Robert Loves Kendalyn

Our little daughter, Sauntina LaVerle, has arrived!  Born a week and a half early, Sauntina entered the world on Wednesday afternoon at 1:11 PM. She weighs 8 lbs., 3 oz., and is 20 inches long.  Kendalyn was in intense labor for about 5 hours and had our little girl a few hours before her mother arrived from Alberta, Canada (who was on her way down to help with the birth! <g>).

Our neighbors helped us inflate and fill a tub for the water birth, and a dear lady from down the street stayed with Kendalyn the entire time since our midwife hadn’t arrived yet.  Sauntina didn’t want to wait for the midwife and came 2 minutes before she arrived and into the arms of her father, who scooped her up and praised the Lord for a safe delivery with no complications.

We are blessed with a beautiful little family! Mother and baby are recovering slowly, but well.  Thank you for your prayers!

We are less than two weeks away from the due date and we are excitedly waiting for the day when our little one will enter the world!  My Mama sent a picture of Mama & Dad’s first child (me!) and now their firstborn is about to have HER firstborn!  I gratefully think back on how the Lord raised me in a Christian home with parents who love the Lord and do whatever He asks them to do, go wherever He leads, and be whomever He wants them to be.  Praise the Lord for a Godly heritage and may we walk in our parents’ footsteps!

Here’s some pictures of when I was a little girl:

And here is one adorable baby picture of Robert’s.  I know I have more of them somewhere, but cannot locate them at the moment so we shall do a more thorough representation of his cute childhood stages in a later blog post!

Baby Staddon is growing and starting to run out of room!  Here’s a picture of him/her at 33 1/2 weeks along!  Note the BEAUTIFUL red bud tree in the  background!  We are blessed to have such a lovely front yard!

April 11th, we experienced our very first Passover Seder here in our home.  Robert and I have never been to one before, but he led the group with a book written out for the event and did an incredible job! I was fascinated by all the symbolism and meaning behind everything the children of Israel did in remembrance of what the Lord brought them through to enter the Promised Land. It was a beautiful time of reflection on how the Lord keeps His promises and leads His dear children along. We had a full house with about 30 guests attending with us.

We were blessed to have my dear friend, Amanda, and her husband, Jonathan Reinke, here for a couple days mid-April. I haven’t seen Mandi for four years since her wedding so it was wonderful catching up with her, getting to know her husband better, and meeting her two beautiful children! We had many hours of visiting, took them to downtown Chicago to see the sights, visited the Shedd Aquarium (little Brooklyn loved all the fish!), and took them to a Chick-Fil-A for their first time (Micah wasn’t quite sure what to make of the big cow).    It was a wonderful visit!

We celebrated two birthdays this month: James’ and Daniel’s! James came to visit a little after his birthday and we went out to eat at tasty Taco Grill. Then we came back to the house and played some games with Clayton Reedstrom. For Daniel’s birthday, we had a small group over and played speed Scrabble with edible alphabet cookies (they tasted kind of like animal crackers) that his family had sent him!  It was so much fun! Happy Birthday to James and Daniel!

And last, but not least, here’s the most recent picture of Baby Staddon at 36 1/2 weeks! We shall get to meet him/her soon!!!

March was full of guests, fun, laughter, and adventure! To begin the month, Chad and Alissa Christiansen came up to the Chicago Headquarters to teach the staff their In The Gap training. We were blessed with many valuable tips on how to witness to children, teach children character, and boldly share your faith. Robert’s sister, Esther, came to help teach and added a fun dimension on the skits and lesson plans! We ended our time with the Christiansens by celebrating Alissa’s birthday at our home ~ complete with a DELICIOUS ice cream cake the girls’ made!

The Staddons have been working on editing a book on music written by Dad Staddon and this was the final editing session! Woohoo!

One afternoon, Liz Miller, Claire and I went out with Ara before she left for home. That is one difficult part about living around here…the staff changes and you make friends, then receive the opportunity to continue praying for them as they head home to minister in their community. God bless you, Ara!

Robert and I have been attending monthly meeting and appointments with our midwife, and there is the greatest state park on our way home: Starved Rock. It always provides a nice walk after a long drive and I love the smell of trees and plants just beginning to bloom in the spring! Baby “KeBo” is about 30 weeks along in this picture!

A group of us enjoyed fellowship at Cracker Barrel one Sunday afternoon. I tried grits for the first time, and let’s just say that Robert finished them. I have yet to acquire a taste for this particular southern food!

With all the wonderful things that have happened this month, one of the best for me was having my brother, Jevenn, come to visit! I hadn’t seen him since our wedding last June so we had much catching up to do! He stayed for 10 days…and did we ever pack things into those 10 days, too!

Where has the time gone? It seemed like we were enjoying February and now it’s mid-April and the time to meet our little one is fast approaching! So, to catch up in our fun and busy life, here is a snapshot of the rest of February after the weddings.

Robert and I celebrated our eighth monthaversary and Valentine’s together by going out to a quaint little restaurant called Egg Harbor in the morning, then the beautiful Grand Lux Café in the evening! Since we rarely get out, this was a VERY special treat for me! Robert wouldn’t tell me where we were going in the evening, but I was to dress up and don’t eat anything. I gladly complied!

Later that month, my sister, Aleita, was in the states visiting and taking the courses at the San Antonio Film Festival and she “just happened” to have a three hour layover in Chicago! Robert, Tabitha Paine and I went to pick her up and take her out to eat ~ it was soooo wonderful to see her again!!!  This was the first time Aleita “met” KeBo…the next time we see her, our little one will be here, Lord willing!

After serving at ALERT for over a year as head chef in the kitchen, plus having my two brothers go through the program, I am a huge fan of ALERT (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) and the incredible work they do with young men in preparing them to make a difference in the world.  Their goal is to equip men to be honest, hardworking men of character who are not control by peer pressure, but by the Word of God.  Enjoy the video below to grasp just a bit of what this incredible program involves:

This past Saturday, Robert and I drove 4+ hours down to Iowa to attend Dan & Courtney’s wedding in the beautiful countryside nestling a small, white church. (Just as an FYI, someone suggested drinking a carbonated drink to help with the motion sickness I’ve been having since my pregnancy started and it worked! Praise the Lord!) The wedding was beautiful and the happy couple did a great job in organizing the ceremony smoothly and with meaning. The pastor gave a wonderful sermon and we really enjoyed getting to see the Bertin family again and visit during the reception.

The next day on Sunday, Robert and I went to the airport to visit with my sister, Aleita, during her 3-hour layover here in Chicago!  It was so good to see her again!

This must have been the quickest start-to-finish relationship I have ever seen – just another example of how the Lord works in different ways for different people!  David Waller & Priscilla Keller began courting in September, were engaged in November, and married February 4th!  We often had them over in our home and enjoyed their fellowship very much.

The wedding was beautiful with God-honoring symbols of love and commitment each step of the way in the ceremony.  Many came to watch and even more watched the wedding online!  You can see their wedding at  http://davidlovespriscilla.com/.  God was glorified and two happy people began their lives together!

On Sunday, after the wedding, Robert, our friend Katherine, and I went to tour St. Augustine.  What a beautiful place!  We toured the lighthouse, the fort, and walked along the quaint little street laden with clothing shops, ice cream and treats, and restaurants before finally ending at the Columbia for a delicious lunch.

This month has flown by with lots of company, visiting, and good food!  My parents came down for over a week from the 9th to the 17th. Then we had a brief few days to turn around before Robert’s parents came for five days!  We had so much fun and made lots of special memories.

Mama and Dad Kowalchuk came to see Chicago and visit so we packed as much as we could into their week. We went downtown Chicago, I took Mama shopping all over the place (and found some WONDERFUL deals!), Mama and Dad bought me some cute maternity clothes (ah! They’re just wonderful!), we tried several different “Chicago style” restaurants, they attended our midwife appointment with us, and anything else we could fit into the schedule. Dad found many things to fix around the house that we haven’t had a chance to get to – what a blessing!  He fixed our weather-stripping, the patio door, the closet door, organized the garage better, fixed umpteen things, and went through the car thoroughly with Robert, replacing the brake pads and springs. True to their goal, Mama and Dad left our house better than they found it!

Mom and Dad Staddon’s visit was a bit more laid back because they came to Chicago as part of a Sabbatical to plan out their year. We still had company and games, an evening out to a restaurant, and a Basic Seminar session with Tanya, but they did find time to spend alone in prayer and planning.

The week following Christmas, Robert and I took off and visited some friends in West Virginia and North Carolina.

Aunty Alice and Uncle Ralph Andrus are a dear couple in WV who have been a part of my life since before I was born.  They led my Mama back to the Lord, counseled and married my parents, baptized both my parents and siblings over the years, and dedicated us when we were babies.  They continue to be a special part of our lives and we couldn’t drive past them and miss a chance to visit!

Our next stop was Lauren and Josiah Faas in Raleigh, NC.  Lauren and I took college courses together, roomed together in Chicago, and still stay in touch as very close friends.  I was able to meet her little girl, Lily Rose, for the first time, too!

The Stelzls graciously opened their home for a visit so Robert and I enjoyed a couple days in their incredible hospitality!  The boys loved Robert and kept him busy wrestling, tackling football, playing games, telling stories, and playing the piano!  We feasted on incredibly delicious food and enjoyed fun fellowship, good talks, and uplifting singing by the campfire.