suburban hobos

This is a guest post written by Anne Marie, my sister and Eliot’s aunt.

This summer I get the privilege of visiting Eliot, David and Maggie two times at their home and then again at my parents.  We are just coming to the end of my first visit and I can’t wait to come back in two weeks.  The hot weather and lack of air conditioning did not keep us from having a great time.  David and Maggie have done a wonderful job hosting me and sharing some of their favorite things about Chicago with me.  I arrived just in time for us to go to the last day of a week long Puerto Rican Festival where we had amazing food - yes, Dad, you should be very jealous!

One of the things Pastor Peter talked about during his sermon on Sunday was how we get to know our friends and family in different ways because of the other people that are also around them.  This has been my favorite part of my time here.  I love getting to know my brother and sister-in-law as a dad and a mom as they interact with their son.  Getting to stay in their small apartment for a week has allowed me to have an insider’s view on this new family of three.  They are a beautiful family in every way!

Auntie Anne Marie and Mom getting to eat Puerto Rican food that they say is really good.  I am just happy with my new hat!

What Aunt wouldn’t fall in love with me?

Anne Marie arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon and had a lovely introduction to her nephew.  After her long flight we was up for a longish walk from our apartment to the coffee shop.

The first photo is from a walk along the lake on Monday and the rest are from the coffee shop yesterday.  We’re glad to have Anne Marie here for the next week.

We’ve been busy lately, so I’ve been slow to post anything from our trip to Brownsville a few weeks back.  This photos nicely captures Eliot’s popularity among his extended family.

You can see 55 more photos from this trip on this Picasa Album.

On Monday we said goodbye to Megs, who had flown down from Edmonton to meet Eliot.  Unfortunately she has all the photos on her camera, so you’ll have to take my word that we enjoyed her visit.  Megs has the distinction of being the first person to get Eliot to laugh.

This afternoon Anne Marie arrives from Taipei for a 10-day visit.  She’ll be back for another week in July and we’re excited to get so much of her time.

10 years ago today, at 8:00 PM in beautiful Gaither Chapel in Montreat, Maggie and I were married.  It’s almost impossible to believe that 10 years have come and gone until I start thinking about all of the wonderful moments we’ve experienced together during those years.

One of the best parts of the wedding was having so many friends and family members in the same place with us to celebrate.  This photo of Maggie’s grandmother, Dear, and my grandma, Shala, is from the rehearsal dinner (picnic) at Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain, NC.  Both of these women are now at rest with their Lord.

From these three photos you can tell whose extended family had to travel the most distance for the wedding: my parents’ family from the west coast, then John’s family from Florida, and closest to Montreat was Jane’s family from Tennessee.

On the day of our wedding, a Saturday, Maggie and I met in the morning to go on a hike in the North Carolina mountains.  There may have been a few folks who found this odd, but we had a wonderful time together and it was our day after all!  This is us meeting that morning before our hike.

My friend Dave Finfrock was gracious enough to take our wedding photos for no charge.  What an amazing gift that was.  (It needs to be said that much of our wedding was characterized by these types of generous gifts by friends and family.)  Maggie still talks about how much she likes the photos he took.  It didn’t hurt that the Montreat College campus has no shortage of picturesque spots.

I don’t actually remember much about the ceremony.  I know we appreciated Ed Bonner’s sermon and I recall saying the vows we’d written.  What probably stands out the most in my memory is when people were invited to join us at the front of the chapel to pray for us.  I still appreciate the support of these people and dependence on God represented in this photo.

We’ve talked over the years about whether we’d do anything in the wedding ceremony differently if we had to do it again.  There are probably a few little things we’d change, but overall we remain very satisfied with this beginning of our marriage.  There are people who were at the ceremony who we haven’t seen in a long time, and others who we regularly communicate with today.  We’re grateful for each of them and the friendship and commitment they have represented to us over these 10 years.

Marriage has suited us well and I am ridiculously glad to have spent these years with my best friend.  We’ve each changed in significant ways over the past decade; in some ways we are not the same people we were on June 5, 1999.  And that’s a good thing.  I can’t wait to see how my bride continues to come into her own during our next 10 years together.

To make a long story short… a few months ago we’d purchased tickets to a concert in Milwaukee.  A lot has happened since we got those tickets, making it tricky to know what to do about the concert last night.  We’re not ready to leave Eliot with a babysitter yet, so we weren’t sure what to do.

On Friday morning Maggie came up with a great idea: get a cheap Priceline hotel room in downtown Milwaukee.  We could have a nice evening, I’d go to the concert, and then we could explore Milwaukee a bit before coming home.  We had a great time!  I won’t tell you how little we paid for our 24th floor, lake view room in the Hilton so you won’t be jealous.

Tomorrow we drive to Tennessee to introduce Eliot to his Watson grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a lot of other extended family members.

As part of the adoption process we had to go to court on Wednesday.  At court Eliot was served notice by the sherrif and we went before a judge who approved us as Eliot’s parents (pending a 6 month trial period).  You can see photos here: Eliot’s Day in Court Album.

We had a great view of the city from the 17th floor of the courthouse.  This is a short video taken while we were waiting to see the judge.

We’ve been enjoying our Memorial Day visit with the Draheims in Mason City.  Yesterday’s big event was Dave’s gradation party here at the house.  Tammy and Kelly had been working on the party for some time and it came together wonderfully.  Even the threatening thunderstorms cooperated.

This morning I preached at both services at First Covenant Church, something I always enjoy doing when it works out.  This was Eliot’s first time at a church service, a good first step since he’ll likely be mobbed next Sunday at New Community.

Everyone is at Dave’s graduation at the moment, except for Eliot and me who were both due for our Sunday afternoon naps.  You can see more photos from the past few days here: Dave’s Gradutiaon Album.

We arrived a bit late but safe and sound in Mason City last night.  Here’s a glimpse of the little guy’s first road trip.

Eliot’s First Road Trip from David Swanson.

On Saturday Eliot and I walked down to our neighborhood park for the annual plant sale and picked up some tomato and pepper plants and a few herbs.  On Monday morning the three of us planted everything in containers and arranged them along our landlords’ back fence.

You can see a few more photos at our Picasa Web Album.

It as been one month and a day since the last post on this blog, but today I can tell you that Maggie and I are officially parents!  Our adoption was finalized this week and we can proudly introduce you to Eliot Swanson.

This news may come as a surprise to some of you; the nature of the adoption process requires a lot of caution so we’ve been holding our cards closely as of late.  However, we can now show you our new son and speak freely about how great he is.

We have been adjusting to parenthood quite nicely from what I can tell.  Maggie is on maternity leave from her job and New Community has been incredibly supportive, allowing me to be very flexible with my work schedule and providing us with lots of great food.

Providentially, my parents were visiting a few days after we received Eliot into our home.  So far they are the only family to have met him, though we travel to Iowa on Thursday and Tennessee in a couple of weeks to introduce him to more of the extended family.  They’re going to love him!

It seems the number one question we’ve been asked is, “Are you sleeping?”  Eliot has a great disposition and generally fusses only when he’s hungry.  Maggie gets up with him once during the night to feed him, and I have have the early shift, sometime between 4:00 and 6:00.

We look forward to introducing you to our son sometime in the near future.  Thanks for celebrating with us.