The Amazing Race

I am so excited! Tonight one of my favorite t.v. show's premieres, "The Amazing Race". I love it for a variety of reasons. Primarily the thought of jumping in a plane and travelling the world is so exciting! As a little girl I have always dreamed of traveling the world over, visiting differnent countries and experiencing a variety of cultures! As a teenager I was determined to find a way to live one year in an array of large world cities and smaller exotic communities all over the world. Now, an old married woman, this seems a little more difficult but I still dream of world travel. I mean 24 hours in a country is hardly equivilent to a year long immersion but what an awesome start, and really, if you won you could revisit some of the more interesting spots.
The second thing that I find so intriging about this show is less the competition and more about group dynamics. I love watching personalities flare and couples communicate in high intensitiy situations. I must admit this doesnt mean I like watching those afternoon talk shows where groups are set against each other in verbal and physical debate, but instead this show exemplifies inerent personality traits at their finist.
I particularly enjoy watching married couples as they play the game together and attempt to work together. This probably has something to do with my new married status. I must a say I wonder how Chad & I would make out on this show. If nothing else we would be hilarious to watch. Do you suppose a Pastor and his wife would make good t.v. I would bet money on it if I were a betting gal, which I ain't. Not that we ever disagree or banter back and forth or anything, oh no! It would be funny. Chad's World travelling expereince coupled with my street smarts, we could be contenders!
Thinking about argument and discussion as personality traits flare, maybe instead of premarital counselling engaged couples should look into some sort of Amazing Race equivilent. I mean, really, what a better way to get your feet in the water (or mud) and identify some areas worthy of "discussion". I'll have to mention this to Chad and see if he wants to work it into his premarital counselling. Something tells me he'd be game!

Our Valentine's Dollies

When I was travelling down in Bangor over Christmas I found the cutest little Valentine's bibs and Valentines sleepers and dresses so I just had to get some for my adorable little neices! Here they are adorned with more holiday garb from their loving and adoring Aunt Heidi and Uncle Chad. Why is it just so amazingly easy to spend every cent you do and dont have on babies! These two dollies are so special, I can't imagine loving anything (even my own potential children someday) as much as I love them. Look at how cute they are!

This is Savanna Naomi Jade Billington, she is Chad's sister Autumn's baby.

Did you have any idea that bibs could be so cute? I mean, they are supposed to catch drool, spit up and mushed up baby food but some of them are just sooooo cute!

Kaitlyn is Home

Great news today! Kaitlyn went home last night. She was discharged early yesterday morning under the agreement that she would drink 4 oz of milk before hand. She had difficulty getting down the 4oz, it took her until 2pm and then the doctor said it took her too long so she needed to get down another 4oz in a shorter amount of time before they let her go, if she couldn’t, they were going to try the IV route again. This must have evoked fear in her little ears because she downed 5 ½ oz in the next couple of hours and was released at 6:30pm to everyone’s relief. She has been given an oral dosage of medication for the next few days and Angela has been given strict orders that if anything seems unusual or problematic she is to head right back into the hospital with the baby. We pray this is the end of it for her.

We ask that when you think of Kaitlyn you pray that when she goes for further tests (aprox. 3 weeks) on her kidneys to ensure they are functioning properly and that this was just a strange occurrence in a child this young, that the doctors will have wisdom and direction.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers, it has been a difficult week to say the least but Angela assures me Kaitlyn is smiling and giggling again and seems to be on the mend as she settles back into life at home. I attached a couple of pics of our dollie so you’ll be able to put a face to all the prayers. Again, thank you. What a blessing it is to know that body of Christ comes together to pray for God’s little ones AND their families during difficult times.

Jireh Gospel Choir

This weekend the Jireh Gospel Choir is going to be joining us at our church, Smythe Street Cathedral (http://www.smythestreetcathedral.com). We're really excited to be having them! From Montreal they give a bilinguial concert (French & English) singing God's praises. They have sung with Cirque de Soliel and have performed all over the world! What a priiledge for us to have them sing for us and lead us in worship this Sunday! If you are in Fredericton this Sunday, Febuary 26th you want to check them out at our Sunday morning services at 9:00am and 11:00am. Check out their website at http://www.jirehgospelchoir.com

baby Kaitlyn

Thanks to all of you for all of your prayers these last few days. It has been such a scary and worrisome few days. Kaitlyn, my sisters' baby started with a spiked fever, moaning, rash etc. last thursday. After a week of hospitalization and tests the doctors have finally got a handle on making her better. There have been many tears and prayers going up all over North America these last days as the doctors ruled out Meningitis, Lukemia and numerous other things they didn't dare mention to us.

Kaitlyn has a bacterial infection in her kidneys. This is uncommon at her age, just 6 months old, and they will do tests as an outpatient to check the function of her kidneys. Unfortunatly while in hospital she also contracted a gastriointestinal infection making her illness confusing as she exhibiited a variety of symptoms that didn't seem connected.

Today the doctor is confident she is well on her way to recovery. With a double increased dose of antibiodicts she is responding well and the doctor assured Angela (Kaitlyn's Mom) that if she had 24 hours as good as the last 24, Kaitlyn will be able to go home tomorrow.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers, they mean so much. I whispered to Katilyn the other night while I was rocking her trying to comfort her, "Do you know Kaitlyn, that there are people all over North America praying for you to get better?" Thanks to God for her health! I am so a happy to see her beautiful smiling face again.
~H

Wedding Pics

Our fabulous wedding photographer Mark Orienstein or deJourdan's Photographics sent along a couple wedding pics for Chad & I to enjoy, so I thought I'd share them with you. They are so beautiful!
These pics were taken after our wedding ceremony but before the reception. It was such a beatufiul day and you can see that nature was cooperating with us. We had some family and wedding party pictures taken at Odell Park, but these were intimate ones taken of the two of us by the St. John River just outside of Fredericton at Woolastook Park. This is where Chads' heart pounding dangerously quickly, daylight quickly fading, we were engaged, last year Feb 5th, except it was a cold, snowcovered, bright stary evening and we were watching the sunset,

drinking tea from Chad's coleman camp stove and munching on Chad's Grammie's Cinnamon Rolls (which are amazing!)

We thought it would be meaningful to come back to this spot and get some pics on the wedding day. So here are a couple of beautifully creative pics for you to enjoy as well. This is where it began and I melted his heart with my words of acceptance "Of course, you Toad!"

The Playhouse

Last night was such a blast! I had the privledge of singing at the Playhouse for a benefit concert to raise funds to send doctors from our area to Sierra Lionne. Soul Purpose, The Lapointes, Jaqueline Vallinquort, Sheldon Gordon, The Smythe Street Cathedral Choir and others combined their talents for a great evening of music. I don't know how much money they managed to bring in but it was a great event. Our choir decided to dress up in African traditional dress (we borrowed them from some lovely African ladies in our church). I had the privledge of wearing Sharon (my mother-in-law's) Ugandan dress (from her days as a missionary to Uganda) and later switching into another African surong-thing. Here's a pic of Betty Anne & I getting ready in the dressing room and later a pic of Krista & I after it was all said and done.