Eva's Annual Health Update :)

Hey everyone,

Can't believe it was just a year ago that we were posting like crazy about Eva's health ... well, sadly, here's the latest update.

On Sunday we took her to the ER because she was in a heart episode. On the way there, we feel like we witnessed a miracle as we could physically see her coloring change as her heart went back to normal all on its own. They still admitted us, did some tests and discharged us with increased dosage on one of her heart meds. Corrie and I are both really bummed that this heart thing hasn't gone away, but thankful we didn't have to stay in the hospital. It appears that a high fever is a trigger for her heart issue.

Yesterday, Corrie woke up feeling really sick, so she stayed home from work. We still had our babysitter show up to help her out. Around noon, we noticed that her coloring had changed once again and that she was shaking like she was really cold. She wasn't acting fussy or irritated, just a little dazed. Whenever we have seen these symptoms she is normally in an episode. We checked her heart and she was fine, so Corrie got on the phone with her doctors. Several hours later, neither her pediatrician nor her heart doctor was too concerned (though we still are!). The entire funkiness with Eva lasted about an hour.

Last night, Eva slept beautifully and her fever has reduced a bit. Corrie will be with her today.

We don't know what this all means. Doctors aren't being super helpful, but luckily she has been in good spirits. The only challenge right now is that she isn't eating. She's been like that since Friday, so we're concerned on that end. She's drinking liquids, but that's about it. Corrie also still feels really ill ... and I leave for Haiti and the Dominican Republic Sunday night.

If you get a chance, could you pray for the following?

- For Eva's fever to disappear
- For Eva's appetite to return
- For wisdom from the doctor's ... to discover why she gets these cold spells
- For Corrie's health to return
- For emotional sanity for our family :)

We're holding together the best we can. It just feels like Eva's a little ticking time bomb .... we thought this was all behind us, so it's tough to open the door to all of this once again.

We love you all and thank you for your support.

Adam & Corrie

It's beginning to feel a not like Christmas

Corrie and I have now lived in our house for a little over a week. Amidst unpacking boxes, going two days without water, caring for a wild (and really cute) baby and continuing to work full time ... it has been a mind bending time in our lives. On top of it all, Christmas is just two days away. We decided not to do any presents to each other and didn't have time to decorate the house (the stockings above are as good as it gets). We've decided to celebrate Jehovah Witness style :)

In the past few weeks, we have been blown away by unexpected acts of generosity. When some neighbors heard we were moving, they prepared an entire gourmet meal with fresh baked zucchini blueberry bread for dessert! On move day, more than enough friends showed up to help us that we were not only able to load everything in one trip (thank Barnum!), we did it all within 3 hours!! On top of that, Corrie's parents came down to watch Eva for the day which was a huge help. Last weekend a couple opened up their home to host a baby shower Corrie was throwing for a girl they had never met. And a few days ago, another couple from church dropped off another excellent meal and took away all the dishes so we wouldn't have to clean another thing!

Though each of these acts were simple, we have been moved by the generosity we have received from others.

In a season where we reflect upon the significance of the birth of Christ, Corrie and I have been inspired to challenge ourselves to give more freely. To give of our resources, our time and our presence. Christ freely gave His life away, so that we could truly live. We have always found that we become more fully alive when we seek to give our lives away as well.

Have a joy filled Christmas!

broke bone bob

i'm typing with one hand. don't ever go running at night. you'll break bones. the past several weeks have been some of the fullest and chaotic ones we've experienced.

on october 4th, we celebrated eva's 1st birthday. she loves yelling da-da a hundred times a day. it melts my heart each time, as well as stokes the competitive fire within me ... the word ma-ma has just come on the scene and is usually accompanied by crying. eva is a gregarious walker and talker and has made friends with every living being on our street as she marches up and down all the sidewalks. we also had her heart checkup. since she had another svt episode in august, the doc wants to keep her on meds for another 6 months. she has become a little addict. not only does she love the candy taste, she hoardes all the syringes ... they have become friends to her.

in mid-october, all three of us got away for the weekend at flood's college retreat. this is one of the highlights of my job as we get to spend some meaningful time away with each other, some amazing students and god. we taught an all day seminar on vision and values. it was nice to press the pause button in life and evaluate how we're doing and where we're headed. got some needed clarity on some difficult decisions and returned refreshed and ready to take on the world.

the very next day i broke my finger. got a cast put on my left hand. and guess who's left handed?!

the day after that, corrie finds out she's going into arbitration, the most demanding part of her job.

she worked two 70 hour weeks. i nursed a broken bone back to health, and all our hopes and dreams got upended for a couple of chaotic weeks.

despite everything, we decided to continue to train for our 1/2 marathon (happening next week) and .... drumroll please .... decided to buy a house!! i feel a little crazy writing those words, but everything kind of fell into place. we had been casually looking for a while and finally found one that had nearly everything we're looking for. it's a few blocks west of sdsu in this great little neighborhood. definitely a house in line with our values and a great one to raise our family. we hope to get the keys mid-december.

we also got to celebrate our favorite holiday in a mildly inappropriate costume ... siegfried & roy (with our white tiger of course!).

some learnings of the last month?

receiving help is difficult, but proves our need for each other. from opening a water bottle to changing a diaper ... i've needed help. i don't like asking for it. don't like feeling weak or inadequate. yet we aren't made to go through life alone. i need you and you need me. something beautifully modeled by god who exists as a trinity. good stuff. who wants to help us move? :)

we can only do what we can do. this is a tough one and an obvious one. corrie and i take on too much, but at the end of the day, we can only do what is physically possible to do. god gives us everything we could ever need ... just gotta keep breathing.

we need to sleep more. seriously. the past three nights, we have gone to bed early and gotten nearly 8 hours. amazing how big of a difference this makes! pretty soon we're going to start eating dinner at denny's at 4 in the afternoon. man we're getting old!

I love putting food in my ears!

Queen of the Patch

It takes about 20 pictures for Eva to look at the camera. We gave up on the family portrait pretty quickly.

Siegfried & Roy ... featuring a rare white tiger!

Yum!

Behind the Curtain: August - September

Last we posted, Adam was leaving for Malawi and Corrie was staying behind with Eva.

Fast forward a month ... and this is all that happened:

Adam made it to Malawi and back.

In South Africa, Adam's rental car blew two tires in the middle of nowhere.

But, Adam made it home safely.

In Malawi, Adam made lots of plans.

Adam met with local village chiefs to plan for village development.

Adam met with a woman who oversees a human rights agency in Malawi. 

Adam met with the leadership team of Flood Malawi Church and planned and made goals to strengthen the church.

Adam plans to return next summer to see these plans to fruition.

Adam likes to plan. 

At home, Corrie tended to a sick child.

Eva had a urinary tract infection, kidney infection, 103 degree fever, vomited twice, and had another heart episode.  In one night.

Eva was really sick.

Eva is now better, but the doctor has ordered more tests to see what caused the infections. 

We wait. We pray. We trust God regardless of the outcome.

At home, Corrie is a kick butt attorney.

She won two  huge motions and made clients happy.

Her firm is busy and doing well, which is a blessing in this economy.

Corrie writes motions, talks with clients and converses with judges.

Corrie is a kick butt attorney.

Upon returning home, Adam went straight to Flood's church retreat and prepared for the biggest month of the year.

The college students returned and so did the bulk of his job.

He plans and speaks and counsels and prays.

Adam is a kick butt pastor.

There's much more to say, but this is the best we can do to recap a month in 5 minutes.  In our free time we have also begun the house search once again and are training for a half marathon.

We look forward to celebrating Eva's 1st birthday on October 4th!

This has been one crazy year.

Love,
Adam & Corrie

ps. Oh yeah ... Eva has begun taking steps all around the house. We hope to have her join us in November for the half marathon!

Why I Go

Tomorrow I head back to Malawi, Africa, where I will be furthering Flood's ministry with a church plant in the capital city.  This is my 9th visit to the continent. Working with the local church, I will be researching new initiatives for 2011 including a human rights clinic, an intern exchange program, micro-finance projects and malaria prevention.  I am deeply saddened by the thought of leaving Corrie and Eva behind. Even if it is just for a few weeks, I am not looking forward to saying goodbye. To help extinguish my guilt, and possibly to inspire a few of you reading this, I came up with some reasons for why I go.

I go because I love to travel. Not the only reason, or the most important reason, maybe even a shallow reason, but nonetheless, this is a reason why I go. Though it's a long journey, I have developed rigorous methods to cope with the 20+ hour flight (thank you Tylenol PM and wine served on international flights!) and learned how to "sometimes" score upgrades into business class. I'm fascinated by different perspectives and cultures, and feel like I have been given skills to quickly navigate through differences to find common ground.

I go because it's my job. In 2005, I was asked to go to Malawi by my church. Since then I have been back every year. One of my roles is to not only support our partnerships in Africa, but to create unique opportunities for others to go. It is exciting to see people take huge steps of faith and sacrifice to help others. There are many different reasons why I love being a pastor, but getting to see others grow in this way tops the list!

I go because I give a damn. We all know there are problems in the world. There are issues of oppression and poverty. There are those, simply because of where they happen to be born, have much, and those who have very little. In college I studied sociology and enjoyed the challenging thoughts and discussions in and outside the classroom. Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to move beyond stimulating conversation to tangibly helping the problems. Corrie and I have spent many nights talking around the dinner table about ways we can make a difference. At times, we get overwhelmed and discouraged, yet we keep reminding ourselves ... if we don't go who will? We have the means, the education and the opportunity to help others, so we do. We can't do everything, but we can do something. 

Lastly, I go because my momma told me to. Seriously. When I was in 4th grade, my mom and I were dropping my sister off in San Francisco so she could head back to college. We spent the day seeing the sites and hopped back in the car to head home. On the drive back my mom shared the story of Jesus with me. How He came to this earth to show us how to live. How He died for us. And how He rose again, proving that He was the Son of God and worthy to be followed. With out being pushy, she simply told me about Jesus and asked me to consider beginning a relationship with God. That night, I got in my bed, and began to talk to Jesus for the first time and decided that I wanted to follow Him for the rest of my life. Little did I know how big of an impact that decision would have on my life and where God would take me.

Because Christ has called me to be His child. 

Because Christ has called me to live generously and compassionately. 

Because Christ gives me hope and freely offers hope to the world. 

Because Christ has called me to utilize everything He made me to be, for His glory, I go.

I'll be back Tuesday, August 24th.

To see a more detailed trip itinerary click here. My team and I would appreciate your prayers while we are away ... and so would Corrie :)

Moments from July

How many bananas can you stick to your face?

July has flown by! Here are some highlights from the last several weeks ... in no particular order.

1. Eva had her 9 month checkup. She received a clean bill of health. According to the charts, she's one tall little lady (97th percentile!).
2. Eva has started to stand on her own without holding on to anything. Something tells us she'll be an early walker. Can't decide if this is a good thing or not.
3. Corrie and I enjoyed our first overnight away from Eva to celebrate our anniversary. It was fun, but Corrie kept smiling and talking to every baby we saw. If she was a dude, people would have thought she was pretty creepy.
4. The past few weeks of work for Adam have been crazy. He is preparing all the details for his upcoming trip to Malawi (leaves Aug 9) while also needing to get everything done for the fall college schedule that starts up the day he returns from Africa. He's extremely excited about all the projects he's working on, but has been putting in lots of extra hours.
5. Corrie's time at work has been full as well. She has several cases going on at the same time. She is quickly learning how to be Wonder Woman, balancing a full time work schedule and motherhood duties. Her invisible plane is on its way.
6. Eva began communicating with us. She knows how to point and is quickly learning about all the different "things" in any given room. She also can act like a pretty mean lion and a wise old owl ... thanks to Aunt Sarah for teaching her tricks.
7. We spent the 4th of July weekend up in Sacramento with family and friends. We enjoyed every single minute of our time away.
8. Eva pooped in the tub for the first time!
9. We took Eva on her first international journey into Mexico to visit some good friends in Tijuana.
10.  Corrie and Adam got to spend some time acting like kids, rather than taking care of them, at Disneyland. Thanks to Emilie and Grandpa and Grandma for watching Eva.

Below are some various pictures and videos. In two weeks Adam will be leaving for Malawi, so we'll post more about his trip soon.

Love you all,
Adam & Corrie

Enjoying the summer

So fashionable!