Happy Birthday Davie!

Dearest Brother, happy birthday! yay you made it this far. Thanks for being the best big brother in the whole world. I love you!

Elsa Joy!

Last Thursday I heard that Summer had gone into labor, hooray! I was so excited to see my newest niece and my (middle) namesake, Elsa Joy. But Elsa was not to be rushed. A full day later, Summer was still in labor with more hours to go. I went to crew banquet on Friday, and during dinner I was getting calls and texts from Mom, Dad, Kendall, David and Grandpa concerning Elsa and Summer. Dad said he was going to Albuquerque on the 6:40 am flight Saturday morning, and after asking me how rough a finals week I expected to have, he mentioned me coming along. Surprisingly enough, the worst of my schoolwork was over, and I didnt have any conflicting commitments, so I decided 8 hours before the flight that I would go to New Mexico with dad and surprise everyone there.
At 5:30 the next morning, I woke up to my phone buzzing and realized I was supposed to be at midway that very moment! Emily saved the day with her quick waking and efficient driving, and I made it to Midway just in time to hop on the plane.
What followed was a wonderful reunion with Mom and Heidi at the airport, and then surprising Summer and Oliver at the hospital.
Elsa is perfectly beautiful, and I am so glad I got to come see her during her first day out. She was so good that S&O were able to come home Saturday night from the hospital.
Everyone is sleeping soundly now, they are all pretty tuckered out from the last few days of hard work- 30 hours of labor takes a toll on the body for sure!
So goodnight, sleep well, and above all, Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Dr. Jeromin!

Woo hoo! Our own Oliver J is now a Doctor! Great job buddy, we are so proud of you!

Life at the Coffee House

La Spiaza Observations:

“Have you eaten your turkey yet?” asked the lady with cane.
The old woman in the brown hat and blue sweater with colored spots in it (both items crocheted) replied, “yes it was delicious. Did you eat yours? I found shrimp in my freezer the other day and i couldn’t remember where i got it from. I asked my nephew to take some to his mother for me.”


I’m sitting at the round table by the bookshelf, drinking my cafe au lait and reading Wesley’s letters to John Newton, but I can’t stop from overhearing the two old women sitting by the window. The one with the cane has a slightly higher voice and is wearing typical grandmother clothes- a grey jacket, those flat soled tan velcro tennis shoes, and big glasses that magnify her laugh wrinkles. Glancing over there her eyes momentarily meet mine and she gives me a big hearty smile.

The other woman wearing the hat comes back with her sugar, sits down and leans toward her friend. “I keep telling him, ‘Kill em with kindness, but always beware, beware of your cousin, they’ll take your right teeth! Don’t tell em, don’t trust any of them!’ ”
Cane woman interjects, ‘Oh yes, I tell lots of things to my nephew that aren’t true”

The door swings open and two fashionable women in their thirty somethings clack by me and order- one asks for a chocolate mint latte, the other for a strawberry banana smoothie. The noise dies away and I can hear my two window friends again.

Cane woman: “You know, a merry heart makes glad. If I didn’t laugh so much im sure I wouldn’t be so healthy.”
Hat woman, “oh yes yes.”
Cane woman: “Oh look its snowing again! look at those little white flakes comin’ right down. We better get going soon.”
More customers stomp in and the ladies voices get lost again in the commotion.

Cane Woman: “Ohh its getting close, its getting real bad says the economist. Its coming real close I think.”
Hat Woman: “yep yep, real close, it gives me the shivers!”
Cane Woman: “well and you know they are building a mosque place down in glen ellyn. The economist said...(noisy) ... Obama..(cant hear them).. we’ve got to get going.”

The woman in the hat stands up and puts on her hand-sewn leopard print purse and her big fur coat. Her skinny legs clad in spandex stick out from under her puffy fur and make her look like a black dandelion.
They leave, the two fashionable ladies take their place. Soon they will leave, and someone else will come. I wish I could sit here all day and hear about people’s thoughts. All of these people in this little shop are brought here by their appetites for food, drink, comfort in a warm room. Each one brings with them history, memories, dead relatives, new babies, passions, hobbies, dusty collectibles. People are beautiful.
More Chai please!

What I did with the superbowl

Don't worry mom and dad, I'm still doing my homework, but from time to time I just gotta release my creative juices in some way or another. Being that its too cold to walk outside and enjoy God's green earth for very long, I've taken up exacto-knifing valentines. So far I haven't cut off any fingers, but I'll keep you updated.

Summer time.

When you got married and I said my toast, I told you that you were the one who put magic in my life. Its still true. You hid letters from the fairies to me at the base of trees, you read George McDonald’s “At the Back of the North Wind” and “Lillith” and countless other fairy tales. You sang the “lion song” to me, and taught me the words to simon and garfunkles “sound of silence.” At the farm under the willow trees I remember laying down in 3 feet of soft spring grass and singing “If i had a hammer” at the top of our lungs.






you taught me how to do my hair and to embrace the whispies. You showed me how to enjoy nature and go camping and to snowboard like a pro.
You listened to my complaints about Grace Christian, my highschool/homeschool drama, my blabbing on and on about horses. You wrote me letters and sent me packages at college and camp, you taught me how to write.
Thanks sis, thanks for caring and loving and sharing. I miss you mucho. Happy Birthday.
Love, the Elf

Kendall Bethy, and Ricky too

Dear Kendall, this post is three days late, but better late than never, right?, Happy Birthday! You made it another year, woo hoo! I was looking through pictures to post one of you, and I realized in the past three years you have changed so much. You have become a wife and mother, such grownup sounding words for my sister who I remember loving Where's Waldo and Angelina Ballerina. Being 7 years younger, my eyes were always on you, watching to see what you did so I could follow– sorry if it got annoying at times, especially when you had friends over.
Some of my favorite memories of us together was while you were at home during my sophomore year of highschool. Remember getting egg rolls at China Garden and eating them in the park? oh and the weekly runs to TJMaxx, sure were a good use of time :-)
Thanks for listening to all my hopes and dreams, for playing volleyball at the beach, for sending me all those sweet packages labeled "bootle tootle terhune" to my college post office, and for calling me. You've been there from the very beginning... literally my birth...so thanks. and happy birthday!








And happy early birthday Ricky! Im so glad you married my sister, you have been such a wonderful addition to our family. You have also learned how to be a big brother to me, thanks for teaching me fun stuff, like how to surf (I could use some more work on that- as evidenced by the picture) and snowboard and make sweet ramps off our back porch out of snow. You are always up for playing and having fun, and I love seeing you impart your passion for life into a passion for fatherhood. you're a great dad. And you're a great doctor!
Love you both, hugs and kisses to the kids,
Boo