Team Wendorf Report http://teamwendorf.com Go Team Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:55:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 TeamWendorfReporthttp://feedburner.google.com Guilt on Christmas Eve http://teamwendorf.com/2010/01/14/guilt-on-christmas-eve/ http://teamwendorf.com/2010/01/14/guilt-on-christmas-eve/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:49:58 +0000 Kristina http://teamwendorf.com/?p=74 by Kristina

We stayed in Seattle for Christmas this year, only the second time in the 10 years I have been out here for the holidays. When Jason asked my dad for my hand in marriage dad said “yes, but we get Christmas.” So every year we add one more kid to our team and hop on a plane back to Ohio where we enjoy our family and, hopefully, some real snow. This year, however, my parents graciously came to us in order to spare us the flight with our 3 kids and a newborn.

Traditional Italian Meal

Traditional Italian Meal

Christmas Eve in my family is BIG deal. We are Italian and there are many many traditions behind the culture and Christmas Eve, mostly revolving around food and midnight mass if you are Catholic (and usually the 2 are synonymous). A fantastic meal is usually based around several different fish dishes. I love this tradition and I loved helping my grandma clean the squid and the smell of my aunt’s house after the sauce had been cooking all day. We made a few menu changes due to non squid eaters but I wanted Seattle to be no different, so my family and I spent all morning making Christmas Eve dinner.

I was proud, satisfied and excited when everyone sat down for dinner right on time…

Moments into dinner Kai shouts hysterically that something is wrong with a “certain area” on his little male body. Long story short we decide to take him to the on call doc just to make sure something isn’t brewing that could send the poor boy into unbearable pain. We had taken his hearing aids out to give him a quick bath to try and ease the discomfort and then quickly decided to take him to the doc. With that Jason and Kai are off to the hospital.

I load up the rest of the kids (after I ate 4 bites of dinner) and the rest of the company and we are all off to the the Downtown Mars Hill Christmas Eve Service. We are all super excited about this, particularly because our kids are going to sing with the kids choir. Since we are always in Ohio at Christmas we have not had the pleasure of seeing our children sing as part of the Childrens Christmas Choir before.

We are all in the car when we realize we left Kai’s hearing aids back in the bathroom. Great. His singing debut and on Christmas Eve. For Pete’s sake could we be worse parents. And so we put on the jacket of guilt. Jason rushes him to the church after seeing the doc and being told he is not on the brink of medical disaster. He made it just in time. I tell the amazing childrens choir person that “Kai does not have his hearing aids. You will have to look right at him so he can see your lips and tell him what song is next” (The kids had really been practicing.) So as soon as he gets there she looks at him but then rattles off the names of the three songs so quick I barely had time to take a breath.

He just stares at her.

I figured now was not the time to explain that his auditory memory is less than average kids his age and that all those words were probably unheard as the room was super noisy and said so fast even if they were heard there was no time for his partially working hearing to pick it up and retain it.

So I turn to the ever present always ready to help big sister. The conversation went something like this. “Lucia, since Kai does not have his hearing aids you may need to help him know what song is next.” “Ok mom (turns to Kai) Kai, fold you hands like this and we’ll sing Silent Night first.”

Feeling he was in good hands Jason and I head to our seats. The kids come on stage. Kai has his hands over his ears. Usually when he is close the stage he turns his hearing aids off so they act like ear plugs. I am cringing and on the verge of crying because I can’t believe we have failed him in this way. Imagine standing in the ocean with a bunch of out of tune kids singing all around you, not hearing anything that makes sense. But God is amazing, Kai quickly lowered his hands, folded them (as he’d been told) and our 1st and 2nd born sang their little hearts out for Jesus with hands folded the whole time. I was so proud. So grateful for a God full of grace He is able to overcome my incompetance as a parent and produce pure joy through the faces and voices of my children. And just in case seeing them sing wasn’t cute enough Lucia kept poking Kai in his cheek with her folded hands until he would look at her and smile. She did this every few minutes. Later when we asked her what she was doing she said, “I was making sure he smiled.” That’s what big sisters are for, right?!

And so I was reminded by my kids once again on a night when we celebrate that God was born as man to die for our sins, out of grace, guilt free, that all my short comings, all my failings as a wife, mom, human were bought and paid for by an ever loving God.

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2010/01/14/guilt-on-christmas-eve/feed/ 1 Confessions of an anxious mom… http://teamwendorf.com/2009/11/16/confessions-of-an-anxious-mom/ http://teamwendorf.com/2009/11/16/confessions-of-an-anxious-mom/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:57:35 +0000 Kristina http://teamwendorf.com/?p=64 I have never considered myself a paranoid person or even someone that struggles with anxiety. But recently I found myself diagnosing Kai (second of four kids) with a heart attack; while on the drive to school he holds his hand up from the back seat and says “mom, its not working right.” Then when i look back a second later he is slumped over. Clearly signs of a heart attack.

FM boot on hearing aid

FM boot on hearing aid

As I argued inside my head whether or not I should pull over I realized I was wearing Kai’s FM system (attached to Kai’s hearing aids are little audio shoes that are recievers. I wear a transmitter around my neck so Kai has better access to my voice in noisy environments). Instead of pulling over and alarming the rest of the kids (or at least to avoid someone asking 100 times “mama what are we doing?”) I just yelled into the mic on the transmitter, “Kai are you alive?!” Then I watched in the review mirror as his sleeping head bobbed back up to a less than dead position. Satisfied that he was just really tired I kept going.

What is wrong with me? I spent the next 20 minutes of the drive wondering when I became howard hughes? when did I become the overly paranoid person/mom that looks up meningitis online just because someone complains of their neck hurting? I was sharing this story with a friend and they said “yeah, you’d think the more kids you have the more relaxed you’d become.” Yet here I am, convinced that every abnormal bit of behavior means a round of puke is about to travel through our home.

But I don’t think I am abnormal, I think most moms have some kind of illness they fear. But is my fear justified? That is the real question. I cannot control viruses or even bacteria as they travel and land all over their kid-sized world. I have to conclude that I have always been this anxious person and it manifests itself as a lack of trust and a need for control every now and again. So it just all comes back to Jesus and whether or not my heart and my head is aligned with what I know of a faithful God who loves my kids way more than I can imagine.

So a few days after this first ‘almost’ heart attack we were on the way home from church when Kai says, again, “mom my hands don’t work right.” This time I was able to watch closely (since Jason was driving) to see that as he tried to spread his fingers apart he wasn’t showing 5 separate fingers but rather a spockish Star Trek hand gesture… not because he was having a heart attack but because his fingers were sticking together from something he had eaten.

Oh yea, kids are messy. I forgot. So case closed. And my hope is redirected back to Jesus.

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2009/11/16/confessions-of-an-anxious-mom/feed/ 0 Most days are worth laughing at… http://teamwendorf.com/2009/10/23/most-days-are-worth-laughing-at/ http://teamwendorf.com/2009/10/23/most-days-are-worth-laughing-at/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:27:31 +0000 Kristina http://teamwendorf.com/?p=54 Kristina, Axel + KaiWrite it down, I tell myself and others tell me. So why not? Most days really are worth laughing at, some are worth crying over and all are full of grace. So here I am, writing. I will feebly attempt to share our story one poopy diaper at a time.

But please remember I am not a writer. My grammar is so awful that my husband can’t believe I was ever a teacher. But I am a teacher, every day my job is to teach the 4 small souls entrusted to me; how to love, how to forgive, how to serve, how to laugh, how to repent. Every day is less than what I strive for and every night I have to relinquish the idol of perfection I placed upon that day and pray that tomorrow I will live and walk with more of the grace that is Jesus.

I am not sure where to start. For the past 8 weeks, well maybe since the 4th of July life has been umm, different. Someone said to me recently, “well you haven’t had it easy since your first child,” referring to a gambit of almost and definite medical issues we have had this summer (not to mention some rats in our house).

This was a bizarre and even startling statement to hear. I didn’t really understand it because I have been convicted that there is no such thing as easy or normal. I would be lying if I said I never looked at another family and thought I bet they didn’t get puke, blood and food all over their shirt today. Or I bet they didn’t have to stop 10 minutes into their drive, get 4 fours kids out of the car to go into a Starbucks so someone could pee while keeping one off the floor, the one from crying, one from escaping under the door of stall.

Jesus never promised easy and he didn’t die for normal. He rose from the dead for grace and that is what I cling to, that is why my husband sings hymns with the kids every night, that is why I will change so many diapers a day that my hands are dry and cracked from all the washing. Grace is why I almost cry when a teacher tells me my son shared Jesus with her while she changed his diaper. Grace. Jesus gives it so I can share it. It is what should motivate my every action and my every thought and each response to every phrase that starts with “mama…”.

But I am not perfect and I fail every day all day. And grace cleans up the mess.

And that is where we live. In the mess. Full of grace.

So welcome to our home. You are always welcome here if you are comfortable in the chair that sits in the middle of it all.

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2009/10/23/most-days-are-worth-laughing-at/feed/ 5 TeamWendorf.com is back… http://teamwendorf.com/2009/07/10/teamwendorf-com-is-back/ http://teamwendorf.com/2009/07/10/teamwendorf-com-is-back/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:42:10 +0000 Jason http://teamwendorf.com/2009/07/10/teamwendorf-com-is-back/ but is anyone still listening?

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2009/07/10/teamwendorf-com-is-back/feed/ 3 Welcome Axel, this is your life! http://teamwendorf.com/2009/05/03/welcome-axel-this-is-your-life/ http://teamwendorf.com/2009/05/03/welcome-axel-this-is-your-life/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 05:46:27 +0000 Jason http://teamwendorf.dreamhosters.com/2009/05/03/welcome-axel-this-is-your-life/

Click here to see more photos

Wednesday morning at 12:30am April 29th the incredible Kristina Wendorf gave birth to our fourth child; a boy officially named Axel.

Some of you may remember that Team Wendorf Report kicked off 3 years ago with a post titled ‘Welcome Kai, this is your life!‘ announcing the birth of our second child, first son, Kai Atticus.

And some of you may remember that Team Wendorf Report followed up a year and half later with a post titled ‘Welcome Otto, this is your life!‘ announcing the birth of our third child, second son, Otto Adoniram.

Axel came pretty much right on time, but due to a prolapsed umbilical cord our beloved midwife Charlotte Geddis sent us to a hospital for an emergency c-section. Axel and Kristina spent a few days recovering at a wonderful hospital in Everett and are now at home.

We are very grateful to God for our fourth child and are continually amazed by His grace and love for us.

Kristina is doing well considering the nature of childbirth by c-section and Axel is doing great too. Lucia, Kai and Otto spent the day with their ‘Aunt’ Mandi and apparently had a great time. Jason is still counting his blessings in that, at this point, he still has only one wedding that he will have to pay for in his future.

Much thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. The evidence of God’s kindness is amazing.

More info soon…

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2009/05/03/welcome-axel-this-is-your-life/feed/ 6 Snow Day 2008 http://teamwendorf.com/2008/12/19/snow-day-2008/ http://teamwendorf.com/2008/12/19/snow-day-2008/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:12:03 +0000 Jason http://www.teamwendorf.com/2008/12/19/snow-day-2008/ Seattle received a healthy dose of the white stuff yesterday. In Seattle, snow causes societal breakdown on a sliding scale:

  • snow prediction = grocery run on local stores
  • 0-1 inches = schools cancelled, tire chains installed, local news anchors suit up in goretex.
  • 2-3 inches = people leave their cars in the middle of the freeway and wander aimlessly.
  • 3-5 inches = all work stops. Local news creates storm logo and theme music.
  • 6+ inches = cannibalism

So in case we are eaten by our rabid neighbors, consider this Team Wendorf’s farewell post. Pictures of the devastation can be seen at our photos.

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2008/12/19/snow-day-2008/feed/ 0 Ahoy Dabtoes and Deck Apes http://teamwendorf.com/2008/11/25/ahoy-dabtoes-and-deck-apes/ http://teamwendorf.com/2008/11/25/ahoy-dabtoes-and-deck-apes/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:33:17 +0000 Jason http://www.teamwendorf.com/2008/11/25/ahoy-dabtoes-and-deck-apes/ Team Wendorf has been running silent and deep the last six months, but decided to come topside to share the latest scuttlebutt and air out our poopy suits. For the tens of readers we may have here is our report:

  • Item 1: We have 3 kids
  • Item 2: Kristina is with child four, due in May
  • Item 3: Battle Cat now lives with us
  • Item 4: Jason is working at Microsoft
  • Item 5: We bought a Eurovan, which is a minivan that doesn’t bathe regularly and smokes tiny, filterless cigarettes
  • Item 6: Otto turned 1
  • Item 7: We go to church at Mars Hill Church Downtown

Ok, looks like its angles and dangles time. till we surface again… DGUTS!

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2008/11/25/ahoy-dabtoes-and-deck-apes/feed/ 1 Playhouse and Sandbox http://teamwendorf.com/2008/06/16/playhouse-and-sandbox/ http://teamwendorf.com/2008/06/16/playhouse-and-sandbox/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:17:50 +0000 Jason http://www.teamwendorf.com/2008/06/16/playhouse-and-sandbox/ We recently added a playhouse and sandbox to our arsenal of outdoor children’s entertainment. Here’s a short collection of pics and videos:

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2008/06/16/playhouse-and-sandbox/feed/ 0 Team Wendorf Fire Escape Plan http://teamwendorf.com/2008/04/03/team-wendorf-fire-escape-plan/ http://teamwendorf.com/2008/04/03/team-wendorf-fire-escape-plan/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:38:28 +0000 Jason http://www.teamwendorf.com/2008/04/03/team-wendorf-fire-escape-plan/ Recently I decided that our family needed a fire escape plan, particularly because we all sleep on the second floor. I bought a few hundred dollars worth of equipment but it has just been sitting, so I decided that the next step was to write up a simple project plan that included steps for what we still need to accomplish to be prepared.

I of course wrote this in all seriousness even though I included a few humorous items in the plan, but Kristina felt that the entire thing was funny. So funny in fact that she was doubled over in laughter about the whole thing. So much for trying to apply project planning to family goals.

Here’s what Team Wendorf will do in case of fire:

Equipment Available:

* Two fire masks – one kept under each side of the parents bed
* Two fire blankets – both kept handy in master bedroom
* one fire ladder – kept in Kai’s room

If we are awoken by fire during the night we will do the following:

* pee pants
* put on fire masks
* Kristina wraps Otto (and self if necessary) in fire blanket
* Kristina takes Otto to Lucias room
* Kristina takes Otto and Lucia out window onto porch roof
* Jason takes fire blanket and goes to kai’s room (wraps self in blanket if necessary)
* Jason puts ladder out window
* Jason carries Kai down ladder to yard
* Jason helps Kristina, Otto and Lucia off of porch roof
* Jason rushes into flaming building to save Russel (our basement renter)

What we need to do:

* learn how to use ladder
* learn how to use fire masks
* possibly buy one or two more fire blankets (to keep in kids rooms)
* possibly buy one more fire ladder for master bedroom as alternative escape option
* pray we never have to deal with this

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2008/04/03/team-wendorf-fire-escape-plan/feed/ 0 Welcome Otto, this is your life! http://teamwendorf.com/2007/10/28/welcome-otto-this-is-your-life/ http://teamwendorf.com/2007/10/28/welcome-otto-this-is-your-life/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:23:08 +0000 Jason http://www.teamwendorf.com/2007/10/28/welcome-otto-this-is-your-life/

Click here to see more photos

Last night at 2:30am October 28th the incredible Kristina Wendorf gave birth to our third child; a boy officially named Otto.
Some of you may remember that Team Wendorf Report kicked off a year and a half ago with a post titled ‘Welcome Kai, this is your life!‘ announcing the birth of our second child, first son, Kai Atticus.

Otto came pretty much right on time, so we were able to deliver at the birthing center of our beloved midwife Charlotte Geddis. Kristina’s labor wasn’t quick as Kai’s but still faster than Lucia’s. It was ‘intense’ like the other labors but unique from the others as well.

We are very grateful to God for our third child and are continually amazed by His grace and love for us.

Kristina is doing well considering the nature of childbirth, and Lucia and Kai spent the day with their ‘Aunt’ Mandi and apparently had a great time. Jason is counting his blessings in that, at this point, he has only one wedding that he will have to pay for in his future.

Much thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. The evidence of God’s kindness is amazing.

More info soon…

]]> http://teamwendorf.com/2007/10/28/welcome-otto-this-is-your-life/feed/ 9