Baby Schinke is a' Comin'!!

Ya know, I just don't think there's anymore room for our little guy to grow! We're mid 37th week, have experienced some Braxton contractions, have our bags packed and are just waiting for the thumbs up from him! I have become pretty uncomfortable these days having the "shelf" to contend with, as you can see from the most recent picture in the belly shots album! I mean really, where did that come from all of a sudden?! I used to laugh at women who said they eventually couldn't see their feet or had to have their husbands help them put on their socks and shoes...yep, that's us!! ...and shaving my legs, that's a story in itself! Amongst all the complaints and "i can't wait to get him out of me so i can breathe normally again's", our appointments have gone well and our midwives tell us we're all healthy, lookin' good and right on track which is most important! Ben and I are squeezing in as much "just us" time as we can and appreciating the quietness of our little home before life throws us a curve ball! But that little curve ball will be so amazing...like my sister Anna says, waking up to her new little daughter is like Christmas morning every day! Reality will hit once the breasts are sore and the crying and poopy diapers take over, but God is good and we know we'll ROCK as parents!! Atleast that's what we keep telling ourselves and praying for! We plan for our little guy to be born through a water birth, but we know ultimately we're not in charge...we just pray for a healthy little boy regardless! Ben (and myself once I'm up and functioning again!) will keep our blog posted so be sure and periodically check us out as our family of 3 becomes 4 (we're being typical dog people and including Maiah!). Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and support throughout these past 9 months and we look forward to family and friends visiting and meeting the newest Schinke!

Christmas '06

I'm a little slow on this blog thing so forgive my belated updates! Christmas came and went quickly, but we had a blast having our friends Matt & Julie over for food and games Christmas eve! The four of us are huge Lost fans (for those of you who don't know, Lost is a tv show that has sucked us in) and we attempted to play the Lost board game...take our advice, do NOT waste your time...we were completey LOST trying to figure it out! Molly and Josh joined us later and we had a white elephant gift exchange, then topped off the night with a game of Scattegories! We woke up Christmas morning and Ben prepared a breakfast spread for Molly, Josh, Loni, Russ and me...ahhh I just love eating these days! Loni and I are experiencing pregnancy together as she's just a little over month behind us so per Mom Brinsko's orders, we were to take a "belly" shot together...so there you go! Ben and I spent the rest of the day relaxing, opening our stocking gifts to each other and realizing how blessed we have been in '06...our marriage, our love, our son on the way, our home, our jobs, our friends and family, our health, our Husky Maiah, and most importantly our gracious Lord! We pray the new year has had an awesome beginning for you all and stay posted as we'll be announcing our little Schinke's arrival soon!

Maiah and I long for the snow to fly

Heather the Rockstar

Check out Heather as she beat everyone at the guitar hero game that friends brought over with ther playstation. She is a closet rocker as she not only hit all the notes but even had the stance and attitude as well.

Construction Zone

So for those of you who are checking our blog and staying up to date with us. I thought I would give you another quick update pre-new human addition. I am actually currently sitting in bed with my beautiful wife and we are trying to stop some of the random contractions that she has been having this far today.

Okay so that aside, what has been new with us. I recently spent 3 days in Kansas City, MO at the One Thing conference put on by the International House of Prayer. it was a really great time to spend some time in worship and prayer, and have a chance to sit back and enjoy rather than alwas leading. On my personal blog I may try and record some other thoughts from while I was there, so feel free to check that out. The most enjoyable thing about being there was the time I was able to spend with a good friend of mine as well as the times of prayer. I was able to really spend some great times of prayer, praying for my wife and son. It was an opportunity to prepare spiritually to be a dad as well as begin to pray over my son and his life. Also to allow God to speak to me about direction for us as a family. Please continue to pray for us as we make decision about our future.

The holidays were nice as well for a time to relax at home and see some family. This also helped take my mind off the extreme frustration once again in MN weather. I know most people think I am crazy, but I want the snow, and I am can not believe what is happening here. We have had small bits barely worth pulling the shovel out for as it melts the next day. God I pray that you will open the skies and give us feet of snow . Maiah would also like the same thing as her energy level increases by like 3 when she sees the snow fly. All of the sudden the back door bell rings quite a few more times as she signals us that she would like to go outside.

So I should keep this short, so catching up to today I am back at the house expansion as I do some more work on our basement room that we are building. So you will all have a great new room to stay in when you come to visit. Let's just hope that eventually it will get beyond walls and maybe a rug and actually get some finishing touches on it. I am just horrible at wanting to do any of the finishing work. Anyway, we have got pretty much all of the framing done and we are hoping to tackle all the sheetrock Sat morning. So at least it will then be a closed in room. Then I will be doing something special for my wife on her special day of honoring her birth. Here are a few pics of the handy work thus far, post demolition of the existing and with the framing up.

Oh yeah one more thing, don't forget to check out the album of Heather belly pics as I have added couple new ones of her cute and sext tummy!!