Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Olivia June Daman
We are so pleased to announce the birth of our firstborn -- a beautiful baby girl! We named her Olivia June Daman in honor of our grandmothers. Both of Nate's grandmothers' first names were Olive, and Caroline's maternal grandmother's name is June. She was born at 8AM weighing 8 lbs. 4 1/2 oz. and is 21 inches and growing. Both mother and baby are doing well.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
THON 2010
So Caroline and I went to THON today. We weren't there long. Our friends Greg and Lacey were in town, and we went with them. Greg was a THON dancer back in the day when he was a sophomore at Penn State. They are now on staff with The Navigators in Maryland.THON was nuts. So inspiring to see college students organize an event like this to help families who have kids with cancer.
You can learn more about THON at thon.org.
Only three more days until Baby Daman arrives!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
C-Section Scheduled
Well, we are 99% sure that our baby girl will be born on or before February 23!
Last Tuesday, Caroline and I went in for a routine check up on the baby and learned that our baby girl is in a breech position. On Thursday, we went in for a procedure known as an external cephalic version where the doctor literally tries to push and prod on a baby to get it to roll over in the womb. It was pretty nuts. It did not look comfortable at all, as the doctor was pushing on Caroline's belly pretty forcibly, but she did great. The doc was unsuccessful, though, in encouraging our baby to do a somersault, so we're scheduled to a C-section on February 23rd. If Caroline goes into labor, it could happen sooner.
We're still kinda stuck on what name to give her, so if you think of it, you could pray we come up with something to call her other than Baby Daman. :) As good of a name as "Baby" is, or "Babygirl" (as we've been calling her) we'd like to come up with one that she can grow up with. We've got a couple names on the table, but we're not 100% sold on any of them.
One of my friends, a freshmen at Penn State, was also a breech baby. His name is Dane, and he thinks it would be great if we named our girl Dana. I like it, but I don't know if Dana Daman would fly. That's a lot of 'd's and 'a's and 'n's. Another name we really like would give our girl the initials OCD, and I don't know that we can, in good conscience, give her that sort of label from infancy. That might be cruel.
Anyway, if you have suggestions, send them our way. Hope you all had a good Groundhog's Day. I guess Punxsutawney Phil is forecasting more winter. It snowed a bit yesterday and this morning, but didn't really amount to much.
And finally, a few pictures of our nursery (not "finished" but very close):
Last Tuesday, Caroline and I went in for a routine check up on the baby and learned that our baby girl is in a breech position. On Thursday, we went in for a procedure known as an external cephalic version where the doctor literally tries to push and prod on a baby to get it to roll over in the womb. It was pretty nuts. It did not look comfortable at all, as the doctor was pushing on Caroline's belly pretty forcibly, but she did great. The doc was unsuccessful, though, in encouraging our baby to do a somersault, so we're scheduled to a C-section on February 23rd. If Caroline goes into labor, it could happen sooner.
We're still kinda stuck on what name to give her, so if you think of it, you could pray we come up with something to call her other than Baby Daman. :) As good of a name as "Baby" is, or "Babygirl" (as we've been calling her) we'd like to come up with one that she can grow up with. We've got a couple names on the table, but we're not 100% sold on any of them.
One of my friends, a freshmen at Penn State, was also a breech baby. His name is Dane, and he thinks it would be great if we named our girl Dana. I like it, but I don't know if Dana Daman would fly. That's a lot of 'd's and 'a's and 'n's. Another name we really like would give our girl the initials OCD, and I don't know that we can, in good conscience, give her that sort of label from infancy. That might be cruel.
Anyway, if you have suggestions, send them our way. Hope you all had a good Groundhog's Day. I guess Punxsutawney Phil is forecasting more winter. It snowed a bit yesterday and this morning, but didn't really amount to much.
And finally, a few pictures of our nursery (not "finished" but very close):
Thursday, January 21, 2010
One Month to Go...
Well, Caroline's due date is exactly one month from now!
I thought I'd take a picture of my beautiful pregnant wife to go along with this post. As I did, I told her, "Pretend you're cooking," to which she replied, "Do you want me to take off my shoes, too?" Nice.
The IBDs last night went well! Thanks for praying! I didn't really think that Caroline doing an IBD at this stage in her pregnancy was such a great idea, but seven women came out! Actually, between the two half-hour IBDs I did, we had seven guys as well-- so seven guys and seven girls! I have no idea how many of these people have ever read the Bible in a small group before. Perhaps several of them have, but what a blast! We're hoping we can continue to get to know these people better over the next weeks and months. Please pray that we have the capacity to invest well into these relationships. These people are precious to God. Please pray they feel valued and don't feel like someone's pet project.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
IBD
Investigative Bible Discussions
If any of you have talked to Nate the last few months about ministry, you have heard him talk about the guys of "Tener 9" - freshmen guys Nate has gotten to know since September. Last semester he threw a pizza party to meet more of the guys on the floor and followed up with spiritual interest surveys. Tonight he will meet with those interested to look at the bible- specifically the story of the prodigal son. Since there was so much interest and smaller groups are better, he will actually do two of these groups back to back. The heart is for God's word to go out amongst those who don't know him yet.
I have been meeting with a freshman woman this fall who has a heart to reach the women on her floor. Last night we asked a bunch of them to join us tonight at 9 to look at the book of John. Again, with the heart of sharing the gospel with them.
Please pray for both of us as we facilitate these times of bible discussion among non-believers. Pray that hearts would be soft to hear God's Word. And for relationships to be established more than anything.
And just a quick baby update- she is coming! Well, in the next five weeks. I feel VERY pregnant! We got our car seat yesterday so now we are legal to bring her home from the hospital:) Though we still aren't quite ready to be parents yet- you can pray for that too if you think of it:) Though I suppose you don't ever feel ready... :)
If any of you have talked to Nate the last few months about ministry, you have heard him talk about the guys of "Tener 9" - freshmen guys Nate has gotten to know since September. Last semester he threw a pizza party to meet more of the guys on the floor and followed up with spiritual interest surveys. Tonight he will meet with those interested to look at the bible- specifically the story of the prodigal son. Since there was so much interest and smaller groups are better, he will actually do two of these groups back to back. The heart is for God's word to go out amongst those who don't know him yet.
I have been meeting with a freshman woman this fall who has a heart to reach the women on her floor. Last night we asked a bunch of them to join us tonight at 9 to look at the book of John. Again, with the heart of sharing the gospel with them.
Please pray for both of us as we facilitate these times of bible discussion among non-believers. Pray that hearts would be soft to hear God's Word. And for relationships to be established more than anything.
And just a quick baby update- she is coming! Well, in the next five weeks. I feel VERY pregnant! We got our car seat yesterday so now we are legal to bring her home from the hospital:) Though we still aren't quite ready to be parents yet- you can pray for that too if you think of it:) Though I suppose you don't ever feel ready... :)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Sandy Cove and the New Year...
After spending almost 3 weeks in MA we headed back to PA. We were sad to say goodbye to MA as we don't know exactly when we will be back- we have to figure out the whole traveling with a baby thing- but hopefully sometime this summer:) But we were glad to sleep in our own bed again! And to get ready for the semester- classes start again on Monday!
On our way back we stopped in Hazelton PA to ring in the New Year with Nate's College friends and their wives/families. Ryan has connections to a great house with LOTS of bedrooms. We can see this becoming a tradition, even as our families continue to grow in years to come.
Last Friday we made it back to our own home, back in State College. We spent a lot of the week organizing and unpacking all the baby gear we have already received so generously from all of you! We will post pics once its gets a bit more set up- but you can picture light yellow walls and lots of pink:)
On Tuesday we actually headed out again for a two night get away. We first headed to Wilmington DE where I grew up from age 5-15 to see my best friend Kimmy who got engaged over Christmas- yea! We had lunch with her and I got to see her try on wedding dresses- very fun for Caroline. Nate had a good time at Starbucks:)
For dinner we visited friends from Camp Sandy Cove- Stu and Richel. They are parents to a 4 month old and 2 year old. I think they tried to scare us with real parenting stories... They didn't have to say much for us to continue to look to the future with excitement and trepidation. Its hard to believe how soon our little girl will be joining us!!! And how she will dramatically change our lives!!!
Then we headed to Sandy Cove- where we got to see the beautiful sunset Nate posted photos of. If anyone knows my Mom, they know of her love of this place. My family has gone to the conference center for family weeks since 1989. This is also where I went to camp and worked as a counselor and most recently as Registrar when Nate and I got engaged. My mom had a gift certificate for two free nights that we were able to use for a "Baby- Moon." We had a great time reading, reflecting, playing and EATING. They served made to order omelets for breakfast and we had dinner at Woody's- a great crab restaurant in town. It was really nice to be away together without the distractions even our home brings- such as TV. Thanks Mom!
Now we are back in PA- still trying to finish the lower floor of our duplex- moving my "office" into the laundry room from the nursery so I won't share with baby girl... and getting ready for the students to come back! Classes start on Monday and we start with staff meeting that morning...
I also want to report our Gratefulness to everyone who has given to our ministry financially this last month especially, as well as this year- God is certainly providing for our needs through so many of you- THANK YOU!!!
On our way back we stopped in Hazelton PA to ring in the New Year with Nate's College friends and their wives/families. Ryan has connections to a great house with LOTS of bedrooms. We can see this becoming a tradition, even as our families continue to grow in years to come.
Last Friday we made it back to our own home, back in State College. We spent a lot of the week organizing and unpacking all the baby gear we have already received so generously from all of you! We will post pics once its gets a bit more set up- but you can picture light yellow walls and lots of pink:)
On Tuesday we actually headed out again for a two night get away. We first headed to Wilmington DE where I grew up from age 5-15 to see my best friend Kimmy who got engaged over Christmas- yea! We had lunch with her and I got to see her try on wedding dresses- very fun for Caroline. Nate had a good time at Starbucks:)
For dinner we visited friends from Camp Sandy Cove- Stu and Richel. They are parents to a 4 month old and 2 year old. I think they tried to scare us with real parenting stories... They didn't have to say much for us to continue to look to the future with excitement and trepidation. Its hard to believe how soon our little girl will be joining us!!! And how she will dramatically change our lives!!!
Then we headed to Sandy Cove- where we got to see the beautiful sunset Nate posted photos of. If anyone knows my Mom, they know of her love of this place. My family has gone to the conference center for family weeks since 1989. This is also where I went to camp and worked as a counselor and most recently as Registrar when Nate and I got engaged. My mom had a gift certificate for two free nights that we were able to use for a "Baby- Moon." We had a great time reading, reflecting, playing and EATING. They served made to order omelets for breakfast and we had dinner at Woody's- a great crab restaurant in town. It was really nice to be away together without the distractions even our home brings- such as TV. Thanks Mom!
Now we are back in PA- still trying to finish the lower floor of our duplex- moving my "office" into the laundry room from the nursery so I won't share with baby girl... and getting ready for the students to come back! Classes start on Monday and we start with staff meeting that morning...
I also want to report our Gratefulness to everyone who has given to our ministry financially this last month especially, as well as this year- God is certainly providing for our needs through so many of you- THANK YOU!!!
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