More Telephone Charades Fun!

Like I said last week, this has been a super-busy time for David and the rest of PEF staff -- so many beginning-of-the-year and welcome-freshmen events! It's all so much fun, though, and I'm really glad I've been able to take part in a bunch of the events.

Last Saturday evening was the freshman "two-step dinner." This used to be a progressive dinner, where groups of frosh were taken to three different staff homes for three courses of a dinner, and then all gathered together for dessert and games. To simplify this year, it was changed to just a two-step dinner -- two larger groups of frosh at two different staff homes for a nice, home-cooked meal, and then all of us coming together for dessert in the Chancellor Green cafe afterwards.

And what better way to introduce freshmen to the hilarity of PEF social events than Telephone Charades?? (Click link for previous PEF Telephone Charades shenanigans, and an explanation of how the game works.)

Alex's "The Incredible Hulk"...

...actually translated pretty well down the line. Check out Griffin, the last actor on that team:

And here was one of the funniest moments in PEF Telephone Charades history... Anthony was given the clue "From larva to butterfly." His rendition was actually pretty excellent -- very detailed enactments of each stage in the metamorphosis process. Here's his hungry caterpillar:

The second actor on the team, Stephen, followed suit. As you can see, he was paying pretty close attention to Anthony's charades:

But just seconds after the above picture was taken, Stephen's cell phone apparently went off. I say "apparently," because it was on vibrate, and none of us heard it. Stephen pulled it out of his pocket, checked to see who it was, and turned it off.

The thing is, though, the folks following after Stephen thought that the cell phone was part of the scene. So it ended up getting incorporated into each subsequent person's charade. It was so funny to watch people get out of the hot seat chair, start towards the front of the room, then quickly double back to their personal belongings to grab their cell phones in order to use it in the charade... By the time Natalie was up, the cell phone part had morphed into "using the cell phone as a flashlight in a hungry student's early morning search for food" --

Telephone Charades is always good for a real belly laugh. :)

Then, of course, Chris started out the staff charades. The clue the students came up with for him was "the career of Michael Jackson." And wow, did he deliver, from the Jackson Five years to the iconic moonwalk:

The difficulty with the staff team doing Telephone Charades is that there are so many of us -- 8 people on staff, plus Jamie and two staff spouses. So it always, always breaks down midway through... By the time David was up, it had become some sort of '70s disco meets runway modeling kind of thing:

And then somewhere else along the line, a cartwheel was added, making it something of a cheerleading routine:

That's John, one of the new PEF staff interns. As the youngest folks on staff, they got the honor of finishing out our charades... :)

PEF students and Telephone Charades. Always, always a recipe for a good time!

For the full set of Telephone Charades photos, check out this SmugMug gallery.

Bump Watch: 22 Weeks

Now that we're almost into 23 weeks, it's definitely time to post our 22-week bump watch photo:

The milestone passed with this particular photo: it's the first time I've been in maternity clothes head to toe for a bump watch photo! And let me tell you, maternity shirts are just as amazingly comfortable as maternity pants... :)

The baby has also been kicking much more regularly now. I can pretty much guarantee that he'll start kicking a few minutes after every meal (especially when I have orange juice), and that he'll start kicking up a storm soon after I lie down at night. My current theory on that last pattern is that my movement during the day creates a rocking motion that lulls him to sleep; as soon as I'm perfectly still, he perks up and thinks it's party time. Which is fun right now -- David's been able to feel our son kicking away at bedtime, which is still awe-inducing and very special. Who cares if the kicks keep me awake for a while at night...

And here's what BabyCenter.com had to say about this week --

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

11 inches long? That's the long side of a sheet of copy paper! (Which, frankly, is a more meaningful comparison to me than a spaghetti squash...) Hard to believe that our little KeddieCub is already that big!!

We're so thankful for our little copy paper bundle... :)

And so it begins...

One reason why we've been (relatively) quiet on the blog and facebook fronts the last couple weeks is because of all the hubbub surrounding the beginning of the school year. We had our beach retreat with the returning students at the beginning of the month, which got us all geared up and ready to go for a jam-packed frosh orientation week!

The schedule of events from the week:

Sunday evening (9/13) -- PEF open house (starting at 9:30pm. Because students are crazy.)
Monday evening -- first Freshman Bible Study of the year
Wednesday evening -- frosh ice cream social and games night
Friday evening -- cookout, and then first Friday Night Fellowship of the year
Saturday afternoon -- football frenzy (touch football, tailgate, then off to the game)

David and I didn't actually go to all of these events. Because we're old, and had other commitments with our small groups -- and because we're not as crazy young and energetic as the students and the new interns...

As an aside, it's been really wonderful to have two new interns on staff this year! Liz and John both just graduated last spring, and they're so enthusiastic and on top of things with freshman outreach. John is also the first male intern PEF has had since David's intern year... So this is the first year that David hasn't been assigned to supervise outreach to frosh guys. I know he misses it, but it's also been wonderful for him to be able to dive fully into ministry to junior guys, and outreach to new grad students.

Anyways, on to the real reason for this post -- photos of the orientation week events we did get to go to!

PEF Open House


The beautiful ministry team posters created by the interns


A totally *not* posed shot of some of the students and staff


OK, this one's more candid


Chris demonstrating one of the perks of being on staff:
getting to lay claim to all the leftover snacks at the end of an event


Cookout and First FNF


Lydia and Jeremy putting the banner together under John's direction...


...while their little sister Laura goes for the good stuff


Bill on the grill!


Another candid group shot


President Anthony opening the meeting
(in McCormick 101 instead of Murray-Dodge due to Ramadan events in MD)


We love the beginning of the school year -- such a hectic, vibrant, wonderful time! Things are slowly starting to settle down into a normal routine, but there are still more events (and photo blogs!) to come...

For the full set of open house and cookout photos, check out this SmugMug gallery.

Bump Watch: 21 Weeks

Sorry for the delay on this week's bump watch! We did take the photo on Wednesday (at 21 weeks, 3 days), but it's been such a hectic week, what with the beginning of the school year and all, so I'm just now getting caught up on blog posting.

So for those of you who've been waiting with bated breath, here's the 21-week bump photo!

Um, please excuse the stack of collapsed boxes... Our goal is to finally, finally finish unpacking this weekend.

It's also the return of the green t-shirt, last seen at 18 weeks! I think you can see a difference in the fullness of the baby bump since then... Make this hopeful pregnant lady's day and tell her that she definitely looks pregnant now! :)

And, of course, the weekly pearls of wisdom from BabyCenter.com --

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to know him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

We're definitely starting to move into the "full-fledged kicks and nudges" now -- no more questioning whether a particular weird sensation was the baby or just indigestion! And his movements are getting strong and regular enough for me to have enough time to tell David about them and have him feel the kicks from the outside! Each little baby kick is exciting enough to make me totally cool with the fact that our little one seems to have decided that my bladder is the most fun punching bag ever...

I know I say this every week, but pregnancy really is such a thrilling experience. And it's so exciting to get to know our little son a bit better every week, as he grows larger and stronger!

Beach Retreat!

Every year, right before classes start up again, PEF goes on a beach retreat to Ocean City, NJ. Sure, it's been rainy and cold with gale-force winds for the last two years, but it's still a ton of fun! :)

The retreat focuses on evangelism, by way of preparing students to return to the daily grind of Princeton. This year, the messages were out of Acts 17, Paul's sermon to the Athenians at the Areopagus. (Yes, David prefaced his message with this picture of him on Mars Hill.)

And it was so much fun reconnecting with old friends! I'm so glad I got to go -- I missed most of the first day (Thursday), but drove up that evening with Greg (Aime's husband, the other PEF "staff spouse") and worked remotely on Friday. And played with PEFers in the evenings. And tried to go for a long walk on the boardwalk with David, before being driven back inside by the wind. :)

Bad weather aside, we still had tons of fun activities to fill our time!


Working on a massive puzzle


Apples to Apples


Pool shark Dion


Ping pong champs


Watching "Karate Kid"
(NB: the movie is SIX YEARS OLDER than the students in this photo...)


Beach football


Crazy high waves and water


Fun with jumping and burst mode photography


Most of the gang (minus some who had to leave early)
We're so thankful for the PEF community -- the retreat was so full of fellowship and fun. What an awesome, refreshing way to kick off the school year!

Bump Watch: 20 Weeks

Our 20-week picture was taken at the PEF beach retreat (photos and blog post on that to come soon!) --

It's so exciting to see the weekly progress!

And here's the weekly update from BabyCenter.com (edited for proper personal pronouns -- we'll be referring to the baby as a "he" from here on out!!) --

You're at the halfway mark — congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (The way your baby is measured changes now.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (although some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

That's right, pregnancy isn't all puppies and rainbows... But how incredible is it that our little son is already working on getting his digestive system up and running? We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

We'll hopefully have some sonograms from our 20-week ultrasound up soon -- our scanner is still on the fritz, so it may end up being pictures of the printouts. And it'll happen once we have a free moment, amongst all the busyness of the beginning of the school year... It's a crazy time for us, but one of our favorite weeks of the year!

20-week ultrasound: It's a ...

We had our 20-week ultrasound this morning -- the "big" ultrasound, the anatomy scan.

The ultrasound itself was a long (and very ticklish) one -- about half an hour of the tech scanning various points of the baby's body, examining and measuring the major organs, and pointing out key parts of the baby's anatomy to us. One of the coolest parts was getting to see the four chambers of the heart, merrily pumping away -- we could see the walls separating the chambers, looking something like a tripod jumping up and down as the chambers expanded and contracted. It was such an incredible miracle to watch!

But perhaps the very coolest part was the gender scan. :) Our little KeddieCub is a

BOY!!!

How incredibly exciting! We got to see our son this morning...

[[UPDATE: Sonograms!]] Here are two of our favorite photos from the ultrasound! In the first, you can clearly see his hand up next to his head, in an almost thoughtful sort of pose -- he's already a ponderer! :) And the second shows his head and torso -- it's a stillshot of when the ultrasound tech was moving in to measure his heart, I believe. We didn't get a shot of the four chambers pumping away, but that's certainly not something we're going to forget in a hurry!

It's amazing to compare these sonograms with those from our 12-week ultrasound -- he's growing so quickly!! (And there's no doubt about it now: he's definitely got David's nose. :) My mom in particular was very excited about that...)

We also have pictures proving that our little KeddieCub is, in fact, a boy -- but we decided out of respect for our son's privacy, we'll refrain from posting any such pictures on the interwebs. The kid deserves at least that much respect!

It also looks like everything is developing on track -- the ultrasound tech is sending her scans and report to my OB/GYN, who will let us know if there's any reason why she might want us to have any further scans, but the tech (and the doctor at the maternal/fetal ward where we have our ultrasounds) commented that everything looked good. Our son is measuring at exactly 20 weeks, 2 days, so he's right on track!

David and I celebrated by going out to lunch, and then buying a ridiculously adorable little blue onesie for our son. :)

We're so thankful for the good ultrasound, and incredibly excited to meet our little boy!!

Bump Watch: 19 Weeks

This week's "bump watch" is a little late -- sorry about that! This one is technically 19-1/2 weeks, taken at 19 weeks, 4 days:

I'm not sure how much bigger I am than I was last week, though it looks like the baby is moving upward a bit? But I can definitely tell you that I'm so much more comfortable than I was a week ago, due to the discovery of the most amazing invention ever -- maternity pants. I'm seriously loving elastic waists and stretchy panels -- what an improvement over the old rubber band around the button and through the buttonhole trick! I mentioned this on Facebook the other day, and pretty much all the recent mothers I know have told me that they're sticking with the wonderfully comfy world of elastic waistbands from here on out... I think I'm going to have to join them! There's no shame in wearing "mom jeans," right?

And here's this week's blurb from BabyCenter.com:

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on her scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, taking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

I'm not sure what's up with their produce comparisons -- I would think a turnip is bigger than a bell pepper, which is bigger than an heirloom tomato... Maybe I've just been buying scrawny peppers and tomatoes all my life! According to TheBump.com, the baby is about the size of a mango this week, which is more to my liking.

As for baby milestones this week -- we're definitely, definitely feeling movement now! And I say "we" because David felt the baby kick earlier this week, too!! We were sitting on the couch together, and I had just had some orange juice, which seems to cause the baby to kick it into high gear. So I grabbed David's hand and had him hold it on my lower abdomen for a few minutes -- and he felt the little thumps! How incredibly exciting!!

And we've got our big ultrasound coming up this Wednesday! So hopefully, if the baby cooperates with the ultrasound tech, the next bump watch will include the gender of our little KeddieCub!

Brian and Diana Chang!!

Last weekend, we went up to North Jersey for the wedding of my college roommate (and bridesmaid) Diana Chang, to her college sweetheart Brian Chang. That's right, Diana doesn't have to go through the hassle of changing her name, the lucky dog... :)

It was such a beautiful wedding weekend! I was a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?), so we got to go up for the rehearsal dinner, and then had a lot of fun primping and prepping for the wedding itself. The ceremony was slated to take place on the grounds of the Manor at West Orange, so we were all keeping a somewhat anxious eye on the weather -- it was threatening rain pretty much all day, but it held out! Which Brian mentioned as an impromptu aside at the end of his wedding vows. :) Though it was an overcast afternoon, the setting was really lovely, and the ceremony was beautiful. (And clouds make for better lighting for photos anyways, right?)

And the reception! Diana and Brian did a choreographed first dance that knocked our socks off. And had a custom-made wedding cake topper that looked eerily like them. And had tons of amazing food, and really sweet toasts from Diana's sister and Brian's brother. But the best part? Brian surprised Diana (and everyone else) with a serenade sequence, including "Always Be My Baby," "Brown Eyed Girl," "Too Late to Change Your Mind," "Hey There Delilah Diana," and "I'm Yours" -- so sweet!! Here's a quick video clip of part of it, taken by groomsman Mike Lee:



Love it!!

And here are some of our favorite shots from the weekend. Note that all the ceremony photos were, obviously, taken by David. :)


The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner


The girls! (Yashih, me, Diana, Elaine, and Charlin)


Diana getting her hair done while eating lunch -- always the multi-tasker!


Diana's sister Alice learning how to put in the veil
(And check out D's amazingly elegant hairstyle!)


Brian's parents are so cute!
I love that his dad wore his DSLR down the aisle!


Bridesmaids at the front
(Notice the color differences? I had to order a dress 2 sizes up three weeks before
the ceremony, and they had discontinued the original color...
Luckily, Alice was already in a contrasting tone dress, as matron of honor!)


The bride's grand entrance with her father!


Exchange of rings


Mr. and Mrs. Chang!!


The amazing first dance


We got to sit with Jon and Shauna!


Brian in his Jason Mraz hat
(Totally unintentionally awesome photo -- I think I caught the pro photog's flash?)


The B & D cake topper!


Cutting the cake, and obviously having a blast!

What a fun wedding weekend! B and D, thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your celebrations -- it was an honor to stand up with you. We love you guys!

Full album of wedding photos available in this SmugMug gallery.