pregnancy so far...

Without meaning to, I've been fairly silent on the whole pregnancy on this blog. I'll revise that statement...I guess I've just been almost totally silent on this blog, period. It's just been an incredibly busy semester...I didn't think I could really get much busier. At least Ken's been writing :)

In any case, things have been going well! I can't really even post belly pictures cause there's not much to see. There's just a little belly bump, enough to need the marvelous belly band that allows me to not have to button my pants :-D. Believe me, you wish you had one. I hear that once I wear maternity pants, I won't want to go back to non-elastic waistbands. So anyway, I've got this tiny baby bump without gaining weight yet, so I checked in with my doctor this morning about whether that was ok that I haven't gained and whether I should be eating more, since I was worried that I haven't really added enough calories to my diet. So she asked what I ate yesterday to give her an idea of what I've been eating.

"Um...started with raisin bran. I had some cottage cheese and goldfish later..."
"Was that lunch?"
"Oh no, I eat several times before lunch. Then I had a small burrito that's only like 220 calories for lunch..."
"Ah, maybe you can have more to eat for lunch!"
"Oh, that wasn't all. I had yogurt, cantalope, string cheese and Baked Lays."

Her face at this point is a little incredulous and she stops writing down what I'm saying. So, I guess I'm doing ok on food, but I ate just this same amount before I got pregnant too, so I guess in my mind I was supposed to be eating *more*. I know I should be eating more vegetables at least, but the really healthy ones still make me make faces when I think of them. Tomatoes and spinach are the worst...I thought I was over it, but then Ken brought pizza home with none other than the 3 things that haven't sounded good lately: chicken, tomatoes, and spinach. Poor guy thought I was doing better with these ingredients, and the pizza did taste better than I thought, but mannn he's lucky it wasn't a week earlier.

Even though these aren't the most eventful pictures, here's how I look so far...

<---4 weeks
















12 weeks:








And the last is 14 weeks and a couple days, taken this morning. This isn't the most relaxed my stomach gets, so I was trying to find that balance between making myself look much further along and trying to at least have something to show :)

In the words of the great J. Thomas Wren...

One of my mentors in college spoke to our class the day before graduation. He said something that has always stuck with me, and has a profound impact on the way I view the world, and view myself in the world. He said "Do well. Strive For Excellence. But most important, live a life of consequence." If you think about it on a superficial level, it's pretty inspiring. Everything we do in this life, the smallest act, the slightest interaction, all of it has a consequence. It could be miniscule and undiscerning. A simple look in somebody's eye as you pass them, or a 'good morning sir' to a man you see as you walk to work could have a profound domino effect on that person's day, where they can look back on that one moment at some point during that day and think 'today started a bit brighter than the last.' This is a very simplistic example, but one that's very relevant in my life, where NOBODY says anything to anyone in the morning here in Boston for fear of a dirty look or, worse, violent response. To simplify it, it matters a great deal to me how I choose to interact with others here, because I maintain a very real, almost tangible consciousness about how my outward attitude has consequence.

On a grander scale, I think about how everything I do has the potential to end up being something great. This has been especially helpful in my job from time to time, as I have been humbled many times by disliking certain facets of the job, or different people with whom I interact. Yet when I start to think about what I am learning or missing by complaining about it, I am brought back to this idea of "you have no idea of the consequences of what you're doing at this very moment in time, so you had better get yourself together and put your best foot forward."

Which brings me to the next layer of this mental floss. Bear with me, because I think I'm about to go off into the theoretical. So if every moment of our existence has consequence that can be good or bad, imagine how our consciousness of that cause and effect could influence the outcome. I often think about all of the different approaches that I could take or have taken to situations that I come across, and wonder, 'would another approach have produced a more favorable consequence for me or others? It's good to reflect on situations after they occur, or (when possible) as they occur, to see think about all of the future outcomes of what I choose to do in the moment. This is a huge empowerment. Imagine the possibilities. We have control over what those consequences will be. It's incredible to think of what we can do, and how we can 'manipulate' the world around us. And while on the one hand, sometimes I think "gosh, it sounds simple enough. Just be more conscious about what you're doing and think smarter and faster about the exponential outcomes of your day to day life," it's so much harder than that. Why? Because I'm a sinner. It's virtually in my DNA. Even in the most optimistic of circumstances, I alone, nor with the world around me, will never maximize my own possibilities for returns.

So really, the final layer to all this: faith in the Lord. It is nearly impossible to make a 100% calculated and informed decision in life, unless it's planned. And life can't really be planned. It just sort of happens, even if you try to make it slow down or stop. So literally, every second of every day is a choice that I make without thought, without the chance to calculate or assess what outcome is going to be most favorable in the short and long term. I don't always get the chance to think about the consequences of my life 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 years, or 50 years after the moment has passed. I can typically only reflect back, and, unless you're Mr. H.G. Wells over here, there's no going back. And Lord KNOWS, I have looked back and seen a lot of really bad moments where my actions, thoughts, attitude, behavior did not represent someone who is trying to live a purposeful life. All of this brings me back to my desire to be close to the Lord. Because I know that I alone am a sinner, and my life is marred by sin. And therefore, the only way to really trust that my actions are steering closer to a 'good' consequence versus a 'bad' one is to trust in the Lord. Jesus' mother Mary said it in the Magnificat: my soul magnifies the Lord. If my mind, heart, and sould become essentially a prism of Christ's light, then the pressure on me is sort of removed, and I become wholly dependent upon Him to help me live a life of meaningful consequence.

Psalm 62:7-8 :
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

Trusting in God, the heart is fixed.

I think looking at the world and empowering myself to live a life of consequence is reasonable, and shouldn't be discouraged. I still have responsibility to behave and act in a way that is good and thoughtful. But I think where I fall short, and where I am trying to be more intentional, is centering my life around the Lord, so that the consequences that flow out of my living life is a testament to the way in which I honor God and glorify Him. My life of consequence should not be a tribute to me, but to Him!

Marriage Fulfilled.

Yep, it's true. And yes, it was planned. We are so excited.

End of Wedding Season

We've had a busy wedding season starting with last November. Let me start by saying I love weddings. Love em. Why? It's a simple formula: free food (including apps), (sometimes) free drinks, great friends, and (most importantly) music and dancing. I love it. LOVE IT. It's mostly because I have one of the funnest dancing partners a man could have, a woman who is ready to be the first on the dance floor to get things started right away. She's great folks.

In just 3 short years, we've had a ton of weddings to look back on and remember. This year, I took special note of wedding do's and don't's. So here goes with my top 10:

10) Don't forget the mothers of the bride and groom in the back of the church. I mean, that is (should be) just a given people.

9) There is one thing that is absolutely essential to a wedding. No, not the bride and groom. No, not the dress. It's actually the cake. and frosting. There should be ample amounts, and a groom's cake (chocolate on chocolate) is like, the greatest wedding ever. Tollhouse pie from the Vineyard works too.

8) "That's What Friends Are For" was a number 1 hit for Dionne Warwick & Friends in 1986. Here's the thing though: if it's not even played at 8th grade or high school graduations, it DEFINITELY doesn't belong at a wedding.

7) 'Air-[insert]' is an incredible way to get any dancefloor hoppin'. In the past, I have seen the ability of a good Air-Double-Dutch take a wedding from polite and conservative to OVER THE TOP.

6) I'm partial to a buffet. I am. Sometimes people like a little extra helping of the meat, ok?

5) Don't assume Evan Baker is wasted; he swears he doesn't get drunk. That's what he told the minister after he assumed that he was schwasted. Also, someone told the minister to keep the d away from...well whatever.

4) Know your tunes: there are very few musicians that everyone in attendance love when they are played. Like Miley Cyrus.

3) It's not good to start competitions at weddings. It takes the focus off of the married people.

2) Always have a Drew Setterberg present for your wedding. The man will work and sweat his TAIL off for the sake of your event. YOU KNOW YOU MAKE ME WANNA SHOUT.

1) There is no one more comforting to share a wedding with than my wife. She's a great dancer, easy on the eyes, takes great photos, and just a blast.

Some day we're gonna look back on this wedding season and think, "we were YOUNG...just a couple of kids...havin a good time." Here's to another great wedding season with our close friends.

and these are different concepts?...

Me: Hi, we just realized we bought the wrong external hard drive, and we'd like to return it, but we threw the receipt out and the trash went out this morning.

Costco guy: That's no problem, just bring it in.

Me: Great, so we can exchange it without the receipt?

Costco guy: Well, we don't do exchanges. But you can return it and then get another one.

Me: (silence). Ok, we'll go that route then...

***
God love 'em though...they've got cans of tuna the size of my head and they feed me free samples while I shop.

trip highlights...

I hardly remembered how to log onto this. It's about time we updated everyone on the awesome trip!! It definitely felt like a once-in-a-lifetime thing :) I'll try to keep it short and sweet, just the highlights. At this point, for the 5 people who read this, we've probably already told you about it, but this couldn't hurt.

The favorite moments:
1. We started off with a random upgrade to business class. I think the woman was trying to flirt with Ken, but for whatever reason, we ended up in chairs that reclined into beds, drinking free wine, watching movies on demand, and eating as much gourmet food as we could in 6 hours. Man it was hard going back to coach...(Ken trying to choose what to eat from the menu---->)

2. We somehow managed to see a significant portion of Rome, and spend about 20 Euros on water, in less than 24 hours. Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, Trevi Fountain, etc. We should probably go back and do it justice, but it was fun to run (sometimes literally) around the city.

3. Seeing multiple places of biblical significance was pretty astounding. And since there are so many, many sights like that, I could see how living there might make someone take that for granted. You turn the corner, and bam, there's a place where Paul preached, or a spot where Socrates taught. Ephesus was much cooler than we expected, too, in part because it's the site that's much less exploited, and it was our favorite city we visited.

4. You couldn't pay me to go back to the Vatican Museum on "It's Free, Everyone Bring Your Entire Extended Family" day (aka the last Sunday of every month). (see the picture--that was about 1/4 of the line we stood in) It just couldn't be enjoyed under those circumstances. St. Peter's Basilica was more impressive. Actually, we have the crowds to thank for Ken being able to get *in* to St. Peter's, since his shorts violated the strict dress code--the guards got distracted by having to stop a woman in front of us who was wearing a midriff. Or maybe they just got distracted by the midriff, but since they're Vatican guards, I think they're required to be upstanding people. Anyway, the Vatican all-around was great, including the crypt where Pope John Paul II's tomb is.

5. When the song says "I'm on a boat...I've got my swim trunks, and my flippy floppies", SNL gave good advice. I packed my flippy floppies, but forgot my swim trunks, or my swimsuit anyway. Worst move ever (who doesn't bring a suit on a cruise??)! While I was almost convinced to buy a suit for $80 just to have one, there was a massive sale on the second day of the cruise and I got a suit for $10. Yay!

6. Bathrooms are infinitely more private now than 2000 years ago. I know girls tend to make the trip to the bathroom a social thing, but this takes it to a whole new level. ------->

I think that's about it for highlights that I may not have mentioned to others. Now that all that is off my chest, I can post about other things! Like the fact that we got picked on by major bullies (I won't name names... :) ) for having a non-compelling blog. I assure you, we don't plan on changing anything :)

What the...

I saw this near my house when walking to work the other day.... Who are they calling deaf AND a child? that's just cold.

Jerks.