VIP update

Somehow the Huffington Post got this photo before the Aville Citizen-Times or the Mountain Xpress...the above photo is the first family dining at 12 bones. An update: after lunch they headed to the Grove Park Inn and then went on a hike on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Word on the street is that Hickory Nut Gap farm confirmed that they sent several grass-fed steaks over to the Grove Park Inn for the President. Rumors are swirling about where they will dine tonight, and we can't help but walk down town just in case we catch sight of them. One of Seth's co-workers wanted to start the rumor that Obama would be at the Friday night drum circle downtown...

Presidential Visit

Okay for those of you who haven't heard the news...the Obamas are vacationing in Asheville this weekend. They will be staying a the Grove Park Inn, which is just down the road from Myles' pre-school. Seth and I are addicted to the Mountain X twitter feed and Aville Citizen-Times blog that's providing up-to-date information about exactly where they are in town. They went to 12 Bones for barbecue lunch...12 bones is less than a mile from our house, and the presidential motorcade (or whatever it's called) will be driving literally 4 blocks away from my house. I'm keeping a camera in my purse all weekend in case we bump into the Obamas!

I've had the chance to see both of the Obamas before...I first heard the President speak when I attended a Sojourners' conference in Washington DC. I was in the second pew, just behind the reserved seating. That was before he was a presdential candidate, of course, so it was easier to get within range. Then we heard Michelle Obama speak when she was on the campaign trail. We took Myles and told him that he was listening to someone very important, the next first lady (as if he knew what that meant). We were right!

Will let you know if we have any Obama or motorcade sightings this weekend. How cool is it that I live in a city where the President wants to vacation, even after he's been wined and dined in some of the most exciting cities in the world? I do live in a cool place. Btw, I had 12 bones for dinner last night (went to a meeting where it was catered). I don't eat meat, but they do some mean sweet potatoes and green beans.

Baby Rhy

This morning at 3:40am, the phone rang. It was my sister, fighting off a contraction, tell me the time had come a little sooner than we all thought it would. We had decided that if she went into labor in the middle of the night, I would be the one to go and be with the boys so that Brian could be with Brenna during labor and birth. If she went into labor during the day, my mom would go. The only problem was I was scheduled to preach in just six short hours, and couldn't exactly call up my co-pastor at 3:40am and ask her to preach for me. So we decided that Seth should be the one to go and, hey, why not throw Myles in for good measure? By 4am, Seth and Myles were out the door on their way to the hospital in Bristol. (By the way, it was suggested to me at church that I should have just asked Seth to preach in my absence...he he).

As I called every ten minutes to check in with Brian (then called my mom, then Seth, then Brian again), I got more of the story. I think Brenna woke up in labor at 2am. At 3am, she woke up Brian. At 3:30 she called my mom, and at 3:40 she called us. The concern was that she was 35 weeks pregnant, and really wanted baby Rhy to stay put for two more weeks. (Finn was born at 36 weeks at 5lbs 13oz). So she didn't know if she'd go to the hospital and they would try to stop her labor or if they would just let the baby come. By the time she arrived at the hospital, it was clear that the baby was coming. She was fully dialated and crowning. Brian waited in the waiting room with the boys as Seth sped full speed ahead to the hospital. Brian mentioned that the dogs got loose when they opened the garage door and so were out on the run. (After an hour long search later in the day, they were found two doors down at the neighbors). I was on the phone with him when he casually said, "The baby's in the nursery. Hold on. Seth's on the other line, I have to let you go." Hmm. The baby's in the nursery, what did that mean. I called Seth a few minutes later, and Seth said that Brian had said the same thing to him, but he thought Brian was joking. I called Brian back. Nope, the baby had arrived, before Seth could even get there, sometime after 5am. He was now in the nursery being cleaned up and weighed. No epidural for Brenna, Rhy came too quick.

So here's the bit that I know. Rhylan Voss Schaffer was born at 5:08am, weighing in at 5lbs 6oz, measuring 19 1/4 inches (a full inch taller than Finn when he was born). His lungs seem to be in good shape. He was born posterior (which means his head was facing down rather than up, which was hard on his little head), so it was painful for Brenna. She's on some pain meds now, and may take a "jacuzzi bath" later. Rhy was also starting to nurse a little bit. Brenna will be in the hospital until Tuesday at least, and they are not sure yet how long Rhy will be there, but it looks like the maximum would be ten days in the NICU. Premies struggle with maintaining body weight, so they are keeping him wrapped up and Brenna's holding him a lot.

As it turns out, Rhy shares a birthday with Lucy, my sister's best-friend's littlest who turns one today. Happy Birthday Rhy and Lucy!

Please keep Brenna, Brian, and Rhylan in your thoughts and prayers this week. We are so joyful that he seems to be doing well and hope he will gain some weight with breastmilk and be released from the hospital when the time is right. What a miracle...

My mom is now at the house with the boys, who are zonked out after getting up so early. Brian is at the hospital with Brenna and Rhy. Seth and Myles are on the way home. What a day!!

It's a Wonderful Life

April has been treating us right, here in the mountains of WNC. This week we've had 70-80 degree days with warm sun, cool breezes, and deliciously chilly evenings. The weather has been perfect. We have some sugar snap peas growing tall in our garden, our new raspberry bushes are happy, and our blueberry bushes are flowering. Our new dogwood bloomed in our front yard and is now leafing out. Every day it seems like a new flower is in season from daffodils to tulips to lilies. And this morning we are headed out the door to the first farmers' market of the season.

Mylestones: As I am learning I do too often in parenting, I spoke too soon when I whipped off last month's list of Mylestones. We are still working on potty training. I think we've got the pee thing down to a science, but poop's another matter altogether. We seem to take two steps forward, one step back, and Seth and I are frustrated by the painfully slow progress. On the other hand, Myles is showing a newfound interest in numbers which has been exciting to see. He's dusting off his numbers books and learning to count items on a page slowly and purposefully without getting ahead of himself. He gets some basic concepts, such as when he needs to take 5 bites and he's only taken four he will say "just one more, Mama!" The other day we were reading a numbers book when he proclaimed "5 plus 2 is 7!" Seth and I looked at each other. "He's a genius," we were thinking. So Seth quickly followed that up with "Myles, what's the square root of 68.4?" Nope. Just a fluke. He may not be a math genius, but his language skills are improving a lot, from pronunciation to vocabulary. He has an incredible vocabulary and often we will hear him using words phrases like "Stop, he cried!" rather than "Stop, he said!" It's quite amusing to listen in on one of his dramatic scenes in the bathtub or playing with his train table. Myles is also, I think I've mentioned, cut from the same cloth as his father in terms of being a strong extrovert. With warmer weather this means that whenever we drive by someone walking on the sidewalk, Myles shouts through his half open window, "Hi!" quickly followed by "What are you doing?" if we're at a stop sign/light. He also loves to stand on his chair in the kitchen and shout out of our window to passersby. People seem to be alternately delighted, amused, or confused by his initiation of conversation.

Myles Says: Yesterday in the car I was driving behind a very slow truck and made mention of it to Myles. Mama: "This truck is too slow, I better pass him." Myles: "Yes, or he might get into a c-, I mean truck accident." Truck accident...makes sense, right? As I was cutting a coupon out of a cereal box, Myles: "What are you doing Mama?" Me: "I'm cutting this out to take to the store, because if I give it to the cashier, I will get $1 off of our milk." Myles: "That's wonderful, Mama! What's it called again?" Yesterday at a friend's house...Cora: "Myles, would you like to slide with me?" Myles: "I'd love to!" Very sweet.

We had a fabulous Easter. Myles had two Easter egg hunts at school, one at his friend Hazel's house (pictured above), and another at church. For the good of the family, Seth and I forced oursevles to consume the bulk of his candy (unbeknownst to Myles) so that he wouldn't have to overdose on sugar. Our church had a joint worship service with the congregation that hosts us in their building, and we had nearly 100 folks there, about 70 of whom were connected to Land of the Sky. The spring has resulted in some concrete growth, which we desperately needed, and we're hoping that things will continue to move and grow and develop from here. After all the stresses and struggles of putting together the events of holy week (the week before Easter) and planning a joint service with another congregation, it truly was an Easter miracle when we came together for worship and communion and God's Spirit was certainly in our midst.

Well, off to the farmer's market!