in life, love, & service: January 2009

For the God who spoke is speaking stillAnd the God who came still comesAnd the miracle that happened still happens in the heart that will believeAnd receive the miracle of Christmas…Believe the miracle of ChristmasWill you believe? - Steven Curtis Chapman, “The Miracle of Christmas”

It is hard to believe 3 ½ years ago, we invited many of you to a celebration beginning with, “And the TWO become one…,” and now we say to you… “And the two became THREE!”

What a change this year has been for us. We welcomed 2008 knowing the world, for us, would change in big ways – and we realize the changes have only begun!

Kyan Lewis Blosser joined our family April 17, 2008 – 9 days late. Crystal was induced and gratefully gave birth 14 ½ long hours later! Kyan Lewis means, “Little King, Ancient Warrior.” We choose Kyan because of its originality, ease of use on the soccer field J and because we liked it! Lewis is in honor of Crystal’s Grandpa, Lewis Lehman, who passed away 5 years ago this Christmas. We are so grateful for all the prayers during that time, as Kyan gave some difficulty in the delivery with a dropping heart rate, a fist “glued” on his face, and a posterior position delaying labor for the greater part of those 14 hours! With God, though, all things ARE possible! God flipped Kyan around and brought us a healthy baby boy. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20 ½ inches long. As trite as this sounds, we are so blessed to have him in our lives and are enjoying our moments together as a family. We LOVE having a little boy in our lives!! He makes waking up every day an adventure.

After much prayer and a new understanding of self, Crystal (with tears, much mommy anxiety, and a lot of eagerness) returned to work (at the dental office) 2 days per week. It has been a positive experience for Crystal to be able to exercise her brain, creative and organizational skills and to have social interaction outside of the home. She has expanded her role to include: RN, OSHA, HIPAA, Medical Consults, and Personal Organizer for Dr Biery.

When she is not working on things for Dr Biery, either at work or at home, she is staying busy with Kyan and Tucker, a 6 month old she and her sister, Karmen, started watching a couple months ago. It has been fun for Kyan to have a playmate during the day, and already we can see the influence in learning babies have on one another.

Eric made a job change this summer, leaving Showalter Masonry, as economic times hit the business. He picked up some temporary work with his uncle at Blosser Lighting, and ended up being offered a full time position. He is enjoying this change and the new learning opportunities, but remains grateful to Dave for the opportunities he had while with Showalter Masonry. Eric was also able to expand on his “handyman” role, when we purchased our first home in November. He put his eagerness to good use by teaching himself how to tile, plumb, tear out stuff and put down laminate wood flooring. He made an otherwise “normal” house, an elegant and creative home!

This fall, Eric was able to accomplish a life goal, joining his high school coach, Kendall Bauman, as assistant coach for EMHS varsity soccer. Soccer is a huge part of “Eric”, and being able to nurture others in the sport was a highlight. It also didn’t hurt that this coaching position allowed Eric to have played soccer all year long this year, starting with indoor soccer with the local Hispanic league, followed by the Summer Hispanic league and the SVASL summer turf league and ending with EMHS. Eric is also loving his new role as daddy, and could not be prouder to have a son – he just can’t wait to get him out on the field! Kyan already shows some skills with the soccer ball J - usually eating it!

Kyan – well how do you summarize 8 months in the life of a little boy?? Kyan has not ceased to amaze us! From the moment he was born, we knew we were in trouble. He was adorable and adventurous from day one! By 4 days old, he could lift his head. By 3 weeks of age, he could sit up in Eric’s hand. By 5 weeks, he could pull up to a standing position. By 3 months, he could sit mostly unsupported and could stand, using our hands for balance. And now, at 8 ½ months, is trying to pull up and GO. He exhibits signs of problem solving, knows the color of green vegetables (yuck) from tan bananas and pears (yum!), grabs at mommy & daddy’s cups – bringing them to his mouth and rarely spilling, loves being outside and going camping (he slept through the night better in a tent then at home!), anticipates the turn of a page in a book (he cranes his head to try to see around the page), crawls backwards, and loves to teach Tucker new tricks! He is also extremely expressive! We often laugh at the many faces of Kyan. Most of all, Kyan puts true meaning into the quote from David Bowie, “Nothing prepared me for your smile.” (and we might add laugh)!

One of Kyan’s talents happened at around 3 months of age. Crystal went to get Kyan out of his crib and thought to herself, “Self, you and Eric are sooo much more sleep deprived then you ever thought imaginable! How did we forget this!?!?” These thoughts ran through her head as she realized Kyan did not have a DIAPER on!! Somehow, during the night, Kyan wiggled around in his crib, turning 180* and in the process, wiggled his diaper out of the tabs and off (the tabs were still attached at his waist; the diaper part just was off!). We knew from that moment on, we were in trouble!! – By the way, we now always put him in outfits that snap at the bottom – we figure when he can get those off, he can be potty trained!

So what does our future hold? Well, we bought a home in Harrisonburg and plan to stay there for the next 2-5 years. We hope to take at least one more short term missions opportunity in our quest to see where God has a need for us. We are starting a small group in January – an exciting opportunity, as we get to know some friends from our church better. Eric is still pursuing his dream of becoming a paramedic and Crystal is hoping to get LOTS of scrapbooking done this year! Most of all, we plan to continue spending many moments together making memories in our journey.

in life, love, & service

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

some in the life of kyan

Monday, January 5, 2009