The Rivers Ripple

Well, here we are about 3 months post our last post.  I feel like lots of changes have happened in the past few months from our stable, routine, day to day life.
Sarah is still staying at home with Olivia, and has recently been reminded how valuable that time is.  As of July, she is no longer watching Alex (his schedule changed and with more changes coming this fall-it was time).  While we miss him, we can see that having Monday and Tuesdays free will be good for us.  Sarah is also finished with consult visits for Rainbows (as I said above, lots of changes!).  It was good for her to help out, get out, and keep some feeding skills fresh, but time to refocus.  She may continue to do some Sensory Profiles for them on a per diem basis.  By the end of September, Sarah will phase out playing with the brass.  Again, sad, but time for her to be home for the valuable family time.  Don't worry-she'll be on the sub list for them and will rejoin when able.  On a day to day basis, Sarah entertains, cleans, plays, cooks, and does all of those little things that are involved with keeping everyone on track.  As we head into the fall, Olivia and Sarah will be having theme weeks (just like with Alex) and will be getting out for playgroups, library, and the zoo.  Sarah continues to work PRN for ViaChristi Rehab and enjoys her Saturday out of the house.

This Elmo balloon was a BIG hit!

Dan worked extra, super hard to roll out a Catch It Kansas App for the iphone in a one-man show that has taken up his work time throughout the summer and caused some stress.  He is amazing, as this is a project that is usually tackled in teams and he did it solo.  KWCH has recognized this value even more and he will be a making a few visits this fall to stations owned by the KWCH company and has had various meetings with corporate.  He has been playing gigs with the group Bayless.  We took the summer off from church responsibilities and have just begun to resume Sunday school and playing with the church band.  It was a nice break for all of us.

Alex and Olivia in the pool--one of our summer favs.

Olivia is 21 months old, testing some boundaries, and learning new things every day.  Her vocabulary is increasing and she is putting more and more words together.  At the grocery store Friday, her comment was "milk", then "more crumbs milk" (we had crackers earlier in the week which ended up in her milk and she liked the milky crumbs...).  She loves to play and have you play with her.  Her favorites have been the balls, babies, and her dress up box.  We will be trying some potty training this coming week, as Olivia has expressed an interest.  Pray for Sarah--they'll be hanging out in the house for a few days...

Brisco had a bad allergy outbreak just before vacation which led to an ear infection.  We got him medicine and cortizone and he is looking the best he's looked allergy-wise in many months.  We are constantly on the watch, as his wheat allergy reaction is almost immediate and wheat is in most of Olivia's snacks and food.  He's been a bit needy, probably because he knows more changes are coming.

Olivia plays at the Magic House in St Louis

Baby Rivers #2 is growing, kicking, and is slatted to make an appearance at the end of the year or around January 2, 2013.

Baby Rivers at ~18 wks

On a carriage ride in St Louis

We enjoyed a recent vacation to St Louis, MO, some time with friends and family over the summer, and time with each other over the past few months.  You can always check out what we are up to on our blog: theriverscurrent.blogspot.com

Welcome to our Chicago Home!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Prismatic Spring

After a tour of the state of Wyoming on our way to and from the Van Cleave reunion in Yellowstone we had 48 hours to pack-up the apartment in Lincoln and get it into the truck for the trip to Chicago.  Fortunately, we had some family help as Mom, Dad, Erik, and Sam'l came up to help us pack.  We actually did so well that we were finished packing by the mid-afternoon and drove all the way to the Quad Cities at the Iowa/Illinois border.

That got us to Chicago by lunchtime the next day and allowed us to do a quick cleaning of the apartment before the move the next morning.  After an enormous breakfast at a local pancake house we blocked off the alley with the truck and set up an assembly line.  Again, we were blessed with a strong contingent of helpers as Erik and Dad came with us from Lincoln.  They were joined by Katie's mom Patti, brother John, and John's friend Matt.  We unloaded even faster than we loaded up and were finished within 2 hours!

If you want moving pictures, you can ask Dad for a sample.  We've tried over the past 10 days to clean it up somewhat, but here's the grand tour.  It's a courtyard building, set around 3 blocks west of Lake Shore Drive (which runs next to Lake Michigan) and about a block and a half east of the El.

The apartment has about 1000 square feet with beautiful wood floors and an open concept living room, dining room, and kitchen.

We have a small dining room table that should be arriving soon from Katie's grandparents' house in North Carolina that they recently moved out of.  That will fix the hole that is in the middle of the dining room pictures.  I tried to get little connections between each photo but the kitchen photo is taken from the couch in the living room and the dining room photo is taken from the tv.  The back of the apartment is connected by a hallway that has the front door, the bathroom and the bedroom in the back.

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While somewhat small, it's enough for 2 and has great finishes with quality appliances (including Katie's required washer and dryer).  You're all welcome to visit anytime!  

We also wanted to pass on that we've more firmly decided on October 12, 2013 for the wedding.  You still have over a year but just to keep everyone up to date!

A big thanks!

Something a little different, but I thought I'd just take this time to share just a few of the many "thank you"s I owe. (No update on school I'm afraid, that's all quite boring)

1. Living in (kind of) my own house has definitely made me thankful for all the work the parents do day to day: whether that's coming home from work and making food for everyone else (even one one of us (me) has whole days off at a time and is perfectly capable of doing it), doing the dishes, getting their showers out of the way, fixing all the small things that are always breaking, dealing with all the crises, etc, so thank you parents for that.
2. By extension, this makes me thankful for all the work both Aunt Pam and Grandma and Grandpa did as we were growing up to do about the same thing for Kate and I when they babysat. Thank you for that!
3. Kate: I definitely owe you for a lot more than you might realize. Pretty much more than half of the stuff I learned before coming to WestMo was passed down or picked up from you.
4. I owe everyone in the family for their constant encouragement and interest (even if that's feigned, it's still nice!). Just showing interest is often encouraging enough. 
5. Grandpa: thank you for all those things you built when I was young. Little things like that table for my LEGOs definitely didn't stick out but were all the more important for it: so important that they became a part of growing up. Also, for that year you helped me with my woodworking project. And finally, for getting me that job at the Friend's Shop, because without it I would never have discovered the philosophy textbook that inspired my interest.
6. Grandma: thank you for always hosting the family holidays and for serving as a calm point everyone could gather around. Those gatherings had such an effect on my understanding of what it meant to be a family, where I fit in a family, what sort of things we owed to each other as family members, etc. Those are ideas that I've already started to act on in making my friends sit down together for Sunday meals. And of course, for teaching me to bake!
7. A big thank you to everyone who's sent me something at school, be it a package, postcard, or email. I always enjoy them.
8. For everyone else, I realize just how much work so many people in my life have done to get me this far (often a struggle, I know!). As more and more time passes, and the responsibility for being an adult passes on to me, I constantly have these realizations about all kinds of effects everyone in the family has had on me...If I could remember all of them, I'd make this list a thousand times longer just so I could show my appreciation a little better.

So once again, thank you all!

Better Late than Never

Sorry this is a day late but I am sure you have all heard by how that
Grandpa has pneumonia again.  He went into the hospital early early
on Monday morning.  Both his doctors were into day and say he is
doing better but will be there a couple more days!

Anyway wanted to send a few pictures of family dinner last week.

Ben and Darcie (the trainer) joined the family for a fun evening.

After supper fun outside.

Here are a few pics from the Kinast Reunion at Topeka on Saturday.