Life with the Rogers
My life in the tundra with 3 dogs and a manArchive for family
Turtle not Hamburger
The girls in my small group refer to the odd ultrasound images of baby genitalia as looking either like a turtle or a hamburger for, respectively, boy or girl parts. Hence the title for this blog post. If you think about it, it’s a much nicer way of refering to the very different parts we all have, ahem, ‘down there’.
We visited the ultrasound technician yesterday (YAH!) for the long awaited ‘unveiling’ of the little peanut to see what kind he would be. And, yes, it is a ‘he’. Now I won’t ever feel guilty for referring to it as a he and not a she. As Josh put it, I don’t think any technician has ever seen a grown man cry before when seeing that it was, indeed, a boy. On the other hand, i don’t know who can see your little baby swim around and not get teary-eyed. I know i was mopping up my cheeks while staring at this little face on the monitor.
How amazing. I’m so excited!
baby’s first picture
Ok, so i’m beginning the journey. Since Deb suggested i write about it, here goes. For posterity.
Thus far it hasn’t been the romantic, ‘ah…a new life is growing inside me’ thing that i thought it would be. Well, not entirely. Aside from the morning sickness that is NOT morning at all it is beginning to be a bit wondrous. We went to the first doctor’s visit last week and got our first picture. The heart was beating (hence flash of light flickering) and the little peanut was swimming around. I’ll admit, it was much more amazing than i would have thought, if i had thought of it at all. I knew that we would get a picture, but what does that mean? I mean, i never thought, oh, so we’ll get to see the little peanut for the first time or anything.
Here ‘he’ is. Yes, i know, it may very well be a girl, but, oddly enough, i think of it as male in nature. Or little Mortimer, if you will. 
Note the notes. For reference. For those of you without medically trained sonogramific eyes.
Wine Country, USA
I just got back from my trip out west with my two sisters on Tuesday. It was my first trip to the Pacific ocean (which i didn’t actually get to set foot in). Both of my sisters went to San Fran which was a surprise since i was only expecting one of them to be there. Deb and I walked into the rental car office and i turn and see Kristin standing there…very weird feeling…i saw her and it didn’t phase me at first. I actually thought to myself- oh look, there’s Kristin - until it hit me that she’s not supposed to be in CA but in GA! Very cool surprise.
We drove along the coast by Monterrey and Big Sur on Saturday, visited with my aunt and uncle in Los Gatos Saturday night, went to wine country Sunday, and San Francisco Monday. So much fun! We also hung out with Deb’s friend, Nancy, whom we stayed with on Friday night (and our whole stay in CA). Very very fun night with the girls, some bottles of vino, and a dog named Atticus.
Some pics of our trip:
Along the coast near Monterrey Bay
Unti Vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley (Sonoma County, CA)
Who needs to go to Italy to get wine?!
One of the little sea lions from Pier 39 in San Fran
the 3 chicks
My Grandfather WED 3/29 UPDATE
I know that is has been a week since the last update posted, but work has been crazy (its payroll week) and then I caught a nasty cold virus that I am getting over now. Anyway, my granddad will probably be moving to a nursing home later this week and will begin some kind of rehab for the stroke. The doctors don’t really think he is improving, but we (and the nurses) notice some responsiveness in him.
He had pneumonia as I think I’ve mentioned and also developed diabetes because of some complications. He has been moved down a step from thee ICU so that is good news. I’m not entirely upbeat with this update because we are still facing some difficult decisions that we don’t want to make regarding feeding tubes, etc if he doesn’t continue to improve. On the whole, though, everything isn’t as scary as it was before.
It was great to have my family from PA come down during all of this. I am convinced that we as a family can get through anything if we are together. My older sis, Deb, is in Peru still until April 1st, and may be planning to come down as well after she returns from that trip.
Thank you all again for your prayers for sustaining us as a family and for your healing prayers for my granddad. They are felt and appreciated. Love you all!
My Grandfather WED UPDATE
Hey out there…
As some of you know, I am updating some people about the status of my granddad…he is in the hospital now because of a stroke and subsequent heart attack. From now on I will update from here so check back as there won’t be anymore emails sent.
UPDATE
Everyone,
I know some people have been asking for another update, so here goes:
Thank you thank you thank you for all your prayers and food.
Today, Wednesday, marks the first full day off the ventilator and he isn’t even using the oxygen mask anymore. He is very alert and held my hand for a long time yesterday during the worst of the “weaning” off the breathing machine. His heart is still a problem, but we know that God’s will will be done in all of this. There is the problem of the decision to insert a feeding tube tomorrow, so please pray for that. As always, we have been praying that God would make it VERY clear what will happen in the next few days. My mom and my uncles do not want to have to make a difficult decision without full peace and clarity from God that it is His will. Whatever that means.
Also much praise to Him that my uncle and aunt (and his 8 kids) could come down and be with here with us during this time. Yesterday with the whole family was such a blessing, we just realize how wealthy my Granddad really is for having such a wonderful family who loves the Lord. What riches!
Thanks again, and hope the update helps.
Joanna
My Grandfather SUN UPDATE
Hey out there…
As some of you know, I am updating some people about the status of my granddad…he is in the hospital now because of a stroke and subsequent heart attack. From now on I will update from here so check back as there won’t be anymore emails sent.
UPDATE
Thank you everyone for your prayers. My granddad is in stable-ish condition, although he does have pnemonia. My uncle and co. are driving in from PA tomorrow - pray for their safety - to say goodbye. Right now we are praying that God takes him quickly and not drawn out as we don’t want him to suffer. Thank God for such wonderful friends as they are providing us with food and prayers.
Joanna
My Grandfather SAT UPDATE
Hey out there…
As some of you know, I am updating some people about the status of my granddad…he is in the hospital now because of a stroke and subsequent heart attack. From now on I will update from here so check back as there won’t be anymore emails sent.
I just wanted to give everyone an update about my grandfather (my mom’s dad). Some of you may or may not know that he suffered a massive stroke on Thursday morning and was brought to the hospital near my parents home. He was not very responsive, although he was (we think) responsive to us as a family and even joked with us a little bit on Thursday and even more on Friday afternoon. However, on Friday evening just after Josh and I got there he had a lot of trouble breathing and it turns out his lungs were filling with fluid. He was then moved to the ICU and there we found out that he was in the middle of a massive heart attack. We were told that he may not make it through the night so we stayed there until very late, even bringing in my grandmother to say goodbye. He did make it through the night, but the doctor believes that he will contract pneumonia which might be merciful.
Please pray for us as a family that we will know in a very clear way what the Lord wills in all of this. There are very difficult decisions that my mom and uncles will have to make regarding all the complications that will occur in the next few hours and possibly days.
Please pray for my family, for peace and comfort. We know that we will see him again in heaven and that of course is worth more than anything to know that. We don’t want any suffering and it is so hard to imagine that someone you love could be suffering like this. Please pray that we all will just concentrate on the peace that God has promised us in all of this. It is so easy to lose sight of that.
I was very close to my grandfather, having grown up with him in the house for most of my life. Our whole family is very close. Please also pray for my sister as she is on a trip to Peru right now and will be unreachable for several days, although she is aware of what happened yesterday. Please pray for my grandmother, for her to have peace and be comforted. Last night she was more comforting for us but I know that it hasn’t hit her yet.
I know this is long, but all of this is just very much on my heart right now and I wanted to share it with you. Thank you for your prayers.
Joanna
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own…
…you need a little help from your sis. Last weekend I went up to the Big Apple to help Deb pack some of her things since she’s moving to the ‘burbs. She didn’t really need to give me an incentive to come help her, but the SWEET U2 tickets that she had just lying around didn’t hurt. We had decent seats, I mean they weren’t second row or general admission, but neither were they so far back that the band members were the size of peanuts when you looked down. They were decent. I had a BLAST of course, as anyone who knows me, knows that I *almost* idolize them. I said almost! Anyway, I went with Deb and she was also the happy owner of 4 sets of tickets so that she ended up going to 4 different shows.
I guess she can make it on her own.
I have to say, though, that she had some FANTASTIC seats, as they weren’t seats at all. She got to go on Tuesday night as General Admission which, of course, is the Floor. The Floor, ladies and gentlemen, is the place where all your concert-dreams come true. The Floor is where you can get there early and get in line to get a good place in the arena and not just depend on your place in the queue at Ticketmaster for a good seat. The Floor is where you could maybe, quite possibly, on the off chance, have Bono choose YOU out of the masses to go up on stage with him and…dance. Dance with your head on his shoulder (have to admit, a little weird) and sway to With or Without You. ah, the Floor. She said it felt like it was a intimate concert in some small venue and that Bono was singing directly to her crowd. She said that it was everything she thought it would be. And she’ll never go back.
sigh.
My other sister and I are going to the Atlanta show in November. In the nose bleeds. Section 300 something. Sigh, again. Still, with all the energy output from a crowd screaming and singing at the top of their lungs, 20,000 strong, it will still be an eventful evening. It always is.
These pics are some that Deb took with her camera phone, as she was about 3 ft away from the outer ring of the stage. Cheers, Deb.
