update on Abby & new cousin Dayson

Abigail - 5.5 months old

Abigail's cousin Dayson Dale Dannewitz, born July 17, 2010 (Minot, ND)

It's hard to believe I have allowed three entire months to pass by since my last post. I know, I know - it's ridiculous. As you can probably imagine from my lack of blog postings, I am working on my self-discipline in the things in my life which should be daily but are not...this includes my Bible study/quiet time, updating and filing paperwork, working out, journaling, reading, and updating this blog on a weekly basis, to name a few...


So much has happened in the past three weeks, let alone the past three months. I'll start with the big things and pare my way down to the cute little details of Abigail's development process. Today is Monday, July 19th; Abigail turned six months old yesterday, and the day prior to that, her cousin Dayson Dale Dannewitz arrived (Minot, ND)! (picture above; I couldn't load it here).




Abby is getting so big - I would guess she's close to 16 pounds now...she's rolling over, back and forth, to get to things; rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and starting to scoot a little ways; although she can't quite sit up on her own, she can hold the position for quite a while before tipping over. She loves loves loves her "E & I Baby Bungee Jumper". It's quite a contraption, and she looks like she's about to go skydiving in the apparatus, but it's soooo cute. I.


Over the past two weeks Brian made the tremendous career decision to separate from the US Air Force when his commitment is up early next year. He is working with a headhunter company (Cameron-Brooks, Inc. - Fredericksburg, TX) which places Junior Military Officers in development positions with Fortune 500 companies. The next career conference, where he will have 8-12 interviews with companies he is being matched with. Hopefully he'll get a few job offers out of that conference, and we'll be moving sometime in the early part of 2011. However, if the Air Force won't allow him to separate until June of 2011, we'll be here in San Antonio until then.

This decision to separate was essentially confirmed on our way home to San Antonio from Pensacola, FL, where we had narrowed down our house-hunting to two wonderful homes, within 5 minutes of the beaches of Pensacola (which aren't quite so glamorous now with oil beneath the sand surface). Brian had just finished 5 weeks of Squadron Officer College in Montgomery, AL, and we drove down to Pensacola to house-hunt together and visit our friends, Alan and Kelly Rohrer. They blessed us by allowing us to stay with them during our visit, and we had a nice time hanging out together for two days! While we were there Abby enjoyed her first time swimming!

Life has definitely thrown us some curve-balls, and the further we go in life the more we realize we don't need to worry so much about planning all the details, because it's all in God's hands anyway. We were set on our decision to move to FL and would've been preparing to do so in the next 2-3 weeks, but now here we are, going 180 degrees in the opposite direction. God sure does have a good sense of humor!

We are still missing Soren, and the wheel of grief in my (Kristin's) life is at its height again right now, perhaps related to several events in the lives of friends and family close to me. Brian was in a local Christian bookstore and found a wonderful frame which seems to have been created just for us. The poem inscribed thereupon is as follows:

~the Broken Chain~

We knew little that morning that God was going to call your name.

In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone;

for part of us went with you the day God called you home.

You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide;

and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same;

but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

Isn't that just beautiful!? I love it. A few other things that have happened over the past three months: Abby met her Auntie Michelle and Uncle Darrell (PA), Brian and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, our black lab (Cody) went to live with Brian's parents (since we thought we were moving to FL), I had carpel tunnel surgery on my left wrist (not to mention several other health-related appointments, but I'm getting better now!)...

We are excited to head back to North Dakota for a visit soon - I can't wait for Abigail to meet Grandpa Dale for the first time - my parents are quite excited to see us again. I'm also looking forward for Auntie Dana, Uncle Dave, and baby Dayson to meet Abigail (and I'm super-excited to meet Dayson!), see my friends and relatives, and just have a great time relaxing and enjoying the great state of North Dakota!

Abby's first time in her bungee bouncer! (My apologies for not being able to rotate this video from its sideways state)

Abby's first time swimming!