Becky's POV-Year's End

I sat down to post a new entry into our family blog last night, spurred by a friend's casual remark that we had "not kept up on it", an assessment which I could in no way rebut with any reasonable argument. So, I began systematically tippity tapping my way through each member of the family, giving a single paragraph summary of the events of 2007, as they pertained to the individual in question. As I scrolled back up to the top of my efforts, I read through this family update, and slowly found my mind wandering, and were it not for a decent dosage of caffeine in my system, I am sure my head would have slowly drooped until my nose was endlessly typing a string of whatever letter it landed on when my blog entry had finally lulled me to sleep. Something was obviously wrong here. These people in my writing were my children and husband...one would think I could manage to write something about them with a small measure of, well, anything! Passion, color, warmth...even frustration would have been more engaging to read than the laundry list I had created. So, with a "select all" and a quick stroke of "delete", I returned to square one. So, here I go again, with an attempt to reflect upon our past year that is worth the trouble to read.

For many years now, Scott has subtly encouraged me to put together a "Christmas Letter" to send with our Christmas cards, since we have so many friends in the four corners of the country who don't hear from us regularly. I have always been resistant to the idea, mainly because of the situation I was describing above. Every time I try to draft one of these letters, it always turns out to be this bland, flour and water flavored march through how old our kids are, where we live, why we moved (again), sprinkled with an occasional cliche of holiday wishes to the readers. Some people manage to write absolutely charming Christmas Letters that make you feel like you are sitting on their couch, watching the flames crackle in their fireplace while you sip hot cocoa. I haven't been able to replicate that, and don't think my personality lends itself particularly well to that brand of letter, but I'm taking another stab at things, and we'll see what I end up with. There's always that delete button!

So, on with the details. I am increasingly aware of how time seems to accelerate as we age, and as I watch my 3 boys grow and change into what seems like completely different human beings every three months or so. Homeschooling Riley has given me a close up view of this phenomenon, as I have my fingers wrapped up in every aspect of his daily living. As you can imagine, this offers many opportunities for fascinating triumphs as well as tear-your-hair-out frustration for both of us, but in the end, I can see the homeschooling lifestyle bearing fruit that I would not trade for any amount of free time. Once these years of having young children fly by, I am sure I will have plenty of time to catch up on whatever exploits strike me. Riley has no limit to his desire to soak up and order information in his little seven year old brain, and may very well be the only 7 year old boy in a 30 mile radius who can't bear to skip his handwriting practice! Overall, he is doing a great job with everything, from Latin, to ancient history, to math and all that comes in between.

If ever I can find a fountain of extra energy, I will be filling up gallon jugs there in order to keep up with Gabriel. He has made it no secret that he has a plan for how the life of a three year old should progress, and if an obstacle stands in his path, he will try with unstoppable determination to clear it away. I am certain his intensity and tenacity will serve him very well in the future, but for now, Scott and I are faced with the challenge of harnessing it, which has proven to be very much like the "breaking" scene in the animated movie "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron". Fortunately, he has also been dubbed "So stinkin' cute" by many who see him in one of his boisterously enthusiastic moods, so we are able to appreciate the sweet side of his personality as well, when he decides it is time to display it.

And then, on the opposite side of the sibling coin, you will find little Benjamin. For all of Gabriel's intensity, Benjamin offers an equal measure of smiling malleability. He has proven over this past year to truly have a talent for going with the flow. He has been a consistently healthy baby, barring a scare we had when he was two weeks old, where he was hospitalized for an enigmatic fever. I pray I never have to survive any child of mine receiving a spinal tap ever again! (Though he was a little less than patient with that process than normal, as he eventually made a messy disaster of the doctor's work area, as only a little baby knows how! At least the procedure ruled out meningitis.) In the interest of brevity, I will tell you that after four days of hospitalization and more tests that I can count, he turned out to have a urinary tract infection, which required an unnervingly strong dose of antibiotics to knock out. But, with all that behind us, he has grown over these past 10 months to be a joy and a blessing.

Of course, Scott has been faced with the challenge of wearing a myriad of different hats this past year. If I may venture a guess at his favorite, that would be the "Dad" hat, and with three little boys running around, he has his hands continually full in that aspect. I can't help but laugh to myself each day that the front door opens, and Riley and Gabriel shout "Dad!" and fly to bowl him over in the doorway. Even Benjamin gasps a noisy inhale and crawls as fast as his little hands and knees can go to join into the greeting. As a mom, I am resigned to the fact that there are some games Scott was meant to play with the boys that I will never understand. They always look like torture to me, but yet those little squealing boys endlessly come back for more.

Aside from rough housing and acting like a lunatic with the kids, Scott also had a chance to flex his performer muscles this past fall, participating in a local production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue "A Grand Night for Singing", which was obviously great fun for him. There is always a sparkle in a person's eye that you can see when they are doing something they love. Despite the stress of the rehearsal schedules in a show season, I am always confident of Scott's priorities as our family goes, so occasionally saying yes to his taking on a performer's schedule is okay with me. (But for all our sanity's sake, I do mean occasionally!) He will also have a chance to perform with some of the members of that cast for a holiday event here in Pottstown during December, as well as in a cabaret night.

Scott's professional life, though undeniably busy, has been going well, as he has continued in his work with Right Management over the past year. Working in support of the sales team there has added plenty of valuable skills to his "tool kit".

As for me, I guess you have been getting a piecemeal picture of my life as I have unfolded the doings of the others in my family. Outside of the exploits that intertwine me with the others, I have been endeavoring to make a little artwork here and there. My current projects consist of relief sculpted wall plaques for children's rooms, though we are still feeling out the right venue in which to sell these. Their creation is too time consuming to price them as an inexpensive craft item that someone might buy on a whim, but they are too "cute" to fit the fine art mold, so this will obviously take some massaging to get right. But as is typical for me, I tend to assume there is something dreadfully wrong with what I have made, rather than being able to be even keel about things and make subtle adjustments to encourage better sales and "bottom line". It is certainly an area for artistic growth for me, and working in a new medium has been interesting, despite whether the pieces generate income.

Well, if you have made it this far into my characteristically long post, I thank you for sticking with me! I hope all of our friends and family experience the joy and peace that should be the center of the Christmas season. We all send our love, and would, as always, be glad to hear any news from your families. God Bless!

Benjamin Robert Minor is born!

Hello friends and family,

Many of you have seen the pictures. For those of you who haven't you can see them at the following link:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vkcepzv.2hgbuhx7&x=1&y=-wyz38g

For those of you who are dying to hear the story, here are the details of how Benjamin was born. For those of you who aren't, please skip to the next paragraph. First of all, he was three days late, just like his oldest brother Riley. Becky started feeling contractions around 4:30am and started tracking them around 6am. By around noon they had increased to around 4 minutes apart and so we whisked the kids off to aunt Kathy's to wait out the long haul. We dawdled there until around 1:15pm. By this time, her contractions required my support... ie., a 20 second embrace, a hand and a shoulder to squeeze. We checked in to the hospital at around 1:30 and Benjamin was born an hour and 20 minutes later at 2:51pm.

VITAL STATS:

Weight: 8lbs, 5oz

Length: 19.5 inches

with lots of dark hair.

After being admitted, the nurses seemed to be in no hurry to pay attention to Becky and were only commiting to put her on the monitors, to return in 30 minutes and check on her progress. It seems Becky was being too polite and good humoured for them to suspect she was anywhere near ready to deliver. Not content to wait 30 minutes, Becky sent me to ask about pain relief options. The nurse dismissed me again, saying she'd check Becky in about 10 minutes. In the nurses' defense, Becky had been tracking at 2 centimeters for the last two and a half weeks, and there had been no change as of Tuesday. After increasing the volume level of her vocal response to her contractions, the nurse came in early to do her first exam. As it turned out, Becky was 8 centimeters and it was too late for an epidural. The alarums were sounded, the OB was called and suddenly the room was full of nurses. It couldn't have been 10 minutes before Becky was fully dilated and the scrambling increased to a ramming speed. Becky was ready to push and the OB wasn't there yet! The nurses called for her again. Fortunately, the OB showed up shortly after in her street clothes and quickly slipped on her scrubs. Bada bing, bada bang... the baby's crying and the labor is over. Becky, though obviously in pain, was not exhausted at all. Shortly after a meds-free labor and delivery, she was back in good spirits again. She is such a soldier!

Well, Benjamin is beautiful. He is a bit bruised in the face from such a fast delivery, but that's fading quickly. Both Mom and Benjamin were in perfect form throughout the stay in the hospital. Benjamin appears to look considerably different from his two older brothers, who's birth pictures were practically identical. Both Riley and Gabriel are very excited to have a new brother.

It's times like this that connections are made again with past friends and family. We'd love to hear from you all. If you have a moment to send us a message, you can reach us via email at:

scott@developingstages.com

or

becky@magneticmurals.com

God bless you all and thank you for your love and support.

Scott, Becky, Riley, Gabriel & Benjamin

Starting over again... Over again

Whew... Life is flying by at Lightning McQueen speed! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a tide can turn. On June 2nd, I resolved to make it work in Bisbee, and set out to do so. Today, just 5 weeks later, we have moved to Pennsylvania! We're confident that there's a much greater opportunity here to build the life we envision for ourselves.

Becky flew out with Gabriel on June 27th while Riley and I drove the 26" U-Haul truck across the country with all of our stuff. It was a great time, just me and Riley driving out of the desert, through the Great Plains and the Midwest along Route 66, and finally into Pennsylvania. Without a lick of bad weather, we arrived in time for dinner on Sunday, July 2nd.

Jobs are plentiful here and I'm confident that I'll have a well paying job very soon. Staying with Kathy and Dave and their kids is working out well. The boys are all enjoying playing together every day and it's great to be able to get together with family and all the cousins living in this part of the state. We're looking forward to this move being our last major move in the foreseeable future, save for moving out of Dave & Kathy's when we find our own place to settle.

Becky and I appreciate the support and prayers of everyone who's invested in us and cared for us over the years we've spent in CT, CA, & AZ. Though we plan to quit traveling the country, many adventures are still ahead of us. We hope you will keep in touch and maybe post a comment once in a while. You'll always be able to visit us here!

God bless you all.

Scott & Becky

Life in Arizona

Dear friends,

Welcome to my "blog". I will use this site as a personal, but public diary of what is happening in our lives. Please come back every once in a while to check on us!

Since moving to Bisbee, God has been faithful, though our time has not been without trials. I am no longer affiliated with the theater that we came here for. Despite the risk inherent with any start-up venture, we knew the Lord was leading, and we were obedient. We worked hard for six months, but amicably parted ways at the beginning of May. It still remains very clear that the Lord brought us to Bisbee... the question now is, for what purpose?

Well... we have been attending the First Baptist Church of Bisbee pretty much since day one. It's a smaller church, very nearby, with fewer resources than we'd become accustomed to at VCC, yet many opportunities to be involved. In fact, Becky assumed the position of Nursery Director a couple months ago. Becky is making the nursery a safe, healthy and inviting place where parents can feel at ease leaving their young ones.

I am presently looking for full-time work with many irons in the fire. Some are ministry opportunities, some are teaching positions, others are arts related. Decisions will have to be made over the next couple weeks so please keep us in your prayers.

God bless you all.