Harbor Life Ministries

Today is Hannah’s birthday as she turns “sweet” 16.

Please comment below if you’d like to wish her a happy birthday.

Her baby is due to arrive in September and she is working on what her plans will be after the baby is born.

Natasha is on her way back to Orange County, California, after living quietly for six months at Harbor House.

Coming all the way from the west coast?unwillingly at first?she was 15-just-turned-16, pregnant, and her parents needed some help. They wanted Tasha away from the peer influence that had helped turn their sweet Christian teen into a rebellious daughter they didn?t seem to know any more. Her parents, both Christian physicians, knew what might happen if they didn?t find help for her.

In Tasha?s own words:

?Before I came to [Harbor House] my life was a wreck. I had become sexually active with my boyfriend, intimate with other boys, abused alcohol, lied to my parents? To add to my mess I became pregnant?

“Thankfully, my parents loved me enough to send me to Doug and Karla?s [Harbor House] to get the help I need. After I came, my life got turned around. I learned to be independent from boys, my walk with God became stronger, my relationship with my parents is slowly healing and I am giving my body?and my life?the respect it deserves.?

Tasha gave birth on December 12 to Korbyn Alexzander, a healthy baby boy who she placed for adoption.

After over 30 hours of slowly progressing labor for Natasha, she finally met the boy who had been her “womb-mate” for over 40 weeks.

Korbyn Alexzander arrived at 5:39 PM Friday, December 12, weighing 8 lb., 3 oz. and 20 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well.

Thank you for your prayers!

Monday, December 8th, was Natasha’s due date, which came and went, as did the 9th and the 10th, without event or any inkling of contractions.

This morning was her regular doctor’s visit. She is now at the hospital. The doctor says she may deliver today, or she may send her home and have her come back on Monday.

Please keep her in your prayers and check back for updates.

(The photo at right is not of Tasha at the hospital, but was taken last Thursday in Akron as she posed with Mr. Peanut outside the famous Peanut Shoppe.)

India is just thriving in shepherding care living with Craig and Connie McEldowney and their family in Russia, Ohio. This has been so good for both the McEldowney family and for India.

India has finished two of her three school subjects with 93 or better, and has only a bit to go in biology to finish?it should be completed next week?and is carrying a 98 in that!

She got to see her mother and brothers who came down from Chicago for a Thanksgiving visit.

She is still planning to parent and will begin ?Bootie Camp? after Christmas, per Connie?s request.

India is seeing a midwife (one who is prolife and is also adopted) from the Sidney, Ohio, area. She will deliver at Wilson Memorial Hospital in Sidney.

Gabriel James, born at 2:00 PM EST, a healthy 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 19 and three-quarters inches long. Lots of hair.

There was plenty of time. Jamie was only 4 cm dilated at 1:30 this afternoon, yet she had arrived to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning, nearly 8 hours (of labor) earlier. She had been given an epidural around noon and was trying to sleep a little through the contractions. The baby’s father, Tony, had even left the hospital.

Then the call came at 1:50 PM. It was the OB nurse on the phone. Jamie was pushing. Wow, that was fast.

It turned out that the doctor had said the baby would arrive by 2 PM. Gabriel arrived right on time.

Jamie is doing great. The adoptive mother Joelle was there for the birth, as was Tony. John Huffman, the adoption attorney, and his daughter Sarah, 18, arrived shortly after the birth. Sarah got to hold Gabriel. “I’ve never held a baby this small,” she said.

Harbor House Maternity Home’s original location in Celina is now for sale.

Built in the 1920s as a home for Dr. John Gibbons Sr., the founder of Gibbons Hospital in Celina, the home is actually connected to the hospital building by an attached garage, which, up until the closing of the hospital in 1980, was where the ambulance parked. From inside the garage you can either head east into the house or west into the hospital.

Entering the house from the garage brings you first into a small laundry room and then into the back hallway which links the kitchen/dining room with a back entrance and bedroom hallway. There’s a full bath and half bath on the first floor, three bedrooms, an office (in the front of the house directly off of the master bedroom), a room that served the maternity home as a lobby/foyer (the front door is part of the room), and a side door (that exits into the Fayette Street front drive) with a landing and stairs to the basement.

A historically unique feature of the house is found on the second floor, where at one time, during the baby boom of the 50s and 60s, you could find the delivery room, baby nursery, and maternity ward. With the large Catholic population in Mercer County, during the post-war late-1940s Gibbons Hospital had the highest birth rate per total patient count of all hospitals in the United States.

When the home was originally constructed the second story was a normal second story, but with the baby boom, Dr. Gibbons decided to rebuild his home’s second floor and connect it over the garage to the second floor of the hospital. Due to elevation differences between the house and the hospital, the connecting hallway had to be sloped to accommodate moving gurneys and carts easily between the two. Dr. Gibbons also extended the second floor to the east beyond his home, and built a medical office under it, which was dubbed the Gibbons Medical Center. Even though they shared a common floor/ceiling, the hospital portion of the remodeling had completely separate HVAC/electric/plumbing, so that the medical office could be leased or even sold to a third party.

Harbor House Maternity Home bought the old hospital building, the home and the second floor extension from Dr. Gibbons’ son, Dr. John Gibbons Jr., in 1990 on a land contract. In 2002 the adjoining-but-separate medical offices to the east, along with a free-standing carriage house turned three-bay garage behind the offices, were also purchased. Three tenants came with the property and provided income to help pay for taxes and maintenance.

One of the first upgrades to the property after the 2002 purchase was to replace the flat roof over the eastern corner office with a DuraLast(TM) 30-year roof, a $12,000 investment. Other upgrades were made over the past few years such as installing new furnaces.

A pair of car seats manufactured by Evenflo of Miamisburg, Ohio, were donated to Elizabeth Pregnancy Services today. Director Patty Thees is pictured here with the as-yet-unboxed gifts. Each car seat is valued at $120.

The seats will be given to EPS clients who earn enough “mommy money” to pay for them in EPS’ Unique Boutique. Mommy money is earned by participants by attending classes and doing things that a good parent might do, like go the library or attend church, among other things. Once a participant gathers enough “money” for the items she wants (like a car seat, a baby bed, clothing, etc.) she can browse the shop at EPS that is filled with new and gently used items.

To find out more about the program, call EPS at (419) 586-5941 during business hours, Monday 12 noon-4:30 pm, and Thursday 9:30 am-4:30 pm. You can also email them at ask@pregnancyanswers.com.

We loaded the van with our family of 5, two resident teens, and three teenage friends of our daughters, and we headed to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. We started at the pumpkin patch, we divided up in teams, four teams. The goal was to be the first group through the maze with the most correct answers to their questions. It was so much fun?

Then we headed to the other part and grabbed wagons. We went up and down the rows, searching for just the right pumpkin. Everyone picked a pumpkin and we loaded the wagons, it took two. When we weighted them all in it was over 150 lbs of pumpkin.

We then headed into their country store, to taste the apples and see all the things you can make with apples as well as to pick up a gallon of apple cider. We all headed to the van and loaded up and headed home.

By the time we got home the Buckeyes game was about to come on, so carving and cleaning pumpkins would have to wait until Sunday. Later after the Buckeyes game, we had more house guests arrive. Our prior midwife and her daughter came over for the weekend on their way to college visits on Monday.

- Karla

Saturday often is a day to sleep in but, being away from home, the plan was to get up at 7:30 and be ready for breakfast at 8:30.

Well, we all did end up sleeping in and got up at 8:30, but were ready for breakfast by 9 AM, with everyone showered and dressed. The day was spent at the Ohio State Fairgrounds where the Quarter Horse Congress was being held. We walked a great deal looking at all the exhibits and then watched the horse events. It was a few of the girls? first time at a horse event. We had fun. We returned back home, on our way stopping by a shoe store, every girl?s dream. We spent about half-an-hour trying on and playing with shoes… what fun!!!

It’s two hours from Norwalk to Columbus, Ohio (a little longer than the Celina to Columbus trip) but even so, two of our family’s children have great Christian doctors in Worthington, a north-Columbus suburb, so it’s a trip we continue to make at least once every three months. Sara, Natasha and India went along this time on a planned overnight excursion.

We met up with some other family members and friends, then doctor visits and, finally, just hung out. After a second straight day in the car, however, everyone was very tired. We made a quick trip to the mall, but it was very quick; then to dinner where we had Chinese; and swimming; and finally at 11:00 off to bed.

Sleeping arrangements at somewhere other than our own home is always a challenge. Who sleeps with who?? Very interesting how they come to that arrangement.

This has been a day on the road.

With having two locations, the house in Norwalk and the pregnancy center in Celina, we often have to make that 2? hour drive (one way) to the other site. We had some other things we needed to do in Celina, so we went there and got our personal stuff done, as well as all the work.

We picked up food items, clothing, files, and things for the Sharing Banquet. We only had one minor issue today with girls. Getting enough school work completed before we needed to leave today was an issue, which made us drive as quickly and directly as possible to get there.

Because of the length of the car ride it became an issue as to which girl got to sit in the front, or “ride shotgun.” I had to ask: When we don?t get our way, what is the proper attitude to have regarding riding up front? You would think with 17-, 16-, and 15-year-old girls would not have this as an issue. But they are still children, even though pregnant and about to be moms, something to keep remembering as well.

This has been a very busy and exhausting week! Thank you for your prayers.

Charlotte delivered Saturday night, Sept. 27, with her mother making it all the way from from California (yeah!!!). Charlotte spent time in the hospital with the baby and her mother.

When Charlotte was dismissed she came back to the house. We’ve kept her on bed rest–on the couch or in bed, with her feet up and only trips to the bathroom allowed. Her mother Rebekka stayed here too, helping Charlotte out and keeping her company.

The baby’s birthfather, Jordan, who is 18, also flew in from Calif. on Monday, checking in to a nearby motel. He got to visit with the baby and spend time with Charlotte too.

One of the secondary reasons Jordan came to Ohio was so he could have an adoption assessment done for the court. Normally a signature from the birthfather is all that’s required to place a baby. This is the first adoption we have done with the Huron County Court and they seemed overly suspicious of our motives. The court has required much more than any other court ever has.

John Huffman, our long-time friend and ally, a humble but brilliant Christian attorney from Lima with integrity and character as great as anyone I know (really!!!)–I could go on but I won’t–John told me that we needed to do everything the court asked, no matter what. We want to be able to work with Huron County on future adoptions so John wanted to prove to them that we won’t whine, we won’t squeal, we won’t try to sidestep or suggest alternatives, anything the court asked from us, we were willing to do. So that also included making sure Jordan was here so the court could see that the adoption was completely of the birthfather and birthmother’s own unfettered volition.

We had to not only get Jordan assessed, but also get psychological profiles on the adoptive parents. Social worker Peggy Dodds, a godly woman, a believer who we’ve worked with for almost 17 years, did the assessments and profiles. Poor Peggy does not really work full time doing adoptions, but she had to take the day off work so she could come to court, only to be asked three questions!!!

The adoption hearing went well, all the “I”s were dotted and “T”s crossed, and I think the court was impressed with us.

Baby Jayden is now at home tonight sleeping with his new family. Charlotte is on a plane back to California with her mother and boyfriend. It’s time to sleep for a day.

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.

Where does time go?

I know I hadn’t blogged in a while, but our Harbor Life update mailing went out today and with the blog link in the email version, I figured I’d better check to see when the last post happened to be.

How did I get that far behind?

Here’s the deal: I’m going to go through my off-line journal and then back-post to the blog. I know that’s not really kosher and sort of defeats the “instantaneous” nature of a blog. I do journal almost daily, but my off-line journal contains a lot of mish-mash of impertinent minutia and private thoughts along with stuff that people would find interesting on the blog.

So…check back. I will promise to do my best to fill in the gaps and then keep up to date on this.