New Year

     On the cusp of a New Year, it is time to stop and reflect for a moment.  At work we have talked about how we never could have predicted what 2011 would bring to World Wide Village and the people of Haiti.  In my personal life, I never could have predicted what 2011 would bring either!

1) As I sit and type this, I am 6 months pregnant with Dahmon's and my first child...a boy whose name will be Drexel (haven't determined a middle name yet, though we have something that might work).  A boy who has everyone very excited even though his presence was just a bit unplanned.  =)  A boy who has already given us a couple of scares through an "interesting" early pregnancy.

2)  My brother has gotten married to a lovely young lady named Serena in a beautiful ceremony in Palmer, Alaska.

3)  We moved...again - this time to Minneapolis, a city that I never thought I would live in.  Next August we will move...again (can you tell I hate moving?  Fifteen years in the same place to moving every year.   yesh.), this time in with Dahmon's parents until we have to move the next year for Dahmon's internship year in seminary.

4) I only have one semester left in a graduate school degree that God definitely plunked me into.  Now, I'd love to plan out what this means for the next 10 years, but it is also my experience that any time we have a 5-year plan figured out, or even a 3-year plan, God brings Dahmon and I into something different than expected (latest example: Drexel).

5)  A bunch of people have come into my life via professional and personal ways that I have been completely honored to know and work with on various levels (at WWV, as a part of my modeling/acting career, church, Antioch, etc).

     A lot of other things have happened, but I can't list them all.  God has been good (though isn't he always?), and I've had a lot of opportunities to see and experience his goodness in a lot of areas (ask me about what's been going on in Haiti).  2012 is going to be another eventful year, especially with Drexel being born in March/April, and it will be interesting.  :)

Things they don't warn you about....

Pregnancy.  The time of a couple's life that is perhaps the most filled with expectation, wonder, and nervousness.  A time when a new human being is being crafted in the hidden recesses of a woman's body, blood vessels and brain stem being established with no conscious active effort on the woman's part (save, perhaps, not drinking and trying to eat more than two colors in a day).

There are, however, some things they don't warn you about pregnancy until you have joined the expectant-mama club.  (Beware - this post may contain TMI, but that's okay.)  For example...

1) Fuzzy tummy
They warn you about the lush hair and epically awesome fingernails.  What they do not warn you about, however, is that the same hormone that means the hair on one's head becomes very nice also means so does the hair on one's...um...tummy!  So, the reason a woman's hair is awesome during pregnancy is because the hormone that releases hair is diminished, on one's head and one's...tummy!  Seriously, my tum tum looks like a peach.

2) Stuffy nose
Who knows that something about the hormone soup coursing through a gals body during preggo-nancy causes inflammation of the mucus linings?  Not quite sure how that makes sense, but I sound like I've pretty much got a chronic cold.  *achoo*

3) Sore backs
Oh sure, you do hear about the sore backs that a woman has when pregnant, but do you know that can start as soon as 10 weeks (this soreness usually due to hormonal fluctuations)?  My poor back has been sore for a long time, compounded by the fact that I've got some back problems.  HOWEVER, I was not expecting that to start so quickly!  Now I'm at 25 weeks (close to the end of 2nd trimester and big enough that strangers are getting less shy about staring at my belly) and now my back is more sore than before.

4) Baby brain
Now, this is something you may have heard about if someone in your vicinity has been pregnant, or else you may not hear about it until you have joined the Sisterhood of the Expanding Pants.  Seriously - it's like all the blood that had gone to feeding my brain has gravitated elsewhere to grow a baby.  Memory? You should see the sticky notes papering my cube at work.  Thought process?  Give me a sec, and I'll get something figured out.  Maybe two secs.  :)  I thank then Lord that finals this past semester consisted of essays - those I can generally do at home and are open book, a God-send to this preggo who is having a hard time remembering why in the heck I got up to get across the office?


5) Gas!
My poor hubby already grimaces when I eat cheese.  Not that I'm lactose intolerant, but somehow my eating cheese has detrimental affects on bystanders who are not warned that lactose can make my intestinal tract determined to do its best to poke holes in the ozone layer (okay, I'm not that bad).  Being pregnant just makes this worse!

I'm sure there is more...but I can't remember it.  :)  More to come later.......

Update time!

Alright, I'm horrible at updating this...sorry!!!!!!!

More pics will come later...for now they are stockpiling on my computer.

Quick update:

• I am done with the semester and Dahmon will be done tomorrow.  My master's degree major project degree focus may have changed, but I still need to flesh that out (basically, I found the book I wanted to write about kids with disabilities in the Church, so now I want to do something else to avoid duplicating efforts). 
• My head is now 15 inches of hair lighter - went in and got a whole bunch chopped off this afternoon.  Not sure that I like the resulting 'do yet, but we'll see.  =)
• Drexel is doing well - moving and kicking up a storm.  Though I do find it amusing that Drexel is pretty active until Dahmon is around.  Dahmon is apparently very soothing to our son, as Rex calms down and stops moving around as much when Dahmon is present.  I know who the baby whisperer is between us with this particular child (provided this pattern holds out).  Rex also seems to know when I haven't eaten for awhile, as he will move around and not calm down until I'm full.  =)  I'm starting to feel him kicking up by my bellybutton, and am not terribly fond of his habit of shoving his foot in places and then leaving it there...that starts to hurt after awhile.
• Drexel is registered at Target, for inquiring minds that want to know.

Ummmmmmm, I think that is it for now.  I'll be posting some of my papers from this past semester once I've gotten grades back.  

More regular posts to follow, hopefully.  =)

Progression of tummy so far - Currently week 21

Here is a pictographic progression of my tummy so far (yes, this blog is overrun with pregnancy stuff....so is my brain - deal with it):

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18 

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Its a boy!!

Alright, so I suck at updating this lately...and the only reason I have to give is that homework has officially been super crushing in addition to work and everything else.  This blog was the thing that was neglected.  Sorry!

Anyways - we went for an ultrasound today and found out with no uncertainty that we are having a boy!  Little Drexel had his hands up by his head and everything, so it wasn't a mistaken hand/finger in place...this is a boy is a boy is boy.  =)  No ambiguity in that ultrasound discernment...even I could tell before the tech said anything that we are having a boy.

The concerning thing is that they found a weak area where the amniotic sac is attached to the uterus.  From my understanding, the "bag of waters" adheres to the side of the uterus in much the same way as lungs adhere to the side of the chest cavity.  They said there is a little weak spot in Drexel's bag of waters, so they are sending us to get a more detailed ultrasound next week.  Most likely it was caused by the sub-chorionic hemorrhage a little over a week ago, but we'll find out exactly what that means and if it is something we actually need to worry about during the follow-up ultrasound.  The midwife said they also saw a bright spot in Drexel's heart  (forgot what she called it) that can occasionally be the signal of an actual problem, so they'll check that out more in depth during next week's ultrasound as well.  She said usually when they see that spot, it means nothing, but it means something in enough cases that they tell people about it so they are aware there is the potential for a problem.  Prayers would be cool  :)  I'm a bit of a worried Momma, but when I pray about it, it almost seems as though God tells me to spend my prayer energies elsewhere because he's got this one covered.

We are at week 19 - one week from halfway to full-term, but only about 17-18 weeks away from being able to have a safe delivery.  Yeesh that is coming up quickly!  Now that we know sex, I can start working harder to determine daycare options once Drexel is born.  We have some friends who may be willing to help, but I need to check in with everyone and get everything figured out.  " )

Week 19 means Drexel is still swallowing amniotic fluid, but it is turning into meconium, the tar-ish substance that is a baby's first poop.  Processing amniotic fluid through his system helps Drexel get ready to process breastmilk once he is born.  He's approximately 5-6 inches long, the size of a large heirloom tomatoe, and kicking up a storm (believe me - not only did we see it on the monitor today, but I've been feeling his little thumps).

I'm super tired and need to go to bed, so signing off for now.  More later.  :)

With public influence comes greater responsibility

Okay, so I'm going to start off with a few things we can all agree on:

• People should know about a topic before they attempt to say anything remotely intelligent on said topic. 
• People who have an influence on other people should research a topic before they attempt to say anything remotely intelligent on said topic.
• People who have a wide influence (and know such), who are in the public sphere a lot, who are respected by many have an obligation to research a topic (or at least have assistants do such) before attempting to say anything intelligent on said topic.
• Basically, people should know what they are talking about before trying to say anything remotely intelligent on a topic, especially if they have an influence on others.

Is there anything terribly controversial about the above words?  If so, contact me and let me know (elnora dot romness at gmail dot com), I would be happy to discuss it.  In fact, feel free to comment on this post and bring up anything you feel I write that may be wrong.  

There is a great deal of ire behind this post, and I will attempt to write it in as constructive a way as possible.  My heart is breaking, and you may see some of this.  But let's get to the matter at hand: Rush Limbaugh pissed me off a few days ago.  I will never respect that man as a reporter, political commentator, or informed citizen ever again.  As a human being worthy of dignity, yes.  As any of the aforementioned things - absolutely not.

Who is Rush Limbaugh?  For those of you who don't know, Limbaugh is a well-known political / world events commentator on major network radio.  He has a show where he interprets daily events in light of his opinion.  Note that his show is opinion based - he is not an objective reporter by any means (and even he would not claim such).  He talks about the day's events in light of his political, religious, and social viewpoints (which, admit it, we all do).  

During the summer of 2006, I was sitting in the living room of my parent's house in California during the summer break between freshman and sophomore years of college.  On the computer, my boyfriend at the time (now husband and papa of my yet unborn child) and I were instant messaging via Google.  I was heartbroken over something in the news and was sharing that with him, and he told me about the Lord's Resistance Army.  Who are they?

The Lord's Resistance Army is a movement in Africa - the Congo, Sudan, and Uganda to be fairly specific - headed by a man named Joseph Kony.  The LRA started in 1987 and has gained momentum ever since.  It is a militant group claiming to be following the will of the Lord in Africa.  Kony is said to be the spokesperson of God and regularly inhabited by the Holy Spirit, at least according to him and his followers.  Kony practices a way of life that includes mysticism and elements of Christianity.

Alright, alright...so what do the LRA and Rush Limbaugh have anything to do in common?  President Obama, that's what.  Recently Obama signed something that authorized the U.S. to mobilize 100 U.S. military trained individuals to "remove from the field" (aka capture and/or kill) the leaders of the LRA.  He says this is in accordance to what he believes is proper action with foreign affairs.  Now, I'm non-violent and rather pacifist.  If someone broke into my house and was stealing my stuff, I'd probably just hand him/her my computer and tell him/her I'm praying for him/her and I hope they find a new way of life.  I do not condone by any measure the use of killing people as a means to end anything.  Let's keep that in mind.

Rush Limbaugh got his knickers in a bunch and on his radio show (click here for a transcript of the broadcast) said that Obama has effectively authorized the mass murder of Christians who are simply practicing their faith and fighting against Muslims in Africa.

Limbaugh was WRONG.

The LRA is about as Christian as Hitler.  Sure, they are called the "Lord's" Resistance Army and their mission statement is something along the lines of removing dictatorship and oppressive powers from their lands.  Whatever. Kony claims to be inhabited with the Holy Spirit and leads his Army to conduct its action in the name of God.  What God?  He claims the God of the Bible.  Oh really?  Let's examine this:

• The original founder of the movement from which the LRA sprang distanced herself from the current movement after Kony took over, saying the brutality displayed by his army is inhuman.
• The UN has documented massacres conducted by the LRA in the name of their cause (on average, they massacre several hundred people per month).
• When the LRA sweeps over a village in one of the aforementioned countries, a few things happen:
• Children are kidnapped and forced into being child soldiers.  They are brainwashed to practically worship Kony, and are told he can appear and disappear at will.
• If the children rebel against the LRA soldiers who have captured them, they are physically mutilated, tortured, and/or killed.  Oh, and the parents of these children are often killed.  (For a photo of a young man, abducted by the LRA as a child, who rebelled and suffered consequences, click here.)
• Women and young girls are kept for LRA soldiers as concubines and sex slaves.
• Anyone who refuses to join their movement is physically mutilated, tortured, raped, and/or killed.  Here's an example of one of their massacres: Makombo massacre
• For a great summary of the LRA, click here.

Back to Limbaugh: let's put some of his claims (in red) against facts (in blue).  

• The LRA is a Christian organization being persecuted by the US for being Christian.
• While I'm sure religious conspiracy theorists would love to believe this is true, the truth of the matter is that the US is stepping in an attempt to stop a group that has visited murder, rape, child molestation, physical mutilation, displacement, property damage, and other heinous acts upon fellow humans who disagree with them.  If the LRA is a Christian organization, I'm an uncle (I'm a woman, by the way).  
• Obama is persecuting Christians for practicing their faith and fighting against Muslims.
• Joseph Kony is leading a group, several thousand bodies strong, interested in intimidation and the gathering of personal power.  They are not practicing Christian faith.  1) God says to worship no one but him.  The children are taught to worship Kony as God on Earth.  2) God is a God of love.  Nothing resembling love of any sort is coming out of the "fruit" of that Army.  3) When his disciple cut the ear off a person who was bringing Jesus out of the garden, Jesus healed the soldier.  4) Nowhere in the Bible is rape condoned.  Nowhere.  Not for any purpose.  5) The Bible tells Christians to avoid mysticism (in fact, Samuel gets rather cranky at Saul for contacting him after Samuel had already died).  Kony and the rest of the LRA conduct practices deeply steeped in mystical elements based on early African religions.
• There are only 500 soldiers in the LRA, so they are not a huge threat.
• Couple things wrong with this one - one person harboring malevolence towards a group of people is a huge threat to that group.  The LRA is a huge threat to those in the Sudan, Congo, and Uganda who do not agree with LRA ideology (oh, by the way - they massacre Christians during services in church too.)
• The UN reports the LRA may be several thousand strong.  Of course the Ugandan government is estimating low on how many people are a part of this - the LRA is a political embarrassment. Limbaugh, is several thousand a bigger threat than 500, or should we just dismiss that "low" number too?  After all, it took less than 100 people to hijack plans and smack them into buildings all over our country. 

Let's get a couple of things straight: I avoid politics like the plague.  If you want to talk to me about the latest bill being run through Congress, or what the Right and Left are fighting about now, you are talking to the absolute wrong person - I don't care.  Those conversations will be countered with me asking what you plan on doing to feed starving kids in Haiti.  Be prepared.

What this post is getting at is the point that Rush Limbaugh, a man who has immense influence amongst many conservatives in the United States (and abroad) made a sweeping generalization about what President Obama is doing.  This sweeping generalization was obviously made with NO research done on the "Christian group" President Obama is supposedly directly attacking.  

Limbaugh apparently later realized his mistake, as he said a little while later in the transcript that apparently the LRA is being accused with heinous crimes and he'd have to do his research.  

RESEARCH A TOPIC BEFORE YOU TRY TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!

My prayer is that people will actually do their own research on the LRA before agreeing with Limbaugh's blatantly false, uninformed statements.  The LRA needs to be stopped, and it needed to be stopped twenty years ago when the massacres and mutilations began.  No child should live in fear of having his/her nose cut off if he/she does not worship some man.  In my opinion, Joseph Kony and the commanders of his army need to be gathered up and tried for crimes against humanity.  I fully support President Obama's desire to end this awful movement, whether or not I support the means he has chosen to do so.

Mr. Limbaugh - do your research before you say something blatantly wrong about a topic.  You just made yourself look like a fool.

Week 14

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Week 14 for Baby.  According to BabyCenter.com:

"This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.     In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches —about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active."

Okay, yes - I'll admit that it seems gross that Baby is peeing in his/her own amniotic fluid...mostly because I also know Baby is swallowing it.  Somehow that just seems gross.  On the plus side, there is absolutely no way for that fluid exchanged to NOT be sterile, considering Baby is as close to living a bubble life right now as hopefully s/he will ever have encounter.

Yes, it's unreal that we were all this small at one point.  :)

There are sympathy pregnancy symptoms going around the women in my family: my sister Jenny was having cravings and so has my mom (though I have to admit, green olives on a peanut butter sandwich still sound gross...sorry Mom!).  Funny how that works.  =)

AND - since a) Baby is in second trimester (yay!) and b) everything was confirmed okay after the troublesome events of last week, and c) I found the cord that connects my camera to laptop, here are some pregger pics (keep in mind that since I'm still barely bumping, the time between dinner and the picture being taken can make a noticeable difference in how pregger I look - the best pics of indication are the ones where I am attempting to suck my gut in):

 

Week 10

Week 14

       

                                    

   Week 14