Princess Paige

We had a wonderful Christmas! This was the first Christmas where we could really begin establishing those family traditions with Paige. We have tons of pictures of the many Chirstmases with all the grandparents. But I couldn't wait to share this one with you all!


Grandma and Grandpa Wedehase gave Paige her first princess outfit. It is complete with the Cinderella dress, tiara and wand! She wasn't too sure about it at first, but the smile she got on her face when she first put it on was adorable. You could tell she felt like the princess she is.

I will be sure to post more as we get them edited and resized.

Visiting with Santa

No worries, we still have Paige, too!

Tonight, we took Paige to meet Santa Claus. She was wonderful with him! She was excited, all the way up to Fresno, to tell Santa that she wanted new books for Christmas. Once she sat on his lap, she even started playing one of her little games, called "Don't smile." She purses her lips real tight, making every effort possible not to smile, while we taunt her with "Don't smile!" Eventually, she cracks, and we get a genuine, wonderful smile.

We also took the time to take Paige on her very first carousel ride. She kept crowding the line, she was so excited! She couldn't wait to ride the horsies, just like Mary Poppins! In no time, she was yelling out "I go up and down like Mary Poppins, Daddy!" The hardest part of the evening was pulling her away.

Bring the Rain

So many people have asked how we are doing. As we've said earlier, we live for God's glory. He has a purpose in everything He orchestrates. We find great peace in knowing this.

Just recently, we ran across this song by Mercy Me. The lyrics really speak of what we are going through. Many have heard this song, including us. But at this time in our lives, it really speaks to us.

It is our hope that, as you listen, you can find the Peace that we have.

To God be the glory.

"Bring The Rain"

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Ultrasound Update, Week 30

The short story is: Not much change. Eli is still growing, right on target. The best news is that the left ventricle is still growing, as well. Often, in a case like this, the right ventricle continues to grow and the left begins to fade away. Eli's heart is still growing at the same ratio. That is: the left ventricle is still only half the size it should be. But it's not going backwards.

We're learning more heart anatomy with every visit. We already knew the mitral valve was too small, which is the cause of the underdeveloped left ventricle. We've also learned the other opening that's too small is the patent foramen ovale. This is the opening in the heart that, while the baby is in the womb, allows blood to bypass the lungs, since they aren't in use yet. Once the baby is born, increased blood pressure and the use of the lungs naturally closes this opening permanently. Right now, and immediately following birth, Eli needs that opening to stay open. Because of this, it is expected that he will be transported to CHCC and into surgery immediately following birth, so they can use a balloon catheter to open that channel up. This channel's status will remain our primary concern until they can open it up.

At this point, we're still expecting to need the entire 3-stage Fontan procedure. While the left ventricle is still developing, it still appears it will never be large enough. Because of this, Eli's condition will be treated as if the left ventricle simply wasn't there at all, just like full fledged HLHS.

What to pray for:

1. Continued development of the mitral valve and left ventricle
2. Increased growth in the patent foramen ovale (PFO)
3. That we can be bold with our faith to everyone in this process

Our next ultrasound is January 8, 2009.

The Peace of Prayer

We have our next fetal ultrasound for Eli this coming Thursday the 11th. They will be looking at his heart to see if there are any changes in its development. Please be in prayer with us for the following things:

• the mitral valve continues to develop and open.
• the valves and arteries following the left chamber develop completely.
• that Jason and I can be used for God's glory when talking to any physician, technician, or medical staff.

We will be updating here as soon as we can. Thanks for all the prayers and concerns you all have expressed to us. We have a great peace within us that God is at work. What an amazing God we serve.

To Him be the glory!

Christmas Tree Lane, Anyone?

We're trying to gather up as many friends as possible to walk Christmas Tree Lane next Wednesday, the 10th. Would you join us? If you've never done it, it's a great time, and the old saying is true... The more, the merrier. Dave, you're expected to lead the singing, again!

Wednesday, the 10th is the night they close off the street to cars, and it's all foot traffic. The weather man is calling for rain, so we'll see what happens. If it stays clear, we'd love to see as many friends as possible. Bundle up, grab a hot chocolate, and bring all the kids. They'll love it, too! We promise you'll have fun.

Paige and Eli

Since we have found out we were pregnant, we have been talking to Paige about "New Baby". When we pray at night with her, we thank Jesus for Mommy, Daddy, Paige and New Baby. Now that New Baby has a name, and I'm getting noticeably bigger, Paige is getting more interest into what's going on.

If you ask Paige, "Where's Eli?" Her answer will be, "In Mommy's belly."

It was cute this weekend when she came up to me when I was sitting on the couch. She lifted my shirt and was feeling my belly. I told her she could say Hi to Eli. "Hi Eli. You come out now?" she responds while looking at my belly button. I just laughed. No, he isn't coming out of my belly button. No he isn't coming now! While she was talking to him, he moved around a bit, and Paige actually felt him move. The look on her face was one of surprise. It was priceless!

For those of you who are anxiously checking our blog for updates, we really don't have anything yet. Our next ultrasound at CHCC is next Thursday, the 11th. I also have an OB appointment the following day. I'm sure we'll have updates for you then. Until then, continue to pray! Jason and I have an amazing peace and can feel God working in and through us. Thanks for your love, prayers, and support. They are so appreciated!

Insurance Jumble

For the past year or so, Paige and I have been self-insured because it saved us a lot of money. Jason gets insurance through his employer, but it was very expensive to add Paige and me. With Eli coming soon, we had to reevaluate our insurance situation. We can only imagine that personal insurance premiums for Eli will be through the roof, if he is even insurable at all. We knew that open enrollment for Jason's employer was in the fall sometime, so when we asked, we were relieved to find out it was November. Our plan was to re-enroll Paige and me into his insurance and add Eli when he is born. This would give us the flat premium through his employer, and not the variable HIGH premium privately.

When we initially looked into adding us, his employer said they didn't think they could add me, because I have a previous medical condition (I'm already pregnant). Uh-oh! Now we were up a creek! We would have to pay BOTH premiums for a year until next November! No way could we afford that!

Jason called Blue Cross directly to see if this was the case. Come to find out, Paige and I were never actually dropped from his insurance! What? Yep! We have been double covered this entire time. What ended up happening was Jason submitted the paper work to drop us, but accounting never stopped paying the insurance company to officially drop us. Nothing has been pulled out of Jason's checks, so we have been double covered for free! Lucky mistake for us.

What does this mean? That I don't have to worry about my previous health condition! Woo-Hoo! Jason signed the paper work today to add Paige and me back onto his insurance. We are insured by his employer and will be able to add Eli when he is born.

Not only are we insured, but now I can submit all the paper work on all the deductables that I've already paid out this year. In theory, we should be repaid all that money back!

God is good.

A Broken Heart

There are many things that create a foundation. One of the foundational pieces of our life is our understanding of how God works. God is in control of all. Everything that happens, therefore, is orchestrated by God. God does things for his own glory. Therefore, anything that happens, anything that is, was intended to bring glory to God. Regardless of how terrible, unfair or just plain pointless something may look as you're facing it, its grand scheme value is in the glorification of God.

This is why we continue to live.

About a week after our 20 week ultrasound, I got a call from my doctor. He reported that because the baby was breech, they didn't get a good view of the heart. He referred me to Fresno Community, for a second ultrasound on the baby, using better equipment.

I went to Fresno Community on October 17th, for the second ultrasound. During the procedure, the tech got an echocardiogram which shows the way the blood is flowing through the heart. The tech and OB/GYN there concluded that there was a defect in the heart and thought it might be Truncus Arteriosus or Transposition of the Greater Arteries. They also found the baby has a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), or a hole in the heart. The VSD is a common finding with major heart defects. They referred me up to Children's Hospital Central CA (CHCC) for yet further clarification.

Our appointment at CHCC was November 11th. Jason had the day off, so he was able to go too. Our ultrasound tech is specifically trained in congenital heart defects, making him specially suited for this type of situation. He quickly concluded that our baby didn't have Truncus Arteriosis nor Transposition of the Greater Arteries. He spent over an hour taking measurements, capturing video and echocardiograms, all while taking the time to explain it to us step by step. He told us what he saw, then called in a cardiologist to verify his findings and share with us in more detail.

It turns out our little baby has a variation of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is a very serious heart defect. Without a series of surgeries the baby will die in the first four months of life. More information on HLHS is found here.

Because of these recent findings, we have decided to learn the gender of the baby. We wanted to be able to put a name out there for people to be praying. It's a boy! His name is Eli Ryan.

Right now our little guy is completely safe inside the womb. Since I am doing all the oxygenation for him, he is in no danger. The complications begin as soon as he is born. He will most likely have open heart surgery in the first week of life, then another at about 2 months, and a third before his fourth birthday. Until then, I am being closely monitored by a new OB/GYN in Fresno. We also will have several more ultrasounds and consultations with the Pediatric Cardiologist and Surgeons at CHCC.

We will be sure to blog any updates we are given as soon as possible.

We also understand that we have a huge network of people who surround us in love and support. Please know that if we do need anything, we will be sure to let you know. For now, the thing we are asking for is prayer.

Prayer requests:

• That the mitral valve enlarges
• The inadequacies found in the arteries and valves further down the line open and develop

Praises and thanksgiving:

• That the defect was found before birth.
• That we live so close to a top notch Children's Hospital
• That God would choose us to see His glory fulfilled

To God be the Glory,
The Wedehase family

An old friend, redisovered

I got a Dirt Devil Broom Vac for Christmas last year and used it quite often then. It works great for quick sweeps of dirt, dog hair and dropped food from a toddler's lunch. For whatever reason, I stopped using it.

Thankfully I have rediscovered a new treasure in my house. Lately I have been having to sweep my kitchen daily. We are re-landscaping the backyard, so a LOT of dirt is being tracked in. Shelby, our large dog, has been sleeping in the kitchen at night because it's beginning to get cold again. Paige is now sitting in a booster chair instead of a highchair and tends to drop a lot of food.

All this dirt, dog hair, and food makes me sweep constantly. Or at least it feels like it. I'm at the point in my pregnancy that I don't bend so easily to pick things up, so that makes sweeping all that much more of a chore for me. Today, I busted out the Broom Vac again, and don't see myself going back to the broom for quick sweeps.

It really does a good job getting the small and larger stuff. It may take a little longer for it to actually suck up some food or larger items, but it's worth it to me! I don't have to bend over anymore! :) Now I only have to use the broom for more serious cleaning. The Broom Vac fills the void between those times, though.

Hit the ground running

There is nothing like coming home from a relaxing vacation to a tornado at home! We had a great time in Pismo. We did a whole lot of nothing, but were able to have a great time as a family of 3. I'll have to post some pictures of our vacation when we get our home computer up and running again.

Paige got to experience a lot of my favorite memories of Pismo from when I was a kid. She fed the ducks, played at the beach, went to the zoo, to the pumpkin patch, walked out on the pier, and even got her first scoop of ice cream from The Scoop. It was so much fun to pass on my traditions to my daughter.

On our way home from Pismo, we soldified plans for Grandma and Grandpa Salt to come for a weekend visit. They arrived on Wednesday evening and stayed until Monday. As soon as we got home from Pismo, the next 2 days were spent unpacking, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and getting ready for our guests. We were racing to get everything done!

Our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Salt was great. Paige didn't skip a beat with them. They actually stayed home with her on Thursday morning, while I was at a doctor's appointment. She was letting them know the routine and told them where to find everything. It's great now, because she's so honest, but I know I can only expect that for so long! Before long, she'll be tricking them into things that Mommy and Daddy "let" her do, but not really.

We really enjoyed our vacation and visit. I know I am looking forward to having a somewhat normal routine again, whatever that is! :)

Warm, Windy, but Wound down

The Wedehase family finally has had a chance for a little vacation. We are in Pismo this week. My mom and Ceasare graciously allowed us to use their trailer, and we are staying at Pismo Coast Village, my childhood vacation spot. Jason and I have come here several times in the past, and found it to be the most relaxing vacations we ever have. This is the first time we've been able to bring Paige with us.

Unfortunately, it is really warm here. High 70s to low 80s. YIKES! It really isn't that bad, but you always think of the coast as being cool and overcast. At least there is a little breeze today, so it stays a little cooler.

Paige is having a blast playing outside. We brought her a dump truck and some sand toys. She is completely content outside the trailer, playing in the dirt. It really makes Jason and I want to finish up the backyard quickly! She's going to have a blast once it's done.

Jason has finally had some down time. This summer was really hectic for him at work. It's really nice for him to get away and relax a little. Unfortunately, he's so relaxed that he's come down with a cold. He's got the runny nose, congestion, cloudy-head business. Not a great time for him. :(

We've had a great day of nothingness so far, and are looking forward to 5 more! We'll post pics and updates as we can.

JBF sale!

Okay, I just found my new favorite place to shop. It's a consignment sale, so items are slightly used and are a decent price.

Just Between Friends is a consignment company that has 2 sales per year. One Spring/Summer, one Fall/Winter. Fresno is currently having their Fall/Winter sale, and I just got back. Totally spent too much money, but Paige and I are set for winter clothing. They have clothing, baby gear, toys, furniture, you name it...

I went mostly looking for maternity wear for me, and for winter clothes for Paige. I got some cheap pants and outfits for me. For Paige I got several pants, shirts, and even a cute winter coat from Osh Kosh. For me, it's a great way to get clothing at a decent price.

I am definitely looking forward to using this sale in the future to off-load all our baby stuff when the time comes. It surely seems like a good way to get rid of the stuff you don't need, help out others, and not have to wake up at 6 am for a yard sale! :)

I highly recommend you check out the Fresno sale. It goes through Sunday. If not, check out the sales coming in the spring! Give me a call, I'll go with you!

It's a.....

Healthy baby! :)

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. Jason, Paige and I were all able to "meet" the baby together. It was just as fascinating as when we saw Paige for the first time 2 1/2 years ago. Everything looks good and healthy.

Paige did a great job. She loved to see the new baby on the TV. By the end of the ultrasound she was able to pick out some body parts, name them, and show us what the baby was doing. She was showing us that the baby had his/her arms above the head and was moving them around. As she was doing this she was saying, "Arms, arms." It was pretty cool to see her understand a little more. She also seems to get what we mean when we say that the new baby is in Mommy's belly now. Before she really didn't understand. Now it seems to click a little better. I'm really glad we took her with us!

Here are a few snapshots we were able to get (click to enlarge):


Baby's face (dark spot is forehead, center circles are eyes...)








Count the toes! They are all there.








I really liked this shot of the leg! It's neat to see the bones and structure all there. It's so amazing to me that my body is working and essentially creating a human being. God is wonderful!

Ahhhh! Relief

Since no past preggos had a support belt, I finally made it to the maternity store to get one of my own. So far, it has been helping. I have done some walking, sitting, and even yard work, and it does support my belly well. I do still have some pain in my pulled muscle, but I wasn't expecting a miracle or anything. Some relief is nice, and I'm sure the relief will only get better as I get bigger.

We have our 20 week ultrasound tonight. I'm excited to see our second little miracle. We will be taking big sister Paige with us, so she can meet the "new baby" we are always talking about. It should be fun. I'm sure I'll post some results and pictures this weekend. Stay tuned....

"Jesus Make Better"

Paige has been suffering from a pretty severe diaper rash the past few days. It would begin to clear, but then suddenly flare up again. I think we finally have it under control, but for the past few days we've had some battles while changing her diaper. The poor girl was in so much pain.

Last night, I was praying with her before she went to bed. Part of my prayer to Jesus was to "make Paige's bottom feel better and take her rash away." After the prayer, Paige pointed over to her changing table and said, "Momma, medicine make bottom better," referring to her diaper rash creme. I told her that Jesus will heal her bottom even better and faster than the medicine can, and that's why we ask Him to make it better.

Tonight, Paige said something that sounded like it came from the mouth of a religious fanatic. Jason was changing Paige's diaper. As he brought out the diaper rash creme and showed it to Paige, she said "No medicine. Jesus make better."

Belly Brace

For all those past preggos:

I'm looking for a belly brace for support. When I was pregnant with Paige I pulled a groin muscle and it irritated me through out the entire pregnancy. Just like the doctor had told me, it didn't heal until after she was born.
Now that I finally have a belly hanging, the same muscles are starting to bother me again. My doctor recommended that I get one of those maternity support braces.
So, my first thought was to see if anyone had one that I could borrow for the next 5 months. Do you have one? If not, I will break down and get one myself, I guess! :)

HUGE Praise!

For the past 4 years, our only vehicle has been our Toyota Tundra truck. It has worked very well for our one kid family. Since we are adding another kid, we really needed to look for a car. 2 car seats don't work too well in a truck.
Problem: It's not really a truck buying market out there. We were really worried that we weren't going to be able to sell the truck for a decent price. Since we still owe on the truck, this was going to create a big problem on the purchase of a new car. We couldn't even look for new cars until the truck was gone.
We decided to list the truck now, in case it sat for some time. We checked the Blue Book and then also several different sites around to see what people are asking for their 2002 Tundras. BB says we should get about 8,000. We couldn't find anything on the internet for LESS than 10,000. We listed the truck Saturday morning on Craig's List for just under 10,000. Monday morning we get a call and essentially a cash offer over the phone, sight unseen. The guy is here by 11, the truck gone at noon! Praise God! We even got our asking price (ABOVE BB!!)
Uh oh....now we don't have a car! ;) No worries, we went up to Fresno and found a great deal for ourselves. We are now the happy owners of a 2006 Honda Accord. What other color for the Wedehase's, but dark silver (the color of the past 3 cars we've owned!)
Our family is just praising God because we got a great price for our truck, it sold SO quickly, and we were able to replace it with a great, reliable, affordable, family car! HOORAY!!

Passed out

Another first for Paige:

Tuesday late morning Paige was playing in her room by herself. Since she was content, I went into the office to complete some Arbonne work. After 15 or so minutes, I noticed it was very quiet in Paige's room. No noises from toys, she wasn't talking, nothing! Generally this means she is getting into something she shouldn't, so I went in to check on her. I was very surprised at what I saw:









She went to the extent of pulling all 3 blanket animals from her bed and passed out on her chair in her room. Man, she must have been really tired, because she'd normally come tell me to put her in bed! Too cute. It was hard to wake her up to move her into her crib, but I knew she wouldn't nap well if I didn't. My sweet little baby!

Morro Bay!

The Wedehase family got the chance to get away this weekend. Jason has been working a ton of overtime trying to finish a job site. It has been really hard on our family, so we decided to take advantage of Labor Day weekend, regardless of the potential crowds and traffic. Our deal to each other was that we didn't have any time lines, we can stop and look at anything we wanted, and we couldn't fight. Not bad, huh? :)

We drove to Morro Bay Sunday after church. It was a great drive. Paige slept in the car for about an hour, which is very rare for her. On the way there, we took a side street and stopped at a family farm store. Paige got to see and feed goats, look at pumpkins on a vine, and best of all, play in the dirt! It was a lot of fun.

Our hotel was only 2 blocks from the Embarcadero, so we just walked down the hill to see the sights and eat great food! Paige loved looking at the "ochen" (ocean) and wanted to go "wimming water" (swimming in the water). She heard sea gulls for the first time and immediately started making their noises. It was really funny. Then we also found some sea lions on a dock and she loved to watch them. She would throw her head back and make their noises too. It was so cute!

While Mommy was doing some shopping, Daddy took Paige out onto a pier to get some pictures. She had a blast chasing around a sea gull. She also enjoyed looking at the water through the boards on the pier. Here is a great picture Daddy got, when he asked Paige to smile.

Eventually we made it to the beach, where we could take Paige to feel the sand and water. I was really unsure what Paige would do. I was kind of expecting her to be afraid of the water, being that it's loud, moving and cold. She really surprised me when she walked straight to the water and let it come up onto her feet. We played in the wet sand, and combed the beach for shells. Then we headed back to our towel for some fun in the sand. I knew she would like that part, because Nanna and Nanno have a sand box that she loves to play in. Her and Daddy dug around for a bit. Daddy buried her feet and she laughed! She loves to play in the dirt! She's a farm girl at heart.

We had a great time getting away. We really look forward to taking a much needed longer vacation to Pismo soon.

Ukraine: Saturday, July 12th

After such a long day (almost 2 days) of travel, I awoke at 5:30 am and couldn't fall back asleep. I finally got myself out of bed at 6:30, took a shower and got ready for the day.

Cheryl, Debbie and I ate breakfast with our host family. The husband's name is Vasya and the wife's name is Mariya. They have 2 boys: Misha, 23, and Vitalik, 13. Neither spoke English well, but we had some conversation with them. We were all able to tell them about our families and our work. For breakfast we were served granola cereal, yogurt (the best yogurt ever!), bananas, meat, cheese, bread and crackers. All of it was very good.

The first taxi ride was good. Mariya called for our taxi and instructed him where to go. He took us straight to Cornerstone. No major events to tell about. Once at Cornerstone, we went through our orientation. We learned about Ukrainian customs, language, and our schedule for the week. We also had time for some praise and worship and devotions.

After orientation, we went out for pizza. Now their pizza is totally different than ours. There really isn't any sauce on the pizza. Just cheese and toppings. No pepperoni or sausage. But they did have olives, tomatoes, ham, pineapple, and other things too. I opted for just olives. When they served the pizza, they offer a dipping sauce, which was essentially ketsup. Ukrainians dip a lot of things in ketsup, I guess. The pizza was good, just not like home.

When lunch was done, we walked over to the church to see what Children's Church was like. Our "home" church for the week is one room. The sanctuary and that's it. Sunday school really isn't an option for the kids, because they don't have anywhere to meet. The first thing we saw at Children's Church was their praise and worship team. They have 4 girls singing and 3 kids doing the motions to the songs. It was loud, lively music. All the kids were having a blast! It was awesome to see them in true, genuine worship. After worship, they played games and had a bible based lesson. It was really cool to see that not just one person ran the show. It was a combination of 5 or 6 ladies who divided up the duties to make it work. A true network of help.

After Children's Church, we walked through town and eventually ended up at Patrice and Alex's house. In town, we got to see the shops and markets. Nothing chain, all family owned businesses. A lot of street vendors selling produce and goods. We even walked through an open air market where you could buy almost any grocery. Extremly fresh!

At Alex and Patrice's they prepared hamburgers for us for dinner. While they were preparing dinner, most of us Americans took a nap in their living room. We were all exhausted, still trying to adjust to the 10 hour difference! We had yummy hamburgers for dinner. After dinner, the women from the church came over for a Women's Fellowship.

Some ladies from our group shared their testimonies. Some Ukrainian ladies shared theirs. Mariya (our host Mommy) shared her testimony. She is an incredible woman of God. She will get her own post later... One Ukrainian woman asked how many of us do NOT come from Christian homes, or don't have Christian husbands. Some of us raised our hands, and she asked how we did it. How did we come to know Christ? How do we live out a Christian life without a Christian husband? God truly used this time for Jan to speak out of her experience and testimony. She was able to really relate and touch this woman's life. I believe she got the encouragement she was seeking by hearing Jan's story. It was truly moving.

We ended the night in prayer. First the American ladies surrounded the Ukrainians in a circle. We prayed aloud for them. Then we switched. When the Ukrainian women prayed, It was amazing. They are very dramatic and dynamic in their prayers. Very emotional and heartfelt. I just wish I knew what they were saying! :)

Overall we had a very good day. We got to see and learn the basics of Ukrainian life.

Ukraine: Thursday July 10th and Friday July 11th

So this is long overdue, but I will try to stay on top of blogging at least one day each day.

On July 10th, 10 ladies and I boarded a plane in Fresno to make our trek to Ukraine. What a LONG day it would be too! We boarded around 11 in the AM Thursday. Our first stop was Denver, then Munich Germany, then Budapest. The longest duration on the plane was about 10 hours from Denver to Munich. It really wasn't too bad. There were several movies and videos to choose from while on the flight. I got some sleep, and felt well once we landed in Budapest.

Once we landed in Budapest, we loaded all our luggage into 2 vans and drove 6 hours to Uzhgorod, Ukraine. It happened to be really HOT on Friday and the vans did not have any air conditioning. YIKES! Jan, Andrea and I were in the van with most of the luggage. Our drivers were missionaries from Germany, and didn't speak any English. We had to drive through the entire town of Budapest on surface streets to get to the freeway. We were burning up because there was no airflow in the van. It didn't help that we were trying to drive through Budapest at 4:30 on Friday afternoon either. Yes, they have just as bad of a traffic problem as we do! Once we hit the freeway, all was well.

The freeways were beautiful, actually. Very green landscape. Well kept roads. Public restrooms very frequently (much like our Rest Stops, but SOOOO much cleaner). The thing that was really beautiful were all the fields of sunflowers in full bloom!

We had to cross a border check in both Hungary and Ukraine, about 2 miles apart. Neither border gave us any troubles. Once we arrived in Uzhgorod, we met Alex and Patrice at Cornerstone English School. This would be our meeting point and headquarters for the week. The 10 ladies divided into 3 groups and we finally dispersed to our homes for the week.

I roomed with Debbie Linman and Cheryl Kent. We ended up with a fantastic family, who you will learn a lot more about later. We didn't arrive to the house until 12:30 AM, and we were all EXHAUSTED! We pretty much went straight to bed.

Mega Memory

This weekend, the family was able to go down to Pappa's and Grandma's house in Bakersfield. When we got there, Paige was very excited to get into the pool! We had a very nice swim. Very relaxing and cool!

After the swim, Paige and I were sitting on the side of the pool and she pointed to the yard and said, "Look eggs." I looked at the family and then remembered the last time we were there was at Easter time and we went for an egg hunt. I was shocked! I explained to Paige that we only looked for eggs at Easter and it wasn't Easter right now.

"Blow bubbles," she then said. This was another activity we did on Easter. I was speechless. My 2 year old daughter is remembering things from over 5 months ago! Better than me! It's scary to think that!

I know I'm going to have my hands full with this kid. She is just too smart for her own good! She'll definitely be keeping Jason and me on our toes! :)

Daddy's Nectarine

Jason left a whole nectarine on his plate after dinner tonight. We all left the table and started playing and doing chores. A few minutes later, Paige came running down the hall and said, "Paige. Peach." She then opened her mouth to show me the "peach" in her mouth. She turned around ran down the hall and back into the kitchen. It took me a while to figure out what just happened, but it all clicked. I went into the kitchen after her and there she was. Sitting in Daddy's chair, eating his nectarine. I just let her continue eating it, as I didn't think she'd get but 1/2 way done with it before she gave it to me. She ended up eating the WHOLE thing! Needless to say, Daddy didn't get his nectarine tonight.

"No, Paige cool!"

Last Friday night we were all sitting at the table eating dinner. Chinese take-out, Yummy (sort-of)! Jason randomly asked her, "Paige is Daddy cool?"

Her response, totally unprompted, "No, Paige cool!" Jason and I just laughed out loud. It was too funny!

So then I had to ask, "Paige is Mommy cool?"

Again the response, "No, Paige cool!" It was the funniest thing she has come up with yet. We have tried to get her to say it on video, but it's never as funny the 3rd or 4th time around! Oh well. We are just beginning the funny things that toddlers say phase. I'm sure we will have more to share! :)

Painting Pallette?

So I am looking to give our main Sunday School room a face lift. It is bad need of a little modernizing and COLOR!!

This room is a large rectangle shape. Across one of the long walls is windows. The front wall is mostly whiteboard (soon to be projector screen). I really wanna add some pizazz to the room, but not frighten everyone either. We're talking about a church here, ya know? :)

If you could do anything, what colors would you put in a Sunday School Room? I really don't have any starting point, or direction of where I'm going. I am drawing a total blank.

HELP!!!!!

February 15th

Well, for those of you who don't know, the Wedehase family will be growing 2 feet in mid-February. Jason and I are very excited to add a sibling for Paige. She doesn't quite get it yet, but I think it'll be a lot easier as I get bigger and she can feel and see movement.
I have been feeling okay. A few episodes of morning sickness here and there. But so far everything is tolerable.
Just like we did with Paige, we won't be finding out the gender. We had so much fun with that, and it sure makes labor and delivery a little more tolerable for Mommy! :)
We are struggling a little with names, so if you have any SERIOUS suggestions, please feel free to add them. We have a girl's name picked out, and a boy's middle name picked out, but that's as far as we've gotten. Luckily, we still have some time.
Here is an ultrasound picture that was taken before I left to Ukraine. The baby was about 7 weeks, if I remember correctly. We got one so early because the midwife wanted to be sure baby was where it was supposed to be, especially before I left the country. Everything is perfect! In the picture you can see the head at the top little plus sign. The baby is facing left, so you can make out some of the facial features. Just below that pointing to the left are the arm and hand nubs.
God's creation is so amazing. At just 7 weeks, so much is formed! We are praising God for our family and excitedly await the addition!

I'm home

I know I've been home for a week now, but I finally feel that I'm back on schedule! Man losing 10 hours of a day, can really mess you up! :)

We had an amazing time serving the Ukrainian people. Many stories and many successes. I have tons of stories and pictures to share. I just need to organize them all and edit some.

I just mainly wanted to write and let all know that I'm alive, and we had the most wonderful time. I will blog again soon to tell you some stories and praises!

Thanks to all for your support and prayers. You don't know how much they mean to me!

Leaving for Ukraine

Well, tomorrow is the big day! Myself and 9 other ladies are headed to Uzhgorod, Ukraine to introduce a church to AWANA. We are also visiting an orphanage, completing a street ministry drama and visiting a 1/2 way house. I'm so excited to see how God will use me for His glory! Below is our daily schedule. Please pray with us that God's glory be done. When you are praying, please remember that we are about 1/2 day ahead of you!

In his service,
Tanya

Thursday, July 10th
10:50 AM Leave from Fresno

Friday, July 11th
8:00 PM Arrive in Uzhgorod
Meet host families and go home

Saturday, July 12th
9:00 - Meet at Cornerstone
9:15 – 10:15 Orientation
10:30 – 11:30 Praise and Worship/ Devotion
11:30-12:30 Prep time
12:30-2:30 Lunch on your own
3:00-4:00 Kids Church
4:30-5:30 Food prep
5:30-8:30 Women’s meeting and dinner at Dmitriev's

Sunday, July 13th
8:00 Breakfast with families
9:00 Church
11:00 Help with Children's church
1:00 Go out to Lunch
4:00 Go on a picnic with church families
At Nevitske Castle

Monday, July 14th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:20 Leave for VBS
10:00-12:00 Sports / Craft time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 -3:00 Awana program
3:15 Leave for Orphanage
4:15-6:15 Program at orphanage
6:15 Leave for Uzhgorod
7:00 Dinner on your own
???? Return to Families

Tuesday, July 15th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:20 Leave for VBS
10:00-12:00 Sports / Craft time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 -3:00 Awana program
3:30-6:00 Sightseeing/shopping at Uzhgorod Castle
6:00 – 8:00 Dinner on your own

Wednesday, July 16th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:20 Leave for VBS
10:00-12:00 Sports / Craft time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 -3:00 Awana program
4:00-8:00 Work, hang out and dinner at Pavlo house

Thursday, July 17th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:20 Leave for VBS
10:00-12:00 Sports / Craft time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 -3:00 Awana program
3:15 Leave for Orphanage
4:15-6:15 Program at orphanage
6:15 Leave for Uzhgorod
7:00 Dinner on your own
???? Return to Families

Friday, July 18th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:20 Leave for VBS
10:00-12:00 Sports / Craft time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 -3:00 Awana program
3:00 -5:00 Free time
5:00-6:00 Dinner on your own
6:15 Leave for Chop
7:00-9:00 Street ministry

Saturday, July 19th
7:00 Breakfast with families
8:00 Meet at Cornerstone (Bring luggage)
8:15-9:15 P&W / Devotion
9:30-12:30 Shopping in town
12:30-1:30 Lunch at Cornerstone/ packing of souvenirs
2:00 Leave for Budapest
8:00 Arrive in Budapest

Sunday, July 20th
Sightseeing all day in Budapest

Monday, July 21st
Fly out
Arrive in Fresno @ 10:12 PM

Birthday: Round 1

We didn't do much for Paige's birthday today. We just hung around the house and had dinner and played. We were able to give her the presents that Grandma Hill sent from Florida, and what Grandma and Grandpa Salt sent from Montana. She really loved them both!

Grandma Hill sent her a cheerleading outfit from the Tennessee Vols. She used to live in Tennessee, and thought Paige would get a kick out of it. It's a little too big, so Momma is thinking it's going to be a GREAT Halloween costume!

Grandma and Grandpa Salt sent her a tricycle. The first thing Paige found was the bell. She loves to ring it constantly and yell "LOUD!" I can tell this will be an annoyance...oh well. She is also a little too small for the bike, but she already has figured out how to push herself around with her feet while sitting down. It won't be long before she can reach the full rotation with the pedals.

Happy Birthday Paige!

Today is Paige's birthday! Hooray. At 1:24 pm, she will officially be two. Just because it's fun to look back at older pictures, I thought I'd share Paige's changes. Each of these pictures were taken on her birthday.





When Daddy gets home from work, Paige gets to see what Grandma and Grandpa Salt and Grandma Hill sent to her. We'll post some pictures of that event later tonight. Her birthday party will be on Saturday. Of course LOTS of pics to share then too. I might even try to post a few videos. But don't hold your breath! :)

The Nursery Knot

So Paige got her first BIG knot on her forehead yesterday. We dropped her off in the church nursery for service and when we picked her up she had a HUGE knot on her forehead. She immediately ran over and said, "Ouch" and pointed to the changing table cabinet. Lupe, the nursery worker, said she was running around crazy with her friend Kaylynn and she just ran into the cabinet. It's so hard for Jason and I to believe that's what happened, but she did tell me that the cabinet gave her an "Ouch". Oh well, we just have a pretty shiner to prove that it happened. This picture was taken the evening that it happened. It's too bad it doesn't show how swollen it really is. But you can get the idea! Poor thing. What a way to have your 2 year old pictures taken. I'm just hopeful that it heals before her big party on Saturday! :)

My first blog

So a friend of mine has been blogging recently about the happenings of her family. I find it fun to check it every once in a while to see if she's updated it. I feel like I know what is happening in her and her family's life since it's published for others to see.
Since our family has lots of family and friends that are spread across the country, I thought this might be a fun way to share what's going on in the Wedehase Family. I'm gonna try it out for some time and see what's its like. Please be patient with me as I figure this out. I'll try and update it often, so check in, read, and most of all leave your comments!

Love you all,
Tanya