On Monday I (Rachel) spoke on the topic of Spiritual Friendship at Renaissance. It was my first time being back at our main weekly gathering since pregnancy. It was sort of crazy finding time to prepare for the talk, but old notes helped streamline the process. I’m glad I got to do it! There’s something unique about our Renaissance meetings that we’ve recently discovered- it’s the only Christian ministry meeting at UVM where worship through singing happens as a formal aspect of the meeting. This definitely makes us special in what Chi Alpha offers to both Christians and non-Christians alike at UVM!
This was my (Rachel’s) first week back at work with Chi Alpha since Jaeda’s birth. Besides attending the New England/New York winter retreat over the February 14 weekend (Jaeda was 5 weeks old) and the AG Sectional meeting for the Northwest NNED (Jaeda was 7 weeks old), I’ve been spending all my time adjusting to life with a baby. My first step was to figure out how to maintain personal hygiene while caring for a newborn:-). There were definitely days when I didn’t shower or brush my teeth. Next was exercise. Jaeda is learning to like walks with mommy in the Kelty carrier that friends let us borrow. Also, I started taking Jaeda on personal errands like shopping. Jaeda is still deciding whether or not she likes the car seat. Overall, the last 10 weeks have been a crash course in caring for a newborn!
At the advice of our Breastfeeding class instructor, Joe and I waited until 6 weeks to introduce the bottle to Jaeda. And, so far, Joe has only been able to feed Jaeda 1.5 ounces of milk in one sitting. At Jaeda’s 2 month check up, we told our pediatrician about this, and she said we should have started the bottle sooner- like at 4 weeks. Oh well!
Jaeda’s feeding preferences have affected my ability to work. So, I’m on a graduated work re-entry plan. For the rest of the semester, I’m attending our women’s small group and have blocked out a couple of hours for administration and meeting with students. The women’s small group started this semester and 2 students are facilitating. Neither student has ever facilitated a small group, so I’m very grateful that they wanted to do this! I still love campus ministry and seriously enjoy spending time with college students, although the challenge now is learning how to be a working mom.
It was a beautiful day in Burlington. The sun was out, the weather was in the 40’s, and much of the snow had melted. It almost seemed as if spring-like weather had arrived to Vermont. But, after having lived through a spring in Vermont, it is likely to take another four to six weeks for days like this one to stick around. This is good news for spring skiers like my neighbor Hollis, who is counting on the weather predictions that snow will be back soon. And, after a day like this one, I can tolerate a few more weeks of cold weather.
Joe, Jaeda, and I took advantage of the day and strolled down to Church Street, where many people were out and about. UVM is on spring break so there weren’t any college students around, but there were lots of families. We decided to cash in some Ben & Jerry’s coupons for some free ice cream to commemorate Jaeda’s first stroll to church street. Jaeda slept through it all.
Jaeda just turned 2 months old yesterday! She is now sleeping 4 to 5 hour stretches at night starting at midnight until 10am, with naps throughout the rest of the day. She has started smiling and “talking.” Her favorite activities include having her diaper changed (she smiles the most while we’re changing her diaper), looking this way and that as she’s being carried in a face forward position, and holding her stuffed ducky and sucking on it’s beak while lying on her back. She is a delight!
On January 7, 2009, we met the newest member of our family… our new daughter Jaeda! She was born at 1:07am weighing 8 pounds even. Rachel and Jaeda are both doing very well.
For those of you who’ve been checking to see if there are any new occurrences in baby land, we are still eagerly awaiting the birth of our baby girl. She was due on December 28th, but is choosing to be fashionably late. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.
Well, I think I’ve lost count of what week we’re on here at UVM. Classes end this Thursday, and we’ve got a couple of Christmas gatherings planned. This Monday we’ll have a Christmas gathering at Renaissance. Then, on Friday, December 12 we’ll have a campus wide Red Neck “Chrismus” Party in the Student Union. I recently overheard some students joking that December 12 is the last day to get wasted before exams. We hope that our party will provide a good alternative for having fun without binge drinking. Community Bible Church in South Burlington, VT has donated $100 that will go towards purchasing an Ipod for a raffle prize at this event.
Yesterday night Joe was encouraged by a conversation he had with some of the freshmen guys in Chi Alpha. They were commenting on what has taken place in their lives over the course of the semester. One person said that he’s now able to identify himself as a Christian, whereas at the beginning of the semester he was really wrestling with his beliefs. Another said that he’s been more open about his Christianity than ever before. This is good news for us as we also spend time reflecting on Chi Alpha’s first semester at UVM, and what the next step will be in our group development.
