Maya in the kitchen

Family Adventure Trips

Here's a picture of Maya and I getting ready to go hiking up Peavine Mountain (it's the mountain you can see from our front window), her face is somewhat hidden, but she's in the baby-pack that Jonathan and Sandy passed onto us, after Jeremy (Jonathan's brother)passed it onto him...thanks Collins family. The camera got left in the garage, otherwise you would see more pictures from the hike. The rest of these pictures are from Kim and I's trip to Yosemite National Park...amazing place! The pictures hardly give it just justice.

Maya and the boys...(daddy, great grandpas and pierson)

Maya Eating Dinner

Summers End

The summer has been very busy for us, but is now slowing down a bit. We are making a trip to KC next week and then we should have a break for while. Here are some pictures of Maya over the summer that we wanted to share. We feel really blessed to have a such a happy little girl!

Three dealers and two job-offers later

We FINALLY purchased a car and got rid of two. It feels good to not have three cars anymore! We bought a Honda Pilot (from Courtesy Honda here in Reno) with 32k miles on it out the door for just a little over trade-in (we didn't even pay blue book private party value on it), lots of thanks to our friend and businessman Victor for valuable purchasing strategies and my dad (Pete's dad) for sound advice.

Latest Maya Pictures

We took these on the 13th of June. The guy in the picture is one of our boys from the youth ministry. She's a Boston fan! Thanks Reid Family.

Spring Man Trip

Check out the reflection on the lake.
We day-hiked/scrambled this beast. Bailey was very impressive!
We had to free-stand the tents on the rocks, because the grass was covered in snow.
There's Jeremy.
Bailey and me, sporting our warm clothes.

I went backpacking at the end of May in the Desolation Wilderness (South Lake Tahoe)with my friend Jeremy and Bailey. It was a short hike, a total of about 12 miles but a fun one. Instead of my usual style (seeing as many different places as possible) we packed in and made a basecamp at Lake Aloha and stayed there for about a day and a half. While we were there we day-hiked, threw rocks at the icebergs in the lake, napped, talked and laid around on the rocks. It was relaxing.

First swim...

We made a trip to Sacremento/San Francisco for a graduation trip with the 6th graders. Maya went for her first swim at a water park on the trip. She slept through wading in the water!

Samantha Farnum(Munn), Kim's roommate from MNU came for a visit and made the trip to San Francisco with us. Alexa, Sam's daughter kept us laughing. She really liked to hold Maya.

Maya in the morning

Maya is a morning girl. Here are some of her morning pictures.

Grammy and Oscar

My Mom (Pete's mom) decided she didn't want to be called "Granny", or "Nana." She wanted to be called, "Grammy," because Maya was her "Grammy Award." So, we decided my Dad should be called, "Oscar." My parents came out and visited in April. Sorry, we are a little late getting the pictures up.

Family Trip

We made a trip to San Francisco when Nana and Papa Fawcett were here. Maya's first mini vacation and Nana and Papa's first trip to the west coast!
Maya had her dedication service on April 15th. She also had her first bath in the baby tub the night before the dedication. She wasn't and still isn't into taking baths!

more.......

Well, hard to believe that it has been about a week since the last set of pictures. We have been keeping busy with the babe and catching up on some sleep. Maya has still been nice to us, we are still getting about 6 hours of sleep a night without having to wake up to feed the little one. We have to go to the doctors on Monday to have her weight checked. We had an appt last Tuesday, and she has only gained an ounce. She had growth with her head and length. Her examine was all very good too, however we have to go back and have her weight checked on Monday. She is doing much better with how she is feeding and feeding more frequently. Keep us in your prayers if you think of us, we feel so blessed and know that God has been with Maya's life since the beginning and we know He will continue. I am including pictures with Nana and Papa and of course just Maya too. The one picture is Maya dressing up like a religious leader for the Easter musical at church! Not really, but we thought that she looked kind of like one!

The Cutest Little Girl in the World!

Here some more pictures of our little girl. Grandma Pat...Here is your picture of Melissa and the babe! The baby is doing great and has even been letting us get some sleep....about 5 hours for one part of the night. Bailey still likes the baby....but I think he checks out the bassinet every morning to see if she has left yet, but the kisses have not subsided. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

More Maya Pictures

Finally some more pictures! Maya is doing well. She is even letting us get some sleep! We thought we better include a picture with Bailey too. He is being a really good big brother and likes to check up on her in the bassinet and give her lots of kisses, which we are trying to regulate! Maya took her first trip to Lake Tahoe today with Nana and Melissa and Mom and Dad and big brother....so sunglasses were a must! Don't worry we didn't make her wear them out of the house. We hope you all like the pictures....we won't wait so long next time to post pictures...we are just really enjoying our little girl.

Back Home!

We got home about 11am this morning. Kim and Maya are each doing well. I still think I'm dreaming. So, seeing Maya with a pacifier in her mouth for the first time about made me cry. I'm not really sure what was up with that, but I took a picture of her with it. The other pictures are of Maya in her first "non-hospital" outfit and also of Kim and Maya with a bunch of the L&D nurses before we left. Very cool!

Nurses gawking over Maya

More pictures!

Her full name is Maya Mykael Robinson. I included pictures of her being weighed, her home during the pregnancy (the placenta!), Maya on Kim's chest only seconds after her birth and also a picture of Maya getting cleaned up.

Maya was born!

Here's the update! Kim felt increasingly intense and consistent contractions starting around 11:30 yesterday morning (March 27) and at around 8:30pm we decided to make a trip over to the hospital to check things out. She was dilated to about a 3, but having intense contractions every one to two minutes, so they decided to keep her another hour and see what happened (usually they don't keep you unless you are a four). After an hour she was dilated to a four and they transfered her to her own room (around 10:30pm). By midnight Kim accepted an epidural and had her "bulging sac" ruptured. At 2am she was already dilated to a ten and complete, so she began to push! At 4:38am, Maya came out! Wow. So, currently we are each ecstatic and we feel like we are dreaming. Maya is doing very well. She scored a 9-10 on her Apgar (newborn baby) test and weighed in at 7lbs. and 6 ounces at 18 and 3/4 inches long, with brown hair. Kim is doing great as well; worn out and sore. Our friend Molly, (Molly and her husband Jeremy go to church with us, Jeremy and Pete are skiing partners and Molly and Kim work together on L&D) worked all day on the 27th and came in and worked all night just to be Kim's nurse and deliver the baby.

sweet luvin'

 

So, here is another picture of Maya and her huge head (the angle of the shot makes her head look huge, next to her little arms). Here is the latest update: the doppler test results were much, much better. Because the results were so good, we don't have to go into the perinatologist for two weeks. Kim's having NST tests to monitor the baby, twice weekly. Today, Kim was having contractions every two to five minutes, some she felt and others she didn't feel but the test told her. After last week all of Kim's PTO and sick leave will have been spent, unfortunately before Maya is born. So, no more sugar Momma for a few months...daddy's bringing home the bacon now!

Bailey Boy

Bailey has been a rascal lately, still we thought we would put some pictures of our "eldest" on the blog. Pretty soon the "little sister" will be taking the spotlight.

Angusina

 

So, here is what you are seeing: The left part of the picture is the placenta, Angusina's face is in the center, and the right side of the picture is her arm(partly covering her face). You should be able to see her nose, nostrils, lips and cheeks. The latest update on the pregnancy is that Kim is officially off of work for the remaining time. The Doplar reading shot up pretty high, which means that there is more resistance...if this continues then we'll probably get to see her sooner than we had anticipated.

Whoa baby!

So, we had voting for the leadership team at church. They weren't going to let her vote because they didn't think she was older than fifteen...until she told them that the youth pastor knocked her up and said she could vote. We're at 35 weeks!

 

Maya In The Womb

Here is the latest ultra sound picture of Maya. Her nose is kind of smashed up against the placenta on the first shot. We're excited! Here is an update on Kim and I. Kim has been ordered to take work off for about a week and a half now. We had a follow up with the perinatologist recently due to the abnormal blood testing Kim had with Trisomy 18 earlier this fall. The follow up showed that there was a resistance in the placenta regarding the blood flowage. Which basically means, Angusina (or Maya) may not have been getting an appropriate amount of nutrition and oxygenation. However, her weight and size are right on target. So as a precautionary measure, the perinatologist told Kim to take off work for the week and get reevaluated at the end of the week. When Kim was reevaluated at the end of the week the resistance had decreased more than the doctor had expected. Thus being the case, he told Kim to take off another week and get reevaluated again. We will probably continued to have weekly check-ups with him (the perinatologist) and our ob doctor until Maya is born. So excited! The doctor also informed us that there was a recent study showing that labor and delivery nurses and icu nurses who are pregnant often have this "resistance" show up in the pregnancy due to the stress level and amount of activity during their work shifts. The study also showed that it often happens with women who are very active and ob residents. So, that's the update. Maya is in a good belly, is breathing fine, growing fine and is very active. If the resistance increases, it is likely that the "worst" thing that could happen is an early delivery. We hope you enjoy the pictures. Please continue to pray for Maya's health, that she would have a relationship with God at an early age, stay close to Him throughout her whole life and be raised by Godly parents who have a clue...we're praying big.

More Pictures...

 
 
 

Baby Moon

So, taking a "baby moon" is supposedly one of the latest trends for pregnant couples. The last "hurrah" before kids, I guess. We really just call it "taking a trip." We took a trip to San Fran, or as we Nevadan-ites call it, "The City" this week and had a good time. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Vallejo, which is just across the water from Mare Island, an island I lived on for about 8 months growing up. We ferried our way over to San Francisco on Wednesday and ate lunch, took a trolley ride, saw the sea lions and fisherman's wharf. That night we ferried back to Vallejo (hour long ride) and went to the Sardine Can, a restaurant my Mom took me and my brother to for our "special lunch with Mom," then we went back to the B&B and played cards (actually I "played", Kim just got worked) then hit the sack. Thursday morning we toured Mare Island, saw my old house, and head back to Reno. We stopped in Vaccaville at the outlet mall, then drove through the snow over the Sierra Nevadas before finishing our trip. The pictures are all from our trip.

Dog Night

Churches should have dog night, during revival services. Not only would more people show up for the services, but every-time you went to the altar for altar call you would get kissed. What a concept!

latest ponderings...

Unfortunately, I was not able to get a spandex picture of my good friend Jonathan, when he came to Reno for a pole vaulting competition in January. However, while surfing the web for strapping lads I was able to find a picture of a "fitness guru."
Spending time with Jonathan was encouraging and challenging, as usual. I am grateful that God has given me inspiring friends who challenge me in my walk with God...and ones that look great in short shorts.

Third Annual Man Trip

Well, me and the men in my life took our third annual man trip in January. We traveled to San Diego and did some surfing, and came back to the north land and did some snowboarding, hiking and hanging out. Here are some pictures.

Here I am looking sharp at the pizza restaurant







out hiking with the coolest dog ever










out hiking again









Josh and Mikey crammed into the Suba with the boards.

Pete, Kim and Bailey Update

Howdy! Kim and I are doing well. The last couple of months we were able to spend a lot of time with friends and family, which was great and needed. Kim is doing well and has had what she considers a "good pregnancy experience." She is looking into a new job opportunity with a pregnancy center downtown. This could be a good thing for us, adding structure to our crazy lives. Youth ministry has continued to be unpredictable, but still fun, challenging, discouraging and exciting. I am talking with a coach at a local high school about becoming the head pitching coach for the baseball team. Bailey is still a cuddling wierdo. We can't believe we are having a baby (well, Kim can believe it, but I can't), please pray with us as we await Maya's arrival.

More Pregnant Kim

We are getting more and more excited as Maya's birth approaches.

funny faced preg lady

Here is an updated picture of Kim, about 12 weeks left!

Dear Sandy,

Here is a picture of our new wood floors. We will update it again once the transition is completed (new paint and molding). Bailey is not a big fan.

This is a picture of our nursery, we will post an updated picture of it later, too.

And finally, here is a picture of our boy with his friend, Jezebel on Bailey's new bed. In case you are wondering, Jezebel does live up to her name.

Kim's Pregnant!

Here are some recent pictures of Kim (Pete's not showing much yet). She's a pretty little pregnant lady.

Favorite Road Signs

I like fun road signs. Here is one of my favorites (from Anchorage, Alaska).

Snow-Capped Mountains

Here is the picture I promised. You can see the snow-capped mountain behind our neighbor's house, which is across the street (i.e. this is the view from our living room window).

Thanksgiving in Ohio (rear-end of the nation)

Kim and I traversed to her parent's house in Ohio for Thanksgiving. They threw a surprise baby shower for her which was really generous. Here are some pictures from the trip (Kim getting the "surfing" baby quilt, our niece and nephew, and the Yankee Family).

Christmas Tree Hunting

Kim and Bailey and I went Christmas tree hunting. For ten bucks we got to hike in the mountains, choose our own tree, cut it down, drive home and decorate it...fun, fun, fun.
Here are some pictures of our expedition:

Bailey and I are in front of the tree, before we cut it, I'm loading the tree, and then there's the tree decorated and Bailey wiped out from exploring.

Materialism

The next time Kamera Youth Ministries will meet for Focus is, Thursday November 30th. I decided last night while I was in bed that I would start posting on my blog a general synopsis of our next Focus service at least a week out. I figured this would be a great way to let the community respond and help with the service if they choose to.

Materialism is what we’ll be talking about on the 30th. It will also be our last sermon for the Theology of Switchfoot Series. Our next series is A New Way. I am stoked about our service on materialism, Thursday night. It’s interesting how hard it is for me, at times, to dig into God’s word but once I do it rejuvenates me.

So, Philippians 4:10-23 is the section we’ll be working out of. Here’s my running commentary on it:

Paul is writing to the Philippians while he is in prison. The part of the letter we are looking at is the end of the letter, where Paul is giving thanks to the Philippians for the “gifts” they sent him through Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was the messenger from the Philippians. No doubt, Epaphroditus showing up was probably one of the “gifts” that Paul was thankful for, but he also is grateful for the financial gift that was sent. We believe it was a financial gift because of the financial terms and metaphors he uses in verses 17 and 18.

Though Paul makes it certain that he is thankful for the gift he also is very clear that the gift was not necessary. Two reasons for this: one being that during the ancient times it would be normal to see Charlatan philosophers on the street corners of major cities, like Philippi. Charlatan philosophers were dressed like philosophers and were usually successful at gaining a crowd who would listen to them, do what they said and also provide financial support for them (reminds me of the “philosopher” in History of the World part 1). These philosophers were known as being “crude” and often people gave to them out of respect of their “cloth” or because they were afraid of what the philosophers would say about them. Much of what Paul did, could look similar to what the Charlatan philosophers did, because he often used philosophical platforms for evangelism. Paul did not want the similarities to cause misunderstanding, which it probably would have if he depended financially on the churches, though he undoubtedly believed receiving money from the church was his right (1 Cor. 9).
Reason two is that Paul wanted to make sure that the people in Philippi knew that he was content in all situations, not because of their financial gift or because of the visit from Epaphroditus, but because of God’s love for him. He also makes it clear that his work is not dependent or motivated by their financial support. His joy is not dependent on his physical comfort but rather he has learned to be content in every circumstance. Stoic philosophers used the word content (autarkes, in Greek) to mean “self-sufficient” which they considered to be the highest attribute or characteristic a person could have. Only, in Paul’s meaning, he finds sufficiency not in himself but in God (v.13).

“What does this all have to do with materialism?” you might be asking. I’m not for sure, but let me tell you what I think so far. There are generally two mindsets that Christians have towards money and wealth. Both are wrong J. One view is that money and wealth are given to Christians who follow God. I tend to believe that this is the kind of view that Joel Osteen would share (a giga church preacher…I hesitate to use the title, “pastor’).

The second view is a neutral view of money that says, “Money can be used for good or evil.” This view would say that wealthy Christians have a powerful tool which can be used for good. My actions tend to prove I believe this view, though I don’t want to and am working it out. Why don’t I want to believe this? Because the Bible tends to cause me to believe that Christians should be very cautious about entering wealth.

We are warned that wealth can tempt us to believe we are self-sufficient and are our own God. Proverbs 30:8-9, encourages us to ask only for our daily bread. God promises destruction to the King of Tyre (Ezek. 28:5-6) whose wealth has caused him to be prideful, God also reminds Israel that when he fed them in the wilderness they turned from him (hos. 13:6). Jesus is very clear about how Christians should be cautious with wealth. He blesses the poor, and states how difficult it is to reach heaven with wealth. Though there are wealthy people who are indeed Christians in the old and new testament, the list is short. Wealth is so cautioned because it has the power to sway people into acting unrighteous and can convince people that they are self-sufficient and takes away reliance and dependence on God. We should use the money we receive for good and pay attention to how we use it and to the role it plays in our lives.

Christians who have wealth (practically every Christian in North America; Richard Foster says anyone who has enough money to buy a book is wealthy in relation to the rest of the world) and must use this “unrighteous wealth” to survive should follow the example of Paul and the church in Philippi. Each of the examples show people who are not attached to the money they own. The church in Philippi accrued an amount of money and gave it away to Paul, generously (Paul states that they paid over what “full payment” was) and Paul was content (despite being in prison) without the financial gift and without the gift of the presence of a friendly supporter (Epaphroditus, the messenger). Both examples show people who handled their wealth reflectively.

So often, in America, we accumulate wealth and bring it into our homes without reflecting on it’s potential unrighteousness. We bring it in without thinking about it, period. Paul reminds us that the best way to handle the possible deception that wealth brings is to reflect on it, and give generously to those in need, especially those in the faith (Gal.6:10) and then provide equality among God’s people. This makes us agents of God’s grace and blessings to others, not blessed “do gooders” who have earned wealth due to our relationship with God. Jacques Ellul states, “There is one act par excellence which profanes money by going directly against the law of money, an act for which money is not made. This act is giving.”

Take away the power of money by giving it generously to those in need and learn to be content in every situation.

I received a lot of help on this passage from the NIV APPLICATION COMMENTARY.

Swiss Family Robinson's Abode

This is a picture of "The Robinson Castle," I guess. We don't really have a name for our house, but if we did it would be cool to have a name from the middle ages that sounded kind of "knightish." We should probably build a mote before we start naming our house after a knigt or a castle.



Here's our living room...inside our castle. Castle's aren't as big as you thought they were. Next week we'll try and include a picture of the snow capped mountain you can see from our living room window...sweet.

Being Real And Alive

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be and feel "real and alive." We all long in some way to feel real and alive. Many students that I have worked with often have gone to things that cause themselves pain or cause other people pain. I do the same thing. I'm not a "cutter," or anything like that but I seek out pain for myself and others often in search of that feeling of being real and alive. It's weird that pain causes those feelings, it's weirder that we seek out other's pain to feel that way. I would like to share some different things that make me feel real and alive that don't cause me or others pain. These are the things that I will try to do and to think about when I am looking for that feeling of being real and alive:

- eating lunch with Kim at her hospital
- going for walks with Kim
- throwing the frisbee to Bailey and going for runs with him
- talking with my brother and engaging in conversations with him and my parents
- surfing with Drew (my brother)
- being creative
- spending time with students in our youth ministry
- "partaking in the eucharist" (taking communion)
- watching movies with Kim and sitting by the fire
- playing guitar
- riding my longboard skateboard (more on this later)
- hiking, backpacking, being outside, running, etc.
- journaling, writing
- taking Kim on a date
- looking at pictures of my beautiful and smiley wife
- spending time with good friends
- cold air on my face, driving the car with the windows rolled down
- listening to music

That's it for now.

Two Hands

Have you ever gone to the bathroom in an airplane lavatory? I have. I had an interesting experience in one here recently.
I had just finished up (#2) and I was attempting to take some toilet paper off of the role. Unfortunately the roll was so full that it was not unrolling easily. After a few minutes of tearing off a tiny piece of tp (it kept tearing off everytime I tried to unroll it) and bashing my elbow up against the side of the lavatory wall several times and after much groaning I finally figured out what my problem was. I needed to use both hands. I joyfully discovered that if my left hand rolled the tp and my right hand pulled that I could unroll up to six sheets of tp before it would rip (a personal airplane lavitory record). It was fun, I guess. It was certainly exciting to me.
I realized after I washed my hands and went back to my seat and held Kim's hand that there are times in life when we need two hands. Not necessarily our own two hands. Kim and I had received some "rough" news about "baby angus" (our baby due in April) and we were both having a difficult time getting through the day.
We needed each other's hands. Hands that offered comfort, encouragement, protection and hope. It was then, sitting in my seat holding Kim, that I realized how important community is. Talking with our family, church family, and friends was encouraging to us. They offered hope, prayer, and the presence of true love (God) when we needed it most. We needed another hand to be there with us and help us "wade through the crap," if you will. Sometimes we need two hands.

So, what were we looking at? Closest guesser gets an air high five.