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!!

Kiting Fun

So I have been very fascinated with my newest interest which is kiting. I first tried it last year at a free demo on the lake last winter. My buddy Matt and I were there for about 4 hours. Since the outdoor expo this year Matt purchased a kite about three months ago, and it has been get out every chance we can since then. I think some of the highlights in having it thus far is seeing my dad get pulled all the way across the park at Thanksgiving, my own crash from about 6-8ft. up, and not he highlight is using my skates on the lake. I myself am looking for a good deal on a used kite right now, and I will then be working on getting bigger air of 10-20ft and landing successfully. If you ever have the chance to try a kite, I reccomend you take it. Here are a couple of videos that we captured this holiday weekend and a few times we were out. The speed you can get on skates is incredible, and you can see Matt get a little bit of air anyway.

Thanksgiving '06 in WI

We spent the holiday with the Schinke side in Appleton and enjoyed relaxing, stuffing ourselves with great food and visiting family! One of Ben's new passion is kiting so we brought a friend's kite with us and took advantage of some wind! Tom and Scott got a good taste of it, but we didn't catch the crashes on film...it was quite a sight, but nobody got hurt! We've purchased our own kite now off ebay so Ben's looking forward to taking it on the frozen lake with skates and on the snow with his snowboard...I tried it once and it freaked me out a bit! I just continue to pray for his safety! :O) Sue and Muffy hosted a baby shower for us and it was so special having grandmas, aunts and cousins attend and give so generously! Our new niece, Carly Jo, was dedicated as well so it meant a lot for us to beable to attend the service. What a blessing she is!
Hoping you're all having a wonderful Christmas season and feeling the Lord's amazing blessings daily!
Click on each photo in the photo section on the blog which will link you to the full album for your viewing pleasure!

What is going on with those Schinke's

Some of you may be wondering what is happening with those Schinke's in MN. Well we will see if we can use this new blog page to help keep you all updated on our lives and what is happening with us. To the left you will see recent photos in the photo section.

As many of you may or may not know we have our new bundle of joy on the way in just a few short months. Heather looks cuter everyday as her tummy grows with little baby boy "T......". Like I would tell you his name yet. You will all have to keep guessing until he enters the world via water.

That's right we are going to be trying to deliver through a water birth. We have visited the hospital we will be at and they have a water birthing suite where we would actually do everything in the same room. It is very nice and we will post pics and hopefully even video when we can.

Other than that things are going well church is going well, and we have had some good growth happening and the music is still great as well.

I have started playing hockey again for the year and have hung up the bike for a while. But I will be back on the trainer shortly, in prep for the next year of racing with the team. Hopefully, I will continue to improve on the results that I had this year.

Heather is very busy with making lists and being very sure we are prepared for our son's entry into this world. So she is scheming looks for the nursery as well as what needs to be done before hand. It is a good thing that God gifted one of us with organizational skills.

We are praying for our son everyday that he will be healthy and grow to be a man of God, and enjoy every part of his life, and even more so we are praying that he will prepare us to be the best parents we can be. Stay tuned and we will give you more info as things change for us.