Life's ups and downs

The past two months have had many ups and downs. On February 27th one of my dearest friends, and roomates in college died suddenly from Meningitis at the age of 26. Her name is Jennifer Brock, or to me, Jenny. We have known each other since the 7th grade, and been friends ever since, growing closer each year we knew each other. I can't begin to describe the areas of my life where Jenny was present. I can't walk into a single room in my house and not see something that reminds me of her. I can't look at a single photo album that doesn't have some picture of her in it. My life has been completely altered by this catastrophic loss, something I had not experienced up until this point. I am still learning how to grieve...it is really easy to keep myself busy enough during the day not to think about it. That is one of the reasons it has taken me so long to write this next blog entry. I knew I would have to write about her and again face the pain of this loss. I loved Jenny very much. She love me, my family, Isaiah. She came and visited when Isaiah was only a week old. We spent Thanksgiving day with her and her family. That was the last time we saw Jenny and the memories are joyful and precious. I still don't know how to remember Jenny, how to grieve losing her, how to honor her life and memory. But I can say that she was an example of Christ on earth, of love and grace, of righteousness and beauty. She was not perfect, but she was the perfect friend. I miss her dearly. I've posted several pictures of her with Isaiah, so those of you who do not know her have some sort of reference. She is loved and missed.

The weekend after her death, all of our roomates from college traveled to the Sacramento/Bay Area for services and receptions. It was a bittersweet reunion, most of them hadn't met Isaiah yet, and many of us hadn't seen each other for many years, but these certainly weren't the circumstances in which we wanted to reunite. Isaiah, however, proved to be a bit of light in our sorrow. Here he is with my roomates (including our "unofficial" one, Johnny, Rachel's husband)

I don't remember much about the month of March. It kind of passed like a dream, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Isaiah hit a few milestones, however. He began crawling, then about a week later pulling up on everything, and then a short time after that walking holding his own weight, balanced just by holding our fingers. He started cruising along furniture, and we began baby-proofing the house. It has been amazing to see him grow and learn. He observes as you show him how to use a toy, then promptly mimicks your actions.

On April first Isaiah boarded a plane with us for his first International flight to COSTA RICA!!!!! I had two weeks for Spring break, and Eliecer took off a few classes so we could visit his family and introduce Isaiah to all of his aunts, uncles and cousins. The arrival was overwhelming, and Isaiah screamed and then clung to me the whole ride to Eliecer's parents house, but soon after our arrival he returned to being the social butterfly he is and flashed smiles and cooed in flirtation with all the new people he was meeting.
We spent a total of 13 days in Costa Rica and mostly spent the time with family and friends. We did manage a few short day trips, one to some thermal pools with the whole family, one to visit my old school and the directors I worked under, and finally just the three of us took a day trip to the beach so Isaiah could experience the ocean for the first time. Isaiah did great during the day, and actually napped pretty well, but struggled sleeping at night and would wake up super early with the morning sun, at about 5am each day. We put extra sheets over the windows to try to block out that darn morning sun. Isaiah was also teething while we were there, and cut his first tooth on April 10th.
Pictures of Costa Rica trip to come soon, I still have to download them from the camera.

Since returing home he is sleeping much better, and actually slept from 8:30pm to 6:00am last night without waking up! YIPEE!!! Also since coming home he is exploring the house whenever he can, pulling open draws and cupboards, pulling up on furniture and walls. One of his favorite pasttimes is pulling himself up on the piano bench and then reaching for the keys. He can barely touch them, but enjoys the sounds they make.


Eliecer and I are both gearing up for the end of our school years and look forward to having summer vacation and different schedules. Eliecer is relieved to be able to take day time classes this summer, and I'm thrilled to be staying home with Isaiah.


Well, life's an adventure with curves, hill, bumps, obstacles, joys and sorrows. We'll have to see what our adventure holds for us in the future.