Bethany’s Arrival and Moving to Guam

Picnic on the Frozen LakeGreetings from Tennessee!
Well, I have been delinquent in posting updates again, but of course we have been busy.
In January we took a weekend road trip through northeastern Tennessee. We took our time and followed scenic routes with stops at historic sites including the first TVA Dam built in 1924, Wilson Dam. We picnicked on the lake which was frozen enough that we could walk on the “water” and then visited Lincoln Museum located on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. We spent the night in the historic town of Cumberland Gap at an old mill B&B which was built in the mid 1800s (the attached log cabin was even older having been built in the 1700s). In the morning we walked up to the Cumberland Gap on the old Wilderness Road used by settlers to reach Kentucky from the east. We enj
Painting the Baby Roomoyed learning about Daniel Boone and at the visitor’s center and then made a stop at the Pinnacle Overlook where the clouds opened briefly to reveal an impressive view. We spent our next night in Jonesborough, which is Tennessee’s oldest town founded in 1779. On the way home we took the scenic route with stops at a covered bridge built in 1882 at Elizabethton, Rocky Mount (the first capital of the Southwest Territories from 1790-1792), the birthplace of Davey Crocket, Tusculum College (Tennessee’s First College, established in 1794) and Andrew Johnson’s mansion in Greeneville, TN.
In February and March we mostly focused on getting ready for the baby’s arrival. We had a couple of baby showers with different groups and also spent time painting and decorating the nursery with a jungle safari theme. In between all o
Waiting for Babyf that I was able to squeeze in an overnight backpacking trip with friends and then towards the end of March I took a work related trip to Ottawa, Canada for a week. I went a day early and drove up to Mont-Tremblant where I stayed in a cozy bed & breakfast for the night. I then spent the following day snow skiing with fantastic views of the surrounding lakes before driving back to the Ottawa area for a week long training class. In the evenings after class I did some exploring and also played disc golf a couple of times. The first time I played at a local park and met a member of the local disc golf club. He was friendly and after we played a round together he invited me to a private course later in the week. I took him up on the offer and ended up playing in an informal tournament with around 20 people or so wh
Just Bornich was fun.
In April we found out the baby was breech and tried all kinds of methods to try to get her to turn with no success. We then found out that the amniotic fluid levels were low and after trying to get them up for about a week we ended up having a c-section. Bethany Joanne Porter was born on April 23, 2010, weighed 5 pounds and 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. It turned out that my parents and sister were in Atlanta for a work trip and arrived at the hospital just in time to meet Bethany as we came out of the surgery recovery room. They were able to stay for the weekend and then Brenda’s parents arrived for a week just after my family left. We have really enjoyed getting to know Bethany and have also had fun sharing her with our friends and family.
May was pretty much spent getting used to having a baby and then in June we enjoyed a visit from Brenda’s brother and his family who live in Cambodia. While they were in town we took a day trip to Huntsville, Alabama where we visited the Space & Rocket Center.
In July we attended two weekends of the General Conference Session
Signal Mountain in Atlanta, GA. After the session we took some time to tour the CNN Center and then went to IKEA for the first time. On the way home we stopped to watch Fourth of July fireworks and then had some more time with family at our house for the rest of the weekend. At the end of July we drove down to Brunswick, GA to visit Brenda’s uncle and then met up with friends at Hilton Head, SC for a few days at the beach. The weather was quite hot, but we were able to cool off in the pool and usually waited until later in the day to visit the beach. We especially had fun introducing Bethany to the water and spending time relaxing with friends. We also celebrated my birthday with homemade blueberry pie which was a real treat. On the way home we got rear ended and were delayed about 5 hours by the time Brenda got checked out
Family Shot at the hospital. We also had to cover a couple of broken windows with card board, but still made the trip home without any further excitement. We were just thankful that everyone was ok and that the vehicle damage was repairable.
For Labor Day weekend we flew to California to visit my family and introduced Bethany to one of her Great Grandmas. While in California we picked raspberries and also had a Sri Lankan style meal one evening. From there we flew up to Washington State to spend time with Brenda’s family. I was able to work remotely for a few days and then we got to see lots of family over the weekend. We also introduced Bethany to another one of her Great Grandmas and had fun picking huckleberries and peaches. On the way to Seattle to fly home we took the scenic North Cascades Highway and had some awes
Brenda & Bethanyome views along the way.
The third weekend in September we went camping at Whigg Meadow off the Cherohala Skyway for the second year in a row. Unfortunately the wild blueberries were gone early this year, most likely due to the lack of rain. We did get enough to eat and for making pancakes at least. We were also able to watch a bird banding station in action and even got to hold and release a few wild birds. The station has nets set up to catch the birds and when they are caught they record data about the birds. Small tracking bands are then attached to their legs before they are released. Scientists are then able to study the data and track where birds have been if they happen to be captured again at another station. Bethany did really well sleeping in the tent and overall it was a good first camping trip for her.
In October we enjoyed the fall colors here in Tennessee and also in Virginia where we met my cousins at a state park for the weekend. At the park they had a pumpkin carving contest where they provided the pumpkins for us to carve and my cousin won third place. We sta
Yummy Carrotsyed in a cabin right on the lake and the colors were in their prime. On the way home we stopped at Clingman’s Dome, but unfortunately we forgot the regular camera so our only pictures were taken on a cell phone.
This month we decided to move to Guam where I have accepted a position as a Systems Engineer at the SDA Clinic. It has been a difficult decision to leave our friends and jobs here in Chattanooga, but we are excited about the opportunity and we are looking forward to getting settled on Guam. We are leaving on December 5 so we will be busy for the next few weeks packing and getting ready to go.
We will try to post updates more often, but if you want to see what we’re up to in the mean time you can find us on Facebook or check our gallery which is updated more often with lots of pictures and videos.
Bye for now,
Andrew