Some Thanks and Some Giving
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were invited to celebrate with some families from our church and the food was fantastic, as was the fellowship.
A highlight from the day, though, was shortly after we’d finished eating and had settled into the ages-old tradition of watching our favorite YouTube videos on the big screen, Matthew’s dad and his wife arrived! They flew in all the way from Atlanta to spend the week with us!
They enjoyed some food and we all dug into the pie before heading home with our very first house guests. Matthew had spent the previous several nights up late readying the bedroom, which needed new drywall patches, paint, a baseboard heater, new light fixture and carpet. Whew! But, it was done [enough] for their arrival and we were excited to share Axel with them.
We spent the weekend relaxing, seeing downtown Boise, and Matthew’s dad helped with some projects. My favorite was a lovely string of Christmas lights across the front of our house!
Sunday we celebrated Axel’s baptism. We are so grateful for such a wonderful church family that supports us here and looks forward to supporting us spiritually while abroad. Did you know that between our church family and our MAF HQ family, we had a meal each night after Axel was born for two weeks! Incredible!
This week we are back to training and our family leaves tomorrow, sadly. Levi and Amelia have had such fun with FarFar and CiCi!
In other news, last week Axel and I went to see the midwives for our two week checkup. Axel was not yet back to birth weight and this was not great news. Without going into too much detail, we figured we knew why, with some feeding and supply issues, but I’ve also spent the last week with a sweet boy constantly eating, or pumping. It’s a lot of work, and tomorrow we shall see how much it has helped. Please pray with us that he will be back to 8lb10oz or more (he needed to gain 6oz) so we know he’s just been growing! With the amount he’s been eating, I can’t imagine what else he’s been doing with it! So, that’s my part on giving (in reference to the title), because constant nursing is certainly a giving thing to do.
And now we have just a week and a half more of training before breaking for a while to focus once again on growing our ministry support team, and for Christmas, of course. Yay!
Photos! And About Axel’s Name…
Quite a few have asked about Axel’s name. Axel is a German name, meaning Father of Peace or Strong, depending on the source. We chose it mostly because we liked the name. It’s not uncommon, having been in the top 200 names since 2010. It also was verified by our official baby namer. I’m mostly joking, but we do have a friend who has named all three of our kiddos now. The first two she suggested and we agreed they were the best choices, and for Axel we had already picked it, but she suggested it after the fact. Bruce is a family name, on both sides, but predominately the Lind side, most recently Matthew’s paternal uncle. We enjoy using family names for middle names.
And now, for some pictures from Axel’s first week!
All set up for the home birth!
Supplies – the bags contain extra sheets, towels, baby stuff…
Checking all of his vitals!
A few hours (and a nap and a shower for me) later…
First meeting big sister! She’s mildly excited
Big brother’s turn
Sharing the projects Aunt Judy kept them busy with over the next few days
Grandpa and Grandma (Lisa’s parents) checking out Axel
Proud grandpa!
Reading to Axel
First bath (this was about day five…)
Toys!
Daddy reading a book…but I think Axel is already enticed by the Apple…
Levi drew this the day I went into labor…I’m not sure about my face, but the baby is properly positioned!
Management Training Update
We just completed week one, of four, of management training/leadership intensive. It was a good week of learning and building our skills. MAF’s new model of training those for leadership includes “soft” skills, as much as technical ones. It is these skills that the wives also are learning. Jocelyn, my friend and fellow MAF wife from Kinshasa, go for the morning sessions with the guys where we explore spiritual disciplines and character traits of good leaders, so that we can support our husbands and the team we are serving in leadership.
In the afternoons, the guys go for technical aspects, like finance, HR, planning, etc. It will be a full four weeks when all is said and done.
Axel has been doing very well. His eating is great and we’re getting more sleep at night.
Today is Matthew’s birthday. We will be celebrating by working on the house with Nick and Jocelyn. We have our first house guests coming this week, so we are motivated to get parts complete!
I still haven’t uploaded pictures, but it’s on my mind…that counts for something, right?
Axel yesterday, at ten days old. Photo by Jocelyn.
One Week Old!
I promised more pictures, but for now, here is a photo Jocelyn took during training today…
Axel’s Birth Story
I love birth stories, and I know others love to read them, so I thought I would share Axel’s for those of you who might be interested. Also, for our own memories! However, this labor was by far the most difficult I have experienced, so it’s not really an entirely happy birth story, but I can tell you: it has a happy ending!
Monday morning, Veteran’s Day, we woke when Amelia crawled into our bed at 7am and fell asleep, then Levi at 8am…but no one felt like getting up until 9! It was wonderful! One of Matthew’s first comments to me was that I should call and change my midwife appointment. It was supposed to be on the 12th, my due date, but we should see if they had an opening that day. My dad would leave Thursday, my aunt on Saturday, and my mom the following Tuesday…and we thought the midwife might have a trick or two to get labor started.
That afternoon at 2 Matthew and I met with the midwife (Levi and Amelia were hanging out with grandma and grandpa, and Aunt Judy. I wasn’t even dilated! We were really disappointed to hear that. The midwife said that it really doesn’t mean anything and it could be that afternoon or another week. She did a few other things to help my body and this baby to take a hint, but no guarantees. Baby was healthy and strong, so no need to go to drastic measures, except convenience, so we took a walk around downtown Boise, where the midwife’s office is located. Walking and rest would help, so we had to do some of both. We stopped at the grocery store and walked and shopped then headed back to my parents’ to head out to dinner. On the drive the mild contractions I’d been having for two weeks felt stronger, but I’d been hopeful too many times over those two weeks and didn’t want to get my hopes up again. Maybe it was for real, but my track record wasn’t worth a bet on it!
At my parents’ house, getting everyone ready to head out the door, they got stronger. Quite a bit stronger. I was still in denial, though, and powered through. We arrived at the restaurant and were seated, but they got stronger and Matthew began timing them. They were consistently 10-15 minutes apart. Also, they hurt. A lot. I could barely talk through them, which is usually the sign to call the midwife.
I was hungry and felt stressed about suddenly abandoning our plans (and our kids) just to have it be a false alarm – we’d already done that the week before. So we ordered the food, but finally I couldn’t take it and they were really uncomfortable, so we asked for our food to go (it was just ready), said goodbye to the kiddos and the family, and headed home. We called the midwife and chatted about the evening’s events. At this point, it was about 6:30pm.
The contractions got to be about five minutes apart, but were very very strong. I couldn’t walk or talk through them anymore and I was tired. It was bedtime! I ate a little and decided to try and sleep between them. I had done this during my [very brief] labor with Amelia and remembered success. It did work, but Matthew and I agreed that maybe things would progress a little bit faster if we walked around, so I hobbled around the house, gripping Matthew’s arm and we would have to kneel during the contractions. I was pretty miserable, but I guess that’s normal for labor!
Not wanting to tire me completely, we headed back upstairs to our room and I tried more sleeping. I think Matthew’s contacted the midwife around 11pm or so to ask if they could come now. It would be M, who would be “my” midwife for the evening, a student midwife, H, and the more senior midwife, K, to help if things got more complicated.
I think they all arrived around midnight, but by then I was really really tired from having such intense contractions for nearly seven hours, every five minutes. The midwife checked my progress – 6cm dilated. The contractions were getting tougher to breath through, so I tried pushing to help get the baby into position. Baby was still hanging out pretty high up and any lower would mean faster progress. I did this for maybe two hours or so…not really pushing to get the baby out, but more like to make the contractions more productive. It was so tiring, but we all agreed it was going well and I was getting closer to the end – I was nearing 8cm!
The midwife checked again a bit later and paused. Something wasn’t right. Baby had turned and was now facing the wrong way and I had gone back to about 6cm. To me, it suddenly meant backwards progress and I was soooooo done. The contractions were too powerful and I was exhausted. I cannot even come close to describing the pain, the defeat, the despair. Those are dramatic words, but I promise they are not being abused. I was done. I asked [begged] about going to the hospital, I couldn’t do it anymore. The midwives and Matthew were so amazing – they kindly told me they wanted to try other things first. I didn’t mean it, well, I DID, but not really.
First thing was to get me back in my resting position on my side, in hopes that baby would turn back around to face the right way. Next, no more pushing, to allow baby space to rotate. This was the toughest, because breathing through the contractions was just too much. They were too intense. I felt like I was dying. It had been nearly ten hours of labor.
The midwives also agreed I needed energy – food! There was no way I was interested in eating – the contractions were too much and I was too exhausted to “waste” my energy not trying to sleep in between. (Yes, I was actually falling asleep in those minutes between contractions – even snoring!) But, Matthew made me eat some fruit leather while they attempted to do some IV fluid. Even though I had been drinking water and gatorade throughout, I was dehydrated. It took four attempts (and more time, more contractions, more exhaustion) to finally get the IV in. Matthew hung it from a hanger from the ceiling fan.
I can’t say for sure I felt instantly better, but I did seem to be able to process each contraction better. For two hours, I felt like I was going backwards in the labor’s progress. I thought we were so close, then to start over, or so it felt, lying on my side and not pushing.
But, after two hours, I suddenly was just DONE. I NEEDED to push this baby out and get some sleep. The midwife checked me again and I braced myself for bad news. But…wait…I was “9 and 3/4 dilated,” so said the midwife. And the baby had turned back!!! So, I rolled over and, in complete and utter exhaustion and determination, pushed the baby out. In seven minutes. Bam. Baby.
Axel Bruce and I snuggled for a good hour while all of the “finishing touches” were completed. The best part about a home birth is being in my own bed and not really having to get out of it. (If you’re not familiar with home birth practices, the bed was covered in a drop cloth and horribly ugly floral sheets from the thrift store that have now gone to sheet heaven – clean sheets were waiting under all of it, so it just took my first trip to the bathroom and the midwives reset the bed and I was able to just climb in and rest. It is a FANTASTIC way to end such a long and tough labor.)
Matthew made phone calls and sent texts, we updated all of you on facebook and the blog, we oohed and ahhed over his fingers and toes. Matthew made me breakfast. Axel had his first meal. Three hours later, we finally weighed and measured him. I still can’t believe how BIG he was. Also, less than 10% of babies are born on their due date, plus in America, the date reads 11.12.13, so that’s pretty cool…at least while we live in this country.
Then the midwives went back to work (yes, two of them had to go to work, now that it was 8am) and we promptly all fell asleep.
Axel continues to do well, but I’ll not be shy and say it’s all rainbows and unicorns. He is a good eater, but we don’t feel like it’s going 100% right now. It’s tiring, I’m not getting a lot of sleep, and I think the production may be on the low side – we’re now all stocked up on fixes for this, so I think it’ll be quickly resolved. But in the meantime, it’s a little tough. Not to mention, combine that with little sleep and severe hormonal changes and you have one ridiculous me!
My dad and aunt got a few days to snuggle with Axel, and my mom leaves in the morning. It is sad to see them go, but more family is coming down the pipeline, starting next week! Yay!
Today we began our next training module at MAF. Yep. We were in training. All day. With a seven-day-old. It didn’t go great, but we’re hoping each day it gets easier. Starting Wednesday, I only go until lunch time then come back home, but it’ll still be a challenging four weeks. It’ll also mean my afternoons alone with the three kiddos.
Speaking of three kiddos, Levi and Amelia are absolutely enamored with their little brother. They had both hoped for a brother and are so amazing with him. They want to help and they’ve been the best big brother and sister. One day, Levi heard Axel crying and as I came around the corner to comfort him, Levi was stroking his head, telling him “it’s okay” and Axel calmed. I never even got close. On the way home from church yesterday, Axel was hungry, but Amelia sang “Twinkle Little Star” to him and he quieted. Amazing stuff.
Pictures to follow, but having only seven random hours of sleep in the past 48, I’m headed to bed…thank you all for the well wishes, prayers, congrats and love. Axel knows he’s loved by so many people he’s never met!
It’s a Boy!
Axel Bruce Lind was born at home at 5:34 this morning. He is a big tater, weighing in at 8lbs 10oz and 22in long. Today is also his due date and a super awesome birth date – 11.12.13.
More details to come, once we’ve all had a bit of sleep…
Baby? What baby!? That was a watermelon seed…
So, still no baby. Bummer.
If you’re coming here because you just received our prayer letter in your mailbox (or inbox) looking for baby news, I’m afraid we were a bit more optimistic than we should’ve been. That, and the MAF mailroom is amazingly efficient. However, they’re always that efficient, so no surprise there. The surprise is that this baby is still cooking.
Yes, that’s a good thing. The baby is active and seems quite content to sit around and roast a while longer. However, it was not exactly expected. Levi and Amelia were both quite early, born long before this, and quite healthy (Levi was over 8 pounds, Amelia nearly 8 herself). Plus, my dad’s scheduled visit is coming to an end (we’re still working on the details there), though I’m glad my aunt is here now, too, to be able to help and hang out with us.
We’re also coming up on the start of our next training module at MAF HQ. We’d hoped to have a baby at least a week or two old…now, it may be just days. Training starts on the 18th. Pray for us!!!
But, the reality is, God’s timing is perfect. Always. Every time. Period. So, we wait on His timing for this little one to make his or her appearance. And then I’ll post about it…I promise!
Meanwhile, if you’re coming here because you’re just awesome like that and want to know why YOU aren’t getting a prayer letter, then send us an email at mlind@maf.org with your email or mailing address. The prayer letter comes out every few months to just let you know how we’re doing. It includes pictures and stories and, of course, matters for prayer not seen on the blog (or my facebook).
Did you also know we now have a weekly prayer update that is email only! Matthew is in charge of this one, though we collaborate on the actual prayer requests (this week, when he asked, I just kept repeating…get the baby out. Get. It. Out.) – and, of course, we ALWAYS need more prayer! If you’re interested, same process, just let us know via email (or comment, or facebook, or call us, or messenger pigeons, whatever).
Have you moved recently? Make sure you’ve notified us of your new address so you don’t miss a prayer letter (GASP!) – if you don’t get one in the next week, it means something isn’t right and it should be rectified promptly!
Meanwhile, please, really, just pray for this baby. And for his/her mommy, who is rather uncomfortable. I’m not complaining, mind you, but, just…huge. And the comments…oh goodness gracious, the comments in public. I’m ready to move on from “you look ready to pop”…”are you sure it’s not twins/triplets”…*blank stare* to something a little more cute, like “ohhhhh, how old is s/he???” and “what’s his/her name???” Yes, that would be lovely.
Again, not complaining. But, seriously, baby??? Let’s go!
Still Waiting…
If you’re like me and are waiting for someone to have a baby any day, then online silence potentially means the baby has arrived. Maybe you’re not that suspicious. Many of you see me on Facebook and know that Baby Lind is still cooking, despite our efforts (walks, spicy foods, etc.), which is good, but I just wanted to keep anyone else who might be curious in the loop.
My (Lisa’s) parents arrived Sunday night and we’ve enjoyed dumping the kids on them seeing them. We did more work on the house, including finishing the baseboard in the kitchen, and a few smaller projects. It’s those little things that make a big difference.
That’s really about it…life is sort of on edge at this point. Keep praying for the safe delivery of this one!
And, now we wait…
The Kitchen!
This week has been busy, with lots of preparations, a few contractions each day to remind us why we’re preparing, some scary stuff, and even some fun downtime. Mostly, though, we worked on the house, with bits of follow-up from our road trip thrown in for “breaks.”
A few highlights…Matthew got more work done on the bathroom. Have I explained our bathroom situation? No? Well, then, I won’t be shy of a post topic for another day…maybe when things progress a little further. Just know that we only have a shower at the moment…and it’s in the basement. It works well and the kids love to shower, so no big deal there.
Matthew spent a few days at the hangar at MAF HQ with a couple of pilots doing standardization, or learning about the MAF way of flying. He didn’t partake in all of the Ground School portion, but some parts are good to know as he heads into management.
Thursday my mom called with news that my dad had awakened with heart attack symptoms and went into the hospital. His EKG was not helpful, so they admitted him overnight and did a stress test. The end results was that it was not a heart attack and no signs of blockage. Yay! Still not sure what it was…but, I’m super grateful. Not only for him to be okay, but because they’re driving here tomorrow to be on baby watch with us in order to take Levi and Amelia when baby arrives…and I was sad it would be missed (and sad that I couldn’t go see him in my current condition if I’d needed to). Though, we are also really blessed two have two families who have volunteered to take them this week just in case, even at three in the morning. We have a really awesome church family.
Anyway, Thursday night our church met out at the Farmstead, a local fall place with a corn maze, hay rides, pumpkin patch, and all sorts of fun things. Amelia LOVED the sheep – this is an understatement. Both kids loved the hay ride and the giant pillow jump-y thing. I was sure they would get bounced too much, get scared, and begin to cry right as Matthew headed to get some coffee, leaving me helpless, unless you want to see a whale on a giant pillow of air, but they laughed so hard the entire time, which saved me from any unnecessary bouncing.
Riding the train. Amelia MAY still have some pork chop from dinner stuffed in her cheek.
Levi ready for the Grain Train
They wouldn’t stop laughing…Amelia is the one lying in front of Levi.
Then they were both laying down and bouncing. How they didn’t get stepped on, I have no idea…
We wanted to do the corn maze, and so we headed in…unprepared. We didn’t know there were maps (this cornmaze is very very big), but thankfully someone handed us there’s as they left, and we didn’t have any light. Our $10 cell phone wasn’t going to be much help and the sun was setting fast. Ah well, yay for adventure. I even had a few good contractions (just the practice kind, don’t worry) while we were in there! Even MORE adventure!
My poor dad called right in the middle of racing the setting sun in the corn maze – the first I’d talked with him since going in the hospital. What do you DO? “Hi Dad, let me hear about your [possible] heart attack, but first I need to get out of this corn maze before it gets pitch black outside, k?” I’m glad it wasn’t too bad in the end. Sorry, Dad.
Friday was more work on the house and then I got to go to our church’s ladies night. Such a fun opportunity to get to know some new people and simply get out of the house. It was wine and cheese themed, so an especially good excuse to sit around a while. We are so excited to be in a church home while we are in the states – it’s very refreshing. Tomorrow we become members and the church is excited to be able to support us in this way as we are abroad.
But, probably the most exciting this week, really, is that the kitchen is one step closer to completion. If I waited until it’s actual completion to take pictures, you might be waiting a while, so I thought I’d post some premature pictures…hope you don’t mind. But, you’ll remember Monday’s floor drama? So glad that it is over (minus a transition piece into the dining room…but that’s coming, I’m told)! We still need to paint cupboards and change out the hardware to it’s consistent, but you can look past that, right?
Our house was built in 1947, though this carving into the cement pad between the house and the garage suggest it was started a bit sooner. Either way, we love it and the era.
It says “1945 D.D.”
Before…look at the floor. Just. look. at. it.
This is a great picture of the after…Matthew took it with glee as he pointed out: “Look! Pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen!”
A view of the floor. Also, Levi was talking to me and not pleased about my distraction.
Before…with the world’s ugliest wall paper, right?
The after…so much better!
Practical art (they’re trivets)
Just a few minutes ago we added the valance. I made these for our house in Alaska.
So, there you go…a bit of our kitchen and our work these past few weeks…as we get more stuff done, we’ll share. Meanwhile, we’re wrapping up our latest prayer letter AND our first prayer email, so be looking for those. If you’re not connected with us to get those, then just drop us an email and let us know you’d like to be!
Adoptions in DRC Update
A few weeks ago I posted a sad update that suddenly the adoption process out of DRC came to halt, as Congo stopped issuing paperwork allowing the newly adopted kiddos out of the country. Since then, the adoption community, of which I am a fringe part, has been understandably on pins and needles, waiting for news. Today, it was announced that the statement still stands, but those were already approved by that ministry (the Congolese Ministry of Gender and Family) will be able to bring their children home – most of those families were already in country when this announcement came out, so you can imagine the collective sigh of relief after staying in Kinshasa for a month or more! However, today’s announcement also includes that single parents will no longer be able to adopt out of DRC. This is so sad to me because I know of several single parents in the middle of the paperwork, already matched with children.
If you’d like to read the notice, please go here. Many of you asked some excellent questions about the pre-adoption process that these parents go through, and how the problems crept up, as in the case of the homosexual couple, or the rumor of a nudist couple. I assure you, these prospective parents’ entire lives are exposed and 99% of them sincerely wanted to provide homes for children who needed them. How a few snuck by that went against the laws of DRC, I’m not able to say, but every single family we have met (which has now surpassed 150 families) has only been for whatever it takes for an ethical adoption.
Please continue to pray for these families and for these children. Opinions of adoption, especially internationally, aside, children who were promised homes and families may not get the chance to be united, and parents who carried hope for their children may not be able to complete the process and bring home their kiddos. Only the Lord knows the ins and outs of why this has happened, and we give it to Him to sort out the hearts of those involved.
The Lind Family 