irony in all of this is that eating makes me feel better. All I have to say about food is – YUCK!
We decided not to go one the cruise we booked for the week after Thanksgiving. I was feeling so crappy that I didn’t feel like going anywhere, especially on a boat with tons of food. So, we stayed home, with the intention of going somewhere in spring. Thankfully, Brook was incredibly understanding about cancelling the trip.
At 10 weeks, the nausea began to slowly subside – I am *mostly* ok as long as I don’t get too hungry. (I am so tired of eating!) We also got to hear the heartbeat at our 2nd appt (December 8th, which is also the feast of the Immaculate Conception). It was super-strong at 180 bpm. (I hope this doesn’t mean the baby is going to be high strung like its mother!) Miraculous. That is the only way to describe hearing my child’s heartbeat.
And so, here we are at “magic” 12 week mark. I remember when I first got pregnant, thinking 12 weeks would never get here. I lived in weeks and time crawled by. But here we are. Being a mom is something I have dreamt about for years and it is amazing to think I have become one. We continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and can’t wait to meet our 4th of July baby!
I knew Brook had to be in court that morning, but I called him anyway and asked him to come home. I didn’t tell him why and he was pretty worried when he got there. I showed him the test and asked if he could see a second line. He was in shock, too . . . for the first time in the 3 years I’ve known him, he was speechless! Ha! We just stared at each, both of us not believing I was pregnant. Later that day, I went to Walgreens to pick up a couple more tests . . . just to be sure, of course! Both came back positive – each one stronger than the last. I was 4 weeks pregnant at that point.
I would say I was in shock for the 1st week. I really had no emotions and was living in a fog-like status. Could this really be happening? We told our parents and siblings right away. They were so, so excited for us; especially, with knowing the struggle we had gone through to get to this point. Over the next few weeks, we told aunts and uncles, grandparents and close friends. Each of their reactions, with the genuine joy in their voices, is forever etched in my mind. My 87 year-old grandma, who constantly told us she was praying for us every time we saw her for the last year, said, “Now, I have something to live for. I have to see that little baby.” There are no words for that reaction and I pray she will be able to meet our child.
The nausea set in about week 6. It slowly got worse and I am not a good sick person. Not. At. All. It’s all I can do to make it through work every day. Plus, I don’t sleep well on nights I have to go to work – ugh, the mind is a powerful thing! So, intense nausea + lack of sleep = very bad combination. Once I get home (from work), I am pretty useless. Luckily, I have the most amazing husband who has pretty much taken control of everything around the house. He cooks (or gets take-out), cleans and pretty much everything else.
I am repulsed by most food, except grapes, bananas, oranges and peanut butter toast w/ hot cocoa. I do force myself to eat other things, though. The great irony in all of this is that eating makes me feel better. All I have to say about food is – YUCK!
We decided not to go one the cruise we booked for the week after Thanksgiving. I was feeling so crappy that I didn’t feel like going anywhere, especially on a boat with tons of food. So, we stayed home, with the intention of going somewhere in spring. Thankfully, Brook was incredibly understanding about cancelling the trip.
At 10 weeks, the nausea began to slowly subside – I am *mostly* ok as long as I don’t get too hungry. (I am so tired of eating!) We also got to hear the heartbeat at our 2nd appt (December 8th, which is also the feast of the Immaculate Conception). It was super-strong at 180 bpm. (I hope this doesn’t mean the baby is going to be high strung like its mother!) Miraculous. That is the only way to describe hearing my child’s heartbeat.
And so, here we are at “magic” 12 week mark. I remember when I first got pregnant, thinking 12 weeks would never get here. I lived in weeks and time crawled by. But here we are. Being a mom is something I have dreamt about for years and it is amazing to think I have become one. We continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and can’t wait to meet our 4th of July baby!
Friday, October 8, 2010
A Change of Perspective
I have to admit I was feeling quite sorry for myself yesterday. Here’s why: Our company does quite an extensive Un!ted W@y drive. In Jackson, it was Un!ted W@y mania for 3 weeks! I was involved with the campaign and loved it! So, it was only natural that I was asked to be the United Way coordinator for the Plant . . . that means over 350 employees to try to get involved. It was a daunting task, but I was up for the challenge. First event on the agenda: a friendly chili cook-off. We had 20 cooks and hoped for a good turn-out. Well, almost 100 people showed up and we raised over $500 to get our campaign going! I was happy! And to top it off, dozens of people thanked me and one person even said, “This type of event makes people happy.” It was a success and life was good.
Fast forward to the next morning, 1 person was upset about something very trivial and was making his displeasure known by saying negative things about the event. Throughout the day, bits of “info” trickled in to me. And all I could think was, ‘Really? You’re a grown man!” It was so disappointing and all I could think about. Isn’t it funny how we hear 10 good things and 1 bad and all we can think about is the bad?
Someone at work suggested I pray about it, which I thought was a good idea; but I was too irritated to pray. Yeah, I was that upset. By the time I left work, I was ready to cry. So, fast forward to last night: It’s almost 10pm and I get a call from my sister. She thinks she has a concussion and I end up taking her to the ER. We are there until 3 in the morning. As I’m sitting next to her, I’m thinking ‘What in the world was I so upset about today?’ Seriously! I had a total change of perspective. God heard my prayer, even though I didn’t articulate it. He is good about things like that. :-) A CAT scan and Vicodin later, we find out my sis is going to be just fine. I guess there was a little healing for both of us last night . . .
Fast forward to the next morning, 1 person was upset about something very trivial and was making his displeasure known by saying negative things about the event. Throughout the day, bits of “info” trickled in to me. And all I could think was, ‘Really? You’re a grown man!” It was so disappointing and all I could think about. Isn’t it funny how we hear 10 good things and 1 bad and all we can think about is the bad?
Someone at work suggested I pray about it, which I thought was a good idea; but I was too irritated to pray. Yeah, I was that upset. By the time I left work, I was ready to cry. So, fast forward to last night: It’s almost 10pm and I get a call from my sister. She thinks she has a concussion and I end up taking her to the ER. We are there until 3 in the morning. As I’m sitting next to her, I’m thinking ‘What in the world was I so upset about today?’ Seriously! I had a total change of perspective. God heard my prayer, even though I didn’t articulate it. He is good about things like that. :-) A CAT scan and Vicodin later, we find out my sis is going to be just fine. I guess there was a little healing for both of us last night . . .
A Tribute
A long overdue post . . . that was terribly hard to compose.
June 22, 2010: The saints rejoiced as one of their own was brought Home today.
I met Carol when I was on a temporary assignment for work on the west side of the state in 2006. We worked together and quickly found we had lots in common, even though there was a 20 year age gap between us. We went to the same church, had the same values and enjoyed the same wine. ;) We were just alike in the fact that we were both doers and liked things “our” way. Many of my struggles now were her struggles when she was my age. She understood me and accepted me for who I was. Such a rarity!
After I left my temporary assignment and returned to Jackson in 2007, we stayed in touch. I had a standing offer to stay at her house in Grand Haven anytime I was in town and took her up on that offer! I was delighted when I received a job transfer back to the plant in 2009. Not only did it mean I had a job on the west side of the state, but I would be working with Carol again. Little did I know, my time with her would be much too short.
Throughout the summer, she complained that something was wrong with her foot . . . she couldn’t pick it up all the way anymore. But Brook and I played golf with her and her husband in August and she played better than any of us! It’s hard to believe how fast things can change. Throughout the fall, she kept getting more and more tired and losing functionality of her body. Since one of her brothers had died of ALS, she asked me to pray that she had a brain tumor or MS. I couldn’t believe we were praying for such things, but it seemed better than the alternative.
We talked and cried a lot during those months . . . hoping and praying for a “livable” disease. After 29 years with the Company, she was just a few years away from retirement and was looking forward to travelling and playing lots of golf with her husband and enjoying her daughters and grandbabies. Unfortunately, that was not the plan for her. Right before Thanksgiving, she was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig ’s disease). It was devastating. Carol being Carol, she continued to work through the first of the year, b/c she wanted to tie up any loose ends and try to train me as best she could.
After she left, I stopped in periodically to visit. Of course, I wanted to see how she was doing, but I also needed someone to talk with. I would talk with her about my work frustrations . . . frustrations that only she could understand. Or trials I was going through of faith, which she too understood. And every time I left her house, I’d think ‘Why am I talking about my problems, when she is facing a terminal disease?!’ But she didn’t seem to mind and one morning, I came into work to find this e-mail from her (no capitals, b/c she was only able to type with one finger at this point):
“hang tough we always seem to cross paths with people who enjoy making other lives miserable as their own. just take the upper road and be strong.”
I still cry when I read it. That was the kind of person she was.
Near the end, she was only able to “talk” via a machine. She was on oxygen, a feeding tube and was totally dependent on others. How humbling. And for someone who was such a doer, it was so hard on her. God’s ways are so mysterious, but for the Christian we have to believe that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” It would be impossible to get through these hard times without such a belief.
And so, on June 22nd, 2010, she died, surrounded by her husband, children, sisters and parish priest. She had only been diagnosed 7 months earlier.
Death is not easy for those left behind. I still can’t believe she is gone and miss her terribly. I wish I could see her just one more time . . . to say good-bye, but would never wish that she was suffering again. I have to believe that her suffering catapulted her into the arms of God when she died. She went through it all with such grace and dignity.
A contemporary Christian song says, “In Christ there are no goodbyes. So, “See you again, my beloved friend. You will always be in my heart.”
June 22, 2010: The saints rejoiced as one of their own was brought Home today.
I met Carol when I was on a temporary assignment for work on the west side of the state in 2006. We worked together and quickly found we had lots in common, even though there was a 20 year age gap between us. We went to the same church, had the same values and enjoyed the same wine. ;) We were just alike in the fact that we were both doers and liked things “our” way. Many of my struggles now were her struggles when she was my age. She understood me and accepted me for who I was. Such a rarity!
After I left my temporary assignment and returned to Jackson in 2007, we stayed in touch. I had a standing offer to stay at her house in Grand Haven anytime I was in town and took her up on that offer! I was delighted when I received a job transfer back to the plant in 2009. Not only did it mean I had a job on the west side of the state, but I would be working with Carol again. Little did I know, my time with her would be much too short.
Throughout the summer, she complained that something was wrong with her foot . . . she couldn’t pick it up all the way anymore. But Brook and I played golf with her and her husband in August and she played better than any of us! It’s hard to believe how fast things can change. Throughout the fall, she kept getting more and more tired and losing functionality of her body. Since one of her brothers had died of ALS, she asked me to pray that she had a brain tumor or MS. I couldn’t believe we were praying for such things, but it seemed better than the alternative.
We talked and cried a lot during those months . . . hoping and praying for a “livable” disease. After 29 years with the Company, she was just a few years away from retirement and was looking forward to travelling and playing lots of golf with her husband and enjoying her daughters and grandbabies. Unfortunately, that was not the plan for her. Right before Thanksgiving, she was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig ’s disease). It was devastating. Carol being Carol, she continued to work through the first of the year, b/c she wanted to tie up any loose ends and try to train me as best she could.
After she left, I stopped in periodically to visit. Of course, I wanted to see how she was doing, but I also needed someone to talk with. I would talk with her about my work frustrations . . . frustrations that only she could understand. Or trials I was going through of faith, which she too understood. And every time I left her house, I’d think ‘Why am I talking about my problems, when she is facing a terminal disease?!’ But she didn’t seem to mind and one morning, I came into work to find this e-mail from her (no capitals, b/c she was only able to type with one finger at this point):
“hang tough we always seem to cross paths with people who enjoy making other lives miserable as their own. just take the upper road and be strong.”
I still cry when I read it. That was the kind of person she was.
Near the end, she was only able to “talk” via a machine. She was on oxygen, a feeding tube and was totally dependent on others. How humbling. And for someone who was such a doer, it was so hard on her. God’s ways are so mysterious, but for the Christian we have to believe that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” It would be impossible to get through these hard times without such a belief.
And so, on June 22nd, 2010, she died, surrounded by her husband, children, sisters and parish priest. She had only been diagnosed 7 months earlier.
Death is not easy for those left behind. I still can’t believe she is gone and miss her terribly. I wish I could see her just one more time . . . to say good-bye, but would never wish that she was suffering again. I have to believe that her suffering catapulted her into the arms of God when she died. She went through it all with such grace and dignity.
A contemporary Christian song says, “In Christ there are no goodbyes. So, “See you again, my beloved friend. You will always be in my heart.”
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