Birththankmas

Here is a little taste of our "Birththankmas" holiday over the weekend. To hear the video pause the Christmas music on the bottom right margin.
We celebrated 2 birthdays (mine and Leo's), Thanksgiving and Christmas
all in one weekend! Phew!! BUSY!!
We had a lot of fun!! Hope you enjoy our little video!

Love,
The forbes

My doctors appointment

Friday I had my follow up appointment to see my midwife. She said I seemed to be my healthy self again which was really good to hear.
We had done an autopsy on Isaac to find out what might have caused his premature death. The genetics report came back saying that he had a 69xxy triploidy....we googled it and found that it is caused when two sperm fertilize the egg at the exact same time. The baby has multiple sets of paternal chromosomes combined with only 1 set of maternal chromosomes. Which basically means it's an abnormal fertilization. Most of these babies will die within the first or second trimester. But if they do make it through full term they will most likely not make it more than a few hours. At least that's what google said. =) We're going to have a meeting with genetics to learn more about this. Our main concern is if it is going to happen again. But I found online that it is very rare and usually only happens in 1 pregnancy out of 10,000. So hopefully that is the case. Our midwife seemed to think that it was a very sporadic genetic thing and shouldn't happen again.
But if any of you happen to know more about this please let us know.

Blazers vs. Pistons

Last week Nate and I were able to get away for a night out in Portland. We went to a Blazers game! They were playing the Detroit Pistons. We mostly went because they were playing a Michigan team. I think Nate was a little torn between who he should be cheering for, but Portland soon won his heart over. It was a great game...close till the end.

Portland is a young team and they're still trying to figure themselves out right now, but we were super proud of them for playing strong against the Pistons.

During the half there was a spotlight interview session on the court with some of the old favorite Blazer players from the past. Clyde Drexler, Cliff Robinson, Kevin Duckworth and Terry Porter were all there! It was so exciting to see some legendary faces! We had no idea they were going to be at the game! It was just an added bonus to the night. I wish we could have sat next to them in the stands to hear what they had to say about the new Blazer team this year. I'm sure they were reminiscing the whole night.

So the Blazers did win the game....to our surprise! And they scored over 100 points which means every fan got a coupon for a free chalupa at Taco Bell! What a great night! ha ha!!

We might try to go to another game soon.

Oh and one more thing. They have a vertical jump machine outside the stadium. We both tried it. I ended up having a 9in vertical jump...but Nate had a 20in vertical jump!! Wowza!!!

Tilikum in the Fall

Nate has been outside taking some great pictures of Tilikum for some promotionals they are working on, so I thought I would share them with you all. The colors in Oregon have been gorgeous this year! We'll have to continue to capture them while they are still here. One of my favorite views have been the vineyards on the hills. They look like a blanket of yellow!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Our cousins, Chris and Jolene Knapp, flew in from Texas a week ago for a fall vacation. They won't be here for thanksgiving, so our whole Stuewe family (or as many of us who could be there) got together for a pre-thanksgiving dinner...yum!


We ended up staying later with Chris and Jolene and playing pinochle. That was so much fun!!! I've always been intimidated by that game because it didn't have normal cards, but now I'm super excited to find other pinochle fans!!!



Now if only Chris and Jolene lived in Oregon that wouldn't be a problem....hint hint**
=)

Our pics..

Thanks to Heidi Pender, our neighbor, we now have halloween pictures!

I'm the clown on the left, Nate's the nerd version of Where's Waldo=), Bruce is the christmas tree that could hardly fit through the doors and Carol is the orange 60's gal!

We had a lot of fun playing cards in the living room with costumes on ( I was the only one dressed up then)...running to answer the door whenever kids came up the steps...and running back to keep the game going! It was a fun night.

My talented husband!!

Check out our cool picture banner!! Nate made it all by himself and it looks so awesome!
That's my talented husband. =)
Good job Nate.

All of these pictures were taken 2 years ago in Newport, OR. I took Nate crabbing for his birthday. And although we had a very memorable time I do recall that we didn't catch any crab that day. =) They were all too small to keep, so these little fellows in the pictures were soon released back into the wild. Our friends, the Rice's, took us out and showed us the way of crabbing! It was nice to hang out with friends and Nate with the smell of the ocean, sounds of the seagulls, and watching crab walk sideways on the dock!

I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't been before.

Halloween

If only one of our cameras worked....you could see a picture of Nate dressed up as a Nerd, Me as a clown, Carol in fun orange and Bruce dressed up like a christmas tree!
We had fun playing cards games in the living room last night while we answered the door for the kids in the neighborhood. There were some pretty great costumes on last night. I think by far my favorite was a little lady bug! He had to ask me what I was even though I had a red foam nose, rainbow wig and a HUGE clown outfit and size 22 blue shoes on...but I thought that was great!
Afterwards we hit up some of our neighbors to show off our costumes as well. That was fun!

So now that I'm starting to get around more I'll be doing some work out at Tilikum with Nate. I'm just working through the month of November, but that will be nice to get out there and be involved once again.
Tilikum is beautiful right now. The trees outlining the lake are all in their fall colors and the fog usually stays settled on the lake until mid afternoon. It's a great sight!

....

Today I feel sad. I've lost 15 pounds and the joy of holding my child. Last night I told Nate that it seems like the reality of losing our son is hitting me even more now.
Everyone around us has continued on with life. Future plans are moving on as normal and we are being swept in with them. Nate asked me today if I wanted to help out with a project he is working on at camp. The deadline for it is the same week as my original due date. All I could think about was that I was supposed to be in labor...but my body will look the same, I won't have a baby kicking in me trying to get out...
I'm just really sad.

Our beach gettaway

Several people have been asking us how we are doing lately. We have really felt so much support and love from many of you this week. I know this would have been so much harder without all of the support. So thank you for asking us how we are doing. That has meant a lot.

We have been at the coast these past 3 days. My aunt Sharon has generously let us use her adorable beach house as a much needed getaway. The weather has been warm and sunny like a June day! Nate and I took a lot of walks down the beach and naps in the sand. We lounged around the house, spent time journaling and talking with each other and of course took breaks to go shopping and eat clam chowder. It’s been a really refreshing time for us. I really like talking with Nate. He is such a good listener and knows just the right things to say. Spending time with him has been the best part of this trip.

During our talks this week we've realized that grief looks so much different than we thought it would. I expected to be in tears for months. And honestly I felt guilty when my tears stopped after a few short days. My head had been pounding with head aches. Our eyes were so puffy that they looked like they were swollen shut. But then our grief suddenly changed to days and days full of laughter! It just seemed so unnatural to be laughing. Some of those times I know were needed for our own personal healing. It is exhausting to be in tears for so long. Our bodies craved a release. And for us laughing is a favorite outlet.
Most of our laughter came from Nate retelling stories of his own childhood. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to hear these stories knows that his childhood was full of hilarious moments! Toga parties, “Donny Varney Specials,” Marathons, special music with Cory during chapels are just a few of the stories. He later admitted to me that retelling these moments were his way of coping with reality. Those memories were joyful and safe to think about and he was craving joyful memories.

I know we are still grieving even if it is in the strange form of laughter. We crave comfort foods (chocolate!!), we stare off into space, we forget the other person is in the room sometimes, we look at children who walk by and become sad. We saw a young couple walking down the beach with their little toddler and I know we were both wondering what their lives were like. We have been drawn to activities that we wanted to do with our son. I was reading Nate children’s book the other day and holding him like I would hold a child. I just craved that same feeling of comforting a person. I wanted to fill my arms with someone.
I told him that I was looking forward to the 3am feedings. I was already in the routine of getting up early in the middle of the night. I was looking forward to seeing a little Forbes in the middle of the night who I could comfort.
Thinking of those thoughts really makes me want to have a baby again. We have talked some about having another child, but that’s just it, the next child would be ANOTHER child. We cannot replace Isaac with another baby. And just because I want to do all those motherly things I need to mourn this loss before we try to engage in a new life. It would not be fair for our second baby to feel their purpose in life was to comfort our grief. They need to know and feel like they were anticipated just as much. I do want to fully mourn for Isaac. It will be a long road.
Knitting mittens have also been a huge part of my grieving process. Knitting mittens you say? Ya, I thought that was odd too, but when we came home that second night all I could think about was how much I needed to finish knitting those mittens. I grabbed them up and went to work. In just a half of a day I was finished with a beautiful pair of green mittens. Why was that so important to me? I needed to be a part of making something that was finished that I could hold, admire, and know that it was good. It was so hard for me to know that our son was not able to get all of the chromosomes or whatever he was lacking to be a fully healthy baby boy. And there was nothing that we could have done, but with the mittens I could make them and finish them.
It was healing to complete that.

As I think back to who we were this last summer before we found out we were going to be parents, I quickly realize we are not the same people. The thought of us having a child and of us actually going through the birthing process has changed us. We have moved up to a new level as a couple. We are now parents. Even though we don’t have Isaac with us, we are still parents. We won’t have a child to give us a mothers or fathers day gift this year, but we will still give them to each other. We are after all parents to Isaac. We may have only carried him for 15 weeks, but as one of my favorite authors once said,
“A person is a person no matter how small” – Dr. Seuss.

Our son

Even as I write this tears continue to flow. I didn't think I had any left. Nate and I have experienced every kind of emotion.
I'm not very good with words, but I will try to retail the past 48 hours.

Walking through the double doors of the hospital that night I felt deeply saddened knowing that when we came back through the next day a very special part of us would be gone. And I would no longer be pregnant.
We were met by a very compassionate nurse in the maternity ward. Heidi is her name. She was our nurse at first, but soon we realized she was an angel. I am so grateful that she was working that night.
The doctor and nursing staff met us with their sympathies. They ended up spending 3 hours talking with us before we began the labor. Their thoughtfulness and patience was beyond comforting. Heidi talked me through every detail as it was happening so as to calm my nerves. I kept telling her and the other staff that I just wasn't expecting to be here on my monday night. We were planning on doing a cider press with our neighbors. And this was just all so much to handle so quickly. I think Heidi understood and was especially sensitive to both Nate and I and our needs. I so appreciated that she took care of Nate too. He was going through just as much as I was only I think it was harder for him because he didn't have anything to do but sit, pace, help me, hold my hand and cry.

I was mostly nervous about having an epidural shot. Heidi sat next to me and let me squeeze her hand until it lost all color. She spoke kind words and coached me through.
Once we were finished, I felt a bit of stress released. She gave me the medication to begin labor. Now the waiting began. Nate and I were so tired by this point. Our eyes were swollen from crying. Our heads pounded. It was 3am. Nate tried to fall asleep on his window seat bed 10 feet from my bed. We didn't like being so far away from each other, but our tiredness kicked in even stronger. I quickly fell asleep in my bed.

Only 3 hours later I awoke to Heidi coming in to check up on me. She said everything was looking good and that we should continue to rest. As she was leaving I called her over again. I felt myself going into labor. She got the doctor right away and sure enough our son was born. Nate was right at my bedside. We looked at each other not quite sure if we should be happy that it happened so soon or if we should cry knowing it was over.
We weren't able to see him right away because the doctor was concerned about the blood I was losing.
That's when everything happened so fast. In only a few minutes there were 6 nurses running around grabbing instruments and getting ready to move me to the operating room. I felt like I was going to pass out. Heidi was there the whole time coaching me through the process.
Poor Nate couldn't come in the room with me. He had to wait by himself in our birthing suite. He later told me it was the most agonizing hour. He was so worried. Both the chaplin and Heidi came in to check on him to make sure he was doing well. I'm so glad they did.
Meanwhile in the operating room I was paralyzed from the waist down with medication. The last thing I remembered was the doctor giving orders to a nurse. And then I was out.
What felt like 10 min. later (really an hour later) they were wheeling me back into our room. Everything had gone really well they said. I was glad to be back with Nate. He looked so exhausted.

The doctor walked over to our bed with our little son. We were nervous to see him, but also very curious. I will try my best to describe him, but really how do you describe a human being with just words. His face looked so peaceful and it seemed like he was resting. His eyes had the same distinct look as Nate's eyes. They were closed, but you could see they were big eyes just like Nate's. That's when it hit me that this was not just a person, he is a part of us with characteristics like ours. Nate said his nose looked like mine, a small button nose. And I just couldn't take my eyes off his ears. They were the tiniest little ears with all the detail of a full grown ear. Even as such a young person the detail was outstanding. His little arms and legs were beautiful and of course he had a little pot belly. =)
I still try to remember him at night when I close my eyes. I don't want to forget the details. We even drew a picture of him when we got home so as to help remember what we saw. It doesn't do him justice, but it was helpful.

I asked Nate what he wanted to name him and without hesitating he said, "I want to name him Isaac." The meaning behind the name struck me with such intensity that my eyes whelled up with big tears and I could hardly get the words out, "that is a perfect name. We will name him Isaac."

Isaac Andrew Forbes born 6:49am October 16th - stillbirth.

The hospital did a wonderful job of honoring our baby as a human being and as our son. They offered a burial site for him not too far from the St. Vincent Hospital in Beaverton. They also sent us home with a beautiful box full of treasures to help us remember him by. His ultrasound picture, his birth bracelet, a tiny outfit, a baby blanket and a nice card signed by our wonderful nursing staff. It's a treasure. I'm so grateful for how well things went considering the circumstances. The kindness shown by strangers was overwhelming and so very much needed.

Coming home was also very good. We were finally able to let our guard down and mourn the way we wanted to. We were both so worried in the hospital about the physical aspects of everything that we just had to wait until we got home to cry like we wanted to.
I am still in the recovery stage. My body aches and feels sore. It will take a few weeks before my body is back to it's original state.

We were and are blessed by all the great emails and messages, flowers, chocolates and cards sent by so many of you. Your prayers and support were felt in the hospital and even now. We are so grateful for many things.
Thank you for caring. We really don't ask that you understand because we don't either. And that is just fine. We know it will be a long process and something that we will never "get over." We lost our son and that will always be a part of us.

I imagine that in Heaven Jesus greeted Isaac with His arms wide open kneeling down eager to scoop him up and hold him in His arms for a long long time.

I know someday I will do the same thing.

pray for us

We could really use your prayers tonight. Nate and I had our appointment today to listen to the heart beat and they couldn't find one. They used an ultrasound and still couldn't find one. We had a miscarriage. We're not sure when it happened and they reassured us that it wasn't anythign we could have prevented. There were complications in the beginning. That doesn't make it easier to accept.
Because I'm so far along they have to enduce labor. I'm really scared. We're going in tonight at midnight to start that process. It could take as long as tomorrow afternoon. We'll be able to hold our baby and grieve together. Please be in prayer for us as we are both just so sad. We cried the whole way home and are still in tears.
I'm so glad Nate's job is flexible to let him take this time off. I think it will be a slow process of grieving, but necessary too.
It's still all so surreal.
We love you all so much.

Lissa and Nate

EAT MORE!!!

Yesterday I had my first appointment with the dietitian. I was so excited to go in and show them how much I had gained. After all I have a belly to prove it!!
As I jumped up on the scale my smile turned to shock! I lost more weight! I'm at a total of 12 lbs down. How can that be? I've been eating solid food and it feels like the refrigerator has a revolving door! But I think it's just the tail end of the sickness hanging on.
Good news is that my dietitian wasn't worried at all. She seemed to think that this was a normal beginning for most pregnancies and that I would be putting weight on again soon. She did give me some great food advice for how to add more calories...I never thought I would ever have to have a conversation with someone about HOW to gain weight. That certainly does not run in our family genes. But I'm excited to eat more cheese, peanut butter and granola!!!
We'll show her some good old fashioned Stuewe weight gain!

Canoeing...

Nate came home for lunch today. After we ate lunch he took me out to Tilikum for the rest of the afternoon. We went on a long canoe ride around the lake and saw all sorts of wildlife! There were so many newts and june bugs...even though it's not june....swimming around. I think we even spotted a water snake from a distance...good thing it was from a distance!!
The smells out here are fantastic! If this blog had a scratch and sniff option I would try to attach a smell of Tilikum. It's just that good!
We're going to come back to camp later on tonight to pick a few boxes of apples. The camp has about 10 apple trees and several varieties! Bruce, our housemate, owns an old fashioned cider press. We're going to have a cider press party later on with all the apples we pick tonight. Just another fun fall thing to do!

the art of knitting...

Every wednesday night I have been meeting with some ladies from Tilikum for an "arts and crafts night." Mostly we're all knitting, but it's really open for all kinds of artwork. The project I'm working on is a felted purse. I guess it's a good project to start on when you're first learning to knit because the felting part washes out a multitude of mistakes!!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with "felting" it's when you knit with 100% wool and then wash your project in the washer. The wool shrinks kind of like those wool sweaters you've washed on accident...only this is on purpose. It gives your project a nice look of being one piece of fabric all blended together.

Mostly it's been nice to go to these nighs for the fellowship. I'm enjoying the family we have out at Tilikum.

So when I'm done with this purse I'll try to post a pic on here....

What do you like about the fall?

I love to hear what others enjoy about the fall. For myself it is hands down the corn maizes!! I just googled corn maizes in Oregon and we have 11 in our area!!! That will take all month to conquer! But I think we will just go to the ever popular Suavie Island Maize in NW Portland. Here's a link to find it: thepumpkinpatch.com
click on the maize and you will be a-maized!! =0)

can't hide it anymore..

It's true, I can't hide my belly anymore! Nate and I went shopping on friday to get my first maternity outfit!! It felt so good to fit into a pair of pants comfortably! No more pajama pants for me! I've got the little stretchy ones now.

Another great thing that happened, I just hit the 12 week mark on sunday! We're now into the 2nd trimester! On saturday I was signed up to go to an all day woman's conference at the university. I wasn't sure if I would make it the full day since I haven't done anything like that in 2 months. But I did make it and not only for the conference for the WHOLE DAY!! We ended up going to a concert at the coffee shop later that night! I felt like I was back to myself again.
What a blessing! I'm hoping that will continue for a long long time now. =0)

So that's the good news.

The Common House

Today, well most days, I have realized what a blessing it has been to be a part of the Common house. For those of you who don't know what that is, Nate and I have been living in a common house for the past 5 months that is owned by a guy named Bruce. He has owned this house for about 16 years now and in that time has housed several people for all sorts of durations of time. Some people have lived here for a short stint of a few weeks and some people have called this place home for nearly 7 years. His purpose in having this home is to have an intentional community with the people who live in it during that time.
Right now Nate and I are the only people besides Bruce living in the main portion of the house. We had another housemate, Tyler, during the summer but he moved out to go back to school in the fall. In our basement there is a small apartment that 3 college girls occupy. They are mostly self sustained down there, so we may run into them in the joined laundry room or out in the driveway.
Probably my most favorite part of living here has been the instant community that it has provided for Nate and I. Bruce's friends come by every now and again and have become some of our friends too. Our friends do the same and Bruce is included in that. We play games at night and have our favorite house shows that we all watch together.
We all take turns in making the dinners and doing the house grocery shopping. I like that because it relieves each person of doing it all themselves. Also, in these past few months I have pretty much been a sickly person, so both Nate and Bruce have been taking care of the needs here.
We have a backyard and it's full of kids toys!!! ha ha! The reason for that is that the three adjoining houses around this house each have 2 kids of their own, All of them are under the age of 6 and they like to get together to play. Bruce likes to share his things, so he has created stone pathways from each of these homes to lead into his backyard. Most days I will look out our window and see the kids playing in the lawn! It's nice to see them enjoying it since they themselves don't have big backyards like we do.
I think that Nate and I will learn a lot from living in this house. So far it has been a great experience and we are excited to be here.

FISH!

We live in a house with 2 very large fish tanks. Both are filled with all sorts of african style fish! They are so much fun to watch. Lately there has been a fish war between two of the fish in the living room tank. I'm usually on the couch most of the day, so they have been the source of my entertainment these days. Apparently you can tell when one fish is dominating in the fight because their colors will become brighter and their fins will stand up higher. How cool!!
I've been hoping the red fish will win one of these days because he has some really cool colors!

Baby's first picture...

If only I were really computer savvy we would have a picture on here of our baby. However, we need to hook up our scanner to get that going. But imagine if you will a tiny little one with arms that move and wiggle and little feet that paddle back and forth! That's what we got to see!! The heart was beating at a beautiful 158 bpm and I even saw the little one spinning around a few times. Looks like it's an active one!
Our appointment wasn't all what we had expected. The radiologist took his time looking at the screen and the movement of our child. His reaction to it all surprised us a bit, but we are hopeful that the Lord knows what He is doing. The doctor said that the baby has fluid leaking out the back of it's neck and could lead to a variety of things, one of which means absolutely nothing. That is what we are hoping for and believing. The other is a variety of birth defects or even possible miscarriage. So now we have a new thing to be in prayer about. Our next ultrasound will be in about 4-5 more weeks. At that time we'll be able to see more detail.
As we were in the doctors office talking with the radiologist I asked him what solutions there were to this type of thing. He said that it was something that couldn't be solved by medication or any sort of diet or anything they could do. I just thought that was amazing! It made me realize how true it is that God IS the one knitting this little one together in my womb. And it cannot be touched by even the smartest of doctors! How great is that! I'm looking forward to seeing our next picture of the child. And I am hoping that it will astonish the doctors!
Please be in prayer with us as we wait to find out more.

This is a familiar verse,but one that has meant a lot to me these past few days:
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of the came to be.

Oh what a glorious thing!

I never thought I would ever be so excited about wanting to eat and complete a whole sandwich! It's true, my diet is now moving from a liquid diet to more solids! My energy level seems to be maintaining more consistently during the day and my naps are becoming fewer and far between. Which means I can now leave the house.
Yesterday I was able to connect with a college friend for coffee (she had coffee..I had OJ). It was nice to get out of the house for an hour and visit with her. Newberg is a funny little town in the way that you can choose to have a class reunion at any time of the day. Just as long as you are conveniently at a local coffee shop you WILL see friends you went to school with. It's one of those alumni guarantees I think. =0) We did run into a few people we both knew and that was also enjoyable.

2 hours and counting...I'm anxiously awaiting our first ultrasound (sp?) appointment this afternoon. Our baby's first picture! I'm hoping they'll give us a digital image of it so we can post it here tonight.
Last night I got a call to remind me of the appointment. They also informed me that I need to drink 32 oz. of water just before the appointment... and hold my bladder!! Are you serious! I can barley hold a sip of water! Sorry if that's too much information, but I definitely have gained a greater appreciation for pregnant ladies in public restrooms. If I ever run into a long line in a public restroom and see a pregnant lady in the back I'm going to take a group vote on boosting here to next available stall!

So here we go...2 hours to go.

Hawaii and more news..

We're back from our trip to Hawaii. It was a nice break from daily routine. I wouldn't say it was the typical trip to Hawaii that you think of when you think of a tropical island. Nate and I did get to do a few outdoor activities such as snorkeling (we saw a lot of fun tropical fish and TURTLES!!) and hiking in the rain forrest. We walked past a water fall and saw a young boy swimming just under the falls in a pool! How fun! The smells were great! We loved the sites such as: ocean beaches, white sand, tropical flowers, lots of birds singing, fresh fruit every morning...it really was a very nice time.

Most of our time was spent helping me to feel better. I've been pretty sick lately, but all for good reasons. I am currently 9 weeks pregnant and definitely sencing a change in my body.
Fatigue seems to be a common feeling as well as nasea. Both of these remind me that the baby is healthy!
Nate has already taken on his duty of caring for me. Even though we were in his one of his favorite places (hawaii) he spent most of his time running to the store for me or just hanging out in the apartment to keep me company. I feel very blessed with him!

Our first appointment with the midwife was this past week. We got to see the little baby and the heart beat! The heart was just a tiny little flashing light that would rapidly blink on and off. It looked like a very strong heart beat. I think the idea of having a baby became more real for both of us when we got to see what was actually going on inside of me. How exciting!

So now we're back home here in Newberg. Nate just finished helping with the annual fundraiser banquet at work. His schedule seems to be slowing down more and soon he'll be in his routine again.
I am taking time to rest right now and keep food down. Those are my daily goals. I'm hoping to start working soon when I begin feeling better. It's been nice to get out of the house every now and again to go for walks around campus. September is one of my favorite months here in Oregon! It's perfect weather, not too hot and not too cold.

Big sigh!!

Phew! It came and it went just as fast as it came! This summer was full of unexpected adventures. If you would have asked either Nate or I what we would be doing in May guaranteed we would not have said "working at a summer camp." Although that is one thing we are both passionate about. But as God works things out in our lives we are finding that planning is not always something to count on.

Our first summer at Tilikum has been a great start! Nate was blessed with an outstanding staff to work with! These college students quickly became friends.

I think one of my favorite memories was watching Nate get his laugh back again at work! I believe at one time during the summer he was caught on top of the summer camp office roof with a 5 gallon bucket of water awaiting his onsite Justin. His unexpected employee came outside to see what Nate needed only to get a full body wash of ice cold water! Naturally the consequence for that was a pie in the face later on...but oh what a fun week that was!!

Every morning our camp day started off with silly kid songs. Nate and I would try to get the staff to laugh every morning with all kinds of new motions to go with the songs. Sometimes Nate still sings those songs to me when we are driving in the car. And yes, that makes me laugh too!!

So the big question that everyone has been asking..."what do you do now that summer is over?"

Surprisingly there is a lot to be done to get ready for the following summer. I know....9 months worth? Sure, there are still groups coming into the camp facility to use it for private events. And of course a lot of work goes behind the scenes to get ready for the following summer. But for the most part it shouldn't be as busy as we were during the summer months. There were 2,500 kids who came through the day camp program this summer. Wow was it ever hard to remember all their names!! (just kidding...name tags were a must!)

But as for now? Well, we're doing a little kick-back time here in Hawaii. We're enjoying not having a schedule and getting a lot of quality time together.

We hope that you all had a great summer as well. And we look forward to hearing what you have been up to.

Tilikum pictures at last!!!

At last here are a few pictures of Camp Tilikum! I'm not sure of what order they will appear online, so I'll just give a brief description of each.

1). Tree house in the woods. The kids like to cross the rope bridge and time themselves to see how fast they can go each time.

2). Rock wall - is next to the tree house in the woods.

3). School house - is about 120 years old and houses the Bees!! We actually keep like bees in there!!!

4). Path in the woods - this is the typical scene on the camp. There are several hikes you can take on the camp property on trails like this one.

5). The Lake- This view is from the school house looking down the hill at the lake. Over the next hill is a vineyard and a few farms. The location is great for camp since it's a quiet area and not fully develped yet.

I'll try to add more pictures of the staff this week!

Thanks for keeping updated with us! We have 2 more weeks of camp left and then it's vay-kay time for Nate and Lissa!!!

Camp Tilikum

Hi all, it's been a while since we've been able to post anything new for you. Thanks for keeping updated with us. This has been quite the transition here in Oregon. I think we both came here with some expectations of what we were getting into, but those thoughts have long vanished. (For the better, not for terrible reasons). Now we are feeling more acclimated to the new surroundings. We feel blessed to be here and have enjoyed the staff that we are working with. Nate wasn't able to help with the hiring process of his own staff because he himself was hired on after they were all selected. We have really enjoyed all of them and couldn't have asked for a better crew!

I (Lissa) am working around the camp a few days out of the week helping out wherever there's a need. Nate is catching on to his job more and more all the time. He has decided to try to make this summer as close to previous summers at Tilikum (based on what the returing summer staff have informed him of) to figure out what the camp is like. Then in the fall we will re-evaluate what went well and what he would like to try differently.

One of my jobs has been camp photographer. I get to work with a professional photographer (and use his camera too!!) to take weekly pictures of each group of kids. They're posted on the internet for the parents to check out during the week. So far it's been a good opportunity for me to get around to all the groups and check out first hand what they do around camp. My favorite activites to watch are rafting, the Big swing, group initiatives, and the barn. Camp Tilikum has a barn on site with all kinds of animals for the kids to pet. Probably the funniest looking animal right now is the alpaca named Bear. He just got shaved and looks like a giant poodle!! I've decided that there really isn't any way to make an alpaca not look ridiculous.

Everyone at Camp Tilikum gets a "camp name" for the summer and sometimes for the full time staff it becomes their camp name for the remainder of their stay at Tilikum. Nate's camp name is Flash because he told his staff that he's as fast as Flash Gordon. They latched onto that REALLY quickly and his name was unanimously decided as Flash.
My camp name is Spidy (also spelled Spy-D for our camp theme of "I SPY"). The story behind that one comes from a story I told the staff about a time when I lived at Hancock Street house at George Fox. Missy can fill you in on the details =0)

I tired attaching pics of the camp, but it wasn't working, so we'll do that later.

At last we have arrived!

Well actually we arrived a few days ago, but it's been so busy here that we havn't been able to post anything new until now. Here are a few pictures of our drive into Oregon. You can see it progressively gets greener and greener! And as any Oregonian will tell you, there's a reason it's so green...R-A-I-N! Although, we are hitting it right on for good weather. The summer is one of the best seasons!
Some of you may be wondering where we are living. We are living with a friend for now. He owns a home near George Fox campus in the downtown area. We have our own little suite in the back of the house. It's been nice to only have to unpack our clothes for now and still feel at home.
Nate's first day of work started right off the bat! He met his college students (their official titles are on-site directors) who will be working directly with him all summer long. They are great! Already he felt at ease when he saw how much work they had been doing ahead of time and how enthusiastic they are for the summer!
Camp will officially begin in about 3 weeks, so until then there is a lot happening!!
I will try to keep up with pictures from the summer.

South Dakota...What a great place!

Minneapolis, Mall of America (MOA!)

We were MIA in the MOA...this mall is HUGE!!! They have almost every store we could imagine..and a theme park in the center of the mall! Nate is standing in front of the large Lego creations. All of these things were made from normal sized legos! We could both only handle a few hours of stimulation from the lights, music and merchandise. It was fun to explore Minneapolis a little as well. We both agreed that this would be a fun town to live in. We didn't get to explore the art district, but Nate said it's a nice place.
Our hotel spoiled us rotten! They served fresh baked cookies and cold milk at night! What a great idea!!

Northland

Dunbar, WI....home of Northland Baptist Bible College. Nate went here about 6 years ago for 1 1/2 years. We spent the night here at a guest house. I got to see the classrooms, gym, cafeteria, coffee shop etc... It was a nice stop and such a beautiful area! We were so tired from the day of driving it was a nice place to end up at.
This is a picture of Nate trying to give a cheesy grin!

What is a Pastie??

...my thoughts exactly! What IS a pastie? Well on recommendation of Jenny Muth, Nate and I stopped along side the road at one of the dozen Pastie stands along the U.P.
A pastie is kind of like a pot pie with potatoes, meat, vegetables and a gravey sauce you can pour over it. It was a delightful little meal! I think the best part of the pastie was the little restaurant we ate at...it was definitely a landmark type place. Oh you know what I mean. I am pretty sure they sold every type of souvenir possible...key chains, magnets, little glasses with your name on it, stickers, t-shirts, you name it! And the couple who owned it had been there for YEARS!!
The drive along the Upper Peninsula was gorgeous! I'm still so amazed at how HUGE the Great Lakes really are! We couldn't see the other side of the lake...it looked like an ocean!

Mackinac FUDGE!!

This is quite possibly the best fudge EVER!! We went WILD and bought 3 bricks! Cory and Shannon are helping us eat them now...but wow, what a delight to the taste buds!
The other picture of just Nate and I is supposed to be a picture of the whole Mackanac Bridge...not sure if you can see it or not, but it's there and it's HUGE! I'm glad Nate was driving otherwise we would have gone off the bridge from me looking out the window!
Some day we would like to vacation here and actually go to the Mackinac Island...check it out online if you haven't seen it!

Youth group!!!

We have a sweet youth group! Look at what they did for us...they put on a going away BBQ for us! It was nice to see everyone all together one last time, but we know we're going to miss these people! Lori got some sweet pictures of everyone for me since I'm not the best photographer. Poor Lucas was getting hurt the whole day. I am pretty sure the trampoline was never empty of people and the food was EXCELLENT!!! We have been eating out all week since we had already sold our refrigerator, so it was nice to have something home cooked!
Katie was telling us some great stories, as usual! They have such an interesting life! The guys were playing football and continually climbing over the fence to retrieve the football....they should just build a gate there...easy access ya know?
It was too cool to use the pool, but I can see all the youth LOVING it in the summer time!! You guys will have a great summer! We will miss you all. You've really been a great group to get to know and we would really like to keep in contact with you all! Let us know how Macedonia goes!!

Longwood Gardens

This last week was packing week for us. My mom was such a blessing!! She flew all the way out here from Oregon to help us pack up our apartment! I was still working full time that whole week, so it was wonderful to come home and see that things were getting done. What a MOM!!! And she is very gifted in the area of organization and cleaning. Just ask anyone who knows her and they will say the same thing. Martha Stewart has nothing on my Mom!
So after a long week for her and Nate with packing, we went to Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia to celebrate!
It's a gorgeous garden! I think the green house was somewhere around 4 1/2 acres! And all of the planting beds in that green house had their own heating system so absolutely any kind of plant could be planted anywhere in that green house!
We would walk down each hallway and into new rooms all around this conservatory and my moms allergies would act up in different rooms! She would run out of one room and say "there's somthing in there I can't be around!" =0) If only green houses could also take care of allergies!

One neat fact we learned was that Bamboo are the fastest growing plants. They can grow up to 12 inches in one day! WOW!!

Thanks Mom, we couldn't have done it without you! Have fun in Florida!

Michigan...our first stop

We were both amazed that everything fit into our car! A lady at work had given us a car top carrier 2 days before we took off and we are pretty sure we couldn't have gotten it all in the car without it! Thanks so much Lora! We gave it the name "take out box" and decided we would slap new stickers all over it along our drive out west.
So our first stop was to Michigan. It's about a 10 hour drive, not too bad. We would like to keep it at 10 max per day.
Along the way Nate decided to call a friend he hadn't seen in 6 years, Dave Griffiths. Apparently he and his wife and little boy live near Pittsburgh and we were going by their town. They met us for lunch in a park and we got to meet some of their extended family. Nate has told me stories about Dave before and the Detroit boys from Northland, so I was excited to meet him and put a face with the name.
Nate was still getting over his sickness during this drive and even into the next day, so it wasn't much of a joy ride for him.
We pulled into Sanford Michigan around 10pm...beat his mom home. She was still at school working on some lessons for the next day! What a trooper!
The following day was spent at Jenny and Michaels new home. They have been working on it for a little more than a year. It's really looking so nice! And we got to see the little man again!! He's so much fun at this age! He would make funny grunting noises while he ate and do a little funny scoot crawl on the floor. Nate and I got to read him stories and play games with him. He even tried to eat our noses. =0)
We left our camera at Jenny and Michael's house accidentally...so some of these are from their little fun!! ha ha!!! I bet you didn't think we'd post it on our blog!! I love it!

Packin' up

After a week long of boxing up our things, this is the result of our apartment. My mom came down for the week to help out and OH what a help she was for us!! Thank you Mom!!! We couldn't have done it with out you!

I think Nate got a little dizzy trying to wrap our boxes up with the industrial wrap. haha!