Thailand Part 2

Chillin' with a lemur at the night safari. They're so fluffy!



Our co-workers held a baby dedication for us during our conference


This is Fa, Wa, and Tiffany they were Nora's childcare workers during the conference. It made me so happy that their names rhymed! Just try to guess which one is Tiffany


Just because she's aNORAble. See what I did there? I am so dang clever.


Mike and a buddy at a Moi Tai boxing class.


The Eastons' woke up at 5am to go watch the superbowl. Mike dressed Nora that morning and when the Packers won he took her on a victory lap.


Nora loves Asian women. This woman worked at the breakfast buffet at the hotel - she offered to hold her for us while we got our food!


We had a great trip, but we're happy to be back in China again. Too bad we couldn't bring the nice weather with us. We all have colds, and Nora is confused cause she has to wear pants.

Scooters

I traded it for the van...straight up. I can get 40 miles to the gallon on this hog.

Shoot girl, let's groove tonight

Nora loves her some daddy dance parties

Chillin in Chiang Mai

A few pics from the first couple weeks of Nora's life. Chillin' in Chiang Mai with the rents and the kid.

Meeting grandma and grandpa Ritzman for the first time at the Chiang Mai airport


Hanging out at the Night Bazaar.

A visit to the temple

No big deal, just chillin' on an elephant

Birth Story

I know it's been a little while but here's how it all went down. At our 39 week prenatal appointment Nora weighed in at a whopping 4.13 kilos and was gaining steadily. Dr. SuperDuperchai said that if she got up to 4.5 they would automatically do a c-section and at that point there were still no signs of labor. It was a little discouraging because it sort of felt like a natural labor was pretty unlikely and like every 39 week preggo woman, I was pretty tired of being pregnant. After consulting some American nurses we decided that it was going to be best to go ahead and schedule a c-section and just get the whole thing over with.

We made the decision on a Thursday night and Friday afternoon we showed up at the hospital (without an appointment) to see the Dr. We thought that since it was a weekend we'd probably have to wait till Monday. At 2pm we talked to SuperDuperchai, who was down with the plan. When he asked us when we wanted to have it done, we said as soon as possible to which he replied, "I'm free at four today." Done and done. Mike ran home to get our stuff (which we had not packed yet - even though I'm pretty sure your supposed to do that like a month in advance). By the time he got back I had signed the consent forms, got an IV and was prepped for surgery. I saw him for about 15 minutes and then I was off to have a baby.

Everything went well. The anesthesiologist gave me an epidural during the birth. I was a little concerned that I could still move my feet, but apparently it was fine because they had already started the procedure and I didn't even know it. At one point in the surgery the anesthesiologist leaned over me and said "The baby is being boooooorn!" That was kinda awesome. I felt myself getting lighter as they lifted her out, and then I heard her cry. Which, I have to admit, made me cry a little too. I got to see her and then they took her to Mike while they knocked me out for the rest of the procedure.

Our hospital room was awesome and recovery went really well.

Baby Burrito!

Drivin and Drinkin

A few nights ago Mike, Nora, my dad and I went to the store across town to pick up a few things. In an earlier post I talked about the song tiaws that we use to get around the city while we are visiting Chiang Mai. When we came out of the store there were a bunch of song tiaws lined up, but the drivers were no where to be found. We hung out for a while and then one guy came up to us from the restaurant across the street. He asked us where we wanted to go and then went back to a table of men drinking beer, where they discussed who would take us, and one guy came over and drove us home. We were half way home before we realized that it was possibly a bad idea to catch a ride home with a someone who had just finished drinking. Stuff like that just seems so normal these days.

Nora

It'd be cool to say we had some God-moment for picking our daughter's name, but really it was the first name we both really liked as we looked forward to having kids. The judge is still out on the boy names for us, so we're glad Nora came out the way she did after both Thai and Chinese doctors said "maybe" a girl.

As we were exploring possible boy names we came across the meaning of Nora in our handy dandy baby-names iphone app. Nora means "light." It's part of the Hebrew word Menorah, which you know to be the set of candles Jewish people light at Hanakkuh. It's been really fun in recent weeks and days to be drawn to the meaning and significance of light in the Bible and to have our prayers for our daughter be the same. As you pray for her we'd love for you to join with us in these two things:

Matthew 5:14-15 says: "¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." (Also: Isaiah 49:6)

What a blessing it would be to have a child that's a light to her friends, teachers, c0-workers, and to the people in the ends of the earth. Also our prayer comes from the following verses:

Psalm 119:105 - "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." (Also Psalm 19:8; 27:1).

Light reveals what is true about our surroundings. When light isn't pure or bright it can lie to us and make it hard to see the right path. God's light reveals lies not seen in darkness and reveals clearly what is the truth path when there are so many. This is a challenge for everyone, but especially as a young woman, she needs to clearly see in all situations what is truth and what is a lie so that she will stay far away from lies about God, life, or herself that are just too easy to believe. John 8:31 says that the truth will set us free. There's so much freedom that comes with knowing that you're in the truth and on the right path. Our hope is that she will always see truth illuminated by God alone and find freedom in that.