Monday, December 22, 2008

Please read this!!!


SO I'm sure some of you also read Caylan's blog, But I really felt this was important to re-post! The more who are notified of this awful story the better! A life could be saved!

"I am currently in Roseburg, Oregon, where I hosted my
sister-in-law's baby shower yesterday. One guest was
missing - Christina Heyniger Howington. While I have known
Christina since we went to elementary school it had been
quite awhile since I had seen her. However, my brother and
his wife were especially close with her and her husband. She
and her husband, Heath and daughter, Alyssa (13) spent
Thanksgiving with my family in Sunriver last week. She had a
wonderful time and was thrilled that Christmas was near. All
seemed perfect in her world. She was full of life, happy,
energetic, and loved her husband of 17 years and their
daughter.

She began using NuvaRing 2 1/2 months ago and started
having headaches. They were not severe so she didn't pay
too much attention. On Thursday morning, she woke up with a
severe headache and began vomiting. She also became
lethargic and wanted to go back to sleep. Her husband rushed
her to the ER where she had a CT Scan. The first diagnosis
was an aneurysm. She was helicoptered to OHSU in Portland
and the diagnosis was changed to a blood clot. Once in
surgery, surgeons were alarmed to find multiple blood clots
throughout her brain. They tried to get to all of them and
planned to do another CT Scan the following day to be sure
all clots had been addressed. Christina's brain began
swelling and her condition became grave. She was pl aced
into a medically induced coma to address the brain swelling
and was put on life support. By Friday, her condition
worsened and her brain began shutting down. She was taken
off life support in a last attempt to address her brain
swelling, but efforts were halted as it was determined that
her brain had no further activity. Christina lost her life
but became a hero as she was an organ donor. Her lungs are
already in transport to California where they will save
someone's life. Blood clots, however, have been found in
other organs such as her liver.

Doctors are VERY suspicious that this tragedy was the
result of NuvaRing birth control. They said they have had
"hundreds" of cases where women are showing up
with blood clots after using this contraceptive. It is my
goal to honor her life by using her story to save even one
other person from this terrible fate. Please pass this
information along. It's the last effort we can do to
honor a truly amazing woman.

Thank you for reading this.

Jill Chartier Guevara

Augustine Colebrook, CPM, LM



Development Coordinator, Thrive: The Rogue Initiative for a Vital Economy
Community Midwife, Wise Women Care Associates
Co-Leader and Mentor, Holistic Moms Network

541-488-7272 office
541-550-9692 cell



Artofbirthing1@yahoo.com"

Monday, December 1, 2008

My life is good. I miss Seth. He is in Florida for business. Thank you Lord for Seth, and Elina...and everyone you have brought into my life.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Dead seed = Life



Before a seed can grow into a flower, it has to die. After my miscarriage, this has taken on a new meaning for me. It's interesting to me how God has left us parables all over the earth. While we are here on earth we are learning how to truly glorify God...It is not until we die that we truly bloom into what we are created to be. Worshipers of Him. My sweet baby is now in heaven fulfilling what God created my small one to be. Thank you Lord for allowing my body to hold, if even only for the short time, a precious child of yours.



btw-
Sorry I haven't posted lately. The internet has not been working.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Peas...Yummy!!


Elina ate her first food yesterday! And she loved it! peas! She kept pushing out her lips and shaping them in an 'O' when she wanted them...as if she were drinking a bottle! IT was great! I loved it!

Tomorrow we are on to pumpkin! :) So festive.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Living Green : Cob Houses

Cob is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive . It can be used to create artistic, sculptural forms and has been revived in recent years by the natural building and sustainability movements.











Seth and I have recently fallen in love with Cob houses. The idea of making your home literally right out of the earth is so incredible. And you make it with your own hands and feet! As you can see from these pictures that it doesn't have to be a dirty 'dirt' house:) But it is a true art form! Your house can literally be your canvas! how amazing.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

How much sugar do you (think you) eat?


I found a few sites today on sugar...I was stunned! (I shouldn't have been.)

Make sure you know what you are eating. As a new mom, I am constantly
thinking
about how my husband and I are going to raise Elina. This is a
bid thing. We
have chosen to not allow her to consume sugar for...a long
time. :) Looking at
these sites today only more solidified this feeling.
We are living in a continually
growing nation. I don't going in numbers,
but weight.The U.S.weighs in at #9, with
74.1% of those over 15 years
old considered overweight.Just walk down the street,
and you can see
it! No doubt in my mind that sugar play a MAJOR role in this. So
As a
mother I will not allow Elina to harm her body in this way.


I have posted one of the sites in my sites list on the right. I challenge you
to
take a look at the site, and see just what you are allowing into your body.


HOW SWEET IS BREAKFAST?
THE SUGAR CONTENT OF READY TO EAT CEREALS
Total Sugar
Product Manufacturer (% dry weight)
Sugar Smacks Kellogg 56.0
Apple Jacks Kellogg 54.6
Froot Loops Kellogg 48.0
Sugar Corn Pops Kellogg 46.0
Super Sugar Crisp General Foods 46.0
Crazy Cow (chocolate) General Mills 45.6
Corny Snaps Kellogg 45.5
Frosted Rice Krinkles General Foods 44.0
Frankenberry General Mills 43.7
CookieCrisp, Vanilla RalstonPurina 43.5
Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries Quaker Oats 43.3
Cocoa Krispies Kellogg 43.0
Cocoa Pebbles General Foods 42.6
Fruity Pebbles General Foods 42.5
Lucky Charms General Mills 42.2
CookieCrisp, Chocolate RalstonPurina 41.0
Sugar Frosted Flakes Kellogg 41.0
Quisp Quaker Oats 40.7
Crazy Cow (strawberry) General Mills 40.1
CookieCrisp, Oatmeal RalstonPurina 40.1
Cap'n Crunch Quaker Oats 40.0
Count Chocula General Mills 39.5
AlphaBits General Foods 38.0
Honey Comb General Foods 37.2
Frosted Rice Kellogg 37.0
Trix General Mills 35.9
Cocoa Puffs General Mills 33.3
Cap'n Crunch, Peanut butter Quaker Oats 32.2
Post Raisin Bran General Foods 30.4
Golden Grahams General Mills 30.0
Cracklin' Bran Kellogg 29.0
Raisin Bran Kellogg 29.0
C.W. Post, Raisin General Foods 29.0
C.W. Post General Foods 28.7
Frosted MiniWheats Kellogg 26.0
Country Crisp General Foods 22.0
Life, Cinnamon Flavor Quaker Oats 21.0
100% Bran Nabisco 21.0
AllBran Kellogg 19.0
Fortified Oat Flakes General Foods 18.5
Life Quaker Oats 16.0
Team Nabisco 14.1
GrapeNuts Flakes General Foods 13.3
40% Bran Flakes General Foods 13.0
Buc Wheat General Mills 12.2
Product 19 Kellogg 9.9
Concentrate Kellogg 9.3
Total General Mills 8.3
Wheaties General Mills 8.2
Rice Krispies Kellogg 7.8
GrapeNuts General Foods 7.0
Special K Kellogg 5.4
Corn Flakes Kellogg 5.3
Post Toasties General Foods 5.0
Kix General Mills 4.8
Rice Chex RalstonPurina 4.4
Corn Chex RalstonPurina 4.0
Wheat Chex RalstonPurina 3.5
Cheerios General Mills 3.0
Shredded Wheat Nabisco 0.6
Puffed Wheat Quaker Oats 0.5
Puffed Rice Quaker Oats 0.1

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

6 months later...


Fall pictures of Elina =)


Oh my, It has been so long. No one is reading this anymore I'm sure. It is good to write. In the quiet times, when Elina is sleeping...I like to let out my thoughts.


Elina is 6months now...WOW. She is just starting to sit up on her own! She rolls over as well. She has a large personality and and a smile to go with it!

I have been making a lot of life changes...

#1) Making God #1!! I always try to keep up reading my Bible and praying but, I am finding that instead of focusing on God and then everything else, I kept trying to fit God into everything else. Not really working. So, I am just really spending time listening to my papa, and learning how to truly love him.

#2) NO SUGAR!! I have felt this for a while, but not really acted on it. I would always give in to my flesh just wanting the a drink of soda or some candy. Seth and I have made a decision for Elina to not consume any sugar. How can we expect her to follow if we are not also doing the same? It is not good for you anyways! So why would I want that in my body? Plus I'm finding that water=sooo good!

#3) Building relationships. Relationships are so important! They are the people who give you life everyday! I have found that I need to stop and look at who (and How) I spend my time with. Is it someone that feeds me? (by this I mean someone who you can talk about the Lord with, and encourages you in your walk with Him) Or is it someone that breaks me down? If they feed me I want to spend more time with them! Because someone who makes me want to be closer to God is going to also help my #1 goal(refer to my #1 at top :)) If someone does not bring life, I am not going to stop hanging out with them, because they most likely need to be fed also...But I most likely going to limit my time. I need to be with GOD! If 2 want to be with God then they can be and talk about him...It makes it much harder when 1 of them does not want to. (hope this makes sense)

#4) Re-evaluate how I live my life. Kind of a blend of the other 3 plus much more. Am I really listening to the convictions the God has put on my heart? Am I doing something simply because it is 'fun' or because 'everyone else does it'? WAKE UP!!! we are NOT living in a Christian nation any more! Just because other people do it that does not make it right! We are not to live with other people as our standard. God gave us the standard, it is his son, and The Bible. That is what we are to live by. I need to DIE to myself DAILY!!! Not once a week on Sunday when I realize what I have been doing or thinking is wrong but DAILY, before it even happens. Stop giving into my flesh and start giving my all to my Father!

I know that God has given me my own convictions. These convictions may not be the same ones that you have. That is fine. I will not ever look down upon someone or judge someone because they are doing something I wouldn't do. I will NEVER be disappointed in someone. Because it is not your choice to disappoint me, It's MY choice to be disappointed by you. (Seth and I tell each other this and Elina also all the time)
So please do not read any of this in anger, but know that this is for me. If it reaches you, it is out of love. So in closing this is my Goal...I will Live for Christ, I will not eat Sugar, I will feed into others, I will not 'celebrate' Halloween, I will continue to walk and exercise daily, I will always put God first then My husband, I will always love EVERYONE, I will play and dance with Elina, I will only be a phone call away to anyone who needs an ear, and I will dance.
Thank you Caylan, for helping me come to this next step in my life. Whether you realize it or not, you give me life.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Elina Clarice Steiling

Here she is.
6 lb 13oz
19 inches long
Sorry i'm tired. I'll write more later:)

Monday, April 21, 2008

What next...?

So Life tends to always feel crazy and out of control, and somehow God takes all the peices to make his own crazy beautiful masterpeice.

Seth and I have been looking for a job for him for months now. (As some of you know we will be finishing out our year here at Western and we will not be returning next year. The job is just too overwhelming and to demanding to try and raise our little Elina. And also I'm not working next year.) Just when it seemed that we were never going to hear from any of the applications, we heard back from one. Unfortunately it happened to be the one job that Seth really had no interest in at all, more than that he was even just dreading the interview because he knew he wouldn't like the job. Then last minute (today, and his interview was tomorrow) they called him and said that he needed to bring 3 business letters of recommendation. Well our current boss (who is also pregnant) is very sick with a bad cold so Seth knew he couldn't ask her. And he felt so awful asking anyone to write such an important document so last minute. I then told him that I would stand behind any decision he would make. As I said this to him he was checking his e-mail and had received a letter from an advertising company in Tigard. They had found his résumé on monster.com and were so impressed that they wanted him to contact them. I then turned to Seth and asked him for a few minutes of his time. We then prayed and I asked God to provide a job that Seth would love, and that he would not loath going to work everyday. So then Seth went to their website and liked what the company had to offer. Seth called and they asked that he come for an interview TOMORROW!!! Now I know that this doesn’t mean that he has the job, but it is just so wonderful to finally start to see some fruit come out of the last few months. God is so good! Be patient, and ask for the desires of your heart! It may take time, and effort, but God always keeps His promises.

Be Blessed!

-Evie

Friday, April 18, 2008

Head down Elina.


Today was overwhelming. Elina decided that she really didn’t want to turn on her own, so I had to have an external version. Praise God, after two attempts and one success she is now headed in the right direction! I have to admit this whole procedure has really worn me out. It has also made me realize how close this whole thing is! She has less than 3 weeks to go, and I don’t feel prepared. I know in His timing that the Lord will continue to ready me, but I just get a little scared. I’m sure the meds that they used added to that a bit as well. Ha, I haven’t taken so much as a Tylenol in the past 9 months and then I get this shot of something that really took me out. Not sleepy, but jittery and sick and completely worn out at the same time. It’s like waking up at 3 in the morning and drinking 12 shots off coffee! Your heart is racing and feels as though at any moment the walls could cave in on you. The whole process was not very much fun. But she turned, and no matter what pain I had gone through and what affects that stuff was having on me I knew in an instant that she was worth it all! Maybe God is just trying to give me a small glimpse of what it will be like when I am in labor. I guess that will be something when I am going through all the pain of childbirth that I can think about and remember why I am doing this. Elina is so precious and sweet; I can not wait to just hold her in my arms.

Sorry it seems like this blog is me still processing this whole thing. I guess what I really wanted to say is, she has turned!

God is good.

Be Blessed.

-Evie

Sunday, April 6, 2008

4 weeks left...

I know that everyone keeps telling me that I need belly pics…well I finally got some! Yay. Well I don’t have them yet, but Caylan took some for me. Seth shot a couple also, but they were very on the fly and not very professional at all. I can’t wait to see how the others turn out. I will post some when I get them.

This picture was taken by Seth a month ago, so my belly is much bigger now. :)


Life has been pretty CRAZY lately! Sorry I haven’t written in so long. Other than the occasional desire to ‘bend’ the rules’ by the students, and tiredness that never seems to fade, the job is going good. I really enjoy the kids! It’s all the cooking and cleaning that gets me. I feel like I’m always cleaning at home too! I know I’m pregnant so I should just get used to it, but I’m not about to pop out 21 high schoolers. I think 1 baby will be a little easier.
The pregnancy is going so well. I do get tired easily and a lot, but I know it will all be worth it. We did however find out that our little Elina is breech. So please pray! I only have one more week for her to turn on her own or I will have to go to the hospital and have her turned…YIKES! I have only heard that it really hurts and you can’t move for like a week afterward because it wears you out so much. So please pray for me and Elina! We need it so much. Other than not wanting to turn she is great. She is very healthy. I get heartburn a lot. Someone told me that heartburn is a sign that the baby has long hair. Which would make complete sense, I was born with tons! I got an ultrasound about 3 days ago and you could see her hair in the picture. It was cute although she did refuse to give us any type of profile. She is just too big for that. At least that is what the nurse told me.
So that is kind of an idea of how we are doing. Good, but tired. Only 4 weeks until little Elina is here, so please keep us in your prayers!

Friday, February 8, 2008

One more page blocked by Western...

So as most of you know Seth and I work and live at Western Mennonite School, where the internet filter is horrendous! They have not only blocked blogspot but also gmail! So I will only be able to update, well not very often.
Any who. We just got back from taking the students to Six Flags in Valencia. The weather was nice, the park however was not. Never go to six flags if you are prego. Especially in the off season. Half of the rides were closed, as were most of the other attractions. Not that it even matters. Everything had a huge sign next to it with a picture of prego with a little human in her belly and a huge red 'X' over it. Makes sense I guess:) Seth, Paul (my brother) and I ended up sitting at some table playing different card games. It was riveting. Ha, well at least the students enjoyed it!



My belly is growing more and more everyday! It is so exciting. Elina is now big enough that I can pretty much feel her every move. It is such an amazing thing when Seth and I can just sit and watch her go crazy in my belly. The thought of having a a little naked human living in my belly is kinda crazy. I find the more time I spend with my freinds and families children the more I get excited. It is just so incredible how smart they are. I love spending time with Caylan and little Nalia! Nalia is such a bright girl. I tried to teach her to play cards but she just mostly wanted to spread them everywhere. For as young as she is, she does know that I have a baby in my belly and just like her mommy she has such a gentle touch when it comes to 'petting' a pregnant belly. She just sat next to me petting my belly and laying her little head on it. Caylan has taught Nalia well. She is a wonderful mommy, and freind.


I really need to get to bed. God bless you all.
On to anoter week at Western.


God's little reminders


I happened to randomly find this pic from our honeymoon. I love it. We were walking the beach at Port Townsend. It's so wonderful finding pictures to remind me how lucky I am to have my husband.
I Love my Seth.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Wedding pictures...

Here are a few pictures of my wedding. They were all taken By Jolie Watts. She is an amazing photographer. Thanks Jolie!




Ha, I found this pic of Nalia! She is adorable. No wonder Jolie was taking pics of her and not me.

Cleaning, Christmas, and food.

Life goes so fast I never have time to catch my breath. Ha…and I’m about to have a baby. I’m guessing that this is just God’s way of preparing me for motherhood. :) Life is good though. I started blogging because I needed something to keep my occupied…like a hobby. I have started to realize that I am picking up the ‘hobby’ of cleaning. YIKES! My mother probably never saw that coming. I just can not seem to ever get my house clean enough! I can never have a single dish in the sink. (And I don’t have a dishwasher, unless that includes my hands and a sponge) For some reason the thought of having one dirty dish drives me crazy. I hate having any dirty laundry, although that one always seems to be around. And even if I wipe the counter down 20 times it still needs to be wiped just one more time. My poor husband, dealing with a frantic wife. But he does have a clean house.

So more exciting things, I finally got the ornaments and light off the tree! Now we just need to get it out of the house now. We have been kind of slow with the whole process. It is our first Christmas though.

I have decided that I want to learn how to make more things from scratch. Seth and I have already started making our own bread and butter (yum), but I am getting sick of using so many quick fixes in my food. Like taco seasoning or adding a can of Campbell’s soup for flavor. I want to add my own spices to our taco’s or find out what the main ingredient is that’s in the soup but without all the processed ‘crap’. I think it will be fun and taste better. Also it’s probably better for me and Elina. I think it will be good practice for cooking for my baby girl! I know that she won’t be eating for a while, but when she does we are going to try to not feed Elina store bought baby food. We want to make it ourselves. I was reading some statistics and they blew me away! We want to be healthy examples to our kids! So we will start out young. Steamed mashed peas! Yummy!

It is about 12:40 am and I am growing very tired. Good night.




Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Break in

Late last night Seth and I decided to watch a movie:) About halfway through the movie, we both started to hear strange noises coming form the other side of our house. For those of you who don't know, Seth and I live on campus at Western Mennonite School in the old boys dorm building, which has now been turned into some classrooms and an apartment. The kitchen sits directly below us. Knowing that this building is very very old, we passed it off as creaking and kept watching the movie. A few moments later we heard what sounded like someone opening and closing our door! Remember we had a movie on so we weren't sure if we were just hearing something else. The movie ended around midnight. Seth went to go check to make sure all the doors were locked. To his surprise our door was slightly open...odd. He called to me to ask what was wrong with the door because the handle was sticking. I checked the other side and found the handle had 'fallen' off. You would think at this point I would put two and two together...but this is an old building and the door handle was getting kind of old. So we locked the chain lock and went to bed.

The next morning I went down to the kitchen to get some milk, the school chef Andrew asked me if I had heard any weird noises. I said that yes, I had--around midnight. Andrew then proceeded to tell me that someone had broken into the kitchen the night before and stolen his knives! They had then proceeded up to our apartment and broken off the door handle in an attempt to break in! My guess is that they must have heard Seth and I awake and ran. Praise the Lord we did not go check...we were not thinking break in and would not have been prepared for knives and/or whatever else they had. Later looking at our door we realized that the door knob had been mangled up and the handle had teeth marks on it from a big pipe wrench! Wow. A few months ago seth wrote Bible verses over the doorway and anointed the doors with olive oil. I know that the Lord was protecting us, and because of His mighty power those people could not walk through our door! Praise God!

New Hobby?

So my wonderful husband tells me that I should find a hobby to keep my occupied while he is reading...So I guess this could be a good time to start blogging.
We are the Steilings. Expecting a little girl in May!

Our Sweet Little Elina Clarice.