Harbor Life Ministries

After 48 hours of labor, Charlotte has had a healthy baby boy. Jayden Reid entered the world at 5:34 pm today, weighing 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 21.5 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well.

Charlotte’s mother Rebekka made it from California in plenty of time and the adoptive parents, Brian and Christine, have been to the hospital to meet their new son.

Charlotte will probably be in the hospital until Monday; court is likely to be on Wednesday. Charlotte and Rebekka will stay at the house until court is over when they’ll return to California, probably next weekend.

If you want to see more pictures of Charlotte, the baby and the four girls in house, head over to www.flickr.com/harborlife.

Thanks for all your prayers… please continue to pray for Charlotte and her mother Rebekka as these next few days are very emotional for everyone.

Charlotte had her regular doctor’s visit Thursday. Although her due date isn’t until October 3rd, her doctor had reasons to get her admitted to the hospital and possibly start inducing labor.

Charlotte has been in good spirits throughout the past few weeks, even though her feet have been swelling, causing discomfort when she walks or stands.

Charlotte’s mother Rebekka, after getting the news via phone call, arrived yesterday on a flight from California. She is staying at the hospital with Charlotte, allowing me to come home, get some sleep, and see everyone here.

I am now heading back to the hospital. Please pray. The word is Charlotte is now 3 cm dilated, they have broken her water, and hope is that things are on their way now… We have called the adoptive parents…

Babies don’t come easily and neither do baby blankets. Ask Natasha. About the blankets, that is.

Several times she’s started her baby blanket and then, just when things are going along at a nice pace…oops! Twice she had to unravel the entire blanket and start over from scratch. It was time to call in the calvary.

Volunteer Linda Paddock lives no more then 20 minutes away from the Norwalk house in Huron, Ohio, and she’s an excellent knitter. In fact, while her husband Russ “knits” wood pieces together in his hobby (called “intarsia”), Linda then finds time to knit. Both of them are retired and spend hours on their respective interests.

Linda was able to give Tasha some pointers to help her stay knitting. She also had a look at Tasha’s scarf she had knitted for her mother, and gave advice on how to keep the final product from rolling.

After December 8th, Tasha’s due date, we may be able to finally ask: which was easier, the baby or the blanket?

Both Charlotte and India will be going to the Ob/Gyn today, although India will not get to see the doctor yet. Charlotte has already made one visit and met with the new patient coordinator, filled out the necessary paperwork and gotten the “Now that your pregnant….” brochures and booklets, so she will get to actually have a doctor’s visit.

Sara will be going to Sandusky today for Job Corps orientation.

The “classroom” at the house is finally taking on the appearance of a classroom instead of the cluttered “office” look it has had all summer.

The first order of business to get ready for school is to have a functional location in the house for the girls to work. Originally it was my plan to take a 12 foot countertop that I had been given and prop it along the windowed south wall in the room just off the living room that has been functioning mostly as an office.

My good friend (and my “boss”) Bill Rieth was here last week and after considering my plans, he suggested some alternative ideas. He didn’t say so but I’m sure he was taking into consideration my lack of any discernible skills in woodworking and craftsmanship.

I ended up scrapping his ideas and decided instead to pull three desks from out of storage that we had used at the house in Celina. They originally been donated just for the purpose of school desks, but were abandoned as such after only a short time in use due to some difficulties in putting them somewhere where the schoolwork could be monitored. Most of the time we’ve had them they’ve served as pedestals for storage boxes. That’s what they were doing when they were reclaimed from the basement at Laylin Road and brought to the house.

I could only get one desk at a time in the back of the Chevy van, even with the last seat removed. Not to say I didn’t try to squeeze two of the 48″ by 30″ by 27″ desks into a space that appeared to be adequate but wasn’t, based on a variety of tried juxtapositions.

Sara, Charlotte and Natasha helped out on the first two trips, although they bailed out of the van while it was parked at Laylin Road when a large bug (a locust, maybe?) flew into the van and disappeared. India and my daughter K.C. helped bring the last desk home.

Next: set up computers and printers, move a bookshelf and filing cabinets in, and find two more chairs somewhere. Then we can say, “School is in session.”

For a long time we’ve heard of the fabled Milan Melon Festival (in Milan, Ohio, not Italy) and their even more renowned treat that’s served up over the 3-day run of the event: melon flavored ice cream and sherbet, served, if you like, in melon bowls.

If I had been offered to try a cantaloupe-flavored Slushee or similar treat, I probably would have turned it down. I’ve had watermelon-flavored drinks, gum and candy, and it doesn’t do much for my palate. But ice cream? Ice cream is always good, and in this case the dish came highly recommended from two people who wouldn’t possibly mislead us: Eric and Kim Phillips, the former youth sponsors at the church we attend in Norwalk.

(I shot some video of everyone trying the musky treat and then used some Photoshop tricks to animate it–see below).

I liked the ice cream, although I wouldn’t put it high on my list of favorite flavors. But then, we chose cones instead of melon bowls, so maybe that took something away from it. I did manage, in the experience, to get cantaloupe ice cream on my Veggietales T-shirt. I’m sure Mike Nawrocki or Phil Vischer could write a catchy song about it, if they chose.