Mr. & Mrs.

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Schmekel

I know some of you noticed my absence the past two weeks.  Well, what better excuse can a mother have than the marriage of her youngest daughter to a most awesome young man.  We now have a son-in-law!

We traveled the 15 hour trek from Michigan to Missouri to be a part of the big day.  What I didn't anticipate was no wi-fi for most of that time.  I had full intentions of at least keeping up with my Friday Farmgirl posts, and I hoped to blog about our vacation along the way.  The best laid plans...

Give me a couple days to get back on track here, and I promise to get all caught up.  I have plenty to share, and for those of you that wondered the newspaper is holding its own so far in the garden.  A lot is going on in the yard, so there will be plenty to share.  Thanks for you patience.  :)

Our New Little Guy

Words cannot begin to convey the positive experience it has been welcoming Avery into our family. He is an amazing little guy, and I cannot imagine life without him. This has been a totally awesome experience for all of us, our entire family. You just cannot imagine the way it has brought us together.

First, let me tell you that Amie is doing wonderfully! She was a real trooper in delivery. The experience was wonderful for all of us. Pat and I were both there helping to bring him into the world. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Helping her delivery Avery was by far the best birth experience I have ever had. I felt so connected to both of them. It was a truly emotional and life changing experience for me. I actually assisted and watched as he came out. Life is SO amazing!

The poor, little guy had the cord around his neck during delivery, so he had to be taken to the nursery where he spent the next two days. It was tough having him in there and not rooming with me, but we are still praising God that he is 100% healthy. It took him a day to begin eating. I guess that's normal for babies that have had that type of experience during delivery. I've been caring for him since the beginning, and we are already bonded to each other. Is there anything better than a baby that knows you are his mommy? I don't think so!

Let me tell you how sexy it is seeing my husband in "daddy mode". This is something that we never thought we would get to experience together. What a gift! Life is different when you get to watch the person you love more than any other melt in the presence of a life shared. Oh, the power of a baby! Now, I am the only woman in a home with four other males. What a turn of events. It used to be that the women out numbered the men two to one. I have to be honest and say that I LOVE being the only lady present. It's pretty cool!

I'll post more later, but in the meantime here's a picture of our new little guy:

Is that not the cutest baby you have ever seen?I could be just a little biased...

More Waiting

Our new baby is here, praise God! Mom handled delivery wonderfully, and baby is doing fine. However, this certainly hasn't been playing out the way we had longed for. Originally, mom was going to room by herself. Baby and I were going to be in another room. Well, Avery had the cord around his neck during delivery, so his temperature was up a bit. This means that he has been in the nursery since his birth, and we've not held, fed, or changed him yet.

Don't get me wrong, I am praising God that he came out just fine and healthy. It's just tough knowing the little guy is there and not being able to do anything. What a rude welcome into the world! I'm not a fan of hospitals and "official protocol" of any sort, so this is especially challenging for me. Not to mention, I didn't give birth to him myself, and he's not officially ours...yet. So, I'm not as comfortable dealing with things as I would be under normal circumstances. How is it that he's our baby, but we can't do anything? It's very frustrating.

On the other hand, he is so darned cute! Unfortunately pictures will have to wait until I am home. I have my laptop at the hospital with Internet access through their WI-FI connection, but I have no way to upload my pictures on this computer. It looks like we will not come home before tomorrow, Thursday, so you'll just have to wait until we get settled to see his cute, little face.

Please send up a few prayers for me that I will have patience and make the right decisions in regard to his care, and pray for Amie that she will make it through this process a stronger and wiser person. Thanks, everyone.

The Details:

Avery Thomas

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

7:07 p.m.

7 pounds exactly

21 inches long

...with a nice head of dark brown hair!

All Present and Accounted For

Just a quick note to say that Amie arrived safely home last night. We are very tired but very glad we have her back home safe and sound. Maybe we can all get a good night's sleep tonight.

Stressing Out

Well, our five days of freedom may as well have been a lifetime ago for the way we are feeling now. Due to unforeseen insanity, my husband and I are sleep deprived, hungry, irritable, and just plain frustrated. I am thankful that I have a relationship with God and good girlfriends, or I would surely be one miserable lass.

Despite my prayer life, I just feel drained. You wouldn't believe what has happened over the course of less than 24 hours. First, our youngest daughter, Amie, who is a very young 18 years old, got stuck almost helpless in Georgia. Okay folks. Remember, we live in Michigan. This was her first trip on an airplane. This was her graduation gift. This was a trip to visit her favorite person in the world, her cousin. This was a nightmare.

The original ticket was purchased roundtrip through Orbitz on Northwest Airlines for about $249 with her returning on Thursday, July 10th in the afternoon. We hadn't heard from her in a while. Since she had broken her cell phone almost right after she got there, and I assumed she was having fun, I didn't worry too much about not getting an email in a while.

The first alarm was a phone call from her boyfriend at 8:00 in the morning. Do you know any 17 year olds that are up at that hour? That was alarming enough in itself. Then, he proceeded to tell me how he was worried about Amie and hadn't talked to her in four days. Okay, now she didn't contact the boyfriend either. Something is not good. There's more. Her cousin's new husband was deliberately trying to scare her, was blatantly mean to her, was forbidding her to use the phone or computer, was telling viscous lies about her, and on and on. We were alarmed.

We did manage to speak with Amie that morning. They answered the phone for me, but had been ignoring the boyfriend's calls without Amie's knowledge. I talked to Amie about what was going on, and some of it was news to her, but she was very sad and frustrated and just plain out having a very miserable time due to the cousin's husband. (Who is a serviceman in the Army by the way. Protect and Serve, buddy!)

It became the husband's objective to cut Amie off from all contact and put her on the street. Nice guy, eh? Well, we spent five hours on the phone ironing out this mess last night. It took me three hours on the phone with Orbitz to get her a new ticket, not to mention the loss of the previous ticket that would have cost over $800 to change and the purchase of a new ticket on some airline that I've never heard of, Airtran, at the cost of $300. They called the cops and had her taken out of the house and to a hotel via taxi, which they paid for. Great family, eh? Remember folks, she is very much 18 and on her own with $20 in her pocket, no transportation, and in an unfamiliar area. Just a little plug, the Hinesville PD was wonderful. They were very kind and helpful.

Currently, Amie is sitting in an airport in Savannah where she has been all day waiting for her plane to depart at 6:40PM. She has to switch planes in Atlanta, and then she will arrive in Detroit around 10:30PM. Talk about a few long days. I feel so sad for her. What a terrible experience this has been for us. I cannot imagine being in her shoes. She lost her best friend ever. She was treated like dirt, and tossed to the curb in a land that she is unfamiliar with. (Amie can get lost in her own neighborhood, folks!) Poor kid! What a great memory...

$250 on plane ticket to visit sister like cousin in Georgia

$200 spending money in your pocket

Free trip to the ocean

Being treated like dirt by your sister like cousin in Georgia and her new husband

$300 return one way ticket home to loving family

$1000 uncomfortable life experience

Arriving safe at DTW, priceless...

One Down; Two to Go

Well, the kids have started trickling back home. We got back this afternoon from picking Andrew up at Fort Custer in Battle Creek. He actually graduated from two trainings, POLA and Hazardous Materials. There was some type of mix-up that made it a bonus for him; two trainings in one with no extra fees. You have to love that! Now he will be able to advance more quickly. He just has to get his course work completed. He'll see E4 in no time.

Adrian is slated to arrive home sometime tomorrow afternoon. What a blessing it is to have a ride just "drop out of the air" for him. We have been saved from two early mornings and long travel days in a row. I think Pat and I will likely hit the pavement on two wheels in the morning. The weather is supposed to stay beautiful, so it should be perfect.

Do any of you women out there ride? I went down to Secretary of State and got my permit to get my cycle endorsement last year. I didn't ride enough and never got my license. Now, Pat is really bugging me to do it this summer. In all honesty, I really do want my endorsement. He just stresses me out about it, and we live in a VERY urban area with TONS of traffic. Talk about being thrown in with the sharks! Last year I just tooled around the neighborhood practicing stopping, going, and shifting. I just want to be proficient and confident before swimming with the big beasts. You know what I mean?

Anyway, back on track here. Thursday is our day that we pick up Amie from the airport. I am sure she will have plenty to share with us upon her return. Once we get her home, everyone that lives here will be present and accounted for.

Meanwhile, our one twin, Tammi, that lives in Indiana is coming home for a few days to visit with the little one in tow, Rocco. We don't see him often, and it takes him a little while to warm up to us since we are stranger to him than most. :-) We also got BIG news. When Pat talked to Tammi last she informed us that she is pregnant with number two child. That means that we will have seven children and five grandchildren, and we aren't even done raising kids yet! What in the world? People already look at me like I have three heads when I tell them our current family statistics. Initially, it is shocking enough to them that I am a Nana. Then, I get to tell them I have FOUR grandkids. Now I get to make that FIVE! Absolute insanity!!! BTW ~ I am a mere 37 years young!

In the Air

Today was the day that we sent our youngest daughter out on her first 'far-from-home' adventure. Amie Lynn left this morning for Georgia. This is her first trip on her own. This is her first experience with airplane travel. This is her first time out of the Midwest. Right at this very moment as I am typing this post she should be in the air.

I remember the very first time I flew. It was when I was 12 years old. I flew from Texas to Florida for a six-week visit with my grandparents. No, I didn't live in Texas. I had driven there with a family for a two-week visit there before heading to Florida. What an experience that was. I was uncomfortable then, and I am still uncomfortable with air travel to this day. Fortunately, God always places someone interesting in the seat next to me. Having a kind person to talk with really does a lot to pass the time and distract attention from fear.

Have you ever flown? Do you remember looking out the window and being above cloud-cover? Is that not one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen? I swear, it looks like you can just step right out of the plane and walk across the blanket of clouds. It's absolutely breath taking, and I really hope that she gets to experience the view for herself. She did choose a window seat, and she is flying in the daylight.

Oh, what an experience it must be for her. A young lady traveling alone across the country to visit her favorite person in the whole world, her "sister". Well, Becca really isn't her sister, but there are plenty of people who they have convinced otherwise. Becca is Amie's cousin by marriage, and they couldn't be closer. Becca just got married in April and moved to Georgia to be with her husband, Kevin, who serves in the Armed Forces. Kevin will be deploying to Iraq in a few weeks. Amie's trip to visit is our graduation gift to her. What is better than an adventure?

The Graduate

This year is a landmark year for our family. We just graduated our first home schooler! Amie Lynn Smith is our first home school graduate and youngest daughter. We are so excited to be with her as she ventures into the next chapter of her life.

Amie will be starting at Macomb Community College in the fall. She will be working toward a business degree. After she earns her Associates in Business she plans to continue her education at the Michigan School of Mayomassology.

This is a very exciting time for our family. Amie will be living at home while she pursues her continued education taking full advantage of the family support system. What a joy it is to be partners with her as she explores her interests.