Archive - October, 2011

Brooklyn Olivia Klingen

October 26, 2011 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Image 1

My heart is so full!

I am in complete awe of God’s gift to us – our daughter.

 

One week ago today, we were in the hospital anxiously awaiting the Pitocin dripping into my IV to do it’s thing and help bring our baby girl into the world! Wow. I know time passes quickly for everyone as you get older but it feels like we were in the hospital two days ago just getting to see her for the first time and learning what newborns do!

Labor and delivery of Brooklyn was as smooth as could be and was an amazing time in the hospital for us. Being induced wasn’t that bad and the nursing staff was amazing – Lakeview does one-to-one so we had one nurse with us the whole time (until her shift change just before Brooklyn was born) – AH.MAZ.ING. Renee was our nurses name and I could not have picked a better nurse/support for Keith & I during this time. We were pretty prepared – read a few books and knew a lot from my work at the pregnancy center in NJ. But Renee was a huge blessing – like a doula she offered so many different options and was so in tune with helping me labor the way I desired.

The timline of Brooklyn’s birth day was:

After a night of restless “sleep,” I got up at 430am to pray and do a little Bible study and spending time with the One who has orchestrated this all! It was super early but I couldn’t sleep and couldn’t think of a better thing to do before the huge impending life change!

630am – Call the hospital just to be sure they knew we were on our way as we were already on their schedule

7am – Packed the car and headed to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater! We still hadn’t settled on a middle name for her and were discussing that on the way – I had prayed God would bring to mind a name that had significant meaning for her being God’s gift to us after such a rough season last year (more on the name in another post!) So we decided in the car, on the way to the hospital! :)

8am – Settled into our room and was hooked up to the IV, vitals, monitors, etc. Big room and pretty comfortable for us! About an hour later, they began the Pitocin and we waited. Contractions began and we just hung out in the room… an hour later we went walking through the birth center halls. They up’ed the Pitocin every 10 -15 mins.

12pm – Our Dr. came in to break my water … from then on labor got pretty intense but was pretty neat to see how the body responds and goes through the process!

315pm – Contractions were VERY intense and I wasn’t quite ready to start pushing so we decided that I should get an epidural since it’d be another couple hours probably before my body was ready to begin the delivery process. I had the perfect epidural – besides a rough spot with the anthesiologiest – it was perfect. I was 8cm dilated when I got it and it numbed what needed to be numbed, but I had almost full use/control of my legs which was huge for me!

530pm – Contractions and Brooklyn beginning to make her appearance called for pushing to begin! I was feeling great and we were having a grand ole’ time with the nurse and our Dr. (LOVE OUR DR!)

615pm – After only pushing for less than an hour, Brooklyn arrived! It was a very cool experience, very surreal when she was born and cleaned up and we enjoyed the whole process. I wouldn’t change a thing… I had tried to do it all naturally but knew it was time when I got an epidural and that allowed us to really enjoy her birth.

She’s as healthy as can be and we’re loving EVERY single minute with her! We brought her home from the hospital on Friday afternoon. Our days in the hospital were fun, only a few visitors and just a fun time soaking up the beginning of her life here with us!

Her first weekend home we had a very close friends of ours come visit and we so enjoyed just laying low with them – relaxing, catching up and feeling like real adults as we both have babies now! Brooklyn is a super content baby – eating and sleeping well… even with the past two days of “cluster feedings” at night, we are getting a good amount of rest and love being her parents!

As we were preparing to leave the hospital on Friday, Keith held her in his arms and told her, “We’re going to take care of you.” Seems like a simple phrase but it was such a sweet, sweet moment. It is true, we are going to take care of her but there was so much more in that moment… a promise between a Father and his daughter, a gift of love from Keith to Brooklyn and a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father holds and promises us the same. Ah, I am in such complete awe of God for giving us Brooklyn. I’ll save some of that verbiage for another post along with an explanation of her name. But she is truly the GREATEST gift we could have every possibly imagined God would give to us after such a rough season last fall and even into the beginning of this year – for our family, our time of life, our marriage, etc. She’s SUCH a gift, an unexpected, joyfully received gift.

Were working on setting up our family photo gallery and will let you know when it’s complete so you can see more pictures of the beginning of Brooklyn’s life and keep up with us throughout the coming months and years! Both of our parents will be in town over the next two weeks and posts may be intermittent for a while on here! But know that I hope you ENJOI TODAY and make the most of every minute!

Smile, laugh, make someone else’s day with a pick-me-up and love on those who are around you!

 

-SCK

 

 

 

Things You Should Make

October 16, 2011 in Tasty Bites, Uncategorized with 3 Comments

Image

 

Here’s a few of the things that have been cooked, baked & made in this household the past few weeks:

–

PUMPKIN SPICE COOKIES


DELICIOUS!!

I wasn’t sure about these as the recipe just came from an online search I did but, HOLY PUMPKIN GOODNESS! Just the perfect amount of sugar and spice! The drizzled glaze frosting makes the whole cookie. They’re a bit more like a “cake cookie” – of which someone needs to come up with a name for – they’re super soft and melt in your mouth!

–

APPLE SAUCE

With an abundance of apples on my hands and with a hubby who could eat apple sauce for every meal, I decided to jump into autumn cooking with homemade apple sauce! Each batch turns out a bit different but perfectly scrumptious! Just be sure not to over-blend as it can quickly become the consistency of baby food.

–

APPLE-RHUBARB BREAD

I first made this bread back in the summer when our CSA boxes were full of fresh rhubarb. Last week, I re-organized our freezer to accommodate a load of Ohama Steaks we received as a gift from K’s Dad (we’re convinced it’s their insurance that there will be food to eat while they’re here visiting in a few weeks!) and wanted to use up some of the frozen rhubarb I had left-over… so I made a few loaves of this sweetly-tart bread and plan to take to the hospital for the nurses when the baby comes!

–

T-SHIRT QUILT

Last year, I begged Keith to allow me to go through his old t-shirts that he still wore but were very worn out or had holes in them! Reluctantly he agreed (after a few months)… I told him i would keep them but I’d turn them into a blanket. The boy LOVES blankets on cool days so I figured it was a win-win. I wouldn’t have to see him in a 1994 t-shirt with a picture of the first PC ever and he’d get another cozy blanket in our collection!

Well, it only took me a year and a half to get done (the initial excitement wore off and our fall got a little crazy last year…) but it was on my list to complete before the baby’s born. So last week, while K was studying and in class – I DID IT! It’s done! WOOHOO! I’m happy with it overall, though it’s not as wide as I’d like, but he’s used it every night since I completed it so I suppose that’s a good sign!

—

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend and baking up some Autumnal Goodness in your kitchen! Not only do goodies fill the belly and bring smiles to others’, but they make your home smell wondrously nice.

“October, here’s to you. Here’s to the heady aroma of the frost-kissed apples, the winey spell of ripened grapes, the wild-as-the-wind smell of hickory nuts and the nostalgic whiff of that first wood smoke.”

– Ken Weber

 

Enjoi Today!

-SCK

 

Pieces of Me

October 13, 2011 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

There’s a lot of pieces of me you could say… my husband says that makes me confusing… I think all husbands think that about their wives! However, I think I make perfect sense… even contradictions can make sense to me when it comes to food cravings or “hating to pack but love to travel!” I get it, I know how God made me, I know how I think, I know what makes sense… to me!

One of the most influential experiences in coming to understand who I am and how God made me was during the summer after my first year in college. At the time, I was at The King’s College in NYC. I absolutely fell in love with the city the first week I was there! All the cultures, the food, the life style, the people (minus the tourists, anyone who lives there can give me an AMEN! on that one). Despite loving the city, God led me to finish my college degree elsewhere – in Minnesota – I know, I know, you’re thinking (like everyone else did at the time) “Why would you leave NYC for MN?!” I can’t tell you but God led and I followed and it turned out to be an amazing two years there!

Anyways – during that summer, I spent a few weeks doing a type of “self-discovery” project, if you will. No… I wasn’t out in the wilderness looking up at the trees or going through tons of tests to see what major I should choose… It was neat project, one that, to this day, I think every college freshmen should take part in. I never got to complete it fully as I moved but the most important part was complete and the original results have a home in my Bible, between the pages of Jeremiah 29:11.

I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly the project consisted of so let me tell you! I was given 4 or 5 different pads of sticky notes, all different colors. On one, I was to write things that people have said to me that impacted me… on another, things I liked to do… another, events in my life that I think have impacted me… another, I can’t remember each area but it was assigned. And I still have them all!

After taking two weeks to really focus on this and write tons of random things throughout my life on the note pads, I took them with me to meet with the two college staff members – the dean of student affairs and another member of that department. They took out all my notes and started reading them, asking me to explain some… and putting each up on the wall with others that fit a common category.  The goal was to have a list of about 10 things (in order of significance) that make up “who you are” based on the groups each item fits into. It was crazy how much it all made sense when all my items were grouped and we sat down to define the categories. Mine are below and perhaps the BEST look into who I am, who God’s made me, what inspires me, moves me and makes me feel alive!

1 Community
structure, loyalty, relationships

 

2 Adventure
spontaneity, flexibility, travel, change

 

3 Coordination
design, planning, events

 

4 Authority
role models, taking & submitting

 

5 Hospitality
having people over

 

6 Creativity
music, lyrics, photos, decorating

 

7 “the little things”
observation, people, thoughtfulness, watching

 

8 Fun
laughter, spontaneity

 

9 Family

 

Family is at the bottom of my list, but doesn’t mean that it’s the least important, it means that those 9 things are THE MOST IMPORTANT components of my life. The things that make me tick, give my life meaning and allow me to thrive; how God’s chosen to make me delight in Him and His creation. Even just re-reading the list every now and then (ok, every week!) makes me excited and thankful to be who I am.

And it gives me insight when I feel as though something is missing. I can usually pinpoint it because these are things that need to be a part of my life day-to-day, year-to-year! The song, “This is Home” by Switchfoot may describe best how I feel when I read this list and when I have each component of this list in my daily life!

What do you think your components are?

___

Baby update: Since we’re receiving so many texts, calls and emails about the baby not having arrived yet, I thought I’d update you… We appreciate the encouragement, concern and love that is behind every question or comment but the simple answer is we are waiting and I’m still feeling great.  The date and time of our baby girl’s arrival will be exactly as God has set it to be. His timing is ALWAYS perfect. She’s not late according to His clock or ours since we have seen the testimony of His perfect plans. We don’t know the time or day to tell you, but we wait in content anticipation!

—

Enjoi Today!

-SCK

be.

October 12, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

be

 

 

 

Enjoi Today!

Autumnal Gladness

October 9, 2011 in Capture, Uncategorized, Weekend Adventures with 2 Comments

Image

–

Autumn in MN is a beautiful time! This year, while the trees have changed and it’s been a glorious time of the dancing colors as the wind blows the changing leaves about, it’s also been dry and so windy that the colors are almost gone here. Peak was last week around here. I’m so fortunate to live on one of the little lakes in this area, surrounded by trees and plants that change and make this time of year so amazing. I was reminded of this blessing by a friend who lives in a large apartment building and daily activities don’t allow her to see much of the fall beauty around. What a huge gift it is for me to live where the views can be breathtaking, my drive home (while rather lumpy from speed bumps every 3 feet) winds through the tree-lined campus and the seasons are so vivid out my window! Thank you Jesus for this gift – He knows it makes my heart swell!

Autumn from our corner of the world…

All of these photos were taken on the Bethel campus, our home! The last photo is “the path” (as it’s affectionately known) which K walks to get to class everyday. It’s also known as the “4-minute commute” – best part of the walk now is the crunching of the leaves under your feet! A for sure way to know you’re in the middle of autumn.

—

Yesterday was Homecoming at my Alma Mater – Northwestern College. A beautiful day, albeit a bit hot for almost mid-October in MN. We enjoyed spending the afternoon at the field with my sister’s family (also alumni) and seeing many familiar faces among the crowd. College football games are another one of those things that makes my happiness soar. I most enjoy the excitement from the team, the never-failing belief from the fans in their team and the sea of school colors. Northwestern’s football games are unique… from the coaches now, humility and teamwork are prized. There’s not much self-celebration (as I deem it) that you see in many teams when touchdowns are made, passes caught or opponents blocked. Do they celebrate- for sure! But it’s about the team making it happen. There is usually always a clear difference between NWC’s team and the opponent in this manner – yesterday was no different. NWC may not have won, but they play with sportsmanship like no other.

My absolute favorite part of an NWC game is what we call, Fifth Quarter. It’s a time after the game where the team, coaches and fans gather in a huddle on the field. Coach Talley (head coach) talks about the game, but not just the way they played or whether they won or lost – he speaks from a place of humility – if he had a bad attitude during a particular quarter, he admits it, he apologizes when he sees fit. Other coaches speak, then team members get a chance to share. Win or lose, a song of praise and victory (Above All Else) is sung at the end of Fifth Quarter after all NWC football games. Always an awesome time of encouragement, praising God and sharing spiritual lessons learned. I’m so glad we were able to be a part of it again yesterday!

—

We’re still awaitin’ for little baby girl to arrive! Yesterday was her “due date” but alas she’s not here! I’m still amazed that God knows her birthday and while everyone around me keeps asking “how do you feel?” and “when’s she coming?” – I’m quite content to wait until God’s deemed it to be! She’ll come in His perfect timing and there is simply no better plan! But wow, I’m excited!

Last night Netflix was down for a while, so K and I played Scrabble (I think my best score ever!) then I worked on organizing/cleaning the kitchen area a bit. Sounds boring, but K was helping and I was gut-laughing the entire time! It was 11:30pm and I was bent over laughing so hard the tears were flowing! There’s a list I made of things I wanted to get done before baby arrives but I had kind of thrown it by the wayside, until last night  – needless to say I went to bed feeling very accomplished!

Hope you have an amazing Sunday! Spend sometime outside if you can!

Love & Hugs,

SCK

Page 1 of 212»