July Part I - Utah.

July was a month of visiting and being visited by family. We took Hannah on her first extended road trip, which means it took us 24 hours to drive to Utah, as opposed to our usual 18! To be fair, it wasn't only Hannah's fault we had to stop so much. I was in the clutches of first trimester nausea, and embraced every rest stop like it was heaven on earth. During our short few days in Utah we went to Hans' family reunion, where Grandma Hansen celebrated her 91st birthday! This was our first family reunion since Grandpa passed away a year before, and I have to admit there was a melancholy feeling of missing him among the family, and many wondered how Grandma was faring without him. It's obvious she would rather be with her sweetheart than here on earth with us, but even she couldn't help smiling as her hundred some-odd posterity sang "Grandma, I Love You" in the midst of the beautiful Utah mountains.

While in Utah we stayed with our good friends Rick and Aileena, who we met in Japan, and their sweet little girl Audrey. Hannah loved how little and cute Audrey was, and they played together nicely. I miss those guys so much, and can't wait for another chance to see them. So here's what July looked like:

Our fearless leader drives across the Western plains of Kansas. Probably the most boring scenery you'll ever see.

 Hannah looked like this most of the time.

 Tending to a killer tension headache with a heating pad. So glad we had the A/C adapter to do this.

One of our desperate rest stops was at the "Tallest prairie dog in the world" zoo, full of really sad, dirty animals, including "muntant" chickens (that's how the sign was spelled. I renamed them "mutant mutant chickens") and three legged cattle. I'll save you from the grotesqueries and leave you with this. Yup. That's it. The tallest prairie dog in the world, standing in the dusty, 106 degree heat of Hayes Kansas. Totally worth the $5 admission. 

We finally made it to Utah, and Hans water skied to his little boy heart's content on the Deer Creek Reservoir. I'm impressed his form is still so good! Grandpa taught him well.

Meanwhile, I spent some quality time with Rick and Aileena's sweet little sprite, Audrey-Camille.

. . . and Hannah traveled the foreign land of Utah in Style.

We drove over a thousand miles for this photo. Again, worth it.

 Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren wish Grandma a happy birthday.

. . . followed by some muddy fun in the creek. :)

Hans and his cousins have a longstanding tradition of building a dam to create a swimming hole in the creek. Good work, boys!

Some of our favorite people, Rick and Aileena. Thanks for letting us crash at your place!

 . . . and just like that, we were on our way back, this time with Uncle Jed as an extra driver, which shaved a good 6 hours off the drive. Here is Hannah, fervently reminding him NOT to poop his pants in the car.

Tomorrow will be July part 2 - where the visitors come to us (yippee!).

What happened in June

June was momentous. Not only did I audition for and get the part of Cinderella in our summer community theater production (more on that later), but I found out I was pregnant with our second child! Actually, I found out about both on the same night, so needless to say it was difficult getting to sleep that night. I was worried about how I would keep up with the rigorous demands of playing a lead role if I wasn't feeling so hot, but luckily this pregnancy has been pretty easy breezy so far. We are having a boy in February. More on that later, too. :) Here's what the rest of June looked like:

We went strawberry picking with Kerri and Golden and picked about 4 lbs of strawberries! Hannah probably also ate a pound, as none of the berries she picked made it into the basket.

I figured the best way to use them all up was to make puree. So I started stemming, stemming, stemming . . .

 We made the best popsicles and sorbet EVER, but I couldn't find my photo of the sorbet. It didn't last long.

 We also made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry butter cream on top. They were as divine as they look.

Hannah acquired some new skills. Woodworking, for instance. She worked hard in Home Depot's kids workshop to make a cell phone caddy for Father's Day

She also learned how to paddle around Aunt Amy's swimming pool in floaties and a life vest, which made pool time infinitely more fun for all of us!

Lots of Daddy-daughter time was spent in the hammock. :)

And I finally caught the thrifting/garage saling bug. Leavenworth has phenomenal thrift stores and yard sales. This was one of my first exciting finds - a handmade train table, complete with tracks and trains, for $35. The best part is the legs fold under, so you can slide it under a bed for storage, if needed.

  

 We had a couple fun encounters with our Kansas state reptile this summer, including this one we rescued from the highway. If you're a parent, you'll understand why this event deserves three photos. 

 Setting him free for new adventures.

Be safe, little thrill seeker!

Thanks to Uncle Pete's mad negotiating skills, the best slip 'n' slide ever was procured from a local construction company that was downsizing. With a little dish soap and water, those kids were flying down the hill at record speed. Luckily there were giant bales of sod to stop them from hitting the barbed wire fence at the bottom.

And we continued to eat well, getting a large portion of Jed and Amy's swiss chard overload. I love Hannah's face in this picture. "Swiss chard? Again?"

Growing a fetus, playing a princess, rescuing turtles . . . that about wraps up June! We did quite a bit of fun crafting over the summer, but I'll post about those in an all-craft post! Stay tuned!

I'm back! (May edition)

At least I think I'm back. It's been 6 months since I've posted here, and the longer I've waited, the more intimidating "the update" has felt. So this is going to be a gloriously messy whirlwind of a journey. Our lives have changed considerably in the past 6 months, and all for the better! We are all happy, healthy, productive, and (finally) on our way to finding our niche here in Kansas again. It has taken us almost 2 years to acclimate after our time in Japan, but we're finally there. I'm thinking a photo journal is the quickest way for me to get it all out in an efficient way, hopefully with one post per month missed (some months were more eventful than others, and may require multiple posts). So here's what May looked like!

We spent a lot of time supporting our local farmers (two of which happen to be Hans' brother Jed and his wife Amy) at the farmer's market.

Their greens were heavenly, and kept us well fed through the early summer months. 

I developed a love for green smoothies (blended fruits and green vegetables - you must try it if you never have before!). I even tried out a 4 week cleanse that only ended up lasting about two, because of some news I discovered around that time. :)

 

This is what a lot of our meals looked like. Looking back, I wish we still had access to all those garden fresh vegetables now!

  

 Hannah learned all about farming from her cousin Golden. Here they are enjoying popsicles while communing with the chickens.

 

She still knew how to glam it up, though, when the time was right. :)This is her right before our family photos.

  

Here's Hans on his first day of work as an emergency 911 dispatcher. We sure are proud of him.

  

And here he is with his team on his last day of soccer. He decided this would be his last season after his own rib injury, his team captain tearing his ACL, one guy breaking a leg, and one guy losing his front teeth from a run in with the goalie box. I'd say it was a wise decision.

He also had the chance to volunteer with his brother and father in Joplin, MO after the devastation of the tornado. Here are some heart rending photos from their time there.

That's all for today. Stay tuned for June. It was an exciting month!

Hans: manager of disasters

Hans, Hannah and I moved back to the US almost a year and a half ago after teaching English in Japan for 3 years. In some aspects Japan was kinder to us than our homeland ever was. For the first time in our marriage we were both working full time, and pulling ourselves out of debt rather than falling further in. Japan also gave us the best health care we'd had since getting married, and consequently we decided to have Hannah while we were there. We met some of the kindest, most loving and selfless people we've ever encountered - Megumi and Miwako (whose affectionately given  nicknames are "Baba" and "Wakan") - who helped us through the toughest aspects of living and giving birth in Japan. If not for them we probably wouldn't have stayed as long as we did, but life has a funny way of connecting us with the people we need in order to thrive in our circumstances.

Other aspects of our life in those 3 years were not so kind to us, and our homecoming wasn't as triumphant and momentous as most would have liked it to be. With broken spirits and a rather bruised relationship, we felt truly lost coming back to Kansas. On top of it all, America's economy was grim at best, and finding employment would prove to be a long and arduous journey. Hans had begun online graduate work in Emergency Management while in Japan, and upon our return tried for months to schedule a meeting with Leavenworth's Emergency Manager to see if there was some kind of internship he could do while taking classes. Meanwhile he worked for the Census Bureau (which would only last the summer), attended networking gatherings at bars where he was completely out of his element, and applied, applied, applied for anything and everything. But nothing.

This is how we found him most times of the day. :)

Somewhere along the way, Hans was advised that the best way to get his foot in the door in the the local Emergency Management field was to get his EMT and paramedic licenses and volunteer or take part in the various branches of emergency response in our town. So, in a single semester he finished his EMT license and volunteered at the fire department, for which he is now on call two nights a week. While continuing to apply for jobs as an EMT, dispatcher, intern for FEMA, and about a dozen others, winter came, and Hans and his brothers chopped and sold firewood for a little extra money, and were rather good at it too. They called themselves the Lumberjack Guild, and they are lucky to still have all of their limbs in tact.

As a doting wife, I'm ashamed to admit I'm a bit out of practice. I don't think I will ever fully understand or appreciate the pressure and stress that husbands and fathers endure in order to provide for their families and be called "Real Men." In fact, I'm not sure I give much credence to the title "Real Man" in the first place. Hans is a Good Man. For 8 months of late-night studying, odd jobs, volunteer work, and rejection, he has been patient, determined, focused, and optimistic. Somehow he has managed to keep himself pulled together and happy, and subsequently, so have we. It has been no small feat, and I admire his sheer gall and courage which have taken him this far. For that, and for being a giving, affectionate father to Hannah and bearing with me through the most difficult time our marriage has seen (and hopefully will ever see), I should probably take more time out of my own trivial schedule to dote, and dote often. There are more disasters in the world than we know what to do with, not only natural disasters and national security threats, but disasters of the heart and mind that take years of forbearance and dedication to manage, clean up, and heal. It's a good thing he specializes in this stuff, because I would be lost without his steadfast bravery and love.

It's true.

We finally heard back from two of the four employers he was really hoping for, and this week he began work as an emergency dispatcher for Leavenworth County. So far he loves the job, and even better, he loves the people he's working with. This is still only one step on his path to becoming an emergency manager, but it is a big step, and I am so, so proud.

Playing Catch-up

When Hans left for class I begged him to leave the laptop at home so I could write a blog without having to sit in the cold, windowless basement where the desktop resides. He agreed, "but only if I promised to write a blog."

Er, ok . . . since then I have:

1. Taken a nap (which was less napping and more tossing and turning, scratching my nose and wondering why I always have to pee when I'm trying to sleep).

2. Checked facebook (for what feels like the zillionth time)

3. Researched doll-making patterns and materials, comparing prices, adding and removing things from my shopping cart, all the while thinking doll making? Really Suz?

It's now close to dinner time, which means I only have a short time to make my mind sit still long enough to write a few cohesive sentences about my life, which really is a challenge when I haven't done it in so long. Seriously, what has happened here? I spend hours each day reading blogs about other people's lives - what they feed their kids, crafts they make for themselves or their Etsy shops, divorces and separations, new babies, new homes, new jobs . . . and when I am done I think I should walk away feeling informed, refreshed, full. Instead I feel numb, complacent and silenced by all the amazing people in the world - the work they put into their lives - the things they must struggle with. Everything I write and the pictures I post seem so trivial in comparison. But this is not a competition.

So . . .

I'll start with what I've been doing the past few months. In February I auditioned at the University of Kansas (KU)  to begin work on a Masters in Music with an emphasis in vocal performance. After being accepted (yay!) I am now left with the daunting task of deciding: a) Whether I should go, and b) How we are going to pay for it if I do. This inner dialogue is still very private, and there are a lot of factors playing in the decision-making, but suffice it to say I am happy/conflicted/elated/confused/excited/anxious about what the future may hold. Does that clear things up a bit? Good.

Most of my time is filled with Hannah. We try to go on 3-4 outings a week - to the park, to the library, to the farm, to Amy's house, shopping . . . whatever I can think of to get us out of the house and burning as much winter-stored energy as possible. On the stay-at-home days we usually play outside, where she likes to pick flowers from Nana's garden, dig in the sandbox, pick up shards of glass (don't ask) and pedal around on her trike. We're also learning how to build fairy houses in the forest, which I'm beginning to think is more for my own benefit and entertainment than hers. I try to plan at least one art project a week for her, whether it's painting, coloring, sculpting with play-doh, making tissue paper flowers, or dying Easter eggs. Next week we are going to try dying our own wool felt and play silks with my sister-in-law Kerri at the farm. I love to see Hannah's little mind, hands and heart create.

Enjoying the mud puddles at Powell Gardens

Our Fairy Houses so far . . .

We crashed the Baptist Church's Easter egg hunt and got tons of loot.

More on this cutie in later posts. :)

I also spend a lot of my time knitting, crocheting, needle felting and sewing little toys and gifts for the children in our lives. Hannah and her cousins enjoy most of these special gifts, but I am thinking of starting my own Etsy shop and joining the masses of stay-at-home-mothers who are really just looking for a source of income to fund all of their craft supplies.

Leonard the Lion

 

 Lately I've especially enjoyed working with natural materials and fibers - wool, cotton, wood, bamboo, and silk - to make toys. Using these materials adds a certain organic warmth and integrity to the toys. They feel more "alive," and I feel better about the end product knowing there are no man-made materials in it. Of course, I still have scads and scads of acrylic yarn in my stash, but I'm slowly converting. I'd like to start learning some woodworking skills to make a doll house, doll crib, barn, toy boxes, furniture etc. Hans promises to help me with these projects, so hopefully we'll have something made by Christmas.

Hattie the Goat - named after Pete and Kerri's new baby goat, whom Hannah loves to death.

 The rest of my time is filled with reading (currently: "Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales" and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks") and teaching piano and voice lessons - some whose houses I travel to, and some who come to me. I truly love teaching. Truly I could do this for the rest of my life and be happy. I'm still involved at the community theater, and will probably audition for their production of "Cinderella" this summer.

Next post: I'll tell you all about Hans' school work, volunteer work, and new job!

Also, I cut about 7 inches of my hair off.

. . . and I got a new camera!