End of summer....

Hello ladies! Well, our poor, little blog was feeling neglected and lonely so I thought I'd do a little post to get the momentum going again. Not that I have anything really exciting to add--I know some of you are doing things like moving, building houses and having babies and I'd much rather hear from you!

Our summer has been really nice! I finished up the first round of summer classes and we spent a week in Washington visiting students, co-workers, old friends. It was really nice to be back (the mountain was out every day Scanders!!!) but I don't think I'd ever want to live in Tacoma again. We did get to spend a night in Eugene, OR with Jesse and Ian and that was FABULOUS! I would totally live there.

Otherwise we've been doing the class/low-key summer thang. We'll be moving off campus in 2 weeks and this will mark my 7th move in 6 years...how pathetic is that! But, it'll be a cheaper, quieter, much larger space to live so we're excited. And the potential of getting a DOG is there too! We'll be living with another Luther student so I'm excited to have people around too.

My computer has been in the shop for a MONTH now, so I don't have any fun picture to share yet. Hope you hear from you all soon!

Elizabeth

yikes

Hey dudes-

  I am completely exhausted, but wanted to say this small thing...   we may have bought a home today!!  :)  Our offer was accepted with a few contingencies, and if they all pan out, we will move into a brand new currently being constructed home that we can pick out all of the insides in August.  I am pumped and overwhelmed, but excited.  I also went bowling today with 350 middle schoolers, and then watched Marley and Me during which I cried my eyes out along with the rest of the previously hyper and crazy middle schoolers.  It has been a weird day.  

Love you ladies.  how are all of you?  any news on the festival?  

Jealous of you people who are done with your school year,

  Mandola

freedom, O freedom!

Happy end of the school year! Today I took my last final and my piano students had their recital so I am a VERY free woman! This whole week is filled with lunch/walks/coffe/brunch dates...just the way I like it. I've started spring cleaning (which I actually enjoy) and took 8 bags of stuff to the thrift store today, I find that unbelievable and embarrassing considering that I purged much of our earthly belongings before coming to Luther (just 10 months ago!!). But at least 5 of the bags were stuffed animals, baby books and clothes...so I don't feel so bad :)

Other news: my Dad sold his house in EGF! Its not totally final, but very close. This is great news for him, but it means I need to figure out what to do with the other things I have their--mostly this means my piano. Anyone want to hold on to a baby grand for a few years? I am considering moving it into my living room--which would mean I would have to committ being in this apartment for the next two years (i've been contemplating moving to a pet apartment so we could get a dog)...decisions, decisions. But if I had to decide between a piano or a dog I would definatly chose the one that doesn't shed, bark or poop.

Other news: My Dad's younger brother, my Uncle Joe, is dying of cancer. My dad has been very invovled in the Hospice figuring and all that business--Joe has 4 sons, 2 are older and fairly estranged from him. 2 are at home with his last wife and they are 11 and 8...its been such a rough year in this way for my extended family (and I guess my immediate family too) and I'm so thankful that we're all down in the Cities to lend a hand when needed.

Micaela is doing well, a little uncertain of all the changes happening right now. Our good friend, Rachel, is leaving for the summer so we said good-bye to her last night and Micaela didn't appreciate that at all! I haven't told her yet that a few other Seminary pals (Scanders included) will be gone soon and then Matthew and Anna will move to Louisville, KY so he can go to seminary. We are sad about all of this--why do we have all these faithful people in our lives that just follow God's call to far away places?!?!

Alright, I hope this finds you all with schedules slowing down and some sunshine fun in your futures. Lots of love to you all!

Hey ladies-

   I'll try my best to make it to whichever weekend is decided upon.  I can't promise anything, but you know how much I love to see all of you, so of course I'll do my best!  We'll already be in MN the 2nd weekend.  

   Today I made an appointment with a Mortgage banker.   What?  We are going to look into what kind of shape we are in to buy a house.  A house!  I am excited and scared... and hoping we find out something good.  :)

    Lauren it HUGE (see photo above) and Julia is still a chatterbox.  That is all that is new with us. :)  Oh yeah, I GET TO TEACH ELEMENTARY MUSIC AGAIN NEXT YEAR!   I am pumped if you can't tell.  :)  I'll be 84%, which is a bump up from my 70% this year.  I am a little conflicted about the extra time, but very excited to be back with the little kiddos.  I enjoyed the middle schoolers, but I'm not sure how much they enjoyed me. he he

    We are having beautiful weather and are going to grill for the first time this spring tonight!  Brat burgers.  Yum.  Sauerkraut. Yum.  Mustard.  Yum.  

Love you all!

  p.s.  Sarah, nice narration of the hospital visit!  You are so funny.  

2nd weekend in June

I'm up for most anything the second weekend in June. Of course I'm agreeable to the Cities, but whatever works best for people, I'm flexible.

Festival

LOVE the post about going to the hospital...Elizabeth did have to tell me which parts of the story were true and which were a bit fabricated. I was glad to hear that the hot doctor was true and that he actually said the stuff about putting his hands on your body...how wonderful.

Well, last week Elizabeth and Micaela visited...super fun. But, we were talking about the festival... We think that maybe we should keep it the same weekend as usual (2nd weekend in June), but since Mandy could possibly be around Sunday, maybe we should do it that day. For people without plans the rest of the weekend, we could work up something else, but have the main festivity on Sunday. Thoughts??? As far as a place, it does seem that the cities is the most central location for everyone. Thoughts??

Happy Sunday! Share your thoughts!

My second trip to the ER

Some people find good fortune in their lives. One of mine is that I've only been to the Emergency Room twice and incidentally, they've both been with our beloved Elizabeth. A few weeks ago I received a call from our dear Elizabeth who sounded less than perky on the other end of the phone. "What's up?" I inquired. "Can you take me to the doctor?" I knew it was serious since it was a Sunday afternoon. Upon my arrival to the Damico apartment I found Elizabeth barely able to move because of tremendous pain she was experiencing. While we waited for her dad to arrive (we were both level-headed enough to realize Micaela shouldn't be left alone) we searched for a clinic/hospital to go to. We had enough time to discover which facility ranked well in terms of bedside service, food, and treatment. After weighing all the factors we drove to Fairview Riverside Hospital; I was glad to finally have a legimate reason to use the police lights that I previously purchased when they were selling of Chips memorabilia.



Since Elizabeth was born at Fairview Riverside they had all her information on file but that didn't mean she was excused from giving her symptoms and medical history at least 10 times to the professionals. Later when I reviewed the rankings of the hospitals, I discovered Fairview ranked low on efficiency of files - oh well.



After limited time in the waiting room across from a young girl who had her nose clothespinned shut, we were escorted to a room where Elizabeth was asked to lie in the bed that was directly in the center of the room - a true ER moment which would allow all staff to come rushing in at a moment's notice and get at every angle of her body. Fortunately such drastic measures were not required and the only person who came in was a good-looking resident, Dr. Galvez. After his intial leaving, Elizabeth turned to me and said, "Of course I would get the hot Latino doctor." Contrary to my first ER visit with Elizabeth, the doctors and nurses who assisted us did not provide as many funny comments. However, Dr. Galvez did say, "I'm putting my hands in hot water so that you will like my hands. Hopefully that will make it better." I had all I could do to not keep from busting my own gut in the corner, and fortunately Elizabeth and I could not make eye contact.



By now you may be wondering what kind of symptoms Elizabeth displayed. After describing what had been happening all afternoon and the location of her pain, they were convinced it was her gallbladder. Dr. Galvez said that sometimes he sees sludge - gross! Who wants to know they have sludge in their body?



After another period of waiting the long-haired, straight-talking (and almost equally attractive) doctor burst through the door saying he was the one actually in charge. "So you had one of those good weekend breakfasts and now you're in pain. Did you at least go somewhere good?" he asked. Elizabeth responded, "I went to the Dinkytowner." "So you went somewhere bad? That's not even worth it. If you woulda had coffee that would've taken care of it - try that next time." His comments may sound unsympathetic, but honestly he was funny and seemed to enjoy his job - especially when two funny ladies came in on a Sunday afternoon.



At this point in our ER visit it was determined necessary for an ultrasound to performed on Elizabeth. No, don't go there - Elizabeth was not having a pregnancy ultrasound! Hospital policy seemed to be that transportation of patients was either by bed or an extra wide wheelchair to the ultrasound area. Elizabeth chose the wheelchair option, and as we were escorted to the ultrasound area I'm pretty sure we were being escorted into a danger zone in order to be abandoned. Walking down a windy, unlevel, sterile white hallway past signs which read"Danger, do not enter" I wondered where we were going. The hallways were abandoned; the wheelchair driver said he didn't know where he was going. At this point I was suspicious that we were being led into a place beyond return and began to drop bread crumbs just in case we needed to escape and find our way back on our own.



In the ultrasound waiting room I found the perfect souvenir for Micaela - a Mickey Mouse and gang surgical mask. Hopefully she still has it because with this recent outbreak of the swine flu she may need it. I know the seventh commandment says you shouldn't steal, but in such instances I think it is okay.



After the ultrasound we were instructed to wait in the abandoned hallway for another wheelchair driver. I was glad that I did leave the bread crumbs because it took forever for someone to come and find us - I thought we were maybe left to fend for ourselves.



I must be honest and say at this point I was becoming a little antsy so that when we returned to our room for further waiting I turned on the TV. Since I do not have a TV I thought we could find something good using the hospital cable. I should have known better and when Dr. Galvez came back to report that the ultrasound was clear I couldn't figure out how to the turn the TV. When such a things happens to you, it is best to turn the volume down and pretend like everything is normal. When nurse Nancy arrived I confessed my inability to turn the TV off. Clearly it was a neglected apparatus because it refused to be turned off.

We left the hospital with a painkilling narcotic prescription and headed home. As I commented earlier, this ER visit wasn't nearly as funny as the first one. Maybe it was the absence of Many which made all the difference, or the fact that Elizabeth wasn't nearly as ill as the first experience. Regardless, I'm glad that my ER visits are not frequent and that when I get to go, I get to go with Elizabeth.

June availability

I'm available all weekends in June, except Jun 19-21 - it's family weekend with the extended Andersons and since I organized the weekend it would be poor form if I didn't show up.

June?

Hello friends-first of all, I would just like to say there has been a pathetic showing on the blog. I know people have babies, internships, new jobs, and just life in general to share...come on!

Second, I'm wondering about June. What weekends work for people? I have the same schedule every weekend in June with class until 3pm on Friday and church on Sunday (although maybe I could get a weekend off). The only weekend that will not work for me is June 26-28, but I think that's much later than we would look into.

So--cast your vote! What weekend are we getting together?!?!?!?!?! Even if you just post your available dates and nothing else, that would be good...it will take you 30 seconds...ready....GO! Love you all!

Catching up...

Wow, when you only go on-line like, once every 3 weeks, you miss a lot. I loved reading all the posts (Elizabeth, I know that only you are sophisticated and dignified enough to pull off the "toddler pee on the skirt" look). And, congratulations, Breanna! You have an extremely beautiful little girl! I hope you're enjoying motherhood! It's a wonderful, crazy adventure.

Things are very busy for us here. Addyson is keeping us busy and keeping us laughing. She's just starting to walk, so I've been doing some extra baby-proofing. Baby number 2 is also keeping me on my toes already. I was on a couple of days of bed-rest last week because of some pre-mature contractions, but after a couple of days of rest everything returned to normal.

My family is thankful the flooding in Fargo is under control. My dad was at work for 48 hours at a time during the height of the flood fight. He oversaw quite a few of the dike building projects. Ryan also spent a lot of time sandbagging; his work closed for the week so all employees could sandbag and he spent every day in Fargo or Moorhead for 9-10 hour shifts. The hospital and nursing home I work at took in evacuees from Eventide and MeritCare, so we were very busy as well. Finally, my whole family worked very hard to save my Uncle Jim's home; he lives on highway 75 south of Moorhead, and had water right up to the top of his sandbag dike, which was built to 42 feet. Things went well, though, and he only ended up with a little bit of water in his basement.

Well, I'm off to bed. We've been sleeping an average of 2 hours a night at our house for the past week, because Addy is getting 4 molars at one time. So, I'm going to take advantage of the quiet time while I can. Take care, everyone!

true story.

and now for another episode from "How the hell did I get here?"

Its 10:55am on Palm Sunday and I am doing the quick transfer of Micaela from Sunday School to the family she was going to sit with during worship. Micaela begins doing a sassy dance with her hips (which I proudly think is the start of her salsa career) when she yelps, "Mommy I have to go potty RIGHT NOW!" I pick her up, hussle in the bathroom and get her on the toilet in an impressive 38 seconds. I squat down in front of her to help hold her up and she sends her stream straight out at me! Now, the front of my denim skirt is covered in toddler pee! I yell, "Micaela!" nearly drop her in the toilet while trying to get out of the way and all while scare my poor, sensitive child. Then she chuckles quietly, "I peed on you."

I now have 3 minutes before church starts (we've sacrificed the prelude at this point) and begin the fun work of trying to get the stink out of my skirt and try to not look I just peed myself before walking across the front of the sanctuary to the piano. Luckily the wash of my skirt hid the wet pretty well, but not totally. Nobody said anything...they are all so nice.

a new class

Yesterday I started a new class entitled Worship and Ethics: Political Ethics which will have the overarching question of wondering what about the relationship between citizenship in Christ and citizenship in a nation state. Already I can tell it is going to be good, but the content is going to be powerful that I think I will feel the need to blog about it occasionally. Bear with me.

In our first class we watched a 2005 PBS documentary entitled The Question of Torture. Whoa! Talk about a powerful, disturbing, make your stomach sick and your heart hurt film. The film gave many interviews of people who were in charge of rewriting law that gave the President unprecedented power in times of war as well as exposing Rumsfeld's insistence to get information from 'terrorists' by any means necessary and Alberto Gonzales saying terrorism is an illegitimate act and terrorists shouldn't be guaranteed the rights from the Geneva Conventions Act.

As a person of faith, this is beyond troubling. It even goes beyond disturbing. Yet, how do we convince people that such heinous activities are simply not permissible and certainly not tolerable?

In a 2006 Christianity Today article, David Gushee gives five reasons why torture is always wrong.

1. "Torture violates the dignity of the human being"- Here he cites that all are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:28), and that bodily integrity has been an agreed upon right of all humans.
2. "Torture mistreats the vulnerable and violates the demands of justice"- injustice comes when we dominate the powerless (i.e. prisoners/detainees)
3. "Authorizing torture trusts government too much"-
4. "Torture dehumanizes the torturer"- I find this a highly provocative - in high stress situations does everyone finally have a breaking point?
5. "Torture erodes the character of the nation that tortures"- Here he says that nations have certain things which they can claim as their identity. Some things come and go (certain causes or threats) but one lasting impression is what can be said about the moral identity of a nation. What can be said about the U.S. which has allowed such actions to take place?

So there you have it. A few thoughts. If you want to read the articles that I read this week, here are the sites- neither one of them is very long.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=38136

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301303.html

photojournaling the weekend

Sarah came to visit Elizabeth and I this weekend which was really fun, and I decided that with all the recent picture activity on the blog we should also add to the excitement. Breanna, Karley is so damn cute! I showed the pictures to my mom today, and you can imagine how excited she was. She loves seeing all the pictures of the friends' children.

Anyway, on Friday night, after Sarah was arrived an hour later than expected due to road delays, we drank some red wine which I found to be quite good. It was Beauzeaux {bō-zō}, in case anyone is interested; it's a blend of five different grapes I believe.

Saturday morning came quickly as Sarah S. actually woke up at 7:30 AM! We had to get ready because we decided to go to the Mall of America to see the Easter Bunny, partake in face painting, the petting zoo, and general fun. Daniel, Katie, Isaiah, Matt and Anna joined us as well. While eating lunch our group got bigger because lo and behold Steve and Casey came because they were celebrating the birthday of one of Dustin and Emily Wirths' kids.

After an afternoon of relaxation and viewal of Knotting Hill, we started to think about how we were going to 'live-up' our Saturday night. While deciding where to go, Sarah made a spinach dip which all enjoyed (Note picture of Sarah and I enjoying the dip.)

A trip to Uptown was the answer to our Saturday night destination, and I decided that three glasses of wine before dinner would be a good idea. (Tip: If you know you're going out and don't want to drive, drink enough beforehand so that you are mildly inebriated and don't have to drive. That wasn't my original intent, but it worked:)

The authentic Pancho Villa restaurant was our destination and all who attended (Katie, Elizabeth, Sarah and myself) tried our hand at some Spanish. I tried to convince the waitress that it was supposed to be 2-for-1 margaritas, but she would not oblige. Needless to say we still had a good time. (Note picture below with Elizabeth and Katie having a good time)

Herkimer Pub and Brewery was our next stop in Uptown. Had Breanna been along we definitely would have gone to the Country Bar that was a few doors down, but we decided on the microbrewery. Elizabeth drank her white Russian like she was just coming out of being in the desert for weeks. She noted that drinking quickly through a straw is a good way to become intoxicated quickly. We thanked her for the reminder. I had a medium ale that was way too bitter which resulted in me not completely finishing my beer. (I know, Breanna, that's alcohol abuse.) Nonetheless, we had fun hanging out. (Note all of us having fun hanging out)

Future Roommates?

Breanna- 

  We are all so glad that everything turned out okay.  That must have been scary!  I'm sure your milk will come in soon and everything will get on track.  Karley is soooo cute!  Wow.   We'll be thinking of you as you get used to being a mom.  Its so great, isn't it?  Yet there is also a lot of weird body stuff that nobody ever talks about... :)  Hang in there!! :) 

   I thought it was funny when I saw your pictures today because Lauren has the same brown patterned onesie and of course, the same awesome hat.  So, I thought a posting of Karley's future roommate might be in order. :)

   I hope that everyone else is doing well.  Its hard not to think about Fargo/Moorhead, isn't it?  Annie decided to head home on Thursday night; after all that hard work of sandbaging, she got sort of freaked out by everything.  Turns out they closed campus shortly after she left anyway.  I hope it all holds together up there!  

    Anyway, have a nice weekend everyone!  

Life according to Breanna

Hi again,
So, we knew we were going to be induced on Monday, but we didn't tell anyone until we were on our way to the hospital on Monday morning. By the afternoon, we thought we would have a baby. WRONG! Instead, at about 4p.m. the doctor broke my water, and only then did the actual LABOR start. I was going to tough it out and go without drugs, but when I was checked at about 8p.m. and was told that I was still only dilated to 4, I got upset and felt like this was never going to end. The doctor said it could easily go into all hours of the night and that we should rest. Well, at about 9:30 or so, I decided I would never be able to rest unless I had some drugs. And, I thought as long as I was having drugs, I may as well get the good stuff. So, I had an epidural and it was FABULOUS...within minutes, I felt a lot better. I couldn't feel anything below my waist...weird. Then, since I was more comfortable, it was easier to rest. But, after only about an hour of having the epidural in, the nurse came to check and said...SURPRISE, it is time to push! I couldn't believe it. I had gone from 4-10 in like an hour. CRAZY. After only 40 minutes of pushing, we had our pretty little girl.

But...about a half hour after she was born, I started to feel terrible and the doctor started saying things like, "Get her some oxygen," "Call the blood bank," etc. I had no idea what was going on, but Chris had to take Karley and sit in the corner while all the docs and nurses paid attention to me and not them. It turns out that I had hemorraged...lost lots and lots of blood in a short time. But, they did not have to give me any extra blood, my blood pressure came back up shortly, and things turned out to be just fine. I am sure it was much scarier for Chris than it was for me. The downside of all of this, is that it just makes recovery a little longer since I need to heal myself before I can take care of a baby. So, my milk has not come in yet, which is frustrating.

Otherwise, Chris has been amazing. He hardly left my side while we were at the hospital. I had to make him go get food...he did not want to leave us...cute. He has also been SUPER helpful since he has to help me supplement feedings and stuff he has had to be up each time I get up. Plus, yesterday, he gave me lots of nap time because I needed it!

Overall...life is good. This is a crazy transition, but it is well worth it!
Here are a few new pictures...

Love,
Breanna

It's a GIRL!

Hello friends!
I will just share our exciting news quickly...we had a beautiful baby girl with a ton of hair at 12:31 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24th! Her name is Karley LouAnn (mixture of Glenda and my mom's middle names). We love her a lot and are having fun getting to know her. We just got home today, but I will put up some pictures later. I actually don't have many pictures yet. She was 8 lbs. 2 ounces and 21 inches long. There were some complications after delivery with me, but I am ok now. Fill you in more later.
Love you all!
Breanna

Bummer

I was already to post on one of our member's exciting news until I read Elizabeth's post and said it's not our news to share. Bummer! I guess I can wait until the member is able to share and I won't spill the beans. I guess it gives me all the more time to come up with something good in response to her post.

Unlike Elizabeth, I don't have such exciting news to report. School, school, school. Although in a couple weeks I will find out where my internship will be next year. The group is deciding this week and I've been really antsy to find out. I simply hope I get one of my top three selections in which case I will welcome visitors to either NH, CO, or AZ.

In other news, my mom was awarded a study seminar to Cambridge, England this summer to study the American Civil Rights Movement. I'm really proud of her as it was a competitive program and to be awarded is highly admirable. She thinks I should come over either before or after her seminar to travel with her, so I am heavily considering that.

Alright, I've got to be to work shortly and I'm not even ready. I'm looking forward to Sarah Schreier going to visit this weekend! Yippee!!

stupid red river...

Hello bloggers! Well, I'm frequently checking the EGF newspaper site and the river levels...all I need is incredibly sore muscles and I feel like its 1997 (or 2001) all over again! I can't help but worry about my Dad's house and my beautiful piano that is sitting in it. 1997 flood took the grand piano (Steinway 1924) that my mom left me, and my dad replaced it with the piano that is in his house now. It would be tragic to have that damn river destroy 2 pianos. We'll see! The Grand cities are in much better shape than our beloved F-M area...but this blizzard is not helping things!

On a positive note--MICAELA IS POTTY TRAINING! It started Sunday night with great success, yesterday and today she's been accident free!!!! She was a little late blooming on this development and I started to think it would never happen! But, our recent trip up north and a few too many leaky diapers made us both ready to really commit to it. And I'm glad I didn't push it (too much!) before because its really been no big deal. She even said tonight, "I'm going to go by myself and close the door...because its a private thing" she may have heard that from me :) Micaela also got a hair cut tonight (see picture)

2 other pieces of news--1) April 8th I will become a Damico again! Assuming the judge is nice and grants this...so remember us in your prayers that day! 2) I've decided to attempt to add the Master of Sacred Music onto my studies here! I've been thinking about it all year, and there is a window of opportunity so I'm going to jump through it. I still have to audition and they could turn me down...so its no for sure thing, but it makes me pretty damn excited about next year. Just in case you're wondering-it means being on Luther's campus for the next 2 years, and then I would go to internship.

I'm so thrilled about the newest addition to our clan...however, its not my news to share, so I won't, but I can't not mention it because I'm REALLY EXCITED :)

Ok-I have a 10 minute oral report to prepare for...which is due in 13 hours, which I haven't started. I'm such a good student! Hugs to you all! :)

Awesome video!

I love the video! It made me smile. And, holy cow, does Lauren look like her big sister! It's so hard to believe she's that big already!

I also just wanted to say that even though I don't "blog" very often, I love catching up on what's going on in everyone's lives. It really makes me smile to read what everyone posts, and thank you, everyone for that!

Those of you who are on facebook, I just posted pictures of Addyson's 1st birthday. It's so hard to believe that she's 1 already. It's been the most tiring, exciting, and amazing year of my life!

Have a good night, everyone!

look at this!