Melissa is one of those people whose faith is so strong and who is so full of grace that it puts the rest of us to shame, if you know what I mean. She has been blogging about her pregnancy, her daughter, her grief, and her faith for the past few months. Tomorrow is the day they meet their sweet baby girl, and likely the day they will have to say good-bye to her.

Amelia Grace: her first name means “a work of the Lord.”

I don’t really know the Lorangs (Tim is about five years younger than I am, and his family didn’t start going to my parents’ church till I was almost graduated from high school) but I’ve been reading Melissa’s blog and praying for them. Tomorrow, I will be praying for them harder than ever as they grieve the loss of their daughter. If you are a person who prays, could you take a moment to say a prayer for them too?

UPDATE: Amelia Grace Lorang was born at 9:02am this morning, and passed away at 11:00am. RIP.

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“There’s a secret door in my room. I use it for getting away from the bad guys, and from ninjas.”
Jun 28 00:58:00 2010

“The good news about having a baby brother or sister is that I will get to give it hugs and kisses!”
Jun 24 18:27:23 2010

“Peace out, yo!…What does that even MEAN, anyway?”
Jun 23 15:31:07 2010

“Dog paw? Fascinating!”
Jun 22 09:22:44 2010

“Oh, today is Father’s Day? Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!”
Jun 20 18:20:08 2010

“I want a Scooby-Doo party on my next birthday. Then I can give out little dolls of monsters, zombies, ghosts, and aliens as party prizes!”
Jun 18 15:13:23 2010

“Miss Brenda’s stir-fry pork, I LOVE YOU!!!”
Jun 15 19:37:36 2010

“Men, I’m Annalie of the USS Gourmet. I’m here to tell you, this whole ship is one big security camera!”
Jun 14 14:56:53 2010

“I’m pretending to be an Earthbender!”
Jun 13 12:57:05 2010

“I stand corrected. I’d better stick to martial arts.”
Jun 9 16:41:05 2010

“Mom, tell Miss Brenda and all your friends that have kids that it’s kinda easy to suck yogurt through a straw. They need to know that.”
Jun 7 03:45:58 2010

@OutofmyMind It is! Did you know you can also eat applesauce with a straw? It’s true, I do it all the time.
Jun 9 16:40:27 2010 in reply to OutofmyMind

“You’re my darrrrrlin’, you’re my darrrrlin’, you’re my DARRRR-ling Clementine…”
Jun 5 14:52:16 2010

“I’m going to put this picture from @babybug in the place of honor…right next to the best picture I drew.”
6:27 PM Jun 4th

“Yeah, yeah. I’m SIX now, you know.”
9:46 AM May 10th

“It’s lunchtime already? Huh, the day goes by.”
1:24 PM May 30th

“Wow, it looks SO three-dimensional!”
2:30 PM May 26th

“This is so sweet and sour, I can’t get enough of it!”
4:50 PM May 24th

“No, I’m sorry. I can’t sing that song for you again. It’s a one-hit wonder.”
12:20 AM May 22nd

“Kiki’s Delivery Service is a little movie pronounced by the same company that made Totoro.”
11:13 PM May 7th

(talking on her cousin’s phone rattle) “Hello? Talk to me. Oh, BILLY! How are ya? I haven’t talked to you since kindergarten. SO crazy…”
8:04 PM Apr 28th

“Can I have some more cram bangoons?”
4:21 PM Apr 21st

“I’ll do it, but first you have to threaten me with candy.”
12:53 PM Apr 21st

“Aliens never surprise me, because you can ALWAYS expect aliens on Doctor Who.”
1:46 PM Apr 18th

“I think I have allergicness to pussy willow pollen.”
5:22 PM Apr 15th

“This is @babybug. I drew her mouth open because you know how she just talks, talks, talks all the time.”
2:03 AM Apr 11th

“You know how people just LOVE apples, and I’m one of them.”
3:07 PM Apr 8th

(trying on Easter dresses) “This one passes the jump test, and it’s SO zero minutes ago!”
4:48 PM Apr 1st

July 1: Our early-morning flight to Omaha allowed us to see a lovely sunrise at Dulles.

July 2: Aurora approved of the plate I painted for her; cousins chilling together.

Photo taken by Joe Sands

July 3: Painting pottery (and drinking Starbucks, and talking nonstop) with Kassie and Katrina has become a tradition when we’re all in Omaha at the same time, long may it continue.

July 4: Happy Independence Day! Grandma Carol & Annalie; sparklers galore.

July 5: Annalie and Grandma Val laughing; Old Man Annalie; Aurora making a face at the water we were giving her from the end of a straw, even though she apparently liked it.

July 7: Annalie monkeying around, Aurora watching and wondering how much longer till she can monkey around with her.

July 8: We took Angie out to lunch and introduced her to pottery-painting as an early birthday present, and did some handprints with Aurora and Annalie.

July 9: Lunch with Rachel; an impromptu visit with T and her kids.

July 10: A triple-the-fun birthday party for Zach, Josh and Alex; playing at the sprayground.

July 11: Lunch at Godfather’s with the Kay family (including Mike, who took the group photo); Krista cleverly disguised with a gumball-machine mustache.

July 12: Annalie hanging out with the mariachi band at the Mexican restaurant where we met Nancy and Ben, Angie & Aurora for lunch; shooting off some leftover fireworks at Ed & Leslie’s farm.

July 13: Katrina and I got pedicures and then went to dinner at an unexpectly busy Olive Garden all by ourselves and it was awesome. I think a new tradition has been born.

July 14: Starbucks for the moms, Slip’N'Slide for the kids—perfect on a day when the high temperature was near 100F and humidity was 91%.

July 15: We’re heading home.

I hope to write more detailed posts about our time in Omaha eventually, but for now you can enjoy many photos in my Flickr photoset Omaha July 2010.

As you will probably be able to tell if you have looked at my Flickr lately, we’ve been keeping busy. And now, as you might infer from that photo of Annalie and Aurora above, we’re in Omaha for a visit and we’re still busy. I’m hoping I’ll have time to blog about some of the fun stuff keeping us busy very soon.

We try to get to the zoo at least once every time we’re in Omaha. In case you didn’t know, the zoo in Omaha, the Henry Doorly Zoo, is one of the best in the country. You’ve all heard of the world-famous San Diego Zoo, right? The first time I went there, after frequenting the Omaha zoo my whole life, my reaction was, “It’s nice. The plants here are cool.” Basically, growing up running around the Omaha zoo ruined me for most other zoos. Poor Annalie, she’s gonna have the same problem. (Though I will add that the San Diego Wild Animal Park is simply wonderful, a step above any zoo I’ve ever seen, and if you have to choose between it and the zoo when you’re in San Diego, pick the Wild Animal Park. You won’t regret it.)

This time, we were able to arrange a trip to the zoo with Katrina, Zach, Josh & Alex. We met them there in the afternoon, after the boys got off school, which turned out to be a brilliant idea on our parts. By that time of day, the zoo isn’t very busy. We both got rock-star parking, instead of having to walk for ten minutes just to get to the door, and then once we were in we practically had the zoo to ourselves. It was strange and very cool at the same time.

We walked through the desert dome and went downstairs to see the bats and other nocturnal animals. We wandered over to the monkeys and past the sea lions.

We encountered this strange, exotic machine called a “pay phone.” Alex had never seen one before and thought it was really neat.

And of course we fed the koi. When I was a kid, we used to just drop popcorn off the bridge for the fish, which probably wasn’t very good for them. Now, they have gumball machines filled with food pellets, and you can buy a handful for a quarter. And I actually remembered to bring quarters with me this time, which was helpful.

After we fed the fish, we headed over to the petting zoo. On the way, Annalie felt it was important to consult the map. And since the train wasn’t running that day, we let the kids walk along the railroad tracks.

Peafowl wander all over the zoo. It must have been mating season when we were there, because we saw many peacocks displaying their gorgeous plumage and doing mating dances for the bored, indifferent peahens. It was actually quite hilarious.

The petting zoo was full of goats and chickens, as usual. When I was a kid I think they had sheep there too, but apparently they don’t have sheep anymore.

We have a picture of Annalie standing in Henry Hippo’s mouth when she was about 14 months old. She was much smaller back then.

By the time we left the petting zoo, we were all quite hungry and tired. We decided dinner at Wheatfields in the Old Market was just what we needed. Really, I will use any excuse to eat at Wheatfields, since it’s one of my favorite restaurants. And I love going to the Old Market. When I was in high school, I didn’t go to the mall, not unless I wanted to see a movie or needed to buy jeans at the Gap. The Old Market was where I hung out with my friends. I’ve always loved old buildings and quirky places, and the Old Market is full of them both.

After a delicious dinner (tomato-cheddar soup and chicken salad sandwich, yum!) we walked back to our minivans and said our good-byes. It was such a fun evening, I’m thinking we might have to make a tradition of going to the zoo with the Venns when we’re in Omaha.

This shot of Annalie laughing is my new favorite picture of her.

My dad asked Annalie if she wanted to help him pick up the sticks in the front yard so he could mow. Annalie’s response was an excited, “Sure! Let’s go!”

When we were at Grandma Val’s house, Annalie drew a desert scene on her GloDoodle, and I noticed there was a second circle in the sky across from the sun. I asked Annalie if it was the moon, since sometimes you can see the moon during the day. “No, it’s not the moon,” she said. “You know how sometimes in a movie, when the camera goes up you can see those circles of light?”

Surprised, I said, “You mean lens flares?”

“Yeah, lens flares! That’s what it is, a lens flare.”

My kid makes me so proud sometimes.

After we hung out with T and FJ for a few hours Friday afternoon, we went home, packed, and then got up at 3:30 the next morning to catch an early flight home. Ugh. I won’t be taking that flight again if I can help it.

Every time I go to Omaha, I tell myself I’m going to do better at blogging while I’m there. Self, I say, just throw up a photo or two each day and link to the rest of your photos on Flickr. It’s not that hard, you can do it! But somehow I never quite do.

In my defense, we stay pretty busy while we’re here. Okay, it’s not like we’re leaving the house at 7 o’clock every morning and not coming home till bedtime, but we usually have a couple of activities or visits planned for each day. And while I love seeing all my Omaha friends and relatives, I’m actually a total introvert. No, seriously, I am! Quit laughing and listen to my explanation!

When I say I’m an introvert, I don’t mean I’m shy; I mean that after I spend time around people talking and laughing and having fun, I need plenty of quiet time at home to recharge my batteries. And when we’re in Omaha, I just don’t get that because our time here is limited. I have to cram what would normally be a month’s worth of visits into a week or ten days. So I push through and by the time we head home I’m pretty sick of being with people and want to hole up at home for a week, doing nothing more energetic than reading and baking and snuggling on the couch with Troy and Annalie while we watch movies.

What does all that have to do with me being terrible at blogging during our visits to Omaha? Well, by the time I get Annalie to bed in the evenings, all I want to do is stare at the TV for an hour or two and then go to bed and read crap romance novels. I don’t even want to interact with people online, which is why my blog often goes un-updated for days at a time.

And it’s too bad, because I’m usually doing really fun things that are eminently bloggable. Like last weekend, on Friday we picked up a gigantic (and I mean gigantic—it was probably 24″ x 32″) pizza at Orsi’s and took it to my cousin’s house for lunch. My mom and I hung out and visited with JoDee while Annalie played with her four second cousins and two of their cousins whom JoDee happened to be watching that day. You have not been entertained till you’ve watched seven kids, ages 5 and under, race around in various dress-up outfits and play all kinds of wacky games together.

Then on Saturday, I painted pottery with Katrina and Kassie—just the grown-up ladies, as I explained it to Annalie. That was super fun. It was just a happy coincidence that Joe and Kassie were going to be in Omaha the same weekend we were, and when Katrina realized that she arranged for us all to get together, which was great. I love it when people ask me, “When are you free? Do you want to get together?” and then plan everything and just tell me when to show up. (Well, okay, I contributed a bit more to the planning than that. But not much.)

Aside from the very loud group of 4-year-olds attending a birthday party at the pottery shop while we were there (one girl literally smashed a piece of cake into her forehead, which caused several other kids to imitate her, while the oblivious moms chatted away and the long-suffering shop employees strove valiantly to regain control), it was a delightful morning of friends, caffeinated beverages, and dottery. Kassie wrote about the morning in more detail here, and Katrina wrote about it here.

Later that evening we all got together at Katrina and Matt’s house. Their triplets are three of Annalie’s favorite Omaha friends, which means she had a blast running around with them in the backyard while the adults cooked and talked and made margaritas.

Well, most of the adults. Joe was having too much fun playing with the kids. And the kids all had the time of their lives attacking Joe with anything they could throw or shoot.

(Trivia: Josh and Zach are pretty easy to tell apart because Josh is almost always wearing orange, his favorite color. Of course, if Zach decides to wear orange one day when Josh isn’t I’ll be totally messed up.)

Joe got a bit crazed with power at one point and aimed his gun at me and my expensive camera. (Just kidding. He wasn’t really gonna shoot. He was just posing.)

We feasted on chili, hot dogs, fruit, veggies and Aunt Lori’s Dip (a favorite in Joe’s family, concocted with 2 c. cottage cheese, 2 c. mayonnaise, 1 c. sour cream, and 1 packet of Original Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix), and a delicious ice-cream-sandwich cake for dessert. At the end of the day, the adults were so stuffed we could hardly move, and the kids had such disgustingly dirty and grass-stained feet, that we felt pretty confident it was one of the best days ever.

p.s. We fly home tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I’ll blog about the rest of our Omaha trip later.

On our first full day here my brother and his fiancee had overlapping work schedules, which means my mom watched Aurora for them. Annalie and I went over and hung out with them for most of the day, which was fun. Rory is a really good baby—she’s happy when she’s awake, she fusses a little when she’s hungry, she sucks her fingers when she’s tired and then she goes to sleep—so she’s very easy to be around. Not to mention she’s very cute.

Annalie loved hanging out with her little cousin all day. She kept saying things like, “Isn’t Aurora SO CUTE!?” and giving her kisses on top of her head, and reading her books and pushing her swing and handing her a new toy the second Rory lost interest in the one in her hand.

Rory returned the compliment by hardly taking her eyes from Annalie all day, grinning hugely whenever Annalie made eye contact with her, and babbling away whenever Annalie was paying attention to her. Also, she was fascinated with Annalie’s jeans for some reason, which makes it all the more miraculous that I actually got a photo with both kids smiling.

I got some cute photos of my mom and both girls with everyone smiling, but this one is my favorite. Annalie is so good at being a goof.

Rory seems to be teething right now. She spends a lot of time sort of chewing on her lips, so it looks like she’s grimacing. She doesn’t really get fussy about it, though. If she were to get fussy, I recommend that my brother and Angie turn on the iTunes visualizer, because it had their daughter completely fascinated. (Annalie wasn’t actually that rapt, she was hamming it up for the camera.)

Not that I can imagine this adorable kid would ever get fussy, can you?

Did I mention that Annalie and I were going to Omaha? Midwest was having a killer sale on tickets, so I felt like that was a sign. We’re here now, and will be for the next week and a half.

The above photo is random and has nothing to do with Omaha, except that my Aunt Janet made the apron Annalie is wearing for me when I was a little girl. It’s one of Annalie’s favorite things from her dress-up bin.

Those of you in Omaha, we’re looking forward to seeing you soon!