aussie-merican momos: October 2009

Unfortunately this blog is one of sadness as we have struggled with our first major trial as a married couple. After not being able to hear our dear baby's heart at the 11 or 12 week mark, we began a difficult journey. The miscarriage was confirmed at the beginning of Mandy's 13th week. It was a missed miscarriage meaning that the baby had stopped growing at 7-8 weeks but Mandy's body had failed to recognize the loss. As if it simply needed confirmation, Mandy's body soon began the extremely painful and heartbreaking process of passing the baby. After several days in intense pain, and 2 days in hospital (thank goodness for strong drugs) we were able to come home and rest for a couple weeks. Luckily Sam was on holiday from school so he was able to spend time with Mandy while we both struggled with our loss. We are doing better and moving along one day at a time. We have faith that Heavenly Father has a big plan for us and although it brings us occasional sadness we are hopeful that He will bless us abundantly in the future. The doctor has confidence that our next pregnancy will continue normally so we will be sure to let everyone know when we are blessed with another tiny angel. Thank you for all of your well-wishes and thoughts. During trials such as these it is kind words from friends that we cling to the most!

So here's an update on what's been going on in our lives lately. We have been pretty busy lately with the usual chores around the house and Sam's Uni work....but luckily we have also had time to do some fun things! Sam of course has continued to engage in his mountain bike training and races and ended up entering in two races on the same Saturday afternoon. The first race of the day was a race in the Bermagui Dirt Surfers Bike Club Series in which Sam is currently holding 1st place. He has competed in 3 races of the series thus far and has 1 second place ribbon and 2 first place ribbons putting him above all the other competitors. Here are some pictures of the last race...where he came in again with an easy first place!

Sam showing off his wheeley skills as he passes by the camera

That's his second first place ribbon and his fastest lap time thus far! :)

After racing at Bermagui, we hopped back in the car and drove another hour so that Sam could take place in the Mogo Netti Mtb Enduro race. This race was a 14k time trial race where all the participants left in 30 second intervals and raced against the clock instead of against each other. He was exhausted from his first race, was feeling a little sick, and it was a very hot day but he still managed to race very well. He was the 5th biker to start and the first to cross the finish line. He came in 12th overall out of 161 bikers that finished the race!

A picture taken during the mogo race

Since he was the first across the finish line he had the privilege of being interviewed. It was pretty exciting to have his opinions about the race and the track broadcast over loudspeaker! :)

Along with more exciting adventures in mountain bike racing, we have also been enjoying the coming of spring and warmer weather. One of the first signs of spring appeared in our entry way about a week ago. We loved watching our new little reptile visitor scale the brick walls. He eventually found his way into the toilet room and hung out with us for a full day before we decided to catch him and put him back out. We have seen him here and there ever since and hope he'll stick around for the rest of the summer.

Our little reptile friend

The other wonderful thing about the coming of summer is the coming of whale watching season! So far over 7,000 whales have swam past our area but I have yet to see a single one! BUMMER! We keep taking trips out to the beaches to see if we can spot any...but no luck yet! They often swim right off-shore and it isn't uncommon to see them breaching. We will post pictures when we are blessed enough to have an encounter. Even though we haven't seen any whales it has been nice to go and sit out on the beach and enjoy the beauty of the ocean. Here are some photos from our latest expedition to Kianinny Bay.

And finally, we had to post some pictures of our dog, Snoopy because we have just been having so much fun taking him out whale watching with us. On one outing we rode our bikes and then had quite a good time playing doggy dress-up with the bike helmets! We thought Snoopy looked quite cool in his matching fur/helmet ensemble! :)