The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In the next few days we will attempt to update you on a number of recent events/activities in our lives over the past month but first a review of another party we had here at Rio Vista.  Eric and I belong to a dinner club consisting of 3 other couples and ourselves.  When the club first started we called each other with only an hour warning that everyone would be showing up for dinner in 60 minutes.  The challenge was to pull together whatever you could for 8 people in that amount of time.  We have since tweaked the challenge and now give each other 24 hours notice BUT the couple that calls the hosting family also picks a theme for the dinner.  Once you host dinner, you get to call the next one and pick the theme.  Our themes so far since last October have consisted of Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., pirates and college.

This past month we got the call that we would be hosting everyone around the theme of children's story books.  Fortunately, dinner was to be held on a Saturday evening so we had all day to prep.  The list of children's stories involving food range from Strega Nona to Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs so after some discussion we settled on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The following pictures capture how we themed and planned our evening.

Here we have our menu for the evening consisting of the items eaten by the very hungry caterpillar on each day of the week.  This was a 7 course meal!

We prepped the fruit beforehand.  We gave everyone bites of fruit instead of serving the whole thing!

Eric did the decorating work for the Very Hungry Caterpillar cafe.  We take great pride in our cafe here at apartment 9.

We were the hosts for the evening--hence the black and white outfits.

We allowed one of our smaller guests to hang out with us in the kitchen while we got the food ready to serve.

Our happy customers enjoying the food and company.

Great fun was had by all including the hosts!  We thank God for good friends and fellowship.    

Eric Turns 27!

One of our favorite things to do here in Tucson is host people in our home for food and fun so what better reason to gather and eat than a birthday—Eric’s birthday! At first this was just going to be a casual gathering of friends and it’s hard to get friends together in the summer in Tucson because everyone heads to cooler temperatures for their vacations. Then as the idea progressed in my mind and I walked the aisles of Target, I decided to add a little theme to the party. I stood in front of the party section and deliberated between Star Wars and Avengers and finally settled on an Avengers theme due to our enjoyment of all of the Avenger heroes movies including the most recent one. My friend, Jenn, agreed to make a cake that looked like Captain America's shield because Captain America is Eric's favorite Avenger.

We had a great time eating yummy cake, playing games and celebrating Eric. I am so thankful for God's gift of Eric to me as my husband. Pregnancy has been a challenge on my body at times and Eric has been so kind and gentle to get me anything I need, encourage me when I'm discouraged and pray for me when I'm feeling crummy. He goes to work every day and works hard to provide for us. He has also been studying a lot to get more certifications so he can provide for us on one income. I am continually amazed by his tireless efforts to serve me, our church, his co-workers and his friends and usually always with his great sense of humor and encouraging and humble spirit. I know he will be a great dad and I can't wait for him to meet his son or daughter.

Speaking of son or daughter, it's hard to believe that we are almost at the half-way point until Baby Reinhold's arrival! In the month of July we had a doctor's appointment that gave us the chance to hear his/her heartbeat for the first time and that was a blessing to us after 7 weeks of illness and physical fatigue. In the beginning of September we will go for our ultrasound to find out the gender and make sure everything is growing the way it is supposed to. God has been teaching me continually about trusting Him with each day of our baby's life and I am thankful for the assurance of knowing that His presence and love will be with us no matter the circumstances of our lives.

Stay tuned for photos from our next party...also with a theme but one you probably haven't seen before!  

June 2012

Well, here it is almost the end of July and we are filling you in on the events of June. We think, however, that this post was worth the wait and we suspect you will find it was worth the wait too as you read on.

June 1^st, 2012 was a day that will change our lives forever. I know that sounds a bit dramatic but on that Friday, our lives turned a corner down a path that we had been praying for and now found ourselves walking on. After 18 months of trying and praying and shedding some tears, we got a positive on a pregnancy test confirming our suspicions that I might be pregnant after being 2 weeks late for my period! We cannot begin to express our gratitude for our friends and family who faithfully prayed for us while we waited for God to answer our prayers for children. He had a perfect time for us and He receives all the glory for being faithful and loving and kind to us, children or no children. We are expecting to welcome Baby Reinhold into the world around January 26^th, 2013.

As I mentioned, His timing was perfect for us and points to His wisdom being infinitely greater than ours. At the end of April, I transitioned from my job at State Farm to being the secretary of my church and in the middle of May, Eric’s office moved locations so that he is now able to walk to work. This saves us a bunch of money on gas and saves him an hour of driving every day. I am in a much slower paced environment which would end up being perfect for the amount of nausea I experienced in my first trimester of pregnancy.

God’s activity, however, was perhaps most evident when we looked back over our fertility chart for the month of May. On May 3^rd we met with Eric’s fertility doctor who informed us that Eric’s second analysis came back perfectly normal although he could not explain the difference in the two samples. He encouraged me to visit a female fertility doctor to find out if there was anything hindering pregnancy on my end of things. I told Eric I would like to wait to schedule that appointment until we found out about our attempts in May. Looking back now, we believe that May 3^rd, the day we were told that everything looked normal, was the day we conceived! I have always heard of stories where doctors can’t explain miraculous changes in their patients, but it is exciting to have our own story of knowing that God healed us and heard our prayers to have children.

As I write this blog, I have completed my first trimester of pregnancy and although the past 7 weeks have been challenging for me, I try to remember every day to give thanks to God for our little child and that all of the nausea and sleeplessness is a chance for me to lay down my life for his/hers.

Phew, that was just June 1^st! Don’t worry—I won’t spend as much time on every other day of June for all of our sakes! Just a few days after finding out about our pregnancy, Eric and I headed to Pinetop, AZ with friends and the youth group at our church to help staff a 3 day youth retreat into which we had just put hours and hours of planning. It was a rewarding time getting to know the youth and their parents and enjoying the cooler temperatures of a higher elevation with actual forests made of trees. We finished the retreat by fishing with our pastor and some friends at a lake in Pinetop.  It was great to relax by a body of water--something we often say we miss living in Tucson.  Below is a video that shows some of the highlights of the retreat.  

We split the kids into two groups and named them the tribes of Galatia and Ephesus.  Eric and I were the tribe leaders for Ephesus.  As you can see below, Eric took his job as tribe leader very seriously.  

The rest of the month of June is a blur in my mind, mostly characterized by nausea and sleeping on the couch because that is the only place I can get comfortable. We shared our exciting news with family and friends on Father’s Day which was a blessing and increased our joy in this new season of our lives. Then on June 28^th we celebrated 4 years of marriage and by celebrated I mean that I gave Eric a present and fed him ravioli and then we went to AJ’s Fine Foods to share a yummy dessert because that is all my stomach could handle. We forgot to bring the camera to take a picture of our dessert. =( We plan to celebrate much more extensively this September when we will spend a week in San Diego on an anniversary/babymoon vacation!

I got Eric these fancy bookends for his nightstand as his anniversary gift and the next day he brought home these beautiful lilies that filled our apartment with their scent for many days.  

Praises: We praise God for the answered prayer of giving us a child and that He has thus far carried us successfully through the pregnancy. We also praise God for His provision of a new job location for Eric to save us money and for my job which allows much flexibility while I am sick.

Prayers: Pray for us to love God first before any of His gifts to us including the gift of children. Also pray for us to cast any anxiety that pregnancy or child-rearing might bring on to Him because we know He cares for us. We also ask that you would please pray for two couples in our care group who are certified to adopt children because God has not given them their own and they are just waiting for a phone call that they have been chosen by a birth mom. One couple has waited 10 years to have children and the other has waited almost 5. We know that just as with us, God reverses bleak looking circumstances by the word of His mouth and so please pray that He would act for them just as He has graciously acted on our behalf.