My Visit to Jason & Krystal's

For the past couple weeks I had made plans with Jason and Krystal to come stay a nice long weekend from Thursday to Sunday with them, well aware this was around the same time that they would find out if they were expecting. Of course I was excited! The possibility that I would walk into their home and Jason says to me, "Lindsay, you're going to be an aunt," was a constant thought that ran through my head this past week. Well Thursday came as fast as I could hope and off I was from my apartment in Alexandria, to Jason and Krystal's house with butterflies in my stomach. As I was filling my car up with gas, however, I got a phone call from my mom. She asked if I was on my way to Jason's yet and I told her that I was. Then she preceded to tell me the bad news..."they aren't pregnant. Dad called me this morning and told me some little details but not much. I just wanted to let you know before you went there." I was completely shocked. I asked my mom a ton of questions. She couldn't answer, no one could. I cried for them on my drive down. I just didn't understand, but I wasn't going to make it hard for Jason and Krystal so I put on a strong face and continued on my way until I arrived.

Thursday night came and went, and the three of us had a nice, relaxing evening at home. And so it was Friday morning. I woke up to see Krystal only for a little while before she went to her business luncheon. It didn't even occur to me that she had already been to the doctor. I would soon find out the results of the second lab test, just as Jason did. I was doing homework on the table as Krystal called up to Jason to help her with some boxes. He went. Completely oblivious to what could possibly be going on, Jason repeated to me the same request after a little time had past. So down the stairs I went and out the garage door to see a tiny bear with a bib around his neck that read 'I Love Daddy,' and balloons wrapped around it's collar. I was confused and shocked as I teared up. This was the miracle Jason was talking about earlier. It truly was. I was so proud of Jason and Krystal for all their strength and courage. God definitely saw their struggle and decided it was over. Off to Iowa we were!

And now the fun begins....Never being a parent myself, I had no idea how much fun it was going to be to tell the parents that they were going to be grandparents!! What an adrenaline rush. The entire drive down to Roger and Soni's was filled with planning and plotting on how to surprise them. Fortunately for us Roger and Soni always find their way to a bar and restaurant every Friday night for a slice of pizza. This would be the location. The plan: Have the waitress bring Roger and Soni each a bear with a bib that said, 'I Love Grandpa, and I Love Grandma.' What a shock that would be. The action: First, we called Roger and Soni's house, twice from my cell, to see if they were out. Second, we called the restaurant to get them in on the idea. Then, we drove through the parking lot to make sure their car was definitely there. So far so good. We entered the bar side first and meet up with the manager, who we previously talked to. We also talked to the waitress and told her what to do. Everything was a go until the waitress came back and shared with us that Soni was up talking to someone she knew. And then the wait....The three of us stood at the bar and waited for the waitress to come back and tell us that Soni sat down. We waited some more...It seemed like it was hours later (it was probably only about 15 minutes) when the waitress finally came back and said ok. We did have to hurry this by having the manager tell Soni her food was ready (hehe). And the rest is history....caught on tape...(the video starts out sideways)

And now for the other parents....My mom and dad had been planning on coming Saturday night and staying at Jason and Krystal's also. Since we stayed the night in Forest City we needed to make an excuse to make sure that they didn't arrive before we had a chance to get back and get situated. So Friday night on the way back to Roger and Soni's house I called my mom to ask when her and dad were planning on heading out on Saturday. She said she was thinking around noon or so but wasn't certain and that they could leave later if need be. Well watching the weather lately there had been some talk about snow in the Twin City area, we ran with that idea! So I told my mom that we had heard the snow was gonna hit the Ramsey area around 2 p.m. so they should definitely plan on leaving at noon in order to get there around 1:30. She agreed. The timing was set. Saturday morning we got up and hit the road around 10:30 and made it back by 12:40 after a quick trip to target to get some more bibs and bears! On this road trip was when we brainstormed ideas as well. Jason came up with a "fool proof" plan, but Krystal and I decided that it was actually just boring.

The plan decided on: Decorate the garage with streamers and signs so that when they open it we can be standing inside. As we got closer Jason called mom to see where they were at so we could approximate how much time we would have to decorate the garage. He ended the call by telling them to come in through the garage door. It turned out we didn't have a huge amount of time, or so we thought! The action: First, we moved the cars so everything was wide and open to see. Second, blue and pink streamers were torn and taped to anywhere we thought necessary. Then, I wrote out two big signs, 'LAB WAS WRONG and WE -R- PREGNANT!' Next Jason set up the two puppies (Target didn't have anymore bears) in their 'Grandma and Grandpa' bibs on the trunk of the car. Finally, with time drawing close we began the wait. And wait. And wait. (I bet if they would have known what we were planning to tell them both sets of parents probably wouldn't have made us wait!) That was tough! About 20 minutes longer than they said they were going to be and different ideas from all of us of what happened, "they stopped to eat, the car broke down, they weren't even in Buffalo..." Jason looking through the peep hole and me at the top of the steps through the window saw them pull in. We ran into the garage and the camera began rolling...

Jason and Krystal,

Thanks for letting me be apart of a very special weekend. I love you two! Congratulations!

Love, Lindsay