Massive Update In Progress!!

So I know a number of you have been checking back the past few weeks for updates... A lot has happened since Friday, August 27.

I turned 31 on August 29, we went out of town for Labor Day weekend, I ran my first half-marathon, we celebrated Daisy's first birthday with a party and then dinner out, and David and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.

It's kind of a slow day for me so I'll work on getting some posts up for these. I'll try and post them on the actual dates they happened, and put links here. Stay tuned!

Yes, a new post!

David and I both know that we are WAY behind on posting. Things have just gotten busy and we got behind and you know sometimes, you want to catch up all at once and you don't have time, so you don't do anything.

Well, this is a first baby step on getting caught up. Basically, it's a massive update attempt.

Really, there haven't been many posts in May. That when things fell apart!

For Mother's Day weekend, we went to Richmond and stayed with our friends Steve and Jorie. David did a post about that weekend.

The next week, I stayed in Richmond for two days while David went to Minnesota. At that point, he posted a few things, but I didn't have a chance. Then we were absent for good.

I'm working on the following posts (and I'll include links because I'm going to back date the posts):

- Week of May 10-15 -- Wendy with family and graduation weekend
- Week of May 10-15 -- David's trip & returning home
- Week of May 16-21 -- houseofchinn kitchen reorganizing/redecorating
- Weekend of May 22 & 23 -- Daisy's baby dedication at church
- Week of May 24-28 -- Daisy's first ear infection, etc.
- Weekend of May 28-31 -- Memorial Day Weekend with family
- Week of June 1-4 -- this week

And that should catch us up to now!

Keep checking back to this post, and as I said, I'll put links up for each post so you know when they've been written!

Happy Friday everyone!

Updates...

I'm in the process of updating the blog... scroll back over the past few weeks to catch up (today and the next few days) to catch up on some recent events and happenings. Sorry for the delay! Keep checking back...

August!

The month of August has flown by...

The first weekend we had a 2-day childbirth preparation class at the hospital. We learned all about labor and how to breathe during it. We took a hospital tour and found out a lot of good information to help prepare us for the big day.

This next picture was taken Monday, August 3 before work...


We've been at home every weekend, not traveling this month because our baby is due Aug. 29. This meant we missed the annual NLCF staff retreat, which was the second weekend of August. While it was a bummer to miss out on hanging out with our friends, we enjoyed a relaxing weekend full of getting things done around the home. We also were able to go to Steppin' Out, Blacksburg's annual downtown summer festival.

Jeanette's birthday was on Saturday, August 8th, which is when the staff were out of town. When they returned on Sunday, some of us went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. (Her dad was staying with us for a few weeks while he worked on the house he and Mrs. Staats own in Blacksburg and plan to retire in this fall!)


On Monday, August 10, my wonderful friends threw me a baby shower here in Blacksburg. My mom and sis drove up from Richmond and my sis came with me to the shower while my mom entertained my hubby. It was definitely a unique baby shower, full of interesting games (one with melted chocolate in diapers), and of course I was showered with wonderful gifts. It was a huge blessing to receive all that we did, and I had a great time celebrating with everyone. Probably the most original shower food for a baby shower, too, since my friends had all my favorites: cream soda, grilled cheese, oat fudge bars, and dark chocolate candy! Also, the ladies made origami animals to hang on a homemade mobile for the nursery (nice idea Jessamyn!). It's pretty cool.

Some other folks have better pics I know, but here are two taken on my camera. The first is of me and Kristal, who returned from being gone all summer at LT. She had fun making up for lost time talking to Mini-Chinny. The second is a pic of Rachel's head on a stick along with booties from Guatemala she mailed me. She wasn't able to come to B'burg for the shower so I made sure she "attended" while I opened her gift. :)




Finally, we have gotten the nursery ready for Mini-Chinny. I think I mentioned before that we were using a panda theme, and have as a result named the room "The Panda Room." (All the rooms in houseofchinn have a name...) We moved "The Cheetah Suite" to the basement, where the guest room now is, and it makes more sense since Peter started his Cheetah research living in the room in the basement.

Here are some pictures from the nursery...






This past week was "move-in" here in Blacksburg, as the students have all returned. We had several church events in the evenings that kept us busy, which helped pass the time as I have been anxious to get this "show" on the road!

So here we are... August 22 and awaiting the arrival of the baby. David has been nesting like crazy this month, doing a deep clean and organization of our house. I cannot explain how much he has gotten done -- so much that has needed to be done for years. He has been amazing!

I have had "false labor" several times this week, having been experiencing contractions for about four days now. Of course they come and go -- sometimes in the middle of the night -- and a few times I have thought "this is it!" For now, we are just waiting, though, knowing that the time will come soon enough!

We'll keep everyone posted as we count down the final 7 days until our due date. I promise we'll send a few updates when I go into labor/deliver Mini-Chinny.

The Massive Update!

Here are all the updates I can think of...

Mini-Chinny:
I'll start with the exciting news! Everyone loves baby news! :) We had our doctor's appointment March 4. We ended up having to wait for over an hour for our appointment. Because of that, and since we were the last ones of the day, the doctor offered us the opportunity to have a second ultrasound "off-the-record." (That means free!) So below is our second picture of baby Chinn. We were able to see the baby sucking its thumb and moving around a bunch! It looks like boy or girl, it's an active baby!


Job Situation:
I know some folks are curious about this. I did get a second interview for the school counselor position at the school where I currently work. Basically a second interview in our county means you're one of two finalists. That being said, typically the superintendent goes with the committee recommendation from earlier, so you go for an interview knowing that you may or may not really be up for the job. I went for my second interview with the superintendent and it went well, but I found out a few days later I did not get the job. I was stunned at first since I had basically been waiting 15 months for this job to open and felt like God was steering me towards it. That being said, I realized that I had told God that I trusted him, and if he wanted me in it then he would provide it. Therefore, since I did not get it, I had to move my faith into the reality of believing God is good and that he is the reason I did not get the job. I have developed a deep peace about the situation since then, and even though it does not make sense why I was not chosen compared to the person who was chosen, I trust that God has a different place where he wants me in the future. I could write more about this later, and probably will...

Women's Retreat:
We had our annual NLCF women's retreat on Saturday, March 28. I was "in charge" of the event, meaning I was the head delegater. Seriously, the ladies I work with are AMAZING and there is no way I could have done it without them. Our theme was "Can You Hear Me Now?" and we focused on hearing God's voice. Kati, Terri and I did the main sessions, and we had several ladies (Suzanne, Stacy, Lisa & Lina) do breakout sessions. We enjoyed an Olive Garden lunch and delicious cookies and tea in the afternoon and had an all-around lovely time. Hopefully we'll have the talks up soon online. When we do, I'll post them.

ACA Conference:
The weekend before the women's retreat, I was in Charlotte for the annual American Counseling Association convention. I went by myself this year, and attended a number of really good sessions. I learned a ton from other professionals in the field and enjoyed my two full days (7am-6pm) at the conference. I rode down to Charlotte with my friends Jesse and JD and we stayed with Jesse's parents for the weekend. It was nice to have company for the ride and to have a gracious host to let me stay. While there, the Jesse's mom gave David and I a gift of a wonderful quilt for the mini. I'll post a pic of it soon with some other things we have already been given.

Visit with Family:
We have made several trips to Richmond the past month to see my family and some of David's family. We've worked to help my mom clean her attic and my parents clean their garage out. We met David's brother Mike and sister Lisa for Dim Sum in Richmond to remember and David's father's passing away in March '07. We also grilled kabobs in Charlottesville with Lisa at her place on our way back through from seeing my family. All in all we've gotten to spend some time with family in March and it has been very nice. I have pictures from some of these things, too, and will likely do a picture update later!

Well, I think that's it for the massive post. It's shorter than I planned but still way too long. I really will try and do better at updating this thing! :)