Less Than 5 Weeks

Although it seems unbelievable to us, we have less than 5 weeks left at Forest Echo.  Earlier this year, we realized that with an infant it would probably be a good choice to find a housing situation which had electricity, an indoor toilet and other associated amenities.  When we told our boss that we wouldn’t be coming back for another season, I got choked up and tearful.  Saying something out loud makes it so much more real.  Even though Jason & I had spent a lot of time thinking and discussing the decision, it was incredibly sad to have it made REAL.

Now, with our move-out date of May 31^st looming larger and larger ahead of us, it is really sinking in – we are going to have to leave this amazing place.  And that sucks.  My Mom is always quick to remind me that I can’t be in two places at once.  We can’t live here and have the amenities that we are ready to have again.  But, man will we miss our life here.  My heart aches to think of being permanently away from the beauty and peacefulness of our home here.  To say that we have loved it is an understatement.  We will forever be grateful for the opportunity we were given to work and live in this incredible place.

With our end date here rapidly approaching the question of “what’s next?” comes up more and more frequently.  As seems to usually be the case with us – we don’t know yet.  In looking back over the past few years, we realize that we generally don’t know where we are moving to next until we are 3 – 5 weeks away from our new start date.  So, we remind ourselves of our pattern and work to be content with knowing that God has a plan for us.  He has always provided for us beyond what we had hoped in every single place we have lived.  That’s worth the wait.

Meanwhile, Jason has been busy applying for jobs (our hope is that I’ll be able to stay home with Luke wherever we are).  He’s applied at international schools in Central & South America, as well as in a few random island territories.  He’s also applied for some more traditional jobs in California, Oregon & Washington and caretaking positions in Montana & Mississippi.  We’re excited to see where we will end up!

If we don’t have a June start date somewhere, we think we may try something daring … taking Luke camping.  Acadia National Park in Maine is one Jason has been hoping to get to (I got to visit this gorgeous place many years ago) and we’ve also noticed how close the Canadian Maritime Provinces are.  We don’t know if this will be an option for us and we realize that camping with an infant may just be a complete disaster, but we figure we can at least try.  Then perhaps a road trip west to see our families.  If we still don’t have a next destination/job lined up at that point, maybe it will be time to start worrying J

Will winter never end???

This was our high on Tuesday -- seriously.  That is only 5 degrees above freezing and it's the middle of the afternoon at the end of April!  As much as I have loved the snowy Vermont winter, this California girl is not digging the extended cold temperatures :(

What's in a name?

A few people have asked how we came up with our son's name ... it took us a l-o-n-g time to finally decide on one.  Ironically, when we got home from the hospital, we couldn't even remember what the name Luke meant.  Jason quickly looked it up and found that it means "bringer of light."  We love this and can only hope that he will bring light to those around him.

We also re-visited what the Message translation of the Bible had to say in the introduction to Luke:

"Luke is a most vigorous champion of the outsider. An outsider himself, the only Gentile in an all-Jewish cast of New Testament writers, he shows how Jesus includes those who typically were treated as outsiders by the religious establishment of the day; women, common labourers (sheepherders), the racially different (Samaritans), the poor [and the unclean, lepers and other social outcasts]. He will not countenance religion as a club. As Luke tells the story, all of us who have found ourselves on the outside looking in on life with no hope of gaining entrance (and who of us hasn’t felt it?) now find the doors wide open, found and welcomed by God in Jesus."

This is so beautiful to me and I love the heritage of the name.

Thomas was an easier pick -- this is my Dad's name and I wanted to honor him with choosing it as part of our son's name.

 

The bun is out of the oven!

At just over 41 weeks, I finally delivered our son on Tuesday, April 2nd at 10:10 pm.  He rang in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches long.  And ... we finally picked a name on April 4th.  Luke Thomas.

My labor started at the Ludlow laundromat (see link for notes on this infamous facility) ... we'd been to the doctor and driven the half hour back to Ludlow to do laundry when I realized we probably needed to plan on returning to the hospital.  Based on the intensity of my condition on the car ride back, my mom and Jason wondered if the baby was going to be born in the jeep.

On my feet post-delivery, with the assistance of my IV pole.

Taking Luke home!

April Fool's Snow

So...I'm 41 weeks pregnant now and still waiting.  Mostly happily :)  We're trying to enjoy this extra time we have together and today woke up to a couple inches of new snow covering everything outside.  What a fun surprise!