New pictures

Ransom, 5 months
Sophia, 2 years

What's up with the Fishers?

I have made a new goal to blog once a week. We'll see how that goes...

So what's new?

I'm taking 3 classes this term. Since they're 8-week terms, it's considered overload. BUT... this is my last term! Woohoo! I do have one more CLEP to take in March, and I have my BA! Right now I'm taking Christianity in the Modern World (it's really a history course, starting pre-Reformation), Mental Health, and Working with Communities and Organizations. I am enjoying those last two classes I think more than I have enjoyed any class thus far. If they had had the Human Services major when I started, I would have done that.

Sophia is pretty much the most awesome 2-year-old. Ever. She is so much fun, and I'm so proud of her. She knows all her colors, can count to 7, and is super helpful. We're making definite progress in the transition-from-diapers arena, and she loves to help me cook. She now can identify white and wheat flour, white and brown sugar, vegetable and olive oil, onions, garlic, tomatoes, raw meat, salt, pepper, eggs, and various other foods in their raw state. (Can you tell what I cook with the most? ;-) She dumps things in after I measure them, and counts as she goes. Whenever I go in the kitchen, she's right on my heels, saying, "Mommy, Shopee helpme." (I think because I say, "Would you like to help me?")

Ransom is sitting up on his own and eating solids. So far we've done cereal, apples, and sweet potatoes. He is really interactive and especially loves playing when Sophie is involved.

Well, Sophia is falling asleep next to me (shots this morning), so I'm off to put her in bed. Check back soon! :-)

Family Update

Sophia...
~ LOVES being a big sister!
~ enjoys "pretend play" - working in the kitchen like mom, sweeping, dusting, transforming ANYTHING with handles into a purse, "fixing things" like Dad does
~ is learning new words every day! It is so fun to hear her rehearse words... my favorite is "cranberry" which ends up more like "kah-pee-pee."
~ really enjoys crafts. She asks to "cooor" (color) several times a day, and also loves painting, gluing, drawing with chalk, and anything that involves crafts at all!
~ also enjoys reading. A few weeks ago I overheard her choosing a book from the bookshelf, saying "I Shopee. I Shopee. I reeeeeaad." Thrilled my heart!
~ weighs about 24 pounds and will be 2 years old next month!

Ransom...
~ LOVES his big sister!
~ is full of smiles and laughs. He is a very happy baby, and it doesn't take much to get him to smile.
~ is sleeping about 8 hours at night.
~ is very strong. He's happiest when he's sitting up.
~ rolled over last Saturday!
~ weighs about 14 pounds and is just over 3 months old.

I...
~ finished one CLEP worth 6 credits - 2 more CLEPS and 3 classes to go - I should be done by early spring! The test I took last week was definitely the one I was most confident in: Social Sciences and History. I crammed for 2 days and did better than I thought I would!

Jon...
~ was chosen to do training to become a hospital or prison chaplain in the Army! It's the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program. As a part of the training he'll get his Doctorate of Ministry, so he's super excited about that! This will be very good for our family, and we're both looking forward to it. Of course, that means leaving here sooner than we anticipated, but that seems to be the story of our lives, so nothing new there...

~ is pastoring the contemporary service here on post as well. Actually, he was the one who started it. It's going incredibly well. We've been having about 60 people - some Soldiers, some families, some civilians.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reflections on Fort Hood

I have had many emotions since first hearing of the shootings last Thursday. My heart broke as I read the Facebook status update from a girl I know who recently moved to Fort Hood with her new husband. Immediately I Googled it to find more information.

At first, it was a horrible incident, but no details were known.

Then it came out that the shooter was not only a Major, but a psychiatrist.

The feelings I had at that point were indescribable. Mostly just extreme sadness.

I do not know the tragedy of war first-hand. I do, however, know it second- and third-hand, just as Major Hasan did. With a husband (and several friends) in an Army helping profession, I have seen the toll this can take on a person. And to be a psychiatrist at Walter Reed? That must have been a terribly difficult job. I’m not saying that this in any way justifies what he did. I guess what I am saying is that sometimes the unseen collateral from this war is the mental effect on Soldiers and those around them.

Some other thoughts:

~ To use President Obama’s words, “not speculating” about things we do not know is responsible. The night it happened, I was waiting for the press conference with General Cone to come on, and in that short hour, I was amazed how many things were speculated on. Even with the “of course, this is all speculation” caveat at the end of a long conversation, ideas were planted in peoples’ minds that may or may not be true. Remember this. Why even go there until we know?

~ NOT ALL MUSLIMS WANT TO KILL AMERICANS. In fact, “Muslim” and “American” are not mutually exclusive. Many Muslims ARE Americans. Many Muslims serve in the armed forces proudly. Not all Muslims are terrorists. (For that matter, not all terrorists are Muslims). Was Major Hasan a terrorist? I have absolutely no idea. Unless you want all Christians to be represented by Westboro Baptist Church (who consider the Fort Hood massacre as a judgment by God – the “Christian” God – on sinful America), please do not paint all Muslims with the extremist brush either.

~ Speaking out against the war is not illegal. Many great Soldiers are not in favor of this war and continue to follow orders. Some of the same people who cried out against the “hate crime” bill on the basis of it limiting free speech against homosexuality now seem to want to limit free speech against the government and its actions.

My prayers are with the families directly affected by this tragedy, as well as those indirectly affected. I think in some way the entire Army family has been affected, and I believe we all can feel that. It’s astounding grief.

I write this because I have seen a saddening amount of backlash over the last several days. In the midst of all our grief and fears, let’s not jump to conclusions. Let us not judge others on the basis of speculation. Instead, let’s pray for them. Show love to everyone, regardless of religion or ethnicity. And maybe we’re asking the wrong questions. Let’s start asking what we can do to help Soldiers, what we can do to support those in the military helping professions. That said, there is a lot of help available that people just do not take advantage of. Why is that? Maybe if we can begin to answer these questions, it will make us all better off.

New pics

Sophie's big girl bed!

Lots has happened, but right now I need to show you something cool:

Sophie's big girl bed! You know what's even cooler? Jon built it!

When I was pregnant, we decided to get a toddler bed for Sophie instead of another crib. That turned into Jon building a toddler bed... which turned into "Why not a twin bed that she can use for many years?"... which turned into "Why not build bunk beds that can be used separately?"

And here we are!








Sophie loves it! She cried the first couple times we laid her down there. THEN she figured out she could get up! It only took one warning, though, and I am proud to say she has not gotten up prematurely since! She's been in it for about a month now - what a big girl!

It's amazing how much older she seems now that we have a newborn. Her vocabulary has expanded - it's so fun now that I actually know what she's talking about! She adores Ransom ("Reme" as she calls him) - and she's very concerned about him. If he's crying, she promptly comes and tells me "Reme shad" (sad). If she sees he doesn't have a blanket - even if it's 80 degrees - she finds him one and covers him up.

Ransom is doing great too - he weighs almost 13 pounds and is 24" long - that's the 95th percentile for weight and 90th for length! I think he'll weigh more than Sophie by his first birthday. He's getting strong - he can hold his head up very well and loves to smile!

I never believed it would happen to me, but it has... I take significantly fewer pictures of Ransom than I did of Sophie at this age. I'm starting to amend that. Look for new pics later today!

Baby Fisher!

I am sitting on the couch, with a cool breeze blowing in through the window. It feels good to be home. Sophie is asleep in her crib, and Jon and Ransom are having that perfect "newborn sleeps on Daddy's chest while he sleeps" moment.

Yes. Ransom.

Late Wednesday afternoon I started getting really uncomfortable. Around 9pm or so, the contractions got worse, but after having visited the hospital with false labor a couple weeks ago, I was in no hurry to go in. We watched a movie, I took a bath and went to bed. They were still getting worse, but not lasting longer than about 30 seconds, so I didn't think too much of it (though they were about 4 minutes apart at that point...) Finally Jon talked me into calling our friend to stay with Sophie, and we left.

We got to the hospital about 12:30 at night. We went through the whole admittance process in no hurry - the nurse told me later she thought I would be in labor for several more hours. So did I.

Finally, about 1:00am, she checked me out. She got a really surprised look on her face and said she needed to go call my doctor - I was at 9! They told me to not push until the doctor got there (seriously? SERIOUSLY?), which he did a little after 2. I pushed for a few minutes, and at 2:21am on August 20, Ransom Decatur Fisher was born!

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I wrote all that last Saturday. What can I say, I have a newborn and a toddler...

All has been going well. He's eating like a champ and is above his discharge weight. We went to the doctor yesterday for his first routine appointment, and the doctor was afraid he was jaundiced. We did the blood test, and the results were "not alarming" - so we don't have to do anything! What a huge relief...

Sophia absolutely loves him, though by now she has gotten pretty used to him. The first day she wanted to hold him and be by him constantly, the next day she just needed my and Jon's attention. By now the novelty has pretty much worn off. I'm sure there will be more difficult times ahead, but kids adapt easily.

My parents have been here for a few days, which has been a huge blessing. For reasons I'll write about in another post, Jon has had to go to work every day this week, and I've been gone some as well. Having someone here to watch the kids - and keep the house from falling apart - has been wonderful. They're leaving tonight about the same time Jon's family is coming in - so glad it worked out for them to come before school starts!

Ok, I've been writing this over several days, and if I keep going it will digress into more and more rambling. Instead, I leave you with pictures!