Evangeline is two months old today!

Weight: 10.81 lb
Length: 22.5 inches

(Her appointment is next week… I’ll update this page when I have the details!)

New Skills: smiling, making cooing and squealing sounds, recognizing Momma’s voice, sleeping through the night (started at 5.5 weeks!)

Just realized we never posted this here! Silly us.

Well, we skipped right over March and most of April, but let’s blame that on two things: laziness and procrastination. Wait… Did I do that right? Maybe someone should explain this blame-shifting thing to me again.

It’s time to initiate Recording Editable Content Application Peripheral (ahem… that’s RECAP for the non-sluggites)…

March for Life (Jan 22)

Joel and I, with our friends Marissa and Jesse (and their tiny unborn baby), joined up with Cornerstone Ministries to go to the March for Life in Washington, DC. You can read more about that trip here… But here’s a quick video for you. Joel makes my attempt at an interview at the 2010 March for Life into a joke that quickly turns awkward… and then more awkward. Marissa saves the day, but then I ruin that because I can’t stop laughing at Joel.

Can you see why Joel and Jesse get along so well?

Kelley & Matt’s Baby Shower (Feb 13)

In the first of many trips to Lancaster for Lincoln’s sake (hooray!!!!), Joel and I hit up eastern PA for Valentine’s weekend for a baby shower for our very own tiny unborn nephew and his lovely parents, Kelley and Matt. My mom and Caryn put together an amazing party, with decorations, place settings, and food that matched the illustrations I did for the invitations (and later the baby announcement). There were tons of people, and it was a complete blast!

Album: lincolns-baby-shower

Done with Grad School (Mar 5)

Unless you were living under a rock or haven’t seen me in years, you know that I was in grad school… but now I’m not! I finished my classes in February, and graduation was in March. I didn’t make it to the ceremony in Orlando, but I had my own personal celebration that included suddenly realizing that I was way behind in training for the half marathon and forcing myself to start the treadmill up again. Woo! Still no diploma in the mail, but I emailed Full Sail on Friday to find out what the deal it. I want that freakishly expensive piece of paper to hang on my wall. And just so you don’t wonder… it’s a Master of Fine Arts in Media Design. Yahoo!

Groundbreaking at MCC (Mar 21)

After 2 years of fund raising, our church was able to move forward with expansion plans. Since Joel and I have been on the capital campaign committee since November 2007, the project feels like a huge part of our life in a way. To be there for the groundbreaking ceremony was a great experience, one that I know I won’t ever forget. It wasn’t a big deal to most people since it was just a ceremonial shovel in the side yard of the church… but it felt so satisfying to see how God is working in such a tangible way through the ministry of the church and its growth over the past 5 years.

HC Alumni Indoor Field Hockey Tournament (Mar 27)

“Go, old people!” was our motto. We came to win, and lose lose lose lose we did! All four games to be exact… but it was still amazingly fun to get back into playing hockey. I was definitely nervous beforehand, sluggish and frustrated during, and ridiculously sore afterwards, but now that I’ve recovered… I can say that I might consider doing it again, if just for the chance to catch my breath while catching up with old friends!

Lincoln’s Birth Day (Apr 2)

On Friday, April 2, at 4 am, I got a phone call to let me know that my nephew Lincoln Michael Waller had been born! Joel and I made the trip to Lancaster later in the day, and I got to stay for the whole week! And now I miss seeing him… Thank goodness for webcams and Skype!

Garden Spot Half Marathon (Apr 10)

Thanks to my sister Caryn and a New Year’s Resolution, I decided to train for a half marathon this spring. I did great with my training from December through the beginning of February, but with all the stuff that had to happen in order to finish my final thesis project for school, my training became sadly lacking in consistency during February. So, March became crunch time for training… but even after four weeks of hard work, I had still never run more than 9 miles all at once… which made the 13.1 required to complete the half marathon seem even more intimidating than that were before. Luckily, we survived! I came in at around 2 hours, 30 minutes, and 14 seconds, which put me in the slower half, but I decided that it wasn’t about the time I got. It was more about just doing it and finishing. I’ll save the next one for worrying about beating my time! At the end of the race, we even got cool medals and an astronaut blanket that made me feel like a shiny silver-coated winner!

Trip Details

Duration: 15 days
Timeline: December 12-27, 2008
Goals/Jobs:

1. Spend Christmas with the orphans
2. Paint, repair, teach, etc. as needed
3. Document in photo & video recording artist Meredith Andrews and her husband Jacob Sooter interacting with kids for new partnership

Friday, December 12

Joel and I flew out of Pittsburgh in the afternoon to Detroit to meet up with Andy (our team leader) and Rachel, two of our team members, before catching our next flight to Amsterdam. Joel and I had nearly 200 lbs. of gear, supplies, and gifts for the orphans, as well as our own luggage (one carry-on bag for each of us).

Saturday, December 13

Eight hours later, we were in the Netherlands, and it was 9:00 am local time. We had several hours before our final flight into Delhi, so we spent a bit of time searching for our three other team members. We found Kristen just before getting in line for Dutch security, and ran into Meredith and Jacob Sooter while we were in line, which worked out well. We all piled onto the plane and settled in for the 9-hour flight.

We landed in Delhi. The first thing I noticed about India was the smell. It’s hard to describe it… sewage, burned rubber, trash… I’m not sure. There’s something very spicy about it too. Also, the air is heavy and thick with pollution and moisture. Even when your nose gets used to the smell, you can always feel it in your lungs. It reminds me of the way it is hard to breathe in a room with a smoke machine, like at a concert or a pep rally back in high school.

Sunday, December 14

The bus ride from Delhi to Kota was nearly 10 hours long, which none of us were expecting. I was able to sleep for some of the trip, but much of it was so bumpy that I could not relax. The roads from Delhi to Kota were windy and full of brightly-painted trucks that honked their horns madly at everything. Each time we passed another vehicle, person, or animal, the driver pressed on the horn loudly for several seconds. For most of the drive, the horns were blaring every few seconds as our bus weaved in and out between cars and pedestrians.

When we finally arrived in Kota, we spend a little bit of time at the main office to meet Dr. Sam Thomas (Dr. MA Thomas was still in the hospital in the US after a stroke). Then we headed to the orphanage. We had missed the morning church service, so we spent the afternoon trying to catch up on sleep. In our room, Joel and I were supplied with two pillows and three blankets for the bed (two singles pushed up against each other to make a double). The mattresses seemed to be stuffed with hay or straw of some kind, which made them about as comfortable as the average American carpeted living room floor. The pillows, however, were very soft.

In the evening, we went to the church, which was lead by the team from South Africa that had already been there for more than a week. The kids sang loudly and a lot in English, which surprised me. I doubt that most of them have any idea what they are actually saying, but I know that they understand that they are singing for God.

Monday, December 15

Our first few days were dedicated to documenting Meredith and Jacob’s trip, since Meredith’s partnership with Hopegivers would help to raise awareness and support for Hopegivers. Joel was the videographer, and I was the photographer. Before we left, I purchased a new camera, an Olympus E-420, which is the smallest, lightest digital SLR available, which made it ideal for the trip.

Meredith and Jacob’s first stop was the Talwandi Emmanuel Mission School, where they put on a great concert for the kids. The school was abuzz with all kinds of activity during the concert, which I later realized was in preparation for the big Christmas program on December 23.

After the Talwandi school, we went to another Emmanuel Mission School in Kota for a second concert. During this one, Meredith had Rachel and Kristen come up on stage with her to teach the smaller children the motions to “Baby Shark,” which seemed to get the kids primed for the rest of the songs. After the concert, the kids crowded around all the members of our team to get autographs and try out their English. They were especially excited to meet and shake hands with Meredith and Jacob.

Afterwards, we went to the Emmanuel Ministries office to eat lunch, and then went shopping for Indian clothes to wear on Christmas day.

More to come

Norwin Field Hockey Championships from Laure Kline on Vimeo.

Norwin vs. North Allegheny
WPIAL AAA Championship Game
October 27, 2008
9:17pm

The final whistle… And what happens afterward.

Music by Kutless
“The Feeling”

CuzCamping08 from Laure Kline on Vimeo.

The highlights of CuzCamping08 at Shawnee State Park (October 17-20), set to a fabulous Frank Sinatra soundtrack. Also, I did not choose the still shot that is above… it’s automatic.

This weekend, Joel and I tested out my new Flip Video Mino in an adventure complete with Russians, aliens, and the Cathedral of Learning. I’m not as cool as Joel, so my editing leaves something to be desired. Also, I just used the default editing effects in iMovie, since I am just learning. Please don’t judge me too harshly.