nate & jenni

Mozambique - full steam ahead

2012-01-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord! Last Thursday we were voted in by our sending agency to go and work in Mozambique! May the Lord continue to path the way for us to arrive on African soil in June or July this year.

Winter projects

2012-01-12T15:46:00.001-08:00

Warning: Knitting is addictive! I've tried my hand at a few more things since my first knitting project, the tea cosy. Project #2 barely made it to the blog - I made a coffee cup cosy to practise what is called cable knitting (the twisted strands below). I discovered that I need to practise the basics of knitting a bit more to improve at the more adventurous stitches!

Winter project #3 was learning crochet. I made this easy head band and flower that I would like to name "the popsy daisy"...that is, if it was my own idea. But, alas, I stole the instructions from here and here. I would name it so, because you can pop off one flower, and pop on another. Pretty cool, huh?

The above head band was wrapped in that pink tissue paper and given to Eliana's friend for her 2nd birthday. I liked it so much that I made one for Lilah. Look at her sweet face. I get the privilege of planting a million kisses on those pudgy cheeks every day.

Winter project #4 was to practise the basic knitting stitch while making a coffee press (plunger) cosy for my love. I couldn't help but add in a new colour and practise what I think is called Intarsia knitting, or perhaps it's called Fair Isle (adding a pattern or picture with a different yarn). The heart can either represent my love for Nate, or his love for coffee :).

These projects are all being achieved because the girls go to bed at 7 and Nate and I have declared January to be a no tv/movie month, with the exception of a few Grid Iron/American Football finals. We are loving it so far!

For you, Mum.

2012-01-05T16:34:00.000-08:00

My mother bought me a few things to get me started on knitting while we were in Australia in July. Six months later I picked up the needles to make my first project - a tea cosy. It's definitely not perfect, but we've got to start somewhere, right? One of my favourite things to do with my hubby in the morning is to sit down and share a hot pot of tea and read the Bible. We've tested out the cosy and it keeps the tea extra hot for as long as we need it.

I got the instructions to knit the tea cosy from here. If you're a beginner knitter, like me, you need to search the web to learn the basics of knitting (You Tube is helpful). Even better, you could spend time with your Grandma, if you're blessed enough to be able:) I also borrowed an excellent book from the library which explains some mechanics of knitting - it gave me a lot of 'aha!' moments :)

Knitter's Lib by Lena Maikon.

Thank you, my dear mother!

Caroling

2011-12-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

Last night we went caroling with friends from Church. It is the first time I've ever done caroling outside in the cold - and it was everything I dreamed it would be.

Don't believe Eliana's face below - she loved being snuggled up to her daddy, going from house to house singing. I especially loved singing about the birth of our glorious Saviour to neighbours.

Lilah thought the singing was ok, but slept through most of it :)

Sewing fever

2011-12-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

Sewing that crayon roll ignited in me a passion for sewing again. So the next day I finally made some new cushion covers. I learnt that I could use things in my home to create a cover, so it didn't cost a cent. I used the never-fail 'Google' and 'You Tube' combination to search "sew cushion covers" and used this tutorial.

For the first cover I used left over material from the (awesome) nappy bag my mother made while we were in Australia:

For the next cushion I attempted creativity and used scrap material, a belt and an old t-shirt. I used an old thin towel for the back:

For the third one, I used two different scrap materials and an old nighty for the white band:

Eliana seems to like them - she pretends they are new friends :) I'm now on the hunt for more things from our house that I can revamp in order to brighten things up over the winter season!

Crayon Rolls

2011-12-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

Last night, Nate bought Eliana some crayons and a colouring book for Christmas. A friend had told me about crayon rolls, so I googled how to sew one (don't you love that google can be a verb!) I took the instructions from here. It was a very rewarding project - a great way to use up scrap material, and it didn't take very long - even for my novice hands. I made two in one night.

I made the one below first, but the size was for regular crayons, and therefore a tight fit for the big triangle crayons that Nate bought. I could foresee this causing frustration for Eliana (picture crayons going flying in the middle of church).

So I added an inch to the height of my next roll and a 1/4 inch for each crayon pocket (7" x 22") and it turned out to be a better fit (although the height could be 1/2" shorter).

I think I want one for Christmas too!

Happy Birthday, my love

2011-12-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

All reading for the semester is due tomorrow. So - after a special dinner and chocolate cheesecake - this is how we are spending Nate's birthday. Tomorrow - we celebrate!

Solid virtues

2011-11-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

I love being a stay-at-home mum. In fact, the only job I would rather right now is being a stay-at-home mum in Africa. However, there are certain things about home making that cause a sneaky question to creep into my mind: "Does this have any eternal benefit?"

It's usually times like when I finish cleaning the dishes, only to turn around and find the sink full of dirty dishes again. Or when I've finally folded the last pair of socks from a mountain of clean laundry, only to find the laundry basket full of dirty clothes by nightfall. I recently came across a quote that has greatly encouraged me as I go about the less-appealing-jobs of home making. It was written by a man who gave spiritual direction by letters in the 15 & 16oos, Francis de Sales. In one of his responses to a mother writing him about her concerns of the never ending tasks of home making he wrote:

"I remember you telling me how much the multiplicity of your affairs weighs on you, ... [This] is a good opportunity for acquiring the true and solid virtues" - Francis de Sales

It is not the only answer to the sneaky question that pops into my head, but it has certainly been helping me combat grumbling (as I clean the toilet) with thankfulness, absent mindedness (as my hands are plunged into another soap filled sink) with prayerfulness, and doubt (as I go about the lesser tasks of the day) with peace. If I wasn't faced with these - and bigger challenges - how could I practice the true and solid virtues? It's easy to be thankful when I'm going about the enjoyable tasks of the day!

So even the small things can be used to learn that "to live is Christ". May the Lord help me to die to myself and live for him in all my tasks and my attitudes.

Crocheted craft

2011-10-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you for my gorgeous hand-made beanie, Jael!!!!

Husband pleaser

2011-10-11T11:46:00.001-07:00

I've been making this bread for about a month or so now. I got the recipe from a link on a friend's blog. The article is titled 5 minutes a day for fresh baked bread. You have got to try it. The article may seem long but the recipe is so simple once you've read the background info. It really does take only 5 minutes of your time once the dough is made (which itself only takes 5 minutes of your time).

The first time I made this, when Nate got home he literally said. "Where did that come? Did you make it? Really? Wow! You're amazing! I love you!" The praise only got better after he tasted it. The bread only gets better the more you make it too! Thanks for the recipe, Laura!

Baby Blanket

2011-10-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

A dear friend from church, Teresa, made Lilah this blanket. She chose the colour - lilac - before she knew what Lilah's name means - "Lilac tree". That's pretty cool! It is adorable. The back side has a beautiful layer of flannel that is so soft. I admit that I've been using the blanket for myself while reading in the cold mornings/nights.

Eliana loves it. She couldn't wait to model it for us.

I think Lilah is ok with it, too :)

Eliana's 2nd B'day

2011-10-06T11:59:00.001-07:00

We had another BBQ at Cherokee park this year for Eliana's birthday. It was a clear, cold and beautiful day.

Nate was an absolute champion, doing all of the shopping and handling 3 bbq's on his own - to perfection. There's no man like Nate!

Once again I made a pumpkin cheesecake in celebration of Autumn. It's a hit if you'd like the recipe!

Though there was plenty of food and friends to enjoy, Eliana's favourite part was sneaking off to play in the park. Thank you to all the sweet ladies that took care of her!

My favourite part was when Joanna and Buni pulled out their fiddles to play songs for Eliana. It was such a treat. What a blessing musically gifted friends are!

The 'bag bag'

2011-09-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of 'bag bags', and Nate had requested one a few times, so I finally found on line (@ the Martha Stewart site) how to whip up a quick bag bag. I used a tea towel, some scrap material, and elastic.

A birth story (2)

2011-09-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

Birth stories aren't for everyone, but if you do enjoy reading them here is a link to Lilah's birth story on the girls' blog (or you can click on their link in the top right corner).

Four Years

2011-09-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Five days after Lilah was born, Nate and I celebrated our fourth year anniversary (hence the lateness of this post). Of course, we went out for a big breakfast and enjoyed Dubbo's best 'flat white' (coffee) at the Grape Vine Cafe.

Each year Nate and I choose a word to summarise the last year of marriage. Year one was "revealing", year two was "adventure", and year three was "abundant". Year four we both agreed on the word "growth". To decide on the word, Nate and I will separately come up with three words on our own that we think describe the year. We then reveal our words to each other and discuss which one summarises the year the best. It's funny, but each year, our deciding word has been on each of our three worded list!

This year, growth was on top because of the many ways we had seen growth. Our family grew from three members to four, our marriage had grown stronger through the grace of the Lord Jesus, and by the mercy of God, each of us had grown in our relationship with the Lord, which hugely impacts our marriage.

Just before our anniversary, Nate had read John Piper's book, This Momentary Marriage (note: meaning 'momentary' in the light of eternity). He liked it so much, that I think he has already given away 4 or 5 copies. Personally speaking, I didn't think it was possible for Nate to be a better husband. However, and profoundly, I did see him grow even more sacrificial and selfless after reading the book, especially during the hard time of serving a post-labour mum, a new born baby, and a 20 month old daughter.

We are taking a marriage class together at the Seminary this semester. One thing that our veteran professor, Dr. Cutrer and his wife, Jane, taught us and that stood out to me straight away is that though we love each other intensely, we are still such infants in knowing how to love each other. It excites me to know that God still has so much to teach us and that our marriage still has so much to grow! I pray that through journeying along the highs and lows that marriage (and life) will bring us, the Lord will continue to keep us and grow us nearer to Him and each other all our days.

Recycling

2011-08-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here Eliana is wearing a dress that use to be mine when I was a little girl. My Aunty Beryl brought it back from Papua New Guinea for me and it's now still going strong!

Got the chop

2011-08-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

My hair falls out like crazy after giving birth so I finally went and got it cut yesterday ($5 at Empire Beauty School!). It has the added bonus of being out of reach of Lilah's little grabbing hands :)

Peach pickin'

2011-08-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

There is a neat farm about 40 minutes from Louisville called Hubers. They grow all their fruit in season and allow people to come out and pick it fresh from the trees/vines. We made a trip out the other day during peach picking time.

Fruit tastes sooo good when ripened on the tree! Buni, below, thoughtfully decided to coordinate his t-shirt with the peaches for photos :)

Eliana had a ball on the tractor and running up and down the rows of peach trees. She also loved keeping me on my toes as I tried to prevent her from putting rotten peaches from the ground in our fruit box! Thankfully her Aunty Jael was around to help do some chasing :)

Jael and her brother, David, from Switzerland, won the prize for best fruit finders.

A lot of people pick boxes of peaches to make pies, jams, tarts and other wonderful creations that I can't think of right now. All of our peaches are destined for our freezer and eventually for peach smoothies.

The PeaPod

2011-08-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to recommend one of the most useful gifts we've been given. The Lakelins gave us a PeaPod, pictured below. It is an easily transportable 'tent' for infants and toddlers to sleep in. It has already come in handy many times and I'm sure that number will soon turn into countless times. It is very light, easily folds into the size of a large frisbee, comes with a self inflating mattress, and pops open into it's full size in about 3 seconds!

We have used it for Lilah to nap/sleep in while travelling, for Eliana (who loves it) to sleep in when we stay late at a friend's place, and for shade cover and protection from the sand for Lilah while at the beach in Michigan.

Thanks so much, Lakelins! It gives smiles all round!

A trip to Michigan

2011-08-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of days after returning from Australia, we took a trip to Michigan to visit Nate's side of the family. Eliana got to meet her new cousin, Nora (below with Aunty Sara), and Lilah got to meet the Michigan crew.

Below Lilah is with her great Grandma Heintzleman.

Nate's cousins, Shannon and Hannah, who just turned 13! Happy Birthday girls :)

Lilah's great Aunty Sue :)

And Grandma Triplett

It was quite nice to visit Michigan in the Summer. We saw many other relatives, too, but unfortunately didn't snap any photos with them... Now we are home, sweet home in Kentucky and getting ready for Nate's (hopefully) last semester before heading overseas!

Welcome Home

2011-07-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Our last night in Australia we had one last hoorah at the beach with Eliana and Lilah's cousins, the Lakelins.

And now we are back in the beautiful heat of Summer in Louisville. The flight went considerably well with Lilah being an absolute champion, sleeping most of the >30 hours - and Eliana being a trooper with only 6 hours sleep over the long trip. Eliana was very excited to be back in our old home again, as are we.

Although we still have a bit of unpacking to do... :)

Sydney Aquarium

2011-07-15T21:13:00.001-07:00

We all had to go to Sydney recently to get Lilah's US passport and citizenship. While there we stopped in at the Sydney Aquarium. It was very impressive. Eliana ran from tank to tank saying "more fish!", "blue fish", "big fish!". She had a ball.

The Aquarium had an awesome walk through tank with huge sharks and sting rays surrounding you.

We went for a swim underwater too.

We also stopped in at one of Australia's icon's - Circular Quay. You can see Sydney's 'famous' Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background.

There are more photos of our time in Aus here.

A day at Dubbo Zoo

2011-07-02T02:04:00.001-07:00

I realised that it's been a long time since a blog update, so tonight I sighed to Nate, "Where do I start?" He simply answered "With today." Don't you love the uncomplicated male mind :)

So here it is. Today we visited the famous Dubbo Zoo - rumoured to be the largest free range zoo in the world.

Eliana loved the animals, once again, and made sure we knew which sound each animal makes. It's a bit hard to see in the below photo, but yesterday Eliana had a nasty fall from a chair - face first into the pavers. She got a huge, bloody fat lip. She is saying "cheese" and posing for the photo - a new thing for her.

Grandma joined us. It has been such a blessing to spend this time with my Mum and Dad.

Below is the best Daddy with his two girls. As you can see, Lilah enjoyed the zoo about as much as she enjoys her bassinet. Check out what everyone is wearing. Might I remind you that this is the middle of winter in Australia! Ahh, I love this sun burnt country!

It's a Girl!

2011-06-07T02:30:00.000-07:00

Introducing Lilah Belle Schoen. She was born on the 28th of May at 7:49 pm. The labour was 3.5 hours and went so well that Nate thinks Lilah slept through the whole birth! She came out looking like a chunkier version of Eliana as a newborn. Lilah was 8lb 14 0z/4040 grams and 55cm long!

Mother's Day

2011-05-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day, Eliana and I went to Nowra Wildlife Park with my sister and her family. It was a small but beautiful park with a river on one side and rugged rocks and cliffs on the other. We got a good dose of some Aussie animals like koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, and of course, crocodiles, snakes, goannas and lizards.

Eliana was more interested in climbing fences while the reptile show was on.

She loved feeding the animals!

The wonderful Lakelins - they are taking good care of Eliana and me while Nate is away.

Eliana is all smiles while eating some of Wooz's chocolate mother's day mud cake. She wasn't so happy once it was all gone! :)

We made it

2011-05-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Eliana and I made it to Australia a couple of weeks ago. The Lord was so good in caring for us over the long trip. He even gave us our own row of seats on all 3 flights!

After about a week of adjusting to the new time zone (14 hours in front!) we are loving being here. The only thing missing is Nate. Oh, how we miss him! Only 5 days to go until he arrives!

Milo

2011-03-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Some of the things on my list of top 10 things to do when I first return to Australia are...

1. Drink a Milo

2. Go to the beach

3. Sit in a coffee shop by the beach sipping a flat white.

4. Buy some authentic Aussie ugg boots (not the brand name type).

So how excited do you think I was when our friend returned from a trip to LA bearing this gift...

THANK YOU Chris! You made my week! :)

Less than 6 weeks until Eliana and I head to Australia! Nate and I are planning on doing our best to fill a whole suit case full of Milo for the return trip to Louisville.

You know you're not in Australia any more....

2011-02-15T02:27:00.000-08:00

...when you put plastic on your windows to reduce your heating bill

...when you become familiar with a car ice scraper and no longer mistake it for a dust broom

...when you park next to a pile of snow taller than your car at the grocery store

...when you have to start your car 5 minutes before you go anywhere

...when your nose is red from the cold yet 4C and sunny is a beautiful day to you

...when the weather man predicting a week in the 50sF/10sC gets you excited.

I have been feeling elated because Eliana and I can go for long walks again, because buds are appearing on the trees, because the days are quickly getting longer and because magazines have bunches of tulips and Spring themes on their front covers. Today it is predicted to be 52F/11C and I am VERY thankful for this 'warmer' weather! :)

20 weeks, 2011

2011-01-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

We are carrying baby #2 right now. We are due on May 24th and have our tickets booked to go back to Aus to have the baby and catch up with family and friends. I am halfway through at 20 weeks. I'll be 21 weeks tomorrow so we had to quickly take a photo to compare with Eliana's 20 week mark. I would have liked to have been all done up and on the beach like 2009's 20 week photo, but because I remembered to take a photo at 11pm while watching the National Championship game with Nate, a shot in my trackies will have to do.

There doesn't seem to be much difference (except in the weather, which is below freezing today), but I think I'm a bit bigger with "little Louie". We're not going to find out the sex again but we're both guessing a boy so far. Either way, we are greatly rejoicing for bub 2 and for the blessing to travel Down Under and see everyone!

Christmas crafts

2010-12-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some aprons that I made over summer while I was still full of energy. This one I am particularly fond of. It was my first sewing project and I made it with no pattern and for free using a dress, some lace and a pair of black pants that someone was discarding.

This was my 2nd project and, wow, it was sooo much quicker and nicer using a pattern. Thank you to the ladies at church who helped my sewing grow!

And this apron was made from a pattern found in the Excellent book "A is for Apron". I have borrowed this book from the library 3 times now. It has lots of funky apron ideas and they make great presents!

I've never been one to do crafts before but I have lots of friends that are into it - so when I was invited to a Christmas wreath making day I joined in for the love of fellowship. Here is my finished project, thanks to the help of Jael! Sometimes I like it and sometimes the words 'bling' and 'tacky' come to mind - which is why I'm not a craft person - I can never seem to get the colour/design right. I obviously like this one enough for it to make this post though :)

And here is my latest Christmas project. Do you all know about Picassa? I LOVE it. It's a photo organising program that you can download for free. Look at the fun things you can do with it!

Winter Birthdays

2010-12-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

One thing that blesses me in our marriage is that I love surprises and Nate loves to give them. So this year for our birthdays Nate told me to pack my bags as the 3 of us were going on a journey somewhere. He never let on where we were going until we arrived - in Gatlinburg. Nate had reserved a cabin in the Smokey Mountains complete with log fire, hot tub, a pool table and an air hockey table! It is an adjustment for me to go from celebrating my birthday with Summer pool parties in Australia to Winter get-aways in the States but I couldn't have asked for a better way to enter into the 30s. Thank you, my most wonderful hubby.

Clifty Falls

2010-10-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

It was "Fall Break" this week so us Schoens decided to spend 2 nights camping at Clifty Falls in Indiana. It was beautiful weather during the day and very cold at night but our champion daughter took it all in her stride (mostly:))

It is a beautiful time of year to go bush walking here. Unfortunately the lack of rain over Summer has left everything dry and dying quickly, but there are still amazing splashes of colour to see everywhere.

Eliana has started enjoying parks a lot lately, or I guess I've been taking her to them much more often now that the weather is bearable during the day. She loves swings and slippery dips. She also loves crawling around any piece of equipment that looks like a safety hazard.

It was an excellent, excellent, time away. Camping has got to be one of our all time favourite activities. It's a lot of work before and after but worth it. There is nothing like being surrounded by the quiet of God's creation, the smell of camp fire and having nothing to do but relax.

A new love

2010-09-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with sewing. It is so much fun and so rewarding! Admittedly, I'm only at the apron making stage, but I enjoy learning more each week. Below is my latest creation:

A weekend with the Whites

2010-09-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

We headed to Paducah in West Kentucky last weekend to visit the Whites. Nate was there five years ago to work as an engineer. He was a new Christian and an eligible bachelor so the Whites took him under their wing. They are a wonderful, hospitable, godly family and it was a delight to stay with them and to see how a family lives out the bible.

We had some fun outside in their pool, enjoying the last of the summer days. The water felt pretty cold (25 C/75 F) but Eliana LOVED it! She was all a talkin' and a splashin'. I think her 3 hour nap and big lunch just before we dipped her in helped!

Gotta love the classic 'kid in a bucket' shot! Below, I think Daddy is taking a bit too long to put the spoon in Eliana's mouth...

Thank you, Whites, for an awesome weekend gettaway!

Soil, Sunshine and Showers

2010-08-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Jesus said - I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

I love how lessons from the Bible sometimes come at me from all directions. Last blog entry I was thinking about how pruning and watering produces fruit in our garden and how God uses the same means to produce fruit in our lives. Since then, John 15 has again and again been laid before me this week. In particular, God has given me fresh food for thought through the biography, Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret.

This quote from Taylor adds so much more depth to the desire of bearing fruit for God.

"As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! How great seemed my mistake in wishing to get the sap out of Him! I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine is not the root merely, but all - root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit. And Jesus is not that alone - He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for or needed."

I have to hold back from quoting so much more. Please read the book. You will be blessed.

P.s. - Hudson Taylor was used mightily by God throughout England, China and the World. His "Spiritual Secret" was a devotion to prayer and Bible reading. May we not let such a lesson fall on hardened hearts!

Fruit

2010-07-26T18:33:00.001-07:00

Nate has once again proven his green thumb this summer. Our small veranda is over run with tomatoes, bell peppers/capsicums, herbs and various plants. We have already harvested five or six tomatoes and one capsicum not to mention the many times fresh basil and coriander/cilantro have been added to our meals.

And there are more little beauties coming through...

It seems that the more I chop the basil, the better is grows. Look at that healthy fella!

What is Nate's secret to success? Watering and pruning.

As I watch our summer crop grow I am compelled to remember one of my favourite bible chapters, John 15. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."

May God, our tender, loving Father, prune our lives so that we bear more fruit for His glory.

Foreign visitors

2010-07-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

My last two years in Australia, before heading to Mozambique, were spent studying at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, a small but precious school. It was a tremendous time of God working in my life and showing me how His whole Bible points to Jesus. I was also incredibly struck by the on-campus community that I lived in while there. Everyone knew everyone and we ate together, sang together, prayed together, studied together and shared some of the funniest times in my life together! Last weekend I was so thankful to have Prilz, one of my fellow SMBCers come and visit us in KY! Prilz and I lived across the hall from each other for a semester and when I left for Mozambique she faithfully sent me postcards embellished with Aussie flora and fauna and news from home. It's amazing how refreshing and encouraging a simple postcard can be.

A year after I left for Mozambique, Prilz went to Peru as a career single missionary. She and her American husband came to visit me and they were able to tell me a familiar tale of meeting each other on the mission field. I was sad that they were only able to stay one night on their whirlwind road trip but thrilled and thankful to get a good dose of face to face Australian friendship. I forgot to take the camera out while they were here so I had to dig through our photo archives to find an SMBC shot of us.

God bless you Luke and Prilz!

Old news

2010-07-11T17:52:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while! Nate's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Chris, came to visit us back in May. It was so wonderful to have them here and to explore a little of Louisville with them.

I think Chris's favourite part was visiting the Pirate exhibition at one of Louisville's museums. Later, we introduced them to one of our favourite board games - Settlers of Catan. I think Lisa'a favourite part of the weekend was slaughtering us at it!

Eliana loved having Lisa and Chris here and was mostly in good spirits, but I just had to include the photo below because it's such a classic!

Family photos

2010-06-21T11:18:00.001-07:00

Our good friend took some family photos for us last month. We trampled through the long grass of Louisville's Tom Sawyer Park and, despite picking up a few itchy bugs, had a lot of fun. If you'd like to view them here is a public link to my facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=215410&id=543241773&l=1c44600543

And here are some sneak peeks. All the credit goes to Michelle Vantine - a genius with the camera and photo shop! :) www.michellevantinephotography.com

Three Years

2010-06-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Nate and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on the 2nd of June. Some very kind friends with a 1 week old baby offered to watch Eliana while we went out for our favourite meal, breakfast. It has become a tradition for us to spend time on our day deciding on one word to summarise our year of marriage. Our 1st year was "revealing" and our 2nd year was "adventure". For our 3rd year, after discussing many synonyms, we both agreed on "abundant". It has been a year overflowing with blessings from God. Our time in Australia, our time with family, our sweet Eliana, our return to the States and being reunited with friends, God's constant provision, and even our trials, to name but a few. We are so thankful to our generous God who cares for us far beyond what we deserve.

In particular, one of our greatest blessings is the marriage that God has given us. Three years ago, I thought my love for Nate was at full capacity. I am happy to be proven wrong over and over again as each day, the more I get to know him, the greater my love for him grows. He is a man far beyond what I could have ever imagined or hoped for, and I'm thankful again to our God who thought it good to unite us and who continues to hold our bond firm through our Lord Jesus Christ.

A birth story

2010-05-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

I finally posted Eliana's birth story on her blog. Nate thinks I'm a bit wierd for blogging about it, and doing it 7 months after she was born, but it's done. If you're like me and enjoy reading birth stories, it's on Eliana's blog: http://www.elianaschoen.blogspot.com

Red River Gorge

2010-05-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

We just had our first camping trip as a threesome. Eliana did awesome! I think she likes the outdoors. We went with our Care Group from church. It was a last hoora with our leaders, the Saunders, to say goodbye before they head back to California.

Nate's signature self taken photos never fail! Those long arms of his come in handy so often:)

Many of you may know how I've struggled with keeping Eliana on the weight charts for her age. But, there are some benefits of having such a small child. At 7 months she's still not too heavy for hikes in the Baby Bjorn! (Not to mention that she is getting great use out of all of her clothes, she is only just growing out of her 3 month old clothes!)

We had such a fun time - bongo balling, hiking, eating and just sitting in chairs by the fire. It was a wonderful get together before the inevitable Goodbye. Ben, Chelsea and Noah, you are amazing. We'll miss you like crazy!!!

Eliana

2010-04-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

As family have been hinting that they'd like to see more of Eliana, I've created a blog just for her...
www.elianaschoen.blogspot.com

Visitors

2010-04-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

We had our very first overnight guests last weekend - Uncle Brad and Aunty Beth. Since Eliana is going through the stage of crying when a stranger holds her, we were pleasantly surprised to see how much she loved being with her Aunty and Uncle. They were naturals!

Beth did a little photo shoot for us. As it was Eliana's bed time we didn't achieve many smiles, but she's so sweet with a pouty face anyway:)

This one is our favourite:

It was so wonderful to catch up with them after not seeing them for 2 years. The conversations kept us up late and, I think, eventually sent us bonkers... But we loved having a busy house again after missing our full house situation with the Lakelins in Australia. Come back soon Brad and Beth! We miss you already...

And we're ready for more guests any time (hint, hint)...

Serves me right :)

2010-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh today. After blogging yesterday about how sweet and content and happy Eliana is, she had an absolute meltdown at an IMB luncheon today. And that reminded me of all the other melt downs she loves to bring on in public. I think I've turned her into a mama's girl. Maybe we need to get out more!

Oh well. Just wanted to confess that my little angel aint always an angel :)

A review on 'Babywise'

2010-03-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Eliana turns 6 months on the 30th of March so I thought that it was time to do a review on how 'Babywise' worked for us. On Becoming Babywise: Giving your infant the gift of nighttime sleep by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam is a book that teaches you to use parental assessment and Parent Directed Feeding to train your infant to establish a flexible routine and eventually to sleep through the night by 8-12 weeks old.

Firstly, what is true for Babywise babies may or may not be true for other babies. This review is not a comparison to any other type of parenting. Honestly, I haven't looked into any other types of parenting. Nate and I only researched Babywise because we saw the fruit of it with my sister's 3 boys and a few other wonderful families who now have children in high school. The fruit seemed to suit our goals for family so we went with it.

What was the fruit? Babies who gained fairly predictable yet flexible routines and who also slept through the night from 8 weeks old, which seemed to therefore lead to content, well rested dads, mums and babies.

Babywise is not the all in all, it is not perfect, is not easy, there are things about the book that are frustrating, but it is just a theory, and as Nate has reminded me a few times, theories don't always work out in practice. But overall, with perseverance and a lot of prayer, Babywise has worked for us and we are thankful for it.

We will always be learning and we confess naivety and ignorance in many areas of life. Having said that we have made some goals and developed some thoughts and philosophies for family and parenting in the first 6 months. They may change, expand and develop over the years, but for now these are some of our thoughts that relate to why we chose Babywise:

We are dependant on our Heavenly Father for all things. If all else fails, God never does. He is our ultimate source of joy through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God comes first, then our marriage, then our children
We are the parents, Eliana is the child. We have more life experience and wisdom to make decisions than Eliana does.
Our life doesn't revolve around our children. They join our family and come along with us.
Children need our love and care. We hope to do what's best for them, even if it's tough sometimes. (Note: Children receive love and care from many styles of parenting. Babywise is what suited our family. It is just a method though and like one mum said "Follow Jesus, not a method.")

Some pros of the book for us:

Eliana was consistently sleeping through the night - 8 hours by 10 weeks, 10 hours by 15 weeks and 12 hours by 5 months. Many Babywise babies will be quicker, many will be slower. Every baby is different. We decided to take it slow due to some problems with my milk supply. But good sleep did seem to make Eliana a very happy, content baby.
The great night sleep for Nate, Eliana and me has enabled me to better serve my husband and child.
The flexible routine allows us to predict each day, gave me confidence as a new mum, and seemed to give Eliana confidence in her mum (she often lies contentedly in her crib waiting for me to get her from her naps and greets me with a grin or giggle of delight). It also allows me to plan times for appointments, friends, grocery shopping, etc.
Life happens and sometimes we get out of routine. But that's ok because Eliana is adaptable and quickly gets back into routine.
Eliana goes to sleep on her own and often resettles herself if she wakes up early from her nap. Often when we're out she'll fall asleep on her own in the stroller or pack'n'play and I think this has a lot to do with the routine and established sleep patterns that come with it.
Eliana is happy to play alone for up to 45 minutes in the morning and at other times during the day. She also loves to play near me and with me. While I don't rock her to sleep, we have heaps of fun and cuddles while she's awake.

Some things to be weary of:

If you are thinking about doing Babywise, read the 2006 edition (or later if there is one) of Babywise. Ezzo has had to change some information and advice since his 1995 edition due to new research and problems with milk supply and weight gain.
Even though the latest edition does warn you to be careful of your milk supply, you may think that it won't apply to you. This was my problem. I got over confident and ended up having trouble with my milk when Eliana was 4 months. Perhaps because I got too busy. Perhaps because Eliana was sleeping over 10 hours at night. We don't really know why. But praise be to God that resting more, adding in an extra feed or two, a lot of pumping and taking fenugreek tablets increased my milk supply again.
In the first 6-8 weeks especially, even when we did everything the book said, sometimes Eliana still cried. To Nate's and my great surprise, Eliana was not a 'textbook' baby :). The crying was HARD to listen to, especially for me. Nate had to hold me back sometimes when we were sure she wasn't hungry, cold, in pain, etc, yet she cried. Hearing my baby cry made my face fall, my body crumple and I would sometimes cry along with her. I would go and reassure her that everything was alright after 10-15 minutes and after a while she learnt to settle herself but sometimes she would go on crying until her next feed. Nothing prepared me for how hard this part of Babywise would be. But Eliana is a little champion and we feel that this hard short term sleep training has paid off wonderfully for us all.
We always put Eliana down in her crib to fall asleep on her own. This is wonderful... except when we're at church. Maybe it's because I'm a first time mum but sometimes I look with longing at parents with their sweet children asleep on their lap during the service. So I would recommend allowing your child to fall asleep in your lap sometimes. (However, Eliana did fall asleep in my arms for the first time ever last Sunday at church, being completely exhausted at Sunday School. I couldn't keep the grin off my face.)
All babies are different and I had to constantly remind myself not to compare Eliana with others. My sister's boys were sleeping 7pm - 7am by 12 weeks old and she never had problems with her milk supply. Other babies slept so much better for their naps than Eliana did. Eliana was on the lower end of the weight gain scale. Eliana didn't start cooing for weeks after others started, etc, etc. This is all ok. Our non-textbook baby is the one who God put in our care, and we wouldn't change her for the world! Roll with the punches and the blessings.
Sometimes, babies have off days. It's ok! That's what babies do:)
This is my personal review. I have no medical training, and only have 6 months of parenting experience. To be fair, here is a website created by some who have concerns about the advice Babywise gives: www.ezzo.info Here is also a blog by a Babywise mum. Reading it will give you comfort that your baby is not the only non-textbook baby:) www.babywisemom.blogspot.com

Some last thoughts:

I have heard it's been said that wanting your baby to sleep through the night is selfish. This caused me to examine my heart. Perhaps it's because of my ignorance but as for now my conscience is clear. I thought and still think that a good night sleep is a gift to my husband and child.
I've also heard that some worry that Babywise prevents bonding and attachment with your child. This couldn't be further from the truth for Eliana and me. We have such a sweet relationship. We light each other up. We have so much fun together. I think that if you love your child and care for them, no matter what style of parenting you choose, bonding and attachment will be inevitable.

I'm adding this comment in 2011, after having my 2nd daughter, Lilah. She is now 3 months old. I ended up struggling to produce enough milk for Eliana right up until she weaned at 12 months. I did all that I could to try and establish a strong milk supply with Lilah, but it turns out I am just one of those mums who has a hard time producing enough milk. Therefore I have two options: supplementing Lilah's feeds with formula; or keeping up the 10pm and the middle of the night feed. The latter is the better option for us, and I'm actually enjoying it :). The hubby and Eliana sleep through, and though Lilah cries for the middle of the night feed, she goes right back to sleep.

(For those with a low milk supply, I recently found that the Indian Spice, Shatavari, really helped. You can find it at a health food store. Ask your doctor/lactation consultant first.)

hello - g'day

2010-02-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

We've been back in the States for 2 months now. Since being back I have noticed, with renewed vigour, the many differences between American and Australian culture. One that is easily expressed is the different words we use. So, I've compiled a list for you word lovers. The list is in no way exhaustive but contains the words that, when used, most commonly produce a comment, question or blank stare.

USA - Australia

bangs - fringe
bathing suit - swimmers/cossies
breakfast - brekkie
call - ring
cell - mobile
cilantro - coriander
cookie - biscuit/bikky
cooler - eski
diaper - nappy
eraser - rubber
fall - autumn
flip flops - thongs
frosting - icing
ground beef - mince
gum - chewy
hat/taboggon - beanie
"hello" - "g'day"
hood (car) - bonnet
"how are you doing?" - "how are you going?"
marker - texta
mechanical pencil - pacer
pacifier - dummy
pavement - tar/bitumen road
pop/soda - fizzy drink/soft drink
"seriously!?" - "fair dinkum!?"
sidewalk - pavement/walkway
stroller - pram
sunglasses - sunnies
sweater - jumper
sweat pants - trackies
tennis shoes - joggers
trash - rubbish/garbage
trash can - bin
trunk - boot
two weeks - fortnight
water fountain - bubbler
"wow!" - "crikey!"

A talk with Eliana

2009-12-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

I've read that babies can start cooing by 6 weeks. At 10 weeks Eliana is a bit behind, but today she gave it her best effort :). Turn your volume up!

Summer to Winter

2009-12-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

Nate, Eliana and I flew back to the USA on Nov 25th. The flights from Sydney to San Fransisco to Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI, went beautifully. Nate and I are slowly adjusting to the 16 hour time difference while Eliana has been a little champion and has quickly settled into her new routine. Thanks be to God for his answers to your prayers! The different time zone has been accompanied by a different season. Last week we were swimming in the ocean and this week we are shovelling snow!

This is us on the beach our last night in Aus. The water was so beautiful and warm!

And this is the gorgous but bitter December weather in Michigan!

The Lakelins

2009-12-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos of our last night with the Lakelins. What a wonderful year we had with my sister and her family. We are so thankful to God for bringing us to them and for their never ending sacrificial giving and love. We learnt so much from them about godly parenting, servanthood, hard work, homekeeping, marriage, contentment, cheerful generosity, selflessness, joyful sacrifice, trust in God, love for Christ and how to function as a devoted Chrisitan in the real world, to name but a few. We had so many laughs and fun times together. We miss them dearly and look forward to the day when we can all sit down over a Milo again.

Jason - 15 months

Wesley - 4 years

AJ -nearly 6 years

The Pipers return

2009-12-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here are the Pipers, our beloved friends whom we worked with in Mozambique. They are the reason I (Jenni) went to Mozambique, to home-school their 2 boys along with 5 other wonderful kids. They also played a big part in setting me up with Nate. With their gentle nudging and countless morning tea and dinner invites they watched us go from acquaintance to friendship to engagement.
They arrived back in Wollongong, Australia, 5 days before we left for the States. We were so blessed to be able to see them again - and their 3 children who seem double the height they were 2.5 years ago! We love you Pipers!

The first 6 weeks

2009-11-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

The first 6 weeks have been wonderful. Parents often say that when the child comes, it was like they were always there. How true this is. I was half marveling yesterday as we went on errands that it felt quite normal to see Nate pushing a pram with our daughter in it!

Eliana is a beautiful happy baby. She smiles daily now and there is nothing like a baby's smile. It makes you laugh and melt at the same time. While she is a happy baby, she still has her fair share of fussiness! She loves to keep reminding her mumma and dadda that they need to constantly turn to God for wisdom and dependence.

Eliana turns 6 weeks next Wednesday. She gets a 6 week check up and immunisations. To us she seems like a very long but skinny baby (apart from her double chin:)) so I'm looking forward to seeing how she is growing. Eliana has untamable hair that Aunty Wooz has appropriately labelled tidal wave hair. Her eyes are a dark, undefinable colour but seem like they'll turn dark brown. Her fingers are super long and I hope that she'll be keen to use them to play the guitar and/or piano one day.

I love the photo below. Eliana is 4 weeks and it's the only one of all three of us taken since the hospital. It's almost a true to life photo. I'm all ruffled and bed-headed from sleeping in after the 11pm, 3am and 6 am feeds and Eliana is loudly letting us know that she's ready for her 9am feed, yet we are all very happy. The only thing that is different from real life is that Nate's head is usually all there.

There are more photos of Eliana on the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149786&id=543241773&l=8968ebe461

It's a girl!

2009-10-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Our little Eliana Ruth Schoen was born on Wednesday, 30th September at 9:14 am (Aussie time). She weighed 8lb (3.6kg) and was 49 cm long (don't know in inches). We are so thankful to our God for a beautiful healthy baby. She feeds and sleeps like a champion!

I know she's not really smiling in the below photo but she sure does look happy to be on daddy's shoulder!

The task of raising such a small, dependant child is an amazing privilege. We are loving every bit, even the round the clock feedings!

We have such a great love for Eliana. Oh, how it has deepened my awe of God to know that he gave His Only, perfect Son to pay the penalty for sinners! Praise Him!

Lovely Lisa

2009-09-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

In my first months as a Christian I was encouraged to form a prayer triplet. So each week I met with 2 wonderful girls, Clare and Lisa, who were such an example to me with their lives, honesty, prayers and love for God and His Word. Last year Lisa left her home comforts and moved to Thailand to home-school missionary children. Within her first few weeks overseas she met Dave. Yesterday they married. Does the story sound familiar???? :)
Congrats my lovely Lisa.

Below I am 39 weeks pregnant. While I am very ready and excited to meet our baby, I'm glad the bub held off so that I could witness the joining of Lisa and Dave in marriage. For 2 weeks now the baby's head has been engaged. On Friday the midwife said everything is looking great and the baby could come any day now. We are just waiting for God's perfect timing!

Dad and Mum Larter have come from Dubbo (6 hours away) to stay with us for a month to be with me when the baby comes. So right now there are 6 adults and 3 kids (soon to be 4) living under the same roof. It is such a wonderful privilege to be surrounded by family. I think our nephews enjoy it the most :)

Labour t-shirt

2009-09-23T00:09:00.000-07:00

The hospital that I'm giving birth at asks that you bring some comfy clothing to labour in. I didn't have anything large enough that was ok to ruin so Nate found the perfect cheap mansized t-shirt. Hopefully it should give the midwives a bit of a laugh.

Nate has a job!

2009-09-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Just when we thought it was impossible for Nate to get a job (we only have 2.5 months left in Australia), God does a miracle. The hospital rang Nate up and offered him a job for 2.5 months and they are more than happy for Nate to have time off when I have the baby! What a wonderufl provider God is. Nate's bosses also admitted that it's not the most stimulating job (a lot of scanning documents) so they encouraged the workers to listen to their mp3 players. Nate is loving this opportunity to work. Praise God:)

My sister threw me a wonderful baby shower a week ago. It was so nice to celebrate our baby and have friends pray for us. At present I am 38.5 weeks preggers. I can finally say the baby is due next week! Thursday next week! We are very ready and excited to meet our bub.

Below I am 37 weeks pregnant. When I saw that photo I was shocked at how massive I am!

Relaxing

2009-08-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Besides a bit of bush walking at the Blue Mountains, Nate and I got to enjoy heaps of relaxing. We sampled some of the finest local apple pie, scones with fresh cream and homemade mulberry jam and coffee. (And we easily finished the whole bowl of fresh cream...mmmmm....)

And we also spent heaps of time trying our hand at art using the easels Nate made. Below is Nate in fine form. I bet you want to know what he's painting....

This is the beginning of something wonderful I think. However, Nate will soon be immersed in study, work and fatherhood so we might have to wait a few years for him to have the time to let this talent bloom.

Above is the desk top easel that Nate whipped up so that we could do art at the same time. What a man.

Our Final Fling

2009-08-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Nate and I headed to the Blue Mountains to stay at a friend's holiday house for a week. It was probably our last fling as a couple "married without kids". And it was soooo wonderful. The Blue Mountains are the best "mountains" Australia has and, while not quite the Rockies, they are rugged, vast and, well, true blue.

On our first day we hiked around The Three Sisters...

Echo point lookout, Katoomba...

We hiked down The Giant Staircase (our knees and legs started shaking only halfway down)Into the valley

And then back up again (and boy could I feel my calf muscles for the next few days!). This was me at 33 weeks. I've finally "popped out". Aaaah, I love the Australian bush.

Nate's plants

2009-08-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here is my gorgeous hubby working on the new art easel.

And here is some evidence of Nate's green thumb. Below are the mint and basil that have sprung up from the seeds he had sown.

And below are Nate's sugar snap peas. Last night a hefty wind blew half of them down but Nate was quick to string them back up first thing this morning. I love watching the way Nate cares for plants, how he studies how they grow and how pruning makes them flourish. I also love thinking about how these plants sprang up from a tiny seed. God is a wonderful, creative designer. How generous he is to give us such a beautiful world rich in colour and intricate goodness!

Nowra

2009-08-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to Grandma H in Michigan who wanted to know what Nate's been up to in Australia. (Sorry for neglecting that side of things Grandma!)

For the month of July Nate was blessed with some work on a friend's farm. For 3 days per week we'd drive 1 hour south down a beautiful country road (ocean on one side and green pastured hills on the other) to Nowra. Nate did a whole range of things from 5am - 5 pm... fixed fences, slashed paddocks in a tractor, milked 400 cows, fed calves, and moved furniture. He loved the work but I think his favourite part of each day was his farmer's breakfast from 8-9am - espresso coffee, bacon, sausages, freshly laid eggs and baked beans. I didn't get any photos of Nate hard at work but I did get some photos of the house we stayed at (where I spent my days while Nate worked) ....

It was such a wonderful, peaceful time and we're so thankful for God's provision. Over the year Nate has applied for heaps of jobs but nothing opened up. However, people from church have been so generous in giving Nate odd jobs like painting, yard work and gardening. Nate would say that he's the jack of all trades, master of none, so he has been able to exercise random skills and has loved every moment. Now that the job on the farm is finished we're back in Wollongong full time. Nate just finished a seminary Greek course by correspondence. He loved it! He now tutors 1 student per week in Maths. He'd love a few more students but we'll take anything we can get. The time is really ending where he could get a job, seeing as we'll be returning to the States in about 3.5 months! Until then, he is always keeping himself busy with a range of endeavours like gardening here at Tim and Wooz's (he has a beautiful row of sugar snap peas ready to flourish). Right at this moment he's building an easel out of Tim's scrap wood in order to try his skill at water colour painting. I'm looking forward to the results... I've seen Nate's paint experiments and it seems he'll be a master of the water colour trade!

Disclaimer

2009-07-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

My sister tells me that in the last blog I sounded a bit fed up and tired. It seems I haven't mastered the skill of conveying the correct mood in my writing. Maybe I should use more :)'s. I was actually trying to sound jovial so if you were worried about me, try reading the below blog picturing me with a smile on my face.

:):):):):):):):):)

I am really loving being pregnant and I get a lot of satisfaction from the new challenges that come with it. For example, it's hard work tying my shoe laces right now, but all of the puffing it causes results in some nice attention and sympathy from my affectionate husband. (Maybe I play it up a bit too).

ps - It was also such a wonderful time catching up with my girlfriends that I would definately brave the wee hours of the morning again to be with them.

Sydney

2009-07-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Nate and I headed to Sydney for a night to visit some of my highschool friends. We had just enough time to see two of the famous Sydney icons. See how warm winter is in Australia!!!!

Below: The Opera House

The Harbour Bridge

27 weeks

Some of my best friends from school. I've known all of these girls since I was 6 yrs old. Lill, Jo and Bianca. We stayed up talking until the wee hours of the morning. As much as I love them, I don't know if I could do it again. I'm still recovering!

The third trimester has hit me with a bang! My energy levels have dropped by half, I've startd feeling the heat that you do when you're pregnant and man have I had to work on controlling my emotions! I can now sympathise with anyone who has cried over spilt milk!

2 years

2009-06-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

Last week, on June 2nd, Nate and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. It's always great to have an excuse to go out for our favourite meal of the day - breakfast. After a hearty meal of meat and eggs galore we decided to climb one of my favourite mountains, Mt Kiera, despite the pelting rain.

By the time we started out the rain had slowed to a drizzle and then the sky cleared for the rest of our trip except for 1 nice shower on the way down. The weather on our many adventures always reminds Nate and me that we are like little children who are constantly getting good gifts from our Heavenly Father, who can calm or stir a storm.

Above is a statue at the start of the climb with the clearing sky behind.

What I love about Mt Kiera is that it is only about a 2 hour round trip (although now it's a bit longer for a pregnant lady) and involves climbing a "waterfall" (never more than a trickle), scrambling up steep, loose hills with hands and feet, scaling a few large boulders, getting dirty and finding the odd leech. Nate always beats me in the amount of leeches we pick up on wet walks. This time Nate won hands down 5 -0. He even had one on his belly!

We are making it a tradition to sum up our marriage for the year in one word. Last year we easily came up with "revealing". This year it took about all of Mt Kiera to come to an agreement. We decided to sum up our 2nd year with the word "adventure". Since June 02, 2008 we've been blessed to visit Puerto Rico, Europe and Australia (and to have a 2 night stay in Asia if that counts) not to mention plenty of wonderful adventures in good old Kentucky. Each place holds a new story and lesson for us. Most of all, our marriage has been full of adventure and excitement metophorically. Learning more about God and each other has been the best part. And I can tell you, be it on our futon, a camping mat or in a foreign land, there is nothing much more exciting for me than the joy of waking up next to Nate each morning

A tribute to Sarah

2009-05-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is a tribute to my sister's best friend, Sarah. For Wooz's 30th birthday party Sarah arranged for Wooz's back yard to be transformed into a garden party setting. She baked her heart out and had others bring plates of food. She also organised people to put money in to purchase a huge range of Wooz's choice of plants. Then, at the party, the guests planted all of the plants and transformed Wooz's garden in an hour! It was a wonderful day and I just wanted to give Sarah a very big thanks for the mammoth effort that she, her family and her friends put in.

Sarah and Wooz

Cup cakes hand made by Sarah and her husband.

Here are some of Wooz's friends hard at work...

The great coastal walk

2009-05-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

Nate and I just did the great coastal walk. It's a 28km bush walk (hike) just north of Wollongong. We journeyed through lush green rain forest, over isolated golden beaches, between unique Aussie scrub and along rough and windy cliff edges.

It rained and we got soaked in the 1st half hour on day 1 but God was very kind to dry us off with a nice breeze. We managed to set our tent up just before the afternoon rain which then lasted all night. In the morning the rain stopped and made way to perfect bush walking weather. Glorious!

The Aussie side of our family

2009-05-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the Aussie relatives of the Schoens - Mum and Dad Larter...

My oldest brother and his wife, Jt and Jen...

Tim, my sister Belinda (Wooz) and their 3 sons Jason, Wesley and AJ...

Here is Uncle Nate spending some QT with his nephews...

And here are Scon, Baz and their 2 rascals again...

20 Weeks

2009-05-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in Wollongong. Each Sunday Nate and I have our "date day" and come down to the beach to enjoy a coffee and the ocean.

And here I am trying my best to look 20 weeks pregnant. Yep, we've made it halfway and praise God every day for little "Norman". We had the 19 week ultra sound last week and everything seems normal. We opted out of finding out what sex the baby is - we'll wait for a surprise. Any guesses from you? Nate thinks a boy and I think a girl. The due date is October 1st. I'm guessing that Norman/da will come 2 days early, though my sister (who has had 3 sons that came over a week late) says I have no chance...

The Australian Wild

2009-03-19T01:52:00.000-07:00

We went camping in the Warrumbungles and this big guy tried to get into our tent. It's a goanna, and you can't really tell here but he's nearly as long as Jenni is tall!

The kangaroos were quite mild-mannered and they would just hang out around our campsite all the time.

This isn't just any bird, it is a kooo kooo kaaa kaaa kaaa kookaburra! They sound a bit like monkeys if you aren't from Australia. Several of them surrounded us while we were cooking dinner one night and stole some of our potatoes.

And these are the most dangerous of all... Milk calves. We were visiting friends on their farm, and as we were leaving one of these little guys jumped through the fence. Nate fled while Jenni coaxed him back into the paddock.

Switzerland

2009-02-12T06:12:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Switzerland.

One of our favourite times was sledging for 1.5 hours down a 15km sled run in the Swiss Alps

But first - we had to hike up for 2.5 hours! It was worth every step.

We ran out of camera batteries for the peak and sledging down but just imagine sledging through this...

Pisa

2009-01-26T12:18:00.001-08:00

There is not much to do in Pisa but see the leaning tower. The following photos show tourists at their best (or worst)...

"Hey, look, I'm over here!"

Food in Italy

2009-01-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Four best things about Italy (aside from Michelangelo, etc.)....

Pizza

Espressos and Caffé Macciato

Gelato

and Pizza

Goodbye UK, Hello France (and Monaco)

2009-01-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

We spent our last day in the UK at beautiful Bath, named after the natural hot Roman Baths pictured below... Randomly, I ran into my old soccer coach from Sydney!

That night we drove our 'left-side-of-the-road' VW onto a Ferry which took us to 'drive-on-the-right-side-of-the-road' continental Europe. We arrived in France and headed straight for the beaches of Normandy. Pont Hoc, seen below, was an array of over 100 craters and heaps of broken bunkers caused by bombs on D-day. Solemnly breathtaking...

Paris was next for 3 wonderful nights but I'll save that for its own update another day. After Paris we stayed a night in Champaign to try some champaign then headed for some of the best times ever in Switzerland (also to recieve a separate update). Then, back to France and amazing Annecy. The streets of Annecy are intertwined with the town's river and has a backdrop of the French Alps...

After snow and below freezing weather for over a week we arrived in Southern France, Marseilles. The temperature was mild, the Mediterranean was sparkling and the architecture just as splendid...

Nice was next - a comfortable beach town with daily fruit and flower markets, excellent public transport, awesome hostel (our favourite so far) and a skip and a hop any which way to more beaches, cafes, history, panaramas and architecture...

While in Nice we took a day trip over to Monaco, the 2nd smallest country in the world, which is on the coast and surrounded by France. There is a spectacular guard change (complete with drums, trumpets and lots of gun twirling) once a day at the Monarco palace at 11:55am sharp. Nate and I jumped off the bus at 11:30 and ran like crazy for 25min to reach the palace right on time. The run was worth it just to see the pleasure on Nate's face as he watched the guards do their thing...

Below is the Monte Carlo - the famous casino that James Bond likes to frequent. We didn't see 007 but we did count 5 Ferraris, 8 Mercedis and Bentleys, 1 Rolls Royce (and 1 Smart Car) parked out the front.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

On the first day of '09 we drove out to Wales' Brecon Beacons National Park with Baz, Scon, Sammy and Carys. It was a balmy -4 Celcius...

The below is not a black and white photo...

Freiky Frost...Scon and Sammy

Roaring Carys...

Frozen River...

two weeks travelling, episode 1

2008-12-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Castle from the 13th Century...

Nate's life story...

Look what we hiked along for 2 hours this morning!...

Cliffs and crystal blue waters in west Wales...

The morning sun and our favourite village in the background...

Meet the family

2008-12-11T10:05:00.001-08:00

My brother, Baz, his wife, Scon, and their 2 kids Carys (Bubba) and Samuel (Oushy)...

Oushy knows where the lollies are kept in this bag...

What a stunner!

Sights so far

2008-12-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Cardiff Castle...
Stone Henge...

British telephone box...

Every day park in Wales...

St Paul's Cathedral, Salisbury...

Charming decorations outside St Paul's Cathedral... (notice the Lizard?)

First Day in London/Wales

2008-12-03T12:24:00.001-08:00

Jet Lag...

Beautiful Day in London...

The view from our bedroom window in Wales at Baz and Scon's house...

Buckingham Palace...

The view of London from St Paul's Cathedral...

Autumn in Louisville

2008-12-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

Beautiful! The view from our window on campus...

Camping at Red River Gorge in October

2008-12-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

This post is for you Ben and Chelsea! Just some photos of Nate and me camping with some of our mates from Care Group. We were at the Red River Gorge when the air just got some chill and the leaves got some colour...

Planning the hike...

Bbq chicken at it's best...

4th of July

2008-07-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Nate and I headed to our local artsy street to see some local fire works on the 4th of July. We ran into our friends Justin and Bonnie (in the background). Despite the rain, a large crowd gathered huge crowds gathered to see the celebrations.

A lucky press of the button on the camera!

Our 1 year anniversary

2008-06-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

The 2nd of June was our 1st anniversary and we had an excellent time relaxing at Taylorsville Lake State Park -1/2 hour drive from home here in Louisville, Kentucky. As far as the park goes, the hiking was on horribly sludgy horse trails and the lake was only accessible for boats... but it was still splendid jumping back in our trusty red rocket van and hanging out on our camping chairs - just like we did many times on our 10 week honeymoon around the USA a year ago.

My sister, Wooz, told me that she and Tim have a tradition on each anniversary of summing up their marriage the previous year with one word. Nate and I had a go at this and agreed on "revealing". Our marriage revealed a lot about ourselves, our selfishness, God's abundant grace and generosity and how God wants to change us to be more like Jesus. It has been full of joy, even with trials, and I wonder if there could be anyone happier than I am. Being Nate's wife is an underserved blessing and it is a constant reminder to me of God's grace in sending his only Son, Jesus. I did nothing to deserve such a fun, wonderful, loving, godly husband and how much more did I do nothing to be saved!

Even while I was rejecting God, he opened my eyes to the truth. Because of my sin against God, my creator, I deserve hell. But God chose to punish Jesus for my sin. Then God rose Jesus from the dead and set him as ruler over all things. I don't deserve heaven but because I have believed this good news, God has saved me from his coming judgement. He will take me to be with him when my time on this world is over. Knowing Jesus is my greatest joy; and my 2nd joy is sharing this faith with Nate, a picture of God's grace.

Spring in Lousiville is amazing

2008-06-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

How can we but praise God when we see Spring in Louisville. These photos are from April, the 2nd month of Spring, yet even now into June, there seems to be a new flower flowering each week!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi!

2008-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

It's wonderful! An awesome family of New Zealand Kiwis live on campus at Southern. And they're passionate about real sport! After some Tim Tams last Fri night (they sell them at World Market in the USA now!) we headed to the gym for some indoor cricket. Nate and I sported the green and gold against the NZ All Blacks...

Thanks for the face paint, Jt and Jen!

We had Aaron and Kyle over for stir fry tonight. Aaron, Kyle and Nate were all 'Journeymen' with the IMB (International Mission Board). They met during preparation time before each went on their separate 2 year overseas mission. We ran into them (and quite a few other Journeymen) on campus at Southern . It was tops to share stories and hang out.

All smiles - the result from exceptional company and excellent food at the Schoen household!

Taboganning

2008-02-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

We just had 4 inches of puffy, fat flaked snow. Beautiful. After hearing the forcast this avo, Nate and his buddy, David, went to Target and bought $4 sleighs. Random people from all over campus got together to try them out tonight. It didn't take long for security to send us off campus, which was tops because we found an even bigger/steeper hill just down the road. Sleighing is awesome!
We didn't take the camera with us for action shocks but here are the after results...

sorry, we've discovered that it's impossible for me to keep my eyes open for photos with the flash... I don't understand how everyone else can keep them open!

That white blemish in the above photo is an example of one of the fat, puffy flakes! Beautiful. Snow flakes really look like a 3D minature version of the cut out snow flakes we make in preschool. (I apologise for my ignorance and amazement to all you snow-experienced friends)

We're in Kentucky and I'm a perminant resident...

2008-02-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a kick up the bum, from both Macca and Amy, here is a quick update...

We're living on campus at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

We love our big windowed apartment:

Nate loves what he's learning at bible college:

My immigration (or alien, as the government fondly refers to me as) case has been approved! Praise God!

I'm now a permanent resident and I have a job as a preschool teacher... but I can't work until that permanent resident card arrives in the mail!

I'll update this blog much more regularly from now on... or did I promise that last time???

The First Snow and Our Status

2007-11-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to on Thanksgiving morning. Beautiful! (That's the golf-course in the background, Baz).

As far as my experience goes, Thanksgiving in America is a day when families get together to eat heaps of turkey and pumpkin pie. In some cases, after all the bellies are full, the awkward family moments are passed and in-law jokes are over... people remember to give thanks...

Nate and I are especially thankful for the joy and fullness of life we have in and through Jesus. It continues to awe us that our Creator would die to pay the penalty for our sin! Now he is risen and ruler!

We're also thankful for the joy God's given us in our marriage. We're still having tons of fun, despite being in 'limbo land'.

Here's where we are as of Nov 28, subject to change of course...

Immigration status:

Approved authorisation for employment. Yay!
Approved authorisation to return to USA if we leave the country.

Unfortunately, they stop the permanent residency application process if we leave the USA so we've decided to post-pone our visit to sunny, warm, slang-speaking Aus until I'm all approved. That means June-ish 2008-ish? We have an interview with them on Jan 8th so please pray that this will go smoothly. Apparently they drill you to make sure I didn't just marry Nate for the USA residency (they don't realise how funny that is) so we've been practising our synchronised stories. (To all those detectives out there - that was a joke.)

Bible College status:

Nate has been accepted by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. (They're still deciding on me - I'm an international student, apparently with a complicated history:)) We'll be moving into married housing on campus sometime in Jan to start study around Jan 20. We're heaps excited about starting to study God's word and learning from those around us.

Lastly, please don't be fooled by my inherited sarcastic cynicism. I am really loving the snow and the crazy cold (-4C at 5:30pm - and it's not even winter yet!). I am loving spending time getting to know Nate's top, generous, welcoming family and Nate is lapping up being able to see them while we're still here.

Just in case you're wondering how we spend our weekdays - we're staying with Nate's folks until Jan and helping them out at their office.

On Sundays we've been having fun helping out at Sunday School. Most other times are still filled with scrabble but occasionally we venture out to eat buffalo wings or bbq ribs with friends:)

...yep... lots of mushy love and loving it!

In the mean time...

2007-10-18T08:46:00.001-07:00

In the mean time, Nate and I have been visiting relatives and friends in various places. Below we were at Harsen's Island. It's in the north of Michigan so we got to canoe over the river to Canada. No illegal entry though - I got lost in the reeds.
Here are Nate's Aunty, Uncle and cousin. They showed us a great time in Chicago - including a broadway show, great Italian, home made key lime pie and a ferry tour in the pouring rain!
Checking out the massive buildings in Chicago.

We had an excellent time visiting a bunch of Nate's missionary friends at a wedding in Memphis. It was so refreshing to see them again. We had lots of laughs hearing about and sharing our own overseas experiences. Below, we ran out of gas, so instead of our home cooked pasta we got to experience downtown Memphis BBQ pork shoulder. Mmmmm

where is that green card?

2007-10-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

The delay of the green card has enabled me to exprience a Michigan Autumn. The leaves are turning magnificent oranges and reds. One day I'm wrapped up in scarf and gloves, the next, it's singlet and shorts weather! Nate and I are developing a custom of drinking hot, spiced apple cider over the Scrabble board. Last weekend Nate and his sister, Sara, and her new hubby, Eric, introduced me to pumpkin carving. I'm the swirl and Nate's the evil eyes, of course.

As of today, October 18th, the green card could be anywhere from 3 to 12 months away! We were hoping to be back in Australia by now, but instead of just waiting around, Nate and I have decided take some steps towards long term overseas mission. We're going to enroll at bible college in the USA to start in Feb 2008. Not sure which one - maybe Golden Gate in San Francisco or Southern Baptist in Louisiana. Pray for wisdom for us!

If the green card comes through before American summer, we should be able to visit Aus around June/July next year...

nate's beard (continued)

2007-08-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

getting longer - Grand Teton, Wyoming
woah! the bushmaster - Devil's Tower, Wyoming
Love the handlebar - back in Michigan
booo! Bring back the beard! - the honey moons over...

nate's beard

2007-08-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

a few days after the wedding - Tennessee

what a hotty! Washington D.C.

3 weeks growth - Austin, TX

4 weeks