It’s something that every newly wed ends up talking about sooner or later and decides or plans on when they would really like to have a baby. Some people end up waiting for a couple years while others - it’s the first thing they do.
Jodi and I had actually planned on holding off for a couple years but as life will have it - it’s happening a little sooner than we’ve planned.
We’re having a baby!!!!
We found out a bout a month ago and have tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible but you know what? It’s frigg’in hard to not tell a soul. So we’re throwing it to the wind and letting the world know.
How we found out
Jodi was curious and decided to get a pregnancy test to ease her concerns. The only thing was - we were on a small vacation with her whole family in Brooklyn, Michigan at the Michigan International Speedway. (OFF-TOPIC a sec) Wayne and Kathy (Jodi’s Parents) had bought tickets for all of us guys in the family to be trained and then placed on the racing track. Yea, we got to drive our own race cars around the track 8 times at 145 miles per hour. It was insane.
Ok now back to the story - so we were on vacation and Jodi didn’t want to just go pick up a test so she asked her sister to pick it up for her. Her sister already had a baby and it would have seemed less obvious for her to pick up a pregnancy test.
So while all the girls were out shopping her sister picked up a test and Kathy asked why Jill was getting a pregnancy test - “Are you expecting again?” she asked with somewhat of a suprise.
Jill had no idea what to say because she was really getting it for Jodi so she quickly came up with - “I don’t know, I just have to take one every month to make sure.”. Meanwhile Jodi is snickering inside at all of this.
Long story short - Jodi ended up taking the test and no magic line came up that says your pregnant. Somewhat disappointed we were also relieved. We then talked about waiting for awhile before actually trying for kids.
About 20 minutes later were getting ready to go out and we went to throw away the test when all of the sudden I look and say - “What the hell is that line doing there?”
The line means we’re pregnant - we just hadn’t waited long enough earlier to get the results. We’re really going to have a baby!
At this point Jodi is giggling like a school girl and I begin my 2 day freak out of the realness of what it means to have a baby. I’m talking the classic husband response of “MONEY”.
I was happy but to be honest - I was more concerned with the details.
Jodi and I ended up running around and telling her family and they of course were freaking out in joy. Her parents were very excited and her mom laughed about the earlier experience of her other daughter buying a pregnancy test at the store.
So I’m now going to be a dad and it hasn’t quite hit me yet. I am however reading quite a bit about the whole process and extremely happy that I am not the person having to carry it or delivering it.
None the less - we are both very excited and happy to be bringing life into the world. I’ll be updating quite a bit (hopefully) about the whole process so feel free to jump in with any advise you may have. More than likely I’ll hear what anyone says a million times but it’s all in good spirit.
posted on May 29, 2004| 9:12 AM EST
John J. Chapman’s commencement address to Hobart College is as powerful and relevant today as it was in 1900. An excerpt:
I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard. “In a few years,” reasons one of them, “I shall have gained a standing, and then I shall use my powers for good.”
Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought, his ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say. I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don’t be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.
posted on May 27, 2004| 8:48 AM EST
The other day at JP’s Coffee I was having a conversation with David Mosterd and Nicole Brinks about her up-coming wedding. She only has a couple things left to do but a major one was finding a minister.
Throughout the conversation we thought it would be really sweet if David could marry them, being that he is both familiar with the process and very close to both Nicole and Phil (the soon to be husband). The only thing stopping David from this however was the simple fact that he wasn’t ordained.
First thing that popped into both of our mind was - “I wonder if you can get ordained online?” and with that it was off to Ask Jeeves.
In a few seconds we were presented with a variety of places out there that could official ordain us. Whereas some were sketchy, we did end up finding one that we felt comfortable with.
The First International Church Of The Web is happy to legally ordain any member who has accepted Christ as his or her personal Savior, and feels called into the Christian Ministry. Ordinations are issued through Saint Luke Evangelical Christian Ministries, the ordaining ministry of The First International Church Of The Web.
It is the position of The First International Church Of The Web that, since Jesus required no particular schooling or education of his disciples, but only that they answered His call into His ministry, that should also be our own guidelines for ordination.
They proceeded to explain the Biblical foundations for their belief in this matter and allowed us to become a member.
After becoming a member, David received an email a couple hours later that confirmed his ordination and the legal documentation needed for him to print out and present to any officials. Haha - this is amazing.
With that in mind, and for the heck of saying I’m ordained, I also decided to go through this process and later that next day I also received my Letter of Ordination.
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS - - that Saint Luke Evangelical Christian Ministries accepts Aaron Louis Schaap, having demonstrated by actions and by statement of faith a love for Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, into the world-wide ministry of Saint Luke Evangelical Christian Ministries.
ON OATH
I, Rev. Dr. David M. Ford, on behalf of this ministry and all its members, do hereby select, appoint, and anoint you, Aaron Louis Schaap, a legally ordained independent minister of Saint Luke Evangelical Christian Ministries, and authorize you to perform all standard Christian religious services including the rites of marriage and baptism, on this day, May 19, 2004.
So Aaron Schaap is now authorize to perform all standard Christian religious services including the rites of marriage and baptism.
posted on May 20, 2004| 9:09 AM EST
Jodi and I first got our phones a little over a year ago. We jumped on a sweet monthly price of $29.95/per phone that offered us each 1,000 minutes a month. We also decided to upgrade a little bit and get Voicemail and Caller ID but that was only another $5.00/month - why not right?
Over the months those 1,000 minutes (2,000 for the both of us) was more than enough. I usually ended up with somewhere close to 500 and Jodi kept the minutes much closer to 200.
When I started Elevator Up L.L.C. my minutes doubled, then tripled. My first month I went over my plan by 501 minutes that made my usage minutes 1501 for the month of March. My bill was insane.
I ended up calling Alltell and asking if I could upgrade my plan and if there was any way they could drop my current bill down if I did upgrade my plan. At the end of the day I ended up saving well over a $100.00 and I now was able to talk for 1400 minutes a month.
With 1400 minutes a month I felt that was quite a bit and going over that again would be pretty hard to do. That was until I got my bill for this month and my minutes totaled 1630.
Not only was a shocked that I talked that much but that my bill was now $251.19. I was being thrown over hot coals as punishment for my minute overages (40 cents a minute).
So the routine started up once again - I called Alltell and asked if I could upgrade my plan yet again. They happily agreed and bumped me up to 2200 minutes a month and even gave me some sweet deals like free long distance, web browsing, and road side service for two months.
Also - while talking to them, I found out that moving to a family plan was much cheaper and we could also share minutes. So how it broke down was - my phone would cost me $100.00 a month and I would get 2200 minutes. I then could add Jodi onto the family paln and it only costs me an extra $20.00 (plus taxes for both of us)
As for recalculating my current month’s bill of $251.19 - that took me a couple minutes. The lady wasn’t so quick to redo the bill, but after a couple minutes of talking she finally broke. My bill was now broken down to $130.00 instead of the orginional $251.19 price tag that was filled with things like Roaming Charges, Airtime & Dir. Assistan Changes, Taxes, and other charges and credits.
I’m really hoping that this isn’t a month occuranance for me. I don’t like spending more money and I don’t like having to wade through corporate phone services to get done what I need done. With that note however - I will say that Alltell’s phone system is probably the best in the world. It’s just frick’in awesome.
posted on May 15, 2004| 2:44 PM EST
Just when things start to feel comfortable and people began to move ahead in life - something like a house fire will happen.
Yesterday around 10:00am a lady from a local business called one of our family members to say that their brother-in-laws house was on fire. That person then proceeded to call the rest of the family and rushed out there to see what was going on.
Meanwhile - Another neighbor saw the flames and ran over to began pulling things from the house. The major thing this person was looking for was the animals helplessly stuck in their cages. He grabbed all the dogs and brought them to safety.
Luckily the family that lived in this house was not home and while one was working the other was in school. Their baby was with another family member being watched for the day.
By the time the news reach me, the firemen were already spraying the house down with water and foam whereas the rest of the family was trying to get a hold of the home owners.
After a small bit we ended up finding them and when they finally got there the obvious happened - complete shock and helplessness. There wasn’t a thing that could be done other than watch all of their stuff go up in flames or be soaked by the firemen’s hoses.
After a couple hours from when the whole thing began we were let inside and the firemen helped us take whatever was left out to the front lawn. Some of the things that were further away from the fire was ok. Other things that were ok were soaked.
The neighborhood community was great and pulled together. One lady ran to grab boxes and rags to wipe everything off and organize what was left. Another lady that was trying to sell one of her houses down the street called up her Realtor and told her it was off the market for the next couple weeks. She offered up her empty home for them to move in until things could be figured out.
If any good could come from this was when everyone came together and offered everything they had to help. Still, there is now a family of 3 that is left with very little and if anyone out there has anything extra like clothes, furniture, food, computers, a place to stay or anything - please let me know and I will get anything you may be willing to offer to this family.
posted on May 11, 2004| 9:11 AM EST
