Wright Patterson Air Force Base

The kids have been off school now for what seems like months. In fact, Nadine believes that she just doesn't go to school anymore at all. What a shock she'll have come Tuesday! Yes, Tuesday they return to school, only four more days of break. So today, Rob was off and we decide to take the kids down to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to see the National Air Force Museum. It's free and interesting - all in one! And since Rowan loves planes we figured at least he'd have a ball.

It was a great day! Besides me being sick! I have a really nasty head cold/sinus thing going on. You can see it in the few pictures of me. My eyes look like I've been crying for days and I feel like someone is sitting on my nose. The kids loved it! I haven't been since my senior year in high school and Rob hasn't been since he was really little.

Rowan, of course, was very excited. After we rode the Simulator, he wanted in every plane. And he wasn't really taking no for an answer he wanted in them all. However, he kept talking about how he was going to crash his plane. In fact, we saw a crashed plane and he said he could fix it!

Nadine and Jourdyn had fun too! Nadine wanted her picture taken in front of every plane, especially the ones with colorful art and the ones that were little. And Jourdyn had fun taking her own pictures of everything. Some of these pics are hers. There was a mobile holocaust exhibit. I had to ask myself several times exactly what they are teaching in history class in school these days. Because many things Jourdyn had no clue about like Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Tomorrow, I am going to the Red Cross to take a Infant/Child CPR class. Rob and I were talking today and decided that it would be the best thing to do because one day Rowan might stop breathing and blowing in his face and rattling him might not be adequate. I was happy that when I called today the next class was tomorrow. So that's what I'll be doing all day tomorrow! Wish me luck and pray I never have to use it!

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Another Episode

Since our hospital visit with Rowan, I have called and made an appointment to talk to our primary care about sleep apnea. It's for the 13th. When we were in the hospital the alarms went off three times, however, they were short instances by the time the nurse came in he was breathing again. This is what we have suspect happens on most nights. However, there are those occassional nights that his breathing stops for a much longer period of time. And last night was one of those.

At some point after 2 am, he came into our bedroom screaming and very upset. So he came into bed with us and went to sleep with us. Sometime after that, I rolled over and he just felt weird. I can't explain it. This time he wasn't ice cold, he just felt weird. So I reached up to his face to feel if he was expelling air through his nose and nothing...his face felt kinda rubbery. Again, I don't know how to explain it. Rob was there so I yelled "he's not breathing." I lifted him and he was completely limp, he really felt like putty in my hands. Any other time if he was just sleeping he would fight back, his body would respond to being lifted. But he didn't. It was quite evident that he was not breathing. He wasn't holding his head at all, it just dangled there. Rob turned the light on. He wasn't blue, he wasn't cold, just completely limp and not breathing. I blew in his face and shook him a bit, pleaded with God to let him start breathing, opened his mouth and he started breathing. He opened his eyes. He was startled a bit, but not fully awake...and then he said, "I want to lay back down." He curled up in my arms and snuggled. And was back out within a minute.

It makes for a long night for me. I don't sleep soundly anyways. Ever since having children, I have a built in mechanism that keeps me from ever getting real sleep. It's like super-sensitive sonar, I hear every little noise and feel every little movement or lack of movement. This is why I have been fortunate enough to wake up when Rowan does this. However, it seems to be magnified when this does happen because I am then not sleeping at all and instead watching and worrying about my boy.

Slovenia

I believe I have scanned all the negatives of Slovenia that I can find! I feel like there are definitely some missing and I know that I am missing at this point my whole wedding and all of my Spain pictures. So please pray that I find them!

These pics are mostly of Slovenia. There are a couple from Scotland mixed in. When in Slovenia we did a lot of day trips. One of them was to Bled. It is a quaint little town. Huge tourist attraction. It just so happened that we came on a day that there was some type of to-do going on. There was a festival-type thing going on down in the city with Croatian dancers and performers. But we headed up to the castle. Once there we found food, wine, dignitaries, tv cameras, a reenactment, etc. We weren't sure if we were supposed to be there. And for the most part we were under-dressed. But hey, no one kicked us out and they handed us the food! So we stayed and enjoyed! It was a celebration of a tourism agreement between Slovenia and Croatia. Very neat!

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Happy 2009!

A new year is here! A new day has dawned! Instead of wasting my time with silly promises I may keep for a month or two and then sadly fail at, I've decided this year that there will be no resolutions that I am not resolved to keep. No promises to make it to the gym everyday. No pledges to try that new diet that I just saw on TV. No undertaking to keep my house clean everyday, to not go to bed with dishes in the sink, and so forth. This year I have decided to keep it simple and to try not to disappoint myself with an almost certain failure.

In 2009, I resolve to build and strengthen relationships that my gracious God has so blessed me with. I resolve to fortify the friendships that God has already placed in my life by spending more time with the people I treasure. I am determined to take relationships beyond their current borders, to reach out to those in my sphere of influence and create opportunities to get to know everyone even better.

Happy New Year to all of you! May God so richly bless you and your family in 2009! And may He tarry just a little longer, there is still much work to be done! May He give us all perservance to make it through the tough times that lie ahead clinging to Him as our foundation. May we all keep the faith and stand firm in His glory and Word. As Isaiah said, if we do not stand firm in our faith, we will not stand at all! I pray that God will give us the peace and strength to stand firm in our faith together!