Dear Family and Friends,
This has been quite an eventful year for the Hinkle family! In lieu of regular blog posts this year, here is a monthly breakdown:
In January, we decided to use the Daily Bible, the NIV translation broken up into 365days and in chronological order, to read through the entire Bible this year. We haven’t been entirely great at staying caught up all the time, but it looks like both of us will finish one 2011 New Year’s resolution.
In February, we found out we were having a baby. We were beyond excited to think about raising a child together and having the first grandbaby and great-grandbaby all around. We enjoyed calling all of our family to share the good news as well as reading all the well wishes from friends on Facebook.
In March, we heard our little one’s heartbeat for the first time when he was just 6 ½ weeks along. It’s awe-inspiring how intricately and quickly God knits us together in our mother’s womb! Also in March, Kayle went on a Men’s Advance (since Mars Hill men don’t “retreat”) and learned about Biblical manhood.
In April, our church held its gigantic Easter service at Qwest field, the stadium where the Seattle Seahawks football team plays. Our church, Mars Hill, meets in multiple church locations under the preaching ministry of Pastor Mark Driscoll via video and other elders at each church campus. For Easter, we celebrated Christ’s resurrection in the drizzle with over 17,000 people in attendance and 682 baptisms. What a party! You can watch a video of the event at http://marshill.com/easter.
In May, Angie went on a women’s retreat where she studied how to become a Christ-centered woman, grace-filled helpmate, and missional disciple. We also found out that our baby was a boy and finished off the school year with a “babymoon” to Maui. We had been meaning to get to Hawaii at some point with all those direct flights from Seattle, so I guess with our impending parenthood we saw the window of opportunity closing rapidly! There, we swam, snorkeled, boogie-boarded, made smoothies, and read The Hunger Games in the sun. Thankfully, the morning sickness had worn off by then!
In June, Angie was blessed to have coffee with our missionary friend who is serving as a teacher in northern Sudan. The two of us always leave those meetings mutually encouraged by each other’s passion in ministry and God’s incredible providence and work. We were also overjoyed to spend a week with our family and friends in Michigan. We enjoyed two baby showers there: the first was a party with our high school friends, the highlight of which was decorating onesies for our son (they turned out surprisingly well!). The second was a large gathering of parents, grandparents, neighbors, former teachers, youth group leaders, and family friends. We were overwhelmed by outpouring of love from so many people! The flight back to our Seattle home was also on our anniversary, so we celebrated 3 years of marriage with a day of traveling (and a nice dinner later in the week).
July marked the beginning of the third trimester (so soon!?!) and a sudden rush of motivation to get everything ready for baby boy’s arrival. The summer was also busy with BBQs (both), youth group events (Angie), teaching summer school (Angie), and continuing work at Microsoft (Kayle).
In August, Angie helped lead at the big youth group retreat at a summer camp in Paulsbo, WA. Now, very pregnant and waddling, I enjoyed spending some extra time with my teenage girls, who I’ve been mentoring and teaching through the Bible for a few years now. I also had several girls over to my condo for a sleepover and pool party, so you know I was just trying to tire myself out completely! Also in August, Kayle and I visited Vancouver, BC to see my college roommate, Claire. It was a delight to catch up with her, since we hadn’t seen her since Angie was a bridesmaid in her wedding last year. Finally, Angie worked her last day as a high school math teacher at Educational Advancement Academy (EA2) to rest up for labor and delivery and become a stay-at-home mom.
September was the beginning of baby shower mania. We enjoyed two baby showers for Angie, one with some youth group families and friends in a nearby park and another with my large church family of community group ladies. Within our circle of CG friends, four other women were also pregnant and all were due in October, November, or December. I’m happy to report that we all now have healthy little babies and two more friends are expecting next year! Kayle and I also took a six week childbirth class with a delightful British midwife and former Microsoftie during this time. It helped us both immensely with getting mentally prepared for giving birth, how Kayle could support as a husband, and knowing more facts about various interventions and the general progression of labor itself. We both also laughed through the book, Baby Catcher, about an American midwife delivering babies in homes over the course of 40 years. We also made a last minute switch from an OB-assisted birth in a hospital to one with midwives at a nearby birth center.
October was the month we’d been eagerly (and maybe a bit nervously) anticipating all year. Angie waited for labor by going to the pumpkin patch with friends, working on our wedding album, watching Notre Dame and Michigan football, and leading a few last weekly youth group gatherings. Ready or not, Caleb Christopher Hinkle was born on 10/18 at 10:18 pm after 11 hours of unmedicated labor, 8 lbs-12.5 oz and 21 inches long. Kayle excelled as a supportive husband alongside our friends, Nicole and Jenny, and midwife and assistants, Val, Brooke, and Sarah. Kayle stayed home with us a week before going back to work, and we were aided by many friends visiting Caleb and bringing meals. Our church also moved into a beautiful new building in downtown Bellevue, which we’ve been praying about for 2 years now.
In November, we were blessed with visits from all Caleb’s grandparents and his Oskamp great-grandma too. They ooh-ed and ahh-ed at Caleb’s amazing napping ability and little “fussing” (then only about 10 minutes per day). He captivated them with yawns, facial expressions, and opening his bright blue eyes. Oh, and Caleb really knows how to settle happily into a warm bath.
In December, Caleb grew to be over 14 lbs and 25 inches long. He is quite the round, little chunker now! Caleb is now able to stand with someone balancing him, smile broadly, and poop five feet through the air if you don’t change his diaper fast enough. Aunt Dani visited with her boyfriend, Kevin, and we’ve enjoyed many holiday parties and dinners with our CG friends. We will be rounding out the year with our first Seattle Christmas and a visit from Aunt Kristen and her fiancé, Nick.
We miss everyone in Michigan very much and are looking forward to a month-long visit in May and June with 3 weddings in a row (cousin Mieke and siblings Cody and Kristen). We wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!
With lots of love,
Kayle, Angie, and baby Caleb Hinkle
P.S. For tons of photos of our family and friends, visit https://picasaweb.google.com/Angie.Hinkle.
Someday, I hope to restart updating our blog too: www.angelaandkayle.blogspot.com.
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