How to Reclaim Your Abandoned Child

Tim and I are spending more and more time with Joanie and Tim's family, especially since the GB has returned for a third time and Joanie is now back getting treatments for a final round. Get away, bad antibodies!!

So we watched one of our all-time favorite movies together Friday night, Finding Nemo. Yes we are almost 30 years old.

Lately, we like to make lists of what we can learn from movies when we watch them. This list is entitled, How to Reclaim Your Abandoned Child.

1. It all starts with 5 little letters: w-o-w
2. Have 400 eggs
3. Get ready to learn to get some knowledge
4. All new explorers must answer a science question
5. Touch the butt (or don't let your child touch it)
6. Choose your friends wisely - remember fish are friends, not FOOD
7. When in denial, use intervention
8. Just think about what you need to do
9. Give the kid a proper reception
10. Remember Sea monkey has your money
11. When life gets you down, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
12. Ask your conscience if you're dead
13. No eating here tonight - you on a di-et
14. Climb Mount Wannahawkalugee to join the fraternal brotherhood of tankdom
15. It's because I like you that I don't want to be with you, it's a complicated emotion
16. Follow the EAC for 3 leagues
17. Go through the trench, not over it
18. Shoo the squishy
19. Something about Tentacles - Got it!
20. You have 4.2 minutes once he grabs the Reader's Digest
21. Focus dude, hey dude
22. Leave them to hatch and then coo-coo-ka-choo
23. When they know, you'll know, you know
24. Think dirty thoughts
25. Take the swirly-twirly vortex of terror
26. Find your exit buddy
27. Bring out the inner whale in you
28. Hop inside my mouth if you want to live
29. We've all got to swim down together!!!

Join us next time for How to be the Nanny of a Lifetime.

dudes and orcas

The past couple weeks have been fun! Matt and Katie are about to have their 03 baby BOY so here are two of the centerpieces - diaper dudes - from their couples' shower I helped put together. Guys competed in team challenges such as sucking pop out of baby bottles the fastest and dressing dolls in full baby outfits while being stuffed with pillow tummies. Very creative.

WARNING: graphic image to follow. We had one diaper dude casualty.

Then, Tim and I headed to Orcas Island in the San Juans to celebrate 3 years of marriage! Wahoo!

A sunset pic from our ferry into the island Friday night.

Here we are without the view behind us from the top of Mount Constitution,
after a day hike up.

Cooling down at Cascade Falls on the way down!

The next day we kayaked in a windy bay before getting in line at the ferry for 4 hours...during which we escaped to explore the island by bike! A great choice!! We also couldn't have asked for better weather, just like 3 years ago:)

Tim's gift to me at the top of the mountain (again, this time driving to watch the sunset )! We were serenaded unexpectedly by 30 church choir members on tour, singing numerous American, folksongs from the summit. Very interesting...

The view from the top with Mount Baker in sight. A fabulous revisit to a great place!

I-have-plaque

I got third place in my age division at the Tacoma City Marathon (10K) on Saturday! Tim and I ran it together and he pushed me pretty dang hard and I ended up placing third in the women's 25-29 age division. I won a little plaque. Nice! Actually the run wasn't that nice, last year was more fun when I ran for fun with Abbie Brown. This time she and her dog Roscoe cheered us on as we TRIED to place in the top 5. I made it though! Tim gave up his half marathon slot since he hurt his back, and he had no problem running 6 miles. He could have left me in the dust (and did sometimes). We kind of like this occasional race thing. Too bad the Boston marathon is a qualifier. So we're recovering and eating lots of whatever we want lately. We'll try to keep it up though, the running that is!

binkie boppy burby boo boo

These are the 'b' names chosen by Isaacson family guests for themselves at Hillary's baby shower last Saturday. At REACH Camp, everyone has to pick a camp name. Well I was in charge of this shower too and everyone had to pick a shower name. We couldn't use normal names for 2+ hours (at least we tried). There were some non-mentionables I intentionally left out...

The girl face cookies I made (there were also feet)

The spread, complete with another alien diaper baby and a fruit carriage that was fun but took awhile to make...

Hillary holding an imaginary Isabella in the softest brown Koala blanket she asked for. 3 more weeks to go! Isabella Isa-comin'!!! Hillary pointed out she'd be willing to wait until June 7 to have Isabella because her birthday could be 06-07-08. Pretty smart!

Mow-town Mania

Be there other mower-stealer-dweller cities besides Tacoma? I mean, I know it is such an attractive place for one to convene and discuss covert operations to strike innocent yard-lovers by stealing their lawn mowers! So easy - just imagine - what a great idea! Hardly any work to unsuspectingly whisk away a motorized vehicle of compact dimension without any noise, clamor or effort...

NOT! Aren't there easier things to steal, that don't require strong men or noticeable pickup trucks?

For some sick reason, we've been victimized by a lawn-mower stealer once again. At our old residence 2 springs ago, someone stole our mower out of our garage. Now last Sunday we came back from church and thought, what long grass! What a sunny day to mow our minuscule lawn! And what did we find? A missing mower. It was definitely there the night before. You can't miss it on the way outside and downstairs to do laundry. It was there. With other stuff of smaller size and weight, which yet remained.

All that effort given by someone I just don't understand - who must have known our church service went into early afternoon? Gimminy. And what's more - the 2 mowers over the years weren't even ours; they belonged to our landlords. Maybe it's a good thing Boston doesn't have yards?

P.S. Any friend of ours is welcome this summer to join us for a picnic in the gorgeous new grasslands of North Tacoma. Meet at our house and we'll go from there.

paradise

Well the gardening, tulip/biking, baby shower planning and all other plans were put on the Later List and Tim and I jumped into our hiking plan - what a great choice! Rainier was so sunny, clear and beautiful that we were glad we popped our snowshoes in the car at the last minute just 'in case' there was snow....we knew the top (Paradise) would have snow, but we thought trails below closer to the entrance might be dry (more stable for Tim's fragile back). We were wrong about that so decided to head straight for the top.


It was a soft winter wonderland, and we were able to pioneer trails of our own on untouched 15 feet of snow as long as we wanted! His back lasted just long enough to enjoy scenes like these.

This is looking out from Rainier toward the Cascade peaks surrounding. In the distance we could see Mt St Helens and Mt Adams. Happy hiking!! The only thing is we came home with strange face burns from the sun reflecting off the snow - mine is only on my neck below the chin, in the shape of a "V" since my cheek bones shaded parts of my neck. It's weird but was totally worth it.

After hiking, we enjoyed a great dinner with good Tacoma friends and "Miss Saigon" (tragic) at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse. Sunday we were able to hear about our friend Noah's organization in Beijing, Compassion for Migrant Children, at a local church who was hosting CMC's Director. We were completely blessed and awed by their work and the testimony shared by the staff - and we got excited to go visit and help serve children there for the week we're going in June!

Finally, the weekend topped off with an exciting 14-13 softball win and excellent vegetarian moles with beer and chocolate fondue. This is the life. Now it's on to serious Boston planning this week!

GB's Fake Comeback

GB is attempting a fake comeback on Joanie but WILL NOT SURVIVE! Keep praying for the new set of 5 plasma hospital treatments to get rid of the bad antibodies once and for all! And for lifted spirits in the process, and a quick recovery still. Here are some glimpses of the past week's fun in the midst of it all:

Cooking for Joanie and family a spiraly
Goat Cheese Past with Asparagus from a great recipe site, 24 Boxes.

"Beer me a beer" Pub night with our Sunday night group - a much needed party after our 22-1 softball loss (don't worry, we'll get better). Included Amaretto Bread Pudding!!

Glimpses of this weekend:

The sunset from our porch last night

Gardening - I worked long and hard on this plot. Isn't the natural landscaping attractive?

A possible trek for Saturday to the Tulip Fields in Mt Vernon, if they are in bloom and Tim's back is ready for an excursion. These red beauties finally bloomed in our front yard today.

Misc: Lots of biking, baby shower planning, Boston preparing, and hike researching. We'll see what the weekend will hold. Now I'm off to hang with Joanster!

Isaacson Injuries

Turns out Joanie beat GBS for the most part (meaning the hospital stay); however, she still has a long road ahead of her and would appreciate prayers for continued miraculous recovery! Basically her nerves in her legs are damaged from the syndrome and now that it's mostly gone, she needs to retrain those nerves to receive messages from the brain to pick up her legs and walk! She can get around with her walker, but we learned this week that it could be 6 more months before she can walk on her own. NOT FUN. We are still believing for way faster than that! Like, maybe 11 days again? Just not 6 months! This girl has a wedding to plan and aisle to walk down!

Another Isaacson fell subject to body malfunction this week when Tim threw his back out at work lifting a box. I told him he's not supposed to throw his body parts anywhere...anyway he's in pain having pulled a muscle of some sort most likely. The doctor will determine on Monday, but we'd also like a healed back given we were planning a rigorous training schedule for a race we're running May 10! (Compared to losing the use of one's legs entirely, though, we can't complain.) An extra dose of patience for every Isaacson involved would be great, Lord!

Thanks to Kelly for throwing a friend a bridal shower and giving me the leftover ranunculus arrangement....so beautiful! My house is happy. Good idea also as I will be planning a couple of baby showers in the next month for friends.

I'm also digging out my musical abilities, which have been hiding for awhile, with the challenge of accompanying two outstanding opera singers with several pieces for a REACH benefit concert. Today was my first look at the pieces. YIKES. Hence why I'm now back on the computer blogging about it instead of practicing. I have to get my confidence level back up. I can do it! I want to do it! I should do it! I hope I make it!

I also joined a Spring softball team with Abbie and some old college friends. I say I am a softball player, but am I really unless I actually am playing softball? Last week we almost got skunked and I could barely move by body the next day from not playing in so long and then going 'all out' with little preparation. This week I'll have to take it a bit easier or just plain get used to it. I'm not at the 'go to the batting cages' point yet. I think it will be fun though, and a good way to spend a spring/summer before moving:(

One last note, I don't know what season it is out here. Paul has been visiting and he had 80 degrees last weekend and snow today. What have we done to the environment and climate, we human pollutants??? Here are some nice flowering trees that grace the sidewalks of our neighborhood.

Joanie Beats GBS!!!!!

Whew! Life is good these days! Here are some 'happy snaps' from the past week -

By far the happiest and biggest news by God's hand and a large miracle, JOANIE BEAT GBS! I broke her out of the hospital last Thursday, way earlier than was projected (some argue it was actually 11 full days)! She already had a great attitude through it all, but being home made it better. So did what happened next....
JOANIE GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!! Finally! Canadian Josh popped the long-expected question with feather-filled balloons and games and a homemade song. Tears and 'big hugs' were involved. (ring photo coming soon).

At the family celebration, we got to see Tim's brother Mike and his wife Hillary again and coming daughter. Family is growing!! Isabella has about 6 more weeks to go...

Tim and I also walked down the waterfront in gorgeous weekend weather and oohed and awed at the Tacoma we know and will miss when we move.

All while this was happening, my brother Paul came in to town for a week and we had a nice dinner right by Pike Place Market in Seattle.

The next day, we went to popular Little Si near Seattle with his band friends for a gorgeous day hike! It was almost 80 degrees here, in APRIL!! Hallelujah!

This was the amazing sunset in Seattle the first night. We will miss the Northwest!

whirlwind week of adventures

Yes, it's been unusually long for me not to have posted - gasp! Well, I have a hearty update.

First: Tim's sister, Joanie, is recovering quicker than most people from a syndrome called GBS, which causes temporary paralysis in the legs and other extremities. She was hospitalized suddenly last Sunday, and Tim and I have made plenty of visits to laugh, sleep, and play with her. her spirits are high and her boyfriend, who was in town, is amazing!!!! The neurologist says her recovery thus far is remarkable and unusual. Instead of the estimated 30 days of hospitalization (!), I'm hoping for 11:) Keep praying with us for a miracle!

Second: It seems that most of my blogging buddies have either a new (or relatively new) dog or baby to post about. Last weekend I was in the mountains leading worship for an adoptive moms retreat, and I met this big, smelly beauty, Max. He reminds me of Auggie, who lives in Switzerland and who hiked with me when I studied abroad in college. He is also in the same family as my cousin Doug's puppy, Tessa, with whom we got to play a couple weeks ago. CUTE!! Friendly!! He may be my new favorite future dog, but only (I've decided) if he can rightly tromp and thrive in snowy mountains where he was made to live.

In terms of babies, I'm staying busy with little ones! My "Nanny Popp-ins" business is growing. This week I collected my first paycheck, and Owen and Lincoln have shared a few days with a new buddy Oliver (no photo), and will be sharing a short time with Ashleigh and Jackson (also viewed below). I'm open!!

Owen wondering what I'm holding

Lincoln on a mission

Ashleigh giggling

Third: We enjoyed yet another weekend away to Lake Wenatchee with college friends (and their children).

We hiked, played games, talked and on the way home, stopped for my first time in Leavenworth, a strange and popular imitation Bavarian village in central Washington.

Owen and dad

Jackson and mom

Leavenworth

A future trip, if it happens before we leave for Boston, would entail excursions in the canyons and mountains beyond the town. Aber, ich wollte noch einmal eine grosse bretzeln essen!!

Eine Bretzeln (pretzel)