Holy cow - 1 month blog lag

Yikes - well let's just skip over the past month, I bullet point the highlights:

• Caleb got sick (as usual), then he stayed sick, then he was hospitalized, then they finally pinpointed some potential causes for his constant illnesses, then they prescribed a bunch of meds for 'silent' reflux (read, no other symptoms) and RAD (reactive airway disease, a way of saying he may develop asthma).
• Since getting out of the hospital about 3 weeks ago he hasn't been the slightest bit sick, no runny nose, no cough, no nothing.
• Caleb is eating like it's going out of style. He's back into a bunch of the foods that he dropped from his repertoire. The other day he ate an entire pint of blueberries by himself in 2 days!
  

We are on vacation now. Alex and I got to pick this one and all of his family (parents, sister and her fam) are in North Captiva Island. It is only accessible by boat or charter plane. The house is gorgeous. There is truly nothing to do here except hang out, go to the nearly private beach or go to the pool. There are no paved roads here and no cars - everyone gets around by golf cart. There are only 300 houses on the island and this is almost off-season, so it's pretty quiet. Alex and I are loving it. It feels really indulgent to have so little to do.

On Sunday, Alex, Caleb and I checked out the 'island' church service. I was expecting something pretty non-specific in terms of worship style. How wrong I was. It was just us and the couple who do the service each week. I would say they are 70 or so. They used to be missionaries in the Brazilian amazon back in the day. The service was in their living room, and they set out chairs, each containing a Bible and a hymnal. The living room contains a little electric organ. The service was very Presbyterian in nature, a prelude on the organ, a hymn, responsive reading, a scripture reading, a hymn, and then a brief sermon, this one was on Mary and Martha. Caleb was pretty good, playing by himself for the first half, but then he got tired and hot as they had all of their windows open for a light breeze, but by 11-ish it was getting warm. That was really Caleb's first official church service. At our church, he stays in the CF (Christ Fellowship) Kids area, not the service.

I'll post more as the vacation continues and when we get home, I'll post some pics of the vacation.

Please accept my resignation

No - not from blogging. In fact, I think that you will find that my blogging should be increasing soon.

I have resigned from my job. That's the big news I spoke of in the previous post. It was an easy - yet difficult decision.

My last day will be May 5, eight weeks away. Given my position I wanted to be able to give them as much as time as possible to come up with a transition plan.

We've been thinking about this at some level or another since Caleb was born. It picked up intensity when we found out we were pregnant again. But the bottom line was this - Alex and I are insanely busy. I can say confidently that everyone who knows us rarely knows anyone busier than the 2 of us. It has been taxing and stressful.

Some time ago I heard Andy Stanley preaching on a podcast about making wise decisions. He spoke at length about this verse, Proverbs 22:3:

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

He talked about how he and his wife made that verse their prayer - that the Lord would help them to see danger and give them wisdom to take refuge. He talked about how God's answer to those prayers had led them to make decisions that really couldn't be explained otherwise.

This is how Alex and I feel. We see danger in the pace of our life. We love the Lord. We cherish our marriage and are so thankful that it is strong. We want more than anything to raise Godly children who deeply love the Lord and seek His will for their lives.

The pace of our current lives would lead us away from accomplishing that ultimate goal of raising Godly children. I am so busy and over-extended that I often fail to study the Word as I used to and should. I fail to pray as I used to and should. Alex is such a wonderful leader of our home and encourages me to read and pray.

We are always so tired and stressed out. Lately Alex has had a cold for weeks that won't go away and I get daily tension headaches. Both of these are directly related to our current lifestyle.

Something has to give; and we decided to choose what that would be while we still could.

I'm excited and nervous about this new stage in my life. I am sad to leave The Children's Trust. It has been such a wonderful place to work. I am mostly sad about leaving the wonderful friends and colleagues that I have worked with for the past six years. I am also sad about not being a part of the good work that is done as a result of The Trust. The place is doing so much to improve Miami.

However, I know that I will have no regrets. As we move forward our goals are to grow and strengthen the spiritual and physical health of this family. There are behaviors that I want to instill in Caleb and this means ensuring that I live them daily. We will be changing things for the better.

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to everyone...the holiday also known as the Memorial Day, because it seems that no one can remember which one is which. I know that I always get them confused. I'm THRILLED to have a 3-day weekend. Woohoo! We are going to Orlando to visit my brother, Aaron. His birthday is the following weekend, but are going to celebrate it this weekend.

I had the brilliant idea that we should go to the House of Blues at Downtown Disney for dinner on Saturday. That place is SO fun. The theme is very Southern-blues. A lot of New Orleans Creole art and decorations. The food is delicious Southern food - mostly Louisiana style food. They have an awesome jambalaya. Alex and I went there to eat when we went to Disney WAY back when we were dating and we liked it a lot. So I mentioned it to Aaron and he was down with the plan. When I told Alex, he told me that one of our recent brides does promotions for House of Blues and had given us a gift certificate. What are the chances of that?? There isn't even one in Miami! So that is perfect! It could only be better if there is a live band playing blues while we are there!

No post written by me would be complete without a statement as to how busy I am. It's truly unbelievable. I am managing well since I have become a master of multi-tasking. I multi-task almost constantly. The downside to this is that it's hard to give people my full attention - my brain is elsewhere. This is especially true with Alex. I feel badly b/c I often come home and get into 'home multi-tasking mode', which is especially hard to get out of. Then I'm not caring or even very nice b/c I have task-accomplishment on the brain.

QUESTION: why is it so easy to be difficult or not nice to the people we love most? I don't act that way at work with people that I don't love....I am feeling guilty about this. I have apologized to Alex for not being nice, but I know that the only way to really show that I'm sorry is to stop behaving that way...I am praying that I will do that.

I don't have any new pictures of Caleb....I'm sure you're disappointed!

Done: Week 1

My first week back at work is under my belt. It feels good to be done with it.

• The whole pumping thing went SO well. Really, God is so good at meeting our needs exactly at the time that we need it - as my friend Donna said - not sooner and not later. On Monday I worked a half day, going to work after the La Leche League meeting. I got to work at about 2pm. I pumped once - 3.5 oz. When I picked Caleb up from my Mom's house she told me that she fed him once - 3.5 oz (even though she had 7 prepared)!
  
• My general schedule is such that I pump before leaving for work because Caleb is sleeping so I can't feed him, then I pump twice at work - on days that he was at with my in-laws I pumped in the car on the way there b/c it takes longer to get to their house. So my highest volume day I pumped 17 oz! the most he ever ate was 15 oz while I was at work. I am so pleasantly surprised, relieved and grateful to see that I have plenty of milk despite the past 3 months of worrying because I don't have all of the tell-tale signs of plenty of milk that some other women have.
• The hardest thing about returning to work is being VERY tired. When I was home, it was ok to lose 45 minutes or an hour of sleep because I could sleep until 8 or so when Caleb woke up - but in order to get to work by 7:30 I'm getting up at 5:30 or 6 - the days that I have boot camp I get up 4:45. On a couple of nights last week Caleb woke up at 2:45 or 3, which means I that by the time I got back to sleep - I only had an hour or hour and a half to sleep before getting up.
• This week was my anniversary! Alex and I have been married for four years! how wonderful - I'm going to post some old-school pics for you to enjoy.
• For those of you with kids - my cousin, Dave, in Chattanooga, DJs a Saturday morning radio show - the Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl - it's awesome, funky, rockin kid music. You can listen live on the internet from 8-10.

Rain at Disney...early in our dating life - 2002?
Please no comments about how SKINNY I was here - sheesh.

Later...2003 or 2004? (how about those sideburns??)
June 11, 2005



May 2008 - SeattleMay 2008 - Alaska

NEW website

Ok - so you MUST go and check out the new website for Candidly Elegant Photography. For those of you not 'in the know' that is Alex's photography website. It is just so gorgeous and high end - I love it.

I am totally flattered by what Alex wrote in part of the website - when you visit it, click on 'Info' (on the left) and then 'Why Hire Me'. How sweet and wonderful is my husband?

Happy Friday

I'm so glad it's Friday! Not only is it Friday but we are about to start a vacation! yay! We only have one more November wedding left on Saturday. Sunday we'll see Alex's family and Monday I'll run errands and pack and then we head off to NC for Thanksgiving.

My mom's side of the family gets together each year for Thanksgiving at the Red Rocker Inn. I guess at some point a few years ago, they decided that no one really wanted to cook for that many people and have to house all of the out of town guests. My parents have gone several times, but I and my brothers have never gone. This year we are all headed up along with our spouses! It should be really cool.

Here is a photo of me beginning to look pregnant. Remember that part of the belly that you see was there before Caleb was. Also, this is taken while we were working a wedding - so I'm looking a little rough. :)

Oops, I did it again

It is very difficult to surprise me. Not because I'm nosy or go snooping for gifts - but simply b/c I have an amazing way of becoming totally obnoxious about the thing that is the surprise w/out even knowing that I have it waiting for me. This most acutely effects Alex. Let me give you some examples:

I first wanted a Boston Terrier when I was in college and met one that belonged to one of my cousins. I fell in love. YEARS went by and I kept wanting the dog. So about a year before Alex and I get married, I decided that the time was right for me to finally have a dog. So I began looking for breeders and reading information on them. I became almost obsessed, I finally found a litter not far away in Ft. Lauderdale and told Alex that I wanted us to go look at them. He put me off. Finally after about 2 weeks of my bugging him, he got really frustrated and said that he was going to buy me a puppy for Christmas (about a month away) - and he hopes I'm happy now that I have no surprise! In the end he semi-surprised me b/c the litter was near his work, he went and saw them and told me that the puppies didn't look well-bred and we should keep looking. In reality, he had put a deposit down on Pete while he was there and surprised me later.

Fast forward to just before our 2 year anniversary (dating). I'm embarrassed to admit that I had begun applying the 'we need to get married' pressure, and exactly one week before our anniversary we got into an argument about 'the future' - and I was crying and upset b/c he didn't want to commit. At the same moment, by best friend Lourdes calls me to meet her at a Bridal shop to see the dress she had found for her wedding. I show up in a foul mood.

If you haven't guessed already, exactly one week later Alex proposes on our 2-year anniversary - and I feel like a total heel. During our entire argument, he had to endure me complaining and arguing while 'the ring' sat in another room.

So. About 2 months ago, Alex and I started looking at elliptical training machines. My gym membership is about to expire and he needs to work out too, but is too picky to commit to a gym. So we decided that w/ the baby coming, it would make more sense to buy a machine for the house. Then we can use that in combination with our bikes and our neighborhood w/ sidewalks for walking/jogging. We had found one we liked right before we started the patio project so the elliptical went on hold.

Well, now the patio is finished, so I (logically) started thinking that we should return to the elliptical idea...and I started bugging Alex. (just a little) - Alex this week can you call the gym place and negotiate the elliptical? -Alex, maybe today you can call the gym-guy and finalize the elliptical?

So during breakfast yesterday, I mention that second statement...and Alex sighs and says. "Shaleen, I went to the place and bought it on Wednesday, it will be delivered in a week and a half. I was going to surprise you."

I suck. I don't MEAN to do that! I'm not even a nagging wife! I just happen to find these things every once in a while. I really, really LIKE surprises!

the glorious everyday

In a much older post, I commented about how much joy I get out of being exposed to opportunities to see the wonder that is everyday life. That is, there is so much beauty to be seen in what occurs in plain, old life.

My favorite movie is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is so because it points out the beauty of life, but what makes it really, really amazing is that it makes you think about what if you lost those everyday moments?

Eternal Sunshine is a story about a couple, Joel and Clementine. Shortly after breaking up, Joel discovers that Clementine has had all of her memories of their relationship erased. Traumatized by the fact, he in turn erases his memories of her...until midway through the erasing process he discovers the tragedy of what he is doing.

The movie came out in 2004 (so long ago!?). I clearly remember seeing it. Alex and I were either still dating or recently engaged at that time. I remember that I cried in the movie, but when it ended, I was so weighted with the message. The memories that hurt the most are those that mean the most to us - how awful to lose them.

I remember walking out of the theater and thinking about how much I love Alex. And even if we broke up, I would never want to lose the memories that I had made with him because they made up a part of me. Outside the theater, I started sobbing at the thought. I must of looked crazy, but I swear that moment is one of the most singular in falling in love with him.

why is it?

Why don't scissors work in the left hand? I can understand why such a simple engineering concept as a scissor is defeated by the use of another hand...I was trying to trim my eyebrows today with tiny scissors and tried using my left hand...and, nothing. Instead I had to try to contort my right hand so that it could trim the left brow. Thankfully, that worked out alright and I still have two eyebrows.

I'm working at home today b/c I had no big meetings and Alex is going to have to go the school later and doesn't really want the workers to be here alone.

The patio is coming along. I feel like we made SO much progress really, really fast in the beginning and the last 7 days have been really, really slow. Initially we were hoping to be done on Tuesday. But then Monday and Tuesday it rained almost all day - so no work got done. Yesterday the marble guys came and started installing the counter-top on the kitchenette island where the grill is. That is a slow process all by itself. They should be done today and I think the gas guy is coming to run our gas line to the grill. Even though the patio won't be finished, we could theoretically grill tonight or tomorrow.

I'm so ready for it to be done. My house is full of dust from the work. Plus the dogs can't really be in the backyard b/c it's a wreck so we have to walk them throughout the day.

Oh well, that's all the complaining I'll do b/c I'm really happy with how it's turning out and I know that we are blessed to be able to do it.

thoughts on politics - part 1

I'm so proud of Alex, I've turned him into my own personal pundit. Here is his 'white paper' on this year's election: It's long so I will post it in sections...(going backwards so that it reads in order).

I have been thinking long and hard about whether to post about politics here. In the end, Alex put it all much better than I could have. One thing that I can add to what he says here is that I have not, and do not, judge people who have taken the time to search for knowledge of the facts and their hearts to make this decision. I hope that you, my friends and family, will take the time to educate yourselves and make an honest decision FOR YOURSELF.
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First: This e-mail is being sent to you in love. Thank you for reading it, I know it’s a bit long, but it gives insight into my heart during this time.

Needless to say this year’s presidential election is probably the most important of recent history. We are in an unpopular war with no easy way out, an economic crisis nearing the fallout of the great depression, a healthcare system that is the worst among the civilized nations of the world, Social Security which is going bankrupt and if that’s not too much to juggle in our brains we must consider the issues that confuse even the simple elections like abortion, taxes, social services, and foreign policy. How as American citizens and Christians should we make a decision? I don’t want to tell anyone how to vote; I just want to think out loud via this e-mail, in order to lay out my decision making factors and maybe open a dialogue that would help us all consider our priorities and maybe self reflect a little bit on why we are choosing the way we are.

First of, I think its important to say that there is no correct Christian answer. I wish it would be that simple. Many Christians want to make it a clear choice based on one issue over another, but we simply have no indication Biblically that Jesus would single out that same issue and ignore others that are perhaps equally important to Him. For example, we might say that God values human life greatly and cite “Thou shalt not murder” and cite Psalm 139 and Isaiah 44 as evidence that God surely cannot stand abortion, but one can also find Biblical evidences for many of today’s issues and some of the issues are handled differently by the opposing candidates. Almost every political issue can be found in the Bible and God has an opinion on each one. As we’ve been learning in our Revelation studies, God has a clear opinion on how Israel needs to be treated politically. We all know the verses relating to taking care of the poor, the elderly, the sick, etc. God surely has an opinion on how we handle war and contrary to what many Christians say, just because there are many wars in the books of Joshua, Chronicles and others in the Old Testament doesn’t mean that God is for us in every war. Each of the wars covered in those books can be studied separately. I am not going to get into the specifics of the war we are in now or whether I think God is for us or not.

Prayer needs to be part of our decision making process. Even if we all vote differently, Romans 13 teaches us that God establishes every government power according to His perfect will. This does not mean it doesn’t matter how we vote. Our individual actions need to reflect our heart and our Lord.

What I want to layout is the process I am using to separate my thoughts on this and invite you: family and friends in Christ to think out loud with me and correct me if necessary and provide wisdom. I am interested in every opinion and every difference in priority you may have. Please respond and feed my brain and heart.

Statistically speaking, the average American votes on likeability of the candidate and not on the issues themselves. This is just a sad reality to me. I know none of us are going to vote based on that, so we can go ahead and skip that consideration.

Actual considerations to factor in (in no particular order):

1. Experience of candidate
2. Morals. Does the candidate match my moral views?
3. Economy. Which candidate has a better plan for helping us out of this crisis?
4. Healthcare.
5. The War.
6. Foreign Policy.

I want to go through each one briefly to separate which ones I’ve chosen to cancel out over others.

thoughts on politics - part 2

1. Experience. I think the experience of a candidate is crucial if the candidates have similar strategies or viewpoints for our Nation’s future. The experience of a candidate can be the difference in employing a strategy successfully or failing right off the bat. It can mean respect in the global politics or disdain and disrespect. In today’s case however, the candidates could not be more different in almost every issue and factor. If a candidate has more experience but is planning to run the system in a way you totally oppose would you still vote for that candidate just because he has more experience? Maybe the more experienced candidate is also the one you most agree with and then you have an easier choice, but just hypothetically (or really in my case) would you hire a person to be the CEO of a company who has lots of experience but will run the company completely different than the way you want? Or would you hire a younger less experienced candidate who says he plans on running the company your way? I personally would take the risk and choose the latter.

2. Morals. This is the most important of my points and needs the most feedback. This has three sub-points that I’m filtering through.

First. Biblically speaking we know how God feels about abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage and other moral issues. Does this mean that it is the job of the government to enforce these things? Maybe so, maybe not. That in and of itself can be a long-winded argument with no clear winner. That argument interests me very much, but I don’t want to enter into it here for the sake of brevity. Let’s just take the position of yes, it is government’s job to enforce these moral standards. I’m taking this opinion here not necessarily because I agree with it but because in this scenario the morality of the candidate becomes even more important. Even if we should elect a president who will enforce the same values as us, this consideration should be cancelled out based on the fact that the president has no authority over these issues at the state level. Abortion: At best, a president can reverse or influence a reverse of Roe vs. Wade and then the states would make their own laws on the subject, meaning that a teenager who wants an abortion will still get one by crossing the border regardless of who is in office. President Bush is also against abortion and there are plenty of abortion clinics right here in Miami. Gay rights will most definitely be decided at the state level. Stem cell research does get Federal funding and so does Planned Parenthood. This does seem to influence my decision some. The president also has the power to appoint Supreme Court judges, which have some authority on these issues.

Two. Does the morality of the nation actually change by who is in charge? I guess there is some good in this by keeping us from spiraling down in evil and corruption, but everyone’s heart is still just as dirty. The spiritual condition of the people is still the same, we are just trying to protect the innocent from the evil, which by looking at the previous point is not in the president’s authority anyway. Is it possible for a person who is not born again to identify with certain Christian viewpoints? I don’t think they can. The Bible describes those who don’t know Christ as being captive by the devil, (2 Tim 2:26), spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), they see Godly things as foolishness (1 Cor. 1), why then are we surprised that when we try to force our view on them, they see us as closed minded and hateful? The Bible tells us they are going to react in this manner. When God said “I will write my law into their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10) He was talking about His people only, not unbelievers. Our morality is inherently different from theirs and it is not their fault. If we humble ourselves a little bit, we will remember that we were lost once.
Three. As my friend Abiel has pointed out, does not the moral values of a man provide a foundation where further decisions will be made? This is quite interesting. I would say yes. Without getting into specifics, I would say both candidates lack the moral standard I seek in a president and it is unfortunate we are left with only two options.

thoughts on politics - part 3

This is more of Alex's politics paper....
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3. Economy. This is extremely complicated. Here are the pros and cons I see. In the Republican system there are too many benefits for big businesses and not enough for the blue collar worker. Not to sound childish but it is basically the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We have been eliminating the middle class for some time now. In this system businesses have been laying off their American workforce and hired overseas employees for half the rate.

The Democratic system has bad downfalls as well. Unions can run the country in a dangerous direction. The welfare system is abused and seems to be enabling many people to produce absolutely nothing while collecting checks. Sure it legitimately helps some but I don’t think this is the norm.
The war is definitely a big factor in this that sways my opinion beyond these analyses.

4. Healthcare. Sorry to be so opinionated on this one but I am certain I am right on this. Healthcare will NOT work in a free market. I am not a socialist, I am actually a registered Republican, but this is logically flawed. The “invisible hand” concept envisioned by Adam Smith has made capitalism the best market system in the world for almost any product with the exception of healthcare. In a free market, supply and demand with competition between the suppliers control the system. Profitability drives suppliers to change the quality of their product, their prices, their efficiency in order to succeed. This usually works for the benefit of the buyers by providing an affordable, quality product, but in the case of healthcare it is the very FLAW in the system. Insurance companies can out-profit one another not by proving better service, but by avoiding the unhealthy, high-risk people who need it the most, by spending huge amounts of their budgets on lawyers to avoid paying out and by negotiating down the prices of service with doctors, which results in lists of doctors you can see and doctors you can’t. Universal healthcare is not perfect, but it is far better.

5. The War. I am tired of being the police of the world and the world is also very tired of us assuming this responsibility. Even if you disagree with this point, I think we can agree that we should take care of problems at home first before fixing them in other places. Borrowing 10 billion dollars a month that we don’t have to help democratize a nation that has a 72 billion dollar surplus and many of its citizens don’t particularly want Westernization does not seem smart.

6. Foreign Policy. I believe speaking to other nations is good, even our enemies in a diplomatic way. I agree that we shouldn’t “legitimize” terrorist organizations with our presence, but flat out ignoring them doesn’t seem to be ideal either. I believe we should try to do more of our “policing” in union with the other nations of the world and not think we are above them which is the perception we are certainly giving.

As we choose one of these two candidates compromises will be made. If we were to build the perfect Biblical candidate issue by issue we would end up with Jesus, who will be our King eventually. In the meantime we are left with compromises.
Okay, I’m done. Thank you so much for reading this. Please reply with your thoughts. I promise I will not be offended by anything. Love.

God takes care

It is so cool how God takes care of the little things in this lives of His children. I can't recall whether I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Alex has been working every single day for the past two weeks. He's been shooting on weekends and then trying to work on photos, oversee the patio work, and manage the school during the week. He has only been able to get to the school 3 times in the past two weeks. He's exhausted.

In addition, he was selected by Big Folio for a feature. Big Folio is a company that designs website templates and and a slew of other services for wedding photographers. Some of the biggest name photographers use them to host their websites, as does Alex. Anyway, periodically, they select a photographer and film a video about how the photographer uses Big Folio tools to maximize their workflow. So the videographer was scheduled to come on Wednesday (yesterday). On Tuesday night, Alex was stressing badly b/c he had been so busy that he hadn't even been able to think about what to say for the video shoot.

So within the first 10 minutes of getting together, Alex learns that the guy is a Christian. What a blessing - God knew exactly how to put Alex at ease. The chances of this were SLIM. The guy is from Seattle, just FYI - Seattle and Miami are the 2 most un-churched cities in the US (Seattle #1, Miami #2). It came up b/c Alex was asking what else he films - and he mentioned that the vast majority of his work is shooting Christian Snowboarders in the NW. So they had a great day - shooting footage of Alex demonstrating how he uses Big Folio tools at home on his computer while doing post-production on weddings. Later, he filmed Alex doing a photo session with a couple - we recruited our good friends Lauren and Brian from church - they were great models.

The next thing that God did to take care of Alex: after dropping the videographer off at his hotel, Alex started stressing about all that needed to be done today - mostly that he HAD to get to the school, but he also couldn't leave the workers unsupervised. So, this morning, it was super-cloudy and kind of rainy and the main guy calls and says that they think it would be best not to work today since they are laying tile in an uncovered area. It was such a load off of Alex.

It's so cool how God cares about the little things in our lives. He really wants the best for His children.

best post EVER

That's right. WE'RE PREGNANT! Praise God!

Please excuse the fact that I'm all puffy-faced - it was early in the morning and we had both been crying. We took the home test on July 4 and had it confirmed on Monday by our fertility doctor who did my blood work every 48 hours last week. My numbers look really really good, more than doubling every time. The nurse said they look perfect for a natural conception (which this was).

I know that it is really early to be telling people. But we have every bit of faith that God has brought us through the hardest time already just getting here. This is our faith-baby! Also, we told a few people at church and then it got out pretty fast, so today at church we told pretty much everyone else.

The baby will be due between March 14 and 17. The OB we saw says the 17th and the midwife that we interviewed says March 14. Whatever, babies are hardly ever born on their actual due date.

We are SO excited!

Hello - so I'm sorry that I haven't blogged this week. This week has been busy, not bad or good, just busy. Work has been good but stressful. We're in the middle of tough negotiations with some of our larger contracts - these are the times when I get to really practice management and business tactics. It's good, but I'm trying to soak up new skills from my peers and also apply what I know. BTW, I totally recognize that this little bit wasn't very interesting. Alex swears that it takes months of ongoing conversation before anyone begins to kind of figure out what I do for a living.

So, this week: Alex just got a new extra-wide lens to go with his new Nikon D3. He actually just took a picture of me writing this blog. I'll post his play-time shots later.

I don't really know if any of you also read our photography blog. If you recall, we hired April Greer in Seattle to take photos of us. I blogged about those shots today on that site. Mostly b/c we are trying to get some help deciding which pictures of us we should put up on the blog.

So we NEED YOUR HELP. Below you will find four of our favorite photos that feature the two of us. We would replace the pictures of us that are currently on the blog with one of these. You, our readers, need to VOTE AND TELL US WHICH ONES TO USE IN THE BLOG.

NUMBER 1


NUMBER 2


NUMBER 3


NUMBER 4


These are some of our other favorites: Look how handsome my hubby is! She captured his playfulness but also the fact that he is really a deep thinking intellectual (which he is!)

Happy Anniversary to my Hubby!

I am continually thankful for being blessed with Alex. Today is our third anniversary! And while it seems that so much has changed in the last three years there is also so much that hasn't changed. The constant throughout the years is that he is my best friend. Our friendship has such depth that stays fresh and new time and again.

I love those moments when we are watching TV and one or both of us begins to sniffle and we realize that we're both teary eyed from something stupid, and we both laugh at each other - like that Humane Society Commercial with the dog that looked like Miles. I love you so much for the great, big heart that you have!

Thank you, Alex, for challenging me in so many areas in my life. You challenge me in my faith, my logic and decision making. You help me to be a better person and definitely a better Christian and wife. You are teaching me to challenge my own thoughts and understand where they come from. This makes me a better wife, because sometimes, I get to take that skill and use it on you when I recognize that you need to think deeper about a particular thing. This balance that we have to challenge each other and keep one another accountable is so valuable!

You are a complex person! I still believe that you are most unique in that you are so talented artistically and creatively - but then also so extremely 'left-brained' as well - always needing to learn more and grow intellectually. I truly hope that I help you and challenge you as you do for me.

I am so excited to see what God has in store for our lives! I love you so much!

Wifey.

Alaska Pictures

Click on this link to see a slideshow of our vacation pictures.

ENJOY!

Where to begin?

I have SO many different things to talk about from our vacation that I honestly have NO idea where to begin. I will definitely be posting pictures - probably in a slideshow - sometime this week. But that will take a little bit of time.

Here are some highlights:

1) Seattle rocks - seriously, we loved the place. The first weekend we were there we hung out with some photographer friends. Which was cool b/c they took us to some places we definitely would not have seen otherwise. They are Gerald and Airika Pope - check out their site. The Sunday that we returned we did our photo shoot w/ April Greer. Again, we got to see untraditional locales in Seattle and just had an all around amazing time. She has posted the very first shot from our session on her blog.

2) Alaska is beautiful. It reflects God's majesty at every turn.

3) Alex and I were consistently in the wrong place at the wrong times to see wildlife. Here's what we saw: Bald Eagles (cool, definitely), a porcupine (also cool, in its own prickly-rodent way).....that's about it. Here's what other people saw: pods of killer whales, sperm whales, seals, sea lions. Way cooler than porcupines.

4) We took a helicopter ride into the glaciers in Skagway - probably a key highlight of the trip. The ride was really fun - and seeing mountains from above like that is just awe-inspiring. additionally, I definitely didn't grasp the size of the glaciers until they landed the helicopters and they were towering above us.

5) We spent HOURS in the boat's 'Thermal Suite' - a part of the spa that was full of all kinds of whirlpools, hot tubs, heated beds, steam rooms, etc. The Suite had an awesome view from the front of the ship - so you could lay there on lounge chairs and read and watch everything go by - it was very relaxing.

6) Before the trip, I questioned myself at time that I might be overpacking or that I was being overly cautious in packing a heavy winter coat - I was not off-base. It was really cold (in the 30s and 40s). I have to thank Dominique and Ann Marie for lending me their warm clothes for layering - I would have been at a total loss without your clothes. You have no idea.

Ok, that's it for now. Today I'm trying to get started on laundry, dog-washing and re-stocking the fridge to eat healthy foods again. Don't worry, that definitely was not everything that I have to say about the trip!

Shaleen.

Coming soon....ALASKA

I am beside myself with excitement about our upcoming vacation. As usual, the week prior to a vacation is super stressful with trying to get ahead with work and also trying to run all of the obligatory errands that are related to the trip. I usually spend upwards of 60% of my work-week in meetings - but this week is packed with extra meetings. Additionally, the week I return is when our Board packet would have to go out - which means that I have to prep my materials way ahead of time in the little time that I have available outside of meetings. Oh well - just three more days.

So one of the other extremely cool things is that while we are in Seattle, Alex and I have hired a photographer to do a session with us. It will be a lot like an engagement session except that we aren't engaged. This is partially for us - because we hated our wedding pictures (go figure) - and also b/c we need some good professional work for use on Candidly Elegant's blog.

So we've hired April Greer - she's a really funky chick who shoots weddings in Seattle (and around the world). Her work is awesome and we are SO excited about working with her. You KNOW that I'll blog about our session when we get the pictures.

Before & After - Miles

I think it was Wednesday or Thursday that Alex called me to say that there was a surprise waiting for me at home.

What was the surprise?? It wasn't flowers. It wasn't a gift. It wasn't even a clean house. No, my surprise was that Alex had taken Miles to get shaved. He was fed up with the shedding.

Miles was so pretty.....



Now, I feel like there is a new dog in the house. I miss my old Miles. This one is just ridiculous-looking.