haphazard musings

a NEW year

well it is a new year and over here at the Frasier's we have had several new experiences!

we will remember Dec. 31, 2012 forever as the day our first child joined our family!

little Maelle Rose said hello via c-section at 8:58 pm on New Year's Eve.  Hopefully this little chick likes to party since there will always be a worldwide party on her special day.

we had a GREAT staff at Newton Medical Center and really appreciated thier attention and dedication.  they even took some pictures for us in the c section room which was pretty awesome.

ryan's first cord cut.  he was excited that he still got to "cut" the cord even though he couldn't do the actual cut since the doctor had to do it.  the big blue arrow points to ryan.  his hands are he gloveless ones. :)

the anesthesiologist took a couple of pictures for us.  he was pretty funny.  mama meets baby for the first time.  I love that they let me wear  my glasses the whole time so that I could see what was going on and it helped me stay calm since without my glasses i can't see past the end of my nose.  :)  it was very kind of them!

our first family picture.  i wish i was looking at the camera, but as you can see the rest of me was still engaged in other work.  :)

ryan changed his first diaper!

maelle's first instagram.

her first binkie and wave.  (side note: now she hates the binkie - the love affair only lasted 2 days.)

one week old - her first week.

welcome to our family little miss.  it's hard to believe we've only known you two weeks since we love you to bits can't hardly imagine things without you.

 

101 in 1001 Days

Well kids, I have the final update on my 101 in 1001 Days.  

I managed to finish 53 things on the list.  Which seems a little sad, but also seems kind of good.  I did over half the things and started a few more than that.  

It turns out that some of the things were a little beyond my control, but it was fun to see what I accomplished.  I will have to make a new list.  It may not be so long, some of the things were just to fill out the 101 things, but another list coming soon. 

What should be on my new list?

Lindsay’s 101 in 1001 Days

 

Start date: Monday, January 19, 2009

Finish date: Monday, October 17, 2011

 

Personal / Being healthy

1.      Make some really long term goals.

2.      Run a 5K. (Emma Creek Classic - 4.24.10)

3.      Run a 10K. (Easter Sun Run - 4.23.11)

4.      Stick to my read the Bible in a year plan.

5.      Start & keep a prayer journal – at least once a week. (0/143)

6.      Play on a rec league team

7.      Pray more often.

8.      Workout 4 days a week for a month. (4/4) (06.10)

9.      Eat more fruits and veggies.

10.  Eat out less.

11.  Floss.

12.  Get new glasses. (5.6.09)

13.  Remember reusable shopping bags when going shopping.

14.  Work on praying for specific things and for His will.

15.  Listen for God’s instruction to take on a project or to create a project.

16.  Share my faith with someone.

17.  Have a better attitude about work.

 

Financial

18.  Make weekly dinner plans.

19.  Increase our monetary giving.

20.  Learn to save.

21.  Double our savings/investments.

22.  Put away at least $100 a month. (33/33)

23.  Buy a digital SLR camera. (04.10.10)

24.  Stick to the budget.

25.  Buy a new computer – a MAC.

26.  Buy an original piece of art. (Mexico - 2.26.10)

27.  Make a list before going to the store – every time.

 

Family & Friends

28.  Explore & choose a way for us to invest in the family ranch.

29.  Increase the size of our family.

30.  Write one letter or personal note to a friend or family member each month. (25/33)

31.  Update the blog regularly…not just once a month.

32.  Take a Saturday to spend in McPherson with the girls shopping & exploring. (12.09)

33.  Take time to call friends that don’t live here. 

34.  Host a fancy dinner party.

35.  Host a marathon game night.

36.  Take a class at Wichita Center for the Arts with Mom.

37.  Celebrate our 4^th anniversary! (01.06.11)

38.  Pray for our small group once a week.

39.  Send cards and presents on time!

40.  Bathe Finley once a month. (20/33)

41.  Have a movie marathon with friends and popcorn (the good kind). (Jill - Jane Austen - 04.10)

42.  Make breakfast/brunch ten times. (9/10)

 

The House

43.  Make a cleaning schedule.

44.  Stick to the cleaning schedule.

45.  Finish decorating the house.

46.  Plant both flowerbeds.  (6.09)

47.  Touch up the paint job in the living room.  (4.4.09)

48.  Plant 2 trees. (2/2) (4.18.10)

49.  Decorate above the cabinets.

50.  Make sense of the basement. (3.28.09, Sept 2011)

51.  Tile the bathrooms and kitchen.  (01.18.10)

52.  Fold and put laundry away when its clean.

53.  Keep fresh flowers in the house for a whole month. (12.09)

 

Just Because 

54.  Spend six weekends without TV. (6/6)

55.  Catch, tag, & weigh a calf alone. (summer 2011)

56.  Hand make all family & friend birthday cards.

57.  Finish college scrapbook.

58.  Go on a picnic – with the blanket and the basket from our wedding.

59.  Take more pictures.

60.  Spend a weekend with all the girls from college.  (Tiff’s Bachelorette – 4.4.09)

61.  Baby-sit for friends so they can have a night out. (Lakey’s 4.24.09 – 4.25.09)

62.  Paint a painting to frame.

63.  Get a pet fish.

64.  Watch a Sunset. (02.21, 02.22, 02.23, 02.24.10)

65.  Watch a Sunrise.

66.  Fill up with one tank of gas, pick a direction, see where we end up.

67.  Start our own holiday traditions.

68.  Organize craft supplies.  (3.28.09)

69.  “Create” a crafting room.

70.  Go to a Farmer’s Market

71.  Buy a pair of red shoes. (01.23.10)

72.  Plant a garden.  (5.9.09)

 

Travel

73.  Go on the Frasier Farms trail ride with Ryan.

74.  Get a new stamp in my passport. (Mexico - 02.21.10, China 07.2012)

75.  Go on a family trip – the whole family. (Scheduled - July 2012)

76.  Go skiing. (Winter Park - March 2011)

77.  Go on a weekend getaway.

78.  Camp – using only what I can carry in my backpack.

79.  Spend day at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

80.  Take an out-of-state trip with Ryan.  (College Station, TX 2.19.09)

81.  Visit our friends that don’t live in Newton. (April 2011)

82.  Visit four unique Kansas attractions. (4/4) 

                 Botanica – Wichita (5.9.09)
                       Boot Hill – Dodge City (6.19.09)
                       BoBo Drive In – Topeka (9.26.09)
                      Coronado Heights - Lindsbourgh (04.18.10)

83.  Visit our grandparents twice. (2/2) (June 2010)

 

Learn something

84.  Read one book per month (5 of which Ryan can choose). (33/33)

Confessions of a Shopaholic, Imperial Woman, One Tuesday Morning, Beyond Tuesday Morning, Angels and Demons, Book of Job, Utopia, New Atlantis, Paper Bodies, The Lost Symbol, Love Walked In, Pride and Prejudice, The Help, The Last Song (ryan), Jane Austen Ruined My Life (ryan), The Age Curve, Little Bee, Belong To Me, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Pudd'nhead Wilson, Maggie, The Red Badge of Courage, Conjure Woman, The Hermaphrodite, The Girl Who Shook the Hornet's Next, Emma, stopped listing them...

85.  Learn patience. This one might be a life long thing...

86.  Take a hunter’s safety course.

87.  Learn to play Clare de Lune on the piano. (5.16.09 started-failed :)

88.  Make a school plan – and start.  3.13.09

89.  Try one new ethnic recipe. (Chinese food)

90.  Learn to compose pictures for framing.  (6.09)

91.  Re-cover the dining room chairs.

92.  Learn a new craft technique.

93.  Refresh my water coloring skills.

94.  Watch a new sport.  (01.30.09 Hockey)

95.  Watch an opera.          

96.  Go to the ballet.

97.  Practice the piano at least once a week.

98.  Make one new recipe a month.

99.  Read a book that’s written in French.

100. Read the news (paper or internet) every day for a month.

101. Learn to love openly.  I think this one is also a life long work in progress.

 

 

The Great Wall

so apparently, i will be sharing about china very slowly.  kind of annoying for everyone who wanted to see pictures.  and kind of annoying to me also, since I need to get the pictures edited and fill up the awesome frame i bought at target to house an amazing picture before i even left. :)

but think of it this way: now you get to spread out the excitement of my trip and the overwhelming amazing-ness of my pictures over months. :)

one of my very faorite parts of china was visiting the great wall. 

there is something about the oldness that makes it toally amazing.  i may or may not have mentioned before that i love old stuff.  the older the better really, but i do believe the great wall takes the cake for the oldest place or thing i have visited.

our first peek was through this little village that basically seems to survive based on the tourists who come to the wall.  see it back there behind the power lines?  this photo also encompases another of my favorite things: juxtaposition.

it's a big vocab word from way back - think senior english at good old AHS - but it means to put different things together to create contrast.

it's the "new" stuff compared to the "old stuff".  cities are best at this effect I think.  but this village did a good job: here is a 800 year old totally huge wall, right next to our little beer store. :)

anyway...

we went to one of the less visited sections (of which there are many, many sections).  i was excited because i had seen pictures of the wall before from friends' visits and they were packed with tourists.  we were there with about 8 or so other folks.  awesome.

we crossed this little bridge...

climbed this little "path" even though the sign clearly indicated that we were not supposed to be climbing this section of wall...

because this isn't supposed to be climbed, there was not a fee for visiting...until we came across this little old lady who apparently lived on the little path and charged people a tax to go on up.

think "three billy goats gruff" and you can't pass without paying the toll.

so anyway we paid her and mosied on.  as i climbed and looked acroos the street, i was thankful we chose the "easy side" because the other side was STEEP and would have reuiqred some serious climbing.

the wall was a massive, solid structure.

and full of detailed work from obviously skilled and really strong workers.

we learned a little kung fu while we were up there too...

and then we made our way back down after checking out the view a little more...

the wall was truly amazing.  the hisotry of it and the ridiculously hard work that went into building it is astounding.  i can't imagine lifting bricks up one by one on my back and creating something like this.  something that took centuries to build.  something that is still around centuries later.  almost everything we know and experience day in and day out is new and shiny, sleek and modern.  it is something special to experience something old and crumbling, but still strong and mighty.  something that the chinese take great pride in.

the history there is heavy.  i could picture the warriors defending their homes agains invaders.  i could see the night watchman trudging up and down his length of the wall climbing up and down the hundreds of stairs.  it was a different time when all it took was a wall to keep the enemy at bay.

my favorite pictures

from China were taken when we were at the orphanage.  

sadly most of mine from there were gone with the camera. :(  but luckily, everyone else was a little camera happy too. :)

so i thought i would share these pictures and thoughts with you.

This was the most challenging part of the whole trip for me. (And apparently I am working backwards through the trip.)  It was challenging because it was one of those times you could just FEEL God telling you what His plans are for you.  Even when you may not be ready to hear the truth or even know what you are listening to.  

You know?

Anyway...

We visited the Show Hope Healing Home, in Zheng Zhou - a place for orphaned babies to go when they are recovering from or dealing with an illness or disease of some kind.  Many of them have cleft palates or heart conditions.

Obviously, we bonded.

I put two, yes two, little tykes to sleeep.  They just completely zonked out in my arms.  The caretakers seemed impressed.

Yes, I have skills.  Just call me the baby whisperer and call me if you need me.  My number is 555-skills.

My patience and skill know no bounds.

I wanted to pick them all up and put them in my suitcase and bring them home.  

For real.

Seriously.

All 50 of them or more.

Seriously, I know I could find wonderful families for all those kids, if the mamas and papas (also a band form the 60's) could just snuggle them for a minute.  

That's all it takes for your heart to knit to one of these little kiddos - one minute.

Fortunately and unfortunately, you can't just carry a baby through customs.  

Ryan you would have loved that, right?!? (I am pretty sure you would have loved it!)

(photos courtesy of facebook albums of Olivia and Tami.)

But did you know, you can sponsor those kids right now?

You can, check out this website.

Seriously, look at that face.

How can you not love her?  I want to squeeze her right now!

Luckily, these are some of the best cared for orphans in the whole world.  Their caretakers must be amoung the most loving and smiling women in China.  Each baby was held everyday and snuggled and fed and changed and bathed and loved...everyday.

Did you know that is uncommon in orphanages around the world?

Well, it's true.

And you can make it better, by adopting or sponsoring one of these little faces or finding one of your own around the world.

Like our friends who are currently in the process of adopting some precious little people right now.

Check out Paige's story and Ian and Julie's story.

So it's pretty crazy

when you think about it.

Last week, I was roaming around China (well just Beijing) illegaly.

As I was driving home from work today, it dawned on me how crazy that was.

For real.

Totally over the loss of my actual stuff, and really just thinking about the actual fact that my passport was just gone.  It's so weird to look back on it and think "whoa...that happened." It kind of feels like a movie that I saw and not my real life.

But it did.  I spent six days in China as an illegal alien.

(you would normally see a sad face picture here...but I wasn't really in the mood for picture taking.)

Then I was really happy to get my visa so I could leave Friday morning.

 

We actually went to the Exit and Entry Administration a total of four times.  It was very stressful going there. 

They spoke very little English.

THey never smiled - even when we said thank you.

And frankly they weren't very nice.

But they got me what I needed.

See...

The most common question since I got back is "would you do it again?"

And my answer is absolutely, unconditionaly, unabashedly yes.

I learned so much about myself, about my friends and family, and about my God. 

He always, every time meets me exactly where I need Him to be and then brings me back to where He needs me to be.

Family Photo Shoot.

Hey folks...I had my first paying gig a little over a week ago.  It was a large family and I was pretty nervous about doing it.  But we eneded up with some really nice shots.

So I thought I would share a few and some highlights from our day in Manhattan!!!

We sipped coffees from Radina's.

We went to brunch at

I had the Eggchiladas.  They were totally awesome...with this pork verde sauce and spicy potatoes...next time you are in town, hit up the brunch for sure!

Then hit the shops in Aggieville before heading back to good old Newton.

I am pretty sure someone in Newton should open a Coco Bolos...if you are interested...just talk to me I will tell you how great it is.  As I recall, they also have some delicioso Sangria.  Just a thought - but not for breakfast...

We used the always beautiful K-State campus for our photo shoot.

Anne was instrumental in my lighting checks.

 

But on to the real family photos.  Emily, the brunette on the left, was my boss in college.  I loved that job and I was pretty good at it.  I loved giving campus tours and recruiting students to the most wonderful place on earth.  But I found out she reads my blog and asked if I would do some photos for them 

Her family was really fun and nice.  They were great first subjects.

So not too bad.  Emily, they will all be headed your direction on a disc this week!

 

bottle feeding.

Bet you didn't think I would be writing on that topic any time soon.  

Surprise!

Its a boy!

Technically, I think we call it a steer.

They really get after it...I don't know if you can tell... :)

We fed 5 of them (one was a girl) with Ellie's help.

(check out more Ellie antics at her mom's blog.)

There was a whole crew of people for calf feeding day.

Thanks Ryan for being the camera man. 

I don't know why, but for some reason, he wasn't quite as excited about bottle feeding calves as I was.  

I see no explaination for the lack of enthusiasm...

We also got to pet the horse.  I think his name is Pepsi...but maybe not.  I think it was something to do with soda pop...

Side note, Anne, was too afraid to let the horse eat treats out of her hand.  But not Ellie.  She was super pumped.

Like nearly going over the fence excited...

And quite frankly so was I.

Maybe we should find a farm somewhere.  I think I'm ready for the country life. 

Wouldn't you agree?  I had a braid in my hair and was wearing my farm jeans.

Today I am even wearing my boots!

*******************************

Ellie and Tripp love Ryan, they asked him personally to go jump on the trampoline together. 

Fact: all kids under age 18 love Ryan.  Like for real.  

Supporting information: In church last week, a little guy, whose Mommy and Daddy are in our small group, saw Ryan helping to lead worship and said pretty loudly, "Look, der's Rynan!"

Ryan bouncing kids = Lindsay is nervous.  

They aren't are kids...what if they fly off?!?!

Kids bouncing Ryan?  Not quite the same. :)

 

#3 - Done!

#3 - Run a 10K.

Wahoo.  Done.  I did it!  

We ran on April 23rd.  It was seriously like 50 degrees.  We were freezing.

And surrounded by serious runners.

For real, there were people doing laps of the park to warm up.  People were stretching.  And the lady on the left is like, "umm...why are you taking pictures?  This is a race."

Can you find us?

That guy won.  I know you can't see the time clock, but it says 31 minutes.  We were really close to that!

Only 30 mintues longer. 

Here is our after picture.

I feel like we look pretty good for just running six miles.  

Maybe we should have run a little harder...

Thanks Anne for making me do it! :)

#76 - Go skiing.

Check.  Another one down. 

We headed west back in March and hit the slopes.

(Like I said the other day, I am so far behind.)

Fun Facts to know about the trip:

Ryan ran into a tree,

I only fell one - getting off the lift - so lame.
 
It was awkwardly warm = slushy snow & sweating even in only a t-shirt under your coat.
 

I got massive blisters and shin bruises from my boots.  That never used to happen.  I think it's because I am getting old.
 

Or it could have been the mile walk from the car to the lifts...maybe.
 

We had a quick overnight and yummy breakfast in Limon (Thanks Joe and Cindy!). 
 

We even got to visit the cows!  I love when their hair is long and shaggy.

The Smiling Moose for lunch.  Awesome deli in Downtown Denver.

 

I learned to drive in the mountains...

It wasn't really that bad...I don't think...

When we finally (2.5 hours later) pulled into Winter Park, I was exhausted.  Seriously, I was really stressed out.  But I figured out how to down-shift and everything.

Ryan then got to enjoy one of the happiest moments of his life.

It's really all about anything with an engine/motor for him. : )

We stayed at an awesome cabin in Granby.  It had awesome views.

We were the best looking ladies on the slopes.

We ate the best pizza ever.

During that meal, between the four of us, drank 5 pitchers of water and 2 coke's apiece.  The waiter brought a pitcher each time he came into our section.

    (hungry yet?)

We went to the very tip top of the mountain (over 12,000 feet).  It was amazing and I wish I had my camera...but since I tend to break things, I didn't take it with me.

It took Anne and I about 1.5 hours to find our way back down...

It took Ryan 20 mintues.

Loren was off exploring other regions of the huge resort. :)

'

I decided that I am moving here.

I want to wake up to this each morning.

 

 

Love It...Hate It...vol. 8

Welcome to another edition of Love it...Hate it...

This one is a love it!

I love this.

What exactly is this you may ask...well, it's two things!

1. a big family.  I love big families!!!  There is just something awesome about the idea of lots of people to love!

2. adoption.  I love adoption!!!  Isn't it just amazing that Jesus has given us the chance to live out the gospel here on Earth by accepting little people into our families and loving them unconditionally just like Jesus brings us into His family and loves us forever.

Don't you just love it!?!

That's a whole lotta family and a whole lotta love!

They asked me to come take their pictures the other day.  So I thought I would share a couple and share a tiny bit of their story.  The little gal in the middle, came to be part of this wonderfuly family from Peru.  It has been quite a journey for the whole family from beginning (understanding God's plan) to end (finally meeting her on another continent and where they only speak Spanish).  She has been with this family for 6 months now!  

She is the cutest little gal.  She is outgoing and confident, and we all love her.

How could you not?  She was really hamming it up for the camera.  She kept yelling cheese and smiling so hard I thought her face was going to break in two.

Check out her mama's blog and you can catch the whole adoption story!!!

I think this picture is my favorite.

Thanks for letting me take your pictures!  I had fun!