Road trippin'

Several times each year Jarod has to attend work conferences around the state. At these meetings he sits through hour after hour of information on housing codes, tax forms, and other unimaginable excitement. In addition to these pleasures of the conferences it usual will entail a several hour drive.

So, since Jude and I have nothing else pressing in our lives we often accompany him. It makes the drive and hotel stay more pleasurable for him and provides us with some great adventures.

These little excursions have taken us to museums, zoos, libraries, botanical gardens, art showings, and parks around that state. And I must say I have a new appreciation for the small things after having a toddler as my main traveling companion.
We are in no hurry so we spend time watching buildings under construction. When I allow myself to enjoy things through his eyes… some of these towns in Kansas have as much to offer as a journey around the world. He is always seeing something new. (For example on a trip to Manhattan, Ks – a less arid and more diverse part of the state he thought the town was a “forest” because it had trees, and he asked a little black girl why her skin was that color… we gotta get out of town more!)

Even better than our “tourist” adventures are when Jarod’s meetings take us close to family members I love to visit but rarely do. We have spent an afternoon with my cousin at her daycare and a day with my uncle at his quarry.

This week found Jarod at a conference on rural rental housing for low income and Jude and I with my Grandma Gerri and each of my uncles. (By the way I am sure that we are headed toward the collapse of the entire global economy but I’m not too freaked out because my Uncle Bruce’s garden and fishing escapades will supply for us all.)



Other news this week… we have a spider crawling around in our LCD screen and Apple can’t decide what to do since our nearest Mac store is a 3 hour drive away. So if we are disconnected from technology in the near future it is due to a short in our computer caused by the spider we have named Hugo.

Oh – and Jude is pretending to be pregnant by sticking out his belly REALLY FAR and strutting around saying, “I have a baby” (with a poochy lip and deep voice for effect.)

4-wheelers, healthcare, danger and broken arms

9:45, 12:45, 1:15, 2:40.
These were the Dr. appointment times that Jude and I had to look forward to yesterday. And y’all know how much I love the Dr.! Although I must say it was convenient that we don’t live in southern California where it would take at least, say 45 minutes, to get there.

Needless to say, as I left the hospital campus as 4:00 I had done a lot of thinking about what had required us to spend so much of the day there in the first place – and secondly, how this monstrously expensive day was being funded. Here are the conclusions in brief.

We go to the Dr. too much and Dr.’s don’t seem all that educated to solve problems just to prescribe medicine and avoid lawsuits – thus the first 3 appointments were to check Jude’s ongoing issues with RAD (basically Asthma - maybe, they aren’t sure, but want him on steroids for life, which we refused and now he seems to be getting better), and 2 things for the pregnancy that involved 45 minute waits and were less in depth than,
“Hi, how are you?”
“Pregnant.”
“Let me know if anything changes.”

What would I ever do without them?

Now, the final appointment was a follow up to Jude’s emergency room visit on Friday after he crashed his 50 cc 4-wheeler. So yeah – pretty much can blame the parents for this one. He was with my parents for the day when mom called and said, “Jude’s fine but I think his arm is broken.” As a mom my first thought was, “Is that a coherent sentence? Doesn’t “fine” mean, not broken?” But apparently it doesn’t because he is fine and his right arm is broken. Or as I like to point out “cracked” and he will be out of the splint thing in 10 more days… and he is really remarkable with one arm even though we are starting to think he is right handed.

So now, 4-wheelers – will he be riding them still? The answer is – if he wants… only from now on someone will run with the rope instead of tie it to their recumbent bike… but hey we seem to have to try ever stupid idea once around here… (the clip should explain, although Jude is disappointed that the crash wasn’t caught on video.)



To all of you tax payers – thank you. Since we are on state health care (that is poorly done) you are paying an astronomical amount for these emergency room visits, x-rays, and appointments -my guess is $2,000 for this week and another $8,000 for our pregnancy.

Which brings me to health care. Now I am entirely way too nihilistic about politics but a good look at our health care system is needed and an interesting way for me to do that was look at how some other countries deal with this problem – and you all could watch a bit on this at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ (thanks Alison for the head’s up). I had many thoughts on this program but the two that stuck out the most were - “wow $45 dollars for an MRI in Japan.” And whatever the new American system is, I want to pay something for our health care and we should probably have to pay more than some others – like maybe the questioner for universal healthcare could ask, “Will your 3 year old be operating heavy machinery?” And if the answer is “yes” you automatically pay $10 bucks more a month.

But we should get points for Jude’s faithfulness to the helmet.

maternity

When I was pregnant with Jude I had many peers with which to share the common experience. At this time, I find the only pregnant people I know are the girls I work with at the maternity home. This drastic shift in the status of my pregnant peers has had an serious impact on my outlook on maternity and in turn society.
Previously, I was one of the youngest mothers I knew, and by far the least experienced (having never even had younger siblings or a slight interest in humans of smallish nature). I knew statistically that my life situation was stable and therefore conducive to child-rearing but my overall assumption was that every other kid’s mother was going to have it more together than my poor kid’s sorry excuse for a parent. This left me with a sense of inadequacy as a parent and very little urgency toward assisting our society as a whole.
Today, I feel no more put together than I did at 7 months pregnant with Jude, nor do I feel an adequate parent most days. But as a stare into the scared faces of 14-17 year old girls who have never even had the experience of having a real mother or father themselves, much less any life experience that has enriched them enough to have the energy and wisdom to pour into another little human being, I feel maternal instinct for the world.
If the hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world, we are in need of some major help on teaching people how to rock cradles. I don’t really feel like I have to be all that good at it anymore… I just have to be willing to do it… consistently and lovingly; for my kids and whatever other kids show up. All I can prayer is that God will be faithful to say to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Because pregnancy this time around has made me feel old and it has made me feel urgent. I even look old… but we all look clueless…



On a lighter note…
Due to my husband’s empirical nature we have a monthly chronicle of my pregnancy with Jude. I didn’t need that much blackmail footage floating around for a second pregnancy but due to the number of inquiries into my current largeness – we took a photo. Not great on the self-esteem but accurate and all questions should be resolved.



In other news this week…
Jarod went with my dad and the guys and some youth from our church to ride 4-wheelers in a desert in Oklahoma this weekend… no one died, no one even got seriously injured – it has been a good week.




Finally, Jude is wondering about the practical purpose of the chin. Any thoughts?

kansas

Kansas
(OK. So I knew I was going to get long winded – hence I dreaded the blog… I promise next week will be a shorty)
Naturally, as a child I never thought about Kansas through the eyes of others – but I knew that through my eyes it was far from ideal. During our brief life in the Pacific Northwest I became all too familiar with Kansas stereotypes, and perhaps a little too comfortable in the new environment. The ease with which we fit into entirely new surroundings, as well as the constant negative comments we received from others made Jarod and I both wonder if our geographic origins didn’t fit our souls. Now, after two years back in Kansas, I am constantly amused that even our friends and family here expect us to sprout wings any day and fly “far, far away from here.”
So for those of you wondering, “What are you doing in Kansas?” – the simple answer is- “We don’t know.”
But for those of you wondering what it is like for us to live here I have composed a formula (of course entirely non-mathematical and not exact) on living contentedly in any location.
So far I think there are probably give or take about 4 components to any environment that weigh heavily upon me…. Starting from the most external
1. Climate. Kansas climate sucks. Last year, God was extremely gracious to me and hid this from me by giving us an unusually mild and moist year of four rolling seasons and gentle breezes. This year however has been a horrifically long, cold and miserable windy winter followed by an unpredictably (yet consistently windy) dreary spring (leading to record illness and allergies).
2. Culture. Now this is the reason that God was so gentle on the climate aspect last year, because He must have figured of these two Kansas climate was easier to hide. It really did take me an entire year to adjust to a midwestern state of mind. But now, since there have been recent books written about “What’s Wrong with Kansas,” I’d like to take this opportunity to point out some of the positives that have helped me acclimate. * It is stinking cheap to live here, and although it may not seem like a part of culture I must say it ends up effecting every part of ones lifestyle. We don’t have to work as hard – thus I stay home and Jarod takes time off – so we can afford to stay more family focused. *Have I mentioned that there is a lot of open space out here? I am talking huge yards with huge gardens – it’s kinda’ nice. *Things move SLOWER … including traffic – which is nice considering I am a novice bike rider hauling kids in a bike cart. *We don’t lock our doors. *We know our neighbors (and they all know we don’t lock our doors). And honestly… I could go on and on… about what is good about our culture here… but like I said it took me a YEAR of REALLY LOOKING to find it.
3. Community. Now it was said when we left Portland that we were leaving our “Cocoon of love” (thanks Jessica), and we did – but I think we are starting to realize that there are cocoons everywhere – you just have to be vulnerable enough to let people know you need one. “Help – I can’t grow and meet my beautiful potential unless you surround me with your love!” I can deal with the wind if I have a cocoon, and I can deal with politics if I have a cocoon, I can even live without a book club if I have a cocoon. And coming to Kansas we kinda’ had the makings of one already – our families. Now meshing two extended families with busy lives can be a challenge but overall we have to say we are feeling pretty loved in this part of the world.
4. Usefulness. (I wasn’t trying to illiterate the first 3 anyway!) If the cocoon can make an climate and culture bearable then a sense of meaning and usefulness to those around you make it worth baring. So since we have a kid, our sense of purpose is kind of built in, and then we can just expand it into other areas in the community. We love working with some of the youth at the church, and spending time with the handicapped guys who live with my parents. We love helping out as our friends and family remodel all of their houses. I love working at the maternity home and being involved in community projects through the community assistance center. My favorite thing is hanging out with new Christians as we search together to understand who God is and what that means in our lives.
All this to say, the last two are worth far more in this formula than the first two – and the last two can seemingly be found anywhere – so if we can live anywhere happily – why not Kansas?

In other news this week – Jude and I won 2nd place at an Edible Book Contest at our public library for our depiction of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.



The video is just so you can hear the wind on one of the nicest days we have had this spring.