Thanksgiving Trek

First, a shout out to Ada's mother, Ada, who just came by with Ada and Michael on their way out to dinner. She took a tour of the very messy house (we just got back from vacation, and we have a crawling baby...two really good excuses...). She says she is a religious reader of the blog! So we definitely have an international following...we love you Ada!

On to Thanksgiving. Have I mentioned how incredibly blessed I am to have three living grandparents? Here's a photo of Myles, my dad, "GG" (great grandma), and me. My dad's hat is even cooler looking in person. The other photo is of my Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham (now that's a mouthful!) at my aunt and uncle's house at the dairy farm. They are surrounded by just a few of their many great grandchildren. They have a total of 17 great grandkids, as of today (Finn is number 17), 13 of them are age 3 and under. I guess that's what happens when you have 6 kids. In the photo you can see Alexis, Reya, Myles, Carter, and Jadyn.

Our trek this year: We left on a Tuesday night and stayed over in Kentucky at a hotel. On Wednesday we drove up through Ann Arbor and stopped in to see Melissa, a friend I met in the 7th grade who was in my wedding, who I love. She was working at Whole Foods, which was an absolute zoo on the day before Thanksgiving! Then we made it to Utica and stayed with my Aunt Penny and Uncle Gary for the night. The next morning we headed to the farm. We eat Thanksgiving dinner at noon, in part because the farmers in the family need to get to the cows. You don't get a day off from milking. We ate at my Aunt Shelly and Uncle Scott's new house, which is a beautiful, cozy log cabin. We even got to hear the news that my cousin's wife shot a six point deer and cleaned it all herself. Interesting.

That night we hit the road again for Fremont, to stay with my dad's mom, who had cooked up a storm. On Friday we did no traveling, save a few miles to my Aunt Barb and Uncle Ed's house to eat some more and chill. They have a new litter of Irish Setter puppies who were six weeks old and so sweet. On Saturday, we headed to my folks' house in TN. On Sunday, we spent the morning with them, Myles got his crawling and playing time in, we ate lunch, and headed back to Asheville. We spent a lot of time in the car, but it was worth every second. Family somehow keeps you humble, reminds you where you come from and who you are. Both of my grandmothers were thrilled to get their hands on Myles. My dad's mom cried when we left (as she often did when we were kids). My mom's mom was waiting at the door with her arms outstretched to hold Myles for the first time. Thank God for family.

A Little More News

I still don't have a picture of Finn yet, but I hear he's pretty cute. His health checked out just fine, and he latched right on and began to nurse within an hour of his birth. If all continues to go well, they may come home in 24 hours! And my sister and Brian even ordered a pizza...something not remotely possible after a cesarian. All is well in Schaffer land.

Next, I'm going to update you on our Thanksgiving trip. Stay tuned...

Finnian James

Whew. My mom finally called with news from my sister. Finnian James Schaffer was born at 5 lbs 13 oz, 18 inches long...sweet boy! My sister delivered VBAC, which means vaginal birth after cesarian. After many long talks between the two of us about how much cesarian birth sucks and how we would hope, plot, and plan for a VBAC, she did it!! With the help of a skilled doula and midwife, I might add. Brian did make it to the hospital for the birth. Turns out she delivered an hour and a half after arriving at the hospital. He is now with Finn as Finn gets checked out to make sure his lungs and other organs are in working order. My mom said my sister sounded happy and alert (and hungry!). My folks are due to fly out on December 18th (thinking they would arrive well before the baby arrived), and they can't push it up because my dad gets a scan on Friday and the results on Tuesday. This scan is a big deal, so please pray for him or keep him in your thoughts. Anyhow, I am so glad that Brenna had a vaginal birth because I know her recovery time will be so much quicker and easier, and my mom will not be out there to help these first weeks. I will post a photo of Finn just as soon as I have one! In the meantime, I'll give another glimpse of sweet Myles.

Helicopters, Hospitals and High Drama!

Hello family and friends: I wanted to let you all know that I just received a phone call from my mom, who just received a phone call from my brother in law saying that my sister is in labor. She was due on Christmas Eve with Finnian, but this morning her labor began in earnest, so they called a friend to watch Kaleb and hopped in the car to go to the hospital, which is over an hour away. Along the way, my sister felt a need to push, and so Brian pulled over, called 911, and the cops came, followed by an ambulance, followed by a helicopter. Brian couldn't fit in the helicopter, so he is en route to the hospital, and it's a different hospital than the one they planned to deliver at (a little closer). So much for the doula. She was paged, but the emergency technician said Finn could make an appearance in as soon as 15 minutes.

So we don't know if he has arrived yet or not (Brian or Finn!). Please say a quick prayer for my sister. I lit a candle. I'll update the blog when I know more. (By the way, this is a photo of my Grandma Graham holding Myles on Thanksgiving Day...aren't they beautiful?)

Skeletor

We decided to revive the skeleton outfit...had to snap a photo before Myles outgrew it. The new news is that Myles is on his way to sleeping through the night on his own. I didn't realize how compromised my sleep really was, but I am thankful that what we are doing now seems to be working, and Myles seems to be well rested and happy. I will confess that I am not yet sleeping through the night. I still wake up, amazed that he's asleep...I'll admit that I shed a few tears the first night, because it seemed like such a big mylestone, and when I couldn't fall back to sleep I went into the room he was sleeping in and bumped around until he woke up...but the second night I was determined to let him sleep, and I did, and he did. Seth has been so patient and supportive through it all. On Friday we are going on a hot date, Ada and Michael are planning to watch Myles. Then Saturday is the holiday parade and Sunday is the Alternative Gift Market at our church, where we sell fair trade items, 10,000 Villages stuff, and art and crafts made by our own congregants (it's really beautiful stuff). I can hardly believe next week is Thanksgiving. We are headed back up to Michigan, and I am so excited to see family who have not yet met Myles. If they are expecting cute, they haven't seen anything yet...

A Trip to Michigan

Myles slept his way through Halloween stuffed into a skeleton jump suit...the chubbiest skeleton ever. We didn't even get a photo! We had lots of fun in West Asheville with the Burnets and their neighbors, and strolled a tired Myles through the night, which was a beautiful one with the changing leaves at sunset. On Tuesday, I received a call from my friend Erin saying that her dad had died early in the morning. I met Erin at the bead station in kindergarten, our sisters are best friends, and she's like a sister to me. She's one of those friends who is a "lifer," I imagine we will attend the weddings of each other's kids one day. Her dad was diagnosed with cancer after my dad, and so all of this has happened so fast. And Erin will be married within two weeks, we were all so hopeful that her dad would walk her down the aisle. It was a very hard phone call to receive, and Seth and I knew that we wanted to go up to Detroit to be with her family at his funeral on Friday. It was even more important because my sister was too pregnant to fly across the country, and my mom and dad were on a business trip for my dad's work, so I was the only member of the Voss family who could go. We set out on Thursday at 1:00pm after putting in a half day at work. How grateful we are that we have enough job flexibility to go when we need to. We dropped Junie at pet soup, and began our drive up to Detroit. Our plan was to stay in Toledo, and Seth had booked a nice hotel with an indoor pool so we could have a short swim with Myles in the morning before setting off again. Our plans were disrupted when, at 10:30pm outside of Sidney, Ohio, we got a flat tire. Seth changed it (thanks to ASP, we have two adults in the family capable of changing a flat). We decided not to drive on the spare all the way to Toledo in the dark of night, and let's just say the Econo-lodge in Sidney is more "econo" than "lodge." We set out at 5:30am, called my dad who found a Belle Tire in Michigan south of Detroit that opened at 8:00am. At 8:05 we rolled in, were out on the road again by 9:00am, and arrived at the funeral with five minutes to spare. Thanks be to God, because I really thought we might not make it. The funeral was an incredible tribute to a wonderful man, Jack Dalton. In his spirit, it was a celebration of life even as we expressed our grief. Stories were told of the time Jack talked his cousin into throwing snowballs at a cop car when they were kids, how he got rid of chipmunks in the backyard when Erin and I were kids (a story not to be repeated by an animal lover, suffice it to say it was funny in a Jack Dalton way), and the love that he had for his wife and daughters. I got to meet Liam, Jack's first grandchild, who is just 4 months old and a blessed reminder of new life in the midst of death. On the way home we saw my folks and had the opportunity to hold Sawyer, my sweet 2 week old nephew who was so tiny and content in the chaos of three boys. The photos show Myles with his oldest cousin Ashton (3 and a half), and my dad reading a story to the two of them. Ashton is very interested in babies, and very sweet with Myles and Sawyer. My dad continues to face chemo with an incredible spirit, mindful of the moment, even when he's feeling tired. This trip was a reminder (as if we needed one) that cancer is so tough, but the human spirit is deep and resilient. The weekend ended with an All Saints Day service at church today. A saint, my colleague says, is anyone who inspires us in our faith journey and brings us closer to God. We had the opportunity to light a candle in honor of someone who has died who we want to honor and remember, or any saint in our lives, living or dead. The blaze was incredible, and we were reminded that we're not alone. So many have gone before us and walk beside us even now. Thanks be to God.