the village

i know it's a cliche... a vociferously overused one at that... but parenting really does take a village.

a few weeks ago we had a visit with our amazing midwives and one of them remarked on how lucky little adeline is. she said, "in her whole life, the only hands that have touched her have been those of people who love her." not very many people can say that. and it is certainly true for adeline. what a wonder!

every single day i look at this impossibly beautiful child and i think to myself, "there's a whole world, right there, contained in that little body." when she smiles and coos at the ceiling fan or the starkly patterned table cloth or the faces of her parents, my heart breaks a little -- in the best possible way. when she makes that pitiful little face before letting out an ear-splitting wail, i can't help but laugh a little. her biggest tragedy right now is a wet diaper.

i know we can't keep it that way. i know we can't protect her from bumps and bruises and disappointment and heartache forever. and it's not that i really want a problem-free, pain-free existence for her. but if i'm being honest, i'd have to say that this time of shelter and protection and meeting her needs as perfectly as we can is really lovely. and the fact that it is so fleeting makes it all the lovelier.

but we really couldn't do it, this parenting thing, properly if we didn't have such a fantastic support system. our family, our friends, our small group, even our co-workers... they make this life path we've chosen... well... possible. because sleepless nights and diaper rash and gassy babies and crying jags (for both baby and mommy) and that all-consuming feeling of immediacy... it just gets overwhelming at times. and in those times, there's our village. a group of amazing, loving people whose hands we can trust with our little treasure.

and isn't that what life is all about? finding people and sharing life with them? and carrying one another’s hopes and sorrows and having faith when they can't find it for themselves? and bringing meals and changing diapers and taking beautiful pictures and generally helping to celebrate new life together?

yes. that’s what it’s all about.

anyhow, enough of my esoteric musings. here are some pictures to keep you company.

ain't she somethin'?

baby blue.
(taken by sarah kieffer)

this pic was taken at our welcome-to-the-world party
by our very own photographer extraordinaire,
sarah kieffer.
you should hire her. i'm serious.

addie's first trip to the apple orchard

tummy time!

so serious.

aviator baby.

addie loves daddy.

the fam.

the three heaner kids, great grandma ruth
and happy, well-loved adeline.

addie and our awesome midwives,
vanessa and jennifer.
they are like family to us.

mommy time.

kisses!

adeline likes to roll with her homies:
two plush puppies we've nicknamed
spike and bowser.

where does the time go?

it has been a literal age since i've posted. and, as usual, so much has happened that it will take a lot of writing to convey it all. so, i thought i might use this as our new year's/valentine's day letter. normal people like to write christmas letters. but, let's be honest, we heaners are not normal people.

i know it's not going to be surprising when i say that this past year has been one of both joy and sadness, gain and loss, triumph and... well... not-so-triumphant. because that's life. it's a mingle, a divine mish-mash. a glorious, terrifying mess and all the more beautiful for it.

we spent a good portion of this year just settling into marriage. we figured out that it takes a lot of work to maintain a healthy, loving spousal relationship -- it's even more work than long-distance dating. but even the hardest of the hard stuff in our life together has been full of beauty, joy and reward beyond measure. we laugh together. we trust each other. we forgive one another. we never run out of things to talk about. we like each other. a lot. it's easily been the best year of either of our lives. as cliche as that might sound, it's the gulldurned truth. yeah... being married is good business.

i started school in september. i was a little bit rusty and rather full of trepidation, but i made the dean's list in that first semester back. and that while working 30-35 hours a week and taking 12 credits. i'm bragging a little, but mostly i feel relieved. i also feel really grateful for a kind, generous husband. tim helped so much around the house and gave me space to study and freak out and study some more. next semester, for various reasons, i've decided to only take one 5-credit course. striking a balance has never been one of my strong suits. it always takes a while for me to get comfortable...

speaking of which, tim changed jobs twice this year. he was working at engen power products, managing the shop for the industrial battery supplier. when he finally landed a construction job in july, they were sad to see him go. but go he did, to a company called solid construction. the long-awaited construction job was less than ideal, though. it required a lot of traveling. and entry-level pay is... well... entry level. tim gave it a good go, but after three months, we decided that the impact the job was having on our little family was just too much. so, after a lot of deliberation, he decided he wanted to make a proposal to his previous employer, EPP. he met with the owner and explained what he wanted to do. the owner was more than agreeable, gave tim a raise and welcomed him back quite happily. tim's now the shop manager and in charge of increasing communication and efficiency in the company (so up his alley!). i couldn't be prouder of him.

now we're both back in school, though each of us is only taking one class. i'm taking spanish (still working, albeit slowly, on finishing that B.A.) and tim is taking psychology (working on a business degree).

we spent our one-year anniversary in myrtle beach, south carolina. the word lovely doesn't cover it. we spent nearly every day either at the beach or one of the many resort pools. we visited georgetown and walked the spanish-moss-draped historic streets.

(in georgetown, sc)
a really big (and apparently scary) gator

we saw too many alligators and crocodiles to make a girl comfortable. we ate great seafood and went to a really fancy restaurant called the library (it smelled like old books and creaky leather mingled with fresh rosemary and garlic -- perfect for this girl). we walked on boardwalks. we watched sunrises. we saw pods of dolphins. we read and played games and watched cable tv. we talked a lot and made some big decisions:

1) tim was going to quit his construction job (see above)
2) we were going to start trying to have a baby (yes. a baby.)
3) we were going to start looking for a house (yes. a house.)

we're still looking for a house. the baby's due august 18th, 2011. we are so excited. and blessed. and the teensiest bit nervous. i feel great. i haven't had any morning sickness so far, and though i'm often tired, i feel so happy that the exhaustion doesn't totally register. tim's reading a ton of fathering books, and i'm reading just as many birthing books. it's fun to research things together. also, we have incredibly generous friends. as soon as they found out we were pregnant, they started loading us up with lovely baby items. the news hasn't even been out that long.

what gains we've experienced this year have been tempered by loss. we lost two grandfathers this year. tim's maternal grandpa, lawrence joyce, passed away just before mother's day. we miss his singing, his laughter and his storytelling. his passing is a loss to those of us who remain behind. we are comforted by the knowledge that it was his time. and he went so peacefully home to Jesus. my paternal grandpa, clyde kieffer, passed away just before thanksgiving. he had five sons and each was able to spend time with him in the hospital before he passed away. much healing came from those final days together. i miss him in unexpected moments. now that he's passed on, i find that he occupied a large space in my heart. i know i'll see him again, but that now-empty space does ache sometimes.

grandma ruth and grandpa lawrence joyce

grandpa clyde kieffer

i think that's enough news for now. i promise to be better about posting this year. there will be so much to tell.

much love from the heaners.

back to school and other miscellany

time is a precious commodity these days. so i'll try to keep this post short and to the point.

i started school this week. i'm taking 16 credits, which works out to be about 35 hours of actual study/prep/in-class time. i'm working full time, too. so that means there isn't much free time. i know i'll eventually figure out how to balance everything + make the most of every moment of the day. but this first week has been hectic, to say the least.

tim's been in illinois for work for the past three weeks. not sure whether we posted anything about this or not, but he got a job with a company called "solid construction." he likes being able to actually use his construction skills, but he's not overly fond of the traveling portion of the job. it's not like they go to exotic locations. for the job he's currently on "traveling" essentially means working 10-12 hour days + spending the rest of his time trying to figure out something to do in the teensy town he's working in, aside from watching cable at the super 8 motel.

we're homesick for each other + trying to make the best of things. thank God for cell phones.

in other news, my sister, kim, has moved into the upstairs portion of our duplex. she + her roommate are excellent neighbors + i've enjoyed having girly movie nights with them.

tim's mom just got back from a trip to kenya. we haven't had a chance to hear the stories yet, but we're looking forward to hearing them + seeing all the pictures of her adventures there.

we're quickly nearing the one-year marker. we'll be taking a weeklong trip to myrtle beach, sc to celebrate. actually, the way things worked out, the trip will be really economical. a few years back, tim won first prize at a church event -- a week at an oceanside condo in myrtle beach. we weren't even engaged at that point, so he never used the condo. we contacted the people who had donated the prize + they were thrilled that we were still interested in using it (seriously? how awesome are they?). so... essentially free place to stay in this goregous little town. also, on our honeymoon, our flights were overbooked + we chose to take a "bump" in exchange for a direct flight to hawaii + $300 flight vouchers each. so our flights to myrtle beach only cost us $145 total. heck to the yes! i can't wait to get out of town. a solid week together seems like an extravagance beyond imagining.

oh! and as an added bonus, one of my favorite high school teachers just moved to myrtle beach, so we're going to take her out to dinner some night. how fun is that?

we'll post lots of pictures when we get back.

appleton trip - pt. 2

after our brief stop in appleton proper, we headed back west to aunt linda + jeff's place. we always enjoy spending time with them in their beautiful home.

as additional incentive, the adam kieffer family was hanging out. we had a great brunch together + much fun playing with winter + river.

here are some pictures so that you can share in the general adoration of the next generation of kieffers:

this is river's "i'm so cute you can't even handle it" face

and this is me proving that he's so cute i can't even handle it.

winter + tim hanging out in uncle jeff's workshop

we had to take 6 pictures in a row to get one where we were both smiling.

gosh, she's a cutie!

big sister pushing little brother in the swing

sibling love!

a little catching up to do

sooo much has been happening. too much to blog about in the moment. as a result, we will subject you to a series of flashback-style posts to get you all up to date on the heaner family happenings.

we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to appleton, which is where lisa spent many of the happiest moments of her childhood, and (perhaps not coincidentally) the majority of the kieffer cousins live(d). adam + sarah + family were also in appleton at the time. so we had a truncated version of a kieffer cousins reunion at uncle john + aunt colette's place. the kieffer bros were in attendance, along with the always lovely abby. and we played some of the most hilarious rounds of "he said, she said" that have ever been played.

evidence of the somewhat twisted hilarity:

this is adam's "i can't believe you just said that!" face

and how cute is abby in her hat?
table-pounding funniness.

cousin adam vs. the unstoppable uncle joe

(joe, joe, supercool joe)

tim inhaling his watermelon

next to grandpa kieffer carefully cutting his pizza