Princess Naomi

Sep 07, 2010 - Tue: Heidi
We watched Naomi this weekend and had a wonderful time with her. Somehow she gets sweeter and sweeter every time we see her. I gave Naomi the surprises I had gotten her from Disneyland, which were a Cinderella nightgown and three postcards with the Princesses on them. I gave her the postcards first and she sat there hugging them saying, "Oh, thank you, Heidi. Thank you." I then pulled the nightgown out of the bag and immediately Naomi wanted to wear it. She wore it most of the weekend and really only took it off when she had to go potty or when we left the house. She beamed whenever she put it on. You would have thought I brought Cinderella herself back from Disneyland!



When we weren't discussing princesses with Naomi, we were swimming, coloring, playing games, watching Dora the Explorer, singing songs, and playing with playdoh. We took Naomi to the park on evening where she met some new friends. Apparently "Naomi" is a hard name for little kids so Naomi was actually called "Emily" the entire time. It was hilarious. Here was how one conversation went between Naomi and a girl named Elsie, probably about 5 years old.

Elsie: What's your name?
Naomi: My name's Naomi.
Elsie: What?
Naomi: Naomi!
Elsie: What you're name?
Naomi: NAOMI!

and later...
Elsie: Come on, Emily!
Naomi: (chasing Elsie around the park)  I'M NOT EMILY! I'M NAOMI!

Joey and I sat on a bench laughing. We later overheard Elsie making one more attempt at trying to figure out Naomi's name.

Naomi: NA-omi!
Elsie: Nyoma? Ny-OMA?


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What one man will do to stay seated at his desk longer

Sep 01, 2010 - Wed: Heidi
Joe can often get through an entire day and not have had a single glass of water. This was his new idea, which gives him the ability to drink water all day without actually having to get up from his desk to get it. I guess laziness is the mother of invention...or rather, in Joe's case, workaholism is the mother of invention. I will say that this is a better idea than putting a mini frig in our office so he doesn't have to get up to eat. I had to draw a line.


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Backpack. Backpack. (as sung on Dora the Explorer)

Aug 30, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
Joe watches Dora the Explorer with our niece quite a bit so we often get songs from the show stuck in our head. Unfortunately anytime I talk about my recent backpacking trip, which is the reason for this post, we start singing "Backpack. Backpack..." (a little treat for your ears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KqXFhRxybE)

Anyway, as some of you know I was invited to join one of my favorite families (the crazy Coulter family) on a little backpacking adventure on the John Muir Trail out in California. I bought my plane ticket and instantly kicked my gym routine up a notch in preparation for the trip. The plan was to backpack 10-12 hour days for 5 days, ultimately ending our trip having completed 60 miles of the trail. I will come back to this…

I had three weeks before the trip. I spent the first week working out like crazy, researching gear and buying items I needed for the trip. The second week was summer camp, and the third week I spent nursing a back injury from white water rafting at said summer camp and praying that my back wouldn't keep me from the trip. I had already invested too much and wasn't going to back out! Well, the back wasn't 100% but it was better, so on August 7, I boarded a plane at the ungodly hour of 5AM with Charles (the patriarch of the group), Dominique and Rachel, and flew to LA where we were meeting Patty (the matriarch of the group) who had flown out earlier in the week.

Our first stop was REI to pick up our rental equipment and buy any last minute items we would need for the next five days on a mountain. Charles' next stop was a campsite but he was vetoed and we ended up at a hotel to load all our packs (a 2 1/2 hour ordeal), have one last shower, meal, and good night's rest before starting our climb the next morning.

The first challenge was getting all 7 of us (throw in a Coulter aunt and uncle) and our 7 packs in one mid-size SUV rental car. THIS was interesting, cramped, painful and nauseating all in one. After a 45 minute car ride with five women crammed in the backseat of the car, we made it to Onion Valley where we began our hike. We started at an elevation of about 9,000 ft. and went straight up Kearsarge Pass to 12,000 ft. This was killer. And by “killer” I mean, it could have killed me. First of all, our packs weighed in around 50-60lbs (darn those required bear canisters), second my heart was pounding out of my chest wondering what on earth I was doing to it, and thirdly, we were all gasping for air trying to acclimate to the change in elevation. I’m pretty sure it was this early on that our fearless leader began to wonder “What was I thinking bringing five women on this trip, thinking we could do 10-12 miles in a day.” He was right! By 3:30 of Day 1, we stopped after 7 miles to re-evaluate the original plan: 60 miles in 5 days. LOL! By the time we got to our campsite for the night at Charlotte Lake, I was wondering what on earth I was thinking!

The next morning (Day 2) we all agreed 60 miles was looking like a pipe dream…or Charles’ delusions of grandeur…and that we should just try making a large loop, so we set out on a 6 mile hike to Rae Lakes by way of Glen Pass (another 12,000 ft. pass). Rae Lakes was beautiful. We decided to make this our stop for two nights in order to give our blistered, sore, tired, achy selves a break.

(Day 4) From Rae Lakes we journeyed back up Glen Pass and trekked to Kearsarge Lakes. We logged a whopping 8 miles that day - our best day! All the scenery was so beautiful, just amazing. It makes me realize how small we are compared to God’s creation. When we were on the downside of Glen Pass we would look back at where we had just come from and I could barely make out that there were people at the top. They were so tiny in comparison to everything we were surrounded by. The terrain was much different than I had anticipated. Lots of rock, dust, more rock, boulder steps, more rock. My feet hated me after this trip.

Our final day of hiking was only 6 miles and we were on a mission to get to that rental car, so this was probably our quickest day of hiking. We started at 9:25AM and reached the parking lot at 1:05PM. That parking lot was like a mirage in the desert, so deceptively close. This day held the moment that completely captivated me and will forever remain a precious memory for me. We decided to take one final rest on our trek down Kearsarge Pass at a spot with a few enormous boulders overlooking a clear, teal colored lake surrounded by mountains and trees. We all sat on one of the rocks and I took in the scenery knowing that people go through their entire lives not seeing such beauty or only seeing it in pictures and I was there. I was in a picture perfect scene. In that moment the song “How He Loves” by David Crowder came on my iPod and I just realized the magnitude of all that I was surrounded by. That God created all of it for us to enjoy and that He was saying "I love you this much, Heidi." It was breathtaking.

This trip was one of the most exhausting and challenging things I have ever done but one that was filled with so many great experiences, memories and beginnings for me that I am really happy I did it. I'm hooked actually. It felt a little disappointing because we didn't accomplish the goal we set out to do, but in all reality there was just no way we were going to do 60 miles in 5 days with seven people ranging in age from 19-50, five of whom were women, and three who had never done a backpacking trip. I think we ended at about 30 miles total.

Some of the highlights and memories:

• going to bed at about 7:30 every night and waking up at 6:30
• amazingly, almost fake, blue skies
• beautiful weather: 70's during the day and 30's at night
• being woken up by the most obnoxious birds on the planet
• chapped lips, runny noses, dirty hands, blistered toes, crazy hair, baby wipe bathing
• Starbucks via coffee in the morning
• Austintatious tortilla soup ruined by Risotto
• rationing toilet paper
• all the cute guys along the trail that we pointed out for Dominique
• the ranger who serenaded us ("Landslide")

There is so much more I could share about this trip but this is already super long and I am dreading going back through to proof read it at this point.


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Summer Camp No. 5

Aug 24, 2010 - Tue: Heidi
Geesh I'm behind on updates. I am just getting to write about summer camp, which was almost a month ago.

This was my 5th summer camp and Joe's 4th (I obviously love the teens more). We always love camp because it completely removes us from our predictable and simple daily routine. On Sunday (July 25) morning we loaded three coach buses and headed to Bradley, WV to Appalachian Bible College along with about 170 teenagers and 40 staff/leaders. Our theme this year was a military theme of "One Team, One Mission", in that as Christians we are all on the same team and our mission as one body is to win others for Christ. In order to accomplish our mission, though, we have to really work together: loving one another, building one another up, serving one another and forgiving one another. Without each other it becomes very hard to minister or follow the Lord effectively. Our speaker for the week was Frank Cirone, who we have had the privilege of hearing at previous camps. The messages were always so good and Joe and I both got a lot out of the teachings ourselves.

Each leader has a small group of about 5-7 teens that we meet with, eat with, sing with, laugh with and basically hang with all week. I had a great group of girls this year that I have to say did a great job of encouraging throughout the week. I brought blank white envelopes for the girls to decorate however they wanted and then hang on their dorm doors. The purpose was so that throughout the week they could write notes to each other to encourage them in some way. It was so sweet and I was so excited to see that the girls wrote notes to so many others outside our small group. Good girls!

This year at camp I had a "first" for myself. I actually chose to do the high ropes course. The decision goes back a year to last year's summer camp. Last year, while I was casually observing the crazy people who were engaged in the ropes course, one of the guys (Jake, you're the best!) begged me to do the high ropes course. I, of course, refused because those things scare me. Heights aren't my favorite and stepping off a platform into thin air to get down from the course is not high on my list of things I like (hint: it's near the bottom). Jake persisted and finally convinced me to sign up for the course this year promising he would do it with me. The guy stuck to his promise and on Friday, Jake and I tackled the high ropes course. I did well until the end (enter the part about stepping off a platform into thin air). It took me awhile, a lot of coaxing and my arms losing the ability to hold me up any longer before I let go. Nonetheless, I did it. We also went white water rafting, bowling, and this year did a service project day in the community. My group, along with about 6 other groups went to a small, local Christian school to clean and help them prepare for their upcoming school year.

I’m sure Joe has other things he would share about camp, but as you all are aware he isn’t one for writing updates so you’ll just get to hear my side of the summer camp experience!


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Fake Camping

Jul 16, 2010 - Fri: Heidi
According to Joey, we didn't really go camping July 9-11, but basically we did. In the middle of Reston, VA is a park with a great camping area, a water park, a lake, picnic areas, soccer fields and a park. The camping area includes "facilities" which is one of the main reasons Joey didn't consider it real camping. So fine, we went fake camping.

My sister-in-law (Nina) used the bathrooms and showers as a means of enticing my family into a family camping trip. Basically the only way my mom would ever be talked into camping is if camping meant "going to a fancy hotel and doing lots of shopping." So, our camping trip consisted of me, Joey, Christian, Nina and their two kiddies. To give credit where credit is due, Mud did plan to go but ended up shooting a wedding last minute so he had to bail on us. He did at least come hang out Friday night.

All in all it was a good weekend. We started out a little on the hot and sweaty side (the boys wondered who chose July and who really wants to sit by a campfire in 88 degree weather) but quickly moved to wet and muddy with lots of rain. It started raining around 3AM Saturday and rained steadily until about 10AM. In between bedtime and the rain, we did have an animal visitor who apparently needed a wash bin and some utensils because that was all we could tell was moved.

After having a tailgate breakfast under umbrellas, we decided to leave our stuff for awhile so it could dry out, and went to see "Toy Story 3" (another reason Joey says it wasn't real camping). By the time we got out of the movie, the sun was out and we headed back to our campsite for some time at the water park.

Naomi, of course, had to be with Joey so she slept in our tent both nights, which was so sweet. We would wake up throughout the night and Naomi would have her arm wrapped up over one of us and she'd be sound asleep.


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Heth Family Vacay

Jul 06, 2010 - Tue: Heidi
We're home from vacation. Boo. Getting back into the grind of daily life is always slow after vacation, but alas here we are.

We left last Saturday and drove to Indiana to spend a couple days there before heading to Michigan with Joe's family for a week at the Heth family cabin. The cabin is where a great majority of their family memories stem from, and it's been so great to be able to continue going as everyone has gotten older. Although we do the same things every time we go, it never gets old! Being completely surrounded by woods and nature. No internet or cell service (well, cell service seems to slowly be creeping in). Reading on the screened in porch. Tubing down the (freezing cold) river and inevitably falling in at some point. Sleeping on the porch. Putting out food for the raccoons and waiting for the motion light in the backyard to come on signaling they've arrived to eat. Playing games. Roasting marshmellows over the bonfire. Shooting guns. Eating on the porch. Going into town for ice cream. Laying in the sun. Family hikes. And all of it accompanied by lots of laughter.

The time at the cabin always goes by too quickly but we always return home refreshed.

We left the cabin Saturday morning and drove to Grand Rapids to celebrate Joe's (maternal) grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. What an accomplishment! Joe's aunt put together an incredible brunch where Grandma and Grandpa Andres were given a book of their wedding photos that had been digitized and printed into a little booklet. We all got to sit and look through their wedding photos and ask them questions. Someone asked Grandpa Andres if he felt like it had been 60 years. He laughed and said, "Well, no. I don't feel old." This is from an 89 year old man who still works in his backyard as if he were 45 years old. I want to be like that.

The two of them met on a blind date and Grandpa Andres fell in love instantly. He still remembers what she was wearing when they met for that first blind date. One of the sweetest things we heard from him was that when times got tough, he would go back and remember her that day and that helped him get through it.

Here's to 60 years!

Joe and I left Michigan on Sunday morning, July 4, to make the 10.5 hour drive back to Virginia. Before we got home we made a quick stop in downtown Manassas to watch the fireworks together. The perfect end to our vacation!


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The DC Tri

Jun 21, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
Yesterday we woke up at the ungodly (am I allowed to say that?!) hour of 4:00 in the morning to be spectators at the inaugural DC triathlon. Mud's girlfriend Lacey was one of the thousands of participants, so we set the alarm for 4:45, tucked our bright yellow poster in Joe's t-shirt, strapped on bike helmets, and rode into the District for the race.

At about 6:30 Lacey's group jumped into the Potomac River and the swimming portion of the race had begun. We didn't realize she was such a little fish. Lacey finished the swimming well ahead of her group and passed many in the group ahead of her.


After Lacey exited the water, we cheered as she passed and then walked to the location where the 12 mile bike ride ended. We sat there with a sparse, less than enthusiastic group of spectators who I don't think quite understood the concept of cheering on the participants. It was the sort of silent crowd that you think are actually annoyed by the fact that you're making noise. Hello, it's a sporting event! One lady even got a little upset and started yelling at people to cheer, AND one of the participants even came around the corner clapping on his bike and said "Come on"! Sad that a triathlon participant had to ask for some support. I always think that everyone should have a Joe (my Joe) cheering for them on the sidelines because he is the perfect spectator: loud voice, tall so he's easily seen, great encourager who always says such sweet things, and fiercely loyal to whomever he's supporting!

Lacey actually made it past us on the bike before we realized it was her. People can look so different in a helmet zooming by you on a bike. Nonetheless, we cheered, and then hopped on our bikes and rode toward the Capitol to wait at the finish line. While we were riding we ended up catching up to Lacey so we rode along side of her while she ran for a few blocks. She finished the race strong and was so excited she had done it. We were happy to be there to watch and support her!


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Lunch & Dinner with Friends

Jun 07, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
We had such a wonderful Sunday yesterday full of lots of fellowship and time with friends. Church was good as always. At youth group we welcomed the uprising freshmen and the return of a few of my past youth group girls who are home from college for the summer! They're growing up so fast! After youth group, Joe and I got to have lunch with four of my (now college) girls, Diana, Dominique, Rachel and Elaina! I love those girls and have missed seeing them on a regular basis. We ate at a burger place and then ran in the rain to a frozen yogurt place for dessert.

After we said goodbye to them, Joe and I drove home for about 15 minutes before heading out to meet up with Joe's brother Justin, Hannah and our nephew Cooper. They were driving through Virginia on their way home from visiting family in South Carolina, and realized they would be driving pretty close by our house. We drove about 45 minutes away and met them at a small town pizza place. We spent about an hour and a half with them before they got back on the road to continue their trip. It was such an unexpected day of surprise visits and time with friends and family!
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Lucky Number 7

May 24, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
We celebrated our 7th anniversary on May 17th at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia. It was a beautiful historic resort surrounded by amazing scenery...kind of in the middle of nowhere really. The resort was originally founded in 1766 so there was so much history behind it. We even took a history tour to learn all about the resort. A little more than half of U.S. presidents have stayed at the Homestead.

The weather wasn't super great during our visit so we spent most time indoors. Each morning we had a huge buffet for breakfast in the fancy dining room. That was my favorite part - getting up early, going to breakfast, sitting there as long as we wanted, reading the newspaper together, sipping coffee. We had a very relaxing time together. We spent time in the fitness center, explored the grounds, walked around the little boutique shops, had afternoon tea, got drinks at the cafe, sat on the porch reading, and ate lots of great food!


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Mother's Day

May 11, 2010 - Tue: Heidi
Mother's Day was a little different for us this year. We were asked to do a short video testimony for our church on our struggle with trying to have children and how the Lord is using that to teach us that we are still fearfully and wonderfully made.

Joe and Heidi share the story of their struggle with infertility as part of a teaching series called "Fearfully & Wonderfully Made" at Reston Bible Church.

The video was shown during the three services on Mother's Day weekend. It was a little awkward going to church knowing the video was going to be played (and we hadn't seen it yet) but we were anxious to hear how it all came together. During worship I already started tearing up replaying some of the words from my testimony that were going to be played. As our pastor was introducing the video, I couldn't keep the tears back any longer. Even though I knew what I had said I cried through the entire video.

We have had such a gracious response from so many. We can only pray that our words were encouraging to others in some way. We have had numerous people tell us how brave we were for sharing. It's funny that they say we are brave because I don't think of it like that. I don't see myself as brave but rather as someone who is sharing what is going on in their life. We all have struggles or hurts or difficult situations but I think as Christians we think we have to appear as though we have it all together all the time.

After church, Joey and I met up with my family to celebrate Mother's Day and my mom's birthday. We walked to a nearby shopping area and grabbed lunch, smoothies and coffee and then went back to Christian and Nina's place for dessert, gifts and a movie. We watched "Young Victoria"...well, the girls watched "Young Victoria" while the guys played games on their iPhones and threw in their sarcastic comments from time to time.

Joey also started a new experiment with our niece on Sunday. His plan is to train Naomi using gummy bears, sort of like Pavlov's dog. Every time Naomi comes over to see him, he gives her a gummy bear to keep her coming back. At one point Joey began to ration the gummy bears so he told her that the bears were sleeping. Content to let the bears have their nap, Naomi kept herself occupied playing while the bears slept. She eventually walked back over to Joey, looked up at him with her big blue Precious Moments eyes and said, "I think the gummy bears are waking up."
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April Birthdays

May 05, 2010 - Wed: Heidi
We celebrated my sister (Heather) and brother's (Mud) birthdays together this year for the first time. The boys played Settlers of Cattan and some other mafia type game while the girls went on a girlie outing. We took Heather to get her haircut first. We grabbed smoothies to sip on while we got our nails done. Even Naomi got her nails painted...pink!


After our separate girl and guy times we met up and headed into DC to eat at Founding Farmers. We love this restaurant because it is owned by family farmers and they are committed to bringing fresh, locally grown and farmed food to its customers. It really is delicious!


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"All I want is my son"

Apr 23, 2010 - Fri: Heidi
Today is my professor's 50th birthday. Before class started I told her happy birthday and asked whether or not she likes, dislikes or is indifferent toward birthdays. She responded, "Well, all I want is my son, so...yeah this birthday kinda sucks." What do you say to that? What do you say to a mom who lost her teenage son to suicide and is still hurting? As a Christian I want so badly to just hold her and tell her there is someone greater who loves her and has a great big plan for everything. But I also know that I cannot relate to her situation at all so my gut response would seem trivial or cliche. I am sensitive to this because of my own ongoing struggle with infertility over the last four and a half years. There have been so many times when people have genuinely tried to encourage me or give me hope but fallen very short. I have often tried to figure out what I want people to say or what people could say that would encourage me, and I have no suggestions. It's usually nothing someone says but rather a sense of peace or calming from the Lord, knowing others are praying on our behalf. My heart breaks for my professor and all I can do is pray that somehow the Lord would use me to bless her or show me something that might encourage her.

Happy Birthday Meg.
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Easter

Apr 06, 2010 - Tue: Heidi
We had a wonderful Easter with my family. The weather was beautiful. We all met at a local farm that had an Easter egg hunt for Naomi, hayrides, goats and other animals to pet, roosters running around, big slides and tetherball courts, and lots of other activities. Naomi got her picture taken with the Easter bunny, although she wasn't so sure she liked him. He did look a little like a malnourished Easter bunny so I could understand her uncertainty.

After the farm we hosted my family at our place for an early dinner, movie and dessert. I really wanted the day to be special and for my family to be refreshed after being in our home. I LOVE hosting and adding those special touches. Joey and I spent most of Saturday prepping and cooking food for Sunday. We served lamb meatballs, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, horseradish deviled eggs, cauliflower macaroni bake, a homemade potato soup (it's my secret recipe!), and fruit kabobs with this awesome sour cream dip (I caught multiple family members eating the dip by itself off a spoon). For dessert we made buckeyes and blueberry scones with lemon curd and devonshire cream. Nina brought mini flourless chocolate cakes with chocolate ganache, hazelnut shortbread cookies and mini bundt cakes. Everything was perfect paired with Nina's fancy coffee! I owe almost all my recipes to AllRecipes. It's my go-to place for recipes. So delicious!

Everything was a hit and my family thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was a special Easter. I will post pictures as soon as I get some from the family photographers.
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The Truth

Mar 21, 2010 - Sun: Heidi
We wanted to ask everyone to be praying for a situation that has come up with Dallas, a girl we have talked about often and that the Heth family had taken in. We have come to find out that Dallas is not who she has presented herself to be. The throat cancer she battled with for 2 years was a lie. She never had cancer. From this we have discovered there are many more lies she has told. We are struggling knowing how to handle this so prayers for direction and discernment are greatly appreciated.
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ESPN Zone and Play-doh

Mar 08, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
Yesterday we celebrated my brother Christian's 34th birthday and Naomi's 3rd birthday, so naturally we spent half the day at ESPN Zone having an air hockey tournament and the other half of the day playing with play-doh! The air hockey tournament consisted of 5 couples - well 4 really. Mud had to play solo because his girlfriend was out of town (Lacey is a flight attendant so being out of town is a commonplace):
The A-Team (aka Grandma and Grandpa)
Paris (Chuck and Heather)
Mud
Sunday Afternoon Smackdown (Christian and Nina)
"It's like Beth with an H" (Our last name is often misspelled or misunderstood so we find ourselves having to explain "It's like Beth with an H", hence our team name)

I'm happy to announce that our team won but it was definitely not because of me! Joey went undefeated! In between matches Joey and I spent time following Naomi around the arcade while she tested out just about every game there, mostly pushing the buttons.


We all headed back to my parents' place after the tournament. Their building has a conference room so we decorated that for our play-doh party. Naomi asked specifically for balloons, so as soon as she walked in the door after first exclaiming, "IT'S ME!" said "My balloons!" At the end of the night I tied all 15 balloons together and she ran up and down the hall with all her balloons...in a princess dress of course. The balloons covered her entirely so as she ran down the hall you could just see balloons. Oh and her hair was sticking out all over the place from the static! When we got on the elevator she walked up to the mirror and I heard her say in her precious three year old voice, "I'm beautiful." What would life be like if we all looked in the mirror and told ourselves we were beautiful rather than the negative tape we play each day? I think God would be pleased.


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Justin on Apr 11, 2010

THe "beth with an H" is hilarious. Thanks mom for passing on her wisdom. We all say that line. I just said it the other day to the nursery working after they spelled it Hett. Oh well.

The Gym

Mar 05, 2010 - Fri: Heidi
We joined the gym! This week I decided that we were done talking about joining a gym and were going to actually join. We knew where we wanted to join (I had looked around at several gyms in the area) it was just a matter of doing it. So on Monday night I told Joey we were going.

It's been so great! We signed up for what is called a "matinee membership" which means we can only go M-F before 4pm. This works out great for us since we both work from home and have the flexibility to go when things aren't so crowded. We've gone every day this week, tried out quite a few of the classes (my main reason for joining this particular facility), felt uncoordinated and humbled, got our butts kicked multiple times, thought we were going to die on occasion, but felt so good afterward and enjoyed doing it together!
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"Joey, do you wanna have a tea party with me?"

Mar 04, 2010 - Thu: Heidi
These are words we hear out of Naomi's mouth often. She loves her Joey. And, she loves her tea parties. Her specialty...and by specialty I mean, the only kind of tea she ever serves is "lemon squash". We haven't yet figured out where she got lemon squash from, but nonetheless we have lemon squash tea on a regular basis. We babysat our niece and nephew last weekend and at one point I went upstairs to see what was happening. This is what I found!


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A Smorgasbord of Sorts

Feb 25, 2010 - Thu: Heidi
I don't really have any one particular thing to write about which is why this update will be a smorgasbord of random information.

My criminal justice class is going well and I love getting up early each Friday morning to attend. However, I don't know that I have any further indication of what direction to head in the criminal justice field. I talked to my brother-in-law who is a retired police officer to see if he could help pigeon-hole my interest in criminal justice into one or two particular areas that would help give me a little more direction. I don't think it helped because I like so many aspects of it and can see myself doing multiple things. I'm hoping to meet with a couple people and pick their brains about some more stuff, so we'll see. I'm thinking about pursuing a Masters.

Joe has started his scuba diving lessons and, as an understatement, I will say "he loves them." The boy came home from his class last week at 11:45pm and couldn't stop smiling. His eyes got bigger and bigger as he relayed to me all the exciting things he had just done underwater for the previous two hours. His hands were still even a little "prunish" from being in the water all evening! He is already talking about going further and becoming a master diver.

Of course with Joey becoming a certified scuba diver this means we will need to create opportunities for him to dive so I think a cruise is in our sights! I think we deserve it with all the snow we've endured this winter! Washington DC broke all previous snowfall records with our past two storms, and we are hearing of more on its way next week.

We had Winter Retreat with the youth group over Valentine's/Presidents' Day weekend, which was so good. We had an outstanding speaker named Jamie Winship who gave such a refreshing and new perspective on living the Christian life, missions, ministry, etc. He was so captivating that even during free time when he gave an informal talk that was supposed to last an hour but went for over two hours, we had about 80 students there listening. We were really encouraged throughout the weekend.

We are going to be celebrating my older brother Christian and our niece's birthdays on March 7. I am super excited because I volunteered to be in charge of decorations for Naomi's party! Last Saturday Joey and I headed to Walmart and had such a great trip together picking out all the items for decorating. I actually finished putting together my masterpiece for the table last night. I'm very excited! When Nina asks Naomi what she wants to do for her party, Naomi replies "Playdoh," so Nina is making homemade playdoh and we're having a playdoh party. When Nina asks Naomi what she wants to eat for her party, Naomi replies, "Toast." When pressed further Naomi adds, "Yogurt and olives" to the menu. The girl hasn't really figured out the whole birthday party thing yet. Joey and I asked her how old she is going to be at her party and she said, "2 and 3." We laughed and told her she can't be 2 AND 3, so she finally said "3 in March." Adorable.

Well, I think that's about it for my smorgasbord update. I'm sure I will think of something else as soon as I hit submit though.
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Snow. Snow. Snow!

Feb 08, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
We got about 24-28" of snow over the weekend as I'm sure most of you have heard already. It is pretty amazing and so pretty. Even today our parking lot is just packed with snow. Plows came through again today to try condensing some of the snow piles people have made shoveling out their cars and walkways. Some of the snow piles are about 7-8 feet tall! Crazy thing is that they are predicting 10-12" more of snow starting tomorrow through Wednesday. We are praying this doesn't affect the Disney on Ice performance we're supposed to take our niece to Wednesday night.
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Forensic Psyc: Day 2

Jan 27, 2010 - Wed: Heidi
I had my second day of class on Friday in which we learned all about crisis negotiations and actually performed a mock negotiation with our professor who was out of the room somewhere. Not feeling confident in any speaking role I volunteered to do the "situation boards" which involved me writing on a whiteboard all the factual details of the negotiation for the team. It was quite interesting.

I was pretty proud of myself because most of the time when the professor asked a question today in class, I had the right answer...in my head that is. Vocalizing answers will come later I'm hoping.

We did learn more about my professor, which just makes me feel all the more for her:
Her son committed suicide only 13 months ago.
She was engaged but her fiance died in 2005 (not sure how).
Her mom died in her house on (this past) Thanksgiving day.

I can't even begin to imagine her pain. I am thankful to be in this class and anxious to see how God uses me.
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Forensic Psyc: Day 1

Jan 18, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
I decided to take a course at the community college down the road to see if I should pursue a certificate in Criminal Justice. On Friday I had my first class in Forensic Psychology. I came out of the classroom with a litany of emotions:

1. Inadequacy at that fact that I don't seem to share the same "run-in" experiences with the law that many of my classmates seem to have. Thus, I don't process matters on the same criminal or law enforcement level that they seem to have a vast working knowledge of. This home girl hasn't even been pulled over before. I plan to work on this...not the run-in with the law part, just the thinking outside the box part and from both sides of the law.

2. Gratefulness for the Christian education I had during college that helped form who I am today. This was my first experience at a public higher ed institution. I am pretty sure my professor won the prize for the most swear words used during the class period.

3. Burdened for my professor. Despite the fact that she presents a tough cop exterior, my heart broke for her when she mentioned while going over the syllabus that her high-school aged son committed suicide and she is still dealing with his death. I cannot fathom the heartache she must live with on a daily basis and I can only pray for peace in the midst of her pain.

I am really excited about this class and all I hope to learn throughout the semester. The professor did mention practicing crisis/hostage negotiations next class period so I'm a little nervous...
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Elliot & Heth Christmases

Jan 11, 2010 - Mon: Heidi
We spent December 23-26 with my family here in Virginia. Our nephew was born the 23rd. The 24th was spent cooking, playing games, eating lots and doing last minute Christmas stuff. The guys all went to see Avatar in 3D, which was officially added to most of their "Top Favorite Movies" lists. Christmas is always a day long event with my family. We get up and everyone gets dressed for the day. We have breakfast together, take family photos and then open stockings. We do gifts one at a time so everyone can see what others get, so it generally takes a good portion of the day to open presents. We usually do an early dinner after which the boys begin the video games and everyone else plays games or watches a movie.

We drove to Indiana on the 27th, arriving in a snow storm which made our trip a little slower than usual. We had our Heth Christmas on the 30th and spent a ton of time playing games, including Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and our very own game Hethdy Land (a combination of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders). Our New Years Eve included games and sparkling grape juice while we watched the ball drop. Joey and I drove up to Ft. Wayne to visit with my cousins on Jan 2, and headed home to Virginia the next afternoon. It was a great Christmas and we are always amazed at the generosity of our families.


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Sara Peebles on Feb 18, 2010

Yay, you're wearing the J. Crew top! I got the black version a few weeks after y'all left; the sales girl was right, the ruffles do fluff up after washing. :) Hope y'all are well! If you need a break from the snow, we'd love to see you again.

This One's for You Mud

Jan 09, 2010 - Sat: Heidi
I'm assuming most people don't know about Joey's love for food, primarily sandwiches. It is not uncommon to hear Joey say during random situations, "You know what we need to make?"
Me: "No, what?"
Joe: "Philly cheesesteaks!"
And generally after such an exclamation the next 10-15 minutes are spent with Joe fretting over how this is going to be accomplished. What bread should he use? How will he make the meat shredded like restaurants do? What cheese will go best with the particular sandwich? Should he butter the bread before toasting it? You would think he was trying to stamp out world hunger.

Today was one of those days. While meandering through Target, Joe exclaims "I need a panini." Immediately I know that I am in for a conversation about sandwiches. The first worrisome dilemma was, "Should I do breakfast sandwiches or a panini?" The next thing I know we are at Panera looking at bread from their bakery.

After inquiring of the boy working at Panera about what kind of bread they use on their paninis, Joey decides on a loaf of ciabatta bread. He estimates that he can get four sandwiches out of the loaf so he is ecstatic. And, this is how the conversation went as we left Panera and walked back to the car:
Me: "You are so funny with all your sandwich ingredients!"
Joe: "Heidi, when you're making masterpieces you don't use poop. Unless you're a poop sculptor...You only use the best ingredients."

Breakfast sandwiches won the debate and bacon is cooking on the stove as I type. Boys!


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The New Nephew

Jan 06, 2010 - Wed: Heidi
As many of you know we had a niece or nephew due in December. What was supposed to be a Dec. 17 arrival turned into a December 23 debut of our nephew! Caleb David Elliot was born at home at 9:48pm after (a stunning) 1 hour and 43 minute labor. My sister-in-law is a beast, in the good sense of the word. Caleb weighed in at 8lbs 14oz and was 21 1/2" long - much bigger than his big sister Naomi who was only 6lbs 12oz.

The whole family was at Christian and Nina's. We had just finished dinner and were sitting in the living room debating what to do next (watch a movie, play a game, etc.), when Nina chimes in with "I think my water just broke" and a mad dash up the stairs to do a little investigating. Everyone immediately jumps into action because we expected this baby would come quickly (Naomi was born in under two hours). The midwife and birth assistant were called. The master bedroom was prepped for delivery and everyone started making bets on baby's arrival time. It's too bad our betting doesn't include money because I guessed 9:48 on the dot.

Anyway, the midwife arrived with 20 minutes to spare...I was beginning to think I might be delivering this baby. Phew. The poor birth assistant arrived about 20 minutes AFTER the birth. Sidenote: We had all started getting a little concerned about baby's upcoming arrival because of the big snow storm we got the week he was due. 18-20" of snow could have made everything a little more interesting but thankfully the snow ended up not being an issue.

The labor went super smoothly (easy for me to say since I wasn't the one with the contracting uterus) and Caleb is healthy and beautiful. I know, I know. "Boys aren't beautiful" as Joey always reminds me. We had to wait until Christmas evening to find out what name Christian and Nina chose. Nina told Christian it was his decision so we waited. It was either Lincoln Michael or Caleb David and as you know Caleb David won.

Everyone was there for the birth. The midwife later informed us that we were one of the biggest groups she'd delivered with. Not sure if that's a good thing or a creepy thing?? The midwife also said that out of 1550-some births she's done Nina's was "one of the fastest." Pretty crazy!


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