Advent

Whether you are a church-goer, a Christ-follower, both or neither, you cannot deny that the Christmas season is here! Tony and I were talking a few weeks ago about what Christmas was like for us as kids. He remembered looking through the Toys R Us catalog and folding pages and circling all of the things he wanted. I remembered the year I got the red cable-knit sweater I’d been daydreaming of. Besides discovering that we had very different childhoods, we agreed that there were two prevailing questions around Christmas time…

Santa asks, "What do you want?"


Your friends ask, "What did you get?"


It occurred to me that Claire, having no idea what Christmas is, might be confused if these are the first things she learns about this special holiday. Both of these questions imply that Christmas is about “me”. It startled me to think that we could raise Claire to be self-absorbed and materialistic without even realizing it. It startled me even more to think of how hard I have to try each year to really remember what Christmas is about and not to get caught up in shopping and parties. So, Tony and I talked some more and dreamed up what we would want Christmas to look like for our family as Claire grows up. We want her to know Jesus. We want her to know why He came. We want to spend it as a family. We need our own traditions. We came up with our own plan to reflect and rejoice together, just the three of us.

Advent

In the traditional church calendar, Advent is the season to reflect and prepare our hearts for the coming King. I read what I could find about it and came across the Advent Wreath. I loved the idea, but didn’t care so much for the way it looked and couldn’t imagine having this green wreath with pink and purple candles sitting on a table in my home. I know, picky picky! But, hey, if we’re making our own traditions, I want something I can really live with. So, I designed my own.


Each bud vase is filled about half-way with sand to stabilize the candle then wrapped with red ribbon and a tag which tells us which word of the season to reflect on following the traditional Advent Calendar.


Inside our Advent Box, a recycled cigar box, are envelopes with a card inside telling us what we’ll read and which Christmas song relating to the word Tony will sing and play for us on the acoustic guitar.


So, each Sunday evening leading up to Christmas, we’ve incorporated our new tradition into Claire’s bedtime routine. We get our pajamas on, come out into the living room, and she watches while we light the candle. I'll share a short reading, Tony plays a song, we pray and then carry her off to bed.


Above is a close up of the book canvas I made to hang over our Advent display. Inspired by this blog, I chose books I've read that would reflect the heart of the season; My Utmost for His Highest, The Sacred Romance, a Bible and a Hymnal.

This how we've decided to reflect on each week of this Advent Season…
Week 1, Sunday, November 28th
We light the Hope Candle, traditionally the Prophets Candle
We read about the name Immanuel, God with us, and the promise foretold centuries before Christ was born.
We sing O Come O Come Emmanuel. Our current favorite version of this song is by Sufjan Stevens

Week 2, Sunday, December 5th
We light the Love Candle, traditionally the Bethlehem Candle
We read about Jesus as a Child, born in a manger.
We sing O Little Town of Bethlehem. Our current favorite version of this song is by Sarah McLachlan.

Week 3, Sunday, December 12th
We light the Joy Candle, traditionally the Shepherds Candle
We read about the shepherds from Luke 2:8-20.
We sing O Come all Ye Faithful. Our current favorite version of this song is by Chris Tomlin.


Week 4, Sunday, December 19th
We’ll light the Peace Candle, traditionally the Angels Candle
We’ll read about Jesus as the Prince of Peace, as the Angels declared in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will toward men.”
We’ll sing O Holy Night. Our current favorite version of this song is by Michael Crawford.

Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24th
We’ll light the Noel Candle, traditionally the Christ Candle
We’ll read about Mary and the birth of Jesus from Luke 1:26 – 2:20
We’ll sing Silent Night. Our current favorite version of this song is by Phil Wickham (Thanks, Tyler!).

Our hope is that as she gets older we can add crafts and fun activities or maybe even a special meal each week that will help build these memories for us. This way we’ll have weeks of reflection before the glorious morning when she wakes us up at 5am, like we did to our parents, to open up all of the presents under the tree.



We'd love to hear the wonderful ways you've made this holiday special with your families!

Merry Christmas!

Jump in the Pool!

I realized as I plopped Claire down on the changing table in the family locker room after swim class that I’d forgotten to be self-conscious in my swim suit. I had spent the entire 45 minutes laughing with, and cheering for my girl. She was the cutest thing I’d ever seen in a swimming pool! She loved the splashing and kicking and the wet high-fives from the other little ones. She kicked her chubby little legs like a pro, hung on to the wall of the pool with her incredible baby strength, and jumped to me at the end of “Humpty Dumpty Sat On a Wall” without a trace of fear. She turned her wet and squirmy body several times to hug and kiss me. You know, that open-mouth-tongue-sticking-out kind of kiss… the one I cannot resist! It was absolutely the highlight of my week, until I saw us both in the mirror, hair wet and sticking to our faces, dripping with chlorine water. Ugghh… I’m still me!

I’m still the me, curvy shapes and all, that should not be allowed in public in a swimming suit. The me that hasn’t been in a pool or to a beach of any kind in the last three years because I knew I was not in the shape I should be. And yet, I had just had the time of my life with my little girl in the pool. For once I had forgotten what I looked like, self-consciousness gone, and enjoyed every moment! Despite my fears, not once did Claire roll her eyes at me or look at me in my swim suit with sheer embarrassment … It wasn’t about me!

Self-consciousness and insecurity lead to isolation. We don’t want people to know the parts of us that are inadequate, the ways we don’t measure up to our own expectations, so we avoid the situations where those things might be exposed. For me, it’s the swimming pool. And what got me into that pool had nothing to do with me. I signed us up for that class because I wanted to spend some time enjoying my daughter without other distractions. I wanted for her to learn how to be in the water without fear and to meet some other little babies. I want the very best for her in all of the little ways I can give it to her. It was then, when I stopped worrying about myself, that I came out of that place of isolation and insecurity and jumped into that pool with my little girl. And I had a blast!

We’re preparing again for the next season of Growth Groups and it occurs to me that self-consciousness and insecurity have kept a lot of people from experiencing one of my very favorite things. I hear it all the time…
“I’m not good enough to be a leader.”
“I don’t know that much about the Bible.”
“What if my idea for a group is dumb?”
“I’m not good at _____________”

We fear that we will be judged in the same way that we judge ourselves, maybe even in the same way we judge others, so we avoid it altogether. It’s safer alone, where nobody can see our frailties. It’s easier to stick to the people we already know, the people who may not challenge us, or who always agree with us… But that is no way to live!

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another....
– Hebrews 10:23-25

As much as there is risk, there is so much joy and vitality of life when we choose to look beyond our selves and get around other people. How very much life I would miss out on, especially with Claire, if I never jumped in the pool.

Sick of it!

Can't Do It All, Part 3

I don’t know if it’s flu season or cold season or why there needs to be an entire season where it is normal to be sick – but I’m sick of it! Tony pinched a nerve in his back at the beginning of October that was so bad, the only way he could participate in our weekly staff meeting was to lie down flat in the middle of the floor. Then, both Tony and Claire had the nastiest stomach flu just a week later. Watching a baby projectile vomit has to be up there with the saddest and scariest things ever! Poor little thing was so confused and so weak, it was awful! Now there’s the constant coughing and runny noses between the two of them, thank God for the women that invented Boogie Wipes. It’s hard to remember a time when we all felt healthy.


One thing that has become clear in these past couple of months is that I am not a nurse! I can take a day, maybe two days, of constantly caring for the people I love the most in the world before I feel completely spent and exhausted myself. I can’t begin to understand how people do this as a profession, day in and day out, for near strangers. That takes more patience and more compassion than I think I will ever be capable of. It is a disappointing new discovery about myself, but if I’m honest, I know I do not have what it takes to be the mom Claire needs or the wife Tony needs when they need it most.


If it weren’t for the blessing of true and compassionate friends, I might have run away from home at some point in the last month. In fact, I can point to the exact moments where I felt refreshed enough to do another load of laundry and change the crib sheets for the third time in a day.



Prayer & Care

I am fortunate enough to have friends that I can be transparent with. When they ask me how I am, I have the freedom to say, “Exhausted! Everyone in my house is sick!” I can’t tell you what it’s meant to me to have people pray for me and encourage me by relating. The other overwhelming blessing is the tangible ways people have cared for me and my family during this time. One afternoon, my friend Holly came over just to be with Claire for a few hours while I escaped and finally took advantage of a gift certificate I’d received for a facial months earlier. I felt so cared for and so relieved, I might have cried… maybe. Then there was the morning my friend Brenda called to check on me and then offered to bring me a few essentials from the store so I wouldn’t have to pack up my sick baby and make the errand run myself. Or the afternoon that Tony encouraged me to lie down and take a nap and when I awoke the kitchen was clean and the baby was happily playing. It was in these moments and others like them that I was able to escape the loneliness that comes with being a care taker and remember that, in fact, I am not alone.

What they really did was remind me how much God cares for me. They reminded me that the Holy Spirit Himself is praying for me…

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. – Romans 8:26 & 27

It has also reminded me that, if I didn’t have these times of weakness, I might become prideful and forget my true need for Him, that strength comes from Him…

"My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9

And, with God’s help, I hope to become the caring and compassionate mother and wife that Claire and Tony need. Because, I’m sure, this isn’t the last time we’ll experience the dreaded cold and flu season in our house.



P.S. If you know someone who needs a little TLC, this is a great website that can help make it easier on a community of friends who want to care for someone: http://www.takethemameal.com/

Book Reports

We blog, on average, once per month. We were just about to bring that average down, and then I looked at the calendar. This is why I’ve always been bad at keeping a journal and why my “journal” is a combination of checklists, meeting notes, prayers and ideas… a more true reflection of my day-to-day life.

I got to thinking that if I disappeared (let’s not say died) and all that was left was my journal, what would people know of me? Fortunately there’s Facebook and my mess of a closet to give more clues, but that still wouldn’t be the entire picture, would it?

I read Margaret Feinberg’s The Organic God earlier this summer. One of my favorite things she said was this:

“The gift of a book is a tangible effort to take the relationship to a new intensity – so it becomes deeper, richer, and broader than ever before.”

Ahh… so much good stuff in just one sentence! It resonates with me as I think of books people have given me and the impact they have made on my life and in my relationships with them.

Long before I attended church regularly, I got together with some girlfriends to read What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. Changed my life – helped me better understand that, not only was I forgiven, I had a responsibility to forgive and that grace I had received would give me the strength and courage to do it.

Then came The Sacred Romance and Captivating, teaching me about a God who loved me – not just in the “For God so loved the world…” kind of way, but in the “I love you, Michelle” kind of way. Revolutionary! I caught a glimpse of the privilege it is to have been created a woman, the strength and beauty that comes with femininity, the image of God I hope to reflect, the relationship with Him that I have the honor of living in. Such good books.

Meanwhile, Proverbs taught me practical wisdom, and 1st and 2nd Samuel taught me about true friendship, dependence on and devotion to God, including failures of character and seemingly hopeless situations. 1st and 2nd Timothy along with Galatians and Ephesians taught me about living in community with other believers, what it is to lead and what it is to follow.

I’ve read more books this summer than I read during all of high school, and I’m not the only book worm in the house. Just last night, I came home from hanging out with some girlfriends expecting to see Tony playing video games or working on his computer. Instead, he was on the couch finishing The Hobbit, excited to tell me it had a great ending! Ahh… books.



I recently finished Mark Driscoll’s On Church Leadership and On the Old Testament and then read Rob Bell’s Sex God. From what I hear, those two authors don’t exactly see eye-to-eye, but what do I care? Seems to me they both love Jesus, and we all know how much trouble God’s children have with unity as evidenced by the hundreds of denominations of churches in this country alone. Besides, I don’t necessarily read to agree with the author, I read to ask questions and see new perspectives. I read hoping that God will show me more of who he is and who I am in this world. I read hoping I'll catch a thought like one of these... and let it sink in...

“The person who sees the difficulties so clearly that he does not discern the possibilities cannot inspire a vision in others.” - J. Oswald Sanders

“In prayer, Jesus slows us down, teaches us to count how few days we have, and gifts us with wisdom. He reveals to us that we are so caught up in what is urgent that we have overlooked what is essential.” - Brennan Manning

“If a man's wife believes in him, he can conquer the world - or at least his corner of it.” - Shaunti Feldhahn

“Often freedom is seen as the ability to do whatever you want. But freedom isn't being able to have whatever we crave. Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it.” - Rob Bell

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - Jesus, son of David

These books really are gifts. Of course some were given to me by friends and family, and some I purchased for myself, but they are all gifts nonetheless. They are gifts from the authors who wrote them and the editors who edited and publishers who published. True gifts, revealing humanity, unveiling inner thoughts.



Ms. Feinberg’s words bring me back to the greatest gift of a book I own, my Bible. Even as I write that sentence, I’m fighting against the critic inside that would roll her eyes and say, “Oh, how trite! How cliché! Of course, ‘the Bible’…” But I mean it! What a gift that in all of the ways of creation that God has revealed Himself to us and continues to reveal himself, that he would give us a book! Like a diary, a journal, his thoughts and narratives and poetry and lyrics. A way that we can take our relationship with Him to a new intensity – so it becomes deeper, richer, and broader than ever before. I think about the miracle it is that we even have access to it – thanks in part to people like Johannes Gutenberg and Martin Luther and Zondervan… I treasure it.

So we read every day, for ourselves and for Claire. It really doesn’t seem to matter to her which book we choose. As soon as either of us takes her in our lap in the rocking chair and pulls a book in front of her, she kicks her feet with excitement, smiles, and “helps” to turn the pages. She loves the touch and feel books, running her fingers over the soft bunny fur or the feather down on the yellow chick. We love it! Now that I think of it, I don't ever remember seeing my own mom without a book. I hope Claire has those memories of Tony and I as she gets older.



So here are some of the Peterson Faves…
Tony:
Screwtape Letters
Purpose Driven Life
Heart of the Artist
Harry Potter – pick one
Currently reading: Fellowship of the Ring

Michelle:
Spiritual Leadership
Crazy Love
The Speed of Trust
Sheet Music
Currently reading: How People Grow

Claire:
Mr. Brown can Moo! Can You?
The Going to Bed Book
Baby Bunny
My Shoes Take Me Where I Want To Go
Currently reading: Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see?

What are you reading?

My Claire, 3 months

My baby girl is three months old! I never thought of myself as an "attached" personality type, but I love to be around her. She smiles when I smile... we talk about things (mostly I ask her what she's saying, and she just repeats "Ay ay ay")... she's grabbing my face... she loves to play rambunctious games with me.



It's crazy to watch her grow so fast. She's out of 0 - 3 month clothes already and fitting into her 3 - 6 month clothes very nicely. When I'm feeding her from a bottle, she's eating between 7 & 8 oz. and we've had to move the straps on her car seat twice already.



She enjoys being out. We'll go on our regular Target or Sams Club trip and she behaves pretty much the whole time. We have to be creative about when to go out however... it needs to be far enough from a feeding that she's not going to spit-up all over herself, but soon enough before her next feeding so she doesn't get grumpy while we're out. Mostly, she just looks around or stares at us as we push her in her cart... a pleasure I never knew I would have... just watching her be content is a joy to me.



I never was a kid person. I was one of those types that shy'd away from little people like they were going to explode if I got too close. And babies... that's a whole different kind of fear. It became a bit of a joke trying to get me to hold a baby.



I remember the first time Michelle forced me into holding a baby x 2. We were just hanging out with our friends the Denham's back in Kirkland WA. I was relaxing in the recliner when all of a sudden, a pair of twins were dropped on my lap from behind. Michelle thought this was great... I thought I was stuck. She called Heidi (their mother) over and of course she thought it was great to. Ignoring my plea for them to remove the tiny people from my space, they went and grabbed the camera and solidified the memory.

I wanted a boy. I have had my boy's name picked out for most of my life, so I was ready for him. When I learned it was a girl (a week before Michelle knew), I had some thinking to do. As it turns out, to overcome my fear of babies, I think God knew that only a girl would do this for me. You see, if I had a boy first, I imagine myself being one of those rough dads... one of those "hey tiger" and punch him in the arm type of dads... even as a baby I think I would have found ways to be rough and non-affectionate with him... that's just me. But Claire changed me. She's so beautiful and small and sweet, I know I can't rough her up, or get her dirty, or call her "tiger". With Claire I have to kiss on her, and hold her close, and buy her ponies, and treat her like a princess... that's a 180 from what I instinctively want to do around babies.

I think having a boy first would have cemented in me my tendency to be distant and cold. Imagine being second born girl to that daddy. I thank God for Claire and I thank Claire for changing my heart. I hear her in the next room wrapping up a feeding, so now it's my turn to go and love on her.

Claire

Did you think we had abandoned this blog? In a sense, I thought so myself. This is definitely the longest we've gone without posting, so I thank you for your patience with us as we adjust to life as new parents.

Since I can't come up with a better way to fill you in, you get bullet points for this post. Here are some highlights of the last couple of months:

• Claire Elaine Peterson* was born on January 22nd, 2010 at 2:28am... two weeks after her due date.
  
  
• Katy (Pratt) Wogsland arrived just in time from Seattle to help us at home for the first 10 days. THANK GOD!
  
  
• We were blessed beyond belief with countless meals and notes for Claire's first 3 weeks at home. Don't know how we would have survived (or eaten) otherwise.
  
  
• Tony finished designing another mailer for Great Lakes Church, inviting 70,000 families in the area to come check us out.
  
  
• We launched another season of Growth Groups with an incredible number of sign ups, and our weekend attendance at GLC grew to just over 1,000.
  
  
• We had just over 60 people at our most recent 101 Class make a commitment to partner with GLC as members! Love welcoming more people into this family of faith!
  
  
• We baptized just over 40 people at our most recent Worship Night! (That same night, I left Claire with the provided childcare for the first time. She did great! I was a nervous wreck!)
  
  
• Because of the incredible amount of people (and KIDS) we are seeing at GLC, we brought on another staff member, Matt Stennett. Matt, along with his wife Crystal and their little son, Jace, moved across the country from Seattle (although both of their families live here in the Chicago area) a couple of weeks ago. Great additions to the team!
  
  
• Tony and I made the tough decision for me to "stay home" and quit my job in Racine. This means the three of us are now home together full time. I'm excited for this opportunity and my new job as Claire's mom. Definitely eating crow, as I told many many friends before I had her that staying at home with her was just not something I'd ever be interested in. What the heck did I know?
  
  
• Claire is really good at being a baby, growing every day, sleeping more than I'm comfortable sharing with other new moms, smiling, and "talking" to us.

And now, for our feature presentation, Claire!

Claire Elaine Peterson from Tony Peterson on Vimeo.

*We named our sweet girl, Claire, after the song Clair de Lune by Debussy. This is a song Tony introduced me to when we first began dating 6 years ago... said it reminded him of me. He insisted I walk down the aisle at our wedding to this song, it meant so much to us both. It is the song playing in the background of this video. Her middle name, Elaine, is my middle name and a family name on both sides. We pray she knows how much we cherish her.

Anticipation

...From Michelle...
Pregnancy
As the excitement and anticipation grows for this little girl to be a part of our lives, so do the aches & pains of being pregnant. Let’s tell the truth… I’m starting to feel whiny.




Getting out of a chair or off the couch is a chore I think about long and hard before I actually do it. The swelling in my hands and feet have me slipping off my wedding ring and slipping off my shoes as often as I can. The heartburn is constant and I thank God for these little pink pills called “Acid Reducers” that Natalie (who recently had a little girl of her own) introduced me to. My bladder seems to only be able to hold about a Dixie cup’s worth of liquid. So, at night, I try to stay asleep while I get up 3 or 4 times to go to the bathroom. I’ve got a pain in my butt… literally, the right side, and down my leg that the doctor says is likely a touch of sciatica. I have trouble breathing, so I find myself gasping for air at random moments, and when I’m walking down a hall or up a flight of stairs I can picture myself waddling as this belly in front of me takes my body weight from side to side. I am forgetful, which makes me anxious, which makes me insecure… wait… What were we talking about? When sweet, considerate people ask me how I’m feeling or how I’m doing, I try my best to reply, “Great! How are you?” because the last thing I want to be is a downer. And I am realizing… this is hard work!

Still, somehow I can’t get away from the sense that I should be thinking past my aches and pains to what my Heavenly Father thinks of all of this and to what women who have birthed all of the generations before me have thought. I wonder now how I might be connected to life and legacy and to the hopes and dreams that are not my own. I wonder about my mother-in-law’s pregnancy with Tony, and my own mother’s pregnancy with me. I wonder about our grandmothers and theirs. I wonder about the questions they asked of their mothers, girlfriends, and doctors - the advice that came their way. I wonder about the beauty of life and the fragility of creation. I wonder about the need we have always had for a savior – and that He would come to us, growing and developing inside of a womb, birthed through pain, as a vulnerable baby.

As any pregnant woman or father-to-be knows, the gift that is most often offered is advice. One of those gifts was this: It will all be worth it when you see and hold your baby for the first time. I have to believe them, and yet I can’t begin to imagine it. It does make me think of lyrics from “Oh Holy Night”, my very favorite Christmas song…

Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the soul felt it’s worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…

We’ve got about five more weeks of weariness before we meet our own hope face-to-face. In the mean time, here’s what we’ve been up to…

...From Tony...
With Gratitude
Last Wednesday, a group of us (all from Wednesday night growth groups) got together for our service project. We decided to send Christmas Care Packages to 20 different soldiers overseas. All the soldiers we sent packages to are from the state of Wisconsin. Between the 18 of us that showed up to participate in this, we were able to ship them things like snacks, books, hygiene products, playing cards, games, DVD’s, and a ton more stuff. It was really cool to come together to pull off something like that… not because we know them, or because our motive is to get them to come to our church or even preach the gospel, but rather because they are serving our country, and we simply want to serve them back… no strings attached.


Last Thursday was Thanksgiving. I don’t know where the phrase got started, but we’re calling it Orphan Turkey Dinner… it was all those that have moved from out of state to help with Great Lakes Church coming together at the Gray’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. In attendance: the Petersons, the Grays, the Sweeneys, the Winnetts, and Ms. Daniels. Karen Ann flew in and stayed with the Sweeneys… it’s always so good to see our Seattle friends. The feast consisted of turkey, cranberry sauce, yams, lumpia, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, stuffing (which we had to constantly remind ourselves to call “dressing” since it wasn’t cooked in the bird), apple pie, pumpkin pie, and I’m sure I’m missing a few things. I was in charge of the turkey, but I sign-up to do the turkey every year anyway… I love cooking the turkey.




Preparing for Baby
We decided, even though it’s an apartment and we’ll have to paint it back, to paint the baby’s room. We’ve noticed that we like being in a room a lot more after we’ve decorated in there. We went to Menards (that’s M’Nards not Meh’Nerds for you Seattle folk) to pick our paint and found a light yellow we liked. We already had most of the supplies from the previous paint job (we painted the office in the old house to be the same color as Michael Scott’s office), so all we needed was the paint, the tray, and an edger. With white walls and a light color paint, it only needed one coat, and took me about 2 hours to finish.

Also, thanks to all our friends, we now have our stroller/car-seat and my (Tony) favorite new gadget… our baby monitor. It’s pretty cool… it’s a color screen and a really sensitive mic, but even cooler is the ability to remote drive the camera. From a different room we can pan and zoom around the room. Now, I know that our newborn isn’t going to be exploring and getting into trouble in all the corners of the room… but we’ll have this monitor when she gets a little older and is playing in her room alone. The motor on the unit is really quiet, so if we’re using the camera to look around while she’s sleeping, it won’t wake her.





This past Monday, Michelle and I went on our regular doctor checkup for the baby. All is well. The heart rate is right where it’s supposed to be (138), Michelle’s blood pressure and weight are excellent, and we were able to take a tour of the Family Birthing Center while we were there. The labor and delivery room is huge… they are all singles so we don’t have to share… each one has a big hot-tub-spa-bath-thingy, and the nurse who showed us around was very helpful and knowledgeable. Really, anything we want, we can have. They are very flexible about interventions, and have modern and traditional ways of doing things. After seeing the rooms and asking our questions, we both feel really good about this hospital and know that we and our baby will be taken care of.




We hope you’re all enjoying the start of December. As we write to you, we are watching the first real snow fall in our own neighborhood!