July

And now, the saga continues. We left the Austin’s place and spent a few days at Grandma and Pawpaw Smitherman’s. Tannin got to meet his first set of great grandparents along with Brock and uncle Brett, aunt Amber, and their two kids. We got to ride the four wheeler (for all you Canadians, that’s a quad), and I practiced my ditch jumping skills, lol. I did manage to get around 6” by the end of the month.

Anyways, after that we headed 3 ½ hours to Newton, AL and stayed at Olivia’s parent’s place. We got to unload everything and enjoy being in a home that was really baby-proofed. It was great! Tannin could run around about half the house unimpeded and he really enjoyed all the free space.

During that first week there, I was able to help my father-in-law put up a door and set it in concrete as well as put up a bunch of roofing. He was building a shed for Shelby’s horse and needed a strong, young man…and I fit the bill. Oh ya. Also, we were able to build a rustic bedside table. We chopped it right out of a log, sanded it down, stained it, and then covered it in a clear-coat to protect it. It ended up being a little too moist and so we had to sand it down again later, so we weren’t able to finish it while we were in Alabama.

While we were there, we got to celebrate the 4^th of July and set off fireworks in their backyard by the pond (just to be safe). Being a Canadian, this is only my second time lighting my own fireworks and I had a blast (no pun intended).

On the 9^th, Olivia’s friend Ashleigh came up from Florida to visit. For those who were at our wedding, she was one of the bridesmaids. Then, that Friday, we headed up to Granny Evett’s place. On the way, we stopped at the Montgomery Zoo and Tannin was able to visit his first zoo! The leopards seemed to especially like him. The final part of the zoo was an open aviary. We got to go in and feed some of the birds and let them stand on our hands. We tried to have Tannin hold one, but it didn’t end up working. Maybe next time.

When we arrived at Granny Evett’s, we met up with Alex and Sidney, Olivia’s cousins. Shelby and I got to paint on the outside wall of Granny’s carport. Shelby did some word-art, and I did a mural. Granny asked me to paint something that represented Tannin. So, I thought about it for a bit, then decided on painting a knight with a Canadian-American shield facing off with a T-rex. It turned out really well and apparently some of the neighbors have been commenting.

We took Alex and Sidney back with us to Newton and during that next week, we headed to the beach in Panama City, FL. It was Tannin’s first trip to the beach! He enjoyed it immensely. Initially, he was unsure of the water when we brought him in with us, but later on, he crawled all across the sand and up to the edge of the ocean. He plopped down and let the waves hit him. It was quite a sight to see. As for the rest of us, we threw Frisbees around, buried each other in sand, made different sand carvings, and looked for different sea creatures. We all had a blast and finished off the night with supper at the Waffle House before heading back. I was so sunburned! It left the weirdest suntan I think I’ve ever seen. It was almost like someone had poured scalding water down my back or something.

On the 18^th, we celebrated Garrett’s birthday because we wouldn’t be there the next day. He got a lathe and chisels from his parents, a Doctor Who shirt from one of his friends, and from us, a face shield wrapped in Doctor Who boxers. We had an exciting evening before heading out back to Grandma and Pawpaw Smitherman’s. This time, Olivia’s two brothers Nathan and Logan showed up and got to see their nephew for the first time! We had a great time of four-wheeling, sword fighting, fire-bending (avatar style), among other things.

When we returned, I was able to show Garrett how to use the lathe and we carved a bowl (found out later the wood was rotting, so the bowl was just for practice). Our last project on the lathe ended up being rings. By the last ring, we were starting to get it down. Garrett’s turned out the best, being the thinnest and most refined looking. It’s trickier than it looks, trying to get it the right thickness, not only for your finger, but of the ring itself.

During this last week in Newton, we were able to visit the Dothan Waterpark. We had a blast! I was able to convince Sophie to join me on the water half pipe and then we joined up with the boys and raced down the slides on the opposite side of the park. Olivia hung out in the wave pool with her mom and sister. That way Tannin could crawl around and play in the water. We also got to visit Camp Victory for one day. Olivia had worked there as a CIT (councilor in training) and LIT (leader in training) and so she knew a lot of the staff there. Other than that, we hung out at Olivia’s parents’ place and enjoyed being with everyone.

That weekend, we headed back to the Smitherman’s and got to spend some more time with Nathan and Logan and the others. On Sunday, we went to Grandma Smitherman’s church, but there was no one in the nursery, so we ended up sitting in the hall, letting Tannin sleep in the nursery room while still being able to hear the sermon (it was a small church).

Then, we headed to the Austin’s once more and got to hang out with them again. Tannin seemed to remember them and started where he had left off. We got to go to a park where there were some small bowls and so the two boys and I went on our bikes and scooters and tried to see how much air we could get out of them. I think I got about a foot, but it felt like two or three. The next night, I got to help Scott move some furniture for a church charity organization and have some guy time talking about guy things.

On the 29^th, we got to go to Splash Adventure Waterpark. I got to go on all the water rides and I even convinced Olivia to join me on a few of them. Tannin got to experience the wave pool for the second time in his life (the one in Dothan had one too)! After lunch, Olivia had thought we would be heading home because it was going to be Tannin’s nap soon, but there was still the amusement park side to visit. So, we put Tannin on as many rides as we could cram in the time we had…and more. He went on anything from a child canoe ride to a merry-go-round to a flying kid ride where the different vehicles went up and down as the ride turned around in a circle, lifted up and angled. Finally, we went through a water maze before leaving. Tannin was exhausted! He fell asleep without a fuss on the way back to the Austin’s.

Well, it came time to leave and so we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Owens. Before we started though, we stopped by an herbal, natural medicine center. While we were there, Olivia had a doctor look her over and I had a chiropractor readjust my wrist because it had really been hurting. Unfortunately, him putting my wrist into alignment ended putting my back and neck out of alignment. So, my hand felt great, but that night, I was in a world of hurt, having major back pains and almost migraine headaches. Thankfully, my body’s leveled out again, so no need to worry…but I am going to see a chiropractor to try to get EVERYTHING in the right place so that doesn’t happen again. I suppose that’s the price you pay when you don’t see a chiropractor for 8 years, lol.

Anyways, we ended the month of July by reaching Olivia’s grandparents’ place and we got all our stuff out for the night. These grandparents own a bed and breakfast on a lake and it’s boat-themed, so their main attraction is their lighthouse, which has one room in it. Below, they just opened up the Barnacle room and this is where we stayed. They did a great job with the room and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, even taking Tannin for a swim in the lake with his new life jacket.

And now…I must stop. Actually, I think I’ll let this post bleed into August a bit. Our visit with the Owen grandparents ended on the 2^nd, complete with a ride on the tugboat on which we rode to a restaurant downriver, complete with its own docking areas for the local boats. As we started home, we had originally planned to only drive until Indianapolis or a bit further, but in the end, we decided to keep going and reached home around 1:30am. Exhausted, we only took out what we needed for the night and first thing the next morning and collapsed into bed after laying Tannin down. With having done around 15 hours of being on the road, we were all travelled out.

Well, there you go. That’s the end of our Alabama excursion. It was a lot of travelling, but it was a lot of fun, relaxation, and memories made with family.

Signing out,

Richard

p.s. I forgot to mention in the June post that we were able to get a 5 generational picture at Granny Knight and Pawpaw Joe’s place, with Granny, Pawpaw Joe, Rachel, Olivia, and Tannin.

 

June

 Hello again friends! Well, we finally got around to doing the June update before the end of July, so we hope you enjoy. This post may forget some things we did since we are out of Wisconsin visiting family. Thus, we don’t have our handy calendar to remind us of everything we did…so let’s see how good our memory is on its own.

Now, for the rest of the story from May. Sunday, June 1 rolled around and we took our parents out to The Melting Pot fondue restaurant. We’ve been there once before, but had recommended it so much to my parents that we ended up going there. It was just as good as I had remembered it and we all enjoyed a delectable evening, breading and cooking our own food while one of our friends watched Tannin.

As for the Amtrak fiasco, we ended up getting arrangements made. Olivia did her magic and found a very cheap flight for them back to Great Falls, MT and then a shuttle service to bring them to Shelby, MT to get their car from the Amtrak station. Well, as they say, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. So…when they left Tuesday morning, they ended up missing their connecting flight in Denver and had to stay overnight. Luckily, the shuttle we had arranged was a guy who had agreed to drive them personally, and so that didn’t fall through. In the end, they got home late Wednesday night, grateful to be home again, lol. Sorry for the debacle we got you in. We love you guys and are so grateful that you could take time out of your busy schedule to visit us for a week; we thoroughly enjoyed our time with you!

Well, after they left, I had 2 weeks of busses left and Olivia would start full time nannying around that same time. Life got a little hectic, but I was able to get some side work, helping out an elderly lady with yard work, filling the remaining 2 weeks with hard labor. The week busses let out, I got a charter as well, driving girl scouts around for an entire week (you can imagine how that went, lol. I was singing girl scout songs for the next week!). So now, I was doing around 40 hours a week, still not matching Olivia who was doing closer to 50-55 hours. In the end, it was a great blessing, despite the stress of it all.

We started sleep training Tannin and he responded well, only crying for about 15 minutes before he’d konk out. He’s now gotten to the point where he’ll sleep for pretty much 8 hours straight with minimal intervention. Now we’re just working on getting him to sleep past 6am…. We’re both feeling it right now, but especially Olivia because she gets up with him when he refuses to go back to sleep. So, please be praying for us with regard to that.

As to his growth, he’s over 25 lbs. now and getting a little more confident with his walking. He crawls all around everything and is becoming much faster. In fact, the way he crawls is how babies typically crawl right before they stop crawling and start walking, so he’s making good progress. It’s just kind of funny that within 2 weeks of crawling, he was already in the late stages, getting ready to leave it behind.

To close off the month, we left for Alabama on the 27^th; however, 2 days before we left, we came home to a strange noise…. At first I thought it was the tub faucet leaking, so I went to tighten the knob. As I turned it, I got a drip on my head. Looking up, I saw that it wasn’t from the shower head. Above me, the entire tile was soaked, bowing due to the water weight. We called the maintenance team but they were busy at the moment, so we finally got ahold of the dean of marrieds. He was in the middle of a Frisbee golf game, but he dropped what he was doing and headed over as soon as he could. We tried to pinpoint where the problem was and ascertained that it had something to do with the plumbing between our ceiling and the floor above us. The shower in the bathroom above us was pouring water out of its drainage, flooding the bathroom on that level until it soaked through the floor in a breach somewhere and made its way through our ceiling into our tub…mostly. While it had originally been mostly contained in our tub, the water began to spread through our ceiling tiles until most of the bathroom was getting rained on. Tim, the dean of marrieds, started taking ceiling tiles out, only to have them collapse and drench him and everything around him. He started vacuuming out the shower on the floor above us to stop the flow and then posted signs on bathrooms that were connected to that branch of plumbing. Well, some took that to mean they couldn’t use the toilets…so they decided to shower. Suddenly we were back to the races, vacuuming up the sewage/drainage water. The maintenance team had come out, and just in time. It had already soaked one side of our apartment in an inch of water. While we had moved most of the stuff out of the bathroom and bedroom already (it was spreading there too), now I hurried to move things off the floor in the storage room. Thankfully, Tim was able to start vacuuming the water before it flooded much further. By the time it was said and done, it had flooded the bathroom outside our apartment, the dean of women’s office, and down the hall until it had reached one of the teacher’s offices! We mopped it up and tried to sterilize the floor as much as we could, but it seemed that sleeping in that room was out of the question as water was still dripping from the ceiling in the bedroom. Thankfully, we were graciously extended one of their guest rooms until we left that Friday. Thank you so much for being so accommodating during this time, NTBI! We’re not sure what we would have done without your hospitality.

Well, we finally left for what was supposed to be an 8 hour drive but with a baby everything is longer…. After a 12 hour drive we spent the night at our friends’, the Greens, place. They loved seeing our son and enjoyed getting to know him a bit as we caught up with them. They’ve been such great friends to us. Here’s a shout out to their son, Caleb Green. He was my best man at our wedding and right now he’s in officer training. When we were at his parents’ place, he wasn’t allowed any contact besides letters. So, whenever you get the chance Caleb, we hope you see this and know that we missed you!

After our moment of reprieve from travelling, we headed out once more and made the 2^nd leg of our journey (another 12 hours) to Birmingham to stay with Olivia’s uncle Scott and aunt Bekah for a few days. We finished off the month there, but right before we reached their place, we stopped in a small subdivision to meet up with Brock, Olivia’s biological dad. He was ecstatic to see Tannin and we all had a great time. Then, we finished our journey and arrived at our relatives’ place. Tannin felt a little overwhelmed that first day; it was funny to watch. He went from being bored in his car seat to being played with by 3 kids and 2 more adults! Talk about stimulus overload! At first he loved it, but after a while, he was calling for mom and Olivia came to the rescue. The next days were better as he became accustomed to being around more people and opened up to them, talking in his loveable baby-talk.

Well, that’s all for June. The rest of our journey in Alabama will have to wait for another time. Cheers!

The Reimers

May

Sorry about the wait guys, but I’m sure you’ll understand once we post our June edition! Life’s been crazy, full of adventure, and tiringly good.

In May, Tannin turned 6 months old and has grown leaps and bounds. He now wears 12 month clothing and eats a whole 4 oz jar of baby food per meal, on top of nursing and the finger snacks he loves so much. Not only this, but he is also progressing nicely in walking…and he’s even begun to crawl. Right before my (Richard’s) parents came, he had begun to scoot forward in a really awkward, fish-out-of-water sort of way. It was quite hilarious to watch…almost painful.

Then, on the 10^th, we got our first family pictures done by Stephanie Cateriny! We had a great morning of finding locations to shoot and trying to get Tannin to smile. For some reason, he was in the serious, contemplative mode he often gets into. We did get some great pictures and the one above is one of the great photos we got.

We also had our last day of classes right after Mother’s Day. For Mother’s Day, we had a wonderful dinner of shrimp, potatoes, and green beans. Since Tannin had gone to bed before we had dinner, we got to eat together by candlelight, without a baby. It was nice to have it just the two of us for a bit.

Next, graduation decided to coincide with the womb emancipation day of yours truly: my 22^nd birthday. Since that day was packed with grad, we had to wait until the next day to celebrate a little, so we went out to watch The Amazing Spiderman 2 while some friends watched Tannin.

Grad itself was great. It was good to feel the freedom from academia. In our newfound freedom, we drove around for a while, looking at different random garage sales while Tannin napped in the back seat.

That next week, I got the killer of all charters with busses: I got an 11 hour day to 6 Flags! Olivia took Tannin and drove behind the series of busses in order for us to take this opportunity to celebrate our 2^nd year anniversary! Life is good! We went on a bunch of the rides, got my adrenaline pumping, and Tannin won 2 capes (Superman and Batman). Olivia had to watch Tannin for most of the time, but I took charge for a bit so that she could enjoy a few things as well…like the log ride! Essentially, we had to swap back and forth since we didn’t bring a babysitter with us, but it worked out and we enjoyed just being able to hang out all day together!

That next weekend, we moved into our new apartment in the main building. We had the help of our friends the Elams for 2 whole days of hard labor. We can’t even begin to express our gratitude, but we tried with providing a steak dinner. We are now moved into our 2 bedroom apartment and got to set up Tannin’s room so we could sleep-train him once we were able to.

Then, on the 28^th, my parents arrived via Amtrak, and we got to spend a whole week with them! As they were arriving, they were told that their return trip had been cancelled…but that’s a story for June. I can tell you that we went to Milwaukee’s Discovery World, which was amazing. We all had a blast and got to enjoy learning about medical science, which was a limited time exhibit, among many other things. Tannin got to touch his first stingray, sturgeon, and shark. One of the sturgeons tried to eat his fingers, lol.

During that week, we played a lot of RACKO, which is a fun game where you try to get a series of numbers in ascending order before the others do. There were many laughs and good times over those games. We also watched Frozen with them and enjoyed that new Disney sensation. Since we were still both working, we had to juggle our time a little with them, but it all ended up working out well. They got lots of time with Tannin…and us.

Well, that’s the end of May, but be watching for the June post once we enter July. God bless. The Reimers.

April

We’re back for another episode of the Reim Times! This month was more jam packed than last month, lol…that would be an understatement. With graduation coming up, it seems time has ramped up its speed as well.

On the first weekend, we had the privilege of going to a Parent Summit at our church at Elmbrook. We had a blast learning some much needed skills and application of our doctrine to our parenting. Having a little bundle of joy…curiosity…tears…well, you get the picture. You need to have tools in your toolbox. So, it was great to see how the grace of the gospel could be applied in our Love and Logic class. In it, we learned how God has made each of us to be in dominion over Creation. So, we have a little leader we’re trying to lead, so it’s helpful, and even good to allow them to make decisions, as long as you set proper boundaries for their freedom. God made human beings to rule the planet…and this starts early. We have the inbred desire to want to control our surroundings, and this isn’t sinful by itself. It only becomes sinful when it’s used in the wrong context with the wrong view of authority. So, even though our son is born to rule, we must teach him that he isn’t the ruler of our house! J

The other session we thoroughly enjoyed was the first session when we arrived there. In it, the speaker spoke on how to love the Bible so that you can teach your children to love the Bible as well. He also pointed out that you don’t need to learn something every time you read the Bible. Just like with your parents, they don’t always teach you every second they have with you. Sometimes, they just want to spend some time with you, relax, enjoy the moment, look at the scenery, have companionable silence. If we come at the Bible wanting to get something out of it every time, we’re going to be disappointed. I know that goes against everything we’re taught in church, but it is so true. Just like in a movie, sometimes you need to watch it through and then, after a bit time, go through it again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a movie a few years later and I suddenly notice or get all the jokes that went over my head when I was little. It’s the same way with the Bible. Sometimes, we just need to sit back and enjoy the Bible for its historical narrative and the storyline, and then once we’ve got a good grasp on that, then start going into the particulars. And then, share it! Whenever I’ve watched a movie that I’ve loved, I almost can’t keep myself from telling someone about it. I want to know what they thought and if they are as enthusiastic as me; and then, when I meet someone who hasn’t seen the movie, I tell them why it’s so great and why they should watch it. It should be the same way with the Bible. Until we love it, we won’t have the desire to share it, and until we read it, we won’t love it.

Anyways, enough digressing: back to main stage. From the 11^th to the 21^st, we enjoyed Spring Break. I got to join Olivia at her nannying job, and we just relaxed in general. It was so good to catch up on sleep a bit. Oh, and we read Blink by Ted Dekker. If you haven’t read it, I definitely recommend it. It explores the sovereignty of God and how He allows free will.

Right before Spring Break ended, Tannin took his first steps on the 19^th, right before Easter Sunday. For Easter, we went to Elmbrook and enjoyed their service. In it, Stuart Briscoe basically presented an apologetics sermon on how we can know that Christ really rose. I’ve read Lee Strobel, so it was kind of cool to hear the same material from someone else, and to so many people!

On the 26^th, we got to enjoy our Senior banquet. In it, we got to go around the class and hear what each one’s plans were after leaving NTBI. For us, our plans had changed dramatically from what we had first thought. During Spring Break, we got a call from the president and was informed that an intern position had opened up for both of us to stay. We had already told everyone in Alabama that we were coming, so we were torn. After a few phone calls and a few talks with God, we ended up deciding it would best for us to stay another year at NTBI as interns. So, Olivia will be working in the Nursery and as a Receptionist, while I will be working in the kitchen, adding yet another trade to my resume, lol. It should be a great opportunity to get to know the staff and students better, invest in our church more, and continue to build relationships with the people in our small group and the community at large. All in all, we are pretty excited. We’ve planned to visit Alabama for the summer to spend some time with my wife’s family before heading back up to the cold North and get back in the swing of things at NTBI.

Please continue to pray for us as God continues to lead us towards missions. Going to school here has really opened our eyes to the different possibilities within the foreign mission field, and we need more direction than ever. Thanks for reading. We love you guys! Signing off.

The Blue Bar

So a few of you have been asking what the blue bar to the right is for and I thought I spend a brief moment explaining it to anyone who is reading this blog. Essentially, it is a progress bar to inform anyone who is supporting us towards missions, whether financially or through prayer, so that they can know how close we are to our goal of going to MTC (Missionary Training Center) with NTM. It is a 2 year program and since we aren't allowed to work off campus except in very unique circumstances, we need to have all our money together before we go there or at least have a steady stream of income throughout our time there from supporters like you. It is our goal to become involved in foreign missions and invest in reaching an unreached tribe with the Gospel. Whether this is through directly teaching them, doing translation work, or being involved through support roles, it is our goal to get involved in any way God would have us to.
As of right now, I haven't really been updating it because we haven't been able to set up a savings account specifically for this purpose yet. Once we begin our internship with NTBI after the summer, we will be in a more stable situation so as to begin systematically saving. Please keep us in your prayers as we work towards what we believe God is calling us to and if you feel led to contribute to what God is doing in our lives, please email us at: olivia_nfla@yahoo.com or richardreimer17@gmail.com. Thank you and God bless!

March

Here’s another update from the Reimers! This month went by pretty quickly because lots happened, at least with Tannin. On the 1^st, our little Tan-Man rolled from his back to his stomach. That was quite a milestone. And then, after my brother Brenton and my grandpa Reimer had their birthdays 12^th, he decided to roll from his stomach to his back, but not before pushing forward for the first time in his walker! By the end of the month, he was running everyone in his walker, trying to get toys, come to mommy and daddy, and tell us he wanted out.

Weather-wise, things started warming up around here in Wisconsin, and so we brought Tannin to his first park. He loved it! He especially liked the swings and slides, smiling and giggling away. Pretty much all the snow was gone by the second or third week in.

In school, we began a class on public speaking, and did our first speech, sharing what God had taught us here at NTBI. It was a good exercise to see God’s hand working in our lives, not only sustaining us but teaching us through our friendships, trials, and dependence on Him.

Our niece Jayda turned 1 on the 24^th, hitting a major milestone for her. And then on the 27^th we celebrated our friend Tim’s birthday at Oscar’s. It was the first time I had ever been there, so it was good to branch out and try new things. I still miss Tim Horton’s though, lol.

Well, that’s it. There may have been more, but they elude us at the moment. Perhaps we’ll update this post if we think of anything else. Over and out. J

January post updated: Check Original January Post Below

For all those who read the first edition of the January newsletter, you may have noticed that we forgot a big part of our month. right about the middle of January, my parents came down from Canada to spend 4 days with us in Waukesha! We had a great time catching up, navigating the backstreets of Milwaukee from the airport, and sharing our little bundle of joy with them. They were very proud grandparents and relished those 4 days with our little one. Mom could hardly let go of him. Dad enjoyed meeting his first grandson, and we enjoyed their company immensely. On that Saturday, we headed to the mall to go shopping, eating out and enjoying Cinnabon with them, as well as spending some time in Barnes & Noble as well as getting some new clothes. We got to eat out at Applebee's for supper and ended the night on a high note. The next day, we got to show them our church, Elmbrook, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing with them as we prepared for school to start the next day. Unfortunately, due to me doing busses and classes starting at 9am, we couldn't drive them back, but our Dean of Marrieds was gracious enough to give them a ride. Those four days were probably the highlight of our month...besides Olivia's birthday. ;) We love you mom and dad!