August 

Trivia: does anyone know what is significant about this day? No, well, neither did I until my wife told me that this day last year we also published our August blog post, lol! Looks like we’re right on schedule!

Anyway, let’s get to it. This month started out with our little girl turning fabulous one!!!! We celebrated by hanging up the traditional birthday banner (we stick it up for everyone’s birthday J). Following dinner, we got out her smash cake! We had baked some cupcakes for everyone else, including uncle Andy who had come to celebrate with us. Outfitted in one of her new dresses, she tentatively dipped her finger in the icing. She hardly made a mess, even with the encouragement of everyone…especially me. Tannin had started out the same as her, but after he was sure we were ok with him diving in, he’d gone for it and turned into a gray and black mess of icing. Here, Alana methodically ate little by little, never breaking stride, and then telling us she was full and wanted down. It was kinda weird, at least for me. But to each their own I suppose. Every child is different and it’s cool to see all the little differences as they turn up.

Alana has also developed a little this month. She started saying “Shhh”, “Bubba”, “Dadda”, “Momma”, “all done”, “Hi!”, “Wazzat?”, “and “bye, bye”. Physically, she continues to grow and though she’s an inch and a half, she’s still on the upper end for her age group.
As for Tannin, we finally potty trained him. Yes, even though he’ll still occasionally mess up, he’s officially potty trained. Sometimes we’re still reluctant to let him go out to the store in his undies, but we’re getting more and more confidant with him.
Other than that, not much happened this month. A lot of the same old, same old. Really, the main thing was watching the kids grow. Well, that’s all folks. Signing out for another month.

 

July

We spent the next two weeks making forays into the city. We visited Commerce Street to do some shopping and got our first taste of American food in India when we ate at the Hard Rock Café. Shopping was a blast but there was so many people! We learned that we were actually visiting during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan so around dinner time the streets were flooded with followers of Islam coming out to celebrate. We were able to get clothing for all of 4 of us. Some of the outfits were decently priced, some we were probably heavily inflated. Lol Such is the reality of shopping in India as foreigners.

We also got to visit the town of Mysore about 3 hrs away from Bangalore. We started the trip with a visit to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. We got to walk through some pretty garden areas and take a boat ride around a small island. While we should have been focused on the birds we were more interested in the massive bats and crocodiles! Lol The bats had a good 3 ft wingspan and the crocs were probably at least 6 ft long. It was so cool! The boat pulled right up next to them, we could have reached out and touched them.

We visited St. Philomena’s Cathedral next. It was receiving a facelift at the time so we didn’t get to see all of its beauty. They didn’t allow us to take any pictures inside but it looks like it is going to be very pretty. There was a private school on the grounds right as you exit the cathedral and Tannin was very disappointed that he couldn’t go and play with all the boys.  

We got to tour the palace after that. The building was beautiful, with intricate carvings everywhere! I thought it was kind of funny too; we had to take our shoes off before we could enter the building! You turn them in at a desk, they give you a ticket and off you go. The prince had just gotten married there a couple of weeks before so there were still flowers hanging everywhere and it had only been open to the public for three days before we got there. After walking through the palace building I stood with the kids (waiting for Richard to get our shoes back) when I had several different people approach me wanting to hold Alana. At this point I was pretty used to it, so I smiled and handed her over and even snapped a couple pictures myself. Alana loved all the attention! As we walked through the grounds we saw that you could pay to ride some elephants. We couldn’t pass up that opportunity especially seeing how much Tannin loves elephants! It was a lot of fun, once Tannin got good and woke up (he had been sleeping in the stroller pretty much since we had arrived).

Our last stop for the day was the Brindavan Gardens. It was a huge water fountain garden on the site of a lake at the base of a dam. We walked around and enjoyed walking through the sprays. We got ice cream and laughed at the monkeys that were playing in the trees and running along the fences. We had to pack up quick though because it started raining! Lol

After that it was about time to pack up and leave. We had so much fun and definitely did not want to go home. We look forward to more visits in the future! The flight home was much the same as the flight there except we did a lot more sleeping and we didn’t lose our luggage! Yay! The Indian man at customs, as we left the country, was very friendly and loved the fact that we were all wearing Indian clothing. One thing I do want to say for foreign customs, they are a lot friendlier toward families with small children, at least the ones we went through. They had special lines for families with small children that was a quarter of the length of the normal customs line. When got back to the states the lines were horrible! After over 20 hours of traveling the kids were exhausted and did not understand why they had to stand in this long line. One of the agents finally took pity on us and moved us and our two now screaming children to the front of the line. Our last flight in the states before we got back to Birmingham was delayed on the tarmac an hour but we all slept so it wasn’t too bad.

We stayed with family in Birmingham and Tannin scarfed down the fried pork chops and mac n cheese we had for dinner that night. He was so happy to have food that wasn’t hot and didn’t give his “mouth owies”. Lol We drove the 5 hours home the next day. Tannin did great! He slept and played and Alana just chilled in the back seat. We have some real troopers J
Other than that, the rest of the month was relatively calm. Tannin went back to gymnastics on that next Monday only to find out that it was a testing day. He did pretty well after missing two weeks and he enjoyed being back in classes with his “boys” (Tannin speak for friends, there’s actually only one other boy in the class, all the other kids are girls lol).

Alana has grown quite a bit and we are looking forward to her first birthday! It’s crazy to think that she turned 11 months old in India! She’s walking really well at this point and is beginning to mimic words and phrases that we say. At this point though, there is only one word that I have no doubts about her really knowing what it is (because she uses it all the time). It’s “no”. J

June

This month had a lot of firsts for our family.

Tannin has finally named everyone at home, Daddy, mommy, baby Lana, Gairweh (Garrett), Wy-yeh (Wyatt), Hoti (Sophie), Ama (Gramma), Pawpaw, and he’s Tan-tan or Ta-ta, depending on the day. Tannin also ate his first bowl of cereal with milk! We’ve also been reading books to him every night, and he’s started “reading” them back to us from memory. His other major accomplishment was completing his first 24-piece puzzle! He could have done it before, but his attention span was too short and he got bored before he’d finish. Finally, he can sit long enough to do it!

Alana has started wearing pigtails! Her hair’s long enough…at 10 months! That’s pretty crazy. We were looking at some pictures the other day and realized that Tannin’s hair was much shorter at this age than her’s. Tannin got his first hair cut at 11 months, but even then, it was only half the length of hers. She’s also walking much better! While before, if she stumbled and sat down she’d start crawling, now she just gets right back up and keeps walking! She’s also roaring…no need to point fingers at anyone, like me, or Olivia, or Tannin, lol. She has now been initiated.

As a family, we got to celebrate Father’s Day on the 19^th with some friends from church! We invited them and their two boys over for a cook out and some splash time. We got out the kiddie pool and lots of toys and let the kids go crazy while we chatted. It was a lot of fun J

Then, at the end of the month, we traveled to India! We left out of Birmingham (after visiting the Peach Park in Clanton) on the 25^th and arrived in Bangalore on the 26^th. The kids did surprisingly well on the plane flights and we actually had a pretty good time. Alana slept a lot and Tannin watched movies and played games. We flew from Birmingham to Atlanta (30 mins) then from Atlanta to Paris, France (9 ish hrs). It was so cool to be in another country! We got to sample some of their breakfast items; a croissant like thing that had a sweet meaty filling, and Richard bought some chocolate. It was dark chocolate and I really didn’t like but he loved it. We got served meals on the planes, which was cool. I had never experienced that before. The food wasn’t too bad, though they were French meals and I didn’t know what all I was eating half the time. Lol

From Paris we had a 10 ish hr flight to Bangalore, India. That one got a little long. Tannin and Alana both got up at different points to walk the aisles (or frog hop, that happened too). Before we took off in Paris though, the pilot came on the intercom and said that per international agreement the plane had to be sprayed for bugs before we could take off. As he was telling us about how safe the stuff was a flight attendant came walking down the aisle with two cans of bug spray at shoulder level spraying the air behind him as he walked around the entire plane! It was a very weird experience….

We finally landed in India and had to go through customs. It was pretty cool though, they had a special line for families with small children, so we didn’t have to stand in line long. After we made it through security we had to get our luggage. We came down the escalator and immediately got bombarded with men asking if we needed a porter. I just told them no and kept walking but Richard couldn’t understand them very well so he stopped to see what they wanted. At that point they swarmed him all asking the same question. I yelled back and told him to say no and keep walking. Lol He was so confused. We retrieved all but one of our bags but that was ok. It was one that we didn’t need right away.

We finally made it out of the airport and stepped outside. It was beautiful! When we left Alabama it was in the 90s, Bangalore was a wonderful 70 with a light breeze. It felt so good! We got a cab and Tannin had a blast. Alana fell asleep but our little man loved being able to ride in the car without a seat belt. He stood up in the seat watching everything as we drove through the city, and loudly pointed out every stray dog he saw…which was quite a few. lol
We got to our hotel at about 4:30 am India time. Slept for 3 ish hours and then relaxed and explored the area around the hotel. We found a fun little grocery store that had everything we would need and a Baskin Robbins….
…and I’ll leave that right there because the rest happened in July lol ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May

…and half way through the next month, we started on May, lol! This has been an exhausting month. May is always a busy month for us. We’ve got my birthday, our anniversary, and Mother’s Day, and this year we also had my youngest brother get married!

I finished my Flood Geology class that first Sunday and then that next Thursday, we headed up to Canada to celebrate Brenton getting married. Now my parents are truly empty nesters! This was a pretty big trip for us. We packed up Tannin and Alana and jumped on a plane at 6 am on Thursday (this meant that all of us had to be up by 3:45). Tannin loved it!!! We told him that we were “Going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship, zooming through the skies, little Einsteins. Climb aboard, get ready to explore, there’s so much to find, little Einsteins.” You may recognize the song from the popular kids tv show J In the show the kids fly around in a rocket ship that they have to pat into flight. So, as the plane was taking off we would all pat our laps, getting faster and faster until we lifted off. At which point, we would through our hands up in the air and yell, “Blast off!” He lasted up until the last hour of the last flight…not too shabby for a 2 year old.

After that, my parents drove us from Calgary down to their home where we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and then got a good night sleep. The next day was the wedding and it went off without a hitch (at least I didn’t notice any, though Brenton made me wonder if he’d show up, lol). It was half an hour before the ceremony when we found out he was still at Subway, eating lunch! But alas, he showed up and the rest is history! Congrats bro! You did good J

Once we made the journey back home, I was finally able to give Olivia her Mother’s Day gift – a full 1 hr massage! Our trip to Canada had gone the weekend of Mother’s Day, so I had to postpone it a bit. She absolutely loved it! I made her close her eyes on the way there so she wouldn’t know where we were going, she was so excited when she opened them. While she was getting pampered, I took the kids to the local park and let them run around and play. When I went back to pick her up she was beaming. She seemed so much more relaxed, and had a warm glow about her. I hadn’t seen her smile that big in a while. Totally worth it!

That next week we had a friend from India come and visit. It was great to talk with her about all the things she had seen and learned. We can’t wait to have our first visit!

For my birthday I talked Olivia into going with me to see the new Captain America: Civil War movie. She loved it and so did I! We both laughed quite a bit and she kept telling me how much she loved the Spiderman they chose and how they portrayed him.

The last thing that month was our anniversary. Four years. That’s how long we’ve been married. It’s been an eventful 4 years and we spent our whole dinner at Longhorn’s reminiscing. We both agree that our time tree planting has been our favorite so far. Hahaha Maybe it’s just the newlywed lenses that we had at the time but we have some very fond memories of those days. After dinner we were going to head to a store to just walk around for a bit and enjoy time without the kids, but after checking in with gramma it became clear that Alana was not going to let that happen. So, we packed it up early and headed home.

Oh yeah, I forgot about memorial day. We had a blast at a friend’s house for a memorial day cookout. They had a kiddie pool and water toys and Tannin and Alana loved running around in their swimsuits playing in the water. When it was time to go I took Tannin up to get dressed and then headed down to get Olivia. In the 2 seconds it took for me to look at her and tell her we were ready to go we heard a huge splash and looked over to see Tannin in the pool…fully clothed. So, he sat on a towel the whole way home.

Other than that, Alana started waving and dancing this month. It’s been fun to watch her grow and learn. She’s a very smart and thoughtful little girl…and very much the drama queen. Hahaha
That pretty much sums up the month. I look forward to sharing about all that is going on next month (we’ve got some pretty big stuff coming J ). Until next time…

April

Finally, the April update. To finish off that cliffhanger I left you guys on, our friends from Florida, the Judkins, came by and stayed for four days! We had a blast catching up and letting the kids play (they have two boys close to the same ages as Tannin and Alana). We went to an art festival in a neighboring town and also got to take the kids swimming. We had one day while they were here where it rained so hard a tree in the backyard fell! Our little pond in the back turned into a huge pond with a small river trying to wash out the bridge on the driveway below. We played games and talked late into the night every night. They even got to attend Richard’s first Flood Geology class at church. It was hard saying goodbye (in fact, we tried to convince them to move up here) and we really hope that we can get together again soon.

Richard got a wonderful opportunity this month. He was able to teach at church for five Sundays. His class was based on the Flood Geology class that he taught at NTBI last year. He had a great time and had a pretty good turn out too.

The week of April 9^th was crazy busy getting ready for my (Olivia) sister Shelby’s wedding. I was a bridesmaid, Tannin was the ring bearer, and Alana was the flower girl. I had so much fun hanging out with the other bridesmaids and making our own bouquets. The wedding was beautiful and my sister was gorgeous. Welcome Lewis to our crazy family!

Everything started to settle down from that when it revved back up again. We got a call that my great-grandmother had passed away. So, Richard took off work at lunch, I got everything packed, and we headed up to Birmingham to visit with family and attend the funeral. Though Granny Knight was a very integral part of our family and will be sorely missed, it was a bittersweet time. She was a strong believer and, being in her mid-late 90s, was ready to be with her Savior. Not only that, but it gave us the chance to see family that we don’t often get to visit with. We stayed with my dad while we were there and got to hang out with his family and my brothers in the mornings and evenings.

We got back from that trip and had a couple of weeks of some cool down time. Tannin this month started using short sentences which has been amazing! He also learned to swim (with a life-vest assist) but now he is capable of making his way around the pool and jumping in and out by himself. He was also moved up to the big kid class in gymnastics which means that he gets to go in a class with a teacher and mommy watched through the window. He has really been enjoying it and has learned a lot!

Alana started clapping her hands and took her first steps! We’re so proud of her and she is getting so big!

Well, that’s all for this month. Sorry it was late J I’ll go ahead and get May started now lol    

 

March

 

This picture was done in charcoal by Richard. The art class that he teaches was learning how to use charcoal on a large scale and he felt, as the teacher, that he would be remiss if he did not do a project as well. lol So, in honor of the new Batman movie, he drew this.

We opened the month with mom and Shelby heading off to New York for a week. This meant that Richard and I had all the kids, our two and then my four siblings that were left. It was a crazy week but we had a blast hanging out together. A lot of this last month was getting ready for our trip to India in June. We had a lot of phone calls to make and visas to apply for.

On the second weekend, some friends invited us over for a bonfire, sharing a passion of ours with them. We never ended up making to the actual bonfire outside, but had a blast meeting new people and eating good food!

We celebrated Easter by going to the Easter Sunday service, after which we hid eggs inside because it was raining. Dying the eggs was fun as well. Tannin got to do 3 eggs, writing all over them. For lunch, we went to a friend’s place where we had a potluck. Some Canadians showed up and found out we may be distantly related, lol! What a small world. They even brought some paska, which is Richard’s favorite Easter dessert! While all this was going on it was still pouring down raining. Us adults stayed under the cover of the carport while the kids swam in the massive puddles the driveway. Lol Tannin had a blast running through the thigh deep puddles and standing under the water that streamed from the roof.

Once the festivities were over, Richard headed off with Garrett to see Superman v. Batman. While he enjoyed the experience at the theater, the movie definitely did not meet his expectations. Oh well, at least Batman won J

Alana did hit some milestones the month. She started crawling and, almost at the same time, pulling up. She walks around the room assisted by the furniture or toys. We love watching her play and explore! On the last day of March, she started climbing…. Needless to say, the stairs are now gated, lol.

Right as the month was ending some old friends from New Tribes Bible Institute came to visit. My parents had gone out of town for a few days, we had an open room so they asked if they could come by and stay a bit. They arrived late on the 31^st and the rest is yet to come… J

­­­February

For those who have studied hurricanes, you’re probably familiar with the eye of the storm. It’s the one place where the air is still. Well, our month was a little bit like that…it moved so fast that the only place we could find peace and quiet was in the center of it, removing the focus from ourselves and focusing on what God was doing through the situations. While most of the month was great, it also served as a time of testing: testing our resolve for our life direction; testing our relationships; and, testing our limits.

On the first of the month, Olivia began a playdate with some friends of hers, giving her a chance to develop and deepen relationships with those around her, despite her limitations as a stay-at-home mom. It has been an enormous blessing to her and given Tannin a chance to play with some other kids each week.

Tannin is continuing his gymnastics and enjoying it immensely! He’s made new friends, which he calls his “boys” (doesn’t matter if they’re a boy or girl, lol), and continues to influence them with his fun, playful self. The first time he went to gymnastics, he flopped down on the ground and started pushing himself across the floor with his feet. Before Olivia knew it, the other kids had joined in, following his lead! We’ve already got a leader in the making, lol.

That first weekend, I got to travel to Canada. I had received news the previous week that my grandpa had died, so we bought me tickets for the weekend of his funeral. The trip up went without any trouble and my sister and brother-in-law picked me up in Calgary. After they fed me a great supper (you guys are great cooks by the way, especially on such short notice J), we got everything packed and headed to my parents’ place 2 ½ hrs away! That next day went by so quickly, I was lucky to be able to sleep in until 8, lol. I got a few hours to catch up with siblings before we all went over to the church, followed the hearse to the graveyard, and had the burial ceremony. While there, I was able to stop by my friend’s grave, Cam Enns, for the first time.

When I had come up a year earlier for his memorial service, the time had been so short I hadn’t had time to stop by the graveyard. It was hard to finally see it and let it sink in…again, that he was gone. I’m just glad we have the hope of the resurrection some day!

Well, after that, we headed back to the church and held grandpa Reimer’s memorial service and then enjoyed a time afterward to talk about our memories we had of him, catch up a bit more with family, and enjoy chocolate together! I left a little early to meet a friend I hadn’t seen in 4 years and had the privilege of meeting his wife as well! How times change! We had a blast catching up and hearing how our lives have changed over the last 4 years. That evening, all the extended family had a dinner together and played patty-pegs, a game that grandpa had loved playing with us whenever we'd all get together!

A quick story: While I was travelling up to Canada, I thought, hey I should check my permanent residency card to make sure it’s still valid. What a novel idea! Well, it turns out the card had expired a few months prior…so now I as was preparing to leave Denver, CO, I was reaching the point of no return. I realized that I may have an issue getting back into the States, especially with an expired card. As I tried to figure out what to do, beginning to worry that I’d be stuck in Canada, I realized that we had applied to renew my permanent residency, but it just hadn’t been processed yet. The paperwork said I was still able to travel, but I had forgotten to bring the paperwork with me. I knew the government could be finicky when it came to original documents vs. copies, so I began to worry again that they wouldn’t accept it and I’d have to wait 2 weeks while the mail made its way up to Canada before I would be able to show them the original document. My wife talked to the customs in Colorado and assured me that all would work out, but I still had my doubts. I printed off a copy and brought it with me, expecting some resistance. I made it to the ticket station and it almost looked like I’d get through without any problems. Unfortunately, those machines were smart enough to realize that I was a permanent residency card and smart enough to read that my card had expired. A ticket agent walked over to me and I began sweating. I thought, here it is, this is where they tell me I can’t go back to the States!

To my surprise, she told me that this happened all the time and I just had to fill out a form and show it to the customs as I went through security. I quickly did so and made it to security. The security was nice and hardly asked me any questions before letting me through. I was home free! Kinda weird for a Canadian to say, but hey, I was dragged to the dark side, lol. Anyways, the rest of the trip went without a hitch and before I knew it, I was driving back from Birmingham to my family J I even met my foreman from work on the way home. What a Cowinkydink, lo!

That next weekend, we traveled to Florida to go camping for the weekend. We had a blast there, despite managing 2 kids the whole time. Between keeping Alana from eating dirt, and Tannin from running off, we had a great time, got to meet some new people and talk about our life direction with some family friends and their friends. By the time the weekend was done, we were more than ready to go home!

The week following, Olivia left with the kids to Birmingham to see family. Well…I still had to work, so I got to be a bachelor for 3 days, making my own meals and catching up on all my favorite TV shows. I even did a bit of woodworking J

The rest of the month had us busy with family events like Olivia’s sister’s bridal shower, playdates, and meetings related to our future direction.

For those of you who want to know more about what we’re doing, please message us on Facebook, email us, or feel free to call us! We’d be more than happy to arrange a time to get together and talk more about it J

That’s all for now folks! See you next month!

 

 

January

Wow. Here I am writing about another January, the 3^rd one on this blog. It’s crazy how much has changed between then and now. Tannin is now a rambunctious toddler who loves to line his cars up on the stairs and who is slowly being potty trained. He’s testing his limits every day, both physically and when it comes to the rules of the house. J He loves to help and will spend all day following me around helping with dishes, clothes, and taking care of his baby sister. Speaking of whom, now we have Alana! Our little girl is growing so fast! She’s 5 months old, sitting up one her own, and eating baby food. She loves to play on the floor with her brother and “talking” as loud as she can. Lol
This month Tannin started taking gymnastics at a local gym. He’s loving it! There’s no formal classes yet but he enjoys the “mommy and me” time when he can go jump on the trampolines, swing on the bars, and practice his forward rolls.

Tannin has completely given up his Paci. Up until this point he still used it at night but he was starting to get sores around his mouth from sucking on it all night so we decided it was time for it to go. One night before bed I cut the tip of it off before I handed it to him. By cutting the nipple it allowed air into the paci so that he couldn’t create the suction that you need in order to get the good feeling. He thought it was funny and kept asking us if he had the wrong paci. We assured him that it was his and after a couple of nights he stopped asking for it.  

Over the weekend of the 15^th we had a friend from Jackson Hole Bible College, Caleb, come down from where he is stationed in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. We had fun just hanging out and catching up with each other. He worked with the family horse and had a good time getting away from work and relaxing.

My (Olivia’s) birthday was on the 25^th. It was weird not having Richard home during the day. Since we’ve been married we were in college so he was with me all day on my birthday in classes and such. Now that we’ve graduated and he’s working his cabinetry job I’ve had to get to him being gone most of the day. The kids and I celebrated by taking a walk in the woods to climb trees and then we came together as a family that night for cake and ice cream. Richard made me a custom t-shirt with the kids’ handprints on it and all of our initials and he let me know that he was working on something for me in the shop but it wasn’t ready yet. He’s lathing me a wooden jar and it’s coming along very nicely. He said it was an M&M jar so I asked him if that meant he would continually keep it filled with candy. Lol No such luck. J These gifts also came with a beautiful letter that I think was probably my favorite gift…if not, it was definitely a close second, we’ll have to see what happens with this jar. ;)   

The month ended on a bitter sweet note with the passing of Richard’s Grandpa Reimer. While he will be missed we were all glad to see him finally leave his body of suffering and go to be with his Savior and the love of his life, his Annie. She had gone on before him some years ago and he missed her dearly. Richard will be heading up for the funeral soon but that is a story for another month… J

December

Christmas time is here! I love this time of year. We began with my mom’s birthday and pulling out the Christmas decorations. It was so much fun to get everything out and to put up the tree. Tannin got to help hang the ornaments and Alana laid under the tree staring up at the lights. The hard part was keeping the ornaments on the tree! We followed Tannin around for the next couple of weeks retrieving ornaments and placing them back on the tree.

We started the Walk Through Bethlehem and had a blast. After the five nights were done we were really tired and glad it was over but we did enjoy it. We were assigned a time to arrive and would relieve the Mary and Joseph that were there before us. Alana wasn’t too sure what to think about it all. She really just wanted to sleep and found it hard with all the people around her talking and singing but she would eventually pass out every night. They had so many groups coming through that we were reciting our lines every four minutes or so for an hour and a half! One time, the groups were 2 minutes apart! So many people came through and heard the gospel. They would easy get a thousand through in a night. The groups would start off talking to the Romans at the gates of the city and then slowly work their way through the streets talking to vendors as they went. Every night there was over 280 actors in the streets. We had extras that just walked and talked to people here and there. There were centurions who would harass any “Jews” that crossed their paths. There were vendors who would hawk their wares and children who ran and played. Everything was lit by fires and torches….it was really cool.

We traveled up for a family Christmas party in Northern Alabama and had a blast. Richard’s new job had a party as well. Tannin and Alana got to tag along for some steak and a really good Reese cup cake. Oh yeah, Richard got a new job. His boss at the construction company was moving the business to South Carolina and was shutting down the office here. Thankfully Richard was able to pick up a job on just the first day of searching. He visited Woodham’s Cabinetry shop, dropped off his resume, had an interview, and got a call back the next day. He started working with them that next Monday. Sometimes God moves quickly J

Christmas day finally came. Richard and I have been so excited to give Tannin his presents and to see his excitement. He got a Spiderman t-shirt and undies (we’re potty training) from mommy and daddy and DinoTrux figurines from Gramma and Papaw. He asks to wear the undies every day and won’t let his DinoTrux out of his sight. Success! Alana got some stacking cups and duckies from mommy and daddy and a walker from Gramma and Papaw. Our little man ate so much candy! The floor was littered with wrappers. Since then we’ve really cut back on the amount he’s allowed. Mommy and Daddy are sacrificing themselves and removing the temptation from him…by…eating…it.

Richard made me a beautiful wooden necklace and earrings. He turned the beads himself and painted them the colors of our birth stones. He also made a little jewelry box for them to go in. It was all beautifully done and the time and skill he spent on them was evident. I thought it was funny though because I also made him a necklace. Funny how our minds think alike. J His was on a leather thong with three brass pendants with mine, Tannin, and Alana’s initials on them and a small wood pendant that had an oak leaf on it. (We’ve been reading the Ranger’s Apprentice together. If you’ve read the books, then you’ll understand.) Richard also made a Dalek (from Dr. Who) out of a salt shaker for Garrett. He was very proud of it, as he should be; it turned out great!

We also got the chance to meet Shelby’s fiancé’s parents. If you didn’t get that update, my sister is getting married! We’re really excited for her and Lewis. J

The last thing we did this month was a date for me and Richard. We left BOTH of the kids with Gramma and Papaw and went out to dinner. It was so great to get away for two hours and just be together. It’s funny how the simple act of talking is so sweet when there is no baby in your arms to distract you. The kids had a great time and were very happy to see us when we got home. J

I think that wraps up our year.   

November

We started this month with our big boy’s 2^nd birthday! He’s growing so fast! We got back from Atlanta on the 3^rd and had his party on the 5^th. It was Dinosaur/Construction themed and we invited some friends over to come play in his new sand box. He had a blast.
We thought we would go ahead and share the really big thing that is going on. We are working on moving to India! We have some friends who have a job for Richard there and we’re really excited to join them. It will be a little while yet because we have to save up some money and get everything in order here first but that is where we are headed. We are so excited and can’t wait to experience a new culture and learn a new language. Richard has been attending a lot of meetings and going to a lot of classes in order to get ready. We can’t wait for the opportunity to actually visit our friends in the coming year and see what all we have to look forward to.
Alana got a cool role to play this last little bit. We signed up to be Mary and Joseph in our church’s Walk Through Bethlehem and she got to be baby Jesus. So far we have only been to one practice, we were out of town for the first one and the kids and I were sick for the second, but it should be a lot of fun. Basically it’s a huge Bethlehem town when groups tour through and talk to actors dressed as people from Jesus day. As you go from stall to stall the story of the Gospel is slowly unfolded until it climaxes with seeing the baby Jesus in the stable. It looks like it’s going to be great! I can’t wait to see it running.
For Thanksgiving we traveled up to see family. We had a great time but we all came home sick. *bleh*
Well, that’s all for November, see you next month.

October

This month focused around my parents coming down for the Canadian Thanksgiving. For all you Americans who don’t know when that is, it’s the same day as Columbus Day. They ended up arriving 2 days later and stayed a whole week!

While they were here, we spent a lot of quality time together. Unfortunately, I still had to work, but they spent the daytime with Olivia and the kids. So, that Friday they went with Olivia to the Dothan Art Museum. After I got off work, we headed to Corn Dodgers to spend the evening. For all ya’ll who don’t know what in the world Corn Dodgers is, it’s basically a farm that’s been converted into a theme park for farm kids. There’s a corn maze, which we unfortunately didn’t go through, along with several other smaller attractions spread over a few acres.

They had a corn cannon and were able to let Tannin shoot some corn at the target for a chance at $50. Needless to say, no one hit the target. The corn was too misshapen and the cannon barrel all out of spec…nah, they just wanted to make it a challenge, lol.

Anyway, we got supper after that and then followed him onto a “train” ride where a lawn tractor had barrels painted like cows pulled behind it, with cutouts to ride in. It was pretty fun and Tannin had a blast! Then we jumped on a gigantic blowup trampoline where he held my hands and jumped with me until he fell down and decided he was done. It was time to move on to the petting zoo. He loved feeding the animals, but wasn’t sure how he liked the goats and piglets attacking him for more. He ended up pushing through them and trying to get out of the pen. He also got to ride a pony. Then there was a water racing station, the “Tower of Tires”, a grain bin full of corn kernels, and a pumpkin patch.

After racing the duckies a few more times we headed home after a long, fun day.

The next day I woke up sick and ended up sleeping most of the day. So, instead of going to the reenactment, everyone took it easy and hung out at home.

Sunday, I was feeling better and after church we headed out to the Battle at Newton Reenactment. Olivia got me hooked up with the crew and before I knew it, I was put on the cannon. I was put in position 4, which is the position to fire the cannon. I was given the pull cord with which to fire the cannon, which had a fuse on the end which was placed in a hole at the back of the barrel. It only took me a try or two to get the technique right (essentially an uppercut punch) before I was blasting the Confederates to kingdom come! Afterwards I found out that every time a cannon went off, Tannin would go, “Boom, boom!” along with hand gestures to emphasize the explosion. He’s pretty cute.

Tuesday, they headed to the beach while I went to work. They had a great time at Panama beach and even got to see a dolphin! I came home to two hermit crabs and even got to name one. So now, we have added Colonel and Jr. to the family. That night, I had to say goodbye to my parents since I was heading to work early that next morning. Olivia and the kids said goodbye noon the next day.

Thank you so much for coming Mom and Dad! We loved having you guys down South here! I know Tannin loved spending time with you too.

At the end of the month, since we were leaving for Atlanta before Halloween, we got Tannin a Captain America outfit and Alana a Ninja Turtle outfit and went “Trunk-or-treating” at a local church. Tannin had a blast playing the games, rode on a little train that they had and ran around in the pumpkin patch. I think that was his favorite part! At the end of the night, we picked out some pumpkins and headed home. Then, right before leaving for Atlanta, we carved our pumpkins, one for each of us. Olivia carved an oak leaf. It was kinda cool because she didn’t go all the way through, making it thin enough to allow light from the candle to get through. Mine was a creepy dragon-tiger face. Tannin’s was a super-T symbol, and Alana’s was a cute little face.

We left for Atlanta that last Friday and made the 4-5 hr trip. We left Tannin with the grandparents and experienced being away from our son for the first time ever! I remember going to the McDonald’s for some food and saw an indoor playground. I saw it and thought, That’s perfect for Tannin! I can’t wait to bring him here….when I realized I wouldn’t be able to since he was back home in Alabama…needless to say we missed our little boy the whole time we were there.

 

September

Well, we finally wrote this month…and this time it wasn’t because we forgot, lol! We have been very busy with some big family changes involving a career change and change of residency. If you want to learn more, feel free to email us and we’d be more than happy to explain.

This month began with me getting my biometrics done for my permanent residency…again. Now, we’re just waiting on the government to approve it. I got to go to my first Wood Turner’s Meeting with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. We had a great time and I learned some new things to try out. We were challenged to make a kitchen appliance or tool of some sort. I ended up making a potato masher – that is, a showcase potato masher because it wasn’t strong enough…and I stained it and sealed it with the wrong stuff to use it with food. Whoops, lol :)

Mom and Dad Evett had their 20^th Anniversary which my father-in-law used to plan a surprise vow renewal after an anniversary getaway. Family and friends gathered to celebrate their marriage and be a part of their official reaffirmation of their vows. Congrats guys! We love you dad and mom!

After that, we took a trip to Atlanta for 5 days. This is where our comment at the beginning comes in. We had some meetings to attend and mom watched Tannin during the day while we sat in meetings.

The month closed out with me going to a Forge Meeting where I learned how to make a dragon head out of metal! Not sure I’ll get the chance to try it, but it was cool to watch. That’s all folks. See you next time!

August

Finally, the month we’ve all been waiting for. We found out that I would be working the week Alana was due and would be out of town, about 2 hours away. After talking to Olivia’s doctor, he said that she was progressing wonderfully and recommended inducing just to make sure that I was there. So we planned the induction for Wednesday the 5^th and I headed out of town to work the 2 days prior.

The special morning arrived and we headed into the hospital at 5 a.m. After getting Olivia admitted, I headed out to get breakfast while they got her all hooked up and ready to go. At 6, the doctor came in and broke her water. We had asked that he do this before starting the Pitocin to see if her body would start labor on its own.

After an hour she was having contractions 5 minutes apart but they wanted to see if they could get labor to speed up. So, they gave her a small amount of Pitocin which quickly got the contractions to 2 minutes apart. The nurse upped it one more time and they started coming in hard and fast at about minute apart. Olivia was doing great! She was breathing through the contractions and I was rubbing her back trying to provide some counter pressure. About 3 hours in, Olivia asked for an epidural. The contractions were coming really fast and if this was anything like her labor with Tannin, she still had 5 hours to go. No one knew just how far along she was!

She got the epidural and 30 minutes later the nurse came in to check on her and found that little Alana was crowning. We were all pretty shocked that it had happened so soon. Thankfully, Olivia’s sister Shelby had just arrived to take the pictures.

They quickly got the doctor in there – he wasn’t even able to change out of his suit, lol – and he threw a gown and some gloves on. Ten minutes later, we welcomed our little Alana Rose Reimer into the world! She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz., measured 20 ½” long, and had a head full of curly, black hair. She’s holding up the family tradition of having thick, black hair at birth, at least on their mother’s side, lol. Olivia was born with black hair that was 3” long! It used to stand up straight…she was pretty cute, no bias.

Tannin was able to see us that night and say hello to his new sister! He was staying with grandma and pawpaw while we were at the hospital. He had no clue what was going on and wasn’t entirely excited about this new person taking his mommy’s lap. Since then he’s come to like her, hugging and kissing her before going to bed.

Over the next day and a half, we had some friends from church and family stop by to say hi and see how the baby and momma were doing. After that, we were discharged and got home the afternoon of August 7^th. Olivia was feeling great, not having the spinal headache she had had with Tannin.

After that, Alana had her 1 week appointment that next Monday. I was back at work and life was finding its new rhythm. Since then, life has been interesting, trying to juggle two kids needing our attention and investment in their lives. It’s been good though: stretching, but good J

Oh, and I got my extended Permanent Residency unofficially approved! The reason for this is because my initial Permanent Residency was a conditional one, one that needed renewing after 2 years. Olivia got all the paperwork together and sent in. We received a confirmation letter and an appointment for me to get fingerprinted in September. This new card will be good for 10 years while we work on getting my citizenship. Yay!

 

 

July

Before I do this month’s entry, I thought I’d give a shout out to our Quorumites (small group in Waukesha). I realized after I had posted last month’s newsletter that I had forgotten to mention them. In June, we said goodbye to our friends from the Quorumite group.

 

These amazing people have been a part of our lives for nearly 3 years. We met them when we began going to NTBI in the fall of 2012, right after getting married. It was a newly married’s class at Elmbrook Church and once the class had ended, we decided to keep going as a small group. Ever since then, our group has changed, grown, and developed into what it is today. Olivia and I were blessed to have them as a part of our lives in many ways!

 

One that I remember was in the middle of January. After getting back from Christmas in Alabama our car wouldn’t start because the fuel line had frozen (apparently they water down their gas the further south you go, lol). One of the men in the group came over and helped me get it fixed, and luckily the weather warmed up around the same time and we were able to drive again.

 

Thank you Quorumites for all your love, support, friendship, and living life together. We won’t forget you all and hope we can see you all again!

 

Now, on to July. This month was mostly just working for me and pregnancy for Olivia. For the 4^th of July, we bought some fireworks and lit them in the yard. It was pretty fun. Tannin loved all the lights and noises, staring up at the sky as they went off. Every time there was a pause so we could light the next one he would turn to Olivia and sign for more.

 

Speaking of Tannin, he’s grown in his vocabulary, occasionally trying to repeat words we say, usually only once, much to our chagrin. He loves to be outside and see the dogs. Our neighbor has a pool and has let us use it, so we brought Tannin there after work on several occasions. He’s finally becoming okay with the water, not freaking out every time we bring him close to it. He’s even starting kicking! So now we’ve just got to show him how to use his arms at the same time, lol. Oh, and he’s getting less messy at meal time. Cleanup isn’t nearly as bad now. Meals where we used to have to bathe him afterwards, he only needs a mild cleaning. Definitely nice. Oh, and we found out that he’s not really scared of much. During a thunderstorm, instead of getting scared like most kids, he raises his arms and goes “boom, boom”, trying to mimic the thunderclaps. It’s pretty funny to watch, lol.

I’ve been enjoying working in the shop; they have a carpenter’s shop with various woodworking tools, so it’s been nice to use my hands again. I’m working on a clock right now. I got all the gear ratios figured out and the gears cut out. We’ll see how far I get on this project in August.

 

June

Welcome back for another edition of the Reim Times! This month was chalked full of events…my wife called it craziness! It started out with me finishing busses on the 12^th, while my elementary school had finished the week before, meaning I was only working half the hours for the same pay that week! Woohoo!

Following that Friday, we headed to the Wisconsin Dells with some friends from college. We had a great 2 nights there, put up in a condo, playing at the waterparks and hanging out together. The place we stayed at – the Wolf Lodge – had a great waterpark that Tannin…eventually liked. At first, he screamed in horror when he ran into the water fountains pluming from the ground. The poor kid was scared out of his mind. Once we convinced him that it wouldn’t kill him or corrode his flesh, he was willing to play in it. It took him an hour or two though, but by the end of it, he was very, very tired…as were all of us, and severely dehydrated. It’s amazing how dehydrated you can get playing at a waterpark. Ironic, I know.

The next day I went with the other husband to Noah’s Ark Waterpark while the wives stayed with the kids at the lodge. Us guys went on all the rides, finding all the extreme ones and finished right after noon. I even got to try body surfing! My friend had done it before, sooo he showed me up, lol. There was one ride where you were sealed in a capsule before hearing a countdown “Three, two, one…” and then the bottom dropped out! You were dropped straight down into a tube that looped, generating some serious G-force before finishing the loop to the bottom. Definitely the best ride there! After that, the 100-ft slide seemed like a breeze, hardly even pumping my adrenaline. I guess the crazier stuff you do, the more accustomed your body gets. Not sure if that’s a good thing…ahh, who cares, lol.

After that weekend, we finished packing our few belongings into cardboard boxes...My wife just smirked at me when I said “few”, reminding me that it took us a few weeks of slowly packing our house up, followed by a solid 7 hours of work Tuesday morning before we had finished packing, loading, and cleaning and hit the road. That day, we made it just outside of Indianapolis and settled in for the night. No road problems yet!

The next day, we were making great time! Tannin was doing awesome, being a great sport and playing with a makeshift toy holder that Olivia had strapped up for him. It held his attention for a few hours. He “read” books and watched movies and ate snacks, and slept a tiny bit. We had passed through Nashville and were going to hit Birmingham by supper. We were making great time, flying through the towns.

We had just pulled away from a pit stop and had hit the interstate when all of a sudden, boom my gas was gone! Gas pedal that is. And no, there was no sound…luckily. But there was no power, nonetheless. So, I pulled off the road. Fortunately, we had just hit a section of highway under construction and they had widened it 2 extra lanes, so I had lots of room in between the cones. Unfortunately, I had not pulled far enough off the shoulder to be comfortably away from traffic. The trailer behind us was angled toward the road and I was getting nervous we might get hit, so we started making phone calls.

We were able to get the number of the station we had just stopped at and they had someone pick us up. While the guy was there, I had him help me roll the truck and trailer further off the highway out of harm’s way. Then, we all packed into his truck and headed back to the station. During this time, we had received word that a relative lived within an hour and was on their way to help us.

So, we hung out at the gas station restaurant, had dinner and some ice cream while we waited for them to arrive. They put us up in a hotel for the night and helped me get the truck moving enough to get it off the road. Turns out, the bracket for the gas pedal had broken, so there was nothing for the pedal to pivot on. The throttle had seized as well, so once we got that fixed we had about half the power back. After a great night’s sleep in a wonderful hotel room I got up first thing the next morning and took the truck into a mechanic (who just happened to be a couple blocks away from the hotel). He put the bracket back into place with a screw, told me that it would get me to my destination but I should probably get it welded once we got home.

We had breakfast and then we were on the road again. Instead of stopping in Birmingham, like we had planned (we just wanted to be done by this point), we went straight to Dothan. We were home by dinner.

We spent the next couple of days unpacking the trailer into a storage unit and trying to sort out what we needed right now and what could stay packed away for a while. On Father’s Day I got to go and watch the new Jurassic World movie. It was pretty great. Gotta love the Indominus Rex :)

Since we have been here Tannin has had at least one big change. He’s now the youngest in the house (at least for a bit longer) and enjoys all the attention he gets from his Aunts and Uncles who are more like big brothers and sisters. I think all the interaction is encouraging him to talk. We’ve had a couple of words that just popped out of nowhere that he now uses all the time. For example; he now uses the words “no”, “snack”, and a weird version of “water”. With that last one he sticks his tongue out while making a “lal, lal” sound. He’s pretty hilarious.

The last little bit of June was pretty calm. We just hung out at the house and spent time with family, including a small pool party for my brother-in-law’s birthday.

Oh yeah! Then the job hunt began. It started out with me applying to the different job agencies which offer temporary job placements. After sending out about 20 applications, we decided to try a different angle to see if we’d get more bites. Opening up the phone book, my wife grabbed the phone and tried calling every cabinet/carpentry business in town to see if there were any job openings. I love my wife! The second place she called said they had just fired two of their employees and were looking for good, dependable workers. She was able to set up an interview and I headed there first thing the next morning.

Upon arrival, I noticed there wasn’t any parking. After looking all around the building, I decided to park at the food market across the road, slightly confused. I found out later they had employee parking in the back, but it had a different business marking that area. Well, once I made it to the door, I found that it was locked. I began to get worried that it may be closed or that the address I had was wrong, but the sign for the construction company was still there on the door, so I tried knocking. After a few seconds, a man answered the door and let me in. It was kinda weird, but I was glad that I was in the right place.

I introduced myself and answered questions as he shot them off to me before I handed him my resume. He skimmed over it, looking at me and asking about my different skillsets. Seeming satisfied, he asked me when I could start. It took me a second to realize that he had given me the job before I answered, “Right now, if you want.” I had dressed up a little to look nice for the interview, but I wasn’t about to let pass an opportunity to show him my work ethic. Luckily, I had thought far enough ahead to bring a water bottle. Looking at his work clothes, I didn’t see any stains or tears, so I thought how bad can it be? The worst case is I’ll have to spend a bit of money for some new clothes. So, I headed off to work, calling Olivia to let her know the good news! I spent that whole day pressure washing the finish off a deck, soaking myself to the bone, with mixed weather and spotted showers adding their two cents. But I was happy, happy that I had landed a job within a week and a half of moving into an entirely new area with almost no connections (family definitely helped). Life was good. By the end of the week, I had pressure washed and sanded a deck, packed up a tree, fixed a fence, patched a roof, and installed a door. I’m definitely enjoying the diversity and I hear we’ll be renovating some kitchens soon! I can’t wait.