3 Months with Benjamin!

Our Ben is 3 months! Woot-Woot! Eddy and I feel so fortunate to have this time to spend with him, watching him grow, adjust and learn... and doing some of that ourselves! While granted it has only been just a few weeks, we absolutely LOVE having a son! Yes, there are days of stress and little sleep and feeling totally incompetent... but above all that is the overwhelming, inexplicable love. He's smiling and cooing, gasping and batting at toys. He's started to drool, making us wonder if there aren't some teeth wanting to break the surface... oh boy! And he's no little fella- he's over 16lbs... and it looks like most of that is in his head!

In other news... We're heading to Brazil in a few days and will be there visiting family, friends and supporters for about a month. It will be Ben's first airplane experience and we're curious to see how things go... we'll keep you posted!

It looks like we'll be making one last trip out west in March, before we return to the Sand Box in April, just in time to renew our visas. We'll be stopping by Salem to visit friends and supporters and also swinging by Vancouver to look into some different ministry opportunities. We're very excited to see if we can partner with different people to better reach out to those in Africa.

Photos: Ben! Our big smiley Boy!!!... Car seat dreams- as he munches on his teddy's ear... Feeding in the car... Feeding in the bed- the blessed "dream feed", where he never wakes up, just gulps down the milk!... Eddy running the Polar Dash- it was -10 degrees!... Out and about in MN during winter- brrrrrr!... Batting at a musical toy.... Daddy plays Rasta Man with Benjamin!

Christmas Cheer!

Our first family Christmas! ... and it started with some time spent in mommy and daddy's bed...

and then in daddy's arms...and playing with the new lens Eddy got me...wow!more time in daddy's arms...and mommy made gooey cinnamon rolls...mmm...AND IT WAS WHITE!!!



Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!

I realized today that it's already Wednesday and Christmas is, literally, "just around the corner"! Last year we spent most of December with wonderful supporter friends, visiting various spots on the east coast during their family vacation. This year we are experiencing our first solo Soboll Christmas, just me, Eddy and Ben. While we are excited for this special time, we have come to realize that we enjoy spending time WITH people... not that we don't love having time as a family, we just especially appreciate socializing with those people we love... particularly during the holidays. And this has become ever so clear to us when we are away from family, in any capacity, but especially when on "the field". So, we're trying to rustle up some plans, maybe drop in on a family for Christmas eve and then visit another on Christmas morning, after the initial present-opening-frenzy has ended... but we'll see...
Ben is coming up on 10 weeks! We can't beleive how fast time is going by or by how BIG he is getting... We had his 2 month check last week and he topped off the scale at 14.5#... good gracious! He is an absolute joy and we couldn't imagine life without him... how fast our perspectives change!

Eddy and I are still helping out at the church and trying to plan for the future. We are going to be traveling to Brazil in the middle of January to visit family and supporters, and introduce Benjamin! And of course, the Land-of-Sand is still very much on our hearts and in our minds. Our visas expire in April, so either way, one or all of us will be heading back then... We would delay moving if things got a little bit too heated politically or if we felt Ben wasn't up to it. We'll keep you all posted!We hope and pray that you are enjoying time with family the season and that you are reminded yet again of the whole reason for this holiday- the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus!
Photos: One of our family Christmas Photos... Ben around 6 weeks, while on the road to MT for Thanksgiving- Time with Daddy in the morning!... Bath time on the road- the sink will work- he looks excited about it... Burping time during a feeding- I'm a naive new mom, but I'm guessing he's tired... A late night feeding in front of our tree...

Benjamin: A 5-Week Update

It's been 35 days for Ben- yay! We're all adjusting to our new life together as a family, learning to sleep less and multi-task more. Benjamin is developing wonderfully, gaining an additional 3 lbs since birth, smiling occasionally and trying to hold up his head (which is pretty darn large!).

We'll be driving to Red Lodge, MT this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Welch clan. It will be our first long drive with Benjamin and we're extremely curious to see how it will go! And we're so excited to be able to spend time with family during this holiday, as we weren't able to last year.
We're still keeping our eyes on Africa and are tentatively trying to plan our return, sometime next year, as our visas expire in April. Eddy traveled to Chicago this week to work on Benjamin's Brazilian papers-- a necessity to travel and to go back to the land of sand. We've recently had the privilege of making some new connections, which through prayer and planning, will hopefully provide some different opportunities when we return. We look forward to all that God has in store for both that troubled nation and our family!



Photos: 5-weeks today, enjoying some blanket time... The two color photos- the first is Ben at 2 weeks looking very skinny! And now, our little chunky 12 pound boy!

2 Weeks of BEN!

Little Ben has hit the 2 week mark- and is doing wonderfully! Eddy and I have been adjusting slowly to our new addition- emotions ranging from elation to utter confusion (what's wrong with him? why is he fussy? what do we do??) to complete exhaustion... Oh- how quickly life can change!

But overall, we are beyond blessed by Benjamin- he is a content little guy, who fusses rarely and sleeps like a champ! My mom, Bronwen, has been in town for the past few weeks, helping us adjust, picking up the slack around the house and loving on Benjamin- what an incredible help she has been! We're begging her to stay, but it looks like she'll be heading back to HI next week... what will we do without her?!?

I'm doing well- healing up and feeling much better! While the C-section was unexpected, we welcomed it and were grateful to be here in the states, where an emergency surgery could be performed safely and easily.

Thank you to all our family and friends for your love and support during this time... and to our church family for providing so many delicious meals!

Photos: BENJAMIN!!! Nana and Grandpa meet little Ben just out of the womb... Ben's first jaunt out of the house- Target... Ben and Eddy take a little nap... Ben welcomes fall!

Benjamin Welch Soboll

And he came... after 22 hours of labor Jess couldn't take anymore and got a epidural. At that point the baby was showing a little fetal stress. To get worst the contractions were gone and Jess was only 7cm dilated after all that time. So, the C section was the only option that we could take.

With 10 minutes of surgery, the baby was out and on my arms. Jess had another 30 minutes to go to close everything.
Benjamin Welch Soboll came on Oct 16 at 22:34 with 9.3Lbs, 21 cm long and healthy as it could be.
Jess still recovering from so long hours and pain, not saying the medications.
Now the baby is 20 hours old and is nursing great. No much milk from Jess yet but it is starting...
Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement... Now we are a family!!!

26.2

And time came to run the Marathon. Twin Cities came so fast... seems like that 30 weeks ago was just on the back corner.
Well, it was a little cold(around high 40's F) and more than 11000 thousand runners. My goal was to finish around 4 hours and I was feeling good about it. So, I decide to fallow the 4 hours pacer. I was feeling great until mile 16. At mile 18 I hit the wall. By that time I was 2 minutes ahead of schedule... At mile 19 water "break" the pacer start to run again and I just couldn't follow him anymore. I saw him take off and my legs could not go anymore... Cramps and more cramps and um hill. It was great to have Jess there and some friends to help out with encouragement. Walk and run walk and run.... I finished at 4hours and 18 minutes. i wish I could had done faster, but as my first, I'm pretty happy about the result. Two days of pain after the race, could barely walk.. now my thoughts are all on the baby.
And the baby is moving and moving alot.... This next Monday Jess will be 39 weeks, so at any time he will show his little face to us.
Jess more and more, feels uncomfortable and tired... her allergies are not helping much too... we walk often to his room and the expectation in daily building in. The Mid wife told us he is probably around 6 and 3/4 lbs. He probably will weight 8lbs when born. Jess is looking great and the tummy so cute.
We have Jess Mom with us for 3 weeks now and it is very exciting. Jess Dad will be here with us for few days next week too. Have this house is a huge blessing right now!

Jess still working on the short term manual at the Church and Im helping with Kids and the manual too.

Photos: Twin Cities Marathon and Jes's tummy!! (And snow in MN in the beginning of October!!!)

Running the Race

A week from today Eddy will be running the Twin Cities Marathon... after almost 30 weeks of training, sometimes (most times?) completely grueling, he now stands just 6 days away from the starting line of 26.2 miles... WOW... now that's what I'm talking about it! My mom will be coming in on Thursday to help me cheer, and a friend who served with us over in the Land-of-Sand, Chelsie, will be coming up from Nebraska to run as well. Pray the weather is cool and calm, with no rain! Go Eddy! Go Chelsie!
And my race is winding down as well- 37 weeks... check! Only 3 more left... well, technically. Thank God I've been feeling great and at our last check-up, we found out everything looks good, he's head down and weighing in at 6+lbs (a good guess by our midwife)! The baby room is pretty much ready, thanks to craigslist.com, friends with lots of extra baby stuff and baby showers. Now it's just a matter of packing our hospital bag and watching some birthing videos... but either way, he's coming, ready or not!

The St. Louis Park Girls Soccer team continues to have some struggles, but has been showing signs of improvement... the girls showing a little bit more interest, giving a little more effort and getting a little more excited. Eddy's focus is on motivation, striving to see them not only excited about the game, but excited, disciplined and motivated about life. There are 4 more games left in the season- so they've still got time to turn their record around... Go Orioles!
Photos: Eddy heading back out on a long run... We had the pleasure of watching our good friend's son, Ethan, play for St. Olaf College (my alma mater)- we went down for homecoming and stuck around after for some photos... Coach Soboll on the sidelines... An autumn flower...

Breakdown Blues

Let me start out by saying just how blessed we have been by our sending churches-- aside from the love and support, the encouragement and "standing with us" has been key to our time here in the states. Our sending church here in MN has continued to pour out blessings, searching for a house for us to live in, trying to find a car for us to use, providing a place for us to work, giving us multiple opportunities to share... and had given us use of their handy church van... for our entire time home! We can't believe just how giving they are!

Unfortunately, this absolutely wonderful mini-van started having some transmission problems... as in it can only shift up to 2nd gear... darn! (Honestly... how fast do we really need to go?) We'd hoped for the best, that it could be easily fixed (ummm... transmission... not so much), but realized the worst and started seeking out other options. We borrowed cars for a few weeks- many thanks to all our generous friends! And then, finally, after much deliberation... bit the bullet... and decided to tap into savings to purchase a used car for our time here in the states. We hope that our selection was wise and that we might get some (most??) of our money back when we sell it in a few months... we'll see! But with a baby on the way and a MN winter looming large in our near future, we felt it wise to have a somewhat reliable mode of transport.

Eddy's soccer team has hit a bit of a plateau, witht their record 2-3-1 (w-l-t)... We're hoping for a few more wins this week, 3 games! The tricky part has been motivation. Some of the girls are just absolutely, completely unmotivated- not showing up for practice, being disrespectful, putting forth zero effort... Needless to say, Eddy has his work cut out for him- but I can't think of a person better suited for the challenge! Go Eddy! Go Orioles!

I've hit the 36 week mark- hooray! I'm feeling good and it seems that my belly has started "dropping" a bit... which is great for eating- less indigestion and heartburn... but a bit tricky on the nerves- think: sharp shooting pain down the right leg, leaving me temporarily incapacitated... who needs to walk or stand when they want all the time? BUT, honestly, I'm still feeling great and truly can't complain!

Photos: The poor ol' church van... Our "new" 1999 Honda CRV... Eddy and his JV soccer team... Some crafts I've been making during this "nesting" phase (purses and key chains... to name a few!)...

Endurance

Endurance... for Eddy AND me! As some of you may know, Eddy has been training for the Twin Cities Marathon, coming up here on October 4th, and just today completed his longest training run-- 20 miles!! Keeping focused for so many months in preparation for a marathon, with long runs getting longer and longer, can be (or IS) a grueling process. But he's stuck to it and tomorrow will start "tapering" down the mileage, in prep for the big race in October. Well done!

And for me, well, I'm heading into the home stretch of my first pregnancy, 35 weeks and counting... Endurance for sure! I actually cannot complain one bit- it has been quite the uneventful and somewhat "easy" experience. So while physically, I'm holding up great, psychologically speaking, I think Eddy and I are trudging through the "terrified-clueless-first-time-parents-to-be" phase... which has lasted pretty much the whole gestational period! How do we prepare for something that we cannot possibly prepare for? How do I cope knowing that in a few short weeks I will go through some of the worst pain I will ever experience in my life? How do we DO this?!?! And then the somewhat comforting thoughts return... People have been doing this for years, decades, centuries!! We're not the first ever, we won't be the last and we're definitely not alone. We have wonderful friends and family that have all given timely words of advice, prayer and encouragement. And, of course, we have God... and no one tops his wisdom, insight and experience with children! AND, the big and, we're in going through all this in Minnesota- which has its hot moments, but is NOTHING like the land-of-sand... thank you for this wonderful respite, Lord!



We're continuing to work at the church in the mornings and Eddy is coaching a girls high school JV Soccer team. They've had 2 games- one win, one loss. But the loss was to a team with 20 players--Eddy only had 13! So, we're rooting for the St. Louis Park Orioles and hoping he continues to coach and train them through to a great season!

Pictures: Eddy on the run- the LRT in Minneapolis makes for an easy, but boring out-and-back... Our dear friend Jen and I at the MN state fair- check out that belly and the best roasted corn ever!... Me- the monthly update--he's still growing... I've started nesting and have taken up sewing again- with great fervor; here's one of the many items I've whipped out as of late...