The First Half of 2009

January came and went without a hitch. So did February and March. Somewhere in the first quarter of the year Tim and I caught the facebook bug! We since then have reconnected with old schoolmates and friends from way back when. It certainly had put a spin to social networking. We both enjoy the ability to stay in touch with everyone. Through the winter months Tim worked on several house projects. The kids room being the center of it all. Eli's room took the longest between laying hardwood and making the closet look like a red caboose. Tim has worked hard on each of the kids room. Noah's is the Yankee theme, Chaye's is contemporary and Eli's room is all about trains.

We also made the big leap from being SUV owners to mini-van owners. Tim likes to call it the extended mini-van. We traded in the Pacifica for a Buick Terraza. We love it! Did not think we would but we certainly enjoy all the space especially for traveling.

Noah had the opportunity to travel on his own to Ft Myers for spring break. He was so brave and enjoyed the time with Grandpa and Gradma Heiwig. Certainly have lots of memories from the trip. He even got a New York Yankees baseball shirt and got to go to a game while he was there.







April brought new promise. We went to North Carolina to see Tim's sister and her family. Noah did not join us in this trip since his spring break schedule was a week before Chaye's. Being in 6th grade it is hard to pull either one of them for a vacation together. After North Carolina, we headed to Washington DC. We stayed at The Westin Hotel at North Harbour, MD - a brand new city in MD. Tim had planned the trip and did an awesome job finding North Harbour. We visited the National Zoo, Air and Space Museum. It was hard to visit Smithsonian Institute in its entirety because of Eli. The tail end of spring break brought us to Mason, OH at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was a fun time. Eli and Chaye thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.












We made our way back home on Maundy Thursday, for Chaye and Noah's first holy communion. It was great to witness a milestone in the kids spiritual life. I could not help but get choked up with emotions since this was a celebration of their beginning faith and as they grow in faith and hopefully live in faith.

That night we discovered our basement had flooded. Over 18 inches of water! It was a very difficult time trying to be strong and take action while all the while pulling out ruined scrapbook after scrapbook, momentos of different moments/events in our lives for the last 5 years. Chaye's papers, drawings and pictures from Pre-K to 5th grade. Pictures from the Philippines. Noah's pictures and school papers. Family photograps, to name only a few. The furnitures that were ruined can be replaced but the scrapbooks with all the time and effort put into each page can not be replaced. One can not put a price to all the time spent to do each page to capture milestones in the kids lives. My Dad and brother came over to help pump the water out. Thus the saga of the flooded basement began. We are about to begin the second half of the year and the basement is not back to what it was before the flood, I don't think it will be the same again but I am hopeful to have it completed by the end of the year. I do not think that is too much to ask. Tim has worked really hard and had tried to do most of the cleaning, taking the old carpet out. Ryan did the tile work for the fireplace and the bar area. After the carpet is laid then we can begin the process of taking what's left from the flood back to the basement and clear up the dining room and garage.






Chaye turned 12 on April 28 and Eli turned 3 on May 1st. We celebrated Chaye's birthday with a pizza, rootbeer floats and cookie cake with her class. Eli wanted a chocolate cake and birthday at Chuck E' Cheese. We granted his wish with an afternoon at Chuck E' Cheese. Great times!







May was a month of mishaps for me, I twisted my right ankle and fell which resulted in a partial quad rupture on my left thigh. With the injury I missed the Indy 500 race. Chaye went for the first time and invited her friend Grady to come. Tim, Jack and the kids had a great time. The Indy 500 is a tradition for Tim and I since we unofficially had our first date at the Indy 500 in 2003.

June meant the end of the school year for Chaye and Noah. Chaye had a pool party to celebrate a wonderful year at school. Noah's school year ended on June 12th. He has spent every Thurs-Sunday with us since then and had managed to spend every weekend playing with his friends from the neighborhodd. He has made some really good friends this year and so sleep overs have been frequent, more often at our house...which makes me glad that the kids love staying at our house. It has been my dream and goal that our kids and their friends feel at home in our house and that they would enjoy hanging out with us around.






I finished my travel assignment at Arnett. It has been a great experience to be involved in getting their staff trained for open heart recovery and being able to work with amazing CV surgeons and staff. I know that I have grown professionally in the last 6 months that I spent there. I continue to enjoy working weekend option at Methodist. I work with an awesome group of nurses!

Tim turned 41 on the 26th of June. We celebrated his birthday by having lunch at Rathskeller. It has been an unofficial tradition to go to a German restaurant for his birthday. I met his parents on his birthday for the first time, yeah no pressure there right? We have been going to Gizelas in Zionsville since 2003, unfortunately they closed last year. So this year we ventured downtown Indy.

It certainly has been a very busy six months in the Heiwig household. We feel blessed despite the little mishaps here and there. We are looking forward to the rest of the year and what adventures life has to offer. We will continue to strive to live our life according to God's plan.