Jed's Mom Update

Just so that you all know...my mom Sharon was diagnosed with cancer last Thursday and had surgery for it today. She underwent a "whipple procedure" and the doctors found that the cancer hadn't spread very much. They found a tumor around her bile duct, but they think they have removed all of it. She'll be in the hospital for the next week and a half recovering from the surgery, and then she'll probably have more treatment for the cancer in the coming weeks. We just want to ask that you keep her in your prayers! Thanks!

Josiah Update

Josiah had his "two month" check up yesterday...he's 11 weeks old now and he now weighs 14 pounds, 15 ounces (I just say 15, it's close enough) and is 25.5 inches long. Such a big boy. He handled his shots like a champ and smiled for everyone. Here's a great shot Jed caught of the kids a few days ago



This picture shows what our daughter does after we put her to bed at night. We don't know who she takes after!

December in Pictures

Josiah says "You posted WHAT?!?"

Ali's animals on parade

The purse that Anna made from her new sewing book.

Jed and his Dad at the top of Mt. Diablo

Ali on Christmas morning excited about the candy in her stocking. She also got band-aids, the two things she asked for.

Josiah smiling for the camera on Christmas Eve

Ali in a box.

Ali the angel for her preschool Christmas program. She was also an angel for the Sunday School program.

There you have it, our month in a nutshell. Happy 2009 to all.

Oh, I wish....

Oh, I wish I was a princess
Oh, I wish I was a princess
Oh, I wish I was a princess
And a Happy New Year

Sung by Ali..the tune: "We Wish you a Merry Christmas"

Also, congrats to my dear friend and college roommate, Kari. She got engaged. Check out her story on her blog

Thanksgiving at Church

One of the best things about the church I pastor is that they do a meal to feed anyone who wants to come on Thanksgiving. We had a few reporters out today to cover this event. Here is the link to one of their reports:

ABC News 7

And here's a newspaper article from the Contra Costa Times.

Enjoy!

Halloween and Baptism

So, what has happened in the last month? I'm sure lots, but the two most important events were Halloween and Josiah's baptism. Ali, Jed and Josiah's godfather, Greg, went to the church's Halloween carnival while Josiah and I took a trip on BART to go pick up Nana from the airport. Ali was a carrot. She wouldn't wear the carrot for the preschool parade earlier in the day, but after Greg's encouragement to "be the carrot" she gladly wore her costume and got lots of candy.
Josiah had a pea costume, but he didn't need in on the BART, so we put him in it just for the picture!More importantly, on November 2, Josiah was baptized. We discovered that he was the first child of a First Lutheran pastor to be baptized at First Lutheran...did you catch that? Josiah was not impressed by the significance of the day and cried through the baptism and pictures after the service, although he was fine the rest of the time. We were excited to have the Strand family here for the baptism, and thankful that they made the LONG trip to see their godchild baptized. We have better pictures from the baptism, but getting them from the CD to our computer is proving to be a bit of a challenge. So for now, these will have to do.
At three weeks, Josiah weighed in at 11 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 22 inches long. Ali still likes him, sometimes a bit too much. We have had several talks about how we don't touch Baby "Siah" when he is asleep and we don't move his head to make him look at you. At the same time, she leaned over in her chair today and told him she loved him, so we think we are good!

And our Ali's quotes for the moment.
In prayer: "Thank you for Tiffany (her teacher) and cake." Which is better, we don't know.
"Reading" a book to Jed "And God says 'no jumping'"...important lessons for us all.
After pulling a book off the shelf : "I found God. He was hiding." Good thing we have her around to find him!

Introducing Josiah William

At 3:30 a.m., it began.

At 4:00, Jed was awakened.

At 5:30, we waited.

At 6:00, the bags were checked one last time.

At 6:30, the journey began.

At 7:00, we arrived at the hospital.

At 9:00, the waters gushed forth.

At 11:00 Jed took off his wedding ring because Anna hurt his hand from squeezing.

At 1:30 p.m., Anna did not know if she could take the pain any longer.

At 1:50, the pushing began.

At 2:00, Josiah began to peek.

At 2:07, Josiah emerged into the world, all 21 inches and 10 pounds of him. Here's what he looked like:
At 3:30, Sy had calmed down. Here's what he looked like then:


At 6:46, Ali met her baby brother Sy for the first time. Here's how they look together.


At 6:51, we took the first picture of the rest of our life. Here's our family:


Thanks to all of you for your prayers! We especially thank God for a healthy delivery for both mother and child.