Remembering... again...

Today will always be a day for remembering.

As I'm sitting here looking at my one-month-and-one-day-old son, I think about how much Bets would love to have met him and been so excited about this new phase of life with us.  It also makes me wonder why life is so unfair.  

The whole "Why do bad things happen to good people?" question nags at my heart every time I remember Bets.  What happened 7 years ago today will never make sense to me.  It's hard and it's ok - I don't ever expect, or really even want, to understand it.  Now, in the light of having this new life in front of me, I also think about how I got to be so blessed with the gift of a healthy son when so many around me are struck by tragedy.  With Coen gazing back at me from the pillow on my lap, I can't help but remember dear friends who have tried for years to have a child of their own and haven't been able to.  Other friends who have experienced the joy of pregnancy only to lose their child before being able to meet him.  Others who are waiting right now to know if their 20 week old daughter will miraculously beat her odds to survive a full-term pregnancy.    

If there's one thing this so-far-short career of parenting has taught me at this point, it's that ultimately we don't have control.  Every precious gift given can be taken away, or changed in a way we didn't expect or prefer.  

For Christ-followers, there is a peace in knowing that God claims us all as his own and loves us far beyond the capabilities of any other human love.  But can I be honest and say, it's also a little terrifying... Because what if that means sacrifice?  Tracey is God's child before he's my husband, Coen was God's child long before he became mine, and I pray to live those truths out every day in the way I see our relationships.  But what if he asks me to give something, or someone, that I don't want to give up?  This is where the continual battle to embrace trust and relinquish fear comes in.

Do I live my life in a way that shows, to me and to others, that it's not my own?  Do I value God's relationships with my loved ones more than my relationship with them?  Would I be voluntarily willing to sacrifice whatever He would ask of me?  Not always.  Thank God for grace...

Bets will forever remain an encouragement for me in this area - In her words, but more importantly in the way she lived her life.  That girl loved like no other.  She was the essence of a poured-out offering.  So much that we would actually have to have "interventions" with her about watching out for herself more instead of being overly-available for others.  But that just wasn't who she was.  She knew her life wasn't her own.  And she actually acted as if it wasn't.

In the midst of sadness, I am grateful.  I am grateful for my friend.  I am grateful for the life she led and the ways she continues to challenge and inspire us.  I am grateful for the opportunity to live a life with a higher calling than merely living it for myself.  And I am grateful for my God, even when he gives and takes away.  
  

Coen Tracey Keitt

Or, as they say in Chile, "Coen Tracey Keitt Keitt..."

was born on March 28, 2013, at 2:04pm.  All 8lbs, 9oz. and 20 inches of him arrived safely, and we could not be more thankful.

We will definitely write about the birth story someday, because that was quite the fiasco.  Let's just say it included earning the reputation as the "crazy Gringos" who checked themselves out of the hospital against medical advice.

But what's important for right now is to celebrate what we have...

                                        and finally share some pictures :)  

My mom was also able to visit us for 3 weeks which was obviously a huge gift!  Besides doing everything humanly possible to induce labor for 2 weeks, we got to get some sight-seeing done, share our world here with her, have quality time over coffee on the couch, and finally get to snuggle with her grandson.  

We are thankful.

We are blessed.  

We are incredibly sleep deprived, but absolutely in love.

To see some moments from these last few weeks, check out our 2 new albums by clicking on our lego camera under "Photo Gallery" on the right.

We really appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement that came throughout this crazy process of becoming parents! 

2 tips for your everyday life

Christine's doing well, the youngin' is doing well (on the inside still of course) and I've got 2 tips for your every day life

1 - if you step in dog dung, don't just stomp it out or scrape it off, dip those bad boys in bleach why don't cha'.
2 - if you disregard tip one, and let's say you may accidentally ingest a bit of that crap as you're waiting for you lil' boy to arrive in this world (with your "seasoned" shoe propped up on your knee), there will be consequences, non fun consequences.  Just take a few shots of tequila and you'll be A OK for another round of fun times at the hospital.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.  :)

Christine está bien, el cabrochico está bien (adentro de la barriga por su puesto) y tengo 2 sugerencias para tu día cotidiana

1 - Si pisas en caca de perros (porque siempre hay caleta), no trates de sacarlo simplemente con pisotear más fuerte o raspar contra la vereda, mételos en cloro
2 - Si no pescas a sugerencia 1, y digamos que lo ingieres un poco mientras que esperas para la llegada de tu hijo a este mundo (con tu zapato aliñado apoyado en tu rodilla), serán consecuencias, consecuencias "de pato" digamos, solo toma un par de tragos de tequila y anday viento en popa.

Pensé que debería compartir esas nada más :)

Could we BE any more excited?!

(I hope you were able to read the title with Chandler's voice in mind!)

I can't handle the excitement!!!!

We have been blessed with a really wonderful season this last month, and I wanted to document it before life gets crazy with this whole becoming parents thing.  So in no particular order, here is a glimpse into the last month and our current state:

1) In my opinion (and hopefully Tracey's, too, ha!) it's been the sweetest month in our marriage.  Obviously we are excited about meeting Lil' Man, but apart from that we have just been enjoying time with each other and learning how to work together better than ever before.

2)  All of a sudden in February (which is rare because the world stops here in February as everyone leaves on vacation for weeks at a time) we doubled our clientele.  We're excited about having full teaching schedules and new students to work with in March!

3)  Tracey and I team taught my classes so he can take over for me while I'm gone.  No offense to adults, but teaching kids is way more fun :)  Tracey loved it, they all loved him, and it will be really nice to be able to continue our with classes while I'm out for however long. And he's excited about wearing his "kid-friendly" shoes while singing songs and playing games... He's really excited about the shoes.  I'm pretty sure they're the ugliest things I've ever seen...

4)  Another HUGE blessing = we've worked our schedule out so that one of us (now and when I go back to classes) can be home with Lil' Man while the other is teaching!

5)  We have been getting ready for the first week of having our kids back at House of Hope.  I know I'm a nerd for it, but I LOVE the first week of school.  New ideas, new hopes for the year, a new start to everything.  It has been a really fun planning experience and we're excited to have the kids back!      

6) Tracey has been planning out the year for Sunday School and recruiting new teachers.  It's been really cool to see how his experiences and passions align so perfectly with the needs of our church!

7)  I can confidently drive a stick shift now in a city of crazy drivers and ridiculous traffic patterns!  (And ridiculous laws... apparently you can't drive when you're more than 7 months pregnant here... or when wearing flip flops... oops to both :/ )

8)  We found out last week that my sweet aunt is making it possible for us to come to the States this summer so we can celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary with my whole family!  Not only will we get to see so many family members and friends that we miss like crazy, Lil' Man will get to as well.  And as much as we appreciate Skype, there's obviously nothing quite like being with your people.  (Although we are thankful for Skype's ability to capture moments like when we told Tracey's parents I was pregnant... priceless!)

9)  Speaking of parents... My MOM is on a plane RIGHT now to come see us!!  It has been approximately 1 year and 8 months since I have last seen her.  And she has never seen Chile, OR our son!  Once again, a little too much excitement to handle...

10) Oh yeah, we're having a baby sometime this week.  Soon Lil' Man will have a name, a face, and a personality of his own.  And we will be parents.  Bah!!!  And I will get to sleep on my stomach again!  Baahahaha!!!!!  Or maybe not, since I heard we won't be sleeping for a while :)

Keitt Update - February 2013

Shower Time - All Over the World!

I have been blessed with ridiculously wonderful friends.

This whole having a baby thing of course is a really joyous thing, but it's times like these when it also makes you especially miss the people that know you the most.  

So my friend Laci, techno-savvy that she is, decided to throw me a "virtual" baby shower, courtesy of Google+.  (For those of you, like myself, that don't really understand the point of Google+, let me just share with you that while I don't know any other reasons to have it, it does allow you to video chat with up to 9 of your friends for free.  AMAZING!)  Saturday morning we all logged on, chatted it up, shared some fun stories, and of course played some trivia.  If you know the goodness of a Skype conversation with a good friend or family member, just multiply that excitement by 9, and that's what it was like!!

In addition to our fun online time together, they, along with many others, created a blog for "Baby Keitt" & Co.  Laci sent the link to me Saturday morning and I spent quite a few minutes on the couch reading the entries while crying, laughing, and overall just being amazed by how well my friends know me and how to love me best, even from so far away.  If you want to see what I mean, just check out the blog:

babykeitt.wordpress.com

And if you ever want to contribute to the blog, just send us an email and we will send you the link to publish one!  I know that Lil' Man will appreciate someday, and his parents will now.

I also just realized that I never shared pics from the shower I had here in January.  It was a "surprise" shower thrown for me by my host/Chilean mom and a bunch of women and friends from church.  It was pretty similar to stateside showers - food (of course), games, gifts, and chatting.  We had a time of advice-giving from current mothers which was very helpful and sweet :)  Overall, it was just another humbling reminder of how many people we have that truly care about us and love us well.

As far as Lil' Man goes, we are full term (37 weeks) tomorrow!  But obviously with his mom and dad's punctuality genes, we're not expecting him to be early, if even on time :) 


 

Sleepless Nights

I've been meaning to come up with a new hobby since this insomnia is becoming ever more frequent these days.  It's not even that I'm uncomfortable, it's just that I'm completely wide awake for 2-4 hour windows in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.  And now I get really excited when I wake up in the morning and realize I made it through the entire night sleeping...  Well, minus the expected 2-3 bathroom visits of course.  Is this just practical preparation for parenthood?  :) 

Maybe it's the excitement that's getting to me.  I know (supposedly) I have 5 more weeks left before we meet Lil' Man, but it seems so close now!  And when I do sleep, I honestly wake up most mornings and kind of forget I'm pregnant... of course I quickly remember as I have to very literally "roll" out of bed... and it's like a whole new gift every morning.

It makes me think about other nights where the excitement is just too much and I can't sleep, like...

... the night before our wedding...

... the night before I moved to Costa Rica for a semester (well, more like the 2 hours I slept before my early morning flight since I put off packing until the VERY last minute, like always... Why is packing such a dreaded task???)...

... the last night of living in a dorm...

... the last night of living with my roommates...

... the night after the phone call with Tracey where we suddenly weren't just "good friends" anymore, and what the heck did that mean?? ...

... the night after we Skyped with Doug and knew Chile was exactly what God had for us...

... any night before taking a flight somewhere, (again excitement, but more likely due to my packing issue...)

... the night before my first day of teaching...

... the night before my last day of teaching...

... the night before my first half-marathon, (not a great time to not sleep...)

... the night before we knew we'd be picking Mere up from the airport... and then Joelpants and Claire a year later... and Jules if I had known she'd be flying in...  

All these sleepless nights, including the present ones, just make me more and more grateful for the life I have already lived, the one I'm in today, and ALL the unknowns of my life in the future.  And even if that includes sleepless nights that are due more to crying babies than they are to the excitement of the unknown...  well then, bring it.  It may not feel exciting at 3:00 in the morning or the next day when I feel like I've been hit by a bus... but as far as long-term excitement, you are already worth it Lil' Man!