laundry day

I am teaching Kathryn early that she is expected to help out with household chores...we are starting with laundry.This was earlier today...I guess she got tired folding all those clothes!

For the F&G girls and the car

Hey F&G gals, remember that yummy dessert Kim used to make, mocha brownie something? Well, I tried to recreate it the other day for an event I was going to. It didn't turn out too bad! (It wasn't as pretty as Kim's though!) Oh, on a side note, I got to meet Uncle Kish the other weekend when he was in town for Renu's wedding. I even wore our effengee shirt so he could see that he was in the quotes. Yeah!Here's the new car God provided us with. And we finally sold our old car, too! Praise God!

updated pics, per request!

Here are some updated pictures, by request! The first is Kathryn sporting her Wahoo pride from an outfit by the picture requester!These next two pictures are to demonstrate what happens when Kathryn sleeps. I put her down in her crib like this...
...and find her like this when she wakes up. Sometimes she has done a complete 180 and is totally flipped. I caught her only halfway this time!

Thoughts

Last night I was blog stalking, and came across a new post on the Salvatierra's blog. Mike, Laura, and their one year old Noah are missionaries in Peru. Laura wrote of her trip to Hogar de Maria, a women's shelter in their area. Reading her reflections on the time she spent there pricked my heart. She told numerous stories of the women there who have small children, no where to go, experience abuse, and are under extreme poverty. Each story made my heart sad, and reminded me of so many around us that are in similar situations. Even in the work we do here in the inner city, there are many hurting people that we face day to day. And I realized as I read that my heart has become somewhat numb to my surroundings. Why doesn't it surprise me anymore to hear of another middle schooler on the streets again, getting arrested yet another time for dealing drugs? Why am I not saddened much over one of the girls asking for prayer because she got into trouble partying once again over the weekend? Why am I indifferent over the fact that a 14 year old girl is about to fail the 7th grade yet again, and doesn't care? And we don't have to be in a position in life where we are in contact with the "less fortunate" to know of those who have trials in life and struggles with sin. How many of our neighbors are going through hardships that need someone to be there for them? How many people around us need to experience Christ's love? How many people are waiting for our hearts to be pricked and have compassion on them? Laura's post reminded me of how hard my heart has become, and prompted me to pray that I might be more aware and sensitive to what I see around me, and more inclined to love fiercely as Christ loved. I love the passage in Scripture that talks about the crowds following Jesus, and it says (my paraphrase) that He "looked at them and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd." There are several things that are important in that phrase, but the two that stand out to me in relation to this are: 1) he LOOKED at them; and 2) he had compassion on them. Let's pray and ask God to help us look at others (instead of turning our heads the other way) and have compassion on them (to actually do something about what we see).

and a few more

The funny thing about the first picture is that it totally freaked Kathryn out. When the picture takes, the image freezes on the desktop for several seconds, and as soon as it popped up, her arms flew out to the side in the startle reflex and she burst into tears. We had a good laugh at that as we held her tight and tried to comfort her. Don't worry, we haven't done it again to see if it gets the same reaction (yet...!).

VA Tech

After the tragedy this past Monday at Virginia Tech, it's hard to know what to say. We have spent much time in prayer and reflection, struggling to deal with it all our selves, as well as help those around us. One of my first reactions on Monday was to just hold my baby tight. I just wanted to hold her all day long, thinking that if I continued to do so, I could protect her from such things in this world. I wanted to shield her eyes from the images on the news, and close her ears to the reports on the radio. It's sad to me that I cannot protect her forever, and also a step of faith to trust that GOD has her in His hands. He loves her far more than I ever could (even though that seems impossible, I know it's true), and we can entrust her to His care.

At the after-school program, we had an impromtu Bible study with the middle schoolers to help them work through it all as well. The study was mostly focused on helping the kids to process and point them to the Lord, countering what they are hearing from the media and other people with what God's Word says. Some of them had some interesting things to say, so I thought I'd include a few of their quotes. (They are direct quotes, so I did not edit their spelling or grammar.)

"[God's Word is] saying that he will always be hear holding your right hand and helping you. His love will last forever. That if you think of anything that is excellent or praisworthy and peace will be with you. Do not fear for he is there." -Stormy

"God has a reason for everything. It doesn't make sense. He is good. His love last forever. We love him because he has heard our voice and supplications." -Chris

"What can I do but prey." -Umar

some random pics

Kathryn already has a funny sense of humor!

Kathryn had a bit of a cold, so I stayed home with her this past Sunday since it was cold and rainy too. She really enjoyed singing praise songs with mommy!
Aunty Kim and Uncle Disco came to visit us from Alabama. Kathryn loved all the attention she got, and can't wait to see them again!

riding on daddy's shoulders

A Narrative About Sleep

The following is a narrative I wrote about Wednesday night. I didn't get a chance to post it yesterday, so it's a day late. However, since I know most people come to this blog to see baby pictures, I decided to go ahead and put a totally unrelated picture up. This is Kathryn after her bath, with what her 5-year-old Uncle Nick likes to call "cwazy hair!" Enjoy this little peak into my night-time life!

You know the saying, "You don't know what you got till it's gone"? (I believe it's also a song.) Well, every parent can think of at least a dozen things that can refer to once they enter the amazing journey of parenthood. And I think all would agree that SLEEP would be at the top of that list. Therefore, every parent can attest to remembering how excited they got with every step forward toward more sleep. Well, last night [Wednesday night], I am happy and excited to report that Kathryn was 10 minutes shy of sleeping for 6 straight hours! Here's how it went:

I've been trying to kind of keep a more consistent night-time schedule the past week or so, and feed her around 8-8:30 and then again around 10-10:30 to tank her up. She's been doing pretty well with that, but still waking up 3-4 hours later to eat again (she's an eating machine!). But last night, after feeding her at 10:30, she didn't wake up again until 4:00! When she did wake at 4, I could tell her long, whining cries meant she was not fully awake yet. So I went into her room and just gave her her paci, then left. Then I began what I'm sure every parent can remember.

I stood outside her room, peering at her through the crack in her door, afraid to breathe lest it somehow wake her, literally holding my breath as I watched her body relax and herh arms lower toward the crib matress. (How is it that they can be asleep, but as soon as their arms make it 1/16 of an inch from the matress, they startle and wake themselves up again? There must be some scientific explanation for this cruel occurrence.) So, as I stood there peering and holding my breath, I silently cheered as her little arms slowly drooped and made it safely to their resting place without waking her. Then I started that long, tiptoeing trek back to my room. I made it back to my doorway, to the point of the dreaded creak-in-the-floor. Oh, that awful creak. I cringed as I stepped across it, knowing the impending creak was about to sound. ANd as it inevitable did, it happened...the startle and groan coming from the once-sleeping baby in the nursery. Freeze. Will she wake herself up or drift back off? (How is it that the creaks-in-the-floor are so deftly placed? What a cruel joke to be at the threshold of your bedroom door, about to pass through to your bed and to blissful sleep, when creeeeaaaaakk.......freeze......"Waaaahhhhhh"......heavy sigh.....back to the nursery.) However, after a few seconds of once again holding-my-breath eternity, I sigh as there is only blessed silence coming from her direction. I escaped the creak.

I then crawled back into bed to await what would happen next. Will she wake up again in a few minutes, meaning she does need to be fed? Or will she miraculously go back to sleep and remain sleeping until 8:00, thereby forever crossing into the realm of Babies That Sleep Through the Night, never to go back to waking for a middle of the night feeding again?

By this time, I was so excited and geared up from the whole adventure that I couldn't get back to sleep. Amazing, isn't it? Anyway, the paci did hold her off for another 20 minutes or so, but she did end up waking back up to eat. But I do think we're on to something here. I can almost taste what sleeping through the night will be like, and soon I hope to let you know just how delicious it is!

and here are some more!

just lookin' cute!mommy wouldn't let me have a chocolate bunny, so I think I'll eat my dress instead...
are we gonna pray before Easter dinner?
ahhhh, just chillin'!

Easter

Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend.

3 months old today!!!

Today is Kathryn's 3 month birthday!!! Some of her latest pasttimes include: kicking her feet as fast as she can; moving in all directions in her crib, playing "What position will mommy and daddy find me in this time?"; smiling and cooing, gaaing, and razzing; chewing on her hands and fingers; watching ceiling fans; trying to giggle; looking at mommy's flowers growing in the yard; seeing how many outfits she can get poo on; getting up on her elbows and hands (not quite rolling over, but very close); and making mommy and daddy fall more in love with her every day!

This picture is from a few weeks ago (I haven't snapped her 3-month-old pic yet today), but what's a blog without a picture?
P.S. I typed this whole blog with one hand while holding Kathryn with the other, reading everything I typed out loud to her. You can add "making mommy figure out how to do things with one hand" to the list of her recent favorite activities...

Bumbo seat

Can Kathryn sit up?!? Well, not exactly, but thanks to her new Bumbo seat, she can now sit pretty with a new view and position. She's still getting the hang of it, but she's sure to enjoy it more and more as she gets holding her head up better each day.

work hard, play hard

Kathryn was "playing" under her little floor gym the other day, and I came back into the room to find her like this (notice her holding the little toy in her left hand).

The flash from the camera roused her, so she moved her arms a bit and dropped the toy. Still asleep though...

crazy group pics

Andrew and Naomi discovered a while back that their camera has a setting on it that takes 3 pictures in a row, which is really fun for posing in wild and crazy ways, then viewing in succession. Anyway, our camera doesn't have that neat feature, but we still had fun posing anyways. This was at the end of the weekend, just before we all left our separate ways for home. We probably spent at least 20 minutes just taking one picture after another. I think it was our way of making the weekend last just a little bit longer... Here are a few of the pictures.

More weekend pics

Kathryn with another one of her "aunts", Jeni. The boys playing Settlers in the lodge. I think Johnny won this game! Way to go honey!
Levi making smores in the lodge.

Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K

This past weekend, we traveled down to Richmond to meet up with some friends and participate in a 10K. Johnny actually did the race, while Kathryn and I cheered, along with Tabitha. We had a great time hanging out with friends for the weekend, camping in Pocahontas State Park in a very rustic but neat cabin/lodge place, and playing lots of Settlers, of course! Johnny did a great job in the race, finishing with a time of 1 hour 19 minutes! We are so proud of everyone that participated...way to go! To read more about the race, click here. More pictures of the weekend to follow, so keep checking back!

Johnny at mile 5, where we were cheering...a little over a mile left to go! Tabitha cheering the runners and walkers on!
Kathryn and I cheering...she was dressed in a Cheerbear Carebears outfit, courtesy of Aunt Linda. Thanks Aunt Linda for help keeping her warm, and for being a part of making so many people smile as they passed little Cheerbear!