Write 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.
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.
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:
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
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.
We had a rare treat/annoyance a few weeks ago. We got quite a bit of snow in the Seattle area, which is uncommon. The conditions have to be just right; usually a snowstorm followed by dry, cold air. The snow has to stick and then not be followed by rain, which is usually the case when it snows in Seattle.
(for more info about Seattle weather check Steve Pool’s awesome weather resource at the humbly titled www.stevepool.com)
The annoyance was getting stuck on our own street. We live on a steep hill that crests about 20 yards south of us, and gets steeper for about a quarter mile to north of us. After the initial snow the roads were fine at the crest of our hill, but in front of our house and down the hill was a solid sheet of ice, about an inch thick. We were literally stuck for almost a week because our front wheel and rear wheel drive cars couldn’t make it the 20 yards to the crest, and going down hill to the next main street was a quarter mile bobsled run littered with cars in ditches left by the brave and idiotic.
The treat was the beauty of the snow, which was stunning the next day as the sun came out (which we hadn’t seen for quite a few months). We took the kids out in the snow, which they didn’t really know what to do with, but it was fun anyway. I shot a video of the snow and the kids using the dv camera we got for Christmas (thanks mom and dad). I then threw a short video together using the automatic movie creation tool in Windows movie maker which, as it turns out, is a nifty little program.
btw, I know that the intro to the video says ‘Snow Day 2006′, but in reality it was 2007, so shut up.
…and speak what we hear. This seems a simple and obvious statement, but over the past 3 months Team Wendorf has learned just how complex this statement really is.
Kai Atticus was born 5 ½ weeks early at the UW Hospital. He failed his (now routine) newborn hearing screens at the hospital, however we assumed that he had fluid in his ears which is a common cause of inconclusive results for all babies, especially those born preterm. Being stubborn I did not deem it necessary to take Kai in for further testing and felt it a disruption to the new schedule we were trying to implement with 2 babies in our family.
Upon the urging of medical professionals we took Kai for a follow up hearing screen. The results were the same, Inconclusive/Failed, at which point we were referred to Children’s Hospital. A few more weeks passed before we were subject to extensive (and tense) 2 hours of testing which determined that Kai had a bilateral mild to moderate hearing loss.
Our audiologist was kind and did her job well but due to hospital policy (and a non-urgent diagnosis at a hospital filled with crisis) we were sent away with a hug, a pamphlet on hearing loss and a return appointment 6 weeks later to confirm or correct the results from this day’s tests.
(stay tuned, this is the first in a series of upcoming posts about the story so far regarding Kai’s hearing issues)
Write 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. 
