Meier Family Deliveries of 2013

Date: Monday, June 10, 2013
Location: Lake Jackson, Texas

Once again, I find myself scrambling to catch up after many months of silence.  My writing endeavors have been limited to reminder notes for the daily basic things of life and random posts I’ve managed to put on Facebook.  I have to admit that only about 50% of the witty and charming ideas I have thought of putting on Facebook actually make it there. Usually, my thoughts hit on something especially “Facebook” worthy at a moment when I cannot access my computer.  By the time I’ve actually sat down and logged in, I can’t remember what I had wanted to post several hours (or days) earlier.

So, when I think about writing for my blog or attempting to work on re-writing the first few chapters of my dissertation, it usually becomes a fleeting thought that never quite materializes in during the busy, awake time of my day.

The last time that I attempted to update my blog, I was still pregnant with my fourth child.  We were expecting another boy.  We had decided that his name would be Seth Adrian Meier and we were hoping that we wouldn’t have any major complications in giving birth.  We were also praying for God’s provision since our health insurance doesn’t cover maternity costs. We made our final road trip to Florida over Thanksgiving break and returned to Lake Jackson, Texas to enjoy Christmas and New Year’s and to await the birth of our son.

(Cristina’s side of the family took pictures in Gainesville, Florida)
White – Philip’s family / Red – Cristina’s family / Black – Anita’s family / Black with design – Tim’s family

(Christmas / Maternity Photos – December 2012)

Now, we are nearly half way through 2013, and our fourth child is nearly five months old. The months in between have brought many adventures our way.  If I were to summarize the highlights in a series of Facebook posts, it would probably look something like this:

*New Year….Baby on the Way.  We can’t wait.

(39 weeks pregnant)

*Luke had a blast at his firefighter birthday party. I can’t believe he’s four already.  I’m glad I didn’t go into labor today.

*Uh-oh.  I found out that I do have placenta accretta and will not be allowed to go into labor naturally.  They are going to schedule a c-section for January 17.

*Praise the Lord! Seth Adrian Meier was born with no complications.  My placenta came out without any problems.  I am looking forward to going home in a few days. I am grateful for my mother being at home with my other three kids.

*Jared enjoyed celebrating his “half” birthday at school today. He’s five and a half today (January 25).

*My mom went home after her three week stay.  I miss her already.

*Grace keeps getting ear infections.  She might need to get tubes in her ears.

*Valentine’s Day is so busy! I’ve spent so much time making valentines for all the kids in Jared’s kindergarten class and in Luke’s Cubbies group that I hardly have time to make anything special for my family.

*We’ve been discovering the true meaning of St. Patrick’s Day. Let’s celebrate missionaries worldwide.  I might even try to make some Irish soda bread.

*Grace is the first in our family to start seeing a chiropractor. I never would have guessed that these adjustments would work so well to help clear the fluid in her ears.  The ear specialist agreed that she doesn’t need ear tubes and that her hearing is perfect.

*We enjoyed Easter with the kids this year.  No one was sick this time around.

*Grace turned two years old!  She loved being dressed up as a lady bug for her lady bug birthday party.

*Seth is 100 days old today (April 27)! It’s the only time I dress up in my Korean hanbok to celebrate the occasion.

*BCS had a successful auction and was able to raise a lot of money for the school.  Several scholarships were donated so that more students will be able to attend in future years.

*We celebrated Stephen’s birthday at school today (May 1).  Jared’s kindergarten class came to his office to sing “Happy Birthday” to him.  Jared made a birthday cake for him all by himself.

*Another school year is quickly coming to an end.  Jared graduated from kindergarten on May 21. We are so proud of our eldest son.

*The weather is finally staying warm enough to bring out the pools.  The kids are excited about this summer.  Jared is already planning on what he wants to do for his sixth birthday.

So, there you have it.  That is a rundown of the most important events that have happened this year so far.  I look forward to adding more posts in the future.  I hope all the writing ideas that formulate as I’m driving or folding clothes or making dinner actually get typed at some point in the near future.

Harvesting Joy in 2012

Date: Saturday, November 24, 2012
Location: Lake Jackson, Texas

(Note: Although I wrote this in late November of 2012, I did not post it for another eight months. Please pardon my delay!)

I recently went nearly 10 months without posting a single post on our family blog.  Then, I posted 16 different posts to try to make up for the lack of communication.  Two weeks later, I began planning my next batch of blog posts.  After all, there are only two months left in the calendar year and my brain is already flowing with a number of ideas for posts.  Of course, the ideas come easily when there is so much going on at this time of the year.  Harvest activities, festivals and “hallow’s eve” kick off the beginning of the holiday season.  Just as soon as I’ve sorted through the Halloween candy, it’s already time to think about Thanksgiving plans and Christmas.  Throw in a national election and a pregnancy that is coming into the final 10 week countdown and I become a very busy momma.

So, feel free to read about our fall activities and updates. October and November have been fun months of busy activities and celebrations that I am looking forward to sharing with you.

Recent topics:

1) Grandparent’s Day Relived (Family News)
Although Grandparent’s Day was officially listed on U.S. calendars in the month of September, Brazosport Christian School (BCS) has traditionally prepared a special celebration in their honor during the month of October.

2) ACSI accreditation (Ministry)
Under the supervision of Stephen Meier, BCS recently accomplished something that no other Christian school in the United States has yet to achieve.

3) Hallelujah on Halloween (TCK Views)
A lot of churches around here have taken to celebrating “Hallelujah” night in the place of Halloween.

4) Monster Dash into the wind (Family News)
This was the second year that the Meier family participated in this Halloween-themed 5k race with special races for kids, a costume contest and a sudden dip in temperature.

5) Weather or not in Lake Jackson (TCK Views)
I grew up without any seasonal changes, so I’m not a person to be disappointed by snowless winters and a lack of a real spring blossoming or fall foliage.

6) A Homecoming Update & Prize Winners (Ministry)
At Brazosport Christian School (BCS), their annual homecoming event was supercharged this year by a fund-raising event set to deliver prizes to a few lucky participants who took the time to donate money to the school.

We hope you are doing well as the year draws to an end and the holiday season begins.  Feel free to e-mail, call, Skpye or post us.  May God grant each of you peace of mind regardless of how you feel about the national election results this year.  God is in control of everything; even the United States electoral process.

Sincerely,

Cristina (for the rest of the MK Meier family)

Stephen, Cristina, Jared, Luke, Grace and Seth-in-the-womb

Springing into Summer and Landing in the Fall

Date: October 28, 2012
Location: Lake Jackson, Texas

I can’t believe we are already three-fourths of the way through the 2012 year and I have managed to experience each of these months without a single update on my blog.  It’s definitely a new record for silence on the Internet since I created the MK Meier Family site.

I remember sitting down during the final week of January and writing down a list of topics that I wanted to write about for my February update. The entire month of February, I kept thinking I was going to sit down at some point and complete the task.  Suddenly, it was March.  Just as suddenly, March was over.  I took a deep breath as April began and I think the month was over before I finished letting the air out of my lungs.  Don’t even ask me about May.  I think I blinked a couple times and it was June already.  In desperation, I realized I wasn’t actually sitting down long enough at the computer to write anything intelligible.

By mid-July, I had finally decided that my brain was going to explode if I do not write some reflection of life’s experiences as they have occurred to the MK Meier family in the first half of 2012. Then, someone woke up from his nap early and my days blurred together without any further written reflections.

August was a busy month as I slowly prepared myself and my kids for early mornings so that I would be able to drop off Jared at school every school day by 7:45am.  Stephen’s morning schedule involves arriving at work much earlier than that, so I have to get all the kids ready to leave the house at the same time in order to get Jared to school by myself.

Amidst these mental preparations, August also ended up being  a month of illness as everyone struggled through various stages of sinus and head colds.

September was a continuation of everyone adjusting to rising early in the morning and getting Jared to school on time.  By this time, I had managed to work out a morning schedule to keep Luke and Grace busy for the hours between breakfast and when we pick Jared up from school at lunch time. After lunch, my body is usually screaming at me to along with my napping children and somehow…sitting in front of a computer becomes entirely undesirable.

Now it is October.  I am beginning to wonder if I’m ever going to accomplish this task of communicating with all our long distance friends.  By now some of you might have deleted my e-mail address from your contact book from lack of communication.  But here I go again, in an attempt to summarize the past nine months in the lives of five busy MK Meier individuals.

Feel free to browse through this blog to read about some of the following adventures and updates.  I tried to write them chronologically, so the newest ones are at the bottom of this list, but will show up on the top of the blog:

1) Summoned to Jury Duty in Texas (TCK Views)

2) Story Telling the Texan way (TCK Views)

3) Bats in Texas (Meier Family News)

4) Speaking of Conferences (Ministry)

5) A Trip to Waco (Ministry)

6) Stephen discovers Poison Oak (Meier Family News)

7) Bleach and Ice cream (Meier Family News)

8) Fireworks in Galveston (TCK Views)

9) Cristina Gets Stuck on Methodology (Meier Family News)

10) Jared: A Big Kindergarten Student (Meier Family News)

11) Luke: from potty training to preschool (Meier Family News)

12) Grace is walking, climbing and dancing (Meier Family News)

13) Expecting Again: MK Meier Kid #4 (Meier Family News)

14) BCS is Unstoppable (Ministry)

15) Traveling East in 2012 (Meier Family News)

I’ve tried to narrow down my story telling to the most significant experiences we’ve had so far. We are grateful to all who have kept in touch with us throughout the silence and the communication.  We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.  We offer many thanks to those who have kept in touch with us through Facebook, Skype and over the phone when we haven’t been as consistent through e-mail or standard mail.

We would love to hear from you.  Feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts you read, write us an e-mail, write on our Facebook pages or give us a ring on Skype.

Sincerely,

Cristina (for Stephen, Jared, Luke, Grace and Seth-in-the-womb) Meier

Just Another Busy November

Date: November 5, 2011
Location: Lake Jackson, TX

The MK Meier family has finally settled into life here in Lake Jackson, Texas.  During the past month, we’ve seen the weather go down from the 90’s range to the 40’s. We’ve watched the mosquito armies bring on a late summer attack for a couple weeks, just to die off every time the temperature dropped below 50.  We went from using air conditioning on a regular basis to needing to use heat. We’ve settled into a routine that keeps the boys busy (and Mamma from going insane).  She also been quite busy attempting to potty train Luke and to get Grace to eat some of her first solid foods.

If any of you have been following the blog, you’ll note that I’ve actually been adding posts a little at a time over the past month.  However, if this is the first time that you’ve visited the blog since the past update, here are the stories you will find:

1) Our two big prayer requests (probably our biggest stressors at this time)
2) My 25 hour day (thoughts on what Cristina should do on the day that daylight savings ends)
3) Halloween alternatives (how the MK Meier family celebrated Halloween for the first time)
4) A Trip to Chicago (find out why Stephen left Lake Jackson for three days to attend a conference)
5) Remembering Smashed Potatoes (discussing some of the cute phrased the boys have said)
6) The Lake Jackson Speed Trap (owning up to Cristina’s first time caught speeding)
7) Texan invadors (dealing with the Texas mosquito population explosion)

Feel free to read through the blog and enjoy!

Waiting for Fall in October

Date: October 7, 2011
Location: Lake Jackson, Texas

So, now the MK Meier Family finally updates their blog after nearly four months.  I guess it really did take this long to adjust to a new location, climate and altitude. Perhaps it didn’t take the kids half as long as it took their mommy and daddy.  In any case, it has been a busy four months.  We arrived in July just in time to experience part of the heat wave and drought that the state is experiencing.  I think I can count on one hand how many times that it rained. Of course, it also doesn’t help that the temperature keeps rising above 90 Farenheit into the month of October.  However, it appears that we might experience cooler temperatures soon (such as somewhere between 70 and 80 degrees).

But now we are all finally settled.  Stephen is busy in his position as head of school and Cristina is busy trying to finish writing her dissertation so that she can finally graduate this year. Feel free to browse the blog to find out about the following:

1) Our new Texas routine now that we’e been living here

2) Stephen’s work at BCS

3) Observations about living in Lake Jackson

4) Big Brother Jared

5) The Lively Luke

6) Notes on Grace

Thanks for keeping in touch with us!

Sincerely, Cristina

June Updates and Summer Plans

Date: June 22, 2011
Location: Quito, Ecuador

The expression “April showers bring May flowers,” came into mind many times during the weeks that followed the birth of Grace Erin Meier.  It certainly seemed that we were getting enough rain in Quito during that month to water the May flowers of several countries.  Although Grace’s memory bank will not be able to remember those first couple months of her life, her mother will not forget them.

It is hard to believe that spring has so quickly slipped into summer and we are now preparing to make our next big move.  It has been nearly three years since we moved to Quito, Ecuador on July 31, 2008, with a 12 month old boy and a few suitcases.

Now, we are preparing to leave with a nearly 4 year old boy, his 2 ½ year old brother, their nearly 3 month old sister and quite a few more suitcases.  Please visit the posts below to find out more about our big move to Lake Jackson, Texas, and some of the adventures we’ve had in the past few months.

You’ll find the following stories here:
1) Summer Plans 2011
*Read our itinerary and find out if we’ll be in your area this summer to plan a possible visit

2) Graduating the class of 2011
*Find out about finishing the 2010-2011 school year

3) Our April Showers
*Find out about the health challenges and weather-related trials we faced

4) A Quick Trip toTexas
*We flew to Texas in mid-May to visit our soon-to-be home and ministry location

5) Bringing Voting to the 21^st Century
*Impressions of the election process in Quito this past May

Thanks for keeping in touch!  We would love to hear from you through e-mail, Facebook, Skype, telephone, blog comments, etc.

Sincerely,
Cristina Meier (along with Stephen, Jared, Luke and Grace)

Notes From a Single-Parent Household

Date: February 24, 2011
Location: Quito, Ecuador

It is times like these that I most admire single parents of small children.  Stephen left Quito day to spend a few days in Lake Jackson, Texas (a city about an hour south of Houston) to visit a Christian school there that is interested in hiring him.  He will return to Quito to rest for about 24 hours before he gets back on a plane to travel to Bangkok, Thailand to visit the International Community School there about a possible job position. He will not return from that trip until next Friday night, March 4.

That leaves me, Cristina Meier, to care for two energetic toddlers and a quickly growing child in the womb whose due date is approaching in about six weeks.  However, I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on what has been going on in our lives since the new year began (which was the last time I wrote).

Visit the posts in this blog to find out about:
1) Stephen’s current job opportunities for the next school year (Ministry)
2) Cristina’s pregnancy update (Family News)
3) Experiencing Valentine’s Day the Sophomore Way (Ministry)
4) Special Prayer Needed for Stephen’s brother, Kurt (Family News)
5) The Meier boys’ bedtime routine (Family News)
6) Girls Come Early (TCK Views)

We pray that God’s blessings will be with you as the month of February draws to an end.  Feel free to contact us by phone, e-mail, blog, Facebook or Skype.

Sincerely,
Cristina (for the rest of the family)

Cristina’s Pregnancy Update

Just as I was entering my final ten weeks of pregnancy, the Lord blessed me with a lighter teaching load for the second semester of the school year.  My English Department Head Teacher told me that he had decided to cancel my English class for second semester, which was supposed to be a small group of students taking Speech and Debate.  He figured that it would be easier to put all the students into other established classes for second semester than try to supervise and train a substitute teacher to take over the final half of the semester when I would go on maternity leave.

So, my rushed exit from my home, to arrive at a 9:30am English class each day, was suddenly out of the picture.  A couple weeks after he told me of this development, the registrar’s office informed me that there were no high school students who needed to take the sixth period keyboarding class that I had been teaching directly after lunch.  Therefore, my teaching load went down from four classes to two.  Since then, I met with the director to talk about some projects I can work on to keep me on the same funding as before and he gave me a video project to work on that I hope to finish before I go on maternity leave.

I have felt significantly less stress this past month as I have been teaching only my two middle school Computer 8 classes for four days out of the week.  This is a good thing as my body seems to be slowing down a little more with each passing week and as my belly continues to inflate. 

By tomorrow, I will be officially 34 weeks pregnant.  I am excited that God did provide the money for my mom to come and stay with me for three weeks in April.  She is set to arrive on April 4…just four days before my due date and will stay until the end of April. 

I also had my third trimester and final sonogram today, February 24, and the doctor was able to confirm that the baby still looks like a girl.  He scared me for a while saying he wasn’t sure, but would check again before he finished the sonogram.

From this point on, I begin weekly visits to the doctor.  He is predicting that I will make it full term, but start thinking in terms of giving birth sometime between the last two weeks of March or the first week of April.

I am looking forward to taking my final blood tests this weekend.  Also, some of the ladies at the school are planning a baby shower for me to take place next Thursday, March 3.

So far, everything is progressing as normal.  The only concern my doctor had with me is that my thyroid is still working too hard and he has told me to take a higher dose of the thyroid medication that was prescribed for me. 

I am planning on teaching until my due date on April 8 or until Grace Erin is born…whichever comes first!

Cristina can still pick up both her boys at 33 weeks of pregnancy...as long as they don't get in the way of her belly.

2010 Snapshots for the MK Meier Family

Date: January 1, 2011
Location: Quito, Ecuador

Today marks the end of an entire decade of the 21^st century.  Exactly ten percent of this “new” century is already behind us.  What an amazing ten years it has been.  What an intriguing year this past one has been.

Our blog already contains many of the highlights for this past year, so I won’t go into great detail.  I’ll just mention some of the recent developments that have both blessed and challenged our lives.  Feel free to read about the details in our blog.  Our current prayer requests are listed as well.

1)  THE EMPTY HOUSE (Ministry) — The tenant who moved into our townhouse in West Virginia at the end of July left unexpectedly at the beginning of November. We are facing the same situation we had our first year on the mission field.  Our debts are increasing as we struggle to pay monthly mortgage bills during the hardest time of the year to find renters.

2) A VOYAGE WITHOUT IMMEDIATE RESULTS (Ministry) — Stephen completed his recruitment fair trip to Atlanta, GA, in early December, but came back with no job offers.  So, he is continuing his search for new schools both in the U.S. and internationally that are looking for experienced school administrators for the 2011-2012 school year.

3) MY FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT (Family News) — During the time Stephen was in the U.S., I convinced my doctor to do another ultrasound so that we could find out the gender of the baby to give Stephen a chance to bring back some appropriate baby clothing from the U.S. It’s a…..(read the blog).  =)

4) CHRISTMAS WITH THE MK MEIER FAMILY (Family News) – Read in our blog about our quiet but special Christmas celebration at home with the kids.

5) A CENSUS WORTH REMEMBERING (TCK Views) – Find out how we spent the final Sunday of November at home and why not a single church held a service that Sunday.

May 2011 bring each of you continued peace and joy in the face of global and local uncertainties.  May God’s Word and his Love be your true anchor in every storm you face.  It is a pleasure staying in touch and knowing that so many are supporting our ministry in prayer.

Happy New Year!

Fall Expressions from the Mk Meier Family

Date: November 2, 2010
Location: Quito, Ecuador

The end of another month didn’t exactly bring us fall weather, but it did give us a few days of extra relaxation.  Traditionally, Ecuador celebrates “Dia de los Difuntos” (Day of the Dead) as a federal holiday.  They also decided the day that follows this holiday, which is Cuenca Independence Day (one of the major cities in Ecuador), also deserves to be a holiday.  This year, those two days of November second and third fell on Tuesday and Wednesday.  A couple weeks before prior, the president decided that Monday should also be considered part of that holiday in order to give everyone an extra long weekend.

Fortunately, our school had already planned to take that day off.  So, we were not caught by surprise with the last minute change in holiday scheduling by the government.  I hope to take the extra time to finish up my grading (first quarter grades are due next week) and try to get some more research done on my Ph.D. dissertation while also hoping to get some additional rest now that I’m in my 18th week of pregnancy.

So, please browse our blog links to find out more details about what has been going on in the past month with the Meier Family.  Read about the following items:

1) An Election of Reflection (Ministry)– Cristina has been working with a group of students in the school’s civic club and the senior U.S. Government class to simulate a mock election that reflects the issues in this year’s election in the U.S.

2) Stephen’s Upcoming Recruitment Voyage (Ministry) – as Stephen looks for a new location to serve God in the area of school administration, he is planning on attending a conference in Atlanta, Georgia at the end of this month.

3) Experiencing Dora Live (TCK Views) – read about a birthday party that included a real, live and very Latin Dora.

4) The Nanny with the Chicken Pox (Ministry) – the past two weeks brought an added challenge to Cristina when her boys’ nanny came down with the chicken pox.

5)  Pregnancy Update (Family News)– although we still don’t know the gender of our little “tummy package,” here is a brief update on the developments this month.

6) Meier Boy Accomplishments (Family News)– read a brief update in the lives of our two toddlers

We want to let you know how much it means to us to keep in touch with so many of our family and friends.  Please feel free to send us a message, comment, note, etc.  We are on Facebook, Skype, Word Press, and e-mail.

Sincerely,

Stephen, Cristina, Jared & Luke Meier