In other news....
I wanted to mention something about our family and friends here in Boise. I know today that the Church is criticized for not being very much like the church that we saw in the days of early Christianity, right after the time of Jesus, like in Acts chapter 2....
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Sure, sharing all our possessions with others sounds a bit overboard and you don't really see that today, but by coming out here for training and staying to have a baby "on the road" away from our home, we have had the chance to be the recipients of many people's generous and caring hearts. Family members have blessed us while we've been here, as well as many people we have not known very long at all.
When we arrived, we had some friends from MAF lend us stuff for the baby and for Elise to play with. They also recommended our doctor who was great, and we traded childcare/date nights with them which was a huge blessing (plus it was just nice to hang out with them!)
When we began going to our "temporary church home" here, one of the pastors who met us rounded up some baby furniture for us from other church members to use temporarily, including two "maternity rockers" (Im not sure exactly what those are called). Near the end of Heather's pregnancy, those were the most comfortable place for her to sit. They also found us a bookshelf to put Ian's stuff on so it wasn't laying around on the floor. Right now Ian's book shelf is sort of his little area. He sleeps in a basonet that another friend let us use.
That same pastor visited us in the hospital multiple times, and kept tabs on us to make sure we were OK (even after we arrived home). When he first visited us in the hospital, he showed up with flowers for Heather and starbucks for me (how did he know!).
From the time we arrived home, we never lacked meals for the first two weeks. Other friends of ours from MAF organized those who wanted to bring meals, and we had many friends from MAF bring meals. We also had visits from family members who also took us out to eat or brought us food.
Last week my Dad and Stepmom came to visit, followed by my Mom and Stepdad.
My Dad (Dick) and Step-Mom (Penny) visiting us last week.
My Mom (Robin) and Step-Dad (Buddy) visiting last week too.
Before Ian was born we got a visit from my aunt Debbie and uncle Rod, who live in Boise.
And last but by no means least, Heather's mom Ellen has been with us for the past three weeks since the day before Ian was born. (This photo is from Mother's Day). She has helped us so much and it has been so special to have her here. Heather and I were laughing today thinking what it would have been like without her. She has done countless loads of laundry, lots of cleaning and cooking, and she wakes up with Elise every day when we have been up much of the night with little Ian, who likes to sleep heavy in the day, and wake up to party at night. without Ellen we would be walking zombies living in a pile of laundry and dishes, eating bread with miracle whip spread on it (exaggerating a little).
