Archive for January, 2008

Delena is walking

Posted by Jason and Angie Bechtel on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Delena`s first Christmas

I think she takes after her dad—she is a quick learner. Not everyone is walking on their 10 month birthday, but Delena was.

If you will rememeber, it was on her 9 month birthday that she surprised us all with the feat of standing up in the middle of the nursery with no support—all by herself.

Delena on her 10 month birthdayWell, she has done it again (perform a dazzling feat that is). Exactly one month later, on precisely her 10 month birthday, she started walking. With a toy in each hand (and maybe a third in her mouth for good measure) she walked 4 complete steps from where she stood to her mother. That was then.

Weeks have passed since that moment, and Delena has been practicing. Yesterday, she walked clear across the living room.

Her eagerness might be her biggest enemy. Not being completely satisfied with being able to walk a gentle, relaxing pace, Delena often tries to break into a sprint, only to find she doesn’t know how to do that yet. Maybe on her 11 month birthday.

Tags:
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Health, wellness, and getting poked with needles

Posted by on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Angie practicing needle work on Jason

Everyone wants to be healthy. Not everyone wants to be stabbed by their spouse with a needle, just for practice.

This week in our missionary training, we are enjoying a unit on "health and wellness". The premis is that if we as missionaries can’t stay healthy, we have to leave our ministry, and not only are we suffering physically, but the tribal people we were ministering to ultimately suffer the most—they won’t get to hear "God’s talk".

So we are learning about preventative measures that we can take to keep us pressing on towards the goal of seeing every tribe and tongue and nation before the throne of God.

This afternoon, we got a little hands on experience. We started out with taking each other’s blood pressure, and then looking at each other’s eardrums with one of those thing-a-ma-bobs doctors use. Then we got intimate with one other. How much do you trust your spouse? Enough to be their first victim as they learn how to use a needle?

Shot for shot, it all worked out in the end. I got to give Angie a poke in the back of her arm, and she returned the favour. Now we can say we know a little about needle-work.

We had thought we might get to learn how to do stitches. Maybe I whinned too much about the little needle, or maybe it was never part of the plan, but either way, no stitches were exchanged.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Delena’s first Christmas

Posted by Jason and Angie Bechtel on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Delena`s first Christmas

No, we didn’t take Delena to get pictures with Santa Claus. But she did manage to be the centre of attention at all our Christmas gatherings, and rightly so, as she is the first and youngest grandchild on both sides.

December 14th was the last day of our missionary training before a much needed 3-week break. (We started classes again on January 7th.)

We got to visit almost all our family, which is really nice. Everyone was especially impressed with Delena and how agile she was.

Delena`s first ChristmasDelena’s favourite activity while opening gifts was shredding all the wrapping paper. She got lots of books and toys, as well of cute little outfits fit for a princess. She was so proud of gifts she would stand up with something in each hand until everyone was looking at her.

Delena in her new "deluxe" sledWith a little help from her parents, she spent some of her Christmas money and bought a "deluxe" sled. It comes with a clear plastic cover to keep her out of the wind and snow.

Tags:
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off