Birth Day

We are so excited to announce the birth of our sweet SON! What a surprise, in so many ways.  Eric and I went to bed Friday night with no signs of potential labor.  Here's a brief timeline of events:

• I woke up at 3:00am with mild contractions every 10 minutes.  
• I woke Eric at 3:30.  He promptly told me to go back to sleep :)  
• I got up at 4:00 and made pancakes.  
• Eric got up at 4:30, joined in the pancake making process, and made coffee.
• At 5:00 my contractions were every 3 minutes, but not intense.  We were still carrying on a conversation in the kitchen and trying to decide how many pancakes to make (we were suppose to be attending a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning - and contributing the pancakes).  Because the contractions were regular and frequent, we decided to go ahead and notify our birth team.
• We are so thankful, and honored, to have Bohdana Fasani attend our birth.  She arrived shortly after 5:00 and served a multitude of purposes... including making some of our pancakes! 
• Around 5:30 I threw up and contractions became more intense.  I did not return to the kitchen :)
• Eric gave almost an hours worth of back massage. 
• At 6:15 am we welcomed a baby boy (Jan 18, 8 lbs 2 oz)
• At 7:00 Justice woke up to a brother :) 

I think we spent most of Saturday in shock and awe.  And attempting to rest, and calling our family.  We are adjusting well.  Justice adores her brother and wants to give endless kisses.  She seems to understand when baby "needs mama" and wants to be close.  However, she also wants to play with mama, and run outside, and go the beach, and do all the things we've been doing for the past few months... and that's been difficult.

Eric has been fabulous!  I feel much more normal that I did following Justice's birth, which makes me want to participate in household things... like doing laundry, and taking Justice to the bathroom, and the dishes, etc.  But Eric encourages me to rest, and reminds me that if I don't it'll catch up to me.  Yesterday he took Justice on a morning"date," which was fabulous enough on it's own, as it allowed me a few hours of quiet and snuggling with the baby.  AND THEN they came home with special snacks for mama, and chocolate turtles, and a decaf frappacino!  Oh, the pampering :)

So the name thing... No, we haven't named our son yet.  And No, this is not a point of tension in our home.  We, like almost all parents, want our son's name to be special and meaningful.  To put it simply, we haven't found the right name yet.  Right now, we call him one of these: baby brother, sweet boy, son, precious, love, strong one, or Baby Smash.  You can rest assured that when we do name our son, you will know, and you'll even get a post with the meaning behind the name.  Remember Justice's?

Justice reading a story to her baby brother.

A Two Day Refresher

Eric and I were blessed with the opportunity to take a mini 2-day vacation (back in December).  Just the two of us.  And wonderful, it was! We have taken these mini-vacations at least once per year every year of our marriage.  Generally, spending 2-3 nights away from our normal context brings us home with some pep in our step.  Our time away is always relaxing, often insightful, and richens our relationship.  As a bonus, we also try to visit someplace new each time we travel.  Living in a new state, it was no problem to come up with a place we've never been.  This time we chose Waimea.

Eric is the travel-planner in our family, so he is largely responsible for the food choices, activities, and places we visit.  Using airbnb (check it out if you've never used it) we chose to stay in Waimea, but spent our days traveling the northern-most part of the island.  

We enjoyed peaceful mornings at a quaint coffee shop, hiked the Pololu Valley, shopped touristy shops in Hawi, watched a movie with no interuptions, and enjoyed fantastic meals at local restaurants.

Pololu Valley, from the top

Pololu Valley's black sand beach

Perhaps one of the best parts of this trip was experiencing parts of the island we had not yet seen.  Hawaii has 10 of the world's 13 climate zones represented (depending on who you ask... we've found anywhere from 8-11 climate zones printed in Hawaii books).  With nearly 14,000 ft mountains, active volcanos, and wind patterns in the Pacific Ocean, the terrain varies greatly.  And one area of our trip is currently in a drought (our host told us that locals go to the solar-heated beach showers if they want a long, hot shower).

These 2 pictures are taken within a mile of each other.

 


Grateful for our time together - and looking forward to the future.

Who is Excluded: A Missionary's Perspective

As a Missionary-Pastor still learning the ins-and-outs of the North Kona Mission Zone, I refer repeatedly to a document about assessing the community.  This document aids in contextualizing the Gospel for our neighbors and develops the groundwork for the church to be pointed out in Mission with God.  The community assessment asks a range of questions, but one of these is simply, "Who is excluded?"  We want to know who has been marginalized and pushed to the outer boundaries of the dominant culture.  We want to know the mechanisms of social exclusion and the systems that perpetuate such isolation.  Once we have diagnosed this reality we can better attend to the needs of the community.

I knew that Hawaii County was diverse; that Hawaii as a state is the only state that doesn't have a white majority, and that multiculturalism is generally "valued."  I also knew that our church was uniquely located in a neighborhood of lower-class working minorities with several Section 8 Housing Developments.  But valuing diversity is a bit shaky in practice.  For instance, the Marshallese Community in Ocean View grew dramatically after first exploring the Kona Coast and feeling rejected by their neighbors.  According to the Hawaii Immigration Specialist, Mexicans are extremely prone to racial profiling.  And, immigrant labor is still exploited for agricultural needs.  

Many of us know the Biblical call to treat the sojourner in your midst with dignity and justice (Lv. 25:23; Dt. 24:14).  Scripture is clear that the way we treat the stranger/foreigner should reflect the grace and liberating action of God, who rescued the people of Israel from slavery.  The repeated phrase is, "because you were once aliens and strangers in a land not your own," meaning Egypt.  Or, if we were to contextualize this, because my white ancestors once fled religious persecution.  This call of scripture could be modified to simply say, "Practice Hospitality" (Romans 12).  

When we look at some of those mechanisms that cause social exclusion, we can't get far without talking about fear of difference.  Humans have an almost innate ability to congregate with similar people.  When factors like militaristic, economic, and political forces push people from the land they desire to dwell to a land not of their choosing, communal resistance bubbles up in the host community.  Christine Pohl puts it this way, 

Complaints surface today in communities in the United States that perceive immigrants or refugees as threats to the local economy or community identity. People proclaim that there is 'no more room' when they feel overwhelmed by cultural difference or socio-economic need, or when they feel threatened by the increasing power of strangers who have come. Strangers are than recast as enemies, threats to the community (Making Room, 99).

Now, as a Missionary-Pastor in an extremely diverse community with a host of spiritual, physical, and emotional needs, I wonder what it would take to organize communities of hospitality in which isolation and fear are met with belonging and understanding.  Is this best done through diversity in worship; developing smaller family-esque communities; training local leaders in particular ethnic groups for various church plants; forming an immigrant welcoming team; all of the above?  I can't wait to find out!  

Birthdays

I had a birthday a few weeks ago, and today it feels like my birthday all over again.  During the week of my birthday, we went out to eat and visited a local hardware store to buy paint.  Today, Eric painted Justice's "room."  I love it!

The walls are fresh and clean with a hint of "icy blue."  While we're awaiting the arrival of a new babe, it's nice to be excited about our big girl's space getting a little makeover too.

Meanwhile, the fans are running and trying to rid her space of the overwhelming paint smell.  I thought, no problem, she can nap in her pack n play in our room for one day.  Justice thought it would be a great day to show me she's big enough to climb out.

Bedroom: accomplished
Naptime: fail

Oh Dear!

We've been exceptionally absent lately.  Our appologies.  We do realize we haven't posted lately.  While there are probably 100 reasons for that, what we'd like to say is sorry.  We know we have faithful followers and supports checking on us daily.  Here's a brief update, and we promise to post again soon.  Actually, we have a couple posts in our "drafts" folder that just need some editing.  So I promise, they are actually coming!

We had a lovely Christmas and New Year.  Pictures coming from our trip to the Visitor Center on Mauna Kea (and star gazing).  We had a mini photo-session with our family of 3 + the unborn.  We are very pleased with our pictures, just got the full photo shoot back on Monday, and hope to make profile updates soon.

And the past 10 days or so have been filled with taking down Christmas, cleaning, and getting ready for a baby.  Eric assembled the changing table, we've rearranged furniture, been deep cleaning, sorting clothes/blankets/socks, etc.  We've been taking a childbirth class and tonight is our final class... just in time!  I'm 38 weeks, and super hopeful to not go past my due date this time.  OH, and some wonderful women at the church threw us a baby shower.  We're ready, little one :)