Amor Trip

Last weekend, a group from our church took a day trip to Mexico to work on a house for a family in need of one. It was awesome! The slab was done and the house was framed. We knew it was going to rain so we got straight to work. We plummed the house and got the roof done just as it started to pour. We put the bailing wire around the house, the paper, and the chicken wire. We got the door and windows in. We all got soaked to the bone, but it was such a blessing to be a part of something like this. Knowing that we were leaving Travita and her three kids with a dry place to sleep that night. Her house should be stuccoed soon and then it will be done. So excited for this beautiful family.

More to come....

Jake enjoying cake at his 1st birthday party.

Jake

This little boy is going to be ONE in 2 weeks! He is walking, climbing, laughing, and growing so fast.

Summer

Time flies when you are having fun...or busy or forget you even have a blog. It is already the middle of August. Jake is 9.5 months old and getting cuter daily. He is working on more teeth, right now I can feel 6!

We just got back a couple of weeks ago from a 2 week vacation. It was fabulous! The first week was traveling to Paso Robles, San Jose, and El Dorado Hills to visit family and friends. It was so great to see so many people and show off the little guy. Thank you to all you who hosted us and fed us and took time to see us. We are sorry for all the people we missed but are so grateful to have been able to make the trip. The second week was spent at a time share in Palm Springs. (Thanks you mom and pop Quezada) It was so wonderful. We had just the right amount of activity, rest, and family things. We took a trip up the Aerial Tramway which was beautiful and about 30 degrees cooler than at the base of the mountain. Dan had a golf day and I had a little spa treatment. We slept and swam and played. It was perfect.

Here are some more pictures:

Growing So Fast....

Jake is growing up so fast. He is 8 months old and crawling. He is pulling himself up on anything he can find and he is trying so hard to walk. He walks holding onto the couch and anyone who will walk with him. He has 4 teeth now. Two on the top and two on the bottom. We had a great time visiting some of my family in Colorado at the end of May. We got that plane ride in just in the nick of time too. I can't imagine what it would be like with him now being so mobile. We are getting ready for a long road trip and much needed and anticipated vacation. We will spend a week driving to Northern California to visit family and friends and then thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Quezada we have a week in Palm Springs. First real vacation since our honeymoon. So excited. It will be crazy hot but we all like the water so that should be just fine.

Time is speeding by. Jake has his nine month check up next week (I know it is a couple weeks early but we wanted to see his doctor). I go back to work full time in August. That will help with the financial part of things but I am going to miss my special day with my boy. Some day maybe I can work part time. Jake is trying to hit some of the big milestones for me before I go back full time. :-) It has been crazy hot and humid in San Diego lately. Jake is loving time in the pool and being just in his diaper. He would love to be naked but we just don't want that kind of mess!

Colorado

We did it! We survived our first flight with the little man. Wednesday May 25th we got up at 4:30am to get loaded up and headed to the airport. The recommendation was to feed Jake a bottle on take off and landing and that would help keep his ears open. Well it worked like a charm. Jake took his bottle as the plane took off and promptly fell asleep in my arms. He slept for about half the flight. Then he was his happy, bubbly, must touch everything and put it in my mouth, self. We got our rental car and started the drive to Crestone, CO where my Grandma Rie, Uncle Greg, and Uncle Rob live.

It was so wonderful to have the time and the opportunity to see my grandma and have her meet her great grandson for the first time. They both had a blast, constantly making each other laugh. My whole immediate family was there. Parents, Nathan and Livvy, and Daniel and Sammi. It was amazing!

We played cards, ate great food and not so great food, we laughed and hiked and enjoyed the beauty that God created.

Jake has two teeth now and we think he might be working on his third. He is 7 months old now. He is eating veggies and rice cereal and we have just started fruits. For the most part, he is now sleeping through the night - which is fabulous! He smiles, loves to stand (with help of course), and any time he can jump he is a happy boy!

Dan and I are keeping busy. Amor has just entered its summer season, and we will be mostly building in Rosarito so that should be a lot of fun. Dan is managing logistics and getting to take things apart and put them back together, build showers, and baños, and chalk camp, and take care of vehicles and tools and the list goes on. He is a very busy man!
I am still assisting the directors but I have also taken on Donor Relations Coordination. I am processing gifts and sending receipts and cleaning up our database and managing that. It is a great challenge and I am learning a lot. I love that I am growing and learning and loving my job.

On other news, my brother's wife is pregnant and due in 3 months. We are so excited to have Jake's cousin so close. We can't wait to meet little Noah Russell. It will be fun to have them so close in age and close enough to hang out and play.

Promised Pictures

Time Flys...

We have been super busy. Amor is building in San Carlos, Puerto Peñasco, and Tecate this spring and it has been crazy. Our staff has been spread thin across all three of these locations. Dan has been working with groups in Tecate this whole week. It has been a wet and muddy week too. Dan drives a big diesel truck in Mexico and even it got stuck in the mud and had to get pulled out by a backhoe.

Jake has been enjoying daycare and now he has little friends to play with. He is still trying to figure out how to roll over but he seems to be getting closer. He can definitely scoot himself around. He is working on holding his own bottle and most of the time he is pretty darn good at it.

Jake got his first haircut!My mom and dad tag teamed it and got his wild hair cut so he looks very little boyish. Super cute if I do say so myself. I will have to post pictures soon but haven't had a chance.

Jake and I are heading to LA tomorrow to visit some of my family. Got to get in time with great Grammie! It will be fun for him to see my cousins and aunts and uncles again too. Hoping to see Uncle Alan who has been in the hospital most of the week. Please pray for healing for my uncle. They found lots of blood clots on Monday and he has been in the hospital all week. Thanks

I have been working like crazy at the Amor office. Creating camp maps - so we know where to place people to set up their camps. I have been working with our volunteers and organizing lead in people and things like that. It has been fun to be crazy and involved. Our team is tired and we still have several more weeks of crazy ahead but it is awesome to see us all work hard to help each other out and take care of our groups and the families and church in Mexico and San Carlos. We completed our first house in San Carlos, AZ which is AWESOME!

Exciting things happening. Sorry this post is so random but had to get the good stuff in writing. :-)

4 Months

Our precious boy is already 4 months old! It seems like we see a little something new every day. Jake is smiling all the time and even laughing! I love to hear him laugh, anytime I can make him laugh I work to make it happen over and over. :-) He is seeing things and grabbing for them. He has found his toes a few times. He love to stand - with lots of help of course. He puts everything in his mouth and when there is nothing then he tries his darnedest to put his whole fist in his mouth. He is over 16lbs already! Jake is going to daycare 4 days a week and he has a great time. He has tummy time, nap time, story time, and play time. We are also at the stage where we are teaching Jake to put himself to sleep. Sometimes it works great and other times it is so hard to let him cry for awhile. I keep having to remind myself that it is good for him and us.

Dan and I are doing well. Spring has started at Amor Ministries, which means busy, busy, busy. We have groups building with us in three locations this spring so we will be stretched thin. It is amazing how God always provides though. Dan will be working in Tecate this spring, which is such a blessing because it means he is close to home. He is also spending more time working in logistics this spring so that means he is not spending the night in camp very often at all. Makes the wife and baby VERY happy.

We had Jake's baby dedication at church last Sunday. It was so fun to have friends and family there supporting us and committing with us to help Jake grow to know about Jesus. It is so good to know that we have so much support in one of the hardest adventures of our lives.

If you think of us, please pray for us. For us to be good stewards of what God has given us and for providence - things are super tight with all the bills and new expensive baby things. We know God is faithful and that He won't leave us or forsake us, but it is scary sometimes. Please pray for Dan and I as we continue to learn how to be a couple and parents at the same time.

We love you and I would love to know how I can be praying for you.

KQ

Been Busy...

The kiddo is sleeping so I am finally sitting down to write this entry. Our baby boy was born at 10:15am on Saturday October 30th. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 21 - 1/2 inches long.

I went in for my regular check-up on Friday October 29th (my due date) and everything was good except my blood pressure was a bit high - very unusual for me. My doc felt that I should head straight to Labor and Delivery at Zion and be induced. We were not thrilled with the idea so we asked some more questions and decided that Dan would go to work for a couple of hours, I would go to lunch as planned with my friend, Wendy, and then we would get our stuff and head to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital about 3pm and went straight to the lab so they could do some blood work and then up to L&D for blood pressure monitoring.

When all was said and done, they still strongly recommended induction. I was admitted and induced that evening. Intense labor began about 10pm, by midnight thirty I was asking for the epidural. After the epidural we were able to get some shuteye. Dan in the chair by my hospital bed with a towel as his blanket and mom in the chair across the room. My blood pressure was checked every hour and progress was checked every three or four hours. By 7am, I was fully dilated and effaced. Of course that is the same time for shift changes at the hospital. We waited until 9am and the pushing began. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Our little Jacob Henry was born an hour and fifteen minutes later. There were tears of join, lots of relief and joy by all. My dad listened to the birth over the phone since he was out of town at the time. It was all very special.

After we had been moved to postpartum, one of the nurses noticed that Jake was having breathing troubles and sent him to see a doctor. He was then admitted to the NI CU. That was a hard thing to deal with especially since I was confined to my bed because of the blood pressure meds they had me on. Jake recovered quickly but because of the antibiotics he was on, he was not released until Tuesday November 2.

It took several weeks of being home to discover that Jake was allergic to breast milk. Once we got that figured out and got him on a special formula, we had a much happier baby.

He is doing great! He is cooing often and smiling all the time now. He has been sleeping pretty much through the night for the last few nights which has been wonderful. His last appointment he weighed in at 12lbs 5oz. He is a very happy and healthy little boy and we are crazy about him!