Happy Mother's Day

 We may be far away, but we love you more than words can express.

I just wanted to share our little mother's day gifts we created in Picasa this year.  I've never used an editing program before, but I must say this was pretty easy to get used to.  I especially enjoyed the collage button since getting both kids to smile at the same time is impossible.  Thank goodness for cropping, haha!

By the way, don't you love our grandparent names?  We've got Gigi and Gaga, as well as Baba and Granddad.  That's the beauty of being the first grandkids, naming is all up to you!  

I've Never Desired Boat Ownership

Until now.  Have you ever been on a yacht?  Those things are quite impressive.  

Today as our family enjoyed a Seattle Boat Show we stepped aboard countless vessels, some even larger than our apartment. 

I can count the times I've been boating on one hand and the thought of owning such a luxury has always seemed questionable to me.  I must say though, after stepping onto even a docked boat I was filled with the excitement of travel possibilities.  The two and a half million dollar yacht will never be in our budget, but the catamaran that crossed the Pacific four times did catch my eye.  

Maybe it's the continuous playing of Captain Ron in our home, but lately the idea of long distance sailing has seemed appealing.  At least in Delaware we'll still be near the ocean so maybe we can investigate this idea further.    

  

Happy Sails to You!

P.S.  Yes, the sun is shining in February!!!

It's Official...

We are moving to Delaware.  Probably to Wilmington, but the state's so small we could probably live anywhere.  I have to admit I've always had a crush on the New England states.  I just get giddy thinking about how much history they hold.  I've never traveled that far east and I am anticipating lots of site seeing over the next 4 or 5 years.  The state I'm most excited to visit is Maine.  Ever since my fourth grade project focusing on this fabulous state I've wanted to live there.  (I also have a serious crush for lumberjacks.  Dave definitely needs more flannel.)

There are some serious drawbacks to this change though.  For starters...it's completely across the country.  Only eight months ago we drove three and a half days to move here to Seattle.  I've already mentioned to Dave that I'm not driving to Delaware.  Plus with only a week between residencies I don't think it's even feasible.  Which means we'll be scaling back tremendously.  The decorator in me is going crazy.  The financial planner in me is gasping for air.  Thankfully it's cheaper to live in Delaware than Seattle.  In fact we could have probably moved just about anywhere and found cheaper housing.

The other drawback I'm facing is adjusting to another brand new place.  I finally know my way around and have found the most amazing group of ladies to fellowship with.  Davey even has friends.  It will be lonely again as we settle into our new place.  The upside is we still have five months here.  Plus, strangely enough, Dave will be working with a resident that he graduated med school with and I actually graduated high school with.  So there is one person we will know and he's married so technically two people.  Hopefully that will make it easier.

You're probably wondering why Delaware.  Dave has been completing his preliminary year here in Seattle and has been looking for a 2nd year position in general surgery.  The program in Delaware is expanding next year which created this opening that Dave will be filling.  It's a relief to know Dave will be able to complete his residency without having to start over as a first year.  This is what we've been praying for, and even though it's Delaware, we will continue to trust God and seek His guidance.  He continues to bless us in ways we could never have imagined.

So as we prepare for this move, does anyone know anything about Delaware?  I sure don't.

Black Swan

I've never seen the movie and my only real knowledge of it comes from a SNL skit.  But sometimes I feel as though my blog is the "white swan" of our residency.  There are days I'm not sure if I should publish my thoughts because they are too "black swan".  My readers are mostly family, but I'd love to be able to reach out to other wives struggling through residency or other circumstances which limit time with their husbands.  However, I worry about coming across negative and full of complaints, because let's face it residency is tough.  I want to be honest and real, but how much do I really want that in blogland unless it has a purpose.  Those are just my musings on a late Thursday night where I can't seem to settle my mind unless I write something.

P.S. I'm hooked, tutus on little girls are my favorite thing!

Wintertime

One of Davey's favorite movies to watch repeatedly is A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I guess his exposure to this film led him to eat snowflakes.  Last week as we survived Seattle's winter wallup, Davey ate more snow than I thought possible.  We even bribed him with ice cream to get him to stop eating it.  As much as Davey loves snow, I'm grateful it's finally gone.  The kids and I didn't drive anywhere for five days.  We barely got the van out of our parking incline last Friday.  Thankfully today we are back to forty degree weather and...SUNNY!

Davey, Portia, and I took full advantage of this opportunity and walked down to Lake Union.  We spent the morning looking at boats, 

throwing rocks into the water, and

stopping to put our feet up at the nearby Starbucks.  Definitely my kind of winter morning! 

Hope you all are staying warm!

Have You Prayed About It?

I recently found myself contemplating the difficulties of life (a.k.a complaining) when I was confronted with the question: Have you prayed about it?  I don't fully understand prayer, in fact there's a lot I don't comprehend, however I do know these two truths.  I'm called to pray and I'm called to do everything without complaining.  So when a trivial to most "problem" was nagging me, I was led to pray rather than sit and fester.

Several months ago, Davey's sock drawer added these:

We also found the one corner in our bathroom for this:

And yet, Davey was just not interested.  (Which is probably true for most of you, as David assures me, but sometimes you have to write about what's on your mind to allow room for other ideas.)  

As Portia Mae entered our lives I found it easier to put Davey in Luvs rather than drag him to the bathroom every hour.  But then I began to panic because Davey was quickly approaching age three.  I was already embarrassed that he wasn't potty trained by two and three would have been horrific in my mind.  So as I faced the confronting question of prayer I was humbled to realize that indeed I had not prayed about it.  

That day at lunch, Davey and I prayed for him (in exact words) "to go poopy on the toilet".  Sparing you the details, less than 30 minutes later he did exactly that, completely on his own.  From that moment on, he has been potty trained.  At first I was hesitant to believe it, but now over a week later he hasn't had an accident and even survived a marathon errand running day.  One filled with locked bathrooms and out of order signs.  

Only by God's grace was Davey so quick to change his behavior.  Through a small part of our daily lives I'm reminded of how much God cares for us.  We continue to wait for direction in our future and whether or not that answer comes quickly I must ask myself daily, have I prayed about it?

Top 11 Missed Posts of 2011

I really should have blogged more this past year.  I'm not sure we'll ever have a more adventurous and unpredictable year.  Having each memory recorded in writing would have been a treasure.  However, today is today and this is the best I can do.  So without further ado...here are the Top 11 Missed Posts.

11.  David Spends a Month in China

I thought med school was hard to live with.  Then I tried living with a med student overseas, newly pregnant, working full time, and with a two year old.  There's not much I remember, or want to remember about those days except the excitement of watching Davey run to his Daddy at the airport when he returned.  

10.  Med School Graduation

For several years I could only dream of this day.   Now, I can't believe it was only months since daddy became Dr. Berkheim.

9.  The BIG Move

To this day whenever we see this famous yellow truck, Davey points it out and yells Dada.  I guess after three days following Daddy it's hard to forget.  Davey also now associates the word hotel with pool.  During our recent trip to Portland we neglected this fact and stayed in a hotel without one.  It was almost as sad as the day we walked into our favorite Barnes and Nobel and they had removed their train table.

8.  Lazy Summer Mornings

Almost my entire life has been on school schedule.  Switching to a stay at home mom who doesn't get the summers off was a bit different.  Thankfully I have a son who doesn't mind a relaxing morning.  We're still trying to break our habits of sleeping in, eating breakfast on the couch, and watching Cars almost daily.

7.  Visiting Mount Rainer

I've always wanted to climb a mountain with my children.  Although this wasn't the day, it was Davey's first experience hiking on a mountain.  He walked almost a mile.  We also saw a much larger waterfall and walked through snow.  I said it this day and I continue to say it, but I just can't believe how much he's seen at the age of two...

6. Camping on the Oregon Coast

With David's hectic schedule a week off deserved a memorable vacation.  We spent two nights camping only a walk away from the beach.  Davey could have chased waves the entire day, except when it got dark.  During our last night we had a fire on the beach and stayed out to watch the stars.  This was the first time I learned how scared Davey was of the dark.  He refused to open his eyes once the sun went down and still talks about how scary it was.

5.  Mount St. Helen's

I've always wanted to see an actual volcano, so this stop was for me.  Maybe it's the teacher in me that has to make even a vacation include an academic field trip.  We stayed overnight in Portland after our camping adventure and drove to the mountain in the morning.  This I must add is a great way to finish a camping trip.  Before coming home to do laundry, empty the cooler, and air out the tent, we got to sleep in a fluffy bed and shower with actual water pressure.

4.  The Haircut that Ended in a Buzz

 My New Year's Resolution is for Davey to get an actual hair cut this year :)

3.  Oh Canada

David texted me early one Friday and asked if I wanted to go to Canada.  We had talked about the things we wanted to do while living in Seattle and visiting Vancouver was one of them.  This was also something we hoped to accomplish before baby number two arrived.  So 8 months pregnant we crossed the border to find out what Canada had to offer.

With not a lot of time, and more rain than here in Seattle, we opted for the Museum of Anthropology.  I think I like the store better, although I did see more totem poles in one place than I could have ever imagined.

2.  The Birth of Portia Mae

This really should be number 1, but I was ordering the events chronologically so it's number 2.  Portia Mae was born November 23 early in the morning.  I literally crawled out of our apartment, held off pushing in the car, spent 3 minutes in triage, and delivered in under an hour of reaching the hospital.  Heading into the last trimester I was extremely worried about going into labor with no one around, not getting an epidural, and David missing the delivery.  However, God was extremely good and she came the morning after her due date when my parents were already here to help, I got my epidural even though I was completely dilated, and David was with me the entire time.  He even received the entire week off which was completely unexpected.  Portia continues to grow, interact, and sleep a little better each week so I'm starting to feel a bit more normal.  Maybe that means more pictures soon...

1.  Christmas in Seattle  

Although miles apart, we had relatives here for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We both have fantastic and supportive families.  Christmas here was a bit of an adventure because we welcomed six more bodies into our apartment.  Even though only four of them stayed the nights, that is still a lot of people to cram into our two bedrooms.  Since moving so far away and having a husband gone most of the days I was desperate to have family around.  I loved having a full house and pray that someday we will end up close to our families so we can get together more frequently.  Hopefully by then Davey will have some cousins to play with (wink wink). 

There you have it.  The top eleven things you may have missed in our lives.  This next year has a lot of questions still waiting for answers.  It may mean another move, another addition to our family (maybe a pet), a trip to Hawaii, and hopefully lots more time with friends and family.  So even though it's 5 days late, Happy New Year!