I thought only people over the age of 75 thought about going to bed at 8:00.  Yet here I am contemplating even writing a post or going to bed and it is 7:55.  I wouldn’t say that at this exact moment I feel so tired that I simply HAVE to retire, but the fact that our three week old has finally fallen asleep and I have only a set number of hours ( hopefully not just minutes) until she will need another meal and bedtime routine revisited, I find myself longing to head to the bedroom and snuggle in for a few hours of sleep.  Bryan is at Bible study tonight, so it is Isaiah and the girls.  I have made  a nice cup  of tea and once finished here, will go to bed and read for awhile and then hopefully get a little nap.  I like to think of sleep as “naps” now, simply put I “nap” for a little longer at night than during the day.  So when people ask if I am getting “good sleep”  I think that I am going to start replying “Well, I am getting great naps”!

Sleep is something that I keep reminding myself that I will get more of one day in the future, but for today enjoy these precious days with a newborn.  With that said things here are going well. I am getting to know little Sabrina better each day and it is fun to se e her grow.

Well, sleep will have to wait a little longer for me, I have a baby who woke up and needs me, until next time…I am storing up those extra hours of sleep and will cash them in sometime down the road.

This weekend we had a wonderful visit from Aunt Kari!  Kari and Ross made the drive all the way from DC to come and meet the new addition to the family.   The visit was filled with lots of fun – a walk to Jiffy Treat, wonderful dinner, lots of giggles and shared activity time.  Isaiah had a lot of attention as well, including an early morning photo shoot.  I think that Kari was amazed that a baby could be part of our family. I know that I too still have those moments when I am holding Sabrina and thinking about how amazing God is to have knit her together and begun to establish her life even before we met her.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and  we eagerly anticipate another visit with Aunt Kari – she simply could not wait until then to meet our little one.  We joked and said that Kari was here on “official” business, but we all know that if she really were, then we could not post about it on a public blog!  Silly us!  Regardless, it was a special treat to see my sister and celebrate the new life of our family.  Thank you Kari and Ross for making the long road trip for such a short visit…I hope that you enjoyed it nearly as much as the three of us did!

We love you!

One final thought – I love the pictures of Bryan with Sabrina.  He is a GREAT Father!  He has totally taken on his new role with eagerness and compassion.  Sabrina is a very lucky young lady to have such a fun and loving Dad. I am excited to see all the adventures that the two of them will have over the years.  I am sure that they will summit many mountains and swim in many waters together and it will be my Joy to both witness and join in the adventure.

Kandice

I have a feeling Sabrina will grasp the “Big brother is watching you” concept long before she reads Orwell’s 1984.  She has a constant companion.  The first few days home Isaiah, our famed Jack Russell Terrier, ignored all of his usual obsessions (UPS man, USPS man, and Loud Motorcycle Man) to spend every moment on “Sabrina Watch.”  It was as if she was some 6-year-old flying over Colorado in a Helium balloon.  Sorry Falcon.  Like the paparazzi following Suri Cruise  he was always trying to catch a glimpse of  her, see what she was doing,  elicit a response by whining and badgering, and sniff her dirty diapers.  OK, hopefully even the paparazzi don’t stoop that far.

We are excited that the first three days of novelty have worn off somewhat.   At first I was worried that Isaiah would be upset that Sabrina was born with opposable thumbs, something he has always wanted.  Maybe he hasn’t noticed, or perhaps he has finally come to grips with the fact that he is not totally human.

This week he has graduated from “obsessed” to “keenly interested.”  He watches Sabrina eat, sniffs everything she touches, and listens intently for her first waking sounds (Why did we buy that baby monitor anyway?).   When we walk together, Isaiah flanks the stroller like an over zealous secret service agent expecting her enemy (or maybe a crazy squirrel)  to jump out at any moment. Seriously though, he likes her a lot.  He has adjusted to her routine and although he is always “aware” of our movements during the mid-night feedings, lately he has decided to monitor the situation from the comfort of his bed.

Sabrina is too busy trying to become aware of her own arms to decide what she thinks about Isaiah, but if you know him, you know that he is impossible not to love as long as you visit longer than 15 minutes.  Soon they will be best friends, of this we are sure.  Until then, Big Brother is watching, Little Sis is doing what she does…  And we are loving them both.

One thing that has supprised me about Sabrina is how active her tiny hands are.  She is always reaching, waving, or tugging at something.  She likes to pose with her fingers curled up in some cute way next to her face.  Sometimes it looks like she is praying or thinking.  It is really funny, especially in conjunction with her many facial expressions.  We will try to capture more finger poses soon.

So we have been home a week already and only 1 picture!?!?!  I know, its not fair.  OK to kick start Sabrina’s web debut I will give you three more pictures in one day.  The reality though is that Sabrina has so many cute and adorable moments that our 500gb hard drive would quickly fill were we to attempt to record them all.  Never the less, we will do our best.  Maybe we need an external hard drive for Christmas…

Anyway, today we have three highlights of the last three days for you,  THE CLIMB, THE WINK, and THE CHILL.  I will let you match the titles and pictures.

Cutest Baby Ever?  We think so.

Sabrina joined our life adventure on October 24th, 2009.  The labor and delivery were the best we could hope for!  I will let Kandice post her story later.   We are going to post pictures of Sabrina regularly and keep all of our readers (that’s you Mom and Dad) apprised of how she is doing.

So how is she doing?  AMAZING!  She smiles, She eats, She giggles, She cries, She smirks (like grandpa), She watches, She listens, She looks around.  Every few hours we go through the EASY cycle.  Eat – Activity – Sleep – and You Time (when Kandice gets to do something for herself).  Right now eating and sleeping make up most of Sabrina’s time but we have been doing some activities like bathing, changing diapers (usually more than once), listening to piano music, taking walks in the neighborhood, taking tours of the house, having back time & tummy time, and looking at flash cards with lines on them.  Basically after each daytime meal we do something simple to engage her mind and allow for a change of scenery.  This picture was taken just after bath time on Wednesday and is my personal favorite picture yet.

More updates to come!  Our goal is to post a daily picture of Sabrina.

New Daddy B

I know, we haven’t posted in a while. Our goal is still to make this blog a place where you can keep up with major B & K happenings but we aren’t exactly regular in putting up new information. Hopefully this post will the beginning of a new era of blogging (have I said that before???)

We just got back from a hard, fun, relaxing, and incredibly scenic vacation in Colorado and wanted to share a few pictures and memories with you. We flew out to Colorado Springs to spend a few days at Glen Eyrie, the Navigators international HQ. As always visiting the red rocks and hiking our favorite trails was fun, but bringing family along who have never seen its beauty made the trip that much better. After a few days of winding down from a busy summer we headed to Durango, CO.

Durango is a cool town with a lot of shops and restaurants but it is also the gateway to the 488,000 wild acres of the Weminuche Wilderness. Kandice, Kari, and I spend seven days and six nights hiking, camping, and exploring this masterpiece of God’s creation. Spending a week in utter wilderness may not seem like a vacation to you but it has its benefits. After arriving home we were met with about 1000 emails, phone messages and a stack of mail that takes multiple sittings to open I realized how relaxing it really is to be “unplugged” and unreachable.

If you are curious about the Weminuche you can search for it on Google earth and get the inferior but informative digital version of the scenery. We hiked up Elk Creek, over the E-W continental divide twice, down Valecito creek, up Johnston creek to the Chicago basin, and back out to Needleton. We hiked higher than 12,500 feet four different times and saw breathtaking views every day. We had planned an extra day incase we needed it but we ended up using it to summit Windom Peak, Colorado’s 33rd highest mountain at 14,082 feet. The view from the top will likely remain unsurpassed for the three of us for most of our lives.

Psalm 97:5 says “The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. ” Being among mammoth peaks and rocks the size of our house a thought continues to penetrate my mind. All this splendor, the power of the mountain, the danger of wildlife, the force of every mountain stream to sweep you off your feet, the breathtaking beauty of high meadows and lakes, they are mearly a refleciton of the beauty of Christ. They are only his creation, and barely begin to display his awesome power. It took us 7 hours to go up and down from Windom peak, and God could cast that mountain into the sea in 7 seconds. It took us seven days to cross a path that he holds in the hollow of his hand. So in the spirit of Psalm 145, I “commend his works to you.” Not the works of the mountains, but the work of the cross, the work that surpasses even creation, the work of Christ to restore a dead creation to life. A feat harder than making the needle mountains, more amazing that gouging out the deepest valley, and more beautiful than any sunset.

Our blog is not intended to dip into the realm of politics. That said, former President Bill Clinton visited IU today. Kandice and I decided to go with a group of students. We thought about leaving when he was running about 2 hours late but in the end it was worth the wait. After his speech we briskly approached the barricade to shake hands with the former president. He is just a man but it is not every day you get to see the former president, shake his hand, ask him a question (that was Kandice) and watch the secret service in action (that was me). Here are a few pictures.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday.  We are especially thankful this year for our new house that finally feels like home.  We wanted to send a special Christmas Greeting and couldn’t think of a better way then a little digital song and dance.  Click the link below for a Merry Christmas wish from the Redmans.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9608631546

Today we had another encouraging and challenging time at the National Conference.  Bill Tell, the US assistant director spoke about grace as the basis for our moving toward spiritual maturity.  Once passage that Bill shared from was Titus 2:11-12:

11 ”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…”

Often we confuse grace by suggesting to ourselves and others that grace and truth are in conflict.  That we will either experience grace or truth.  Bill shared from this passage that our spiritual transformation is dependant not on our self discipline but on our understanding and experience of God’s grace.  To believe anything but grace provides past, present, or future salvation from sin will hinder our quest for spiritual maturity.  This and many other things we have heard this week are motivating us in our personal growth and our work on the campus.  We are truly blessed to be here with so many people who are seeking Jesus.

More pictures from the National Conference are on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/navtrav07