Two crazy people = ?

Friday, June 6, 2014

I feel seasons in the everywhere, I feel blessings in the air

It's time to get back on the blogging train...life has been chugging along and frankly, it's changing at rate that I struggle to keep up with at times. Since I last wrote, a LONG time ago, we've become a family of 4!

Meet Imogen Ann Wertz, induced and born 8 days late on December 11th at 8:36 PM:



We were thrilled to discover that we had a little girl! She came into the world with the lungs and pipes of 2 year old and has been asserting herself from the very beginning.  Imogen loves to jump and move and doesn’t particularly like to be in the same spot for more than 3 minutes (literally).  She has mastered the art of rolling across the floor, pulling hair, and putting her pacifier in her mouth.  She has been nicknamed, “Hold me and I’m happy Imogen,” a “mover and a shaker," and our sweet little "pterodactyl." We are praying that God would use her bold voice for great good as she grows to become a speaker of Truth!

Quint turned 2 in May.  He LOVES to be outside, sing, play his “guitarleelee” (otherwise known as a ukelele), identify and pretend to play instruments, and play with or look at trucks & heavy machinery.  He likes to line up all of his cars, stack bottles & containers from the spice cabinet, and play his ukelele and sing.  He can count to at least 20, knows all of his ABCs, and sing a major scale up AND down, in tune and on solfege (much to our amazement).  



And now, just when you thought everything might be calming down (as much as that can happen with 2 kids), we are on the verge of some very exciting changes...

In about a week it will be 3 years since we moved out of our house in State College, moved all of our belongings into storage and waited 2 months before we had a house to live in in the city of Williamsport. We did this because we felt called and drawn to serve the city and be a part of a church that had yet to begin. We didn't really know what we were doing, but we knew that we felt purpose in moving to this community. It was scary, hard to explain, but oh, so exciting. 

Right before we moved here, I got word that a wonderful singer/teacher colleague of mine was leaving Williamsport and so I applied for her job at Lycoming College...God provided. We arrived and fell into fabulous community of old friends and new, but Aden was still driving 2.5 hours a day for work. We started meeting with 12 people to make plans for City Alliance. We started small groups about 7 months later. A year after we'd moved we had our first service. All this time Aden was commuting back and forth from State College, teaching elem. general music. He loved his school community and the kids he encountered but his heart felt pulled in a different direction - ministry and marriage/family counseling... But there was no flexibility to pursue that fully in our current stage of life. He applied to jobs in Lycoming Co and as several different possibilities passed by, we wondered what God's purpose was in keeping him in State College, a great community, but not where our heart and home was. 

The church has grown in wonderful ways and been blessed by the awesome Grace of God as we strive "to transform Williamsport for the glory of God and the good of the city." We are looking to the future and starting to plan for further growth. As it turns out, Aden's gifts and desires matched the needs and desires of the church, "for such a time as this." And so, Aden is finishing up his last 2 weeks as an elementary music teacher in the State College School District and as of August he will be employed by City Alliance Church with the goal of completing his licensing with the CMA to become the Associate pastor and to pursue a master's in Marriage and Family Therapy to further take part in an awesome journey to serve the City of Williamsport. Who knew, 3 years ago, that this is where we would be. We are rejoicing in the work that God is doing in not only our lives, but in the lives of our faith community and the city, for we serve a God who is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." (Eph. 3:20) We also serve a God with a sense of humor because I told Aden toward the beginning of our relationship that I never wanted to be a pastor's wife, but now I am so thrilled to see him walk into this calling. 

I am thanking the Author of Life for penning an awesome story that is still being written...

Seasons 
by Donald Lawrence
I feel seasons everywhere
And I feel blessings in the air
Those seeds that you've sown
You're gonna come into your own.  Seasons...
Walk into your season.


I believe we're in a time when God's gonna bless the saints
Those who have stayed, those who have prayed,
He's gonna fulfill the promise He made, for I heard the Spirit say
"It's your time, the wait is over, walk into your season."


I know that you invested a lot, but the return has been slow
You throw your hands and say, "I give up, I just can't take it anymore" 

But I hear the Spirit say that
It's your time the wait is over, walk into your season


You survived the worst of time
God was always on your side
State your claim and write your name
Walk into this wealthy place

I hear the spirit say that it's your time the wait is over
The wait is over it's your time



This was written over a year ago and never published...so here it is!


When better to update the blog than when we want to announce that I am already beginning to sport a new baby bump?!  Baby #2 is on the way and due December 3, 2013!  Quint is very excited!

But we don't want to steal Quint's thunder because his first birthday occurred and it was a very exciting occasion!
 Happy Birthday Quint!
 Quint's best bed, Jude, came for his birthday party!
 A personalized picture frame from Grandma & Grampa!


 Quint's first real sugar experience...
 Testing out the icing...
 And the cake...
 Getting the hang of it...




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Making His Official Debut on the Social Scene

As of yesterday Quint is 6 weeks old and in his first 6 weeks he has been a very busy little boy!  Already he has traveled throughout the state of Pennsylvania and up to New England!  

Rehearsal Dinner - Quint had a great time!
 Memorial Day weekend, at the ripe old age of 2.5 weeks, we headed down to New Freedom, PA for the wedding of two dear friends, Amanda and Adam.  I was a bridesmaid so we began the process of learning to be flexible and adaptable right off the bat.  Quint was a wonderful little guy throughout the weekend.  He made his first (and maybe last) trip to a nail salon, wrapped in the Moby (attached to me), attended his first wedding rehearsal and dinner, attended (part of) his first wedding and wore his first dressy outfit!


Dressed up for the wedding
Dressed up for the wedding
Quality time with Aunt Chuck (Amanda)
















Aden finished with his school year on June 9th and we have been thrilled to have him home during the days.  Quint and Daddy have been spending quality time together.  Aden has a knack for making him smile.


Morning snuggle time
My little cuddly guy















Quint is a very good little traveler though he definitely prefers to be moving.  He tends to let us know that he'd prefer not to be sitting still, particularly at red lights, stop signs and in traffic.  For the first time in our lives we have started aiming for pot holes and rumble strips...and I'm not really kidding.


Real smiles started to show up around 4 weeks

Food coma



The next big event was Quint's first trip to the Breen Family Reunion over Father's Day weekend. We broke up the typically 10 hour drive by going part way the first day, staying in Rhode Island with Uncle Biggie and Auntie Sue Sue and Meghan.  In general everything went very smoothly, though we had to stop to eat every few hours.  On the way home we went by way of my Dad's in Vermont and visited him for Father's Day. 

 For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Breen Family Reunion, it is an annual reunion for my mom's side that takes place every Father's Day weekend in New Hampshire.  It is a huge deal in our family, complete with a cookout, softball game, raffle, horse race (wooden horses - better described in person), Saturday night activity, and other Irish shenanigans.  There are generally approximately 75 to 90 people (?) in attendance.  It is a pretty awesome event.  We've been having it at the same place for 25 years and we've even been featured in Reunions Magazine. My grandfather has 7 siblings and they are considered the first generation.  My mom is the oldest of the second generation, I am the second oldest of my generation (after my brother Casey) and Quint is the first member of the 4th generation and "The Littlest Breen."  For many years there was a t-shirt (made by my grandmother) circling around from kid to kid, worn by the youngest child at the reunion.  Unfortunately it had been lost, but my aunt had a new one made and thus Quint was sporting it throughout the weekend.  He made quite a splash, constantly surrounded by an adoring crowd.  He had the chance to meet PopPop, my grandfather and his great grandfather and Mamie Joan as well as many great and great great aunts and uncles and a ton of cousins!



Chillin' with Auntie Liza
On display

Surrounded by admiring ladies

With PopPop and Mamie Joan
In addition to being a good traveler, Quint has started sleeping through most of the night - 6 to 7 hours in a stretch.  He is getting much better at holding his head up and follows Aden and I with his eyes much of the time.  He has begun making noises other than grunts and cries and has some moments of seeming to want to giggle but it just doesn't quite come out yet. 

The next 6 weeks will be just as exciting as we have a birthday party (cousin Benjamin) and 3 more weddings in July - Aunt Amy (my best friend), Aunt Claudia (my step-sister) and Auntie Meg (my sister).  Stay tuned for more tales from the exciting life of Quint Wertz!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Let's start at the very beginning...


As you may know by now, we welcomed our son, Harold Aden Wertz V, or Quint as we are calling him, into the world on Tuesday, May 8th at 11:03 PM after being induced that morning.  He was 7 lb. 14 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  The whole process began at 7:15 AM and our lives changed in a wonderful, amazing way in such a short period of time.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:15 AM and Aden and I enjoyed some quiet time of relaxation, conversation and merriment... at least until mid-afternoon when things got painful.  We played cribbage, talked, and I introduced him to my pregnancy indulgence - "What Not to Wear" on TLC.  I texted my mom & sister and said it was like vacation, only I was wearing a hospital gown and hooked up to an IV.  :)  The rest of the afternoon and evening wasn't so vacation-like, but in the end we had a beautiful new son and in that time and over the course of the next week, I gained a much deeper appreciation for my husband.  He was the most amazing coach ever and took care of me so sweetly, gently and selflessly. 

I am amazed at how much love I have for our little guy.  I love watching Aden with him as well - I think it is safe to say that we are both smitten and the lack of sleep, etc. pales in comparison to how awesome it is to finally snuggle with him.  Since having Quint I have come to appreciate my husband, my bed, sleeping on my back, pain medications, my supportive family, my Creator, and far more in much greater dimension!  There are so many little joys as well as great discoveries and truths that we have only begun to understand.  Who knew you could sit and look at the same little person for so much time and be filled with so much joy!  ...And who knew you could change so many poopy diapers in one day...



First full day home from the hospital

Meeting Auntie Meg

Oma and Quint having quality snuggle time

Buddy meets Baby (the beginning of a beautiful friendship)

"He's a lumberjack and he's ok..."

Family time on Mother's Day

Auntie LoLo came up for an afternoon

"Just because I'm wearing a ducky outfit doesn't mean I'm not a tough guy!"

Sing our song to Quint..."Sweet Pea, apple of my eye..."

Quint wore this on Aden's first day back to work in honor of his daddy.

Meeting some of the cousins

Grandpa singing a song to Quint

First outing - weight check at the doctor

First bath - He's really excited!

Tummy time!

More cousins and family!  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Tara, Madeline & Caitlin

Grampy and Quint

Having a heart to heart

He found his thumb!  But he hasn't found it since. :)

Holding his head up all by himself!
Mommy & Quint time