About Jude

I’m no different than other parents.  I am absolutely crazy about my boys and think they are truly exceptional kids.  I really can’t say enough about Jude and I’m sure my bragging borders on obnoxious sometimes, but I can hardly help myself.

From the day he was born, Jude was the love of my life (sorry, Andy).  He has always been a Momma’s boy.  My little shadow.  I have poured so much energy into him, putting his needs above my own, loving him, entertaining him and teaching him.

With so much attention from me and others, he has developed some amazing talents over the years.  At about a year old, Jude showed affinity for letters of the alphabet.  By a year and a half or so, he knew his alphabet, the vowels and the purpose of vowels (the glue that holds the words together) and he began spelling words.  By age 2, he was reading.  At 3-1/2 now, he reads at a first or second grade level.  He’s also a great speller and has an amazing memory.  He has for 6 months or so known all 50 U.S. states in alphabetical order (thanks to a cool song I learned in junior high choir), all the U.S. Presidents in chronological order (thanks to another cool song I learned when I was in school) and the 10 commandments.  He can write his name and is working on writing all the letters.  He watches most of his t.v. in German and we try to speak it together whenever we can do so in a way that I won’t butcher the language and teach him bad habits.  He also can ride a bike without training wheels (although he prefers his Strider bike that he can scoot along without pedaling since it is lower to the ground).

Although he appears to be exceptionally bright, Jude is a typical boy.  His favorite things to do with me are playing chase (he likes to chase me while I’m carrying Levi); wrestling;  playing pow with foam swords; biking; playing outside; and baking (and sampling our creations while they are in the works).  He also loves walking to the library and getting lots of new stories to read.  He enjoys playing computer games and watching t.v.   His favorite t.v. shows are Los Diego Los (Go Diego Go), Micky Maus Wunderhaus (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Zoboomafoo.   He also enjoys playing video games with Andy and helping Andy fix stuff around the house.

Although he is all boy, Jude is such a sweet boy and loves to snuggle.   He tells me that he loves me probably 20 or more times a day.  He likes to say, “I love Mommy, Daddy, Levi.”  He is such a great big brother to Levi  and likes to say, “I love my baby brodder.”  For years now, I have told Jude, “I love you to the moon and back, times infinity, to the power of infinity.”  He started responding a year or so ago, “I love you up to God and back down, to the power of infinities.”  Then in the last 6 months or so, he informed me that he loves me more than I love him since “up to God and back down” is more than “to the moon and back.”

Jude is very curious about spiritual matters.  He loves to read his children’s bible and we read it cover to cover in a few week period and then started right over again.  As wonderful as Jude is, he’s not, of course, perfect.  He doesn’t always obey his parents (a violation of the 5th commandment, we tell him) and often covets toys or candy (a violation of the 10th commandment).  We talk to Jude about God, Satan, heaven, and hell.  We talk about how we’ve all sinned and we talk about his sin.  We tell him that because people aren’t perfect and have all sinned, and God is a just God, we deserve to go to hell.  A good analogy is that if someone commits some horrible crime, like murder, the judge would be unjust if he set him free.  God would be an unjust judge if let us get into heaven in spite of our sin.  Although we deserve to go to hell, that’s not God’s will.  God wants all people to be saved and spend eternity with him in heaven.  That’s why God made a way for us to get into heaven in spite of our sinful nature.  He sent Jesus, who is God incarnate to be born and to live a perfect life as a man on earth.  Jesus never sinned.  When Jesus died on the cross, a great exchange took place — Jesus’ righteous was imputed to us and our wickedness was imputed to him.  I tell Jude that this is a “good deal” and that we should “take the deal” — we did the crime, but Jesus paid the fine.  I like to tell Jude that there are two ways to get into heaven: (1) be perfect (and he knows he is not since he knows he has sinned); or (2) repent and trust in Jesus alone for forgiveness.  I tell Jude repentance means that we have to say sorry to God for our sins and try not to do them again.  I tell Jude that trusting in Jesus alone for forgiveness means that we can’t bribe our way into heaven by bringing God a plate of cookies or telling God that we were better than the next guy (since perfection, not goodness, is the standard).  It is comforting to know that my precious little boy is in God’s hands, which is certainly a great place to be.

Friday Update

Today was another good day. Jude continues to improve. He is still very thirsty, and begging for water. We hope that tomorrow he can begin having water. He has been very crafty in his requests. My mom was heading out to use the restroom when Jude said “While you’re gone, can you get some water and bring it to me?” How we hope that he can begin getting his thirst quenched tomorrow!

Jude’s mental faculties are about as good as normal. His speech is virtually normal. Besides still having IVs, he has some minor balance issues that are quickly improving, and is really doing fabulous.

He got a few visitors outside of family today that really lifted his spirits. Our neighbors behind us (just the parents) came right about lunch time. About an hour later, his two best friends, both 6 and both across the street (two doors down from each other) also came. He really was trying hard to be his normal self for the other kids. Last of all, Jessica’s aunt and three cousins (in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade) came in to see us. We like visitors!

As I was about to sit down to type this up, the oncologist stopped in. We still weren’t expecting results from pathology, but she had them. The news wasn’t the best we could expect, but it was still pretty good. On one hand, they determined that Jude’s tumor was a Type 2 Ependymoma (I have only skimmed that link, haven’t read it yet), which is a cancer (malignant). However, at this time they do not recommend further treatment, largely because of the location of the tumor. Had it been in the lower back part, they would recommend radiation in order to ensure that it doesn’t enter and damage the brain stem. Given where it is, if it begins to come back, it can be caught and treated before it gets to a part of the brain that could be a concern. If that happens, he will have another surgery followed by radiation treatment. She said the type of radiation treatment they’d recommend isn’t available in Minnesota though. The closest clinic she could name that has it is in Indiana. We pray it doesn’t come to that, and hope that if it does there will be a clinic closer to home, perhaps at Mayo (it’s in the works). As it stands, he’ll need an MRI every 4 months for the next 3 years, then they will be every 6 months, and at some point become annual. He will need a spinal tap in a couple weeks just to make sure that it hasn’t spread to his spinal chord. The MRI leads them to believe it hasn’t, but this is just to be sure.

The results are “preliminary final”. The pathologist is calling it Type 2 (the other option is Type 3, which would require radiation now rather than just observation), but is sending it to the “guru” at Johns Hopkins for a second opinion. That doctor is the one who defined the difference between the two.

From what we heard tonight, I am optimistic, Jessica is not so much. She is afraid that the doctor at Johns Hopkins will determine it is Type 3. If that is the case, a third determination will be made, possibly by the same doctor that did the initial, but not necessarily.

Interestingly, while I was typing above, Jude began reading a book to me from the bed a few feet away. He asked me “Do sharks eat cake?” I said I had never seen such a thing. He said “No, they eat fish”. That was straight out of a book he has. He asked of several animals. People are amazed that a 3.5 year old can read, but this is a 3.5 year old that had brain surgery two days ago!!

Today’s prayer request is that the doctor at Johns Hopkins would concur with the findings of the pathologist here, and that Jude will need no further treatment. It is always possible that there was a microscopic amount of tumor that was left behind and can come back, we pray that it’s all gone.

Of course we continue to praise the Lord that things have gone so well over the last few days.

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving, and post-op day 2. We have so much to be thankful for today. We are still in very high spirits, and just taking things one day at a time, allowing Jude the time to recover.

One very small thing I’m thankful for is the laptop that was brought from home for us this morning, so I can write this on a real keyboard, not my cell phone. If you were confused by some strange choices of words and bad misspellings in previous posts, it was the phone. If I use the physical keyboard (slower), I am more precise, but don’t have spell check. If I use the on-screen keyboard (much faster thanks to Swype), it has to do more guessing as to what word I meant to type. It gives me choices, but most of the time I just keep going, letting it default to it’s first choice, which usually is right.

Jude is continuing to improve. He got a chance to play some Kung Fu Panda on the hospital’s XBox 360, which he enjoyed, and watch a few different movies. He is now preferring Empire Strikes Back over Astro Boy, I guess even little boys eventually need some change.

We have a much clearer picture of why Jude is being denied water. It is common, after brain or central nervous system surgery in small children for their bodies to waste sodium more than they should. This increases the concentration of water in their bodies in relation to sodium and other minerals, which can lead to swelling in his brain. He still craves and begs for ice water, which we can’t give him. It will probably be at least another day, maybe up to five total, before they are comfortable with him having as much water as he wants again.

With such a positive surgery result, there isn’t as much going on today, and hopefully that will be the same for the coming days. Jude is getting a little better, losing an IV or two, and getting stronger.

We’ve had a few people express the desire to visit. Generally we love visitors, but there are a few caveats. First, children five and under are not permitted on the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) floor, much less in the room. Levi would not be an exception if not for the fact that he’s still breast feeding. Don’t feel bad, even Jude’s cousins weren’t allowed to see him. Also, because we are into cold and flu season, the hospital doesn’t want visitors with symptoms of either. Given Jude’s rough week, we think that’s probably smart. In addition, with the holiday we have a little more family than normal, so it is busy. It should quiet a little tonight and tomorrow, but we don’t want it too busy. The hospital prefers that there be no more than two people in the room with Jude at any time. That’s hard to enforce, but it does start to get chaotic with more people than that. Staggered visits of healthy people six and older are welcome though, as we can work them in.

I did want to mention how very fortunate we feel to have a boy that is on track to be back to good health in short order. We have been talking to a few other families who are not so fortunate. One family has a very young baby, seven weeks we think, with a malignant cancer that gives them little optimism. Another mom that I talked to last night has a 16 month old with an ailment they can’t diagnose. He’s not developing well, he can’t roll over or sit up, and fluids he drinks are finding their way into his lungs, giving him pneumonia. Other kids seem to be left all alone, not having any contact with other people, except for hospital staff. Some of them have parents that have to work while they are in the hospital. Others are so chronically ill that parents come less and less. It’s really sad. If anyone is looking for a ministry opportunity, there’s one. Come and visit some of these lonely kids. Bring them a small toy and brighten up their day. These kids range from very very small through teen age.

We still wait for the pathology report. The oncologist stopped by today to say hello, but had nothing to report. We didn’t expect news yet though, so we are not at all concerned. Tomorrow is a possibility, but really we don’t expect news until Monday or Tuesday.

I know I say it in every post, but really – Thank you all for your support and your prayers. I say it every time because we really do appreciate it so much.

Wednesday Updates

Last night we got a little more sleep. It wasn’t enough, but we take what we can get at this point. Sleep was interrupted at about 1:30 when Jude’s IV came out of the vein, dumping fluids into his tissue and causing his hand to swell. That meant he needed it removed and a new one put in, which went into his foot. No one likes needles, but they are especially difficult for little boys. To make things worse, that one came out in the morning when the nurse was putting a new pull-up diaper on him, meaning he’d need another put in – this time in the other arm. Following that with lab draws made for a rough morning for little Jude.

As for the big moment, which came with extraordinary anxiety, Jude got to ride down to pre-op in a little red wagon. He seemed unaware of what he was in for, a true blessing for him. All that was on his mind was food!

Pre-op was relatively quick. There was enough time for Pastor Carl from church to come in and talk a little, as well as pray for a successful surgery. A few different doctors and nurses came in for one last rundown and reassurance before Jude got some “happy juice” to make him feel better. It was a mild sedative, but it nearly knocked him out.

The anesthetist brought Jessica a gown so that she could accompany Jude into the room where he’d be put to sleep. They left us to wait for a few minutes before walking us through the tunnel over to Abbott where the operation was conducted.

We settled in, it was about 8:00. We expected it to be about 2:00 or later before we’d get word that it was finished. We also expected to be updated about every half hour. The first call came in around 9:15, that they were just a few minutes into the surgery and everything was going well so far. The next call came in around 10:45, a bit later than we expected. The surgery was finished, everything went well, and they were going to do another MRI to make sure they got everything. This was very unexpected, but welcome news. At around noon the surgeon came in and let us know that everything was finished, and it all went well, they removed everything. He didn’t have much else to say, he’s a man of few words. We were shocked, but in a good way!

It was about 1:30 when we were able to see Jude again. He was still sleeping, but coming to. It seemed quick, he was awake and talking in no time. Even the nurse and doctor were surprised, Jude was doing very well. Within an hour he was watching Astro Boy and complaining that he was thirsty. He wanted ice water. As I write this he is watching Astro Boy again and still complaining that he’s thirsty. The doctor wants his sodium levels to remain high, which causes him to be thirsty. They are letting him have some Gatorade, but it doesn’t quench his thirst.

It has been a long day, but very much a good day. Jude’s tumor is gone, and he’s as much back to normal as he can be, ask things considered.

We don’t know much more about the nature of his tumor, and won’t until pathology examines it, but we couldn’t have asked for a better day, or better results from the surgery.

We close the day very much praising our Lord, and thanking Him for such a wonderful answer to prayer!

We also thank everyone who had been praying, it has been overwhelming and heartwarming!

The battle isn’t yet over though. Depending on the pathology report, more treatment may still be necessary. It is still possible that he will need chemotherapy, radiation treatments, or both. We ate still optimistic and praying that nothing else will be needed, but have to keep in mind that disappointment may still lie ahead.

This Thanksgiving, there is so much to be thankful for!

Again, thanks so much for all of the prayer and support. Not only friends and family, but strangers as well have sent kind words, well-wishes, and prayers our way, and it means the world to us!

Tuesday Updates

Jude is doing well today. Last night around 9:30, he was taken off his sedatives and allowed to wake up. The doctors wanted his ventilator tube removed, because it could cause him to contract pneumonia. It took him a while to come to, and it was hard for him to wake up in a hospital. He didn’t like the IVs in his hands (and ripped one of them out), or the oxygen sensor on his toes (he changed his mind when we said it was a cool laser for zapping bugs on the floor). He also has some foam circles stuck to his head that the surgeons will use to guide them – they likened it to GPS – which haven’t bothered him too much.

He didn’t get much sleep last night, having been sedated for more than a day. He has gotten a few naps in though, as has Jessica ans I. Over the course of the day today, he has gotten progressively better as the drugs and the effects of Sunday’s seizure wear off.

This afternoon, we got a rather large delivery of food, some platters of bread, meat & cheeses, fuits, vegetables ,cookies, chips, and other stuff from Kowalski’s – a gift from Dorsey & Whitney. Also in the pile was a bag of gifts for Jude. He was so happy to get it that he said “this is my best birthday ever.”

Tomorrow is the big day. Beginning around 7:00, the hospital staff will begin prepping him for surgery, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30. We expect it to last at least 4-5 hours, maybe longer. It will be a long day for us all!

We’ve gotten a better understanding of The Ronald McDonald house. I never really knew what they do specifically. There is one in the hospital. They provide free meals and food, as well as a place for people to relax. Some of them have bedrooms for family to stay in. They are open to the families of intensive care patients. It is nice to have the option available, regardless of how much we use it.

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone for prayers and support, it has been pretty amazing!

Our World Shakes

We didn’t sleep well last night. We’re in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital. Yesterday, after attending church with Jude while Jessica stayed home with Levi, she took the boys outside to play in the melting snow. Following an hour of hard play and snowball fights, Jessica decided it was time to come in. Thee boys would need a nap. She asked Jude to take off his boots and winter clothes, which he did. Then, he told his Mommy he wanted to tell her something, but couldn’t put the words together. In the next twenty minutes or so, he would become more incoherent. He vomited. We figured he must have really over exerted himself, and needed a nap all the more, but he was getting worse. Finally we decided to call the nurse line that is run by our health insurance provider.
They recommended we call 911.

We threw some pajamas on Jude, he was wearing only underwear after vomiting on his clothes. Then we got in the car to drive him to the ER here at Children’s. We went about six blocks and Jude stated looking almost catatonic. We called 911, and asked that an ambulance meet us at an empty parking lot just a few blocks away.

The police arrived first. They gave little Jude some oxygen while we waited for the ambulance. The police said he looked like he was having a seizure. When the EMTs arriveed, they agreed. Jude and Jessica got in the ambulance, while Levi and I drove on our own.

When we got to the ER, the doctors also agreed that he was having a seizure. The have him some drugs to relieve it and ordered a CT scan.

At this point we were still hoping for the best. A seizure was bad news, but maybe it wouldn’t get any worse. They finished and walked Jude back to the ER. The doctor came out a few minutes later to walk us back. When Jessica asked about it, he said the was something that concerned him, but he wanted to get to the ER to talk about it.

It was the longest of our lives.

Back at the ER, he said there was something that looked like either an infection or a tumor. That’s what caused the seizure.

Over the next few hours we would talk to several doctors, including an oncologist a, neurologist, and a nuerosurgeon. They confirmed that Jude has a tumor.

We are very fortunate that we got a nuerosurgeon that is one of the best in the country, if not the world. We haven’t learned much more, but base on his reading of the CT scan, he thinks the tumor has been growing for as much as a year. He is also quite optimistic that it can be safely treated, and Jude will continue to be a normal, energetic little boy. His age is a major advantage, as his brain is still developing quickly and can adjust to the trauma he has already endured and will endure in the coming days, weeks, and months.

At this point we are waiting for a “stealth MRI”. That coul come as soon as two hours from now.

The doctors are also trying to get an operating room with an MRI in it for tomorrow. 5he hope is that the tumor can be removed then, but we won’t know much until we get the MRI.

We have been deeply moved and thankful for all of the prayers and well wishes. As you can imagine, this is very hard on us. Thank you all!

Update – 6:30 pm Jude got an MRI this afternoon. So far the oncologist and the neurosurgeon’s nurse practitioner have been in to talk about the results. The cancer has not spread to his spinal chord – good. They also are still optimistic that it is both benign and may be able to be removed entirely in surgery – good. Surgery has been set for Wednesday morning, rather than tomorrow as we had hoped – ok (not really bad). We are waiting for doctors to stabilize an emergency down the hall so they can remove Jude’s ventilator tube, which will also allow the to let him wak up for the first time since this all began.

Not much is expected tomorrow, we will just be waiting for surgery on Wednesday. Once they have finished the surgery, Jude will begin recovery and his tumor will be sent to pathology. The best news will be that no further treatment is necessary. Other possibilities include chemo, radiation, or both. We won’t expect to know any sooner than Friday, unless it’s obvious to the surgeon what kind of tumor it actually is.

For now we continue to pray, and trust this in the hands of the Lord.

A Day at the Orchard

A few weeks ago, a former co-worker joined us on a trip to the orchard. He is starting a new photography business, and asked if I would take my family someplace fun and let him tag along so that he could put together an album to go into his portfolio. He did an amazing job. The album is available here, and he also put together a video with some of the photos. You’ll want to check out both, as there are great photos that were added to each, but not the other.

Jude and Levi on an Excursion to the Orchard from Capture M.O.R. on Vimeo.

European Culture

As we prepare to return home after 3½ weeks in Europe, I wanted to reflect on the differences in cultures that we experienced. Most of our trip was in Germany, which is very similar culturally to America in so many ways, probably more-so than the rest of Europe.

  • Closed on Sundays – This used to be common in the U.S., but our generation finds it unfamiliar, if not strange. Most places are closed on Sundays. Restaurants, Hotels, Museums, and Gas Stations remain open, but shops close. This is especially a problem when you clog someone else’s only toilet on Sunday morning and they don’t own a plunger. In addition, trucks are not allowed on the road on Sundays, which makes Sunday traffic on the autobahn even lighter than we’d expect in the U.S. We’re told that while Sunday shut-downs used to be for religious reasons, now the justification is to give people time with their families. If stores were open, poorer people would be more likely to work than stay home with family on Sunday. If this is really the reason trucks can’t be on the road on Sundays, then it’s a very dumb law. We found many trucks parked at travel stops on Sundays, camped out waiting for Monday morning to come. Were they allowed to be on the roads, they’d be able to finish their deliveries and return home to their families. Instead, they sit by the side of the road all day. In addition, since Germany is in the middle of Europe, a lot of trans-European shipments go through Germany, so drivers from other countries that find themselves in Germany on Sunday have to camp out as well.
  • Pay Toilets – This is probably the most annoying thing for Americans to encounter. Most restrooms charge for use. It’s usually €0.50. If you’re at a travel center on the freeway, there’s a good chance that the payment is made via a turn-style, and you’ll get a coupon good for €0.50 off your charges at the convenience store or restaurant (most have a McDonalds, Burger King, and/or some other place to eat). The worst are toilets that have attendants that take your money. It is said that the charge is there to pay for the cleaning, but the big question is whether the attendant is paid to clean, or just paid to take your money. You don’t get a coupon when there is an attendant.
  • Sitting on the Toilet – We’re told this custom is uniquely German, but the men sit when they use the bathroom in someone’s home. They do it out of respect for the homeowner, specifically the person in charge of cleaning the bathrooms (much like the U.S., it’s just assumed the woman of the house is in charge of this). We learned of this custom after the second of our three (plus) weeks in Europe. Jessica loves this custom, and wants to import it to America. I think she’ll have a hard time getting it into our home, nevermind our country!
  • It’s All Expensive – Right now the exchange rate works in our favor. The Euro has been falling in response to the budget crisis in Greece, and a Euro costs about $1.25. It had been closer to $1.50 in the recent past. Despite this, everything is still expensive by our standards. Things seem to cost about 25-50% more than in the U.S. at the current exchange rate, and sometimes more. Drink refills are not free, or even reduced, with few exceptions. Some McDonalds’ have soda machines you can use yourself, like back home, which means refills are free (yes, they intend it that way). Also, we ate at several Hard Rock Cafes. HRC is as close to an American restaurant as you’ll find in Europe. They speak English from the moment you walk in the door (they assume you’re American), and they give free soda refills when you order a meal (no free refills if you only order a soda). Of course they cost a lot though. In Paris it was about €5 for a Pepsi at the HRC. Munich was about €3.50 if I recall correctly. Also, McDonalds and Burger King charge for ketchup packets. The first one seemed to always be free, but after that they were €0.20 each. At least they are about twice the size of ketchup packets back home, to give them a little credit. The supermarkets also charge for bags. The first time we went in and bought stuff, we looked like clueless foreigners when we paid and had no way to get the stuff out to the car. Fortunately our friends rented a shopping cart that we could put them in. That’s another thing, in order to get a shopping cart, you have to put a €1 coin in to unlock it. You get it back when you return the cart though. This means you don’t find shopping carts abandoned in the isles or the parking lot, a nice benefit to this foreign custom.

    The only exception to the expensiveness of things that we’ve encountered is pizza and beer. A pizza that would probably cost around $8-10 in the U.S. is about €4. Being pizza lovers, you’d think that would mean we would have eaten a lot of them, but that’s not the case. While we had a few, it didn’t take long for me to tire of European pizza. They use a different kind of cheese, and the sauce is different (more like liquefied tomatoes, not spicy like we know it). I didn’t care for it much. They also have much different toppings. I pretty much exclusively eat pepperoni. In Germany, pepperoni is a vegetable (peppers?). The closest thing they have is salami (no thanks!). We bought a box of beer today that had 5 bottles and a glass to drink it in (they say the type of glass is important) for €5, which would have been, in my estimation, closer to $15 back home, even if it were domestic (which it is in Germany).

  • Speed Limits – In Germany, this is my favorite difference between our countries. The Autobahn is world-famous for having NO speed limit. This isn’t entirely accurate, but still fun. There are places where there are limits. If it is near custruction, it can be as low as 60Kph (~35mph), but in other parts it is sometimes 120Kph (~75mph) or 130 Kph (~80mph). We also found out the last week that when you’re pulling a trailer, you can’t exceed 80Kph (~50mph). We needed to pull a trailer for a while, so the drive took longer. When you’re outside of town and there is no construction, there is no speed limit. I had fun with this (and I am thankful Jessica gave me no grief about it). In one rental car, an Opel Ziffira, I hit 170 Kph (~105mph); and in another, a Ford Focus wagon, I hit 180Kph (~110mph). I often kept my speed around 140Kph (~85mph). If I can ever buy my dream car, a Porsche 911 Turbo, I think I’ll pick it up at the factory in Stuttgart and have some fun with it in Germany before shipping it home to the U.S. After all, if you’re going to spend $150,000 on a car, why not spend a few thousand more and have some fun with it!

    Outside of Germany, speed limits are closer to what we’d expect in America. In the Netherlands, main freeways (our interstates) are typically 120Kph (~75Mph), and smaller highways are 100Kph (~60mph). We drove a little in Austria, and I think it was similar there.

  • Saunas – Not all hotels have pools, but every hotel we stayed in had a sauna. The use of saunas is very different for Germans. They require that people using the sauna be nude. Being uncomfortable with this, for both cultural and ecclesiastical reasons, we never used the saunas. They also presented problems in using the hot tubs, whirlpools, and pools as well though. While bathing suits are common, if not required, in these places, often they were in the same room or close proximity to the sauna, meaning that seeing nude people was a possibility we’d have to face. The only place it happened though, was our hotel in Munich, a Marriott. We wanted to use the whirlpool, and it was next to the sauna. There were a couple men who used the sauna, which created a few moments of awkwardness as they exited the sauna. In other places, we came across older women and men wearing towels as the entered or exited the sauna areas, but no one completely nude.
  • The Demeanor – People are much friendlier, in general, in Germany. Not that they are unfriendly back home, but we never saw people get upset, and car horns were rarely honked. Considering it bears the same meaning in Germany, I would have expected to see the middle finger displayed at least once or twice on the trip (I should clarify, not necessarily directed at me), but this never happened.
  • Amazing Patience Toward Families – Being typical of Europe, Germany has a low birth-rate. This concerns Germans a lot, and as a result, along with the friendly demeanor I just noted, they have a very high level of patience and accommodation toward families with small children. Nearly everywhere we went with our friends, who have a 7-month-old son, they would hand wait staff bottles of baby food, which would be promptly heated and returned to them. They told us it is very normal in Germany to be accommodated in this way. While we didn’t do the same since our kids are not at the age that they eat baby food, we did find in hindsight that the level of patience and accommodation we received throughout Germany over the course of our stay was very nice.
  • Time in Restaurants – Speaking of restaurants and wait staff, the experience of eating out is much different in Germany, and Europe in general as we understand it. It takes a long time to get in and out at restaurants in Germany. A perfect example was our stop at the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich. It took nearly a half hour before we were even asked what we would like to order. Drink orders are done quickly, much like in the U.S., but ordering the meal takes time. Once we got the meal ordered, it was more than a half hour for the food to come, and we didn’t order much either (I got a burger, Jude got some chicken strips, and the rest didn’t eat). Then, once Jude and I were done eating, it took more than a half hour to get the bill and pay. What we hoped would be a quick stop took almost two hours. The Germans say that most people would be offended if it went much quicker. They would see it as the restaurant just wanting to get our money and then have us leave. Since the Hard Rock chains, as I mentioned above, are very American, I think it may have only been because our Germany friends were with that this particular restaurant took so long. When we ate in Paris and Prague, they were much more in line with what we consider normal.

Aside from these differences, it was fun to talk about some of the differences in our legal systems with our German friends. There are some things that are much stricter in Germany, and others that are much more relaxed. I don’t recall specific examples, but it was still interesting.

It was also an interesting experience for Jude. We’d like to bring him back to Germany in a few years, maybe when he’s 6-8 years old. He has done well picking up German words, and had fun experiencing German culture.

Levi Alexander

It was a very late night for us. Last night, as we were getting ready go to bed, Jessica decided to use the bathroom one last time before heading to bed, when she heard a pop, felt a kick, and started having a lot of fluid come out. She wasn’t sure at first if she had a lot of peeing going on, or if her water had broken. The baby wasn’t due for another week, and her scheduled C-Section wasn’t planned until Monday morning. After a few minutes it was pretty clear, the fluid kept coming, her water had broken.

It was a little bit of a scramble for us, even though Jessica had packed, and we were about as ready as we thought we would need to be, we had to get the car loaded, and make sure Jude was taken care of. I called the neighbors across the street and asked if Jude could come over for a little while, they were happy to have him. I also called my parents and let them know where he was, they would be coming down to get him and take him home for the night.

After getting Jude squared away, Jessica and I hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. It was 10:30, but the evening was just beginning.

Once we got there and got checked in, we sat in a prep room until after midnight, waiting for the operating room to open up, it was a busy night, with other C-sections going on.

Once we got in, everything moved pretty quickly. At 12:49am today, February 13th, 2010, Levi Alexander Olson made his appearance.

Levi came in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and 20 inches long. He and Jessica are doing quite well.