Third Period of the Game

Now into Week 28 and the third
trimester, here's how things are lookin! And for the record the first noticed case of baby hiccups occured in the middle of the night Sunday--what an interesting sensation!

(image taken from http://www.babycenter.com/)

While visiting Edmonton, Grady and I were surprised with tickets to see an Oilers hockey game--and not just SEE it, but to experience it with "club access" and everything! We went into this "off limits to the common ticket holder" area and even got to see the Oilers coming out of their locker room before the game started. We had great seats and even met a couple from Los Angeles who happened to be sitting behind us (it was funny to hear them cheer when the Kings would score cause the rest of the packed stadium was dead quiet!). Good times had by all!

Rethinking the Familiar

"However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." - Ephesians 5:33

One of the books I'm currently reading is, Love and Respect, by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I'd just like to write a few words on how much this book has already affected my life in hopes of bringing others in contact with the simple and truth-filled message that underlies marital bliss!

Dr. Eggerichs simply writes from his experience as both a counselor and husband, basing his thoughts on Ephesians 5:33 and how simple obedience to this familiar passage has profound effects in any relationship, especially a marriage. He observes that women are designed to love naturally and men are designed to respect naturally, but to meet each others' deepest need (which happens to be love for women and respect for men) we must step out of what comes "naturally" and simply shift our focus. Wives obey the Lord's design in their marriage when they practice unconditionally respecting their husbands, and husbands follow the Lord's command by unconditionally loving their wives.

After dealing in the first few chapters with common misconceptions and concerns of following these principles, Eggerichs goes into practical ways to show the most respect and love to one's spouse. I am just now getting into the more practical application section, but my small efforts to show Grady more respect (as opposed to only giving him the love that I can express so naturally as a woman) have had the most grand effects on our relationship already, boosting it from the "really good" category to the "wow this is amazing!" category! (Of course, Grady's efforts to be more loving to me, creating a true reciprocity, are what really make things wonderful! But don't be discouraged if your spouse isn't enthusiastic about changing, the book is full of examples of one spouse changing by loving or respecting more and the other spouse naturally responding! It's amazing!)

I just couldn't help but share the good news of the simple message this book has to bring to couples in hopes that it will transform many other marriages into the "wow this is amazing!" category too. God has put such a design into our hearts that it's just phenominal the blessings that come out of obeying his words. It's such a good feeling to know we can give each other what is the most important and not waste our efforts on what doesn't even matter to the other, or only half hits the target. Marriage can be heaven on earth and let's not settle for anything less!

Winter Has Arrived!

Believe it or not, the temperature in Dresden this whole "winter" had been well above freezing, so the chances for snow were non-existant. But only UNTIL TWO DAYS AGO! Then it started snowing and now there's a lovely blanket nicely dampening the sounds of the city and uniformly covering the many, normally
multicolored rooftops seen from our apartment. Some friends from Leipzig were visiting me and we took advantage by playing in the snow for a good half hour yesterday, until we couldn't feel our fingers or toes anymore! The best part was the warm hot chocolate afterwards--yay for winter finally showing up!

Pictures: 1) the view from our apartment, 2) Heather with her attack face on, 3) Rebekah comfortably lounging, 4) building a snowman, 5) "it's snowing!"

Funny Cause it's True

Week 27: An ever expanding belly and uncontrollable, overexaggerated, hypersensitive emotions! Aah!
(comics from www.everydaypeoplecartoons.com and www.baby-gaga.com)

Mexicans and Clarks

On with more stories from our Christmas trip!

You wouldn't guess it by the picture, but we've just enjoyed a fabulous Mexican meal! Actually, there was barely enough room to fit all of our plates on the table once the food arrived, and Grady's sister Molly and I even shared a dish! I remember still being shocked by the huge ice water glasses at this point--it was only about a week into our whole trip. If you can believe it I actually tried to order my beverages without ice (when I would remember)--I'm just so used to it now that the super cold/watered down effect of the ice just doesn't hold its appeal-!

The next day we joined 40 other family members across town to celebrate the famous, "Clark Christmas." One of Grady's top Christmas highlights every year, I'd heard about this get together long preceeding my actual participation. It was quite the gathering! By the end of the night I even managed to remember a few names and group some people into their smaller family units (much needed help for my organizational-oriented brain). Although, it was comforting when I would lean over to Molly or Nort to ask how someone was related to someone else and they wouldn't even know-! :) There was a huge and rambunxious gift exchanging game and overall a great chance to get to know more wonderful people. The Clarks know how to celebrate Christmas together, that's for sure!

Reception a la Rochester

Two days after arriving at Grady's parents' place in Rochester we were joined by 120 of the Maass family's relatives and friends to enjoy a nice dinner and have a chance to celebrate our wedding. It was held at a fancy hotel in downtown Rochester and was especially nicely decorated due to the festive season. It was quite the
challenge for me to meet and remember so many new people, especially since they all already knew who I was-! We can't thank Jan (Grady's mom) enough for all the time and effort she put in to organize the event (and thanks to Nort too--I'm sure he helped out a bunch!). It's always a fun time when so many special people
come together, and it was an extra treat to see Grady reunite with childhood neighbors and friends. What a night of great memories!

Weihnachtsmarkt

Before I get into the next series of entries telling about our trip I'd like to mention one of the greatest things about the Christmas season in Germany: the Christmas Market! (Weihnachtsmarkt in German) It opens at the end of November and is a really festive way to spend any amount of time. Not to mention all the wonderful food that's available! The only trade-off is getting mulled around in the massive crowds of people leisurely strolling down each aisle checking out what each booth has to offer. Unless of course you're one of those browsing types yourself! Grady and I went mid-day this year to try to avoid at least some of the craziness, but as you can see it's still pretty packed. We've just taken a break to enjoy our bratwursts and gluehwein, although sadly you can't see them in the picture. It's quite cool living in a city with such long running traditions--people come from all over Germany to check out Dresden's market. At 572 years and counting it's one of the oldest in the country! (if not THE oldest, depending on who you ask-!)

I'm Back...!

Greetings to everyone and happy 2007! I am now back home in Dresden after our wonderful holiday time spent with family and friends in Rochester and Edmonton. There is so much I could write about I think I'll have to spread it out over the next few entries!

First things first, week 26 of the pregnancy begins today and as promised here's a current picture of me in my pregnant state. Apparently there's almost two pounds and 14 inches of baby somewhere in there but who knows where! (and as a disclaimer I couldn't figure out where to put my arms to not be in the way, so I just rested them behind my back...really, truly I'm standing up straight and not pushing the belly out--the arms are really deceptive!) And believe it or not I have actually gained about 25 pounds so far but again, I have no idea where since my hips and legs have not changed size at all (I wear the same size pant albeit modified in the belly). Who knows what's going on here-!

So in the next couple weeks I'll write more about some of the highlights of the past month, including the Rochester reception, mexican food, Christmas with the Maasses and then with the Hreczuchs, going to an Oiler's hockey game, the Edmonton reception, skating without skates, the blizzard and my trip back to Dresden. But let me just preface it all by again saying what a blessed time it all was!

And not to keep anyone in suspense any longer I'll end this post with the results of my traveling while wearing those dreaded compression tights: I started the day out enthusiastically, spending the necessary extra 15 minutes gradually pulling the things up to where they should be, only to discover the new shape my lower half had then taken. Really squished legs have to end somewhere, and the rear end that I've always had and not minded much suddenly turned into a bulging pear bubble in comparison! So now I'm thinking, great, no swelling but now I'll be self-conscious all day-! I didn't give much thought to the overall tightness for the first few hours of our trip, but as the hours dragged on while flying over the Atlantic I just couldn't take it anymore. So on one of my frequent trips to the lavatory (remember I'm also drinking like a liter of water every hour, another one of the doctor's orders) I finally *peeled* the stockings off which led to such a wonderful sense of freedom (or maybe that was just the blood rushing back into my legs-!). Anyway, I made the point of standing and/or walking at least every hour after that and am proud to say that any thereafter swelling went unnoticed by me and my post-flight still-looser-fitting shoes. Moral of the story: pregnant women CAN fly while wearing normal clothes/undergarments and not suffer! So of course I didn't wear them on the way back and *gasp!* could still feel and see my ankle bones upon landing in Germany. Victory!

Scrapbook Scenes

The last month before we went back to visit home was jam packed for me with all kinds of crafty projects needing to be finished to take back with us. One such project was a scrapbook of our wedding, to be displayed during both the Rochester and Edmonton receptions. It came close to the wire, but I finished it a
few days before we left and here are some of my favorite pages! (sorry about the weird lighting on some of them) Click on each image to see a larger view.