Jonathan Dean Ahrendt

Oh Boy!!!

Almost half way to our due date and we found out last night that we are going to have a boy! Just a bit excited and haven't decided completely on a name but that will soon come. Wahooo!!

Taking bets on what you think our kiddo will be.. :) thanks for playing!

http://www.mybabysweepstake.com/BetPage.aspx?Id=323

We'll hopefully be finding out the gender of our little one in a little less then a month, if they cooperate!

Happy guessing!!

Why do we have school on Halloween?

This week has been conferences at our school so for three days we had half days. But on Halloween, they decided to have a full day. The level of energy is pretty incredible. They served chocolate cake at lunch and then some classes were also handing out cupcakes because they probably won't get enough sugar tonight. It's been raining pretty good today and kiddos are still allowed on all the playground equipment, so we have hyper and wet children who are racing down the slides and everthing else.... oh what a day. Ok I'll stop my rant. I'm very thankful Halloween is on a friday this year. Last year the kids were all coming down hard from sugar rushes and expected to still be successful in school.

We hit thirteen weeks this week. It's pretty exciting. We got to hear the heart beat last week at my twelve week appointment.

Well i better get back to class. I'll try to write more later!

Wahoooooooooooo

In one hour, Molly and Corban are taking me to the airport. For the last hour, I've been at Ellsworth where i worked last year. It was pretty fantastic. They had made me book and i got lot's of hugs. Oh i miss those boys. For a few hours before that, i was at school. But we need not bring up work till Tuesday...

I'm just a bit excited to be heading to Chicago. My flight leaves at 4:45 and I'm getting back at around 11:45pm on Monday. I'm going to visit my friend Heidi and I'm not sure what all we are doing in the big city but am absolutely stokefied. But i haven't finish packing so I'm going to get on that.

Well I'll be writing all about my trip next week so this is for now. See you all on the other side!! :)


Bethany

Pregnant

So, I just realized that I had posted countdown on this blog but hadn't actually said that I was pregnant. So there you are. I'll be seven weeks tomorrow and we had an ultrasound this last Monday, do to past issues. It was great to see a little heart beat! It made it a bit more real. The due date should be May 7th. My sister, mom and Dusty, all have birthday's in May so i really shouldn't be surprised.

I'm going to go to bed now cause I've been a tired zombie all day. My kiddo doesn't deserve that so it's time to hit the hay.

till later

bethany

A bit of the summer of 2008

So, I realized I hadn't blogged for a big portion of the summer so here are a few pictures for now.

We are celebrating Dusty's 28th birthday and he's bit excited about his cake. He'd also been playing a lot of Guitar Hero so this is a common expression these days.
Dusty and Corban... a future Guitar Hero lover I'm sure. They start them young around these parts.
Micah, Seth and Dusty on the Sticklers roof, watching the Fort Vancouver fireworks.

Dusty and I celebrated our 4th anniversary at Crater Lake and Klamath Falls this year. It was a lot of fun to get away which we haven't done for awhile. I love you dear!

A pretty fantastic coffee shop, in Astoria. It's right on the water and serves great coffee too!


A good friend I met this summer. Erin and I worked together at the Marshall Community Center with the Inclusion kids this summer and I also got to show her around the area a bit before she headed back to Nebraska.
Here are a few of our kiddo's, that we worked with this summer. This was after our hike a Multnomah Falls.

We got to go to the Red bull Flugtag, in downtown Portland, which was a lot of fun. It was packed so i didn't get the best pictures but here are a few of the flying contraptions. Hmmm...it would be a lot of fun to enter, next time it comes to Portland. Any takers!? :)

Kristie and I at Family camp.



A few of the little ones at Family camp. That wagon was very popular with the young crowd.


Corban and I chillin' at our Church family camp. We got to spend a lot of quality time together while his parents and Dusty swam. No complaints here.

This was a pretty good summer...I can't believe school is starting again in a little over a week! We only have a week of camp left...hard to believe. I'll continue teaching swimming lessons during the school year and possibly soccer too ..oh and I'll start as Sparky director at Awana which starts in a month and a half...oh my

Well i better go finish the laundry.

Till later....

The happenings of this week and weekend....

To follow up with my last blog...

52 kids and 12 staff (most of us being Inclusion staff) headed for the Oregon Zoo. Luckily someone came early and purchased tickets and so we got to bypass part of the insanity, which is $2 Tuesday. I have never seen the zoo so packed. Most of the kids had a lot of fun but we were there a bit long (especially for our kiddos)so by the end, we had a lot of complaining but we all survived. None of our kids jumped into the lion enclosure, as my dream the night before had predicted, so that was nice. Tomorrow we are going canoing as a day camp. I'm really looking forward to this.. i love being on the water, not that it will be quite as relaxing with 52 kids, as it was back in the day.

My friend Heidi came in last night and stayed with us, on her way to Chicago. I took the day off and we headed to the beach which was fantastic 73 degrees. It was a lot of fun hanging out and doing the usual CB activities... and being greatly entertained by little Nora Duff who is now walking.

Dusty and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary tomorrow. We are heading for Klamath Falls on Saturday for two nights and we are both really looking forward to this. We'll be going to Crater Lake on the way down which is something we've been wanting to do for awhile. Does anybody know of any other places that we shouldn't miss while down there?

Well i need to get some laundry done...

till later..

Zoo

The day camp is heading to the Portland Zoo today. It's $2 day and so i'm sure it will be busy but the kid's are going to have a lot of fun. It's supposed to be almost 90 degrees today so we'll see how that goes. But tomorrow I'm going to the beach for the day so what ever today brings, I'll have that to look forward to. One of our girls really likes to climb things and then jump off. I woke up this morning with the thought in my head that she's goint to climb into the lion enclosure. Anyways...tomorrow I'm going to the beach...tomorrow the beach....

Dinner and Enertainment

It was decided last night that their's a lot of people that are missing out on a delicious combination of food. Molly and I decided to get some Indian dishes from Trader Joe's and eat it along side Dusty and Micah's delicious barbecue hamburgers. It was excellent though and it was brought up while we were eating, a bit ironic. Later in the evening we enjoyed watching Corban try to roll over (supposedly he already has like 6 times but I'm starting to think it's made up). Then we watched WipeOut and I survived a Japanese Game Show on ABC which are pretty stinking funny. I think we'd all like to try the obstacle course on Wipeout.

How did you spend your evening, last night?

98 degrees and climbing

It's hot ( no i could not tell you one song that that band sang)... I love the sun but it doesn't make me very motivated to clean my house and Dusty's cousin plus a friend are staying her tomorrow night so, i need to get on that. Washing the van sounds much more enjoyable...hmmm

Today it cost $79ish to fill the van... I'm very glad I'm going to be riding my bike or walking to work next year. I should get one of those kid bike carriers to go grocery shopping with...


It's really tempting to take a drive today and put my feet in the water!

By the time i finished writing this post it was 100 degrees!

New stuff that's going on...

Ii got a job at the Marshall Center, here in Vancouver, as an Inclusion Mentor. It's been a lot of fun so far but it's definitely going to be a busy summer. I'm excited to finally have a summer that I'll be spending a significant amount of time outside and in the pool. On Monday's and Wednesday evenings I'll also be doing swim lessons.

Due to the fact that I was a one on two this last year, in the SLC classroom and they both are moving to Portland this summer, I've had to pursue new employment. Well I've had a few interviews this week and I found out Monday afternoon that I'll be working at Endeavour Elementary, which happens to be very close to us. This is exciting because it's a brand new school and I won't have to drive, saving lot's of gas money. So, i can justify drinking more Starbucks!... ok probably not.

Well i better get to work....

So, this has been quite a week. On June 2nd, Molly and Micah welcomed this wonderful little man into the world, Corban Michael Stickler. He was breech so Molly had to have a C- section but things went smoothly. He had to spend a couple of days in the nursery, do to an infection but came out of it fantastic and they were able to go home on Thursday as planned. It's been a lot of fun to watch Molly and Micah be parents. I got a job working for the City of Vancouver this summer. I've been an Inclusion Mentor during swim lessons on Sunday's and have had a few other sub jobs and classes to keep my evenings rather full. I'll be working in the summer camp programs, working as an Inclusion Mentor which means I'll be working with kids with special needs. I'm pretty excited about it. I don't know my exact assignment yet but I'm excited that I'll have the chance to spend some quality time outside this summer.

My garden is growing wonderfully right now. We have a bit off veggie jungle look but i like it... everything is hanging out by the porch right now because Lua (the Stickler's dog) was here for a couple of days and she has a tendency to eat plants.We've already enjoyed some strawberries and a rose or two but everything else still needs time. I have strawberry, raspberry, tomato, pepper, beans, cucumbers and lot's of flowers.. oh and a Japanese maple tree that I'm excited about. Hopefully the tree will be ok in a pot till next year because I don't have a good place to plant it yet.

Well i had some other stuff to share but i think I'll wait till I'm more awake..

till later

I know your right here with me Lord. Please give me the strength to get through today..not to just survive but to lean on you for a positive attitude and even the smile on my face. You know my struggles and how I'd rather just hide in a dark room then face today. Please help me face it and be an encouragement to my coworkers and the kids today....let them see that not an ounce of good could possibly be from me. I'm a broken vessel... search my heart and i want my only desire to come from a thirst to love you more...whatever is the end result of our struggles.

3 days

I have to head to work. But it's getting harder to get motivated to leave the house. The last two days were pretty tough. Two of the ladies were gone and we had subs. Even though they were two of our favorite subs, the kids seemed to know how best to take advantage of the change. Three days till spring break....fantastic!

Please pray that all of us who are working in the schools..have energy to finish strong, during these last few months of school. That our testimony's will be evident and we'll take every advantage to share the love of Christ to these kids.

update and stuffers

On friday night, Dusty, the Sticklers and I tried the new restaurant across from our house. It's called the Firkin' and Frog. It's a pub that has english ties. We had fun doing the trivia game on the big tv's and eating good food. Afterwards, molly and i went to our house and watched Anne of Avonlea and the guys went to the Stickler's house to concure the world.

Saturday morning i drove down to my mom's house. It's been quite awhile so it was fun to be down there for a bit. We had lunch with my dad's mom. My grandpa is doing so much better. He'll be 90 soon and had some pretty bad strokes last year. It's amazing how much he has recovered. He's using a wheel chair now but that's just because it's safer. He also has lost is preferral vision in both eyes but he can deal with that. For awhile he couldn't walk or talk at all and had lost a lot of memory and the use of his right side. He's doing so well and has gotten so much back...it was great to see, a huge answer to prayer.

Today at school i got bit pretty bad. I'm heading to urgent care later. I'll be totally fine and i'd like to just ignore it but it broke the skin a bit so i guess i better go get my shots updated. OH what a day. I should post a picture. The kid was in crisis and i was getting his shoes off him after he'd hit a kid. I felt the bite but ignored it. It's not the first time but this time it instantly swelled and bruised pretty good.... but it's just part of the job.

Sticklers and us in Florence. We had lunch with Molly's mom and my mom and then headed home!
Dusty and Augie are ol' buds...reunited after many years :)
Writing on the wall, in our new church building.
Showing our pastor how much we appreciate him by sharing our donuts.

Our Sparkies :)...go red team!
The Anchorage girls at the Ecola Reunion and a few add ons :)mmmm...cheese...At sunset, in Yachats

Dusteeeeee and Matthew, working on crossword

my day

So it's almost 1:30 in the afternoon. I'm spending my day watching The Office highlights, while in my bathrobe, and listening to Dusty as he saves the world. It's very exciting. I don't think i've ever spent this long just hanging out in bed. I suppose i'm sick but i still feel extremely lazy. So i'm laughing a lot and wheezing a lot. My temp has gone down and so i was going to go to work but then all i could think of was caring a kid across campus and then them escaping because i'm having a coughing fit and the top of my head falls off ... cause that's what it feels like. (it was early in the morning when i thought of going to work and i don't think i was fully awake) Oh well..there's always tomorrow.

Time to do something productive...

Time of worship

After i got off work yesterday, i went through my music on my mp3 player. I had a few doubles and wanted to add some more. Before i go to work recently, I've been sitting in my car and listening to some music and spending some time in prayer. It's been pretty awesome and i highly recommend it.

I used to love listening to worship bands practice . I'd go early to the chapel at Ecola and lay on the chairs and just listen and at Hauser and even a few times at Evergreen.

When we were in Junior High, my friend Naomi, Liz and i would take the sound track tapes of Braveheart and Apollo 13 and play them in the old wooden chapel at Camp Fircroft. We'd lay on the floor and just listen. Oh such sweet times.

To me, good music is like sitting on the beach, it's cleansing. Or laying in a field with a blanket around you, watching the clouds roll by or on a clear, star filled night.

Peter pan nights, oh how i miss thee. :)

I have many great memories of good friends, a guitar (or just voices) and beautiful nights, just hanging out and worshiping our Savior. Sometimes their was sand and a camp fire or a high cliff, or in old building in Bangkok(with the doors wide open for everyone to hear), sometimes on a boat ramp, other times it was sitting on the most fantastic couch known to man or on an outlook towards the ocean, or on a roof of a friends house.

What are some of your favorite memories of times of worship?

I'm really surprised i don't i have nightmares . On most occasions, i go to sleep hearing the World of Warcraft in all it's happy hostility. This morning i woke up to it too. Happy times.

Writing on the wall

I like writing on the stuff. I guess when i was like four years old, i was taking a nap in my parents room. During this time i also practiced writing my name in permanent marker on there bed spread. A few years later i practiced writing on the base of a lamp, in the living room. When i was older, before JHigh i think, i was waiting for my dad to get home and i wrote a novel on the porch (it was in pencil). Back in North Bend, a friend of ours built a house. She invited everyone over to write on the walls before it was drywalled. We wrote scripture all over the walls and dedicated the house to the Lord. It was pretty cool.

Our church is in the process of building a new building. The walls are up, windows put in, and the roof is on. Last night we had a time of worship and praise, then we headed over to the new building for more prayer and then we got to write all over the inside walls. It was pretty sweet. Some of the kids didn't know what to do with themselves, with this much freedom :) I love our church family.

There was time in my life that i loved to write. I was never high up there with quality or grammar or anything (if you haven't figured that out) but it was a great way to just get things out. But now it's easy to be in the mood only when there are highs and lows.
Anyways.... A few weeks back, most of the Anchorage 2000 girls from Ecola got together for reunion. It was a blast! Lot's of babies, lot's of chatting, many hours down memory lane and just catching up over the last 7 years..if that's possible. We lot's of laughing but also a few moments of everyone honestly sharing how things were going. mmmhmmm....i love the beach...it's cleansing.
Last weekend we watched the superbowl. Well Micah and Dusty watched the game and then Molly and i headed out to a baby shower after making food for our hubbies. A lot of the ladies talked about being glad for something to do during SB day but sheesh...not every lady hates football. It was good to be there :) and we even made it back for the end of the fourth quarter..Go Giants!