Participating in the community garden is another highlight for our family. When we go over to water and weed our plot, many of the kids that live on that street come running to play with our kids and lend a hand. From these activities to sharing meals with neighbors, to simply playing with the neighborhood kids, neighbor has become a verb for our family.

Andrej oversees the operations of Metro Merge and recently started a new venture, the South Atlanta Bike Shop. As a family we pray for our community and strive to be very intentional as we journey alongside our neighbors. God has blessed us tremendously, and we are so thankful for you, your prayers and financial support as we work to bring change in this city.

One week ago at my 39 week appointment, I was 3 cm dilated, 60% effaced and certain that the baby would be born at any moment. One week later, I am still 3 cm dilated, 60% effaced and certain the baby is never coming out. So, I did what many other extremely uncomfortable, impatient, anxious, frustrated and stressed out moms-to-be would do and scheduled an induction for Monday morning, June 22, at 7:30 am.  I would really love for the baby to come naturally, when he is ready, but at this point with two other wee ones to chase, I need this pregnancy to come to a close for my sanity and theirs.

I actually find the situation ironic. My doctor in Michigan wouldn’t consider an induction, unless it was medically necessary, until 42 weeks. Thus the reason Kaiya was born eight days after her due date. My midwife here in Atlanta has been presenting the idea of inducing labor since my first meeting with her back in February. That is partly due to the fact that this is my third pregnancy and being able to plan for the other two kids would be nice, and partly because she knew she would be on vacation during my due date. I declined because I really like the other midwife as well and don’t have a preference as to who delivers. Plus, I was banking on the fact that Tobi came five days early so logically this baby would come early as well. Ha!

I was complaining to Andrej the other day about how I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t had the baby yet since Tobi was born early. Andrej laughed and reminded me that Tobi is not the most patient person. It is true. Tobi runs everywhere he goes and has a hard time waiting for anything. It only makes sense that he arrived five days before his projected due date. Maybe it’s a sign that this babe will be a little calmer than his brother.

Anyway, I would appreciate any and all prayers for a safe delivery and healthy baby whether he arrives naturally today or tomorrow or by inducing labor on Monday. I look forward to introducing you to the newest Ciho very soon. I know Andrej will be keeping everyone updated via Facebook throughout the birth and will update this blog with pictures as soon as he is able.

Other than that I uploaded some new pictures of the kids. Random family pictures start here, and pictures from Tobi’s second birthday party are found here. There is also a blog post about Tobi turning two under this post. I haven’t blogged as much as I did today during this entire year. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when the kids are at their grandparents!

After answering the daily question from Kaiya of when are Papa and Babka coming for Thanksgiving, we decided to make a paper chain so she could count off each day until their arrival. The only problem was once the chain was finished and hung she didn’t want to remove any of the rings so it never depicted the actual number of days and we continued to answer the daily question of how much longer. Nevertheless the days continued to go by and Papa and Babka soon arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

Unfortunately for them, when I welcomed them into our home late that Monday night before Thanksgiving, I welcomed them into the stomach flu.  Three days before they arrived, the nasty stomach bug hit us and hit us hard. It started with Tobi, then me, then Kaiya and lastly taking Andrej down. In fact, Andrej had been in bed all day when my parents arrived. I had spent the day disinfecting every surface, but wasn’t very optimistic when I opened the door and invited in my mom and dad.

Thankfully, we were able to enjoy a few good days of fun before the bug bit my mom. However, the downside was she got sick the night before Thanksgiving and she had already purchased everything to cook our Thanksgiving feast. Needless to say, as I am not much of a cook, we postponed our Thanksgiving dinner and ate sandwiches instead.

By Friday, my mom was feeling a little better and my dad had yet to show any symptoms so we went ahead with our plans to go to a local Christmas tree farm. It was so cold, but the kids had a blast riding the tractor and running through the rows of trees. Of course they ran in two different directions, so we had to split up just to keep an eye on them. I quickly found the perfect tree and with Kaiya supervising, my dad cut it down.

Kaiya had so much fun decorating the tree and kept commenting on how beautiful it was. Christmas really is so much more magical with children. Even the tiniest detail would have Kaiya joyfully gushing over it.

My mom worked hard all day Saturday and by 6:00 pm, a Thanksgiving feast was spread out before us. As we gobbled up the yummy food, we talked about all of the things we were thankful for.

After dinner, we dressed the kids in their Christmas jammies and tried without much success to get the perfect Christmas card picture. Let’s just say one of my two children was less than cooperative.

But we did get a few semi-cute ones

We also tried to make Christmas cookies, but got a little carried away and we learned what happens when you try to bake too many cookies on the same baking stone. They weren’t pretty, but they were sure tasty.

Unfortunately our time with Papa and Babka all too quickly came to an end and we sadly said goodbye and watched them drive away. Kaiya has such a hard time when they leave so it was nice to be able to remind her that we would be going down to visit them in just a few short weeks for Christmas. That of course started Kaiya’s daily question, “How much longer before we go to Papa and Babka’s for Christmas?” This time I just answered her questions already knowing a paper chain would be pointless. The rest of our pictures from Thanksgiving are located here.

Other noteworthy things from November:

Mid-November was our one year mark for using cloth diapers on Tobi. It has been an interesting year of trial and error as I learned which diapers work best, which detergent works best and which wash routine works best for our family. Overall, it has been way easier than I ever imagined and I’m really happy we made the switch, both for the environment and for how cute the diapers look on my boy. I am also excited to start purchasing teeny tiny newborn diapers for the baby. Tobi was five months old when we transitioned out of disposables, so I’ll need to add some newborn supplies to our stash.

Another really INCREDIBLE and LIFE CHANGING thing happened in November. Something that revolutionized my time spent in the kitchen. For this I will provide two pictures as evidence. The first picture (albeit not very good) was taken sometime early last year and the second from Thanksgiving 2008. Do you see the difference?

Yes, my friends, we are now the proud owners renters of a dishwasher. I am in love with this appliance. I was honestly at the point where I loathed doing the dishes. Andrej has terrible back problems and can’t stand over the sink for very long so dish duty was mine and mine alone. Now, it takes a fourth of the time to load the dishwasher and Andrej is able to help out as well. I could kick myself for not asking our Landlord for one sooner. The installation of the dishwasher was by far one of my highlights from the month.

October was an exciting month as we took our very first road trip as a family of four. We’ve taken several short trips in the car with the kids, but never traveling more than a few hours from home. After our last trip down to South Carolina back in June, I hinted that we were done with the airline industry (at least for a while) and wanted to give driving the 16 hour drive a whirl. Surprisingly, the trip went really well and the kids did great for being strapped into their carseats for so long. We borrowed a portable DVD player, which made the hours go by so much faster. In fact, Kaiya spent most of the drive watching her favorite videos and looked like this: 

And Tobi like this:

But, on occasion we found them enjoying other activities like these:

We made several stops to stretch our legs, spent the night in a hotel room and after traveling through seven states we finally reached our destination of South Carolina. We spent a few days with my family and then Andrej and I left the kids with my parents and embarked on yet another trip to the neighborhood of South Atlanta.

We had spent the months in between our previous trip there in June and this one asking God what he had for our family. We spent hours discussing the decision with our friends and family and praying together for God’s direction. However, at the end of the day neither Andrej nor I could say without a shadow of a doubt that God was calling our family to relocate to Atlanta, but on the other hand we could not say that he wasn’t calling us either. We knew the only way a decision would be reached would be for us to go back to the neighborhood and spend more time learning and listening to God.

As Andrej and I drove south on I-85, our conversations tended to focus on two things. We talked a lot about “calling” and what it meant to be “called by God” to join Him in something specific. Neither Andrej nor I have ever heard God audibly speak, so how does one discern calling  from any other feeling you may have. Secondly, our conversation landed on the what-if-we-are-pregnant topic. I was about 95% sure we were expecting our third child, but since this one was not planned, I refused to get my hopes up until I saw a positive test.  We also discussed baby names, but if you’ve been reading this blog long you already know that conversation went nowhere.

When we pulled onto the street where our friends, and possible future teammates Nate and Melissa Ledbetter were now living, we prayed for our hearts to be open and that God would make it clear what part he wanted us to play in His redemption of this neighborhood. Our friends had just moved into this new house, one street over from where they were living when we visited in June. Even though it was only one street away it was like a different world. We noticed right away that it was certainly a lively street. People were out on their front porches or congregating in the street and music was coming from a nearby car that several men were gathered around.

As we got out of the car, we noticed two kids about the same ages as our own kids playing in the front yard of a nearby house. We would later learn that particular house was a known drug house. Sadly, we also learned that on the first night our friends moved into their new house there was a shoot out in the street in front of their home. That story coupled with the image of the kids innocently playing in the front yard deeply impacted me.

You would think a story like that would send me running, but in fact I believe God used it to hit on the very things keeping me from making the decision. The first one being calling, Melissa had said that you have to know God has called you to this type of ministry or when guns are being fired in front of  your home, you will be ready to pack and move as soon as possible. Secondly, my kids safety has been a huge factor in this decision and for some reason knowing that there were children living in that environment and their parent(s) were drug dealers completely broke my heart. Those kids deserve better. Those kids deserve hope and a future just as my own kids do.

Thankfully, we had three days with the Ledbetters to process these thoughts of calling, safety and if and where our family would fit into the ministry. As we stood in their kitchen catching up and discussing the schedule and plans for the next few days, Nate asked if there was anything we wanted to see or do during our time in Atlanta. My husband piped up to say that the schedule looked great and the only thing we needed to do was go to a store with a pharmacy so we could purchase a pregnancy test. After the excited congratulations had been said and the surprise wore off, we dove head first into three life changing days spent learning, exploring and praying over South Atlanta.

Melissa and I did make a target run that afternoon, and I purchased the much anticipated pregnancy test. It was all I could do to make it back to their home to take the test and see the results. When we walked in the door, Andrej, Nate and another guy, Matt, were waiting on us and they were about to head out into the neighborhood to give a tour to Matt who was interested in volunteering with Sub-Urban. Before they left I quickly went to the bathroom, administered the test and within seconds the test showed a positive reading. Elated and shocked at the same time, I shared the news with Andrej and then with our dear friends, and yes even with Matt. Baby Ciho #3 was on his or her way!

The days that followed were incredible and both Andrej and I began to see ourselves living and working in this neighborhood. We took in a lot of information, but unlike our initial visit in June, we had plenty of time to process everything with the Ledbetters. We learned about possible schools for our kids to attend, possible homes that we could rent within the neighborhood and we discussed possible roles that both Andrej and I could play within the ministry Sub-Urban. We also did fun things around Atlanta as well. We ate at yummy restaurants, went to Atlantic Station and even popped into IKEA for a few things. On our last day, we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. museum.

However, the thing that impacted me the most happened just before we left. Andrej asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with him in the neighborhood. Honestly my first reaction was to ask, “By ourselves? Without the Ledbetters or their gigantic American bulldog?” Andrej answered yes and reminded me that if we moved to the neighborhood, we could not live in fear. There would be no reason to come if I was afraid to leave our house. I agreed and we set out to discover the neighborhood, get a better look at some of the houses that may be available for us to rent and of course to pray.

This walk was a turning point for me as I was able to look beyond the run down buildings, boarded up houses, glass shattered streets, graffiti covered walls and see God’s redemption. I was able to see smiles on peoples’ faces even though their living conditions were meager. I was able to see hope that a neighborhood could be restored and be a safe place for the families to raise their children. I was able to see past the crime, prostitution and drug houses and see neighbors who really want to better their community and see peace prevail. I wasn’t afraid and I didn’t feel threatened, in fact it was the complete opposite. Every person we met, either walking or sitting on their porch enjoying the sunshine, went out of their way to greet us and make us feel welcomed.

Andrej and I prayed as we walked and then prayed with Nate and Melissa when we returned to their home to say good-bye. We left knowing that we would be in touch with them soon as the decision was weighing heavy on our hearts. We drove north to have dinner with some great friends that we worked with in Slovakia, the Desnoyers and the Tichys. Another plus for relocating to Atlanta is that we already have friendships with people that we admire deeply and are a piece of Slovakia right here in the States. We had a fun evening catching up and laughing, and it was a perfect ending to our time in Atlanta.

We headed back to my parents house to collect hugs and kisses from the two kiddos we missed terribly. We enjoyed hearing all about the adventures Kaiya and Tobi had with their grandparents riding the tractor, fishing, playing in the yard, collecting hickory nuts and having a blast.

We shared about all of the things we learned during our time in South Atlanta, and my family was ecstatic to hear that the biggest thing we learned was that we were expecting another baby. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time left before we had to load up the car and retrace our path back through those seven states until we arrived home. The rest of the pictures from our road trip are located here.

Soon after our return, we made the final decision to step out in faith and trust God with relocating our family to South Atlanta to join Sub-Urban. All of our conversations about calling, safety, faith, foolishness and trusting God left us thinking how could we not be a part of this adventure. How could we say no to joining God in something so life changing and incredible. We are definitely looking forward to this next chapter God has for our family. You can find more information on the ministry, our roles and how you can be a part of the journey in the sidebar just to your right, and more information on the ups and downs of the journey so far will be coming soon.

Other October happenings:

Even though the trip down south was the major event of the month, there were a few other fun things we did in October.

In early October, we joined friends at a local Pumpkin Patch/Apple Orchard for some fall activities. Those pictures are located in their own album here.

October ended with a fun Halloween party at Kaiya’s school and trick-or-treating with our neighbors. Kaiya LOVED her pink poodle costume my mom found for her at a consignment shop. Tobi was a puppy dog at Kaiya’s school party, but the costume was too big and the hood kept falling down over his eyes so he refused to keep it on. On Halloween night, we opted to put him in a smaller bear costume that was Kaiya’s a few years back. Remember her as the bear? Anyway, it was a bit too small on Tob, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Halloween night was perfect weather wise, unseasonably warm, and I like to think that was God making up for last year when Kaiya and Andrej trick-or-treated in a torrential downpour. We joined our good friends and neighbors for a Halloween party and then headed out into the neighborhood to fill the kids’ buckets with loot. Both Kaiya and Tobi had a blast, and Tobi fell right into step with the big kids and went up to each and every door as if he had been trick-or-treating for years. It was a fun night for all. The pictures from the Halloween related events are located in their own album here.

November and December rewinds are coming soon!

Kaiya started preschool! Yes, that’s right, our little baby girl at age 3 started school…where she goes twice a week…without me…and she LOVES it! I must admit it was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. Andrej and I researched various preschools, talked to other seasoned parents, fretted over if she was too young to go to school, played around with the idea of homeschooling and in the end decided to hold off one more year and let her start preschool after she turned four.

However, as September approached I began to regret the decision. Especially as I passed almost daily a co-op preschool in our neighborhood that had a huge sign out front that read, “Enrolling Now!” I contacted them for more information and was pleasantly surprised to learn that because it is a co-op, which just means it’s run by the parents, that the tuition cost is relatively low. I was really excited about the parental involvement in that the parents are required to help in the classroom at least once a month and participate either on the board or on a committee. Another huge bonus was that it is within walking distance to our home.

It seemed perfect for us, but I first wanted to meet the teacher and see the classroom before I made my final decision. On the way to the school to meet the teacher, I explained to Kaiya that I was going to let her make the final decision as to whether or not she wanted to go to school this year or not. She had been expressing fears about going to school and since I wasn’t completely sold on it either, I thought ultimately she could make the decision. I could not have been more impressed with the teacher, Ms. Wilson. She was so warm and friendly and bent down to chat with Kaiya specifically. She then told Kaiya she could play with anything she wanted while we finished talking. Kaiya had so much fun that she didn’t want to leave the classroom that day. During the days that followed she talked about school and her new teacher non-stop and kept asking when she could start school.

Months later I know we made the right decision. I’ve seen Kaiya grow socially by leaps and bound. She comes home spouting off nursery rhymes and singing songs I would have never known to teach her. She gets to paint and play with playdoh during every class, both things I hate doing at home because of the mess. She got to go on her very first field trip (without her parents) to the zoo. She has also learned fun things like yoga stretches, “green” living tips and eating healthy. Plus, I feel like I’m a part of it all. Even though it has been a task juggling Tobi during the times I have to work or help out, I have loved being so involved in the school and getting to know the other kids and their parents really well. However, the best part by far is when I, or Andrej, pick her up after class and she runs happily into our arms saying, “I had the best time at school today!” Priceless.

Other September events as seen in pictures include two back-to-back super fun birthday parties. We helped Braylen celebrate her second birthday and then Erica celebrate her fourth. Andrej took tons of pictures that day so they got their own album, which is located here.

We went with our good friends, the Crains, to watch the elephants march from the circus arena to the train station headed for their next destination. It was free and quick, but fun as the kids had never seen an elephant live and in person. Those pictures start here.

Along with our good friends, the Bucks, we took the kids to the Children’s Museum and had a blast. We are still wondering why we don’t go there more often. Those pictures start here.

Also with the Bucks, Andrej took the kids to a small carnival being held at a church in our neighborhood. Overall, they had a lot of fun and came home sticky from the cotton candy and treats they consumed, but Kaiya did NOT like the swing ride and protested so loudly they had to stop the ride for her to get off. They did like all the other rides even though you wouldn’t know that by their faces in the pictures. :-) Those pictures start here.

One month down, two to go!

Random family pictures are found here, and the rest are in their own albums found here. The most recent ones are: Kaiya’s 3rd Birthday Party, Camping at Cran-Hill Ranch, an afternoon at the lakeshore and a playdate at the zoo.

Out of all the recent pictures, the following two are my favorite. The first picture was taken by my dear friend, Trisha, and Andrej captured the one of Kaiya mid jump. If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then this post is actually quite lengthy.

Late Monday afternoon, Andrej and I left the kids in the capable hands of my parents and headed to Atlanta. We weren’t even a few miles down the road when Andrej shared that he had a knot in his stomach. Relieved that I wasn’t the only one sad to leave Kaiya and Tobi behind, I too admitted the knot in my own stomach. We have never left the kids overnight. Even when I was in the hospital for Tobi’s birth, Andrej came home each night to be with Kaiya, so we haven’t had much practice with leaving them for more than a few hours. However, we knew it would be good for us, good for them and good for my parents. 

Our first stop was visiting our dear friends, and former teammates in Slovakia, the Desnoyers. We had a great time seeing their precious kids and catching up with them as it had been almost a year since they came to visit us in Michigan. We crashed in their guest room for the night, and both Andrej and I had a hard time falling asleep because we knew the next day could be potentially life changing for us.

We woke up early Tuesday morning, said goodbye to our friends, and drove across the city to meet up with the Ledbetters. Nate and Melissa are friends from Michigan that moved to Atlanta nine months ago to partner with FCS Urban Ministries to love the poor and oppressed people living in an inner-city neighborhood known as South Atlanta.

This trip was more than just visiting with friends, although that was a highlight. For us it was to spend time in the South Atlanta neighborhood, meet people and mainly listen to God. Andrej has for a long time wanted to get involved in urban ministry on a deeper level than volunteering. That desire only grew stronger as he got to know Nate and Melissa, through helping them develop their website before they moved to Atlanta.

We both feel like God has called us to love and care for the poor, but moving our two young children into the midst of poverty and the dangers that come along with it, left me digging in my heels in our safe suburban neighborhood here in Michigan. However, over the past six months as we have been praying, reading different books and talking with the Ledbetters, we both feel God moving within us to do something. The reason we traveled to South Atlanta was to see if that something we feel God calling us to is there in that neighborhood.

I can’t yet say if we are one hundred percent clear that God is calling us to move our family to South Atlanta as we are still, over a month later, processing all that we experienced during our day in Atlanta. We do know that through the Ledbetters, their sweet neighbor Ms. Mary, Bob Lupton (the President of FCS Urban Ministries), Pastor Leroy Barber (from a church in the neighborhood), our friends the Crains who were living in the neighborhood completing a one month internship and the countless others we met, wisdom was spoken into our lives. We didn’t receive the clarity we were hoping for, but we are so much closer to understanding our calling.

Meanwhile, Kaiya and Tobi were having an absolute blast with their grandparents. As we were eating dinner, Andrej received through his phone some pictures of Kaiya holding a fish. We later learned that Papa had taken her fishing and was pleasantly surprised that she enjoyed it as much as he did. He said that Kaiya wasn’t afraid of the worms they used for bait and happily held them wiggling in her hand.

In addition to fishing, Kaiya and Tobi rode on the tractor, four-wheeler and went swimming at a friend’s pool. Mom said it only took Kaiya a few minutes to figure out how to keep her balance in the water with just arm bands on, and then she was swimming all around the pool. Tobi however, did not enjoy the pool as much as Kaiya and much more preferred to be held.

Andrej and I left Atlanta around 10:00 pm, and drove most of the two hour drive home in silence, each of us quietly processing all that we had learned and experienced. The closer we got to my parents’ house, the more I realized just how much I had missed the kids and could not wait to be back with them. I knew they would be asleep, and as silly as it sounds, I just wanted to be under the same roof as them.

Wednesday, our last full day, was spent playing with the kids, swinging in the hammock and trying to verbalize some of what we had learned in South Atlanta. We ended the day by tackeling the fun task of packing for our early return flight home the next day.

We woke the kids the next morning at 5:00 am, and needless to say they were not very happy about it. Our flights home, while not completely stress free, were on time and we arrived home just before lunch. It was good to be home, but both Andrej and I felt that the trip was quite a whirlwind and we could have used a few more days in South Atlanta and few more days at Papa and Babka’s to just relax and be together. I’m sure we will find ourselves down there again soon, and next time we’re driving!