Christmas Letter 2010

Wow! Where did the fall go? I just posted Caleb's First Day of School. Time for me (Rebekah) to scroll through our Kids 2010 picture folder, and share what has happened and what is happening in the Ekelund family. For one thing, we did the near impossible. People called us crazy, but against all odds we travelled over 3000 miles with 3 kids and a nursing baby to New England to visit our families and friends. I chose to post pics on Facebook with captions instead of blogging about the trip, but it was an action-packed-wonderful-whirlwind-vacation.

We also put our cute, affordable, and move-in ready house :) on the market this past March with the plans to move to Barnesville, MN as Adam accepted a call from Hope Lutheran Brethren Church to be the Associate Pastor on April 1, 2010. We were very blessed to be called to a church that we had already had a history with. We were welcomed back by old friends and got to know many new friends as well. Adam's main responsibilities are organizing the youth with a little bit of worship leading mixed in. He also maintains his part-time position at UPS driving and in the warehouse. Hopefully, our house will sell soon, so we don't have to commute during the winter months!

I am perpetually chasing after my four energetic kids. Even though it can be trying at times, I truly love staying home with them and am incredibly blessed to be able to do so. I taught three sections of online chemistry at M State this past spring and fall, as well as trained faculty how to set up their online sites. As far as ministry goes, the Lord has been pressing upon my heart (especially lately) the importance of being a mom and encouraging my children to a mature relationship with Christ.



Caleb will be 7 in January and is in 1st grade at Adams Elementary two blocks away! He is in Peggy Peterson's class with a couple of friends from Kindergarten, as well as some friends from Bethel Lutheran Church. We just got a great report card with the following comment from Mrs. Peterson, "Caleb is an enthusiastic learner and I love having him in my class. His attitude for school is excellent and he approaches assigned tasks in a confident manner. He has a very happy and cooperative attitude."

He also learned how to ride a two-wheeler and attended Inspiration Point Bible Camp this past summer on his first sleepover camp. Way to go, Bugs!



Hannah is 4 ½ and has informed us that when she grows up, she wants to be a princess. Move over Kate Middleton. She is in her 2nd year of preschool at McKinley Elementary and is becoming quite the artist. One of her favorite activities at school is finger painting. She is often found in a princess dress, jewelry, and heels while toting a sleeping (stuffed) cat named Scat Cat.
She is also a great help with her baby sister. Thank you, Goose!



Timothy just turned 3 on October 29th. We call him Timothy the Tornado. He gets into anything and everything as he grows to understand the world. His vocabulary is extensive, however, he needs grammar work. One of his statements when he is frustrated at his older siblings is, "MOM! Caleb and Hannah are keeping funny!" which means, "Caleb and Hannah are making fun of me."

Hang in there, Wu! Pretty soon they won't be able to "keep funny" without consequences.

Sarah Grace made her dramatic entrance on Christmas Day last year. So, we get to celebrate Jesus and Sarah's birthday on the 25th. Sarah is such a sweetie. She is generally very good natured unless she is getting four teeth at one time. Youch! She has wanted to stand since she was four months old, she can do amazing squats, and she started taking steps on Papa's birthday, November 6th.

I don't have a full primer, but I can tell you the words that melt my heart come from a 16lb girl who's eyes can just peek over the Pack N Play sides every morning at 7am, "Mehm Meh Meh." Happy 1st birthday, Sushi!

As the Christmas season comes, we once again focus on our Savior's incarnation. John chapter 1 describes this miracle; that the Almighty God, who has always been and always will be, came to us in the "flesh and made his dwelling among us." (v. 14) It was the end of this verse, that first caught my attention; "...full of grace and truth." As I was holding my baby girl, I was praising God for my (Sarah) Grace, but more importantly, for His (Saving) Grace. I am able to spend eternity with Him because of what Jesus did for me on the cross 2000 years ago. "God made him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Christ did that for you too. John 1:12&13 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." Praise be to God for His all sufficient grace! May this verse be your affirmation this season and coming year:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14

Love,
Rebekah Adam Caleb Hannah Timothy & Sarah

First Day of School

Today was Caleb's first day of first grade! Since we are still in FF, he gets to go to school down the street. Check out his "First Day" picture from last year...

Wheeeee!

Did I ever tell you that my dad was a roller coaster enthusiast? Do you even know what one is? My dad has travelled to many amusement parks in the continental US just to ride the famed roller coaster the park boasts (usually in the front car). I too have enjoyed a roller coaster ride in my day. Just the mechanical kind...

Well, here is our real life real estate roller coaster (say that five times fast). As some of you may know, there was a Homebuyer Tax Credit to stimulate the economy. There was one for first time homebuyers (which we aren't) and existing homebuyers (which we are). The rules were that you had to have a signed purchase agreement before April 30th and close by June 30th.

We had a signed purchase agreement for 514 (Bville house) before April 30th, and we had a buyer for 511 (FF house) by the end of April. The buyers signed the purchase agreement, put down the earnest money, had the inspection (at which point we had 514 inspected), and when they talked to their lender, they were denied the funds and the deal fell through. They even got their earnest money back after the house had been "off the market" for a month. What's the point of earnest money? Wheeeeeeee...

During the "tax credit" period we had 30 showings in two months. Since then, it has been five. I spent a lot of time stressing out about how to boost the curb appeal, enhance the interior, landscape, fix the front steps? Then I prayed. "Please, Lord, get us a buyer so we can close by June 30th and get the tax credit. This credit would help eliminate $6500 worth of debt, and move us closer to our mission field goal. Sounds like a plan God would follow, right? I mean, we are doing it for Him, right? Wheeeeeee...

I asked many friends and prayer partners to pray hard that it will close by June 30th. I bit my nails down to the skin, and about a week ago, He gave me peace. His pocketbook is not limited. He will provide no matter what we have going on. A friend posted on his Facebook status concerning his family's living situation, "God is rarely early, but he is never late." So true.

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

So here we are, June 30th. We terminated the 514 purchase agreement today because it was contingent on selling 511. We are at peace in His provision. Ahhhhhh...

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...

...to yesterday. (Are you humming Boyz II Men right now? We are.)

Message for Gma and Gpa

Full Disclosure

...another house selling term I have come to know amidst all the paperwork we have been filling out as of late...

I wanted to update my stalkers on our new life change. Adam just accepted a call to be a part-time associate youth pastor (with a little bit of worship leader on the side) at Hope Lutheran Brethren Church in Barnesville, MN. So, that is why we have put an offer on a house in Barnesville and have listed our current house. As far as our house goes, we have had some positive showings, but no offers yet. We are leaving it in His hands because we know He has the perfect buyers in mind; ones that want an adorable starter home that is a great deal and move-in ready! Are you feeling the hard sell? Good! You need to buy our house!

So with the start date contingent on selling the house, Adam plans to go up there once a week besides Sunday to start hanging out and getting to know the youth of the church. This is such an exciting time for Adam and our family as he has felt a call to ministry for a long time. God had the perfect position all laid out for him, and we just had to be patient.

When we moved here to attend seminary, through an intricate grapevine, Pastor Rich heard that a new seminarian helped lead worship at Faith Lutheran Brethren Church in Cranston, RI. Barnesville Lutheran Brethren (their name at the time) needed someone to play a lead instrument. So he took Adam and I out to Subway and asked us to visit on Sunday. We were overwhelmed by the love we received as mere visitors that Sunday and were invited to lunch at one of the elder's houses. On the drive home we knew that we wanted that congregation to be our home church while in seminary. We attended for four years until the commute became too difficult for our family.

We have kept in contact especially with Pastor Rich and his family, and when the church saw the need to add an associate pastor, they thought of Adam. It is such a great thing that we already know many of the families, and that there are new young families that have started attending since we have been gone. So we are excited to not only serve our Savior, but reunite with our Barnesville brothers and sisters.

Praise Him for His blessing to us! So, my faithful stalkers, what can you do (besides buy our house)? Please keep us in prayer as we turn the page and enter a new chapter in our lives and spiritual journey with Christ AND come visit us at our new church home this spring!

House For Sale

So, we are moving to Barnesville, MN about 40 miles NW of Fergus. We put an offer on a great house. You can see the features here.

That's where you come in, my faithful stalkers...I mean, readers. You must buy our adorable Fergus home. Check out its great features here! It is such a great house. I will miss it.

Sarah's Baptism

Last Sunday, January 17th, Sarah was baptized into God's family. It was an awesome time. We had it after the 11 o'clock service for those that wanted to come. We were so excited that 1/2 of her Godparents could be there. Pastor Erick Sorensen came for J-Term at seminary, and so he was able to be there for the baptism. We look forward to seeing the rest of the family in June. I know Melissa is itching to hold her Goddaughter.


Pastor Brad was the officiating pastor. It was very special to us that he and his family were a part of the day. The Pribbenows were there along with Erick, Pastor Dave, Mandy, and Gramma. We sang a hymn a capella, Adam & Erick read Scripture, and we went through the parent's and Godparent's questions to promise to raise Sarah in a home that loves and desires to obey God, and to pray for her to come to a mature committment to Christ as she gets older.


Then, Pastor Brad invited everybody there to come up and watch as Sarah was baptized. After that, he held her as he talked referencing Psalm 62 and the song I picked for Sarah.

Finally, we all met up at Don Pablo's for some lunch.

Sarah Grace's Birthday

Sarah Grace Ekelund

Born 9:33am December 25, 2009

5lbs. 14ozs. - 19 in. long

I wanted to blog this soon so I don't forget all the little details of the time surrounding my 4th baby's birth...

I was scheduled for a c-section on December 28th at 8am for a couple months. As December rolled around, I was getting sicker and more uncomfortable (as many of you moms know) as my belly grew bigger and bigger. I was having contractions all the time, but they were never in a definite 5 minute pattern. Therefore, they were considered Braxton-Hicks. But let me tell you, having been in labor with my Caleb, the contractions that I was getting the week of Christmas were serious pain. Not wanting to be a "burden" to the hospital OB staff (part of my preg. hormones talking), I decided that I wasn't going to go into the hospital with mere BH contractions. I was going to go in when my water broke or December 28th. I just wanted/needed to make it until December 26th at 11:41am when the cavalry (my MIL) flew in from Rhode Island to sweep my lovely 3 young children away into Gramma/Granbaby bliss for three weeks.

I had serious low contractions on Christmas Eve. I wasn't feeling very well, the presents weren't wrapped. Honestly, because of my uncomfort, I could've cared less about my favorite holiday of the entire year. I didn't care if we had a tree, I didn't care if we put up any decorations, I didn't care if we had presents, I didn't care if we sent Christmas cards, etc...you get the picture. I went to bed. Adam woke me at 3am saying, "Rebekah, I don't know which presents go to which person." You see, we tried a new tradition this year. We dropped Timothy off at a babysitter's house and took Caleb and Hannah to the Dollar Store to buy presents for each other's Christmas stockings. I didn't want to wrap stocking stuffers, but Caleb said to Adam, "If you don't wrap each present in my stocking, I will take out the present that isn't wrapped and say, 'Guess you needed to spend a little more time on this one'." What a character that boy. So, Adam desperate to make up for my lack of interest in the project set out to wrap each gift and stocking stuffer. Thus, I got up at 3am with him to direct his project. We stayed up until 5:30am wrapping the gifts. Then, I crashed back in bed and Adam didn't even get off the couch after wrapping the last one.

***TMI ALERT***

My eyes popped open at 7am and 10 seconds later, I felt a gush of water. I jumped out of bed so as not to drench the Tempur-Pedic, grabbed Timothy's blankie, put it between my legs, and hopped onto a pile of dirty towels on our bedroom floor. Thankfully, I have been horrible at keeping the house picked up so there was something for me to drip on other than the hardwood floors. I yelled for Adam a bunch of times...no response. Finally, almost at the top of my lungs, I yelled, "Adam I know you are exhausted, but you MUST wake up right now. ADAM! My water broke!" He jumped up and tried to get his bearings, came into our room and helped lay out a path of towels to the toilet. I called the hospital and Lois R. said, "Come right in and have a Christmas baby! Do you have someone to watch the kids?" I said, "No, but I will find someone and come in as soon as I can."

I sat there trying to think who can I possibly call on Christmas morning to watch my three dear children that aren't out of town? I called the Pribbs. No answer. I got bold enough to call their cell phone. Mr. Pribb answered in a tired voice. I felt so bad, but what could I do? I just resigned myself to be indebted to their family for the rest of my life. Mrs. Pribb said she would be over as soon as she could.

Oh wait! Did I fail to mention we were in the midst of on of the biggest snowstorms of 2009? It started off as maybe a 1 to 2 inch accumulation to a three day, winter storm warning with 18 inches forecasted.

With someone on the way to watch the sleeping cherubs, I got an interesting outfit together. My pj t-shirt under a long sleeve shirt of Adam's, a bath towel as underwear beneath black yoga pants, socks, and my winter boots. This typify's my lack of caring throughout my pregnancy as I wasn't prepared months ahead of time with the hospital bag packed, the baby furniture set up, or the infant clothes washed in Dreft.

We arrived at the hospital at about 7:45am. Nobody was on the road as they were covered in at least 6 inches of snow...and it was Christmas morning. They prepped me with an IV even though the doctor wasn't answering his page. Thankfully, my OB doctor was on call. He told us later that he hasn't been on call on Christmas for like 5 years. He finally answered his page and called a Class 2 C-section which means ASAP because it is dangerous for a 3-time c-sectioned uterus to go into labor. Everything started moving much faster at that point. I was having those hard, low contractions irregularly, but they weren't showing up on the baby monitor...TRUST ME...I was having contractions.

I was feeling very uncomfortable and really, super nervous. Repeat c-sections have been more and more difficult for me emotionally because I know what is coming up. I know about the large needle in the back. I know the stretching and pulling uncomfort in surgery. I know the risks. They wisked me down to surgery. The doctor came too. It was funny because I have always just met him down there. It felt more personal with him pushing the gurney to the OR. My nurse in surgery was Alisa. I didn't recognize her with her hat and mask on, but she said, "I have met you before. I go to Bethel." That helped calm me down...ok like a tiny bit. The anesthesiologist had me sit on the side of the bed and bend my back towards her while I kept a death grip on Alisa's poor hands. I stared into her blue eyes and pretty much moaned like an idiot until the spinal was put in. I was embarassed at my display of fear, but guess what? didn't care.

While chatting to try to distract me, the doctor said that he entertained the thought of riding his snowmobile to the hospital. I thought that would have been cool. Then, I remembered the needle going into my back. I apologized to him (and his family) about "ruining" his Christmas, but he said they were almost done with presents anyway. He also said that he was thinking, "Wow this is the first time that I haven't been called in on a holiday in a long time." 10 minutes later the OB floor called telling him of Adam and my arrival. I smiled at the irony. Then, I remembered the needle going into my back.

Once the spinal was in and they were ready to go, they called Adam in. He sat next to me and I seemed to feel ALL the pulling this time. As he opened me up, the doctor said, "I see an ear." I couldn't believe we were going to meet another Ekelund in a few moments. We didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. Alisa asked me what names we had picked out. I said, "I think Sarah Grace for a girl. I can't remember what we decided for a boy." She said, "Well, it looks like you won't have to remember that boy's name because It's A Girl!"

I couldn't believe it. Neither could Adam. He started crying. I started crying. I looked over at the warmer to catch a glimpse of my girl. She looked so tiny. I asked, "Is she big enough?" She didn't look very big at all. I didn't know if she was capable of operating those big lungs in her chest. I heard the cries and felt relaxation endorphins flood my brain. Adam held her while we had the anesthesiologist take some pictures.

Adam left with our girl while they cleaned her up and did all the things they needed to on the OB floor. The doctor stitched me up and they wheeled me to family recovery. It is a new policy at the hospital where dad and baby come to recovery with you. I loved it. It was the first time I was lucid coming to the recovery area. Normally, they put me out and I wake up in some room trying to pretend I am awake and ready to go to my OB room so I can rejoin my family. When I got there, they asked me my baby's name. I said, "I think it is Sarah Grace, but Adam has the last say." I found out later from my mom that when she asked him her name, Adam said, "I think it is Sarah Grace, but I have to talk to Rebekah first."

When Adam got there, I found out she was indeed Sarah Grace Ekelund and she was 5lbs 14ozs (so small compared to my three 7 pound babies) and her blood sugar was great so she wasn't given sugar water on the OB floor and I was able to nurse her right away. So awesome!

I choose songs for all my babies. Sarah's song is Psalm 62 by Aaron Keyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmx9p6vAL1g

So, that is the story of the best Christmas present, besides the birth of my Savior, that I received on December 25, 2009. Thank you, Lord for this amazing Christmas blessing!

Psalm 62:1,2

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

So what's up with the Ekelunds?

Blog posts have been low on my list of priorities throughout this pregnancy. I apologize to those of you who check regularly only to be bored. I have had a lot of medical issues from nausea to H1N1 to gestational diabetes and more. I have had to focus on just the few most important things to get through, but I hate complaining and unloading on people.

Not the best (34 weeks) belly picture, but I share this T-shirt with my friend Jenn. We mail it back an forth when we find out we are pregnant. Caleb took this shot.

So, after all my belly-aching (literally and figuratively), I have to say besides my Savior's birth and the Good News associated with it, I get the best Christmas present this year. Yippee! Even though this has been a tough 38 weeks, it will all have been worth it when I hold that little one in my arms for the first time. Here we are a week away from my scheduled c-section date. Everybody is excited with anticipation about who will emerge from Mommy's belly next Monday.

Also, a word about Christmas cards...thank you to those who have sent your Christmas letters, cards, and family pictures! We love putting them up on our mantel! I decided not to send Christmas pictures this year because the birth of our baby was so close. It will be later on in January(?) or maybe a Valentine's greeting(?) or maybe next Christmas? :)

Finally, here is a funny Calebism from Adam's FB page.

12/18/09 - So, Adam told the kids jokingly that we were going out driving to a land flowing with soda and candy. Caleb's eyes lit up, but Hannah immediately went into a classic fit of cute-rage and began yelling anything she could think of to show her disapproval at the horrific lie he just told. When her tirade subsided a minute later, Caleb mumbled under his breath at Hannah, "You are drama." And scene.