Happy Birthday, Grandma Horner!!!

Hello, friends!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of heading up to SoDak to see family for a few days. Here are some photos of the older kids playing in the snow:

Now, we are currently in the middle of curling season, and I had a match on Sunday but I called in a sub so I could go on this trip. What was so important that I'd be willing to skip CURLING?!?!

Grandma Horner turned 95!

Megan's grandmother is one sweet and caring woman. She's also incredibly strong and terribly interesting. She remembers there being only 48 states. She's lived in the same house for over 60 years. She raised 9 kids. She and her husband (Whiz) square danced in all 50 states before he died in 1990. Here's a photo with 4 generations of the Horner clan including Grandma, Megan's mom, Megan, and our kids:

I have one story about Grandma that needs to be shared and now feels like as good a time as any. For the first few years of Meg and me being together, I had exactly one job to do: get Grandma connected to the internet. One year her children bought her a laptop so she could keep up with her emails and such. Of course, a laptop isn't much good without the internet, so they got her that too. Being that I was the relative new guy and slightly more tech savvy than anyone else in the family, it was my job to set up the laptop and show her how to use it.

This did not go well...

First, I had to show her how to use everything. Then, when the settings got changed, I had to show her again. Then I had to change the settings to how things were before. Then there were problems resetting the router and changing the wifi password. Every time we went back to Watertown to visit, I'd ask Grandma the same question: "How's the computer treating you?" The answer was also always the same: "I haven't used that thing in months. I don't know what's wrong with it."

Eventually, someone decided that it really wasn't worth it to keep paying for internet that wasn't being used or to keep around a laptop that was only bringing wailing, crying, and the gnashing of teeth. Still, I'd like to think that my brief time as tech support endeared me to Grandma Horner.

As a gift, everyone in the family contributed to a book we made for Grandma Horner: 95 things we love about you. Elena, my niece, read it to her and it sure seemed like she enjoyed it. She's had a lasting legacy and doesn't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, which is pretty great.

So, as I say for all of my birthdays, let's shoot for doubling our age, shall we, Grandma Horner?! Here's to (at least) 95 more!

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Megan's Back at Work!

Hello, friends!

After a beautiful 12 weeks of maternity leave, Megan has returned to work! Here are some of her thoughts on her first day back:

It's true the months leading up to childbirth are filled with nesting instincts. For some reason it was essential for me to clean the walls, base boards, and every nook and cranny of our home before having all of my kids. I think one of those reasons is because post birth there is little time or thought that goes into keeping the house in order. At the moment of birth all attention goes towards keeping that baby alive and the other kids healthy.

In November we welcomed Jonah into our family and the last 3 months I had the privilege of a wonderful maternity leave.

The first 7 weeks of Jonah's life were filled with Drs appointments, a hospital stay for RSV, and then more appointments following. We also had stream of visitors come and help us adjust to a family of 5. As time wore on we got into more of a rhythm. One of the things that I am thankful for is having childcare for the older two kids for the normal days that I would be working. That way I was able to have some more bonding time with just Jonah and get some of the much needed work done around the house. You might have read about some of that time through Adam's blog.  I wanted to share here some of my own reflections and what I have learned.

ONE: RELEASING CONTROL IS HARD FOR ME
There are so many things that you just can't control with a baby.  One of my biggest concerns with having a winter baby was flu and respiratory season. With Ezra and Thaliea I wasn't so concerned about that since they were summer babies. We had so many students come over and hold them, flew with them at 2 or 3 months, etc. With Jonah we were more careful, enforcing hand sanitizing, masks for the kids when Thaliea was sick the same day Jonah was born, and had very few visitors. Regardless of how much I tried to control, Jonah still ended up sick. Each year I ask God for a word for the year. But since I am extra, I usually do more than one word. Last year was Cling to Jesus. When I asked the Lord for a word for this year while we were in the hospital I sensed that "Relinquish Control" is in addition to Cling to Jesus. So even with all that I can't control, I am asking God to help me relinquish control to Him.

This also has been relevant as January was the process of attending kindergarten round ups and deciding on a kindergarten placement for Ezra. We feel we are doing the best we can to ensure our kids have a place they can thrive in school but in the end, we can't control every experience they have.

TWO: I HAVE A CHOICE
A few weeks ago I listened to the That Sounds Fun podcast where Annie F Downs interviewed the IF Gathering founder Jennie Allen who recently wrote the book "Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of toxic thoughts" Now normally I am not into self-helpy books and that is what this book sounded like to me. But, that morning I had the thought - "Am I a good Mom?" When I listened to the podcast I thought, man, I do get sucked down into some pretty negative thinking. So I ordered the book and have really been enjoying it. She talks about how we have a choice when those negative thoughts come - to as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 - "take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ." This is especially important for me post partum. So I have been trying to practice the discipline of when I am feeling like my thoughts are spiraling out of control to do a mental map of where is that emotion coming from and instead releasing it to Jesus and receiving His truth about what He says about me and the situation. This is a discipline I want to take with me as I begin to work again.

Have an excellent day!

~Megan (Adam)

Hello, Roomie!!!

Hello, friends!

This weekend marked a very special occasion in the Leong household. After 2 years of living adjacent to one another, Ezra and Thaliea are now officially roommates! Isn't that a sweet setup?!

Our upstairs has 3 bedrooms; originally, the setup was the master for Megan and me, then one for Ezra and one for Thaliea. Along comes Jonah, and now things need to change. Jojo is still in our room for now but at some point he'll have his own crib in his own room, so the older kids needed to move in together.

Dear friends, this is what you call, "a bit of an ordeal." Allow me to break it down for you.

Friday:
- 9:30pm: Check Craigslist to see if bunk beds that can convert into twin beds are available. They are not.
- 9:45pm: See some beds on Amazon that we like.
- 9:50pm: Check Craigslist one more time and see that one has JUST BEEN LISTED. Begin communicating with the seller.

Saturday:
- 9:30am: Realize we need a truck or something to get this thing home because it won't fit in our van. A friend from small group says he has a trailer and can help us. I coordinate with him and the seller on pickup time.
- 10:00am: Go Goodwill shopping with the kids looking for end tables (no dice) and books (nailed it!)
- 1:30pm: Get home and the kids go down for resting time in separate rooms for probably the last time.
- 3:15pm: Pick up the bunk beds
- 4:15pm: Pick up the futon we also bought because we have the trailer so we might as well!
- 5:00pm: Dinner time!
- 6:00pm: Disassemble Ezra's old bed and start assembling new beds
- 6:30pm: Megan orders mattresses from furniture store
- 8:00pm: Pick up mattresses
- 8:45pm: Kids are situated in their new rooms and it's time for bed
- 9:00pm: Kids aren't asleep yet
- 9:15pm: Kids are still awake
- 9:45pm: WHY ARE THE KIDS STILL AWAKE?!
- 10:30pm: Kids finally fall asleep...

Sunday night was much better and Monday night was even better than that. Last night was a bit rough, so we we know that they're still getting used to the arrangement. What's nice is that the kids really like each other and usually get along. We've had to negotiate a little bit with night lights and sound machines but we're making it work. Also, we bought them new sheets and blankets (dinosaurs for Ezra and birds and flowers for Thaliea), so they're pretty excited about that.

We'll be in this arrangement for a while, so we're very thankful that so far, things are going well. If we didn't have a few good nights after that first rough one, I'm sure we'd be rethinking things right now. But, we know there are good nights ahead, especially once Jonah starts sleeping through the night.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

On Being a Good Neighbor...

Hello, friends!

A few nights back, I got a voicemail from a phone number that I didn't recognize. It was after 10 and I was getting ready for bed but my general rule is that if someone leaves a voicemail, I'll check it right away. Usually, it's a telemarketer but since it was also a 402 number, there was a chance it wasn't spam. When I checked the voicemail, it said, "This is Ricci. Your garage door is open."

Ricci is my neighbor from across the street. The reason that he had my number was because the day before, I wrote my number in a book that I gave him as a present at a party. The party was the one year anniversary of when I saved his life.

Literally, from the first moment that we moved to Omaha, Ricci has been a great neighbor. On Moving Day, I was driving the moving truck and Meg had the van with the kids. I got there first but she had the house keys so I was locked out of my house. I also really had to pee. After walking around my backyard a few times to see if there was a private place for me to go to the bathroom (there wasn't), I walked across the street, knocked on the door, and said, "Hi, I'm Adam, you're new neighbor. Can I use your bathroom?" Ricci and his wife Cammi were super kind and let me use their bathroom.

Since then, our interactions were sparse but cordial. If we ever saw each other outside we'd say hello. He was usually working on one of his cars and I was usually taking the kids for a walk. E, their youngest, would come over with his friends and their bikes so I could put air in their tires. Our kids are too young to play much with them but we've played a little football in the front yard. Ricci helped me fix my snow blower and has shoveled our driveway and sidewalk on more than one occasion. He and his family really are great neighbors.

About a year ago, on Superbowl Sunday, Megan was out of town in New Orleans for National ISM Team meetings. We live only a mile from church so my general rule is that if the weather is decent, we should walk to church. The temperature was in the 40's and there was fog but no rain. I went back and forth on whether or not we should walk but decided that things would be OK so I strapped the kids in the stroller and got ready to go, 20 minutes earlier than if we were driving.

Heading down our driveway, I noticed that Ricci was working on his car, as he usually was. I turned the corner to head down the road when I heard a yell. I stopped, told the kids that we were going to check on Uncle Ricci, and turned around. What I saw was Ricci pinned underneath the car. I left the kids strapped into the stroller, ran across the street, and called 911. While on the phone with 911, I banged on the door to let his family know what happened. While waiting for emergency services to arrive, I found a bigger jack in his garage (it was open) and jacked up the car so it wasn't on top of him anymore. I didn't want to move him in case he was seriously hurt and moving him would make things worse, so I waited for emergency services. The cops, EMT's, and firemen all arrived. They pulled Ricci out from under the car, loaded him up on the gurney (he was unconscious but breathing), and took him to the hospital. After Ricci's family left for the hospital, the cops stayed around to get my account of the situation. At that point, I asked if I could go check on my kids who were still across the street and strapped into the stroller. I gave my statement to the police, then finished walking to church.

You want to hear something crazy? Ricci had no broken bones or anything. The jack slipped on the car he was working on and it must have rolled on him. He has no recollection of anything that happened but there were no broken bones or internal bleeding. All he had was a pinched nerve and a few weeks of physical therapy.

So that's why we had a party! I had been talking to Megan about whether or not it would be weird to wish Ricci a "happy anniversary" but in the mail a few days later we got an invitation to a surprise party for him and that question was answered. I got him a book, wrote him a note with my number in it, and the next day, he called me to tell me my garage door was open.

Being a good neighbor isn't about the size of the acts that you do. It's possible that I may have saved Ricci's life but that doesn't make me a better neighbor than him. When I think about all the ways that he's helped and blessed our family these past 2 years, I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful neighbor. I'm hoping that we'll be able to bless his family in the same way that he's blessed ours for years to come.