The highs, lows, and mediums of 2009.

January

* Our 4th nephew, Samson Joseph Sellers was born to Chris’ older sister Bridie and her husband Chad. Sam was 6ish weeks early, but thrived in the NICU. He is almost one year old and is a healthy, happy, sweet little guy!

* We finally sold Chris red racer, MontellJordan, aka the Monte Carlo. We wanted to become a one-car family, and figured we would get more money selling a car that all doors open from both the inside and out! AND that starts right away when you put the key in the ignition! (Passandra does NOT do these things, fyi)

February

* Christopher Shane celebrated his 26th birthday on the 24th!

* We bought our first car as a twosome. Thanks to Christopher’s wise planning and awesome handling of our finances, we were able to pay cash for the Vibe. 10 months later, we still can’t come up with a decent nickname for her. Him? Any suggestions?

March

* I celebrated my 28th birthday. Yikes.

April

*Chris had the awesome privilege of playing a representation of Jesus in Cornerstone’s Easter production, “Ragman.” It was a huge undertaking for him…I mean, come ON! You’re playing the Savior of the World! He did an amazing job that brought tears to my eyes each of the five times I saw it. (I’m actually surprised he hasn’t been asked to do play Jesus sooner…I mean, have you seen him!?!?)

May

* We were blessed to travel to California this month. We visited friends, saw famous landmarks (Alcatraz isn’t a landmark, I know…a famous island mark?), visited Chris’ dad Rui in L.A., and went to DISNEYLAND!!! I honestly can say that from sunrise to sunset, the day we went to Disneyland was one of the most fun days I.HAVE.EVER.HAD.

June

*Well, this month was full of a lot of joy and a lot of pain. The joy? We had the absolute, well, joy, of having Gavin and Liam up in Ames for a few days while Em and Josh were in Massachusetts at the Son-Rise Institute, an autism research facility. We watched Horton, went to a pet shop, cuddled on Katie and Chris’ BIG bed, watched for trains, stared mezmorized at said trains as they were racing past. A lovely time had by all.

* Now for the pain – physically and emotionally. Chris was involved in an Ames Park & Rec soccer league and during a race to the goal (is that how you say it?) he severely injured his ankle. I’m talking HUGE, swollen, can’t-walk-on-it, need crutches awful. That same week,  the joy we had experienced a couple weeks earlier when we saw two little lines on a pregnancy test, came to an end, when we lost that baby one day. THAT was a tough, tough week.

July

*But, by the grace of God, we love each other more deeply, can see His hand more clearly, and experienced the END of that horrible month.

*Our 5th nephew, Tate Joshua Hulling was born to my older sister Emily and her husband Josh. He is 5 months old and is constantly wide-eyed at the noise his older brothers emit. He’s such a smiley sweetie!

* We were able to travel to Holland, Michigan to visit my best friend Becca and her husband Josh and their son Jack. We love western Michigan, home of all things beautiful.

August

* THIS month, we found out that I was pregnant again! With much joy and some anxiety, we were excited but had some reservations. As each week passed, and the nausea persisted, we were encouraged that maybe this one “took”.

* I also was given the great privilege of leading a group of five Salt Company women’s group leaders each week. These girls range from sophomores to seniors at Iowa State and every Tuesday night, they come to our house and make me laugh and make me think. They are passionate about their relationship with Jesus and it has been so fun getting to know Natalie, Yasi, Lissa, Holly, and Jaime.

September

* This month, baby was still a secret, even from family. It was kind of fun knowing that there were actually 3 Saldanhas and we were the only ones who knew!

* We also hosted Mom & Em’s Birthday Buddy Celebration Brunch at our house. Their birthdays are 6 days apart, so one sunny Saturday, we had a lovely (if I do say so myself) outdoor brunch under our redbud tree.

October

* Chris and I celebrated our two year anniversary! October 20, 2007 seems like just yesterday, but at the same time, it feels like we have always been married. And that’s just the way I like it.

*Chris’ dad Rui visited from Los Angeles for a couple days. It was good to see him again, but the poor guy was awfully chilly in our 40 degree weather!

November

* After telling family and *select close friends, now was the time to really let the baby out of the bag. Hmm. You really can’t change that saying, can you? That just sounds wrong. It was wonderful to finally be able to tell EVERYONE at work, church, etc., that we were expecting a Little Muffin of Our Very Own, as my cousin Jaymes said.

* Another trip to visit my friend Becca and her family, only this time, we met “halfway” in Chicago. Becca’s aunt is an incredibly generous woman and let us stay with her in her high rise apartment a block from Michigan Avenue! While we were there, we were able to visit my friend from college, DOCTOR Lisa Hardy and her fiancee Craig. They are getting married in June, so it was fun to hear her wedding plans!

December

* On December 7th, we found out that Baby Saldanha was a baby girl! I don’t know why, but a tiny piece of my heart just KNEW it was a girl. We are so excited to meet her…what is she going to be like?? She has been moving around quite a bit, and just last night, as we were laying in bed, you could actually SEE her moving. We had FELT her little pitter patters before, but to actually see your stomach move is very odd, very awesome.

* I was able to be a part of another Jenni Sabino original production at Cornerstone. This one wasn’t a full fledged 2 hour long to-do, but a 20 minute long “Family Dinner” scene. Her vision was that it resemble a 1960’s Black & White sitcom, and boy did they go all out. Body paint, blacked out tongues, completely black and white costumes, even black and white food! It’s amazing to see photos from it…we seriously looked black and white. *see facebook

Of course, 2010 is going to be probably the most challenging, most joyfilled year yet in our marriage. We are so excited to meet our daughter and see how different our lives actually become. May 10, 2010 can’t come soon enough.

Happy New Year to everyone! We hope that this year, you continue or maybe even begin to see just how much God loves you.

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

- T.S. Eliot

“The value of the gift is magnified when you consider the kind of people that make up the world.”
- Paul Sabino

The season of Christmas is bittersweet for me. I love celebrating the birth of Jesus, reflecting on what His life and love means, and rejoicing in the gift He gave me. That gift of being saved from my corrupted and hell-bound self. That’s the sweet part. The bitter part is knowing and loving people who don’t care. They don’t care about Jesus or don’t believe they need His gracious gift.

Last night, at church, I cried (yeah, I cried, so what?) tears of joy for the life of Jesus, and tears of sorrow for the people who don’t have that gift, who don’t want that gift, and are separated from God.

Paul Sabino gave a great message on John 3, and specifically verse 16, which is so commonly known and diluted. A man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus wanting to know about the true life that He offers. Nicodemus was a Jewish teacher who was a good religious man, but knew he was missing something. He was missing a true relationship. Before the well-known “God so loved the world” line, Jesus mentions a story of Israel when they were plagued with venomous snakes, and Moses had to raise a bronze snake on a stick to heal the people who were bitten and infected. In the same way, Jesus had to be raised up so that people who have been infected may be healed. And this gift is extended to, and necessary for everyone.

Especially me. And for that I cry tears of joy. Every day I need to be saved from myself – my selfishness, my greed, my arrogance, my worship of anything other than the One who deserves it. God gives the Gift that gives us true life, and life to the fullest, and it makes me sad that people don’t want that. Not only don’t want it, but wholly reject it.

So instead, we mask the reality of this week with family and gifts and food. Yeah, family, gifts, and food are good things and are part of it, but are we missing the point? Are we missing it?

Are you missing it? I beg you to consider the weight of the gift, and find the joy that comes with it.

I thought, ‘Is it insensitive to follow up a post like Baby Girl Has A Cyst On Her Brain with a post about products I love?’ But then I realized how much peace Chris and I have about all this and figured what better time to share things I love but shouldn’t!

So here goes. A recent list of Things I Love. But Shouldn’t.

Item 1: (is anyone else reading this with a Murray voice?)
Jo Malone fragrances. Okay, let’s just stop here and reflect on the fact that I have a bottle from TWO YEARS ago and I use it SPAR-ING-LY because I am so afraid it will run out. *Any thoughts on Jesus keeping this full a la the fish and bread?* THIS.STUFF.IS.DELICIOUS. I have never had a scent that is so fresh, so non-alcoholly smelling, so AMAZING. It lasts ALL day, my clothes smell like it weeks later, and it is the best stuff EVER. I got a sample of another scent at the Bloomingdale’s counter in Chicago and I could not stop smelling myself!! I feel like I’m going to stop traffic one of these days with my luxurious scent!! I have Orange Blossom and I recently aquired the Nectarine Blossom and Honey sample.

Why should I NOT love it, you ask? Because it is DANG expensive and the nearest store? Cheeecaaaagoo… Oh, and it’s DANG expensive.  Glerrrgg….

Item 2:
Lush products. I was introduced to this fantastic brand in California and love love it. The thing about Lush is that these products are all natural (like literally, ingrediant lists read like a recipe) and let’s be honest, are a little weird. For example, I got some Ultra Bland face cleanser and the first ingredient is PEANUT OIL. I was hesitant to see how peanut OIL would be on my dry-in-parts, oily-in-parts skin.  But would I give it a shot? Heck-to-the-glowy-skin-yes! My skin has never felt so SOFT and clear and SOFT! I tell Chris how soft my cheeks are frequently. I think he agrees! It’s a little disconcerting scooping out some heavy oily whipping cream and smearing it on your face. *Consistency of Vaseline*

Why should I NOT love it, you ask? Because it is kind of expensive and Cetaphil does (kind of ) the same thing…

Item 3:
WOW! That’s BIG!! It doesn’t NEED to be because it lasts FOREVER. Philosophy’s Hope In A Jar…it’s a moisturizer that has the consistency of whipped butter. And it meeelts onto your skin. Here’s where I’m torn. When I use Lush Ultra Bland, my skin is so soft, I don’t NEED moisturizer! But if I stop using Lush, I would like to continue in using H.I.A.J.
So why shouldn’t I love it? Take a guess…it’s dang expensive.

Item 4:
Any and all Fresh products. I’ve only used their Sugar Lemon stuff, but C & I went into a Fresh store when we were in San Francisco, and I wanted to move in right then and there. Maybe their products AREN’T so grand, I’m just lured in by their DELICIOUS marketing/design/packaging/store decoration.

No.

They are that grand.

Item 5:
Okay, we’re going to take things in a different direction now. BonneBell Cappuccino lipLITES. My first experience of this remarkable product was exactly EIGHT years ago and I have YET to find something I like better. EIGHT YEARS! I was living in Kollen Hall in Michigan with Elizabeth Boss, across the hall from Christine Powers whose friend came to visit her from high school and she whipped out this little beauty and here I am today, almost 29 years old, and still addicted. It’s creamy, goes on SO smooth, is the MOST flattering color on ANYONE and it tastes delicious. So why should I NOT love this? Well, again, I’m almost 29. They sell it next to sparkle headbands in Walgreens.

So that’s my (non-exhaustive) list of things I am currently loving. And thanks to my generous B, I am able to try out these girlie things. I want to live a life of simplicity, so can I just stick to buying Target clothes/cappy and splurge on Jo Malone? Every two years?

Good
Snow days. We had a movie and shoveling marathon yesterday thanks to the heavens dumping 12 inches of snow on central Iowa.

Bad
The massive sheet of ice between Ankeny and Ames. This morning was not a fun commute.

The Baby
We found out Monday that we’re having a little girl! This is the first granddaughter in both our families, and only the second great-granddaughter. Needless to say, we’re very, very excited. I know that people are going to want to spoil this little angel, but please, go easy on the pink and princess stuff. We’re just not that kind of people.

We also got a bit of not-so-great news. Yesterday the doctor called and said they had spotted a cyst on the baby’s brain. More than likely the cyst will go away or just be a non-issue, but any time you hear something is there that shouldn’t be, and somewhere kind of important like the brain, you tend to worry. At least, we do. So for those who are the praying type, we would appreciate those prayers. For those who are not, I’m sure God wouldn’t mind hearing from you either. We appreciate all the love and support our family and friends give us.

For me, this is one of those critical moments, where I have to choose how I’ll react to a given situation.

Do I:
A) Freak out.
B) Get angry.
C) Trust.

My immediate reaction is A, maybe with a little bit of B sprinkled in there. I think that’s human nature. My knee-jerk reaction is, “What injustice?!? Why my kid? Haven’t I been faithful, God?” As I’ve been studying through the Old Testament book of Psalms, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes I see a common theme: Life can really suck, but it’s not supposed to be that way. I know that God doesn’t want Baby S to have a cyst on her brain, but nature is corrupted and mutated. These things happen. It’s, well, nature.

God wants answer C. So that’s what we’re going to do. We know the rejoicing that will come in the end.

“Your hands made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. May those who fear You see me and be glad, because I wait for Your word.”

HERE’S THE PICTURE!!!!!

hahahahahahahhaha It’s Dancing!!!!!

…or at least today will be the day if Munch decides to cooperate!

We find out this afternoon if Scooter is a boy muffin or a girl muffin (or a panda muffin…see previous post). Here’s a rundown on some people’s guesses:

Me: Girl

Chris: *undecided but when pressured, goes with Boy

Josh: Boy

Em: Girl

Gavin: Girl (who he suggested we should name O’Tranny. I’m not kidding)

Liam: Girl

Taters: Could care less

Jamechia: Boy

Natalie: Girl

Natalie and Jamechia (two of my student workers) are so SURE of their answers, they are betting with their Christmas gifts to each other!

In unrelated/similar news: Lil’ Spunker is starting to make some motion down there! Last week, I was laying in the dentist chair, and I felt something I have never felt before! A desire to discuss politics?? NO! A little *pop* or little *ppooof* or what-have-you!! It was certainly weird and I was the only one in the room and I audibly said, “wai…wha…?” And TODAY, I am feeling the ppooof a LOT! I think it’s lil Munch saying hello!! It kind of feels like the daintiest piece of popcorn popping!!! hooray!!! I bet our Lil’ Popcorn Baby looks something like this: 

*please go to flickr.com and type popcorn. it’s a picture of a popped piece of corn that looks like a man dancing. I can’t figure out how to get it to upload.
UGH! SO DISAPPOINTING! Sorry, everyone who reads our blog!!! So…mom!!