The Schmidgalls

Wow. I have a thankful heart.  Ten years ago today I embarked on an adventure of a lifetime.  Little did I know I would also meet a friend of a lifetime.  The summer after my junior year of college, I had the amazing experience to study international business and marketing overseas.  With a few other Economics majors from my college, we partnered with some other students from Christian colleges to tour Scandinavia, Russia, and Europe for three months as part of the International Business Institute (IBI).  I probably learned more in those weeks than in the rest of my time in school.  I certainly had more fun than I ever could have imagined!!!

I was able to travel with one of my very best friends from Westmont, Heather.  I knew we would be friends for life and was so excited to share the experience with her.  But I didn’t have any idea that God had a plan to give me another friend for life too!

So, ten years ago today, in Stockholm, Sweden, I met Christina - a dark hair girl from Maryland that said a few words kind of funny!  (Hey, she saw I was blond and from California and was convinced I was a snot!)  To be truthful, it would be a few weeks before I realized she would be a close friend.  And only time would reveal that God had a true plan for our friendship and that she would become like a sister to me.

This week, I took a walk down memory lane.  I can’t believe it has been TEN YEARS!

Here is where our friendship was forged!  A few weeks into the trip, we settled in the Netherlands to do our most concentrated period of study.  Somehow Christina and I took seats next to each other (note our heads on the right).  We would chat and giggle…but, actually, we also listened and concentrated and studied!  We were both pretty serious about doing well.  (By the way, we called the row in front of us “the sleep list” because they would keep track of everyone who fell asleep during lectures.  I was proud to never make that list!)

The first day in this classroom the professors told us we could leave at anytime to use the restroom…good news since most of us had just acquired a stomach parasite in Russia!  We were relieved when they brought us a doctor to check us…until we found out he was actually a HORSE doctor.

The guys took advantage of the potty liberties.  They started a prank called “plating” where they would do their “business” in other student’s bathrooms, leave it sitting (note: European bathrooms don’t have water sitting in them…hence a “plate”), then close all the windows and door and leave the smell to await you!  Ugggg!

After class, we would drag our comforters out onto the grass to “study”.  We appointed one guy to be our recreation director and he would organize all sorts of games.

We only had one suitcase of clothes for the entire summer and we had to do laundry in our hotel bathrooms often.  The girls started trading outfits for a little variety!  Here we are on the Charles Bridge in Prague…old friends by this point.

I can’t believe I am about to publically admit this in a place my daughter could eventually read it…but this picture was taken just before…we hitch-hiked!  We had a free day in Austria and were on our way to a lake in the mountains and realized just how far we had to walk!  A nice man with a cigar in a jaguar was happy to give us a lift.

This picture is just a taste of the fun we had.  We were trying to trade our currency before leaving France and the machine went a little haywire.

As I said, it was the trip of a lifetime.  We visited 11 countries!  We toured businesses, governments, historic sights.  But, I never could have guessed his plan for this friendship.  Though we were from opposites sides of the nation, today Christina and I own homes around the corner from one another.  Along with our spouses, we work in ministry together.  Our first babies are three months apart and our second babies just two months.  We have prayed each other through all the big moments like dating, career choices, family triumphs and tragedies, moves, marriages, babies.  And we get to walk through all the little things too!  My husband sure is glad he has someone else to catch the tears as well!

So today I am thanking God for ten years!  I love you Christina Marie!  Thank you for encouraging me, supporting me, and confronting me.  Thank you for being auntie to my babies and a best friend to me.  I am more thankful with every new memory!

Ella is so good with her baby brother!  She loves him so much!  Whenever he cries, she is the first to soothe him.  “It’s okay, little buddy, mommy’s coming.”  She also says, “It’s okay.  We’re almost there!”  Apparently I say that lot in the car!  She uses it at home and anywhere.

The sentence I repeat the most is, “Ella, don’t lay on your brother.”  She just loves him so much, she tries to lay on him to hug him or get as close as possible!  Yesterday Joel and I started cracking up when he found himself saying “Eloise, don’t SIT on your brother!” as she was lowering her tush into his bouncy seat…while he was in it!

I pray often that my kids will be close their entire lives.  I try to use words to encourage them in that every day.  “Ellie, don’t pull his legs.  You always have to protect your brother.”  OR “Honey, Zeke will be your best friend forever.  It is so kind of you to show him your toys!”

Thank you Lord that these two have each other!

Little Zeke had his two month checkup today.  He is 25.25 inches long (97%) and 11 pounds, 10 ounces in weight (37%).  I have tall skinny kids just like their Daddy!

More pics of our gorgeous TWO month old!

Smiles for mama!

Okay, a grin!

Ella has fought us a bit on bedtime lately.  It is a little unusual for her but she is in a big girl bed now and wants us to lay with her.  During my fourth trip in to her room to check on her tonight , we had the following conversation.

Me: “Ellie, you need to go to sleep.”

Ella: “Mommy, lay down with me.”

Me: “Not anymore baby.  Why are you crying?  What do you need?”

Ella: “French fries.”

Zeke turned two months old yesterday!  He smiles all the time and is a pretty happy little man…as long as you keep his belly full!  He looks like a baby now, not a newborn anymore.  He thinks he is a big boy and holds his head up all the time.  You can’t cuddle him on your shoulder because he just wants to look all around!  We love him so much!

My baby sister is joining the world of grown ups!  Amy graduated college this weekend!  We are so proud of her!  She graduated with honors as a graphic design major and even won first place for her senior project - a boardgame about phobias.  We were so excited!

Amy and I are almost a decade apart so I tell her she was my first baby.  Ella actually does a lot of things that remind me of Amy when she was little.  They share the same cheesy grin!

Here is her award winning project - Phobo-phobia.  (She designed the education poster up top too!)

“Look Mom, I did it!”

Her graduation cap said “Thanks Mom and Dad!”

As Ella says, “Good job Ame-sies!”  When she saw the stage, she kept asking Amy to do a dance!  She thought it was a performance!  (It was so cold, we had poor Zeke wrapped up in everything we could find!)

Ella finished her first year of playschool!  A few of us moms at church started a parent co-op playschool for our community and we just finished our first year!  The kids had a great time and learned a ton!

Ella looked forward to having her buddy Violet in class!

Her friend David is moving to Texas.  Miss you David!

She will miss all her friends from school!  See you in September!

Zeke and some of his girlfriends!  Cali and Reagan are two months older than him…but he is just as long!

Our niece Summer performed in a school musical, Seussical.  Ella LOVED it and talks about it every day!  She says, “Remember Summer’s dance? Remember?”  Summy Joy with mama and dad.

Big sis Ellie gave her brother a bottle for the first time.  She talked to him the whole time.  She loves him so much!  I just have to keep her from laying on him!

So, I threw my back out last week.  Oyyyyyyy!  I was brave and took Zeke with me to a conference in Atlanta (his first flight!).  I carried him in the sling for three days.  Zeke loved it…my back did NOT.  I woke up unable to get out of bed.  The kids spent a few days keeping Mommy company in her bed.  Joel had to play Mr. Mom…and Mr. Housekeeper, and Mr. Nurse.  He told me I get a raise.