May 29, 2007
Hot Fun in the Summertime
Yesterday we spent the afternoon eating delicious BBQ and an assortment of sides in the backyard of the Josh and Jeremy Hennings. It was the NCF-St. Louis worship team BBQ. We got to listen to great live music put on by the band and various brave vocalists. Joanna of course had a blast...there were tons of people around. Every once in a while I'd spot her accross the yard and go over to ask her if she was having fun...she would mearly turn and walk away. Isn't that not supposed to start until she's a teenager? I'm glad she's so outgoing and friendly, though I'll never be able to quite understand or relate.
In other news...I started a FaceBook account for anyone who's interested in becoming my friend.
In still further news...would any of you NCF crafters out there be interested in starting a craft blog with me to share our ideas?
Posted by sarahward at 4:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 26, 2006
Crazy November
The last few weeks have been CRAZY fun. I finished the 27 hats for my sister, Anna's, soccer team on the 9th. My parents arrived on the 15th. On the 17th my parents, Joanna, and I drove over to Olathe, KS with my brother, Wil, and his wife, Amy, to watch Anna's soccer team play in Nationals. Wow! She's an awesome goalkeeper. They lost their first game but it was so exciting to see her in action. My older sister, Rinnie, and her youngest daughter, Coriena, were also there with us. We hung out all day Saturday in Olathe since Rinnie didn't leave until the evening. We went to a stagecoach stop place and the girls got to see some real live animals. They weren't really all that impressed with them but really loved playing in the washtub we found. On the 22nd Anna arrived for Thanksgiving, we went to the zoo and celebrated our birthdays. Thursday we had yummy turkey and then pie in the evening with my cousin and his family and parents. My parents left on the 24th which meant no more giving Joanna to them in the morning and going back to sleep. Anna left this morning. I'M EXHAUSTED!!! Kirk leaves early tomorrow morning to go to Philly to do a conference with Dad Ward. I plan on spending as much time in seclusion as possible. Check out my Flikr account for a few more fun photos.
Posted by sarahward at 6:48 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
May 31, 2006
Botanical Gardens
This morning Joanna and I went to the Botanical Gardens with my friend Rachel (a fellow Kenyan) and her daughter, Aissa (two weeks older than Joanna). We had such a great time looking at the glass schulptures, playing in the new playground they just built, and getting wet in the fountains. (Check out our flickr for more pictures.) What a blessing it is to have friends with young children. Now Joanna's zonked out taking a nap and I'm zonked out from walking around in the sun. I'm supposed to be cleaning the house today but just might have to put it off till tomorrow. I just realized it's 4:30 and time to get started on dinner. It's so amazing how fast the day goes by.
Posted by sarahward at 4:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 13, 2006
CSI- St.Louis
Tuesday morning at 4am police woke us up because both our cars had been broken into. The thieves tried to steal our Honda, but failing to get it started, they took the CD player. It has been annoying to have to deal with insurance, glass replacement, and repairs, but we are thankful that we still have our cars and that we have the means to repair them. The best part was that we got to go to the police station and be fingerprinted for “elimination.”
Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:06 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 21, 2006
2nd Day of Spring
Yesterday was the 1st day of Spring...it snowed last night. At least Joanna got to wear this beanie/tobbogan/ski cap/hat once. She got tons when she was born but they were too big for her all winter.
Posted by sarahward at 3:22 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 24, 2006
Mommy Friends
I'm so blessed to have a lot of friends that are in the same phase of life as me. Holly and I hang out at least twice a week. We've gone to the Gardens two weeks in a row (it's free all day Wednesday). It's been so wonderful to have such a good friend to share this time of life with.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 3, 2006
A Journal Excerpt
"1 Feb. 2006:
I had a pretty rough weekend. There's a couple things that have been hard for me. I was feeling really emotionally drained. I realized that I spend all day/night giving of myself; serving Joanna. It can really make me feel empty. I know I can't do it all myself and I need help. It's hard for me to ask for help, especially day after day. Kirk is always helpful when I ask but I want him to help on his own...to read my mind. I find that I get so self-focused I don't notice all that he does without my prompting.
The other thing I was struggling with was not having any sort of routine or "purpose" to my dayss. My main purpose is to take care of Joanna, but what am I to do with the rest of my day? I had a list of things to work on, but it was never-ending. So, I've made myself a schedule and it's been great the first two days it's been in use. Monday, Family Day (Kirk's day off); Tuesday, house-cleaning; Wednesday, Business/office-type work; Thursday, grocery shopping; Friday, cooking/baking; Saturday, Sarah time and laundry (of course I also do laundry at least one more time during the week-babies make a lot of dirty stuff); Sunday, sabbath."
It's been a lot harder for me to get used to my new lifestyle than I thought it would be. I've been a lot more emotional and sensitive than I'd like. I feel like I'm getting the "Mommy" aspect down, but struggling with how to be a Mommy and a wife. But God is patient and gracious and has given me a husband made in His image.
Posted by sarahward at 2:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 27, 2006
MLK Jr. Day
MLK Jr. Day was on a Monday, which is already Kirk's day off. So he took yesterday off instead. Work's been a bit stressful lately for him so it was a nice day to relax. We had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and then spent some time sitting in the living room reading some devotional books while Joanna slept on my lap.
Kirk hung out on the bed playing with Joanna and his guitar while I got some things done around the house. Joanna...well, she got her first kiss.
We went for a walk in Forest Park and took some possible "family photos."
Sooo...which picture do you think is better?
Posted by sarahward at 1:06 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
December 11, 2005
A Newly Ward Christmas Tree
Friday night, we went to the Home Depot and got this year's Christmas tree. It was freezing cold so we didn’t spend a lot of time looking. In the end, I think we ended up with a real nice one. Here’s a few pictures (Notice the belly poking out of Sarah’s fleece.)
Merry Christmas!
Posted by Kirk Ward at 5:40 PM | TrackBack
December 8, 2005
Let It Snow!
It’s early December, and there is a ton of snow outside! I would never have had this in Tennessee growing up, but I think if I had I would have completely freaked out!
Updates:
Sarah is currently 3-4cm dilated and the baby has been confirmed by the doc to be officially done baking. Now we play the waiting game.
Granny Meiners is here now, and Grandpa Meiners is in route. The ladies went out to babies’r’us this morning and come back with a nifty swing/seat/rocking chair thingy.
Sarah and I are both sick. I took a day off from work, but now, I am feeling better and so of course I feel guilty that I stayed home. Why do I feel guilty instead of figuring that resting at home is the reason that I’m feeling better? Anyway, being sick gave me a good excuse to spend the morning working on a paper that is due next week.
We finally got tired of trying to use the wireless connection from Freedom School and have given in to paying for cable internet. It’s funny how much you will tolerate in order to get something for free. We could only get connected about 15% of the time, so our nice new expensive computer was primarily being used as a nice new expensive spider solitaire machine. So, I am celebrating the new lightning fast connection speed we have by writing this quick update.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 16, 2005
Friday vs. Monday
This is a video Kirk sent me because it's a pretty close example of how I am on Friday afternoon as compared to Monday morning when I have to go to work. We've made plans to go to the Outback on Friday, Dec. 2nd to celebrate my last day of work. I will be ten times as crazy as the penguin on that day.
Download file
Posted by sarahward at 5:23 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 31, 2005
Hair Cut
I got my hairs cut this past weekend. The hair dresser asked me when I had last cut my hair. It’s probably been almost a year. I’ve wanted to cut my hair for a long time but just haven’t had the time. It’s crazy to think that life can get so busy that I don’t have the 30 min. to drive 1 mile down the street to cut my hair. Oh well. Turns out they were having a special and the hair cut only cost $7.99. I had to ask the hair dresser if it was customary to tip. We always tipped in Kenya but I didn’t know if that applied to the US too…foolish MK that I am.
I’d also like to take this moment to brag a little on my baby sister who’s the awesomest goalie in the world! Read this article.
Posted by sarahward at 5:10 PM | TrackBack
October 10, 2005
Happy Campers
The 2005 New City Fellowship Retreat at Pinecrest Camp was a lot of fun and a great time of relaxation for Sarah and me. I was expecting a hard weekend of church-musician work, but preparation and teamwork made all the difference. We had a great time during the free time on Saturday. We took a nice walk around the lake, and then watched “the guys” play American football
while Sarah basked in the sun.
It was a lot of fun, and it was a great chance to connect with a lot of folks in the church who we didn’t know at all. It was also very nostalgic for me because some of my fondest retreat memories from my youth included some of the same people who came this past weekend (i.e. the Hennings, the Badenoks, Josh Stigers). The weather was excellent, the food was o.k., but the best part was that I got to walk around holding hands with the cutest girl at the camp without creating a scandal.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 6:29 PM | TrackBack
September 16, 2005
Cleaning Up
The recipes for this week did not all come from me or my cookbooks. They’re from the different leaders of a girl’s bible study I’m involved in. This past Monday was the first meeting of the new year so we took advantage of my HUGE kitchen and “cooked.” Each of us four leaders picked a fairly easy recipe, got the ingredients, divided the girls up into groups, and let them have at it. It was a lot of fun and cool to see the girls interacting. I’m still trying to recover from all the dishes, chipping away at the pile each night.
Posted by sarahward at 7:46 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 15, 2005
Brown Recluse
Well, it's been confirmed. The spiders living in our house are brown recluse spiders. We've begun the process of trying to get rid of them, rather than Kirk's alternative which was to buy our own house. :) We've set some glue traps and caught 3 yesterday as well as a HUGE cricket. And we asked the maintenance man to put door sweeps on our doors to take care of the inch high gaps in the doors. And I think an exterminator was supposed to spray yesterday. I'm so thankful to God for protecting us so far and had to remind Kirk of how God protected my family as kids living in the bush in Kenya was scorpions and mambas and such dangerous creatures.
Posted by sarahward at 9:25 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
September 12, 2005
Spiders
We have an unusually large amount of spiders in our house. Is it just our house or are the spiders taking over everywhere? We have these very reclusive brown colored spiders so I keep wondering if they are in fact the potentially dangerous “brown recluse” spider.
This morning, I went to climb in the shower right after my wife had finished, and I spotted a big ol’ guy crawling across the ceiling above the shower. (shudder) There is something especially disgusting about the combination of creepy spiders and nakedness.
Favorite spider themed songs:
“Spider” –They Might Be Giants
“Boris the Spider” –The Who
“Spider” –Herbie Hancock
Creepy movie spiders:
“Arachnophobia”
“The Return of the King”
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”
My favorite spiders that are not actually spiders:
Spider plants
Spider monkeys
Spider-man
Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:12 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack