It's bad when you have to re-read your last post to remember where you left off...

I think I've been procrastinating posting another entry because SO MUCH has happened since our last update.  I was going to do a whole entry on our trip to Hawaii.  Then another on Thanksgiving, and another on Christmas.  I was planning to detail out the fun times with lots of pictures, especially of Madison, and maybe add some really fun recipes I've tried over the last few months.  Or talk about the cookbook my Mom and I compiled and gave out at Christmas presents this year.

But you know what - creating a blog posts takes lots of time.  And uploading pictures seems to take FOREVER!  And I'm a busy working mom, so the only time I have to write a blog post is on the weekends during Madison's nap.  And frankly, I'm usually using that time to nap myself these days because I'm pregnant with #2 (yay!) and tired as hell.  Again - a full blog post just to announce that would have been great...

So let's skip the diatribe and see if these pictures can upload in less than 30 minutes:

At a park in Honolulu:

 At the Luau put on by the Marriott Resort.

 Sunrise at Haleakala crater on Maui:

 Pre-Thanksgiving swing at the park:

 Thanksgiving at Jim and Betty's:

 She wasn't excited about sitting on Santa's lap this year:

 Bergman family Christmas:

 Grandpa Bergman built this step stool for her.  Now she can see what I'm doing in the kitchen.  It converts into a chair she can sit on.

 Best $100 ever spent.  This bike is the love of Madison's life right now. She is always saying "bike helmet!" to indicate she wants to go ride her bike.  Like father, like daughter...

 Madison loved the baby her Great Grandma Lou gave her. She loves to push the baby in the stroller she got as well.

 Madison and Mocha at Christmas with my parents:

 We recently gave this to our parents to announce that I'm pregnant again. Actual due date is September 5th, but my doctor wants to induce me a week early, so we're looking at August 29th at the latest. That puts the kids only 2 years apart in school (unless we decide to hold one of them back), so that makes me happy.  :)

 Madison wearing dada's hat:

 Madison and James on their Valentines date night:

Coming up next (so I remember where I left off for my next post):
- Madison's room is getting a makeover.  She's excited to get a big girl room!
- Madison's 2nd birthday and party
- Both grandparents and Aunt Lindsey are coming to visit!

Your Fall Update

Fall is here!!  How do I know?  Because the high is less than 90 degrees today and it's really raining!  For the first time in 6 months, it's really raining.  I love fall!  Now for your update...  We'll stick to three things since my last post.

1. I got promoted!!  :)  As of October 1st, I am officially a manager at Holtzman Partners.  (For those of you not familiar with the audit hierarchy, it goes like this: Staff, Senior, Manager, Senior Manager, Partner.) This is a good thing because, as I told my counselor, I was about to hand back a few projects if I didn't get promoted.  Just this last week I was told I'm now going to be managing one of our large SOX consulting clients. I had sort of been senioring/managing this client for the last year, but I've always had another manager review my work before it heads to the partner.  Now I'm about to have a lot more visibility from the partners at my firm.  Oh, and my bio is officially on the website: http://www.holtzmanpartners.com/people/managers. I definitely don't take the promotion for granted. Being at a small local firm, I feel like you're probably scrutinized more than you would be at the Big 4 (Deloitte, E&Y, PwC, or KPMG) just because you have more exposure working with everyone at the company.  Just because you've put in the time doesn't mean you'll get the promotion.  So I'm very grateful and look forward to another fast learning curve the job will require.

2. Grandma and Grandpa Bergman (Don's parents) are back in Texas!  They made the annual trip from their cabin in Story, WY to their winter abode in Fulshear, TX last week, stopping in Austin to see us for a couple of days. Madison got to keep in touch with them on Skype over the summer, but we're looking forward to see them more now that they're only 2 hours away and the holidays are coming up.  Last Sunday we all visited the Austin Zoo - Madison's first zoo experience! - then came home and grilled steaks for dinner.  It was so much fun!  Here are a few pictures from the zoo:

 Those pigs are huge!

 There were peacocks roaming all over the place!

 Madison feeding a goat:

3. I started and finished a craft project in only a week! I got the idea for a fall wreath from my friend Mary Morris' blog at http://snikrdoo.blogspot.com/2011/09/felt-flower-wreath-for-less-than-10.html. I think hers turned out nicer than mine, but for less than $10, I actually have fall decor!  It seems like everyone in the neighborhood has Halloween decorations, but I'm having a hard time justifying spending money on Halloween.  But this fall wreath is cheap and covers both Halloween and Thanksgiving!  I'm happy with the way it turned out and am thankful I'm done with it.  No more crafts for a while.

In other news, our 3 year anniversary is on Tuesday!  We have no special plans other than to go to dinner.  With Madison.  So it won't be too romantic, but at least it's on our radar this year.  Also, Don is just about done training for the Longhorn Half-Ironman on October 23rd. We'll let you know how the race goes!  Bye for now!

- Don, Jillian, & Madison

Prayers

I saw a quote on Facebook I really liked: "I have no sappy quotes or poignant words of remembrance; I don't need to change my profile pic or cry tears. We all had something taken from us that day; none of us willl be the same. The point of learning about history is to never allow it to repeat itself." 


 The past few weeks have fueled quite a few prayer requests from me to God. It started about two weeks ago with a terrible week at work. My client and I were getting so frustrated with each other that for every nicely-worded, polite e-mail I sent her I received a short, terse response. By Friday that week she had had it and let me know her feelings in front of one of my staff and another senior. It was not pleasant to sit through, and I know I could have done a few things better, but it upset me that she didn't take any of the responsibility. Luckily she was able to get her feelings off her chest and we were able to move forward with our more typical, friendly demeanor. The whole week I was praying for patience with my client, and guidance on how to get the stuff done we needed to in the time allotted without damaging our client relationship. 


 That weekend was Labor Day weekend. My parents and sister came up to Austin for a visit, and it was really nice to see them. At lunch on Saturday my sister was telling me about her awful week at work. She is a Physician's Assistant at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and treats patients with pancreatic cancer. It is a challenging job on her heart strings because she gets to know her patients very well and begins to really care for them. But pancreatic cancer does not have a high survival rate, and she inevitably loses patients she cares about. She had 6 patients that week, including a couple of her favorites, decide the pain of chemotherapy wasn't worth it, and they decided to stop treatment and go home to their families. My sister also had one patient tell her, in front of her son who was taking leave from law school to be with his mom, that it wasn't worth it to live any more and she just couldn't wait to die. As she's saying this the son begins to silently cry. Oh, can you imagine having to see that every day?? My sister definitely put my bad week in perspective. And my prayers go out to both my sister to be strong and let herself cry every once in a while, and to the patients and their families who are suffering. 


 Also during my horrible, no-good week, a pregnant friend of mine lost her baby at 38 weeks. I'm not clear on the specifics, but I believe the umbilical cord got wrapped around the baby's neck and he suffocated. She just stopped feeling him kick, so she went to the doctor and they couldn't find a heartbeat. She had to be induced into labor and deliver a stillborn. I can't tell you how much my heart broke for her. When I was pregnant with Madison that possibility wasn't even on my radar. Last Tuesday there was a rosary funeral for baby Christian, but I couldn't bring myself to go. I was afraid if I started crying I wouldn't be able to stop. My friend Jamie went and my heart almost broke again when she described the tiny casket. It's just so unnatural to bury your child. So lately I have been praying for my friend and her family, that she can feel God's presence and love as well as the love from her church community, and is able to cope with her grief. 


 Also on Labor Day weekend a number of fires sprouted up across Austin and the surrounding areas. Central Texas is wholly unprepared for the number and size of these fires as we don't have enough helicopters and planes to help contain the fires. Hundreds of people, especially in Bastrop, have lost everything. I walked outside of my house Tuesday morning for work and it smelled like campfire. All it takes is one careless smoker who throws his cigarette butt out the window, and a whole neighborhood is gone. I know the houses and belongings are just worldly possessions, but they had meaning for those who lost them. My prayers go out to all of those who lost their homes or still can't get into their neighborhoods due to the fires. And of course, we're always praying for rain to end this drought. I have to say, though, I have been very impressed by the immediate action people in Austin have taken to help those victims of the fires, particularly the ones in Bastrop. The fires began on Sunday, and by Wednesday the radio stations teamed up with HEB to raise money for the Red Cross, and it seems like every organization (churches, boy scouts, ect.) is taking donated items down to Bastrop to help those without homes. My church alone raised over $5,000 during the first 3 masses today, and that was the third collection during mass. 


 And last, but certainly not least, today we are all remembering 9/11. Ten years ago I was a freshman at Baylor. That Tuesday morning, I wrote an e-mail to one of my closest friends my thoughts on why God would allow non-Christians to enter heaven. (Do you seriously think He's going to turn away the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust because of their faith in Him?) Unbeknownst to me, I was writing this as the planes were crashing into the two towers. I was running late for Rhetoric at 8:00 am, so I hurried off to class without checking the news. I got there and only about three quarters of the class showed up and the professor wasn't there yet. Then my friend told me that there had been an attack and we were going to war. Of course I didn't believe her. A few others said they might have heard something like that as they were leaving their dorms, but I don't think any of us really believed we'd been attacked by terrorists until our professor came in 10 minutes late with tears in his eyes. Class was cancelled, and he encouraged us to call our parents. Of course the rest of the day was spent in front of the common area TV's in the dorm. At the time, I was dating Nabeel, a Palestinian Muslim. We watched the news together, holding hands, both of us in disbelief that a group of people could have such disrespect for life. I can't imagine everything that went through Nabeel's head back then, especially considering the terrorists claimed Islam their religion. I do remember forcing my cell phone in his hand (he didn't have one), and making him call his mother. (I don't remember why he resisted so much.) She was grateful to hear from him. 


 That night after walking Nabeel to his dorm (we figured he was in more danger walking alone than I was on Baylor's campus), I sat down, randomly flipped through my Bible, and settled down to read the Book of Job. I'd never sat down to just read a whole book of the Bible, and I didn't recall Job's story, so it was all new to me that night. The basic question Job struggles with is "How can God allow innocent people to suffer?" Talk about appropriate. Job endures a series of calamities, including the loss of his wife, his children, and his livestock. But Job never rebuke's God. When Job asks God what it is he did to deserve such suffering, God responds with a series of questions to Job about creation and good and evil in Job, which are intended to make a simple point: "You can never understand me. I'm too big. You are too small." The Bible I was reading had this notation about the passage Job:38-41, "The author of Job seems to be saying to readers 'If you think you've got God all figured out - like Job's friends thought they had or like even Job wanted to have- you're wrong.' The author is reminding readers that God is a mystery - powerful and awesome beyond our imagination and control." The Book of Job does not give the final answer about why bad things happen to good people. But it does make it clear that good people do suffer and their suffering is not a punishment sent by God. And Job is a reminder to the Israelites and to us that God's purposes are too far beyond human understanding for anyone to claim to know everything there is to know about God. The Book of Job gave me a non-answer that satisfied my longing for answers that night.

MT/WY Vacation Part II

We're back in Austin and finally have all of the pictures consolidated on the computer. Before I go on about the rest of our vacation, I have to share a picture of Madison's first concert at Hills Cafe the night before we left for our trip:

Isn't that precious?? She couldn't take her eyes off the band, and we had to keep her from crawling on stage.

A couple of pictures from the hike Don and I went on:

Picnic lunch spot:


A picture of Madison in the high chair Great-Grandma Bergman used for Gary (Grandpa):

It's not nearly as humid in Montana or Wyoming, so Madison's hair kind of poofed out a bit more than usual, and actually straightened quite a bit in the back. It almost looked like she needed a hair cut. I'm happy to have her sweet little curls back!

So I posted the last installment of this vacation while Don and Gary were 4-wheeling. Well, they weren't home by dinner time, and LaDonna and I started to worry. But you can't postpone dinner for a 16 month old, so we all ate our lasagna and LaDonna and I drank some wine, and we peaked our head out every time we thought we heard the 4-wheelers (but it turned out a neighbor was using a weed eater). Finally, after several thunderstorms and a couple glasses of wine, Gary and Don made it home, hungry and a little wet. Apparently a tree fell across the trail and Gary had to saw it down so they could get through the trail:

Gary trying to get the 4-wheeler around the tree:


That evening all the Bergmans arrived to spend the night before heading north to see their grandma on Aunt Mary's side. We had smores and a little time to catch up that night, and they left early the next morning to get on the road. Meanwhile, we took our time doing laundry and packing up, then left the cabin for Billings just after lunch.
So long Bergman cabin!


On the way, we stopped at the Crow Indian Reservation, and Madison got to see her first teepee (I'm sure the blue was authentic):


We spent Friday night with Don's cousin Jeni and her family, then packed up the car again and drove 4.5 hours to Havre, MT, which is close to the Canadian border. Don's Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Paul live in Havre and run a really nice vet clinic for big and small animals there. The 60th Anniversary Party for Don's grandparents was held in the nice gathering room built over the big animal area used for receptions or training. It included a full apartment and nice big kitchen, so it was a great venue for hosting 60 of Grandma and Grandpa's closest family and friends. Here are a few highlights from our weekend in Havre:

Madison took a divinity cookie off my plate and ate the whole thing. Then she proceeded to go nuts around the room. She was certainly the center of attention, from banging her head on the wall, to feeling all of the cow skins hung on the wall, to climbing up and down a rocking horse, to wrestling with the Gretta, Paul & Mary Ann's dog. I think at one point she just rolled around on the floor laughing, clearly enjoying herself and the sugar high. We couldn't capture it all on video, but this one is pretty cute:

Madison on the rocking horse:

On Sunday we all wore red, white, and blue to celebrate the 4th of July, but really we were there to celebrate MJ and Audrey and their 60 years of marriage. Incredible!! Here's a picture of the happy couple on their wedding day:

And here they are today:

One of me and Don:

Four generations of Bergmans:

Me, Don, and Madison:

Who is that? I have an Uncle Sam??

Madison wanted to climb on the dirt bike with Don:

Madison playing on Gretta:

Madison helping Grandpa Gary play cribbage with the guys. "Play this one, Gramps!"

Meanwhile, Paul took me and Don on a horseback ride. It was awesome!

Monday we drove back to Billings to spend the 4th of July with LaDonna's side of the family. We sat in Aunt Debbie & Uncle Mike's front yard and watched Josh and TJ set off rockets and fireworks. Madison and Kaeden threw pop-its.
Madison riding the deer in Debbie & Mikey's front yard:

Grandma Bergman (LaDonna) and Great-Grandma Lou:

Don and Madison:

MT/WY Vacation Part I

5 o'clock last Friday couldn't have arrived soon enough. As you know, work has been insane, and all last Friday I scrambled around trying to finish/organize/hand off everything to my manager by 5:00. At 5:03 I called him on my way home to tell him that I was officially on vacation for 11 days. Wahoo! His response: Then why are you calling me? :)

Friday night we went to Hills Cafe for a send-off dinner for our good friends, Mer & Kyle Brown, and their daughter Brienn. We are going to miss them so much. They were our church + workout friends. Mer was the one who encouraged me to join the running group and train for the Austin Half-Marathon. We met in MOMS last summer and became instant friends. Her daughter Brienn is only 2 months older than Madison and they got along great together. Kyle, Mer, & Brienn moved to Clear Lake near Houston, so hopefully we'll get a chance to see them when we go visit family in the area.

What this meant for us, though, was that we had to start packing when we got home at 9pm Friday night. We had some of our stuff set out on Thursday, but we still didn't get to bed until 11pm, which made 4am Saturday morning come really early. Our goal was to be out of the house by 5am for a 6:20 flight. We barely made the flight. After leaving the house at 5:05 and running into some unexpected traffic on 71, we parked at The Parking Spot around 5:35. The Austin airport is so small that you typically don't need to get there more than 45 minutes before your flight, so we weren't too worried. Until The Parking Spot bus passed us by three times without picking us up. We eventually walked all the way to main office to get on a bus. Then the bus driver failed to hear me when I told her we were on Frontier airlines, so she dropped everyone else off but us. When she looked back and realized we were still back there she said she had to loop around because Frontier was one of the first stops. By then it was 5:50. We told her we didn't have time for her to turn us around and that we'd walk to the other end of the airport ourselves. We practically ran into the airport, Don directed me to take Madison, the diaper bag, and the stroller through the first security line we saw, and he ran to the Frontier Airlines desk on the other side of the airport to drop off our checked bag. The line went fairly quickly for Madison and I, though we had to wait a good 3 or 4 minutes for the security guy to flag down the TSA woman to do the litmus test over the milk I brought for Madison. And some lady freaked out when I sat Madison on the metal table so I could fold up her stroller even though Madison had about a foot of room on each side of her. She was fine. Anyway, we made it through security and started walking at a fast pace towards gate 24 from gate 8 (we estimated it to be about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile). A minute or so later they announced boarding for our flight was to closing in 2 minutes. When the big, hot guy in army garb in front of me started to run at the announcement, I thought we needed to run too. So I ran with the huge diaper bag over my shoulder, pushing Madison in the stroller until we got to the gate. We had a little more trouble at the gate, causing us to go up to the desk and back twice before I could board the plane, but we finally got on and got seated. And Don wasn't there. I waited until I couldn't see more people board the plane before I called him, and as the phone was ringing I saw his handsome face over all the rows in front of us. Thank God. I was mentally preparing myself to make the 2 flights to Billings, MT with a 16 month old without him. Turns out that after he dropped the bag off with Frontier, he had to backtrack in the other direction to get into a security line, which went very slowly. He heard the 2 minute call as he was 20 people deep in the security line and started pushing his way through, calling "my plane is leaving, my plane is leaving..." He literally sprinted with a huge backpack and a gate-check bag as fast as he could to our gate, which closed 4 seconds after he went through it. All of my worries about the flights to and from Billings were around whether Madison was going to behave. I never considered that we might not make our flight.

Madison actually did pretty fantastic on both the flight to Denver and from Denver to Billings. She played the whole two hour flight to Denver. We made sure she had constant entertainment between eating, reading books, and watching videos of herself on Don's phone. She slept most of the flight into Billings, so we were blessed with happy Madison most of our journey to Montana.

Saturday we had lunch with Great-Grandma Lou, Great-Grandpa Joe, and Grandma and Grandpa Bergman (LaDonna & Gary), then hung out with Don's cousin Jenny and her crew. Saturday night the family came over to Jenny's, including Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mikey. I fell asleep on the couch after 2.5 glasses of wine, but Don says his cousin Cole stopped by as well. Fun was had by all, but I was mostly interested in sleep since we started our day at 4am.

Saturday we had breakfast with the LaDonna's side of the family and hung out in the backyard with Jenny and her sons TJ and Kaeden. Here's a cute picture of the three kiddos (Left: TJ, Middle: Kaeden, Right: Madison):


Saturday afternoon we drove to the cabin in Story, WY. Here's a pic of the three of us at the Wyoming border:


Sunday morning at the cabin, Madison played with the horse LaDonna used to ride as a kid. Madison wasn't comfortable with sitting on it, but she figured out it bounced when she pushed his feet. Her look of concentration is pretty priceless:


Then Gary and LaDonna took us up to Bighorn National Park:


Madison hiking with Grandma and Grandpa Bergman from the truck (which you can barely see in the background):



Don and Gary built a snowman in a patch of snow that must have been 2 to 3 feet deep:

Finally, something put Madison in a good mood:

My baby would make a great model for Puma. Thanks Great-Grandma Lou for the jumper suit!


That's about all for now. Tuesday Don and I went for a run, played on the 4-wheelers, and played golf with Gary at The Powder Horn. I shot a 77! (So what if that's only for 12 holes...) Wednesday Don and I went for a long hike starting from a trail head in Story. Then we took the 4-wheelers to the Fish Hatchery and looked around before heading home. Today LaDonna, Madison and I walked around downtown Sheridan while Don and Gary played another round of golf. We ate lunch at the Powder Horn, then came back to the cabin for the afternoon. Don and Gary took the 4-wheelers out while LaDonna, Madison and I have been hanging out at home. We have a great line-up of guests at the cabin tonight: Mandi, Joe, Shelby, & Kinsey Bergman, Abby & John Hefferly, and Pat & Mary Bergman were all in Denver for a family reunion and are coming up to the cabin tonight on their way to Montana. We'll see them again at MJ and Audrey's 60th Anniversary party this weekend. I'm so excited to see all of them! I'll post more pictures of our adventures a little later. We've had a great vacation so far!