Monday

Monday marks my return to the workforce. I never could have imagined what it would be like. I always thought I would be one of those moms who always worked and could do everything. Now at the prospect I just want to run away and hide somewhere with my dear little Zion so I don't have to let her go. She is so sweet, smells sweet, looks sweet, acts sweet. She gives sweet smiles, and blows sweet bubbles. She makes sweet coos and other sweet noises. How can I drop her off to strangers? I am sure she will be just as sweet to them doing all her sweet things but shes mine and I really don't want to share her that much. I didn't think it would be this hard. I thought staying home would be boring or lonley but I found it to be quite opposite. She has always been entertaining and like a little friend. Alas, there are bills to pay and insurance that is needed. I have a license to finish and a masters degree to use. I have no choice but to trust that God is going to take care of my little one but perhaps I need Him to take care of me more.

I do see God's hand in this job. I don't really know how this place even got my resume and I never applied for a job there and when I went the first time I found myself getting excited. They do many different and exciting things for the Haitian community including case management, legal and immigration services, counseling, education, after school programs and more. I will be supervising other staff and they seem to be growing so it is and exciting opportunity. The people I will be working with seem very nice. I really need to work on learning Creole so that I can do my job better so that will be a challenge. I ask for your prayers for this transition for our whole family. You can check out my new job at the website below.

http://www.fanm.org/index.php

More New Friends

Zion and Rosie finally meet at the park. Pat the Bunny Zion's favorite buddy and snack
Going for a walk. It only got up to 65 here today. BRRRRRRR.

Fun Times at 3 months

Talking to her duck Puddles
Her eyes are still blue
Pals

Watching football her favorite.
She has gotten really good at grabbing things and eating them too.
Chubs

Zion's First Trip to the Pool

Zion seemed to enjoy her first venture to the pool. She has been passed out for the past three hours. I think we wore her out. Hopefully it will not disrupt her sleep tonight. She is wearing my old bathing suit. I can't believe my mom hung on to these things but its pretty fun.

Back to the Burgh: Praise In Motion Mini Tour

Grace. Somethings are beyond explanation. God's ideas are so much greater than ours. I remember thinking when I stopped dancing in high school that I had wasted so much time. All those hours everyday. Dancing, in the afternoon, evening and weekend. I was practically dancing in my sleep. I realized that I had allowed my desire to dance and be good at it to take over my life and so I stopped. I never had danced in church. I danced in Heinz Hall, the Fulton Theatre. I danced the nutcracker and Balenchines Concerto Baraco and Serenade. When I put a stop to the dancing madness and decided to pursue a different type of future than the starving artist I might have potentially been, I really stopped. I did not dance at all. It did not even seem appealing, it was so tied to seeking something that was contrary to what I knew God wanted.
I never would have thought that I would move away to a strange place and that God would use that time and training and love for dance. He would resurface my love for dance and redevelop it in a totally different way. Who knew it would be my bridge to new friends and a deeper relationship with God when I came to this strange place, Miami. I came here terrified and we visited this church. The girls there invited me to this Bible study and I thought to myself there was no way that I was going to go after all I didn't know any of these girls and some of them seemed strangely friendly, especially compared to the other people I was meeting in Miami. But Travis forced me to go check it out and after all we didn't know anybody at all. So off I went nervous because its not like me to go a place by myself where I don't really know anyone unless I am helping people or getting paid. Then I get there right, and for some reason they decided everyone was going to give their testimony. So there I am sitting in this house with these girls I don't know and now I have to talk and its been ages since I even gave my testimony. Since I have no choice I tell my story reluctantly and begin to talk about how I left dance because I realized it was taking the place of God in my life. Dancing was such a big part of my life that it is a big part of my testimony. So I am talking and I see the girls giving each other weird looks and I'm like ok what did I say this is not going good. I was trying to be honest but not sound weird because after all I don't really know these girls and I don't want them to think I am strange.
After the Bible study I find myself surrounded and they are chattering about re-starting this dance ministry they had and how they had been praying for people to be a part of it. They tell me a little bit about their endeavors in the past and I get the drift that the church was not all that receptive to dancing in church. So I am thinking about how I had decided that basically I was never really going to dance again and I certainly don't want to do that now. I certainly didn't want to be in the middle of any church drama, I was so rusty in my mind I could never dance good enough to meet my own standards and I thought the girls were slightly crazy for being so excited for all they knew I could be the worst dancer ever. I was like no way am I dancing I put that behind me, I was busy with grad school after all and we didn't know if we were even going to go to that church.
Well God obviously had a plan for His glory. He didn't care if I could not do a split or a huge grand jete and triple pirouette anymore. He did not care if it made me uncomfortable or took up my time. He was redeeming my mistakes, He was giving me back a gift. I don't know how but a whirlwind of Praise In Motion came after that. I learned that dance was not about perfect technique and wowing those watching. After all I had to realize I had to get past my pride and the fact that I could not dance like I did before but that was ok. The girls were absolutely beautiful worshiping God even though they had never taken a dance class. This is something I never could have understood before. This endeavor of dancing for worship required a complete change of mindset from perfectionism to humility. I used to watch anyone dancing even a professional and I could not enjoy it because I would just pick it apart but I learned to look beyond the unimportant details of a cicled foot or pointy elbow. Our moves were not perfect but the heart was right. Three years have past. These strange girls now my closest friends, dancing for anything other than worship now seems a foreign idea, and our church looks forward to seeing us and speaks about our group with pride.
You never know what God is going to do or what part of your life he is going to redeem. He taught me what it really means to dance, dance for him in worship and dance for him in my daily life. He used dance to help me build friendships when He knew I needed them and He has used it over the past few years to revive my soul. I know that this is grace. I know that this is Him at work. What else could it be. It may not seem so miraculous if you are just hearing about it but these girls are the best dancers I have ever seen in my life. I have seen Barishnikof, I have danced in famous places but my dear friends are true dancers beyond what famous dancers could comprehend. God has given us so many opportunities to minister at city events, other churches and in our church home. Three years in a row we have packed the church for an evening of dance that we call night of praise. This past week we got to go together on a trip to the church where I grew up and another church to dance. There we were back where I came from. When I was there I was a "better" dancer but no one ever saw me dance. Now here I was "old" stiff and I just had a baby and I danced nine times in the church basement. Not glamorous, not perfect, but after all that's how worship is supposed to be right?

Zion with her other set of godparents Greg and Devon

Why is it that guys like to take pictures like this?
Travis and Joshua all bundled up overlooking Pittsburgh.
Tim and his girlfriend Rachel. Aren't they cute?
The whole crew. We look good in the cold weather I think. Especially Vena the scarf queen.

Waiting for the "T". We took a trip downtown to ride the incline and check out the skyline during a break.

Zion at almost three months

Her outfit she got for Christmas size 6 months!
First fish face.
So since everyone says she looks like Travis at least she looks like me when she is sleeping.
No comment needed shes just cute.
Smiley!
Zion is growing up. I now call her muffin because I think it suits her personality. Shes growing tons and smiling more and more. She can hold her head up really well and likes to sit with us like this on the couch as if she were a grown up. She has learned how to scream. Sometimes she does it for fun to hear herself I think and sometimes because she is mad. She can grab things now whether its my hair or necklace or her two favorite toys her keys from Nana or her little pat the bunny from my mom and dad. She laughed for the first time last week one morning and did it again the other day and I got it on video that time. She really likes to be entertained and she lets me know whenever she gets bored. She is a drooling fool blowing all kinds of bubbles. She will sleep nine hours now at night when she feels like it but there is still nights when she will only sleep four hours at a time. We can't complain though about that. She is just so pleasent and patient. She is only really fussy in the evenings and Travis is really good at dealing with her then. They have talks and she looks at him like she really knows what he is saying. I am in the process of looking for a job and I have a second interview for one I am interested in on Monday. I am not looking forward to leaving Zion although I am sure I will miss her more than she will miss me. We found a daycare today which was not bad as afar as daycares go. They have video cameras in the room and you can check on your baby any time on the internet which makes me feel a little bit better. I can't believe how fast she is growing.

Zion Mackenzie Schenk World Traveler

Zion was perfect on the airplane. She has now been on six flights and will be on two more next week. However we don't recommend traveling really far with a newborn especially when you have to switch planes. Our trip to Oklahoma took about 12 hours from start to finish each way. On the way there we managed to take a cab, a plane, a tram, another plane, and then drive an hour and a half. We decided all we needed to do was take a boat ride and we would have it all covered. On the way back our plane was delayed coming out of Dallas to Fort Lauderdale which made the trip even longer. We were all exhausted by the time we got home but the trip was well worth it to be able to spend time with Travis's family and to be able to celebrate his grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.
Smiling and smiling. Zion really is a happy baby and when she smiles I can't help but smiling even when I am having a bad day. While all the other babies on the plane are crying she was just hanging out with us smiling.

A good chance for a nap with Dad on the flight.
Meeting more new friends. Great Aunt Susan.
Great Uncle Brent.
Hanging out with her old pal Uncle Jordan who she seems to really like.
Aunt Bethany
Uncle Shawn
Aunt Jill
Zion had a rough first night in Oklahoma but then enjoyed living it up at the hotel.
4 Generations
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Vanscyoc at their 60th party.
The mayor came to the party and declared it Dorthy and Finley VanScyoc day in Enid, Oklahoma in honor of their anniverary. Pretty cool huh?
Getting lots of attention.
The Schenk family including the other new addition to the family Bethany's fiance Erin.

Zions First Christmas

At a Christmas party wearing her Aunt Beth's old Christmas outfit.
Zion's first tree. "I don't want to take a picture this thing is prickly."
Christmas Morning. "I don't know why you guys are all smiley but I guess I'll smile too!"
"Why are you squishing me?"

"Ooooooo"
"Aaaaaaah"
"This is boring. Can I open another gift for me now?"