desert or flood...cont

So off we drove back up to Lodi for another birth. We walked in and realized it would not be long as she was already feeling pushy. Hurriedly we gathered everything that we would need for the delivery and I put on my gloves. I tried to understand some of the dutch, and actually got enough words to understand something that they said. It wasn't too long and we had a baby, a big little baby girl. This family had two invalid children and so it was in the forefront of their minds whether this little one was normal or not. Time only will tell yet being how big she was it's likely that she will be normal. We watched a beautiful sunrise there and then headed back home. I'm not sure how long it took before I fell asleep but it wasn't long. 

I practically slept-walked to my room at about 10am and crashed into my bed. I sadly forgot to turn my phone on silent and was woken up a few times, yet didn't answer the phone until about 1am when Amy called wondering when I was coming over. 

This was my day to go over to their place and cook for them. The kids were all anxiously waiting for me to come bounding in the door. My voice gave away the fact that she had woken me up. Realizing that I should probably get up if I was going to make it over to her place I slid out of my bed onto my knees, a bit sad that I had only had about 3 hours of sleep. 

I had a nice breakfast at 2pm, pancakes, hash-browns, scrambled tofu, and some fruit. I had to clean out my fridge. I made it to Amy's at about 4:30pm. 

What to do??? Back and forth and back and forth we went. Should we go or shouldn't we. Only 3 feet away and facing each other?? That would be a bit strange. I still wanted to go but Amy wasn't so sure ;) It was my last chance to go to a Sunday-night Amish Youth Sing, and I had really wanted to go to one. But I didn't want to look totally out of place, so we were going back and forth about it (while starting to cook) when Amy's phone rang. 

I knew exactly what that meant when I heard the tone of her voice, off to another birth! We left our food on the table, soycurls soaking, cashews in the blender and ran out the door. How much fun, 2 births together in 24 hours! As we neared the house the husband called again saying she was feeling really pushy, I knew what he was saying by the fact that we started going a whole lot faster up and down and around the hilly curvy roads. We had been praying that it would be quick, yet that we wouldn't miss it, and it looked like the Lord was answering our prayers. 

As we pulled into the lane Amy looked at me and asked how I'd get out. I had already started rolling down the window and just smiled at her as I prepared to jump out. 

We ran in the door and had 6 minutes before Ruby was born. Were they ever happy we got there when we did! After our routine of baby exams and rocking we drove "home" to finish making dinner. 

Micah took the soycurls out and tried one, un-seasoned! He was a bit skeptical that what I was going to do to it would give it great flavor but was he ever surprised :) The kids gave me quite the "welcome" home!! I should have known they were up to something, I thought the house looked a bit dark but never dreamed they were planning something. 

We all rushed around getting dinner ready, boy was that ever fun! Then we sat down to our meal at a horrible hour, 10pm!! Can you believe it? They seemed to enjoy it and the girls made a wonderful dessert for us. I even took it with me the next day for my journey back up north. 

After cleaning up we all squeezed together on the couch and watched planet earth, well we all fell asleep at different times, but we all saw parts of it. When it was over we brought the mattresses up and fell fast asleep. What a great way to spend my last whole day in Ohio. 

It was an early morning. 5:30am, and I figured I'd better get up with all that I had to do. I was off to go clean my apartment, finish packing up, make a few stops, have a buggy ride, go to Lehmans  and then head north to Grand Rapids, MI, just to fly out the next morning for Louisville, KY. 

It was a very foggy trip home, hard to believe that a month had gone by so fast. There were many places that I couldn't see and if I had not known my way so well I would have doubted where I was going. There were times when it was clear yet many places where I could see nothing ahead of me at all. I only knew where I was and which way to go because I had traveled that road so many times. In that fog the Lord spoke to me. It seemed to be a perfect representation of where I saw my life. Not being able to see ahead as to where I should go and how I should even go about moving ahead, yet knowing the God I serve and seeing how He had led me in the past gave me faith to go forward even though the path was not clear. 

As I neared home Amy called to let me know that she was on her way over to help me clean. What a sweet friend! We cleaned and cleaned and then finished packing up my things. What a sad time, oh how fast, too fast, that month flew by. I took some final papers up to have Freida sign before running to the bank to get everything notarized. Before I ran out of my door for the last time I remember that I had something special waiting for me... my last piece of raspberry pie from Freida. Oh how very very yummy that pie was, I savored every single bite. We arrived at the bank and within two minutes we were done. Outside the bank we parted our ways with a prayer and off I drove to Amy's. 

I actually arrived before Amy did and had enough time to finish breakfast before we drove over to Regina's house for my Amish buggy ride. 

Regina, her sister, and her mom had quite a bit of fun with the idea and implementation of my dressing up as an "Amish-girl." I came downstairs and they were all smiles. Off to get the horse out of the barn and get him hitched to the buggy. I never imagined how long it would take to get everything ready to go somewhere in the buggy. It had to be at least 30 minutes after we started that we were getting into the buggy. Regina, Amy, and I all pilled into the buggy and off we went. After a little bit Regina handed me the reigns and I was able to drive most of the way until home. Seeing buggies on the road takes a whole new perspective once you've actually driven one. I was watching all the time for those crazy cars that would come speeding by. Us three girls had a wonderful ride and then I went through transformation and became "English" once again. We drove home, grateful to be able to just jump in the car and be home in only a few short minutes. We took a few more pictures... I injured myself once again, started my adventures with an injury and left my adventures with one... and then headed out the door to go to Lehman's. 

What a neat store!! Us girls had a blast going around seeing all the old stuff that they have. Later I'll post some pictures that will tell of our time there better than words can explain. 

And here ends my most amazing and wonderful blog of my unforgettable adventures of my time in Ohio...

Cute little sayings...

Children say the cutest things sometimes...

We were driving down the road the other day when Nalani declared:

"Mommy, we need to move and buy a green home"

"Why" We all asked, a bit confused as to where this comment was coming from

"Well mommy, you keep saying that you want a greenhouse, so shouldn't we move and buy a green home?"

Laughter filled the car, how adorable.


Last night we were eating supper and my mom commented on how it was a nice supper because it was a light meal.

Asher responded "Yes, the food is not dark, it's light food"

Three ladies and a mouse...

The result...

Three screams all in unison!!

The first sighting was yesterday at breakfast. I was happily eating my scrambled tofu when out of the corner of my eye I saw something scurry across the floor. I guess the look in my eye gave away that I had seen something. After the confirmation that there was a mouse that had been seen we were all a bit on guard.

to be continued....

"There's One!!"

"I think I saw one this way."

“I don’t see any tracks ” I stated, still intently staring at the road.

“I know this is the road that I saw one come down” My mom responded

We were on our way to the health food store and mom decided to see if we could find the Amish down this one road. I found the address for the bishop and before we knew it we came upon the road where they lived. So down the road we went in search of the Amish.

“Look, that’s a Swartzentruber home!!” I stated oh so excitedly

“Really” My mom said, a bit surprised that I was so sure just by seeing a house by the road.

“I’m 99% sure, it just has to be, it looks exactly like all the ones I saw in Ohio”
So down the road we turned to see if I was right.

“Oh look, a wide brimmed hat, oh and there’s the clothes-line, oh, see the little girl?” I was positive and oh so very excited, we found the Swartzentrubers!!

“There’s another Swartzentruber house mom, and another one, oh and I’m sure that’s another one too. We found the community!”

We drove by slowly, looking closely, my mom taking it all in as I described all the unique characteristics of the Swartzentrubers.

After going a bit further we found the bishops home, it even had a dotti-house connected to it.

Tomorrow I shall gather some things and go visit the bishop and his family.

Something Bloggable...desert or flood, which one??

Eight days. Seriously eight days!! It had really been that long since we had had a delivery. After having one every few days we were beginning to wonder what was going on.

Sabbath morning I got up and was getting ready to leave for church when this little voice said

"put your veil in your bag"

I won't need it, I thought, but the little voice said the same thing again and this time I decided I had better heed the voice, so in my bag went my veil and a change of clothes.

After getting lost a few times I finally arrived at church. It was a nice service and after a bit I was driving home when I got a call from Freida that two ladies were in labor. Yea!!! Only they were in two opposite directions and it wasn't time to go to either yet. So what to do?? As I got to the place where it determined which place I would go I gave Freida a call.

"Fannie just called, it sounds like it's time, you better head over that way. Are you in a place where I can give you directions?"

"Sure, you can give them to me now" I responded with a bit of excitement in my voice

"Are you stopped?" Freida asked

"Um... no, I'm driving, but I can write them down. I just put the paper on the steering wheel and write on the paper while I'm driving." I said, trying to be convincing that it was a safe measure to take.

So, up and down the hilly, curvy roads I went trying not to swerve too badly as I scribbled down the directions to Fannie's house.

Oh no!!! I was in my church clothes and my hair was down, completely down! There was no way that I could possibly go into the house like this. I had been to two prenatals with the veil on and to go in for the birth like this would not be good. I pulled into her icy lane, noting that Freida wasn't there yet, I quickly grabbed my veil (oh so grateful at this point that I listened to that still small voice) and started putting my hair up.

First pin in, second pin...bzzzz bzzzz bzzzz....

It was Freida... "Hi..."

"Can you guess what's happening?"

"Oh no... is it time to go to Ada's?"

"Yes, I'm going to send you up there, you should head up right now, who knows how quickly she will go"

"I am sitting in Fannie's driveway, do you want me to just back out and leave?" I asked, thinking that it might be a bit questionable especially being that they would know that I was sitting there in their driveway. It's not common for Amish families to have cars in their driveway and being that they had called for us to come, for me to sit in the lane for a few minutes and then just back-up and leave might seem a bit odd.

"Yes, I do, it'll be fine. It is Fannie's first homebirth and she's more likely to want me to be at her birth, Ada won't mind having you there." Freida said, she must have heard the hesitation in my voice.

"Ok, I'll head up, should I get directions now or in a few minutes?" My voice sounding a bit more excited at this point. I was going to go to a delivery, with me being in charge of it. This would be amazing!

"In a few minutes, I'll see if Amy wants to go up to assist you."

"Oh, that would be great!!" Now I was really really excited. First, I was going to be able to go and do a birth, and second, Amy was going to be assisting me! It was an amazing feeling for me to know that Freida felt safe sending me to go do a delivery, and for me to be the main one.

Back-tracking up the hill, around the corner, down the long winding hill I went into Millersburg just waiting for Freida's call. She called and told me to go wait at our normal meeting place.

"Hop in, we've got to be quick" I joyfully said to Amy as she pulled in.

She gathered her things and jumped in the van. Down the road we went, praying for the Lord to part the cars so we could get there as soon as possible. Swartzentruber's are known for going really quick and I was not wanting to miss the birth. As we were driving I was praying that the Lord would hold her labor off until we got there. Ten minutes into our journey I realized that I still only had 2 pins in my hair and that I was still in my church-clothes.

"Hey, next light, let's switch seats"

"What?" Amy was a bit perplexed

"Yes, I have to change and put my hair up, there's no way I'm going in like this and I need to jump out of the car when we get there soo...."

"Ok, sure, you hoping out or just jumping over each other?"

"We can just jump over, it'll work"

We came up to the light and not knowing how long until the light would change I jumped into the back and she jumped over into the front seat just as the light turned and off she drove. Only to realize 5 minutes later that she had turned the wrong way. After turning back around we both were praying that we wouldn't miss the birth by 5 minutes. We drove into their lane and I jumped out of the car as she started slowing down.

I ran up the stairs, struggled to open the gate, then ran to the door. I couldn't get it open. What a horrible feeling, to not be sure whether she was giving birth or already and had the baby and I can't even get in the door, what a terrible reason to miss a birth eh? After what seemed like forever I got the door open and calmly went into the house. I didn't hear any cries and the husband and grandma were sitting at the table so I figured I was alright.

She was up walking around the house, breathing well through the contractions. After figuring out that the birth was not eminent Amy and I got everything all set up. She was at 7cm, -2, 50%, so we had some time. I walked around the house, sterilized the scissors, got our books, papers, and anything else we might need. We made ourselves comfortable on the cot in the room. From the looks of the cot, it appeared as if we had moved in.


Amy and I got out a book and decided to read. Amy kept blocking my light and so I decided to do something else... draw. Most Swartzentruber homes have a chalk board on one of the walls, and here it just happened to be right by the cot. After asking permission I started with a tree, then some grass, then a lake. Her husband came by and mentioned that there were no fish in the lake, so I added fish, then seaweed, then some dolphins, after his suggestion I added some jelly-fish. Her mom came by and said that the grass needed some fertilizer. Well I had not finished drawing the grass by the time I needed to get FHT's so after that was done I added more grass. By the end of the night it was quite the topic of discussion what I should add. Here's the result:

After a few more hours of waiting, walking, drawing, massaging, pull-ups on the drying rack (I got permission before doing it), and eating peaches which were oh so very yummy!! she was finally getting pushy! It was four hours later that her beautiful baby was born at 10:12pm. It was a good delivery, she almost kicked me off the bed and the cord was around the neck once, a bit tight but not too much. We got her all settled and then Amy and I went to the table to do some charting and get things ready for the newborn exam. Of course I had my time to sit and rock the little one in front of the wood stove before giving him back to his mommy.



Amy and I had quite the time charting and making notes about our wonderful evening together. We stayed until about 2:30am, two silly girls laughing and having fun in the kitchen while writing down and remembering all the fun and crazy things we had done. I could not stop laughing about our "sterile field" experience, everytime I thought about it I'd start to laugh. I had the gloves on and off and on and off because I didn't want to be in the situation where I'd miss catching the baby because I couldn't get my gloves on. Amy and I had a fun conversation going with her brother, and I was getting online on the cot in their home, Amy found that to be quite funny.

So after some time we decided it would probably be best for us to head towards home. I drove back, I was about to say that it was an uneventful trip but knowing Amy and I, it was anything but uneventful! We couldn’t find our directions and were not about to call anyone at this hour so we decided that we could figure it out on our own.

“Turn here” (Amy)

“I don’t think that’s the right road name” (Laura)

“But I think that’s where we turned on” (Amy)

So I turned onto the road… 2 minutes down the road…

“I really don’t remember that road name” (Laura)

“Fine lets turn around” (Amy)

So I turned around and went back to where we were…

(It ended up being the right road, but it was a different name than what it was when we turned onto it, so we were both right)

“Oh wait, were we supposed to go on the highway, or under it?” (Laura)

“Oh, that sounds like the right number, but it’s going North, we want East” (Amy)

“What do I do???”

“Go on the on-ramp.” “Wait” “No, I don’t think this is right”

All the while I’m stopping and starting and stopping and starting all along the on-ramp.

“Ok let’s try it” Amy said

Two minutes later…

“Turn around, this isn’t the right way”

“Ok, I’ll turn around at the next exit”

“We can’t wait for the next exit, go on the next turn-around”

“I can’t!”

“We just passed one, the next exit isn’t for awhile, back up and go on it”

“WHAT?!?!” “I’m not going to back up on a highway.”

“You have to, and it’s almost 3am, nobody is here, I’ll watch and make sure nobody is coming”

“I cannot believe I am doing this Amy!!” I said as I carefully backed up”

“There, ok now lets get off on the next exit”

After backing up and turning around about 5 times we finally got to the road we wanted and were on our way home.

I dropped Amy off at our meeting place and went the rest of my way home.

I had just gotten all snuggled into bed when… rrrriiiinnnggggg….

“Oh, no, I can’t believe it, I’ll just lay here and wait for Freida to come get me…”

5 minutes later….

Knock, knock, knock… “Laura, I know you just got home and into bed but it’s time to go to another delivery.”

“Alright, I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

“It’s back up in Lodi, only about 5 miles from where you just were.”

“Alright”

I jumped out of bed, threw my clothes over my pj’s, got my veil on, grabbed some food and headed up the stairs and jumped into the car.

A very sad day!!

After one month of being here I am leaving. I just got in from a buggy ride, it was quite a lot of fun! My computer isn't working which is why I haven't blogged in such a long time. Once I get back to normal internet I will be able to blog for the past few days. We had 4 births in about 24 hours the other day. What a way to end my time here. Before signing off I'll upload a few pictures from the past few days...

Of Copies and Dresses

Another "day-off" is what Friday was supposed to me. Well I guess not really a day off, it was more of a "business" day full of paperwork, making copies, tying loose ends and getting last minute things done.

Rather than spending the day alone I decided to ask my dear friend to join me on all of my errands. As I was waiting for Amy to come in from the barn and call me to let me know when she was coming I decided to cook some food that needed to be eaten before I left. Pancakes, hash browns, scrambled tofu... hmm... what else??? Oh, and some fruit. I had a great breakfast! Amy came over and off we went...

"So... should we go to the bridal store or the copy shop first???"

"What do you think" Amy asked, very open to whatever I wanted

"Let's get our work done then we can go have fun."

So off to staples we went to make our copies. Ya know what's crazy. You would expect that Staples would have a stapler by their copy machines yet nope, no stapler was to be found anywhere. They had paperclips, three-hole punches, pins, pens, pencils, staple removers... but no staplers!!

I'm glad we were in such a small town, due to the sad state of Amy's car doors we left both doors cracked open as we went into the store, gratefully nobody "broke" in and took anything.

Now to find a bridesmaid dress... well, at least a bridal store. From one place to another earnestly looking for something, yet finding nothing. Driving all over town we went in search of a dress, we finally found this store that had something that I could try.

"Size 10?...is that the only size you have?"

"Yes it is, would you like to try it on?"

"I guess I can try" I replied with a bit of hesitancy

Into the dressing room I went, it was HUGE, how trying this one on was going to give me an idea of what it would really look like if I got one that fit, I had no idea. I'm regularly a size 2 so trying on a size 10 was a bit big. After trying that on and not getting very far I walked over to take a look at the bridal dresses.

"Hey Amy! I'm going to try one on!" I happily exclaimed

"You're going to do what?" She said a bit in unbelief

"Yes, nobody is here and it would be fun"

I found one that fit and eagerly went into the dressing room to try it one. It fit!! I walked out to the little platform, surrounded by mirrors. Amy fixed my train and handed me a veil to put on. How girls ever do it having the veil over their eyes the whole ceremony I don't know. The lady at the front desk came back to see what it looked like. She was quite amused by the two of us girls.

Home we went to put some pictures on the computer and spend some time with the kids before I went home for the night.

A very sad thing happened the night before!! I was online writing my blog update when the computer started acting weird, and kept acting weird, and then went slower and slower and slower until it froze altogether. Then I tried to load it back up and nothing happened!! Fear came over me that I killed it, but how could I kill a Mac? weren't they supposed to be the most "perfect" computers?? Anyways, no matter how much I tried it wouldn't start. So to bed I went. After making a few frantic calls the next morning I was told not to try and use it until I arrived home. 5 days without a computer!! Would I survive, I wasn't sure. After being used to being on most evenings and updating my blog quite regularly I was a bit unsure about not being able to get online at all.

Friday Amy got her new phone, I won't mention how she ruined the last one, and it had a one-month free internet trial. It was the new luxury for us kids. So at least when Amy and I were together I could at least check my email.

Amy drove me home and we were warmly welcomed home by Freida with warm, right out of the oven, raspberry pie. Mmm...my favorite, Freida makes the best homemade vegan pies, raspberry is my favorite kind, and the raspberries were from her garden. I bade Amy farewell and went to bring in Sabbath with my parents, obviously on the phone. I had some wonderful quiet time to read and spend some quality time with our Creator and then fell sound asleep by 7:45pm. Amazing eh? What a thought for me to get to bed so early. One week now without a delivery, who knows what happened, and if I'll have another one before I leave...

My "gimpy" day

Crack, pop, pull, snap....

"Did that hurt?" Emily asked with a concerned tone of voice

"Not really, it just felt really weird." I answered unsure about the results of what was just done to me.

Today was a full, and I mean full, day of prenatals. We had 15 scheduled visits and 2 other "stops" that we had to make at people's homes. It was my last prenatal day and a full one it would be. This was not the day to be bothered by an injury, let alone a month-old one. I went to bed feeling fairly well but I awoke with a sharp pain in my ankle. Being who I am I decided not to let it stop me from doing anything and got myself ready and out the door excited about our day. After the first few houses Freida noticed that I was limping around and not putting any weight on my foot when I was standing. I went from being the care provider to the paitient. I really prefer to be the one helping those that are hurt than being the one that is hurt. Out came Dr. Christopher's Bone & Cartilage ointment and at the next Swartzentruber home Freida fixed me up, oh how the burning tingling feeling felt so good. Not wanting to miss anything I would pull a chair along with me all over the house and sit so that I could still see what was happening, standing up when it was time for me to do the measuring and listening. I really didn't want to sit in the corner and watch all day, especially not on my last day! We had some wonderful visits, it was weird saying goodbye to everyone not knowing if or when I would see them again. I have grown so much to love this area and the people.

I forgot this story… on my gimpy day, it was quite snowy outside. We went to go in this really long lane, not sure if we could make it we got a running start and plowed through to get to the house. This was a client that had just sent a letter to Freida letter her know that she was overdue and was wanting Freida to deliver her baby. We had a nice visit and gathered our things to go. We jumped in the car not even thinking that we might now make it out. We got almost to the end and we were stuck! After rocking it back and forth with no headway Emily got out and decided she was try and push. I offered to get out too but Freida would not hear of it. We tried rocking ourselves as we rocked the car, that was quite the site seeing Freida and I rocking frontwards and backwards with the car, but amazingly it seemed to work. Anyways, 4 of the Amish men/boys came out and helped us and after another 10 minutes of pushing, shoveling, and more rocking we finally sped out... just about into an oncoming truck!! Our hearts were racing after our close encounter with death, and then off we headed to our next visits...

As we were driving home Freida decided that she thought I should have my ankle looked at, especially since it had not hurt for about a month and now I was having such sharp constant pain. In effort to try and figure out what might be the cause we thought over what I had done the previous day, my adventurous day with Amy. The only thing that could possibly have hurt me would have been when I jumped out of Amy's window onto the ice, but I wasn't convinced that that was the culprit, so off to the chiropractor we went to see what he could figure out. He told me some medical thing that I had done and then he gave me an adjustment and said that it should be all better soon. It was kinda like whenever the children I took care of would get an "owie" and I would kiss it and it would be "all better." But anyways, I left not sure whether it would do much good.

We still had another prenatal and visit to go do before going home, today would be a 12 hour work day!

As we were on our way to the last home, the one where the mother had a misscarriage, I had the greatest idea...

"Freida?"

"Yes, Laura?"

"Ya know what sounds really really good?"

"Hm, what?"

"Your favorite food... popcorn and smoothies!"

"Oh, that sounds really good, let's do it"

Cheers heard from all in the car, what a happy thought!

When we were at the last home we told them that we were going home to make popcorn and smoothies and the little 2 year old girl told her mommy that she was going to come home with us because she wanted to come eat popcorn. She said it in all seriousness, I couldn't understand her being that she was speaking Pennsylvania Dutch but I knew it had to be something funny because of everyone's response.

I was still a bit gimpy but feeling a whole lot better, oh what a full day. I still can't believe it was my last prenatal day. It's been almost a week since we had a delivery... and were waiting waiting waiting... who knows when the next one will come.

Amazing Adventures with Amy ~Part 3

Driving around trying to find wireless in the middle of "Amish-country" can seem quite hopeless of a pursuit. After writing and writing and more writing for several hours, I had the brilliant idea of photo-copying the charts rather than hand-writing every single one out. So, in search of Staples I went. On my journey home I called an unexpected call from my dear friend down here wondering what my "plans" were for the afternoon. I knew exactly what this meant... more "amazing adventures with Amy & Laura"... I quickly drove home and ate while I awaited the call to meet Amy at our designated spot.

Waiting seems to be something I do quite a bit down here at times... so I went up to Freida's and put on a CD while I finished eating. The strangest thought crossed my mind, who knows where it came from but I decided to heed it and downstairs I ran to get what I ha not touched since coming here. I brought my flute upstairs, put it together and turned the CD back to what seemed like an "easy" song. Playing by ear is something that is like speaking Pennsylvania Dutch to me. Yet all alone in the house felt like a safe place to play around and see what I could do. Amazingly enough I got some of the notes and it was kinda fun. By the time I had about finished picking out one song Amy called to let me know she was ready for me.

Going as fast as I could and still going backwards was not getting me anywhere that I wanted to go. Our lane is sheer ice and my wheels were not doing a good job skating up the hill.

Our crazy adventures started replaying in my mind as we started on our journey to some of the same home that we had gone to before. Most of the lanes were sheer ice and as we started sliding backwards in the same lane where we had gotten stuck in the snow bank the previous time I quickly tried "helping" Amy guide us back out to the road. There was a truck full of sand right behind us watching us struggle to get any traction before sliding right into the bank on the other side of the road yet all he did was back up and make room so that we wouldn't hit him. We were both longing for some of his sand, it would have been an instant remedy, yet it was so close yet unattainable. We got about the same distance up the lane as we did the previous week and got our exercise, fresh air, and sunshine in as we trekked the slippery journey to the cabin in the woods.

Oh, how could I forget this part... Amy would have been soo disappointed if I failed to mention how I got out of the car... Amy's car is a good reflection on what the human state is... looking heavenward so we can be made new. Her can handle broke, yet again, and now you can't use it to get either in nor out. Not knowing how else I was going to get out I decided to climb out the window. Amy couldn't believe what I was doing yet being no-body was around I saw no harm in it. From then on we just left both our doors open a bit so we could get back in.



We went to a few more prentals, well maybe just one other one... almost got stuck in their lane. The children and husband were intently watching us as I prayed and floored it to try and get out of their lane. After much wheel spinning and sliding we successfully made it up and out, almost into some hay barrels, onto the main road.

Being I hadn't been successful at getting a little rocker for my adorable little sister, Amy and I decided to try the previous place again. This time we knew where we were going and wouldn't have to make several wrong stops on our way. The big question was... will they have one?
We drove up to the house, knocked on the door and waited, and waited... were they even home. We soon heard some footsteps and the doorhandle started to turn. He recognized us immediatly. Into the shop we went... it was empty! He said that he had sold all the rest of his little ones at the shop but that he had one rocker left, would it be the right size and color? As he lifted up the cover I was praying that it would be what I was looking for. A huge smile spread across my face, it was it!! Exactly what I wanted and the perfect size. I was about to jump up and down, and then I realized where I was. "Praise the Lord, this is exactly what I want" I joyfully exclaimed.


Now off to go get an Amish man to take him to the hospital to see his wife that had just had a baby that morning. Amy and I had the most wonderful car ride sharing what we had been studying in our devotions and what the Lord had been teaching us the past week. We arrived at Adam's mother's home and he, Barbara's mother, and their little girl piled in. Next stop... his mothers place, she was going to come along as well. How fun for me to be an "Amish driver" We had a nice time driving and all walked into the hospital up to the very same room where Cevilla had been the week before. As they put the little one on the bed her legs caught my eye, I could not believe what I saw, my heart immediately went out to the little one and I inquired about it's origination and prayed that I would know of some way to help her. Fear ceased her as we had walked into the room, unsure what was going on I just took a mental note of it. Yet now it was starting to make sense as the story unraveled. In August of last year the little one, now two, was standing by the fire when the baby inside the house started to cry. The babysitter ran in the house to tend to the little one, telling the little girl not to go too close to the fire as she was running to the house. The little girl sadly didn't heed the warning and when the babysitter retunred a few moments later the girl was inwrapped in flames. Over 30% of her body was burned. They wanted to heal it naturally yet when they went to the doctor they ended up doing skkin-grafts without the parents wanting it. The grafts didn't heal well and she has terrible keyloid scars all over her body, is in constant pain and misery while trying to heal. I spent the next while thinking and talking on the phone about what we could do. They had fled their country in order to be able to care for their daughter in the way they saw best. And now they were here, this morning intending to go back home yet a sudden crisis arose which put the lives of both Barbara and the baby in her womb at risk. Now here I was, grateful to be able to offer some support and advice on what to do...

Sewing and cooking Adventures with the Reynolds Family

Running out the door I had my hand on my phone apprehensively waiting for it to vibrate. Would I actually get out the door without being called to go to a delivery? I was loaded and ready to go spend the day with the Reynolds. The sky was clear and blue with the suns rays shinning down warmly on my face. How glorious to see the sun and not be covered with 4 layers. Only a spring coat was needed today.

I've gotten quite used to living in Amish country. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the buggies were littering the roads all on their way home from church. Up and over the hills, around the sharp corners, constantly watching for any unexpected buggies that might be just over the crest of the many sharp curves, I drove happily on my way to Amy's.

Amy was washing the floor when I walked in, sitting on the rocking chair we talked about what "amazing" plans we had for the day. Running upstairs we jumped on the computer to check some things and figure out what we would do first. Somehow we ended up looking at a cookbook featuring desserts. I love baking! We decided on peach crisp. The only question was if they would have some of the needed ingredients. Running around the kitchen we found some things that would work. Jo and I quickly put everything together and placed it in the oven.

Draining the maple syrup of every last drop.

Our finished product :)
"Smile...oh no it's starting to pour out... smile quick!!!"

It was a wonderful supper...Amy and I got every last morsel out of the pan ;)

After two weeks of talking about it we were finally going to make baby slings. Here goes...

Amy showing me what I was supposed to be doing.

Family shot... always a busy place at the Reynold household.

Snip snip snip we cut all along the edges making sure it was just the right size.

Tucking the sides so that it would hold the baby's head in nice and snug

Look! One done, and the baby fits nicely inside. All pink and girly!!

Sewing the second one... trying to make sure it was straight...

Forwards, backwards, going very very carefully over the thick parts... it all has to be perfect

Sewing on the rings... Amy got the craziest video of me while doing this...
I had no idea she was recording.

Two happy girls and our slings... now we just need babies to fill them ;)
(Notice how our clothes match the colors of our slings?)

Look what I made!! An adorable, and pink, case for my fetoscope and tape.

Time to take a break from our hard work and go have some fun outside.

Jo and myself looking up at the glorious sky. The stars were so clear! Snowboarding on ice in the dark makes things interesting. Sometimes the snowboard makes a better sled...

Amy and me... quite the story to get to this picture...

..."take 24"..."hold that smile"... "don't fall off the bench!!"..."did my hair look ok in that one?"...

And who's idea was this anyways????