Nap Time

We are back home, mom and baby are napping. It was an expected night last night: a little feeding, a few hours of holding and entertaining and a little bit of sleep as well. Kara’s mom was here last night which was a huge help, what a blessing she has been to come over, watch the kids, clean, organize, and even re-decorate a little!

I love Gail, not just because she and I are wired very much alike. We are task people, we like checking off stuff, like cleaning, like stream-lining processes and so much more. We laugh with one another that we are not Veermans, that we are the outlaws. I love her because of her resolve, her servant’s heart, her desire to minister to others especially her family. She is a defender and protector, she desires wonderful things for her family and her friends. I am so thankful for her presence here for the oldest kids and for Kara in particular. She is a strength and support to us.

Lindsey May

Lindsey May arrived at 6:35 pm at 8 lbs 14 oz and 20.5 inches long. Everyone seems well, they are checking blood to make sure both Kara and Lindsey are healthy. What a long day, after 11 hours of being here, 10 in labor, all of a sudden Lindsey dropped and Kara pushed for 10 minutes. We are quietly resting after family and several friends were here to celebrate with us. More to come tomorrow we are sure.

now presenting…

It’s a…

So we had our ultrasound this morning. The baby looks great…all its parts are there and the heart looks very healthy. As soon as we walked in I told the technician that we wanted to find out the sex. She went to work right away and found our baby spread eagle, and most definitely a girl! Honestly, I didn’t really care what gender the baby was…I just wanted to know! I had a stupid smile pasted on my face the entire ultrasound. It is kind of strange to already know important information about this little one. Plus…whoa. 3 girls.

What a week!

This has been a very stressful week at the Conrad home.

Nate had his first set of oral exams yesterday for licensure. He is in the process of getting ordained in the Chicago Presbytery…a very DAUNTING task. Once he is licensed, he can then take his ordination exams in October. Last week Nate had 3 written exams. Yesterday he met with a committee and was grilled for 3 hours about English Bible, Theology, and the Book of Church Order. It went really well and the committee passed him. So, today he met with the floor of Presbytery (all men in the area who are in Presbytery) and he passed and is offically licensed! Nate has been very stressed out about this whole process and he did awesome. I am SO proud of him! Now he needs to study for his ordination exams in October…

I was such an emotional nervous wreck yesterday waiting for the results. I started getting a headache around noon. I usually get a lot of headaches in my pregnancies and they have been much more frequent in this pregnancy. By 8:00 I thought I was going to die and was really nauseous. It just kept getting worse and I was throwing up. It was the worst headache I have ever had! Nate was really worried, so we called my OB and he told us to go to the ER in case it was Pregnancy Induced Hypertension.

So…at 11:30 pm, I drove myself over to Rush-Copley. My blood pressure was 143/87 which is getting pretty high…and for perspective, was 108/30 when I left the hosptial in the morning! They just monitored me and ran some tests. I don’t have signs of hypertension yet, but they are very concerned about the headaches. At 1:30 am, I still had the headache, so they gave me Tylenol with Codeine. That worked really well…wish they would prescribe it to me! So, they wanted me to sleep there until the headache went away. I was home by 5:45 this morning so Nate could leave to prepare for his exams. Uh. What a night!

I was put on bed rest for today…my friend graciously watched my girls for the day so I could rest. I have not had a headache, but have been very tired from my lack of sleep last night. So…I will need to monitor my blood pressure, etc. Please pray that my blood pressure was high DUE to the headache and not the other way around.

Tomorrow is our BIG ultrasound! Hopefully I will post a picture of the baby tomorrow and let you know if it is a girl or boy…we tried to find out the sex in my other 2 pregnancies, and neither one cooperated…so hopefully this baby will “reveal” itself!

More tomorrow…

10 years ago today…

Our wedding was 10 years ago today! Nate has also officiated two weddings this summer…which has been such a wonderful reminder of the vows we made to each other…and make to each other every day. I am so thankful for Nate. He is a caring, thoughtful husband. We have experienced many joys (2 children and one on the way!) and many struggles (cancer) and I am thankful for all of these things. They have challenged us and shaped our marriage. Nate likes to say to me, “I love you more today than I did yesterday.” Thank you, Lord, for providing me with my best friend as my life partner. Here’s to many many more years together!

God is in control

I got back late last night from a 5 day trip to Alabama. Last Wednesday morning, July 2, we got a call that our good friends, Billy and Hope, (who recently moved to Alabama) four year old daughter, Alaina, had unexpectedly died that night. I just can not imagine the pain they have experienced and will continue to experience every day from the loss of this precious child.

I left Thursday night with four other people from our church to go to Alabama and help our dear friends. Oh…what a hard, but encouraging weekend it was with Billy and Hope. It was really hard to watch them suffer and grieve for their little girl…but humbling and encouraging to see them give God ALL the glory. We had lots of time with tears, but also some connecting time to laugh and time together to rejoice that Alaina is dancing with her King. They know and fully understand that God is in control of everything and that he had a plan for her little life. At the funeral, Billy said, “We have been praying every day that God would help Alaina grow into a Godly woman. We just had no idea how soon it would be.”

I was astounded by the amazing group of people that have touched and impacted Hope and Billy’s lives. They had friends from all over Alabama arrive for prayer, worship, and the services…people from their high school years, college years, and beyond. They truly are an amazing couple. The people from Alabama could not believe that people would come all the way from Chicago to celebrate Alaina’s life. There were about 25 of us from Chicago at the services. It was such an example of the importance of a community of believers.

This has been a very difficult time for Hope and Billy, but it is not over.

They have many hard days ahead of them. Billy and Hope have been living with her parents and were supposed to move into their new home 3 hours away sometime this week. Obviously that has been postponed a few weeks. Hope was telling us, “All I can think about is walking into our new church when we move and telling everyone that I have just lost my 4 year old daughter, I am going to be very high maintance for the next few years, but I really need some friends.” So please continue to keep them in your thoughts and in your prayers.

 

My friend Hope has her own blog and I know she will continue to blog. Please feel free to read, pray, and love on my dear friends: http://billyandhopeatchison.blogspot.com/

Kara

Backyard Bible Club

This week we helped some friends of ours host a Backyard Bible Club at their house (through our church). I’ll be honest, I volunteered willingly, but my heart was kicking and screaming. I have done my share of “VBS” experiences in Mexico, New Orleans, etc. in youth ministry. I know they can be rewarding, but they are also time consuming, exhausting, and chaotic.

Well, God really worked in my heart this week and in the heart of these kids. We had around 27 boys and roughly 33 kids total. The kids were great. I led a bunch of crazy games and with the help of other adults in our small group, we shared the teaching, etc. I was feeling very weepy (I could blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but I was very touched) on Wednesday when kids started asking tough questions about Jesus. I was so thrilled to be a part of this experience and to help our friends reach out to our neighbors.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I actually look forward to doing it again. Thanks for the Gulbrandsen’s for opening their home and hearts to their neighbors.

Kara and Blogging

I need to get Kara to start blogging again! Someone help me figure out how to get her to write here and update the world on all that’s happening in our quiet (or not so much) home… -Nate

Visiting with Friends

We are headed out to PA this spring to visit some dear friends, the Knaaks. They moved away last year to pursue God’s call in ministry at World Harvest Mission centered in Philadelphia. We look forward to some vacation time, just Kara and me to visit with them, stay up too late, eat too many steak sandwiches (is that right, Jennifer? or is it cheese-steak? … gotta sound local!).

Soon!