Birthday Party....

Last Saturday (June 6), it was our niece's (Natalie's) second birthday party. Her mom planned an outing to Tanganyika Wildlife Park as well as cake and ice cream at their house afterwards.

We were late to Tanganyika since Marc ran in a 1/2 marathon that morning. So, after he got home from the race and showered (thankfully), we left. On the way there, we were wondering if we should really be going because Luke did NOT have a good trip there.

We made a stop at a Quik-Trip for me to have my obligatory fountain Diet Pepsi. While I was getting that beverage, Luke started crying in the car. I ended up sitting in the backseat with him the rest of the way to the park. I should NOT have done that. I think it made it worse as he wanted me to hold him, and I couldn't since the car was moving.

So instead, I took sad photos of him crying on the drive.



Finally, he settled down with some Cheerios. Then, I just got a sad look, but at least he was not crying. I personally think this photo looks a bit pathetic. This was taken the day before his famous haircut.



Just before we got there, he decided to finally be content by sucking his thumb and looking out the window.



The first thing we noticed about this park is that it is a bit on the pricey side.



The entrance line seemed to move very SLOW -- at least on the day we were there.

O.K., so now -- no more complaining -- the actual park.

Since we were late in getting there for the family party, we missed a few things. But, we did see the rhinoceros up close. I personally felt sorry for him. It was a hot day, and they didn't have his pool filled up.





The penguin pool looked FANTASTIC since it was so hot out that day. It was clean and very inviting. However, I wouldn't have wanted to be in there with the penguins. They happened to be hiding in the shade when we were there.





We did also see a leopard.





One neat thing about Tanganyika Wildlife Park is the opportunity to feed birds as well as other animals. However, Luke would obviously not be old enough for that fun yet. Since we had already had a rough ride to the park and while Luke was definitely better in the stroller at the park, his mood was not up to par yet. Luke's Grandpa Koehn (my dad) was gracious enough to keep him moving in that stroller to keep him happy.

Our nieces, Grace and Natalie, very much enjoyed their time at the park.

Here's a photo of the birthday girl, Natalie, with her "Mama." (Natalie refers to both of her grandmothers as well as her mother as "Mama"). This particular "Mama" happens to be my mom -- Natalie's grandmother.



Natalie's Grandpa Miller (our sister-in-law's dad), Roger, recently had some shoulder surgery. He has to wear a "contraption" of some sort to keep his shoulder in place (please don't ask me the official name). He was a REAL TROOPER at this party -- wearing the shoulder contraption and walking around in the heat.



Luke's mood IMPROVED greatly at lunchtime. We all had a picnic lunch at the park. He was a happy camper at this point. Here's a photo of most of the gang at lunch. BTW, this park has EXCELLENT and well-maintained areas for picnic lunches.



Luke's cousin, Grace, always wants to hold "Baby Luke" everytime she seems him. So, this picnic was no exception. Luke still lets her; however, one of these days, he's not. I'm not sure Grace knows that yet.

So, here's a photo of Luke with his cousins (as well as my mom on the left and Marc on the right).



And finally, just for fun, here's a photo of Luke with Marc's sunglasses on.



Overall, and this is our opinion in this household, Tanganyika Wildlife Park was O.K. Perhaps we would've enjoyed it a bit more had Luke been a bit older or at least in a better mood. It is a long drive from where we live, and it is a bit pricey. Marc and I agree that they do have some work to do there. It is a change from the Sedgwick County Zoo -- which we're all used to around this area.

Some positives of Tanganyika Wildlife Park are a) it is well-staffed b) it is well-maintained c) the picnic areas are shaded and nice.

After a visit to the park, the rest of the family headed back to their house for Natalie's cake and ice cream. Though we would've liked to have been there, Marc and I decided to head home with Luke. He had enough, and he had already missed his morning nap. We didn't figure he needed to miss another nap.

Happy 2nd Birthday Natalie! We'll see you again soon.

A Haircut and A Swing....

Last night (Sunday), Luke got his first haircut. We knew it was time. Other people, those we know and those we don't know, were making far too many comments about his hair.

It almost was borderline starting to hurt my feelings -- all of the comments. "Wow -- that's some wild hair." "Look at his hair (with a subtle chuckle)." Blah, Blah, Blah...

I had told Marc originally that I wanted to wait until his first birthday (coming soon on July 21) to cut his hair. Finally, this past weekend, Marc and I decided it was time. This past week, it was truly out of control.

On Saturday evening, we purchased some clippers. A couple of different friends had offered to let us borrow some clippers to try them out, but we ultimately decided just to buy some as we knew we'd need them anyways.

So, here's a "before" shot of his hair -- notice he's sitting in his high chair on our deck. That's where we did the clipping.



Marc did the clipping while I periodically gave him Cheerios or juice to keep him happy. I also did the photo shooting.

First, we showed him the clippers -- or really let him listen to them. This photo was taken with the clippers on.



So far, so good....no being scared or crying over the sound.

Then, Marc started clipping. Here are a couple of photos during the actual clipping.





Voila! The haircut was complete with no tears -- not even ONE!



We personally think it's very cute. He looks so handsome and grown up. And, this morning, it wasn't all over the place upon waking up.

Here's a side view -- from this evening.



And, here are a couple of front views -- also from this evening.





Then, this evening (Monday), Marc put up Luke's new swing on our front porch. He really enjoyed it.





**AND, one more thing -- an important thing....Luke FINALLY crawled. He had been army crawling last week. Then, this past Friday, he crawled for the first time at Andrea's -- yep, Andrea saw it first. I said that if I didn't get to see it first, I'd want Andrea or my mom to see it. Of course, he then wouldn't do it for me on Friday evening or all day Saturday.

Saturday evening, Marc and I were out for our anniversary. Luke was at home with our friends Roger and Karen -- they graciously watched him for us. When we got back home that evening, Karen said, "He crawled twice, Sarah." So, they saw it as well -- which is O.K. as well.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, I saw it!!!! Go Luke! Now, he's all over the place. Let the childproofing begin.

Five Years....Lord Willing -- Many More To Come!

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:31-33

This past Friday (June 5), Marc and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I guess we really didn't officially celebrate our anniversary until last night (June 6), but nonetheless, it was our anniversary on Friday.

We were married at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS. It was a beautiful day, and many people came to witness our union -- for which we are very grateful for all of the guests. Our reception was at the Mid-American All Indian Center in Wichita. We had food. Some friends of our's as well as my father spoke about us and gave us well wishes. This will not surprise many of you, but Marc had requested we have Pepsi at the reception, and so, we did (as well as some other choice favorites). We had a "real" wedding cake, but we also served a DQ cake (there's another surprise). Our punch was DQ's slush drink -- Arctic Rush (formerly called Mr. Misty).

Two days later (June 7), we left for a cruise in the Caribbean. It was fun and relaxing.

Looking back over the last five years, we have had many celebrations as well as some sad times.

First, the celebrations!!!!! -- in no particular order
1) New jobs
2) Triumphs in jobs
3) Searching for a new church together and ultimately ending up at Grace Community Church. At this church, we have made many hopefully lifelong friends. And, most importantly, we have grown closer in our relationships with Christ together.
4) Two nieces have been born -- Grace and Natalie
5) Taken MANY trips together (Marc and I share a love of travel)
6) LUKE -- Need I say more?

Sad Times....
1) Shortly after we were married, Marc's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, it was diagnosed early enough, before it had spread. After surgery and follow-up radiation, she is cancer free.
2) Marc's dad had a minor stroke and was hospitalized. He is now doing O.K. for his age.
3) Marc's mom has had a few other surgeries, but he has recovered well.
4) My grandfather passed away.
5) We had a brief (compared to some) battle with infertility. We both went through some fertility testing.
6) Miscarriage
7) We both have had a couple of surgeries since being married. Marc's were all outpatient. Mine were not. While the first surgery was not fun, the second surgery I'm referring to is a C-Section which gave us Luke -- safe and healthy.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

God is good! Marc and I know that with all of our hearts. I think the most important thing in our marriage is that we are both continually looking up to God first. When we do that at the same time, we grow closer together. I respect and love Marc more now than when we first got married. I know that respect and love will grow even stronger as time progresses, provided we both continually look up toward God.

Who knows what God has in store for our lives? I personally am excited to find out. We pray that we are doing His will in our marriage.

Now, rather than scan a bunch of wedding photos, I thought I would post some photos of us over the last 5 years on various trips we have taken together -- remember, we LOVE to travel. Please note that all of these trips were taken before Luke (you parents can understand that one).

This first photo was actually taken before we were married. Marc and I, along with our friend Randy, took a trip to Vermont. Marc and Randy were running in a 100-mile race. Before the raceday, we visited "Ben and Jerry's" ice cream. Here's a goofy photo.



This next photo is of us on our cruise (honeymoon). We look very tired and sunburned. That would be because we had fallen asleep in a hammock together during prime sunlight time on an island, somewhere in the Caribbean.



After our first year of marriage, we took a driving trip up to South Dakota. We decided on a whim to hike up to the highest point in the state (not comparable to Colorado but it was still over 7,000 feet). So, here's a photo of that point -- on top of Harney Peak. It was a 4 mile hike or so. It was HOT outside that day.



That next summer, we took a trip up to Manitoba to see our friends, Tammy & Reynold. Marc, of course, ran a marathon. So, here's a photo, just before the race began (I think I've put this photo on this blog before).



Here's a photo of us for the 2006 Christmas letter. It's one of our favorites.



One of our favorites trips was to Hawaii. Here's a photo of us, posing at the Arizona Memorial.



Another one of our favorite trips was to New York City. So, here's a photo of us, posing in front of what used to be the Twin Towers.



Finally, our most important job we have right now -- raising Luke! Here's a photo of our little guy -- with some messy hair. Oh, how we love this guy.



Lord willing, we'll have many more years of marriage!

I will close this post with some scripture we had read at our wedding.

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. Ruth 1:16b-17

Wednesday Evening....

Many of you have heard me mention before that Marc often runs with a group of people in Wichita on Wednesday evenings. Before Luke, he did this nearly every Wednesday evening, and I had the house to myself. Now that Luke's with us, he only goes about once every 3 weeks or so.

During the school year, this group does various mileage runs, starting around downtown Wichita. During the summer, however, the group does "speed workouts" at a track.

Marc has asked me several times if some Wednesday evenings during the summer (speed workouts) if I'd be willing to bring Luke there.

So, this evening, I packed up the jogging stroller and Luke's other necessary supplies, and he and I met Marc at the track.

This track is at....none other than Friend's University.



There were roughly 15 people running this evening at this track. So, after the "workout" was given, everybody took off around the track to warm up.



Here's a close-up of Marc, warming up. He's in the black shorts and white shirt.



After the brief warm-up, all of the runners took off a bit faster around the track. Here's yet another photo of Marc (without his face again) -- through the fence.



After awhile, he was doing his speed workouts with a group of guys that he's come to know over the years through running. In this photo, Marc is on the far right side.



Now, you might be asking yourselves, "What did Sarah and Luke do during this time?"

Well, Luke was in the jogging stroller, in a VERY GOOD MOOD -- he really hadn't been the happiest today (we're STILL waiting on a tooth to poke through the gums), but the outside DEFINITELY helps. In fact, here's a great photo of Luke in the stroller, just as Marc's workout started.



Luke and I actually walked for almost 3 miles. We walked a bit around the Friends University Campus. I LOVE walking on college campuses. I'm not sure what it is. I actually like being on college campuses more now than when I was in college. Friends University has a gorgeous administration building.





I don't remember exactly when the last time was that I was on this campus. I'm sure I was on the campus in High School sometime for some piano competition (I used to be a very active piano player). Then, I'm fairly certain I was on this campus in college when Bethel College (where I attended my freshman year) was playing Friends University in either basketball or football.

Either way, it was a nice walk.

All of a sudden, I noticed Luke was missing a sock -- during our walk.



I turned around, and there it was on the ground -- see that tiny blue thing on the sidewalk.



I gave it back to him to play with -- that lasted for roughly 2 minutes before he dropped it again. Then, it went bye-bye to Luke.



Luke and I then walked through a nearby neighborhood. We ended up near Kansas Masonic Home -- a long-term care facility. In the parking lot, I saw a bumper sticker that only you locals will understand.



The owner of this vehicle must have been the winner in the "Medallion Hunt" during the Wichita River Festival one year. I can't say I've seen that bumper sticker before. Like I said, only you local readers will probably understand or care about that one.

After walking around for awhile, we headed back to the campus as the runners were finishing up. At this point, Luke was still pretty happy. This is one of my new favorite photos of our Little Guy.



The runners then did about a 2-mile cool down. So, Marc took Luke on a bit faster of a ride for his cool down.

I waited at the track. After about 10-15 minutes or so, I heard a screaming baby, and it was our baby. Luke, for some reason, had gotten fairly upset during the last 1/2 mile of Marc's run. We're not sure if he thought the stroller was going too fast. Or, perhaps he just missed his mom -- that's been going on a lot lately :) So, Luke cried for a bit. Then, just as we were about to leave, the crying stopped. Luke was all happy again. He was more than happy to pose with his Daddy for a photo.

Eating....

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the lives of your children. Lamentations 2:19 b-c

A friend of mine, Angie S., once told me that children take a lot of prayers. She told me this several years ago -- before I had a child or was even pregnant.

When she told me that, I thought to myself, "Well yeah, they take a lot of prayers. That's obvious." Well, I don't think I fully realized that until I had a child of my own.

I realize that Luke is only 10 months old, and the praying has only just begun. Yes, there is a lot to pray about for a 10-month old, but I know that, as he gets older, I will realize even more to pray about for Luke.

For the most part, Luke has NOT been really difficult. He's a GREAT sleeper. Generally speaking, he's fairly happy (except for this past week). We think he's just oh so cute! I could go on and on.

One thing we've struggled with Luke, however, since birth is his eating. I had planned on exclusively breastfeeding for his first year. It started out that way. When he was 3 1/2 weeks old, however, we found out that he was not feeding correctly. Therefore, his weight gain was slow (at that time, he hadn't yet gotten back to his birth weight).

I was back and forth and back and forth and back and forth (get the picture) from the hospital, working with two very patient lactation consultants. My mom worked many hours with me. She has a friend who is a breastfeeding "guru," and this friend offered advice as well.

Finally, when Luke was six weeks old, the lactation consultants all pretty much told me, "We've told you and taught you all we know. If you want this to continue, you'll need to see a speech therapist."

(This was all based on Luke having an inefficient suck for breastfeeding).

I was SOOOOOOO exhausted at that point. I was tired of breastfeeding AND pumping each feeding. I did call the dr. for a referral for a speech therapist. He was out that week, and I just happened to get a hold of a very unhelpful substitute nurse. So, that didn't work out at that point in time.

To make a long story already too long for this post, I did end up, with Marc's full support, quitting breastfeeding.

So, we switched to full-time.....



Yep, formula....Not something we planned on for our bank account. Luke was a pretty good spitter-upper. We tried the generic formula, but then, we had some nice vomiting. So, we stuck to the non-generic, and he did much better. Nope -- no break for the bank account.

At first, I was EXTREMELY disappointed in myself for stopping the breastfeeding. I struggled because a) we had some infertility that we did find out was my body b) I miscarried my first pregnancy c) I ended up in an unplanned C-Section d) I quit breastfeeding.

I thought to myself, can my body and mind just not do this whole child thing?

As time went on, my disappointment began to wane. When Luke hit somewhere around 6-7 months (you know, when their personalities start to come out), I REALLY began to enjoy him (not that I didn't before, but his personality was the clencher). At that point, I began to realize that it really doesn't matter how these children come into the world. I'm no less a woman and Luke is no less a wonderful little boy because he came out via C-Section and didn't breastfeed properly.

The important thing I've realized and learned is that Luke is a TRUE gift from God. He is God's. Marc and I are merely the caretakers, stewards, or managers of Luke.

We PRAY daily that we raising him up to be a man of God.

Now, back to eating....

Since Luke has started on solids, we've run into another problem -- a very sensitive gag reflex.

It all started with him gagging and vomiting on some food that I had grinded with a specific baby food grinder. The texture is a bit different. Luke didn't much care for the texture.

So, once again not in my plans, I purchased a lot of babyfood in jars. He does fine with all of that, fortunately.

When I started Cheerios, graham crackers, goldfish crackers, etc., with Luke. He once again did just FINE. Then, I gave him a few pieces of cheese, some whole peas, etc. Luke gagged and ultimately vomited -- thanks once again to the texture.

We've continued on with baby food (he does just fine), Cheerios, etc.

I think we're FINALLY getting somewhere -- at 10 months.

Today, I gave him this....



Yep, a generic "Nutri-Grain" bar along with some yogurt (which he has LOVED for several months now). The cereal bar was a complete HIT! He loved it. He didn't once gag. We just had a nice mess on our hands. Can you tell from these photos?





I feel like we're getting somewhere now. Luke does also like (and does well without gagging) toast, all cereals, and chicken nuggets.

So, my whole point to this long post is that parenting does take a lot of prayers, and Marc and I've only just begun. Probably, in several months, this whole gagging and eating thing will seem like only a distant memory. Then, we'll have something else to pray about. I remember when I was at my six week check-up after Luke was born, the nurse practitioner said to me, "You know, it's always something with each child. Right now, it may be difficulty in breastfeeding. In several months, it'll be something else. In 30 years, it'll be something else." Boy, is she right on that one?