Joaquim and I have been a thrill a minute these days. Yes, every day we both crawl home from work and collapse and then get into bed at night and melt into the mattress, so grateful to finally be sleeping. And we don't even have an infant yet!
My energy is waning and by the end of the day I am totally sapped. Joaquim's job is much more physically demanding than mine, minus the 20-pound weight on his belly, so he is just as tired! With commitments nearly every night, we have been realizing that we need to cut them sometimes just to keep our sanity. And so we skipped our second time trying out a new small group last night.
What followed instead was marvelous! It was great to come home knowing I didn't have anything else to do. We relaxed and chatted, took a walk, scrounged for some dinner (it is really time to do some grocery shopping but we're trying to hold out until Saturday, mainly because we are creatures of habit...) and then watched a movie. When it was over around 9:30, it was already bedtime. When I woke up this morning before my alarm, I actually felt rested! So I got up and had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Joaquim before he left for work. Of course those minutes were spent watching a World Cup soccer game. :)
So maybe we're lame with our 10 o'clock bedtimes and sitting on our couch watching silly movies, but it sure made us happy yesterday. Tonight we're using a gift certificate and going out to dinner because...well, we still are waiting until Saturday for grocery shopping! It should be a fun weekend.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
This is how it feels to be pregnant
First of all, thank you all for your prayers, concern, and shared disgust regarding our car situation! We are surrounded by a great community and the body of Christ is coming together to help us out. We'll keep you posted on how it all shakes out! But hopelessness is definitely not in our vocabulary.
Secondly, I just thought I would write a more lighthearted post today about the wonders of pregnancy. I know every woman experiences it differently and many tend to forget how daily life with a soccer ball for a stomach is like, so here may be some reminders...
I woke up this morning to Oliver doing somersaults in my stomach. Or at least that's how it felt. Kicks and wiggles are all over the place these days, but this was much more dramatic - it almost made ME dizzy! I think we have a very active little boy on our hands.
I used to force down breakfast because blah blah blah it's the most important meal of the day. Then morning sickness struck and I was even more literally choking down bland food like toast or my ever faithful cheerios. But for the past few months, ever since morning sickness passed, breakfast is now perhaps my favorite meal of the day. I wake up HUNGRY and thoroughly enjoy whatever I eat!
I have also become crazy for any sort of fizzy, slightly sour, fruity beverage. With lots of ice. I could go for one right now, actually...
At some point in the day I will notice that one of my fingernails is suddenly 8 feet long and needs to be filed, even though I just filed my nails the day before. They are growing like crazy.
Sometimes I can't bend my toes on my left foot because of the wonders of edema. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a stretch mark on my foot because they are really going through a rough time! I wish I had a good picture of my feet before pregnancy. Their natural state is extremely narrow and bony. Now they look like water balloons. They probably resemble the physical properties as well.
I have just been instructed by my doctor that I need to add a daily iron supplement to my routine. That's going to be great!
I love any sort of activity for pregnant women. We went to our first childbirth class at the hospital on Monday and while I was terrified at first (I think those videos in health class really scarred me...) I soon warmed up to our nice little instructor when she began the class explaining where the bathrooms and water coolers are, encouraging us to bring in our own food or beverages if we need to, asking if anyone would like a chair to put their feet up on, etc. She ended the class with a relaxation session that is making me sleepy just thinking about it. Of course it was for the purpose of learning how to stay focused and relaxed through a contraction, but it involved laying on the floor while our "coaches" gave us a light massage. I'm sure a real contraction won't make me doze off...
Abdominal muscles completely disappear during pregnancy. The sight of 10 pregnant women getting up off the floor as their husbands (or whatever) fought the urge to say "heave hoe!" was pretty priceless. Joaquim and I often laugh as I need an extra push to get up from the couch if I'm sitting too far back.
Every time I drop something I just sigh.
The other day I hit my stomach with the car door as I closed it. I was calculating using pre-baby-body information.
I am NEVER caught without Tums. Never.
My new best friend is the third pillow in bed at night. Who knew putting a pillow under my stomach would be so wonderful?
I look at pictures of myself pre-pregnancy and long for the return of a non-giant shape. Soccer balls are for the world cup, not my belly!
Well, at 29 1/2 weeks I am 75% of the way done! I am ready to not be pregnant anymore, but we are not quite ready for Oliver to arrive yet. July will be the month of preparation in our apartment! Bottles, diapers, and wipes, oh my!
Secondly, I just thought I would write a more lighthearted post today about the wonders of pregnancy. I know every woman experiences it differently and many tend to forget how daily life with a soccer ball for a stomach is like, so here may be some reminders...
I woke up this morning to Oliver doing somersaults in my stomach. Or at least that's how it felt. Kicks and wiggles are all over the place these days, but this was much more dramatic - it almost made ME dizzy! I think we have a very active little boy on our hands.
I used to force down breakfast because blah blah blah it's the most important meal of the day. Then morning sickness struck and I was even more literally choking down bland food like toast or my ever faithful cheerios. But for the past few months, ever since morning sickness passed, breakfast is now perhaps my favorite meal of the day. I wake up HUNGRY and thoroughly enjoy whatever I eat!
I have also become crazy for any sort of fizzy, slightly sour, fruity beverage. With lots of ice. I could go for one right now, actually...
At some point in the day I will notice that one of my fingernails is suddenly 8 feet long and needs to be filed, even though I just filed my nails the day before. They are growing like crazy.
Sometimes I can't bend my toes on my left foot because of the wonders of edema. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a stretch mark on my foot because they are really going through a rough time! I wish I had a good picture of my feet before pregnancy. Their natural state is extremely narrow and bony. Now they look like water balloons. They probably resemble the physical properties as well.
I have just been instructed by my doctor that I need to add a daily iron supplement to my routine. That's going to be great!
I love any sort of activity for pregnant women. We went to our first childbirth class at the hospital on Monday and while I was terrified at first (I think those videos in health class really scarred me...) I soon warmed up to our nice little instructor when she began the class explaining where the bathrooms and water coolers are, encouraging us to bring in our own food or beverages if we need to, asking if anyone would like a chair to put their feet up on, etc. She ended the class with a relaxation session that is making me sleepy just thinking about it. Of course it was for the purpose of learning how to stay focused and relaxed through a contraction, but it involved laying on the floor while our "coaches" gave us a light massage. I'm sure a real contraction won't make me doze off...
Abdominal muscles completely disappear during pregnancy. The sight of 10 pregnant women getting up off the floor as their husbands (or whatever) fought the urge to say "heave hoe!" was pretty priceless. Joaquim and I often laugh as I need an extra push to get up from the couch if I'm sitting too far back.
Every time I drop something I just sigh.
The other day I hit my stomach with the car door as I closed it. I was calculating using pre-baby-body information.
I am NEVER caught without Tums. Never.
My new best friend is the third pillow in bed at night. Who knew putting a pillow under my stomach would be so wonderful?
I look at pictures of myself pre-pregnancy and long for the return of a non-giant shape. Soccer balls are for the world cup, not my belly!
Well, at 29 1/2 weeks I am 75% of the way done! I am ready to not be pregnant anymore, but we are not quite ready for Oliver to arrive yet. July will be the month of preparation in our apartment! Bottles, diapers, and wipes, oh my!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Not so fast!! Version 2
Two weeks ago at Harvest we heard a great sermon series about forgiveness. Yes, it was challenging and moving and the tricky part was that when I forgive someone, I am not just erasing a debt or getting rid of the pain. No, when we forgive, we are absorbing the debt or pain that someone has caused us. I thought that was very interesting intellectually, because I didn't really have much to forgive. Sure a couple fights here and there and some people who have bugged me or bad-mouthed me or whatever, but...not much, in the grand scheme of things. It appears that this week God has thrown something at us that will require us to really know how it feels to take on the debt that another person owes and absolve them of it.
I got a phone call from my dad this afternoon with the damage. My usually cool and composed father was clearly unglued and could barely find where he should begin to list the problems with the car. Very bad sign number 100.
It turns out the "well-maintained" car we purchased had had routine oil changes and perhaps nothing else. The axel and rod on the front right wheel are about to fall apart (can you say, safety hazard?) and oil is leaking in about 5 or 6 places, one of which causes it to drip on top of the engine and burn while in use, making for some smoke and that telling burning smell. On top of that, the power steering column needs to be replaced and it is leaking power steering fluid as well. All of this will amount to close to $2,000 in repairs. That would total our cost for the car at over $4,000 and that is waaaaaay more than it's worth.
Now, let's remember what our buddy "Mark" (put in quotations because I am no longer sure that is his real name) told us when he sold us the car.
- It was his father-in-law's, and he was just helping him sell it. Conveniently, he wasn't willing to negotiate much on the price because his father-in-law was the one who had the say and he wasn't going to budge. He said his father-in-law had kept the car in great shape and it had just recently had the timing belt replaced and that the engine and transmission ran great. The transmission fluid was brown, but we all just thought that was an easy fix and not a big deal. Turns out that was perhaps the only thing that was a quick fix, but it was a red flag and a sign of a bigger problem.
- He said it was a '96 camry but when he came back with the bill of sale he said oops he made a mistake, it's a '95. Hmm.
- He put his wife's name on the bill of sale but she had a different last name than his and he wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
- He had another guy looking at the car who pulled up MOMENTS after we did and who was asked to wait until we checked it over because we had contacted him first. Now we wonder if he was a set-up just meant to put a little pressure on us. "Mark" never actually talked to him or even referred to him in order to pressure us directly, but it was in the back of our minds that if we didn't take the car, this guy would.
- He had steam-cleaned under the hood so that we couldn't see any of the oil drips that soon appeared when we arrived home.
- He asked us to please do our best to get the title turned over to our name in a day or two, as soon as possible. Why? Unfortunately we did because we didn't want to drive around with no plates. Now I'm wondering if this was even his wife's or father-in-law's car and if we didn't just put a stolen title in our name.
- When we called him after seeing the leaking oil he said "the car has NEVER leaked oil" which was an incredible lie due to the fact that it was leaking in multiple places and there is NO way he hadn't noticed that.
Now we have seemingly thrown a couple thousand dollars out the window. I kind of wish we had literally done that because it would have at least been a bit more fun and maybe would have made some decent people's day a bit brighter. Instead, "Mark" walked off with a good portion of the savings of a newly married couple who is 7 months pregnant and is struggling to make ends meet and definitely needed that money for hospital bills and maternity leave if it were not going to go towards a fairly decent car. Now I have to forgive "Mark" and wipe away the obligation he has in my mind towards us regarding those couple thousand dollars. I wish I could inflict some consequences on him but he has disconnected his cell phone and he never gave us his home address. He has, for all our intents and purposes, evaporated with our dough and we will never hear from him again.
Twice in the last two days I have had a random song pop into my head whenever I have been praying and/or worrying (kind of don't go together, I know) about the car.
Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
Yesterday I thought, huh, that's funny...but today I got it.
Chariots and horses were symbols of power and wealth. Only the king, highly ranked government officials, or great armies had them. They were the most efficient forms of transportation in that day. We have been trusting in our small nest egg and the hope of an OK car to drive for our security. Now they are both gone, and one has not even replaced the other as we had hoped, and we are bare and vulnerable. But the name of the Lord our God is a strong and mighty tower. All those who run to it will be saved. Lord willing, even "Mark".
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
A New-Old Car
Some people have barbeques on Memorial Day...others buy old used cars. We would fall into the latter category!
We're still swallowing our buyer's remorse, even though we probably got a good deal (the mechanic will let us know tomorrow afternoon...) but mostly we are in shock that we actually bought a car!
Joaquim found the listing on Craigslist and it seemed like a good one. 1995 camry with 122K miles on it. Old, but for a well taken care of camry, it still has a ways to go! Leather seats and a sun roof make for a pretty nice ride too.
So, we bought it, drove it home, and...then smelled burning under the hood. Oil is leaking onto the engine. Crash went all our hopes, and off goes the "new" car to the mechanic tomorrow morning. It also probably needs a transmission flush and I'm sure they'll come up with a laundry list of other maintenance, but I reaaaaally hope that's all that must be addressed immediately.
It was certainly an eventful day and maybe a bit of an emotional rollercoaster! The rest of the weekend was great. Slept in and shopping before a family birthday party on Saturday, a very relaxing Sunday and then dinner at my parents house with their neighborhood couple's group, and yesterday we helped some good friends move into a new apartment and, obviously, bought a car!
We slept a bit restlessly last night after such a big decision, but I do feel we paid a good price and we are leaving the repairs and everything up to God. ::GULP::
We're still swallowing our buyer's remorse, even though we probably got a good deal (the mechanic will let us know tomorrow afternoon...) but mostly we are in shock that we actually bought a car!
Joaquim found the listing on Craigslist and it seemed like a good one. 1995 camry with 122K miles on it. Old, but for a well taken care of camry, it still has a ways to go! Leather seats and a sun roof make for a pretty nice ride too.
So, we bought it, drove it home, and...then smelled burning under the hood. Oil is leaking onto the engine. Crash went all our hopes, and off goes the "new" car to the mechanic tomorrow morning. It also probably needs a transmission flush and I'm sure they'll come up with a laundry list of other maintenance, but I reaaaaally hope that's all that must be addressed immediately.
It was certainly an eventful day and maybe a bit of an emotional rollercoaster! The rest of the weekend was great. Slept in and shopping before a family birthday party on Saturday, a very relaxing Sunday and then dinner at my parents house with their neighborhood couple's group, and yesterday we helped some good friends move into a new apartment and, obviously, bought a car!
We slept a bit restlessly last night after such a big decision, but I do feel we paid a good price and we are leaving the repairs and everything up to God. ::GULP::
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)