Oct 13, 2008

Post-Weekend Update

We met with the doc this afternoon, and she said all the lab results came back normal.  My blood pressure was a little higher than it had been Thursday, but it was still securely in the "normal" range.  She said it was fine for me to go back to work and resume life as "normal."  We'll have weekly appointments from here on out, but were already at that point anyway.  So the good news is that there's nothing super exciting to report!

Thanks so much to everyone for food, prayers, calls, emails, and the many other ways you support us!

Oct 10, 2008

Baby Clinger update

Well, so much for my boring pregnancy.  Up until now there hasn't really been anything to report, but here's the latest.

Yesterday morning I had a regular appointment with my doctor, and everything was fine.  I went to Lawrence to work as planned.  I felt some tingles in my foot, so checked with a family friend who is a doctor.  She had me come in and ran some tests, and talked with my doctor's office.  They want me on bed rest for the weekend.  Tonight I'll go to the lab here in Olathe where they'll run a few more tests, and we'll get the results on Monday afternoon when I have an appointment with my doctor's practice partner.  They're checking for pre-eclampsia, which is related to blood pressure.  Mine has always been fine, but the doctor in Lawrence saw a couple other indicators that could be precursors to pre-eclampsia.

What happens next depends on the results from the lab work.  The good news in all this is that we're less than a month away from the due date, so if they decide to deliver, the baby would be early but probably not dangerously so.  Jeff's trip to Arkansas next week is up in the air, and he's cleared his schedule of pretty much everything, so we're hanging out together.  We'll get some movies and probably pull out some of our board games.  We're hoping the doctors are just being cautious, but we're also trying to get prepared for the possibility of an early delivery.  We'll update at www.theclingerfamily.com.  Your prayers and support are, of course, appreciated.

Oct 6, 2008

Baby's Footprint

In my blog reading today, this post from gDiapers caught my attention.  We considered using gDiapers as an alternative to disposables, but now are thinking we'll go with cloth.  In any case, it really got me to thinking about the global impact on resources that just one child has, and what my global impact has been and will be.  The references to other countries were telling as well.  If you're interested, you can calculate your carbon footprint here.  Really, there are lots of places you can do that.  The sobering thing for me was to see how many earths it would take to sustain humanity if everyone lived like me.  And it is interesting to see, but I don't think it means anything unless we do something to make our footprint smaller.  We're trying, at least.

Aug 28, 2008

Updates

Several updates to let you know about...

  • I'm now 30 weeks pregnant.  I haven't gained too much weight, but at this point I've decided not to keep track on my own anymore.  We had an appointment with the doctor today and they took blood samples.   They'll also be checking my TSH levels.  Oh, and I drank the glucose drink this morning.  It's like flat orange pop, and made me feel like I had just had 10 ounces of pure sugar (surprise).  We've now moved to the phase of seeing the doctor every two weeks.
  • We started child birth class last night.  We'll go on Wednesday nights for a total of 5 weeks.  There are 5 other couples in the class, and there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between folks last night.  Four of the other couples all have the same doctor, which seems like it could be unique.  The woman who led the class just talked the whole time other than when we introduced ourselves, and it was a little difficult to pay attention all the time.  But it was helpful.
  • This Sunday will be my first Sunday leading worship at the West Campus of Lawrence FUMC.  I was freaking out a bit what with people being gone for the holiday weekend, but it looks like things will work out ok.  Thanks to lots of folks, I have a list of people to call on to fill in if needed.  It helps to have connections at COR, and that they're having a special service for the weekend so folks are available to help out!  It's been nice this week to go to the office and interact with folks there.
  • We have furniture set up in the nursery now.  We just need to sort through all the clothes and equipment, and figure out where its all going to go.
We're all settled in the house (well, except for stuff for the baby).  Kayla enjoys having a backyard and "talking" with other neighborhood dogs.  She mostly lays on our bed or in front of one of the sliding glass doors in the sun.  Ah, the life of a suburban dog.  I'll try to be better about updating, but I won't make any promises.

Shalom to you.

Jul 29, 2008

Moved in

Friday we had a housewarming party.  We have been in the house for three weeks and had decided we needed a goal, so we threw ourselves a party and invited friends old and new in the area.  We had friends from our pre-school and elementary school days, college, and newly-made friends!  We borrowed a yard game from the Conards (German horse shoes?  Polish horse shoes?  whatever...) and had drinks and desserts for  everyone.

Included in the evening was a tour, so I've included pictures for anyone who couldn't make the party.  The house is a quad-level built in 1978.  There are some quirks to it, mostly from projects by the owners before the folks we bought it from.  It is great space for us, and we are definitely feeling home!  I hope you enjoy the "tour."

The entryway... the stained glass is from Ridge UMC's old fellowship hall.


View #1 of the front room.  The doorway to the right of the piano goes into the kitchen, as you can tell from the refrigerator.


View #2 of the front room, the front window.  It has a ledge, which we might put some pillows in some day.


Looking from the dining room into the kitchen.  Jeff's dad and my step-dad installed an above the range microwave.  The pantry door is back on, but we still have to repaint it.  (That's a fun story if you haven't heard it.)


Looking into the dining room from the kitchen, and further down into the family room.  You can also see the stairs up to the bedrooms. To the right of the dining room table is a sliding glass door that goes out onto our deck.


Dining room looking to the family room.  There's a fireplace (we need to have it inspected).  As you go down the stairs, you can turn to go down to the basement, or go out to the garage.  You can see the second sliding glass door between the dining room chair and table, that goes out onto a patio.  Kayla really likes lying in front of the door to be in the sun.


The stairs going up to the bedrooms.  There is a bathroom, then the master bedroom on the left, the guest room straight ahead, and the nursery on the right.  There are also two closets up there as well.

This is the nursery, obviously not yet moved in here yet.  :-)


Master bedroom.  Jeff and his dad hung new closet doors for me.  The old ones were also mirrored, but they weren't on the tracks right and needed replacing anyway.


Guest room.  Jeff's closet is on the right (the closets are smaller than the one we had in Indiana) which he volunteered to use.  We are still looking for a mattress and box spring, maybe a small dresser as well.


Basement office/exercise room.  The window has a "lovely" view of underneath the deck.


View #2 of the basement/office.  The box above the tv is the electrical box, and the door between the tv and the shelves goes into what could be made into a small bathroom.  It would have to be closed off from the laundry/utility area, but it has the piping and electrical stuff necessary.

So welcome to our casa!

Shalom,
Heather

Jul 14, 2008

Back in Kansas

This is my first blog entry living in Kansas.  We are in the process of getting things unpacked.  It was almost exactly a week ago this moment that the movers finished unloading all of our stuff...crazy.  

We had a mishap with the pantry door, and it is currently leaning up against the kitchen wall.  The short story is that it self-locked and we couldn't get it unlocked, so we tried taking it off the hinges (didn't work), breaking a couple of the slats to open it from the inside (still locked), and finally Jeff beat the heck out of the handle until it fell off and he could turn the mechanism with a pair of pliers.

Jeff started work on the first and hit the ground running.  I've been getting us unpacked and doing the "to-dos" in the meantime.  I start work tomorrow.  I will be leading the contemporary worship service at the West Campus for Lawrence 1st UMC, the church where Jeff and I met and were married.

Baby Clinger is doing well.  We're on our second doctor since leaving Indiana.  Back in April or May, I had set up an appointment with a doctor is the KC area for June 30.  When he walked in for the appointment, he told us he stopped doing OB on June 12th.  But his office was great--he recommended and had his office get us an appointment later that week with another doctor, whose office is actually closer to our house.  We were really bummed, because we had had a great experience at his office.  When we went to the next appointment, we went in thinking they had a lot to live up to, and they did!  The nurse, doctor, and office staff were great!  Yay!  

I have heard that some people would like to see "baby bump" pics.  Here's the story:  So far I have not intentionally taken any belly pics.  Really, there's no other time when anyone else wants to see the evolution of someone's belly, and we all know that my belly will keep getting bigger.  So you might get to see pictures of me that include my belly, but I'm not going to stand in the same pose month after month so you can see how big I'm getting.  Sorry.  However, here is a recent picture that shows the "bump."


Jun 25, 2008

Updates from a slacker blogger

Well, it is finally here...moving day.  It doesn't seem like that long ago that we announced that we were leaving to go back home to Kansas.  It was almost 5 months ago!  I am currently sitting at home waiting for the movers to come and Jeff to get back with breakfast after taking Kayla to the "spa" for the day.  Thanks to a lot of help from wonderful friends, we are all packed!  We have a few areas designated for things to go in the cars with us.  Although the movers come today, we won't get our stuff until the 7th.  Ah, and it's raining now.  Yippee.

Here's a recap of the last few weeks:

Memorial Day week - I went to New York City with my mom and sister for a girls' trip--lots of fun!  I had never been before.

May 31 - Jeff was ordained!!  This ended a process that he has been going through for many years since he first perceived a call to ordained ministry.  Our families made the trip to Lafayette, IN, and there was a big group from Ridge Church that made the trip as well!  Much celebrating ensued.

sometime early June - we made an offer on a house in Olathe that was eventually accepted!

mid-June - I was offered a job at First UMC in Lawrence to lead worship at the contemporary service on their west campus.  This is my "home church"--the church where Jeff and I met, were in youth group. and got married.  I'll be part time starting on July 15!  So excited!!

June 16-20 - Jeff had Middle School Mission Week at the church, in the midst of which we started saying our farewells and were trying to finish the packing.

June 18 - Baby shower at the church.  There was a really great turn out (Jeff was disappointed he was the only guy...not sure anyone else was.) and we got wonderful gifts!

June 19 - The youth had a going away party for us, and gave us a memory book and other fun road trip gifts.

June 20 - Our young adult friends from Dalit had a going away cook out for us.  Kelly made a wonderful slide show of the time we've all spent together over the past two years.

June 21 - Our Dalit buddies came over for a packing party!  What a great group of friends!  They were fantastic, and worth more than the pizza we bought for dinner.

June 22 - Our last Sunday at Ridge.  There was a combined service at 10:30, which was packed!  The choir sang, the band played, and Jeff preached his last sermon there.  After the service there was a lunch in the Fellowship Hall.  Everyone formed a "receiving line" as they came in, so the folks at the back were waiting for a while to sit!  It was a wonderful day, and we all shared great memories with each other.  We will miss our Ridge Church family greatly.  We have been so blessed by everyone for the time that we have been a part of that community!  Many of the farewells were hard, but we really hope to see folks out our way and when we come back to visit in the next few years.



Looking forward...

Tomorrow we will close on the house in Highland, pack up our cars and head west.

Jeff starts at Church of the Resurrection on July 1st.

We close on our new house in Olathe on July 2nd and take possession July 3rd.  Our stuff comes on the 7th.  I just hope the rain stops today so all our stuff won't get wet before being stored for 11 days, but it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon....

Shalom,
Heather

May 12, 2008

Mothers-ish Day

Yesterday I had a very nice Mothers-ish Day.  Saturday the florist tried to deliver flowers, but we weren't home.  When we found the note, it was after their business hours, so I had to wait until today to find out who sent them, although I did have my suspicions.  (I was right, they were from my mom!  I got them today.)  Sunday morning, there was a lovely card from Jeff on my dresser promising lunch after church.  



We had lunch at a place called Theo's.  It wasn't quite as good as we had remembered from eating there once before, but I still had a good time.  It was cold, rainy, and windy all day yesterday, and the weather combined with the big lunch added up to an afternoon nap.  After the nap I called my mom to wish her a happy mother's day, then got ready to go to youth group.

Over lunch Jeff and I commented that next mother's day we will have a six month old.  We can't really imagine what that will be like.  We're pretty sure it will change our lives in unimaginable ways, and we're pretty excited about that!

Mar 27, 2008

Mar 7, 2008

Oh, Give (so)Me(one) A Home

The latest news is that our house is officially on the market.  It was listed Saturday, and we've already had one person look at it yesterday, and someone else is scheduled to come tomorrow.  Since Jeff is out of town, I've been playing the dog shuffling game.  Some friends from the church have watched/will watch Kayla while there are folks in our house.  It's pretty neat that there are people who want to look at our house.  Kinda creepy and weird in that there's-someone-I-don't-know-in-my-house-and-I'm-not-there kind of way.  Kind of a vulnerable place to be.  But exciting to know that we could sell this house!

Feb 28, 2008

Chat Back

I use GoogleTalk to chat with my mom and sister since they both have gmail addresses. I found a way to be able to chat with other people via my blog. It's called chat back. You'll see just under my picture a little talk-balloon that says "Chat with Me." It shows you my status, if I'm online or not. I'd love to chat with you if you're on at the same time as me. Just click the link and it'll open a chat window. The only drawback is that you appear as "Guest" if you aren't logged with with Google, so don't be offended if I ask who you are. :-)

Happy chatting!

Feb 17, 2008

Thyroid

The results from my blood test and ultrasound came back.  Turns out I have an underactive thyroid, hypothyroid.  And they either found thyroid antibodies, or found something in my thyroid antibodies, I don't remember exactly how the nurse said it, but it is genetic.  So, I have medicine that I'll probably have to take for the rest of my life.  But the good news is that it's not as bad as the worst case scenario that was playing through my mind.  I'm very good at imagining worst case.

So this explains a lot of things.  Feeling tired, being cold all the time, dry skin and nails, voice and throat issues (I actually lost my voice for the first time ever right before Christmas Eve--no pain, just no voice--not cool for the singing worship leader), losing more hair than usual.  And it means that the weight I've lost over the past year or so is unusual, since most people gain weight with an underactive thyroid.  It makes me wonder if the depression I was diagnosed with in college and the migraines I've had since junior high are related, but really I'll probably never know.  

So that's the update.  Thanks for your prayers and kind words! 

Feb 14, 2008

"There's no place like home..."

...except maybe northwest Indiana.

Jeff and I made the decision that it is time to head back to Kansas, and we will be doing so at the end of June, at the changing of the appointment year. In various ways over the past days and weeks we have let the members and staff at Ridge Church know our intentions. It hasn't been easy, and people have reacted in their own ways. Some people are happy for us, some people are sad, and some people are mad. Probably lots are some combination of the three.

It was a difficult decision for us to make. We knew it would hurt and that people would be hurt, but we know that it is time for us to be closer to our families. We are so thankful for the time we've had in Indiana, at Whiting and Ridge, and especially thankful for the people who we've come to know and love these past years. As a favorite song of mine says, "This is not an ending, it's just a bend in the road."

In the meantime, there is a lot of ministry to look forward to in months to come!

Feb 6, 2008

An update on this weekend and this week...

Jeff and I had planned to travel to St. Louis on Friday to spend some time celebrating birthdays with my sister, her boyfriend, my mom, and my step-dad.  (Mine was the 3rd, Erin's is the 8th, and Jeff's is the 14th.)  After a long decision-making process, we decided not to go because of the weather.  We were in the midst of a winter storm, as was most of Illinois.  Jeff and I ended up hanging out around home for most of the day Friday, then we went to dinner at Casa del Rio (our favorite Mexican restaurant here) and to see the movie "27 Dresses."  So we had our celebration for my birthday before the weekend because...

Sunday was Youth Sunday, so the members of the youth group led all three worship services.  They were greeters, ushers, readers, and preachers among other things.  It was fun to work with them, and they did an excellent job!  Our band, Tsunami, led music at all three worship services, as well.  That meant Michael, Michelle, and Christopher had to be at the church an hour before their normal Sunday morning time, and stay for an extra hour.  Also, they had to shlep some of their equipment back and forth between the sanctuary and fellowship hall.  They sounded great, and were good sports about the extra time and effort.  Thanks guys!

Also, Sunday evening was the youth group Super Bowl party.  A couple from the church were wonderful hosts for the party.  They opened up their basement for us to watch the game and eat our food.  I was cheering for the Patriots, but mostly because I wanted to be cheering against certain people who were also at the party.  I did think it would be neat for them to go undefeated for the season, but I have to admit it's pretty cool for the Manning family for Eli to have won.  Jeff made a lemon cake complete with candles to share with the youth at the party for my birthday.

Today I went to have a thyroid ultrasound.  I had some routine blood work done last week that showed some abnormality in my thyroid and also anemia.  The thing about the ultrasound is that I have issues with people touching my throat.  Maybe it's a singer thing, but I really dislike anyone even having their hands remotely close to the front of my throat.  I don't even let Jeff.  And this ultrasound was icky gel and a device operated by someone I don't know, all on my throat.  Really it was worse in the build-up than in the actual scan.  I also gave a blood sample to figure out the anemia.  I don't get the results for either until sometime next week, so if you're the praying type, that would be appreciated.

Jan 30, 2008

Carried Away

One day last week, I had a phone call from someone Nancy (RUMC's Administrative Assistant) didn't recognize, so she put them into my voicemail. Meanwhile, Kathy (Christian Ed.) and I were having a conversation about how great it would be to get a big-name Christian artist or band to come to our church. Eventually, I got around to listening to the voice mail. It was a woman named Jane, calling to let me know about this group, Carried Away, who would be doing a promotional tour for their cd between March and June. I went to their website to check them out.

Their first album, released in 2005, won "Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year" at the GMA Covenant Awards in Canada. Their second album came out last summer. Their producer has also been involved with BarlowGirl and Out of Eden.

Anyway, long story a little shorter, I called to talk to Jane and actually talked with Colleen, one of the members of the band. Turns out Jane is her mom. The group is Colleen, her sister Pam, and their cousin Christine. I've emailed the guy who handles their bookings (their brother-in-law) to see about having them come to Ridge for worship and evening concert. So keep your eyes and ears open for more information. I'm super excited for the possibility!

Jan 26, 2008

Slither and the cross

Jeff and I watched the movie "Slither" tonight. I don't want to speak for Jeff, but I think we reacted differently to the movie. I understand that it is supposed to be a funny horror movie, but there are reasons why I don't usually watch scary movies. Mostly because I keep running scenes through my mind, unlike Jeff who can pretty much be done with the movie with the last scene. There were certain parts of scenes that really bothered me as a woman--much like a rape scene.

After we finished the movie and were heating up some dinner, I had the song "The Old Rugged Cross" going through my mind, as well as some of the bothersome images from the movie. I'm sure there's some correlation between the two, but I haven't figured it out yet. Still, it's a little creepy.

The Clinger Family website

Today Jeff and I created a new website!  Check it out at www.theclingerfamily.com.

Jan 10, 2008

pictures...finally!

Here are pictures that summarize our Christmas and New Years trips.


Jan 8, 2008

Back in the Saddle

In case you read my last post, you will see that I do not yet have pictures up from our time in Kansas. I'll try to do that later today or tomorrow.

After "Christmas" and ringing in the new year with my mom's family in Manhattan, we had "Christmas" with my dad and step-mom in Topeka. Sadly, Erin and Jay were only able to stay through New Year's Day because Jay had meetings in St. Louis on the 2nd. But it was great to spend quality sleepover time with them in my mom's living room! :-)

Thursday we headed to Lawrence to spend the rest of our time with Jeff's parents. It was a busy and high-tech couple of days for us. Thursday the KU Jayhawks played Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, and won! I watched most of the game, some of it through closed eyelids, but it was a fun time. We met friends in KC on Friday, had lunch with a family friend Saturday, and had dinner with some friends of Barb and John Saturday night--so much fun!!

Barb had Sunday off, so we enjoyed sleeping in, and went to The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection for their Sunday night worship service. I've been to the church before, but this was the first time I've been a part of their worship. It was interesting to see "big church."

Along the way, we learned a couple of things:
#1--take the dog's car harness, even if you don't think you need it
#2--take the dog's crate, even if you think you don't need it
#3--packing meals for the drive makes stop times less lengthy
#4--time with family is good
#5--coming home is good

Jan 1, 2008

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It has been an eventful week in the Clinger household. Christmas Eve was lovely, and I hope you all got to experience our mid-evening greeting! (See my last post.) My Christmas present from Jeff was tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Cincinnati, including a stay with my aunt Michelle, uncle Tom, and three cousins. I'll post pictures of our time with them when I have a chance to upload them. Too cute!

We came back to Indiana long enough to get packed for Kansas and lead services Sunday morning, then we hit the road again to drive to Kansas! (In case you're wondering, I did at least half of the driving, and even made it as far as KC before falling asleep...quite the accomplishment!)

We hung out with some of my extended family yesterday and then rang in the new year at my mom's. Some of those pictures I will post, and not others. ;-) Let's just say Jeff cannot be trusted with the camera. I did make it to the new year, although I got some quick naps on the couch mid-evening. Today we're headed to Topeka to see my dad and step-mom. Then we're pretty much unscheduled, except for seeing some friends and heading to Lawrence Thursday to spend the rest of our time with Jeff's folks. I love vacation!!!!

I don't have anything terribly thoughtful for the new year, just wishing you a happy one and sending warm fuzzies! I'll post pics sometime later in the week.