Our 2008 Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!!
We woke up on Christmas Sunday and there was SO much snow and it was really really windy with super cold temperatures. Church was canceled :( so we decided to celebrate Christmas early, since we will be traveling and visiting family for Christmas. We exchanged gifts with each other. Andrew surprised Kate with many fun things including a digital picture frame and she surprised him with a photobook of all the blog postings we made while in South Africa. We like pictures...can ya tell by our gifts? It was so fun to spend the whole day together and celebrate Christ's coming to the world. We also had Christmas dinner later that day and made steak for the first time in our apartment. Yumm! We can't believe that we already were celebrating our THIRD Christmas together. Time has been flying on our journey together. We are praying that you have a wonderful Christmas!

Here is our Christmas Card for 2008. We decided that since we had sent out multiple mailings this year, we would do an E-Card for Christmas. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Roxy

We had an unexpected week. We found ourselves on Monday afternoon car shopping. Sandy had died, while slipping on the ice and hitting a cub and the damages to repair where more than she was worth. Kate being off of school was a blessing first because Andrew could than use her car to get to work and secondly because she got to have a lot of time to do the homework of finding and researching a car. After looking at several cars, we test drove a car on Wednesday night and were lied to several times by the salesman and so we got up and left. We regrouped and continued looking for cars. It was important for us to find a fuel efficient car (Andrew drives 40 miles to and from work each day) and looking to the future, something we could grow into someday. Saturday, we test drove a 2004 Pontiac Vibe, and we loved it! We were able to get financing we could afford, and we drove away with Roxy that afternoon. We were so thankful for God's provision even in uncertain times.

Andrew and Kate's Christmas Tree 3.0

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

This past Saturday, December 6, Andrew and I braved a snowstorm to get our Christmas tree. We had been planning to go on this day, so we stuck to our plan and headed out to the Christmas Tree farm. Last year when we went and chopped down the tree it was pouring rain, and our frist christmas we went and got our tree when it was snowing lightly...we always make it an adventure when we go! We found the perfect little tree, a 5 foot Douglas Fur Tree, and Andrew chopped it down. It is always an adventure afterwards to figure out how to fit the tree in our little Ford Escort, but it made it in and we got it safely back to our apartment.

Since it was finals on Monday and Tuesday, I studied all weekend, and we waited til Wednesday to decorate the tree. Finals went well, but I am still waiting for my grades. So glad to finally get a little break to relax. We decorated the tree today (Wednesday). I love decorating the tree and putting all the ornaments on it; each ornament has a memory and means something special. Looking forward to making Christmas cookies and Grandpa's fudge and seeing all of our family for Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Andrew and I have had a very busy few weeks. Andrew's birthday was on November 22. We had a fun day celebrating with double chocolate peanut butter pie and enchiladas (andrew's favorite meal). I got him a new DVD by Louie Giglio (Indescribable), a picture frame, some of his favorite Spicy Garlic Hot Sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings, and a new Nalgene waterbottle. Kate also got me the first episode of 24 in a year in a half. It was called 24:Redemption and I got to share my birthday present with the whole world!!(Andrew's comment!) I think it just might be coincidence that FOX decided to show the 2 hour show the day after his birthday(KATE). Either way it was a fun birthday and we both can't believe that it has already been another year since his birthday.

School is winding down for me. Only two days of classes (Monday and Tuesday this week) and then two finals next week. I cannot wait to be done! One more year til graduation...so mark your calendar for 12/12/09!

Andrew and I spent Thanksgiving at my parents house in Clinton Township. We traveled over to the east side of the state on Tuesday after Andrew got off from work. Dad, with the help of Kyle, made his world-famous Tuesday Special Dinner :). Mom gave both Andrew and I much needed haircuts, she is the best hairdresser!

Andrew, Mom, and I spent Wednesday at Kevin and Angela's home. Kevin had an appointment in the morning so we came over to babysit Elizabeth. We had SO much fun with her. We sang her the Three Bears (Lake Ann style), read her stories, played with her toys, and just had a great time interacting with our little niece that we don't see very often. I wish that we lived closer so we could spend more time with her. She is four months old now and is so cute and always smiling. When Kevin got home, we had Mom's homemade chicken noodle soup for lunch and Kevin helped burn us a few more copies of our DVD about our Africa trip. After lunch, Andrew and I headed to Mount Clemens General (it has a different name now, but it will always be MCGH to me!) and I visited my nurse friends up on pediatrics. I miss those girls so much! It was so great to catch up with them and hear how everyone is doing. Later that day, we all headed to church for the Thanksgiving Eve service. I love going back to Cornerstone and seeing all of my friends/extended family there and fellowshipping with these people that are so important to me.

Thanksgiving was a busy day! It flew by! Andrew and I slept in a little and by the time we were ready for the day family had already started to arrive. Before breakfast began, everyone, except Mom who was going to pick up Grandma M, walked over to the speedway to get hot chocolate and a newspaper. It was super cold, but a fun little adventure! Kevin and Angela made a brunch for everyone; it was so yummy! (I want that recipe from you Kevin for the sausage casserole thing!) We spent the day watching the parade, getting ready for the feast, watching football, playing settlers of catan, and just enjoying time together. Mom and Dad made a delicious Thanksgiving feast that stuffed everyone full. I do love Turkey! At the end of the day, we celebrated Andrew's birthday with everyone. He was suprised and had no idea that there was going to be a birthday cheesecake celebration for him. After Grandma M, Kevin, Angela, and Elizabeth left, the remaining family members gathered around the kitchen table for a game of Monopoly. Kyle was the champion (he also won the game of settlers that we played earlier in the day!) but we all had a great time! I love getting to spend time with all of my family together.

Kyle, Andrew, and I all got up and were out the door at 5:15 on Friday morning to get some Christmas deals. We got some fun suprises (but we can't tell you what they are or SOMEBODY won't be suprised) and we had a great time just hanging out with Kyle. We headed out of town around noon and met Andrew's Mom and Dad, who had been down in Ohio for Thanksgiving, for lunch. We were so glad to spend an hour with them and we are looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks for Christmas!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful more than just that one Thursday a year. Andrew and I are so thankful for the many many many blessings that God has provided and graciously given to us. We are also so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends; you are so important to us!

Clinicals and Mom & Dad's visit

October was a very busy month, we can't believe it is already over! School has been very time consuming for Kate (only 5 more weeks in the semester!). The highlight of her month has been clinicals at the hospital. She was working on the mother child floor (postpartum and labor and delivery). She LOVED taking care of the moms and babys, teaching them about how to care for themselves and their baby once they got home, how to breastfeed or bottle feed properly, and doing the assessments of both mom and baby. She also had the opportunity to help with a cesarian and natural labor. It was absolutely amazing!! She was able to first put the foley catheter in the mom and then watched the doctors perform the C-section. Afterwards she was able to help clean the baby, do the newborn shots, do the vitals and help with the weight and height. She stayed with the mom and baby for the first couple hours, helping with first baths and vitals and assessing them. For the natural labor, Kate was there for the couple hours before active labor--so she helped with just assessing mom and doing her vitals and helping her stay comfortable-- and then during active labor she got to get right up close, hold one of the mom's legs, and help her with breathing and pushing. She loved being able to cheer the mom on and encourage her to keep pushing. It was amazing to see and experience this special moment in this young family's life. After the baby was born, Kate again was able to help with the baby shots, vitals, and cleaning of the baby. Kate could definately see herself being an OB nurse if she couldn't get a job as a Pediatric nurse someday. Kate is now starting her primary care rotation this week. So now she will be in a doctor's office for the next four weeks, learning what a nurse does there.

Andrew is doing great too. Work has been busy at the mission the last few weeks since it has started to get cold. He has been enjoying doing a Bible study with the guys in our young married class once a week. We are so glad that God has given us such great, fun, encouraging friends at our church. This past weekend Mom and Dad Dodd came to visit. They came down here for a BBC alumni dinner, which we attended with them. We also celebrated Dad's birthday, which was a few days before they came, with a homemade banana cream pie and a suprise Red Robin lunch. It was a wonderfully fun visit.

Apples Picking and Family Time

This is a bit of a lat update but I could not let time go by without posting a blog about our trip to Detroit a few weeks ago. We headed over to the east side after Andrew got off of work at 11:30 pm and arrived at my parents around 2 am. After a short night's sleep, we got up and spent a great day with my family. We spent the morning hanging out with Dad, Kyle, and Mom. Then we headed over to Kevin and Angela's house. Once there, we got to meet our niece Elizabeth for the first time! She is a beautiful little girl, just a month and half old (when we were there). She has already grown so much in such a short amount of time. Andrew and I loved getting to play with her and spend the morning with Angela and Kevin. Kevin helped us make a DVD about our trip to Bethesda; it turned out really nice.

In the afternoon, Mom, Dad, Kyle, Angela, Kevin, Elizabeth, and the Dodds went apple picking. The Schneider kids grew up going apple picking every year when we were little. And it was the fourth year Andrew and I went together. We are hoping to make it a Dodd family tradition as well :). We picked a whole bushel of apples...which is translated into 6 pies...6 quart size cans of apple sauce...apple crisp...chipmunk pie...and many apples in our lunches....it was A LOT of apples for just the two of us! Afterward, we got some cider and doughnuts and carmel apples...yumm!

In the evening, we celebrated Mom and Dad's anniversary, Kyle's birthday, and Mom's birthday with ice cream cake and pizza and presents and G...its not a party without G! It was a great time for our family to get together and we were so glad to be able to visit!

School Days

it's hard to believe we've been home for 25 days already. Life has been so busy for us since we came home, and I hit the ground running the moment we were back! Classes started for me two days after we can home. The classes are much much harder with a lot more readings. It was tough to get organized the first couple of weeks, and figure out the rhythm of the classes. But I am getting the hang of them now, and I am loving learning about OB. The focus for my nursing classes this semester is OB and Family Practice. I am also taking a Pharmacology class as well. In the race this semester, I finished all the hurdles that I needed to jump over before I go on my first rotation for the hospital. Today, I passed my last assessment: Medication Administration! Woohoo! I will be reporting for duty in my Grand Valley School of Nursing scrubs on Thursday September 25 at Spectrum Health (at 6:30 in the morning!!!). I am SO excited to start this leg of the race, and cannot wait to take care of moms and their newborn babies.

Our thoughts often take us back to Bethesda and all the people there. We miss the smiling faces and laughter and singing of our little friends. The kids are actually on semester break these next couple weeks, so we are sure they are having a good time being free from classes. We are going to visit my family this weekend. Can't wait to meet my little niece Elizabeth for the first time! We are also looking forward to fellowshiping with our extended Cornerstone family.

Pictures!

Hello! It has been a whirl wind of activity since we have gotten home and on top of that we have been very jet lagged. Kate started school yesterday and is already running the race of another semester at GVSU. She is very busy and already has lots of homework and readings while trying to get organized and get the apartment back together. Andrew started back to work today with both of his job, and he too was very busy at the mission today, trying to catch up from being gone three weeks and gets things done that have to be completed by the end of the month.

As you may have noticed, there is a slideshow of pictures now posted in the right hand column. If you would like to read the captions we added to the pictures, just click on the slideshow picture. That will open a new window where you will be able to see the pictures in a larger format and read the captions telling about the pictures. Hope you all enjoy seeing the people and places that we saw and things we experienced while at Bethesda. Enjoy!!