Singin' in the Hurricane

Well, Irene's almost here. She might even be here by the time you see this. So far, there's not much to worry about. Nothing more than some steady rain (not even pouring) and winds you might see on a normal windy day. In the grocery store yesterday, the shelves were getting kind of barren. Especially the bottled water aisle. I decided not to brave Wal-Mart as I heard it was a zoo, so I went to one of the local stores instead. But I think more than anything, people are a little jumpy from the earthquake and hurricane being so close together.

It's tempting to think that God is punishing us, but there's no way we can definitively make that call. It's always important to be right with God, which I think was Jesus' point in Luke 13.1-5 more than him focusing on God's judgment on certain people. But more than focusing on that judgment, it's important to remember God's promises in the face of danger and hardship. He sent a pretty nice reminder of that yesterday:

Anyway, the news is saying we won't get hit with it too hard because it's moving straight up the coast, and we're a bit further inland. It's not supposed to get really far inland until it moves further north, around the NY area. If nothing else, it's been giving us some nice sunsets:

So to anyone worrying about us, don't worry too much. We'd be happier with some prayer. And we look forward to letting you know how we made it out. God's peace.

-Andrew-

In Like Flint

We're in! everything's unpacked! Not everything is in its place yet, but the boxes are out of the living room at least. Out of the living room and into the garage. It's actually looking pretty nice. Audrey's good at making it homey. I'll have some pictures up before long.

The only problem is that we came from a pretty cramped apartment into a 3-bedroom house with a living room big enough to be 3 separate rooms. Everyday it feels less and less like an auditorium, but its hard to arrange your furniture when you have no TV to arrange it around.

Lydia's started going to bed early, like 6:30 or 7, so we have an excuse to check out early. We can put up the hammer and nails, stop moving stuff and relax. It's nice, but it makes for a really slow settling in process. So we've started watching Mad Men on Netflix to pass the time. On a related note, the no TV experiment is going swimmingly.

The congregation where we've landed has been fantastic. They helped us get all our boxes off the truck, we've been invited to a few get togethers, and Audrey's made friends with a high school girl and her mom, who adore Lydia. In church, I looked down to grab my bulletin off the pew, and when I looked back up, this girl had snuck up to Audrey and was standing beside her, holding Lydia. She moves like a ninja. Still it's good to have the support.

Pray for us as we continue settling down (as much as a family can settle down in a year's time), and we look forward to giving you more updates in the future.

-Andrew-

Moving

Well, there will be more to come shortly, but for now, we're in the process of getting settled. Just wanted to let everyone know that I previously gave you the wrong address. If you sent anything, I'll still get it, but I gave you the church's address. Our home address is 11102 Donita Ct., Fredericksburg, VA 22407. Sorry about that. Look forward to hearing from you!

-Andrew-

Vacation is awesome. For the last three weeks, we've been on the road, taking Lydia to see friends and family we don't get to see as often as we used to. First, we spent a week in Colorado visiting Audrey's grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then, we went to Walburg for a week to see my family, and as many of you know, to have a family reunion. I also got a chance to preach in Walburg. Here's the sermon if you haven't heard it yet:

Lastly, we got to see Audrey's parents, staying a night in San Antonio, a couple of nights in Boerne, and a few nights in Lubbock, from where I am currently writing you. It's been a great break from the stress of classes and packing.

However, it's also put a bit of a strain on poor little Lydia. Her routine has been interrupted almost the entire time, so she's been a little more fussy and tired than usual. But in a couple of days, we'll be back to the instant sweat-drenching humidity of good ol' STL. Then after a day or two of packing, it's off to Fredericksburg. We get in our house on Aug. 4th, and for those of you who don't have our address up there, it's 5120 Harrison Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22408. Send us some mail!

Probably the next time we'll be writing you, it'll be from the dreamy landscapes of Virginia. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Andrew-

Catching Up

Wow... It's been almost a month since our last post. Sorry to leave y'all hanging. I know you've just been biting your nails to know what we've been up to. Well, rest assured, it hasn't been much. Let me rephrase. It hasn't been much of anything interesting. We've been steeped in tedium.

Moving is a pain. Essentially, we have to be packed up and ready to move by July 8th because of all the time we'll be away from home in July. And Audrey will be gone the 1st through 4th for a wedding. It's a little stressful. And between dealing with Lydia, laundry, dishes, summer class, work, meals, and standard cleaning duties, there's not much time left to stuff boxes. Not to mention the fact that all the boxes lying around somewhat prohibit the aforementioned menial tasks.

I keep telling Lydia she needs to start pulling her weight, but she just retorts she doesn't have much to pull. She's only 12 pounds.

Other than that, the only things of interest are a few new projects. For instance, we've really been getting into Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace. And I thought a new baby took discipline. Sheesh.

Also, I've given a couple of sermons. I've preached twice at a small church in almost non-existent Elk Prairie, MO. It's literally a blip on Google maps, surrounded by a sea of uncharted gray. It's a congregation of 4 people. No fake. So leading worship is interesting when no one sings except me and my melodious wife, and all four congregants sit in the pew farthest back. Awkward.

Also, I've been working on a new blog. Diverge. Feel free to check it out, comment, etc.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure... The Lydia Segment.

-Andrew-

She Rocks, She Rolls

This last week has been huge for Lydia. She's been "talking" more, she's been reaching and grasping objects, she's started hugging her stuffed animals when she naps, she's been holding her hands together, and she even started rolling over! Like I said, big week. Here's a video for your entertainment. The first part is her rocking out with me, and she even sings a solo at one point, and the second part is her rolling.

Lydia Rocks & Rolls

It's been a big week for Audrey and me too. Two years ago, when we first married, we vowed to start doing Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" because someone had gotten it for us as a wedding present, and we had heard such great things about it. Well, we started, fell off the wagon, and now we're getting back on. He goes over everything from budgeting to haggling to charitable giving to retirement to saving and more, so it's been really helpful in getting us to start shaping our future.

It's kind of rough actually sticking to a budget. We had sort of written one before, but I'd call it more of a polite suggestion than a budget. Anyway, we are now the people you see in the canned food aisle with a can in each hand, deliberating whether to get the store brand baked beans or splurge the extra 5¢ and get the good stuff. It's definitely a process but we need some discipline. Someday, maybe Lydia will appreciate the sacrifice we made and she might even do better financially than we did. (Please marry a doctor, please marry a doctor....)

If you ever get a chance to do "Financial Peace," I would definitely take it. I know a lot of churches offer the course for free or at a very discounted rate, so if you can talk to some of your higher upper holy rollers and convince them that this would be a good investment for your church, you won't regret it. And next time you see us, we'll be rollin' on dubs, sippin' Cristal. Not at the same time of course. Buzzed driving IS drunk driving.

-Andrew-

Hot Air's Blowin'

Tornadoes. Every other day this last week, we've had a tornado warning. It's getting obnoxious. I'm at the point that I'm content staying upstairs until I see a cow fly past our window, but Audrey's good at getting us downstairs every time. Better safe than sorry. Lydia doesn't care one way or the other. Although, she does seem a bit more bored in the basement.

While we were downstairs, we decided to go through our stuff we'd be moving to figure out what would stay and what would go. Audrey found some interesting stuff.... So Lydia's bored, I'm bored, and my wife clearly has cabin fever as you'll see in this never-before-seen footage:

I'm writing this now, in our basement, where we've been sitting for the last two hours. So far, the only hot air blowing has been from the weather man. But all of seminary community has moved downstairs. I attribute this to two causes. One, Joplin just lost 118 people to a tornado at the beginning of the week, so everyone's a little paranoid. Two, classes are over, so no one has devoted their soul to writing papers.

Last Thursday, I finally finished my spring quarter with over 100 pages written, thousands of pages of reading, and over 20 tests and quizzes. Now, Lydia and I get to have some father/daughter bonding time for the next couple of weeks while Audrey's at work. Then in June, I have one more summer class before we move to Fredericksburg. Still. Good for me to be free for a while, and as much as Audrey misses us, for the most part, she's liking being back at work and out of the house. More updates to come.

-Andrew-

Shots Day

Well, it was one of the saddest days of my life thus far.

Lydia had to go in today for her 2 month immunizations. She was a little fussy already because she was hungry, so she was kind of whimpering. Then the doctor came in with TWO needles. When they had her laid on her back ready to give her the injections, I made the mistake of looking into her eyes. Suddenly, they got very wide, and she just screamed bloody murder. I wanted to bawl with her.

A few minutes later, when we finally got her calmed down, she just stared at me with huge crocodile tears gathering the corners of her eyes, as if to say, "Why would you ever let them harm me?" It was awful. But I know it's ultimately for her benefit.

I thought of all those times I ever asked God, "Why would you ever let this happen?" If I hurt that much out of finite love for our daughter, I can't imagine how much God must hurt in his infinite love, when he sees us hurting. However, the need for our daughter's health made the pain necessary to endure. As long as we are loved by our Father (which is forever, because of Christ), we can trust that whatever happens, no matter how bad, he will ultimately turn around for our good.

On a brighter note, however, it's Audrey's birthday today, so we're going out to dinner with some friends, and we're gonna party like its 1999! Actually, we're going to make 2011 the NEW 1999. That's how hard we're going to party. Or something like that. We might pass out around 8:30 watching Office reruns. Wish us luck.

-Andrew-

Something New

Wednesday, on Call Day at seminary, we found out we would be living in a new location for a year, while I'm on vicarage. For those of you who don't know what vicarage is, think of it like an internship. The way seminary is organized, I take 2 years of classes, 1 year of internship anywhere in the country, then another year of classes. So for the next year, we'll be moving to Fredericksburg, VA, while I learn under a pastor in the field up there. Here we are on Call Day:

Lydia doesn't look that happy, but she told me later that she actually is.

Needless to say, we're incredibly excited! I actually think Audrey's even more excited than I am. She often makes high pitch squeals and shakes her little balled fists in excitement. It looks like a great area with plenty of stuff to do. I think by the time we leave, our biggest "regret" is that we won't have time to do everything. It's a huge Civil War historical area, an hour away from Washington, DC, and a few hours away from NYC. I know we'll have a blast. More importantly, though, the congregation where I'll be working, Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, looks like a fantastic congregation with lots of ministries to their community. And in talking with the pastor, I think I'll get some great experience from him as a mentor.

Please pray for us as we start this new chapter in our lives, and we will also be praying for all of you. We're really looking forward to growing as a family as well as growing together in Christ. And I'll be keeping you updated throughout the year, as well!

-Andrew-

Peanut Talks! ...Kind of.

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to give you the latest. Audrey's getting better and better everyday. She goes back to work in a little less than 2 weeks. On Wednesday, I get my vicarage call, so we'll find out where we'll be living for the next year of our lives.

And as for Peanut... well, she's doing magnificently. She found a new pastime--talking with her dangling toys on her bouncer. Strangely enough, though, she only monologues with the dragonfly. I guess the snail and caterpillar haven't yet earned that privilege. If you're interested, here's a video: Peanut Talks! She's done it a few more times since I recorded that video, and every time, she's only facing the dragon fly. Kind of a weirdo, I know. But what did you expect? She fits right in with our family.

-Andrew-

Back to Life

Well, over the past few days, Audrey has been stuck in the hospital with a hematoma. We're actually at the hospital as I write this, but she should be discharged very soon. She's spent just as much time here for post-cesarean complications as she did for the cesarean itself. But this afternoon, she's finally back to life, and we're going home.

As for me, I'm at least 75 hours behind in my homework, but I have the next 4 days to catch up a little. Happy Easter break!

More updates will come throughout Audrey's recovery, but for now, thanks all you friends and family for your prayers and support!

-Andrew-

Baptized

Well, I finally have a few spare minutes to write some stuff down. Sorry it's been awhile.

Lydia and Audrey are doing awesome. Thank you, everyone, for all your support and prayers. They're both sleeping semi-regularly, depending on how fussy Lydia is when she goes down. She was just baptized last Saturday

(thank you everyone who came up to visit and support us), and I thought for sure, the Lord would miraculously instill in her divine exhaustion to let her sleep through the night, but I think she grows into that later. In the meantime, she's just enjoying being a saved child of God too much to sleep soundly.

My classes have finally slowed down enough that I can see them as much as, if not more than I see the campus library. But wouldn't you know it? As soon as it slows down, I leave for Memphis for a class for 3 days. I can't wait to finish with this place.

ANYWHO, there's a series of trips in the works for this summer, when we'll be going to Texas and Colorado to visit family, so stay tuned for details....

-Andrew-

Lydia Marie Walker

Lydia "Peanut" Marie Walker was born yesterday afternoon at 2:42pm weighing 7lbs. 6oz. Audrey was induced around 3am, endured about 12 hours of contractions to no avail (no dilation whatsoever), and finally got a non-emergency c-section. About 3 hours prior to the procedure, I started feeling unconsolably ill. No sleep for almost 36 hours and no food since dinner the night before had me spinning. Even the doctors were asking if I had the flu, so we were scared they wouldn't let me into the operating room. However, as soon as she was born, it all went away.

She is beautifully healthy. Even after birth, she's still right in the middle of the stats of all her peers. She's getting ready for the world, and so far, everyone who's seen her seems very impressed. Probably because she looks just like Audrey.

Now, the entries on real parenting can begin. If anyone has any suggestions or stories, please do not hesitate to tell us. As cute as she is, she's very frightening. But it's nothing we can't handle! There hasn't been a diaper yet I haven't changed (almost a blowout yesterday), and so far we haven't had any trouble calming her down when she needs it. But that doesn't happen too often. She stayed quiet yesterday from the time she came out and they cleaned her for 18 full hours after that. Not a peep all night, even when she was hungry. Hopefully, she's as good in a week as she's advertised so far.

Thanks to you all for your prayers and the interest you've expressed in my daughter's and my wife's wellbeing. I (and both of them too) are eternally grateful, and we can't wait to report to you some stories!

-Andrew Walker-

Birthing Class

We're heading off to baby class. Breathing and pushing and whatever else... We're going to know it all. It's the post script we're not sure about. So those classes are coming next weekend. I'm not sure how it takes 7 hours to learn how not to drop a baby, but I can't wait to learn. Maybe there's more I have to know...

Also, finals are over! (For me, not Aud.) So the next two weeks, if we last that long, are going to be all baby prep all day. And did you know that you can get your car seat installed at the fire station? I did not but I do now. And after seeing that thing, I have much more faith in their skills than my own. Peanut is going to be safer than a Hindu cow. Not that she's a cow. She is kind of a little chunk, but not quite cow status just yet.

This has been a semi-conscious stream of thought at 7:30am, but I hope you've enjoyed it.

-Andrew-

Full Term!

First of all, thank you for your prayers, everyone! I know this is kind of a standing request, but keep them coming. Tomorrow, Audrey officially enters the home stretch as full term. The baby could be born safely at any time now.

It's funny. Up to this point, anytime anyone asked me, "What's Audrey's due date," and I answered, "March fourth," they would respond with an ever so mildly patronizing, "Oh, how special...." Now, when I tell them March fourth, their face instantly contorts into horrified shock, and they say, "Oh my gosh! I'm terrified for you!" (I'm not sure if they're terrified for me, because they've seen me with kids or if they're terrified for us in general.)

In any case, it's go time. I still have a small baby to-do list, and it's the cusp of finals week, and I'm organizing a missions conference for my campus for the spring, not to mention organizing other service projects, but I've never felt so alive. Meanwhile, Audrey's busy steadily funding our adventures with her career, taking classes for her Master's degree, and growing a human inside her. So I guess we both have things to do.

-Andrew-

Snowing the Extra Mile

We're getting buried up here. Not really. It's not nearly as bad as they thought it would be, but the whole bread shelf at Wal-Mart was picked totally bare in expectation of some pretty intense ice and snow. Today, we enjoyed a nice, mellow snow day. Therefore, Audrey's prego exercise-measuring pedometer registered 0 steps for the day.

Peanut's developing nicely. She's been all elbows and kicks this week, and since she's pretty much completely filling up my wife's stomach, Audrey gets to feel every flinch. As I write this, I hear her little gasps of surprise at those tiny fists of fury testing their mini muscles. Neither one of us can wait to see her, but we're starting to get a little nervous about birth day. We saw a show tonight called "One Born Every Minute" that was pretty funny. It shows different parents' experiences at birth, and I gotta say... there are some dumb people in this world. Between that and America's Funniest Home Videos reruns, we have some good material to keep our minds off the stress ahead.

Peanut Unveiled!

This is our baby, Peanut, and she's looking at you. We're going to be writing here updating all you good folks, who care to know Audrey's and Peanut's progress, their likes, their dislikes, what they do in their free time, etc. I'll also be finding my way in here from time to time, but I know who steals the show.

Today, we got the last ultrasound before we see Peanut face to face, and she's perfectly average. A nice boring pregnancy. Just like we like. The ultrasound tech told us she was in the 60th percentile for overall size (she's an even 6 lbs. at 35 weeks), so she might be a little big when she's born, but from her pictures, she looks like a little healthy chunk. I've posted more pictures on Facebook, so if you'd like to see them, go to our "Contact Us" page and click on "Andrew's Facebook." They should be there somewhere. There are pictures of Audrey's bump up there too.

That's all I got for now... a little introductory info, but if you want to stay updated, subscribe with your email address on the left side of the page, and if all goes according to plan, you should get the posts directly to your Inbox. Well, say goodnight to Peanut and her big eyes. I'm sure they'll be the death of me more than once or twice.

-Andrew-