May is coming to a close...

I love May 2009! So much has happened and it has been filled with such love and happiness :) I haven't taken many pics with anyone but Evie or Chet :) So here are some of them!

Jeremy and I in the hospital with Chet! I just got these from Brooke's computer.

Me holding Chet for the first time!

Hangin' with auntie!

Photobooth with Auntie :)

And here's a little video of baby Chet! Taken last week.

That's my update! Got a job with Starbucks Watt & Kings so I will be starting there soon, after I meet with the manager and have an official interview! Ha! Jeremy is enjoying his Memorial Day weekend in Minnesota with his family and my family is having a BBQ with some church friends today, so we have been busy setting up for that! 

Haven't gotten my results back from my blood tests so I will update when I know what's going on with my body! Feeling good these days, just not great.

With love from Sacramento,

Paige

Summer update!

Hello everyone!!!

I am loving this summer. I couldn't ask for anything better!!! As you have already seen, I was greeted in Sacramento by the birth of my wonderful nephew Chet!!!! Let me back up a bit...

Coming back to America was so wonderful. Jeremy picked me up from the airport with a beautiful purple bouquet of flowers and we just hugged forever! I couldn't believe he and I were finally together!!! I said my goodbyes to friends and introduced him and we were off! Being back in LA was surreal and it was so nice. I had a little honeymoon stage of being in awe of ketchup and driving on the right side of the road.


Jeremy and I went back to APU and I got to see my wonderful friends Elli and Catherine. Although I was SO TIRED it was so refreshing to see them. I wish we could have just had a week together to talk and laugh and be together. It was sad for me to not have Kalie there as well, so I am looking forward to seeing her the next time I can!! I miss her a TON!

That night Jeremy and I got together with his family for dinner at Legends, a favorite of mine in Azusa. Once again, to me I felt like I was pulling an all nighter so I was tired, but it was so great to be able to order familiar food and be with his family! I have no idea how we spent the next day, but that Saturday we packed up Jeremy's apartment, scrubbed down the bathroom and room, and got him moved out! His parents came out to help move him out which was such a help!! I don't think we would have gotten out of there at 2 if they weren't there!!! We grabbed lunch with them and headed to his house to unload. They were gracious enough to also keep some of my things in their shed for the summer!

Mr. Aaron taking a well deserved break!!


We spent the next few days until Tuesday with the Aaron family. We celebrated Mothers' Day with the family on Sunday and Mrs. Aaron hosted a big family dinner which was GREAT! I appreciate a home cooked meal so much more now!!!! :) And her cooking is soooo good! We also went to their church which also was so nice. Although I had the opportunity to go to church sometimes in South Africa, it was so nice to go to a familiar American church! We also had a lot of time just to hang out and talk. I enjoy their family so much so it was great just to relax and hang out!

On Tuesday afternoon Jeremy and I flew to Sacramento. My family greeted us in the airport with signs and smiles!!! It was hilarious because I was coming down with my camera in hand and they all had theirs too!! It was so great to be with them again... of course I missed them all so much!! And it was equally as great that Jeremy could be here too!! We were NOT ready to be apart from each other yet!!


The time Jeremy spent with me and my family in Sacramento was often spent just hanging out. We had some family dinners, meals with my parents out and about, doing a few things for me to get settled back home, movies, and hanging out! We were so grateful to be able to stop by Jeremy's great aunt and uncle's house in Grass Valley, just minutes from our friends the Turners! Bob and Marie have a beautiful home in Lake of the Pines and we were able to see their great car collection and sit and visit with them. Here are some pics of that day:






Jeremy had never been to the drive in movies, and since Sacramento is the "City of Trees" and not much else, we decided to take a trip there! We watched Angels & Demons (which we liked) and 17 again (which was surprisingly funny!!!).



But this quiet vacation wasn't going to stay quiet for long!!! On Friday the 15th we had a "Paige is back in America!" pizza & pool family night. Brooke looked so cute in her swim suit and big belly, and we all wondered when she would finally have this baby! Well, my feet were in the pool for about 10 minutes when Brooke told me to watch Evie because she was taking Josh away. Yes, labor had started! As she was already so progressed in labor we decided to book it to the hospital, as contractions were now only 3 minutes apart.

Evie saying "hi!" to Jeremy :)

And yes, four hours later she was holding her son!! :)


Here's a moment of our chaos!


And here is Jeremy and my pursuits in getting to the hospital! Haha.. you can tell I'm a little emotional. Glassy eyes. So excited and SO rushed!


I don't know if anyone can tell this story as good as my dad, but Josh and Brooke take off and my parents in another car behind them. It is 5 o'clock traffic and the freeway is stopped. After about 5 minutes of stop and go, and Brooke in a LOT of pain, Josh takes off down the median. My parents take off after him and stuff is flying from Josh's car at my dad's. (Apparently there's a lot of trash in those medians!) Well, Josh lost my dad but they both ended up at the hospital. Jeremy and I followed behind with food and forgotten belongings from the others. Everyone ended up making it to the hospital in time for the big event!!!

We were logging the events of the day and here is as follows:
9:24: I wrote in that the doctor was getting her gown on and everything was getting in place.
9:29: after TWO pushes and literally five minutes, Chet was in Brooke's arms!!!





The nurses called this a "textbook delivery" and told me to not be as hopeful! Ha!!! Brooke did GREAT and had that baby with no problems in 5 minutes! We were all laughing at how easy it all was! We were all back home by 10:30pm (minus Brooke, Josh and the baby of course) and Jeremy noted that it was like going out for a movie, but instead there's a baby! :)

Of course I was BEYOND happy to have been able to be there for the birth!!! I thought I had missed it all when I was in South Africa, so to be there and be able to witness everything from the epidural to the cutting of the cord, I loved it!!! Such a special moment :) And I sure have been enjoying him!! And so has Evie :) She's had a few rough patches but is adapting to be a big sister so well! Chet was quite fond of Jeremy... I mean if a baby had biases I'd say he liked him a lot :)




Here is a little clip of Evie. She's just in her diaper since she was "Spaghetti Evie" (Aka "I'm going to get spaghetti everywhere Evie!") If you listen, she has a high pitched "YEAH!" which Barbie mimics at the end. So cute!!


So that's all my big news! The only other thing I have to mention is my health.
Sunday night while watching Star Trek with Dad, Josh and Jeremy I broke out in hives all over my body. After the movie we went to Mercy San Juan's ER and I got admitted. During the time there they got worse then better so by the time I saw the doctor (about an hour later) they had faded a lot. So thankful for Jeremy for being such a calming presence! He really was great. I got some Benadryll and a steroid and I was fine, until Tuesday morning at 5am when I woke up with them again! Luckily I had a Dr's appointment about all my sicknesses at 8:45am. Crazy enough, even with Benadryll in my system I broke out AGAIN at the Doctor's office while I was talking to her! I got a Cortysil (sp?) shot and have been better since. Today I got a lot of blood work done and stool and urine samples taken. My Dr really wants to figure this whole thing out and thinks I probably have a parasite. Luckily she isn't worried, just wants to get me fixed! So I will update when I find out what else is goin' on! But I feel pretty good so no big complaints!!!

Oh, and I'm still job searching so I'll update on that later too :)

For pictures of Chet please visit my sister's blog (theodgersfamily.blogspot.com) since she will be updating them regularly!! I can't keep up with this growing boy!!

With my LOVE from Sacramento, California, United States of America!
Paige

Chet Dean Odgers!

was born on May 15th 2009 at 9:29PM in Sutter Medical Hospital in Roseville, CA.
He was 7lb, 11oz, 19 1/2 inches long!
Dark hair :)
Goooood loud cry!!!

Brooke's labor was SO QUICK! We were having a family pool night with Nathan, Stacey, Taylor, Barbie, Jeremy, Brooke, Josh, Evie, Robb, Mom and Dad. Pizzas just arrived and most of us were in the pool and Brooke started getting contractions. They went quickly to the hospital since Brooke was already 5CM dilated and it was about a 30 min drive. Halfway through their drive Mom and Dad texted me to come ASAP since Josh had left them (they were driving behind) and went on the median during 5 o'clock traffic and lost them! Jeremy and I took off and got to the hospital. Within about 3 hours she had gotten an epidural and was ready to push! It only took 5 minutes and 2 pushes for Baby Chet to come!!!! Honestly, the quickest birth ever!!! He gave a few great cries and was lulled to sleep and both Brooke and Josh's voices. He was able to stay in the room and lay on Brooke to warm up, which was so nice in comparison to Evie who had to leave for a few hours due to respiratory issues. We all left within the hour since they were ready to nurse and sleep!!! Jeremy stated it best, "it's like we went to a movie!" So quick and flawless :)

Brooke's blog will have more:
theodgersfamily.blogspot.com

With love from Sacramento. (And LOVING it back home!!!)
Paige

Chet is coming! And I'm a Junior!!!

For those of you who haven't heard yet, my nephew Chet Dean Odgers (named after both Brooke and Josh's beloved grandpas who have passed away) will be arriving in the world shortly! Obviously I am really bummed I am missing the birth, but I couldn't be more excited to come home to him!! The time change is a huge bummer and I found out my sister is in the beginnings of labor way after it had started. Her water has not broken and she hasn't had regular contractions so he's not coming right now, but he should be here in the next day or so as she was 3-4 CM and 80% effaced yesterday. Praise the LORD my Mom is coming home today (Sunday) from a wedding in Michigan because Brooke wouldn't have had either of us there to be her coach!

For more details she has a blog (theodgersfamily.blogspot.com) and there you can see her Twitter updates below her picture where she updates regularly. Chances are, with me leaving Monday morning for High Africa where there is no internet and not getting any until Thursday, you all will know much more than I do. Hopefully we can work things out so I find out when he is born!!



In other news, I am DONE with this semester and can now happily proclaim that I am a Junior in college! Wow, where has time GONE!?? I can't believe that I only have 3 semesters left!!! But it also makes me very excited :) My latest career I'm pursuing is Wedding Planning. So I'm excited to see if that takes me anywhere :) I figured being in Africa would make me want to turn my life around and go into Social Work or the Peace Corps but I actually have been more affirmed with being in Business and pursuing things along that road.

I am beyond ready to be home again. With classes done and my bags packed all that's left for me to do is TRAVEL! But I must wait :) High Africa (our little debriefing retreat) is going to be a really fun time and I will be home soon enough :)

Last night I figured out that to switch back to US time I have to first stay up for a long time and then sleep what for me is 8am-5pm on the plane. I would appreciate your prayers as I travel and try to adjust as I tend to get sick/ulcers when I have lack of sleep and am eating weird traveling food/stressed. Ha! Sooooo it seems like these next few days have me doomed but God is bigger than that, yes? So let's pray I feel good!!! :)

Thanks guys. Can't wait to post if I have the chance when Chet is born!!!! :) :) :) If not I'll post when I'm back in the States!! Oh, and I'm assuming it goes without being said that I am BEYOND excited to see Jeremy!!!!!! We're going crazy... it's about time I had that man present in my life again!!! :)

With love from Africa,
Paige

Almost done!

Wednesday:
Eventful day in my life! I had class this morning, went to Green Market Square which is a huuuge market, then to the Waterfront for some different kind of shopping. We leave here on Monday and will be out of the loop with technology until we land in Washington DC in the wee hours of May 7th. I feel much more accomplished having checked some things off my "to get" list. There's not much time or money left so I hope I've gotten enough!

After all of those activities some of us headed back to school, messed around on our computers since we're practically done with class work, went home to eat dinner quickly then headed out to a fashion show! It was held in a parking garage, which seems shady but was actually REALLY cool! It was held by a local rich college and there was a good show. In between the outfits they had different dancing groups perform and I loved watching all the hip hop. It's so weird to me that so much of South African music and culture is actually American! My parents here were listening to oldies on Saturday and I knew most the songs!! So funny how technology spreads the media and what's popular quickly.


We were at Hillsong Church on Sunday and 5/6 girls on stage had skinni jeans tucked into pants. It was funny because for us that fashion has already come and passed and we are looking onto the next fad, so we felt that this style was out to date. I laughed when my roommate Katie reminded me that we have already had winter and thus South Africa has seen what we did and now when they're going into their winter they pick out our biggest trends!

That's my news lately :) Had a fun night. One of the mentors, Tom, is really fun and has done a great job of getting us out and doing fun things if we want.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going on a field trip to see Afrikaaner culture/tour more of Cape Town area. Hopefully that night we can go out and do more fun things as we celebrate the end of a great semester!!

With love from Africa,
Paige
(7 more days until I'm on a plane! 8 until I get to LAX!!!!)

Thursday:
Today was an odd day. The tour of the Afrikaner (white) culture was pretty boring as we just went to a few monuments. Luckily I enjoy hanging out on the bus! I bring both my laptop and iPod and end up using up the batteries on both when we go places through watching movies then listening to music. It was hard today especially since we were just getting out and looking at statues. Felt pretty pointless. But then I kind of feel like, "oh well, what else would we have done with our time? spend money?" so it's alright. Taking pictures was fun at least :)



Afterwards got to Skype with both Mom and Dad and it was SO great!! It's the second time I've got to talk to them with something other than email. They are headed out this weekend to Michigan for our youth pastor Brennan's wedding!!! Talking to them made me tear up (well, ok, I cried) because I miss them SO much! Excited to see them soon :) Then I came home to my lovely South African parents and ate a delicious dinner. I went over to Micah, Grant and Chad's place where Katie was and watched the end of 4 movies (The Incredibles, Collateral, James Bond: Die Another Day we almost finished and You've Got Mail) which we had started on the bus or hanging out but got cut off early. So that was fun :)

Now I'm back at my home. I just went through a ton of pictures from Freshman year and re read my diary from the beginning of this trip which was so weird to read! It feels like so long ago yet like yesterday at the same time. Guess that's how life feels sometimes!!

As of Friday (when I am posting this) I have 5 more days until I am leaving on the plane and 6 more days until I am HOME!!!! I think it's about 22 hours of flying but I don't even care! Just excited to be back :)

Today after class some of us are going to Canal Walk which is a big mall to hang out for the day and probably see a movie. :) We'll see :)

With love from Africa,
Paige

Hillsong

(This is blog #2 in two days so if you haven't read yesterdays you've got double duty :))
Tonight I went to Hillsong of Cape Town. I definitely felt like I was in the states. They rent out a hall in a convention center for their services in Downtown Cape Town. The feeling was very Mosiac (Erwin McManis’s church in Downtown LA), or FLOOD (Sean Randall’s old(?) church in Sac), etc. because of the look when we walked in. The people who went were very trendy and I think every girl re-evaluated her outfit when we walked in! 5/6 girls on stage had boots on with skinni jeans under them- apparently the big trend right now! Worship was SO well done. You can tell these people are trained vocalists and have a great director. The whole service was very organized and their logistics person did a great job. All the staff knew when to be where and everyone on stage looked where the audience should be looking (ie. the screen or the speaker, etc.). All to say, it was a great service. I also realized that for one of the first times since being in SA I experienced worship I was completely comfortable with and LOVED it! It was so great to feel in my element when at church. There were only about 3 references that were lost in translation- a huge improvement! I think that’s because Hillsong breeds people from the US, Australia, and Europe so there wasn’t many South African references. One girl definitely was from the states… probably Midwest as she said “o” different than me. Anyways, back to the service. They had a TON of baptisms, probably 25, and got those people in and OUT of that water fast! We had lots of worship, which was great. Offering. Speaker who really remineded me of an Australian Dad! Not because of looks but how he spoke made him very relatable towards the audience and he broke down John 16:33 into basic truths (which Dad is really good at doing- simplifying scripture then applying it to today). So that was really great.

The most impactful thing for me in this service was what was running through my mind during worship. I kept thinking of some of the women and kids I met at Project Gateway and couldn’t get their faces, life stories, and sad eyes out of my brain. When I would sing about God being faithful or lifting me out of bondage or being holy, all I could do was cry and think about them. These women and kids have faced more hardship than I ever will. It’s true. And thinking about how they can have gone through all of that and still hope and trust in the Lord really brought a new perspective for me. But I couldn’t stop praying for them. I felt like in that moment each face in my mind needed prayer and protection so I couldn’t push that out of my mind. So tonight their beautiful faces have flashed through my mind. I miss them. I miss trying to be an encouragement for them when not many people are. I miss giving them an opportunity to forget their mothers and abandoned and let them play like the girls they are!

*sigh* So that was my Sunday night. Came home for some wonderful homemade lasagna thanks to “Mom” and now I’m about to start and finish one of my two papers. Yes, it is due tomorrow. Don’t worry, Mom. I’m about it do it. :) I know, not about it. I’m doing it NOW. :)

With my love from Athlone (the town I live in), South Africa
Paigey

"Is it? Shame..."

(Typical SA phrase...)
Hello everyone!!!

I am doing so well :) I know my other blogs have been full of frustration and sickness, but I want to let you know that I am doing great. This part of the trip doesn't compare to Pietermaritzburg, but I've decided that doesn't matter! We still are having a great time, even if the experience is different. Out professor Quinton has adapted to our "type A American learning styles" and given us lists of what he expects which has given us all some ease as now we have in writing what he expects from us. We are all starting to figure out transportation are starting to be able to get out more. My host family is BEYOND wonderful!!! This whole time they've been such a breath of fresh air for me :)

I had been pretty frustrated and then I went to go do some homework at my house, sat down at my desk and turned on my iTunes (which is pretty rare because I actually love sitting in silence) and I started organizing my papers, etc. and then the lyrics popped out to me so vividly:

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship,
When it's all about you,
It's all about you Jesus.
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it,
When it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus."

And it really hit me hard: I have made this whole Cape Town experience about me. I viewed Pietermaritzburg as service and focusing on God and then I came to Cape Town to have MY vacation and on the side do a class. Thus I have had such a selfish mindset when it has come to everything and have been really thinking about myself. The verse came to mind "do everything without complaining and arguing" and I read Phil. 2 and I realized that I really needed to change my mindset. And ever since that, Tuesday night, I have been doing much better here. Of course nothing has changed except my mindset really, but that makes all the difference!

Wednesday after class we had a very short chapel but it was a really good time to be able to finally sit in a circle as the group and just relax for a half hour. I shared what I had learned the night before (above) and other people shared what God is doing in their lives and how their time here is and then we had a time of prayer. It was really needed for our group and I think we all appreciated being as a group again!

Wednesday after that I worked SO hard on my homework and finished a ton of it. I still have two 5-6 pg papers to write and a bunch of "culture logs" where we log conversations we have here and what we're learning (but many of them are specific so we actually have to figure out how to have these conversations with people). The homework here is way more intense than anything we expected and it's been a big bummer since we have such a short time in Cape Town we want to do all that we can for fun! Luckily since I worked so hard I got to treat myself that night to going out :) Me, Katie, Micah and Dave all went to town and met about 7 others and we went dancing. Now, I feel a little weird saying this and not knowing everyone's thoughts on it. But just know, it was harmless dancing. The girls here are SO fun and we just have a good time dancing around and it's not weird, like you may be thinking. So we had a great time. Oh, but the town was such a ghost town since it was voting day, which is a public holiday here in SA and everything closes!

The winner of the elections, Jacob Zuma, who is part of the ANC party is very controversial. He is quoted saying that he had sex with a woman who had AIDS but since he took a shower after he was ok. He also has five wives and polygamy isn't widely accepted here, but many people like the ANC and some people, despite Zuma actually being an awful man and a rapist, still wanted him to be the president. So our prayer is that he turns out to be wonderful leader and sticks with Mandela's viewpoints of peaceful leadership and unification, even though Zuma is also quoted to have said that he wants to oppress the white people of SA. *sigh* That's not much progress...

Thursday we went on a tour of the Cape of Good Hope and other parts of SA. We saw a penguin beach and it was SO pretty!!! I was a dork and wore shorts that day and it was on and off rain, but I had a great day!!! A friend Grant and I watched You've Got Mail on the way there (which is one of my favorite movies!) and I had to stop myself from quoting the whole thing : ) A bunch of us took a really beautiful hike up part of the cape and, if you look on Facebook, you'll see tons of pictures from that! :) So pretty!!!

We came back that night and did some homework and hung out at our house. I actually think I went to bed early instead of doing homework. Oh, and our host family could not be more perfect! Katie and I LOVE them! We call them Mom and Dad and call each other Sister. And we couldn't have better parents! They're seriously the most thoughtful people!!

Friday we had class in the morning and then after some of us took the train into Cape Town. It cost R11 (or about $1.30) to go into Cape Town and back, about 25 minutes each way and it drops you off right at Green Market Square which is the big market with shopping. And I went to shop for others but ended up buying myself the cutest teapot!! :) It's small and colorful and has an elephant on each side :) The woman who sold it to me ended up wrapping it up in a TON of bubble wrap so now I have the adventure of bringing THAT in my suitcase! Ha! I'm going to be leaving a lot of clothes here so I can fit these tea pots and decorations I've bought back home!

That night the whole group went to play Action Cricket and Action Soccer. "Action" because it was just condensed games of cricket and soccer. I'm not the best at soccer so that one wasn't my fav but I loved cricket for some reason! It's not even the most fun sport, but I really enjoyed it and got really into it. And, not to brag or anything, but I was on the winning team ;)

Saturday was my first day to sleep it and it was GLORIOUS!!! I honestly haven't slept in in a long, long time! I had tons of weird dreams because I really woke up at 8am but made myself sleep on and off until 10. Then Katie and I hung out in her room and got ready late and went over to Micah and Grant's house (our usual hangout spot- a great house!) and ate dinner over there and played games and cards. Lauren and Ashleigh joined that evening and we played more games and watched Collateral which was SO good! Hadn't seen it before. And of course my Dad came and picked us up right when the end was happening so I really don't know what happened! Kinda the story of my life considering we have to get rides everywhere, we never end up finishing movies. So that was a fun night :)

Today, I actually slept until 10! My family was at church so I rummaged around the kitchen and made breakfast (aka toast and tea! haha.. not that impressive but in a foreign country it IS because things are so different here!!) and then our parents came home. Katie and I once again got ready and talked and listen to country music for a while. Tonight we are going to a Hillsong church that's about an hour away and I'm STOKED for the worship!!! If you don't know, Hillsong is a organization out of Australia which breeds really great worship leaders, bands, etc. (I may have gotten that wrong, but that's what I think it is) And I haven't been to church in 3 weeks and I'm craving some good church time!

This week is our last official week in Cape Town!!! I am really excited. I mean, I love it here, but man am I ready to be in the states, with Jeremy, and with our families and friends! This week I have two papers to write which is annoying, considering they're research papers and I only have internet access when I go to school! but I'm sure we'll all do some trips into town for some fun outings and last minute shopping... which everyone has saved for here! Eek! Lots of things to do and so little time! :)

Physically I'm doing much better. The only times I've felt sick in the last couple weeks have been if I ate too much sugar, which is self-induced. So luckily the stomach pains, etc. have subsided. Yey! And my new no fish policy is working out great! Finally, an excuse for me to not eat fish!! Mom, don't you wish this had come up earlier so I didn't have to spend years complaining?? :)

I really miss home lately but I've been pushing that out of my mind since I will be home so soon and will probably miss South Africa the first day I'm gone! Ha.. SO it's easier for me not to think about going and focus on being here. Communication here is awful, and I recently lost my calling card which is SO annoying because I was so excited to talk to Jeremy and I went to go call him and didn't have it :( :( So I may have to get another one because I would love to be able to TALK to people, considering I can't do anything besides email right now!

My hair is getting long, if you haven't noticed in pictures. Katie and I cut our bangs ourselves last week because we were sick of them being grown out and awkward and we did an AWFUL job! Ha! Like, no one would really think that upon a glance but if you look at them you'll see that they're really weird. So I'm looking forward to a good haircut by Kelli when I get back! Already made my appointment :)

Humm.. I don't really have anything else of substance to say. I'm enjoying being here a lot more as time goes by, but I'm also WAY looking forward to coming home. We've all turned into siblings here so it's funny how our dynamic has changed and now we tell people to be quiet quicker than we would have, or tell them that they're annoying us, or something like that. But we all love each other so it's not like there's conflict... but the group is definitely more comfortable with each other than when we got here, which is great :)

Well, I think that's all on I have! I am SO excited to see my closet at home... the clothes I've been wearing are DEFINITELY not my favorites anymore! Ha! I can't wait to switch out some shirts and see dresses I've forgotten about! :) Oh, and to see different jewelry.. well let's just say I brought the bare essentials here and am needing to switch it up!

With LOVE from South Africa,
Only 9 more days until I get on a plane!!! 10 days until I'm at LAX!!!!
-Paige