Over here now...

http://www.thevanettafamily.blogspot.com

Thanks!

~Cherlyn

Some days are hard

...and the rest are even harder.

Bobby is suffering from pinkeye - in both eyes - and "suffering" is the perfect word to use. That poor little boy is being subjected to so much medicine right now, and constantly cries about "my itchy eyes". Not being able to take away his itchiness makes me feel so useless as a parent, and adding to his immediate discomfort by forcing him to take all this medicine makes me feel like a villain.

Days like this make me want to curl up in a ball (which is a feat unto itself, being nine months pregnant), hold a teddy bear, and cry myself to sleep.

Sounds like quite a dramatic statement, for such a minor illness, but I just feel so bad.

~Cherlyn

Haircut

We finally cajoled Bobby into a haircut - he still freaked out towards the end, but the lady did an excellent job!

~Cherlyn

Just the Three of Us

Serena did it again... how she captures the magic and the emotions is something I will never understand!

Here you go...

I cannot decide if I like BW or color best...

~Cherlyn

07 June 2008

Sorry for the hiatus in blogging - lots going on. The biggest bit of news is that we got an assignment... to England! We leave here in December. We are already swamped with things to do - getting rid of a lot of household stuff, arranging transportation for the dog, etc etc. We are so excited to get this assignment. We will be living on the economy (off base), and will (of course) be doing plenty of traveling throughout Europe during the four years of living there!

So, that is the big news. Other than that, we are happy to say that we are pretty much ready for this baby to arrive. In fact... *drumroll, if you will* ... this little one's name has been chosen, and he will be called... Michael Lawrence Van Etta! He will share my dad's first and middle name. The little guy is already keeping me up at night... he sees my laying down as a signal to start his day, and he is so very active. My intuition tells me that he will not wait until his due date to arrive, but we will see.

Here is a photo of Michael, at 30 weeks gestation, followed by a photo of me taken in the same week. Ignore the messy room - I clean and clean, and then get behind in my cleaning, and then I clean and clean... and the cycle continues forevermore.

More photos will be up soon - we have a photo session with Serena Nicole tomorrow morning!

~Cherlyn

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Now playing: Terri Clark - I Wanna Do It All
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Good Morning, Beautiful

You are 27 weeks old today... still in my tummy, of course. :) Hopefully we will see you in less than three months, or as soon as you are ready to greet this world.

~Cherlyn


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Now playing: Sara Evans - Need To Be Next To You
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Tribulations

I went to The Harbor last night, for the first time in a super-long time. I tend to have a strong start and a weak (if at all) finish... thus seemed to be the case with my Christian walk, at least until very recently.

The guest speaker (whose name I have forgotten right now - I blame it on the pregnancy) left us with a seemingly simple challenge of hiding a bible verse in our hearts. It may seem simple, but oh! how powerful it can be. I have been ruminating on John 16:33 - "In the world, ye shall have tribulation." This may seem like a strange verse to pick, but it kind of found me, via Charles Spurgeon's twice-daily devotion. The particular devotion that I read can be found in its entirety here. I will try to sum it up, mostly because Spurgeon seems to prefer typing in "ye oldie English" - too many "thees, thines, hithers, and dosts" for my dim mind to process all at once.

Basically, when you ask why you suffer tribulations, you need to look in four places.

Look up. Think about God for a bit... He is a perfect being, holy and pure. When we get to Heaven, we will be like Him. Before we get there, we need to be refined as gold is in a fire - hence our tribulations.
Look down. Satan toils beneath us, eager to put us to the fires. He is mad, for he has lost you - he will not let up on you easily. Hence our tribulations.
Look to the side. You are in an unfriendly, hostile world. You belong to God, and not to the world. Just like mosquitoes will not attack natives as much as they will attack foreigners, the world will attack Christians more than they will attack those who are of the world. Hence our tribulations.
Look inward. We are still human - still subject to sins of the flesh. We cannot help but make our own decisions, and take our own paths, leading us astray from the Lord. When we leave God, we invite trouble into our hearts and into our actions. Hence our tribulations.

This devotion hits on some sore spots, I must admit... the whole being "not of the world" aspect is bigger than I can comprehend. So I am praying for understanding on this matter... on how much of the world I am allowed to partake, and what needs to be my motivation when I do partake of worldly things.

And now, off to bed soon.

~Cherlyn

Photos from yesterday

Yesterday we went with some friends to a relatively private beach about 20 clicks up north. The private aspect of it allowed us to bring our dog - this was her first time going on an outing with us and we were worried she would bolt, never to return to the oppression of domesticated life. As it turned out, our worries were needless - she behaved perfectly and took to the beach like she had been living on one all her life.

Bobby, however, was not so easily swayed... he seems to be afraid of the waves, and never strayed from my side. Once he noticed that the rock wall seemed to be alive with hermit crabs, however, he loosened up a little bit.

Here are some photos.

~Cherlyn

Back to daily life...

and enjoying it, as much as it can be enjoyed. :)

We had a good time on our trip to Hawaii/California, but it sure was great to walk into our familiar home last weekend. Rob and I enjoyed several days in Hawaii, relatively carefree and uneventful (although Rob will be the first to tell you that I was glued to a cellphone for much of the time, due to discomfort at being so far away from Bobby). We shopped, lounged, napped, ate, and walked to great excess. In the meantime, Bobby had a great time staying with the grandparents (my folks) out in California.

After our time in Hawaii, Rob and I went back to CA and spent several more days there, spending time with family and enjoying yummy stateside food!

California pictures will follow hopefully soon - look for them in the next week or so.

The pregnancy is going well - the little one is attempting to kick and punch his way out through my abdomen. Another active little guy... like older brother, like younger brother. I am almost 26 weeks along, so not too much farther to go. Unfortunately, it gets worse from here - being pregnant in the Okinawan summertime is nothing short of ghastly. If you need to get in touch with me this summer, look for me at the pool - I will pretty much be living there.

As I said, being home now is nice... I have been working on a number of small day-to-day "projects". Cleaning the house, acquiring things for the baby, getting my NEW MACBOOK set up (yes, I have crossed over!), and (hopefully soon) getting some scrapbooking done before the baby gets here. We are also gradually thinning out some of our stuff... hard to believe we PCS in just seven short months!

Until next blog (which should be soon),

~Cherlyn

At some point on our trip

I said goodbye to my ankles.

And said hello to my new tree trunks.

Ah, pregnancy...

~Cherlyn

PS More trip details to follow soon...

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