Schools starting againhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

A few of you want up dates on the life...It has been quite a while and I would encourage you to visit our flickr site to see what's up with us over the past few months. Of course most of you know that we had an awesome time in Wales and the UK. In fact right now I'm wearing the Manchester United jersey I got while I was over there! I'd love to see your comments on the photos! Also You can see what's up on stephs myspace account.
So steph started school again today, After hearing the woes that 4/5 boarding schools in Mid-America had decreased enrollement it was a little scary. We actually were a few students over budget with the good adventist number of 144 students! So we'll see how that all pans out but it's good news for MCA!
I'm staying busy, I had the pleasure of doing my first wedding for a student who used to be in youth group on Sunday! I had fun with that and now I'm spending this week with the students at the school and also getting ready for a sermon this Sabbath. School starts for me in a couple of weeks, I'm a little worried for this quarter because I'm really busy with work, but we'll see how that goes.
Also a fun new thing for me is coaching "varsity" volleyball. Our team is brand new and it's fun seeing dramatic improvement in the girls. We got schooled by the Deaf Academy here but I think that by Union Tournament we should be able to hold our own. Anyways thats an update on the Fergusons, if you have skype you can find me there often I'd love to video chat with all of you non-minnesotans and show off Dylan!

Benji
p.s. join my fantasy pickem league! get info how on my youth website/blog

Rock Climbing and some Vintage Dylan

Last week was the annual Rock Climbing Trip... Steph and Mindy were busy with taking caring of the babies while Rob and I, along with some Youth Group alumni did the rock climbing duties. We had a great time with everything, I made my second trip up to the top of spire 4 and all but one of the students made it up to the top of the easy, yet very exposed climb. Anyways Steph and Mindy were very busy during the week too, this is a photo of Dylan taken in Hill City, SD... The other photo is a characture taken at our city festival last week...Wales is only a few weeks away!

Benji

This is a video from campmeeting 07!

Ok so here is a video from campmeeting this year

My kid's a mule!

Well it's been a month since I last worked on this blog...I've been busy. Being a work at home dad isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'll do my best to fill you in. The most fun thing I did was to go over to Wales and help Ed do a weekend retreat for the Welsh/Scottish/Irish Missions. There was about 100 kids there and it was a blast! It's all about international speaking engagements. I'm looking forward to taking kids over there this summer it should be awesome.

Next two weeks I'm in intensives, we'll be out in Cali next weekend for Steph's 10 year at MBA, I get to be a trophy husband for a weekend! Should be fun.

I got guitar hero for my 360 the day it came out...it is very addicting and one of the best things about it is that stephanie likes to play too :) If you are ever interested in playing give me a call and come on over...If you have no idea what guitar hero is...well just come over :)

Tonight we went to Taco Bell for dinner. When I went up to get my order stephanie told me to get lots of hot sauce, our supply at home was getting low. So I grabbed a handful of the good stuff and we proceeded to eat our dinner with Dylan happily sitting on the table in his carseat watching us eat. When we were finished I got up to throw away our trash and turn back to the table just in time to see Stephanie putting all of the sauce packets in Dylan's carseat and covering it with his blanket, like we needed to smuggle out the sauce. I had to explain to stephanie that it wasn't good to make our kid into a "mule" at 3.5 months espeically if there's no money in it for us :)

Anyways that's our fun life. Last time we weighed Dylan about 2 weeks ago he was 14lbs. 2 oz! and he's about 23'' long! The Pic is of Dylan holding his passport, we just got it today so he can go to Wales with us this summer! (Notice the drool on the passport already)

Keeping Jesus #1
Benji

Tourney fever

well I've never really gotten into college basketball, but I decided to try my hand at making picks this year. here's the link to my brackets :) http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men/723472/bracketoverview

I went way overboard with picking upsets.

I wrote a few weeks ago about dumb advertising...Has anybody seen the new McDonald's add? It makes McD's look very bad. There is this guy full of energy who gets into a car full of tired and slovenly people who can't function until they get their coffee and breakfast from McD's? The happy guy doesn't get any breakfast and in fact when they get to work he takes the stairs and everybody else looks at him like he's crazy! OK. so isn't advertising supposed to make you want to buy a product? I'd much rather be the happy healthy guy than the zombied out tired people...doesn't make sense...

I'm almost done with my classes for the quarter. Next quarter I take a Gospel's class and also another leadership class.

Dylan is doing great, next week is the big week where mommy goes back to teaching and daddy lugs Dylan around with him for the next 9 weeks...should be interesting, very interesting :)

Keeping Jesus #1
Benji

getting hectic again

Well I just got back from a fun weekend in California. We missed the biggest snow storm of the year and got to enjoy 70 weather all weekend. Dylan got to meet a ton of grandpas and also Grand Jan for the first time! He met some great grandparents and a greatgreatAunt. Good times. The flight home was the red eye and i had to take the school kids to Waterpark of America the next day. wow I was tired. Dylan must have been tired too, because he slept almost all night last night and all day today. We'll see how that goes for us tonight.

Another quarter of Seminary is closing out and I'm franticaly working on the papers I've procrastinated on. One is a history of the youth ministry at our church here for my history class and the other I have to start thinking about but it's not due till next week:)

MCA has spring break next week and for once I'll be around? kinda strange... Other than that just check the flickr account for some photos from this weekend. Oh a highlight of the weekend was that Dylan got to see the ocean and even put his feet in the water, the picture of that is very cute...

Keeping Jesus #1
Pastor Benji

Random Monkey thought

It's time that I add to the randomness of this blog. Those of you in the midwest are aware of the Taco Bell rival Taco Johns. Today as I was eating my breakfast their commercial came on and I was amazed at how ludicris it was....As we get close to Super Bowl adn commercials are the highlight of our lives I would like to pause and analyize this commercial. First of all, some of you will recognize Taco Johns from the news a few months back after quite a few costomers got sick from eating there....Fast forward a few months later and the company is using a burrito delivering monkey that rides on a dogs back to deliver food to costomers stuck in traffic...Does that make you want to eat a burrito? As for me I want my burritos as far away from dogs and monkeys as possible. Especially monkeys! These same monkeys who supposedly are the cause of AIDS and Ebola...Please if you see monkeys anywhere around my burritos let me know, as for Taco Johns you get my vote for the poorest choice of a mascot for your company, perhaps in the histoy of mascots.....

http://www.tacojohns.com/Media%20Files/whiplashrun4.asx


As usual Keeping Jesus #1
Pastor Benji

Ok, Ok I'll Post Something

Well after that first week I've been a bad blogger. But things definitely haven't slowed down at all. I have no idea how big Dylan is now but he's growing and putting on some weight or at least he better be he eats every two hours. We have a slew of visitors. First Jeni (she wants to be called "old lady") came to visit for a while. That was during week one and she ended up staying a couple of extra days. She was a great help and I don't think we'll need to iron or do laundry for the next couple of months!!! I'm not looking forward to that January water bill :)

Then Dave (he wants to be called Papa) came for MLKJr. weekend and we had a great time together just hanging out and doing some shopping. He got us a very cute toy chest for Dylan that I need to get a picture posted of. Oh by the way be sure to check the flickr account as there are new pictures up. Not as many, but there are some quality ones:)

Mindy is our current resident guest, and she brought along Brody as well. (They want to be called Mindy and Brody) She has been a great companion for Steph and the sisters are having fun together, but basically the just sit around the house and try to get some rest between feedings.

I have been pretty busy with stuff here at home and work. I am learning the trade of dad by assembling all of the baby gear, it's definitely a job I can handle. My school work is going well. I'm taking two classes this quarter a Christian History class and a Missions class. I really like the reading in the History class we have just finished reading up to the 6th century. I have a paper due this week comparing some historical accounts of one of the fathers of the monk lifestyle named Anthony... It is also student week of prayer at the school and I'm pretty excited about what's going on there, and last weekend we had 3 students preach for our main services which was pretty awesome as well. My big worries for the next couple of weeks are basically school and getting our mission trip (looks like we're going to Wales) all settled. But as Jesus says, I shouldn't worry to much He's got everything under control. I just need to focus on following the direction He's leading!

Keeping Jesus #1
Benji

This isn't so bad...

Well after many of you have wished us well after those first two night, I have to say I'm getting a little worried. Things are going way too well. We went for a little trip on the town the other day and I found out something wonderful about Dylan! He sleeps on car rides. If he's crying before the car moves, once the car is on the move he quiets down and goes to sleep! Then last night he only woke up twice to eat and poop! Amazing... Anyways things are going so well, I know we must have some tough days and nights in our future, it can't all be this good. By the way at his checkup yesterday Dylan was up to 6 pounds 9.5 oz. The day before he was 6"8oz! the nurse weighed him twice and this was after he had just gone #2! so when we left the hospital on Sat. he was 6 even and on Wed he was 6'9.5 unbelievable.

Belle and Dylan are getting along great. When visitors come over Belle will take them over to Dylan and then stand between them and Dylan until she notices how we react to the people. It's pretty cute.

I start school again on monday with a Christian History class and an Evangelism class. The reading load is going to be impressive but I've gotten a little head start. I guess that's all for now.

People have been asking for more pictures, and they're on the way, but it will probably be the weekend before I get them on the web. I think I'm going to have to change accounts because the free flickr account only allows 200 pics and we have much more than that. So I'm switching over to Yahoo, but it'll take a little work. BOOO Flickr

Keeping Jesus #1
Pastor Benji

Day 5

Well it's a new year, and there's plenty of other new things in the Ferguson house! We brought Dylan home late Sabbath to plenty of rain showers. We walked into the house and Steph started crying. It was a pretty overwhelming experience. Saturday night was rough too, Dylan had a very hard time sleeping and because of that so did we. He was so good in the hospital and he came home and cried all night. Finally we gave him some drops of some stuff that helps with gas (did he get that from daddy?) and he was able to have a little stool in his diaper which seemed to help things out immensely, but he still had to sleep on mom's chest for the rest of the night which was only minimally restful for mom.

Sunday morning, Marie came over and gave Steph a break and watched Dylan so Steph could sleep. While Stephanie was sleeping Marie worked her magic on our house. She got the guest room rearranged and cleaned up so "the old lady" would have a place to sleep. She did a lot of other stuff too and helped me move my desk so that I would have a place to study while we have this influx of visitors over the next few months.

Steph got her wish Sunday and the rain outside turned to snow! We got a few inches and should have some pictures of that up on flickr really soon. That made the ride to the airport to pick up Jeni a long one and Steph and Dylan stayed home since the roads were so messy. But Dylan loves hanging out with Jeni. New Years eve was a better night for Dylan and Dad and mom are a little more rested.

I wish all of you a great new year. May you find a closer relationship with Jesus and the people God puts in your path in the coming year.

Keeping Jesus #1
Benji

Photoshop is a scary thing

This is a note from a good friend of ours that noticed the Yoda reference....
"Wise you look, young Padawan"
"Future bright ahead is"

"Benji and Steph,

Congratulations on Dylan's birth. Enjoy the miracle.

Since you mentioned it, I couldn't help but see what he would look like as Yoda. So... no disrespect to Dylan -- I hope he'll forgive me

See you soon,

B<"

Hey everyone. This is Stephanie, or mom. Today was an exciting day. Dylan has been getting frustrated every time he tries to feed. He cries and moves around and it is very hard. I visited with a lactation consultant today and of course that was the one time he latched on and did his thing. She said I was doing everything perfectly. So, for the rest of the day I struggled to get Dylan to eat. He didn't until 6:30pm. Crazy little boy. He just lays there and falls asleep. At least we are blessed that he sleeps so much. Last night he slept from 2:00 - 7:30. We do enjoy that. He was circumcised today. Benji asked if he could go with the doctor to watch. The doctor said, "Uh, I don't recommend it." So Benji didn't go. We heard a baby screaming down the hall while Dylan was gone. We're pretty sure it wasn't him, but traumatic all the same. When he came back he seemed fine. The only times he hasn't been fine is when we change his diaper. We had several visitor's today. Pastor Elvera, Ken and Rita Dedeker, and Kendra and Elyssa Pettis. Marie Carlson also came and stayed with me while Benji went home for a while. Thanks Marie! Benji is going home tonight to stay with Belle. He's taking a blanket that Dylan has been wrapped in for Belle to smell. She'll get to meet Dylan tomorrow. I know they'll be good friends. The highlight of the day though, was when Benji came back from home and had brought me a bunch of red roses and Dylan one yellow rose. He sure is a special guy. I couldn't ask for a better husband and now a better daddy for our baby. Just look at the picture. See what I mean?

Dylans first day

As you can tell the blogs have slowed down but fun things are still happening! We actually go some sleep last night as Steph's body caught up with her and the adrenaline wore off. We put Dylan in the hospital nursery and they brought him in during the night when it was time to feed, but for the most part we got to sleep about 7 hours or so!

The day was full of adventures, but mostly we just enjoyed holding our little dude...Some of you I'm sure are wondering about the name thing. The short answer is that it's the name that was on both Steph's list and mine. But there was a reason for that, something important to me was the meaning of the name. Dylan is a Welsh name and we both loved Wales when we were there last year, the name means "son of the sea" or "born from the ocean" and as most of you know both Stephanie and I have a love for all things ocean! As for his middle name it's Stephanie's maiden name and as there were all girls in her generation the name was going to die out, so we wanted to continue the proud Crane tradition! So there you have it...

Another fun thing that happened today was that we got to see our pediatrician. He came in and told us our baby was perfectly normal which was very nice to hear. Dylan also passed his hearing test, and we cringed as his PKU test was administered. The PKU test is a blood test where they prick the baby's heel and squeeze out a bunch of blood for testing, that was hard to watch.

On a brighter note we've enjoyed sharing with friends and family the news and getting to talk to family over and over again as the day goes on.

Since this is a random thoughts blog I have noticed that Dylan looks amazingly like Yoda? does anybody else see it, perhaps I could photoshop his face green? but I don't have photoshop:(

Also there should be about 30 more pictures on flickr by midday tomorrow

Keeping Jesus #1
Pastor Benji

Dylan Crane Ferguson

We welcomed Dylan into the world at 7:02 CST today! He is 6lbs 7oz and was about 20 inches long! Still no pictures, but they should be up on the site soon! It was a pretty uneventful afternoon, but after 4 hours with no change in the dialation of the cervix (can you say that on national blogosphere?) The doctors decided that a C-section was the best way to do things. At that point things went super fast. Our good friend/parent of stephs student/OBGYN skipped her daughters dance party to come and deliver Dylan. And yes I got to watch the whole thing and I didn't even come close to fainting :)

I then got to walk the baby to the nursery while they stitched Steph up. I didn't get to cut the cord though :( The baby got his temp taken, then a shot of Vitamin K, and some eye salve. After about 10 minutes alone with Dylan, Stephanie came out of surgury and got to hold Dylan for the first time and it was super awesome being a threesome family together!

So the deal is that we'll be in the hospital for a few extra days now. Probably at least until Friday or Sabbath. We are both exhausted, especially Steph after a full day of work for her body! We thank God for a very blessed day and for all our health. Also thanks to Marie Carlson for being there all day for us and for the Latterals for watching Belle for us.


Keeping Jesus#1
Benji

14 hours and counting

Ok so we are finally at 4 cm... it's 3:45ish and we're on nurse number 3, (tanya) She promises to get the baby out before she leaves at 11:00 p.m. :) Contractions are happening but at this point its like waiting for water to boil. That means we're on the home stretch 6 cm to go and at around 6 hours and baby should be born, I'll blog after the baby is born so keep watching for updates!

Benji

The Epidural is in...

Well as you could tell from the last entry it was a surprise visit to the hospital...We got in and they confirmed that the Stephs water did break and from there we got to go into our own little room here at the hospital. I can't find my cable to get the pictures off of my camera so you'll have to wait for those till I get home, but I assure you that there will be plenty :) At about 6 this morning Steph started on Pitocin and at about 9:30 they put the epidural in, so that's were we are at this point in the capable hands of the Southdale nurses and docs...

Benji

This kid has his own timing

I didn't expect to be woken up at 12:56 this morning, but I was....Stephanie came in and said her water broke so we called the Doctor and they said to come on in! So 1 shower, 1 set of dishes (it's my turn and I had procastinated on doing them) we're just now leaving for the hospital at 1:56 a.m. So the clock is running for this baby and so are we...

Benji

Still Waiting

Well It's the day after Christmas and still no baby, I don't know why we are expecting it so early, because the baby isn't due till the 29th anyways. Even though it would be a great tax break for 06 I'm still holding out hope for the first baby of the year on the Jan 1, 12:00:01 AM :) A shout out to my sister in law Mindy on her oft forgotten birthday today and also to my brother-in-law Val for his birthday tomorrow. Perhaps baby Ferguson will be on the 28th to make three family birthdays in a row?
Stephanie and I spent a very relaxed Christmas and it was really nice, I hope that yours was good too. I think that's about all for now...Oh yes you can check out the pictures link here on the blog page and it will send you to my Flickr photo albums and you can peruse pictures of the last few years of our lives and also check out the baby pics when they are available!

Happy Chrismasdays

Keeping Jesus #1
Benji

This video is the best

I buddy of mine from seminary sent me a link from this video. This is simliar to the gang that Jon Ponder and I wanted to start in high school. (The pic is an old picture of one of the kids in my youth group doing a skit at a patfinder campouth)

KJV (Boooyaa)

Keeping Jesus #1

Benji

http://www.devilducky.com/media/25512/

Xmas Break!!!!

Well I'm officially done with my first quarter of classes. I finished my last paper today...I think I already have senioritis, because it came to a point on these paper where I really didn't care what grade I was going to be getting. Steph is on the home stretch of school. She went to the doctor today and her blood pressure was high so if she wants to go on the field trip this Thursday to see the biggest gingerbread house in the world she'll have to go in a wheel chair....I think she'd rather stay home :) So it's up with the feet for the next couple of weeks until the little "dude" arrives. I think the name list is narrowed down to a manageable 2-3 names and we'll just have to see what he looks like before we name him.

Belle is pretty cute, we brought a doll home so that she'd get used to us carrying it around the house? Books said it was a good idea to make sure the dog is used to a baby. And now whenever we get home Belle will take us to the crib to make sure we know the "baby" is ok...Anyways attached are some recent pictures of stuff. I hope to post some stuff on the blog when the baby is born, but we'll see how long that takes.

So a very merry xmas to you all, this is the only xmas card you're getting :)

Benji

P.s. I just got a webcam and want to talk to people with it. I can use skype, yahoo or msn IM....