More Cute Pictures

I love how the lighting turned out on this picture. I am no photographer or anything but I think the clarity on it is amazing. Isaac was enjoying splashing the stick in the water.
Isn't this a GREAT picture of grandpa and Isaac? I tried getting Ewan in the picture too but there were too many sticks to collect.
Here is our family picture--We were hoping for a little closer up on the faces but I think if we crop it, it will look better.

Uncle Darren's Wedding

Here is a picture of me and Isaac at the wedding.

Uncle Darren's Wedding

More pictures to come--but this was a beautiful wedding site and Ewan found one of his favorite things....sticks. I have more picture I am going to upload but blogger was being problematic all day. I decided that I want a weeping willow tree. They are very warm and friendly trees--it made me feel welcome under its canopy.

Thats My King

This is a supercool video. I saw it in church and had to share it!

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago and had a great time. There were some really cute pictures so I thought I'd share a few with you. We went with our neighborhood friends, The Demarees. Warren and Ewan are both 3 and are great pals. They play together really well and LOVE to dress up like cops and firemen and go after trouble. Warren is there in the background in this picture. They got to go on a hayride, feed sheep, goats, and cows, and climb on hay. It was pretty fun. Isaac really enjoyed feeding all the animals. Ewan had a special affection for a baby cow and wanted to ONLY feed the baby--not the big cows.

Here is Ewan, unsure of the sheep but sharing a grin of utter delight.

Here is Isaac trying to feed a chicken a rock. He thought that chicken, rooster actually, really wanted to eat a rock.

Here are Ewan and Warren together sitting in the midst of some pumpkins.

I am so thankful for our new friends in the neighborhood. Several of us moms get together every Thursday morning for a play date. All of us mommies drink coffee and chat while the kiddos play. 5 mommies and 9 kiddos. The amazing thing is that they all play together really well. It is one of the highlights of our week.

I've Been Tagged!

Book Tag
1.One book that changed my life: So You Want To Be A Stay At Home Mom by Cheryl Gochnauer

2.One book I have read more than once: The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

3. One book I would want on a desert island: Celebration of Disipline by Richard Foster

4. One book that I tried to read but never finished for one reason or another: Nelson Mandella Biography--still got it on the shelf though and would love to finish it one day

5. One book that made me cry: Yada Yada Prayer Books (all of them) by Neta Jackson

6. One book I wish I had written: Harry Potter (sounds totally selfish and shallow but I'd be a millionaire!) by J.K. Rowling

7. One book I wish had never been written:
Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Dispute Questions by
Wayne Grudem (Grudem's narrow view of women makes me want to scream)

8. A classic that I love: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

9. Longest book I've ever read: The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien

10. Booktag five other people: Grace, Kelsey, Jon (only got 3)

11. One book I would like to see made into a movie: Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin (it is a non-fiction book but it would be really cool to see a movie documentary about The Farm (her midwifery clinic) and all those cool natural births!

12. My current favorite: So That's What They're For! by Janet Tamaro

13. One young adult book I always recommend: Queen Bees and Wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman

14. Genre I tend to ignore: Romance

Song Lyrics

So we have been having some fun singing around here. I thought I would share a few cute things. Isaac has learned how to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Row, Row, Row your boat. The latter sounds like this:

Woah, Woah, Woah your boat
Gently down the street
Mer-a-wy, mer-a-wy, mer-a-wy
Life is but a drink.

Ewan made up a song at his Mimi's house the other day on the piano--it is called Dinosaur Story. I am trusting that none of you will send it off to music producers to try to make a buck or two. It sounds like this:

Dinosaur Story, yeah, yeah!
Dinosaur Story, yeah, yeah!

Also:
T. Rex Story, yeah, yeah!
T. Rex Story, yeah, yeah!

Also:
Pteradactyl Story, yeah, yeah!
Pteradactyl Story, yeah, yeah!

Ewan has become quite the story teller too. He LOVES to tell stories. Apparently he doesn't just do it at home either. His Sunday school teacher told me that he likes to tell stories during their circle time during class too.

Last night he told Jon all about how we caught frogs (in Canada at the cottage) and put them in the bucket and then one jumped out and landed on his face and then hopped away. He LOVES to tell stories about the time we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. They have a real looking dinosaur exhibit and Ewan thought they were pretty cool. The T. Rex scared him and he likes to talk about that. Our friends Kelsey and Levi came over on Thursday and Ewan told Kelsey about how we saw dinosaurs at the zoo and how they were REAL. I think he still has a hard time believing they were pretend because they moved, made noises, and looked real.

These kiddos are too cute!

I DID IT!!!! (With God's help)

I am now a fully affiliated Bradley® Instructor! I can officially sign my name.....

Amelia Parker, AAHCC

I got an email from a friend who went through the training workshop with me saying she saw my name on the affiliated instructor list on the website. I haven't heard from the academy yet about what my "grade" was on my final. It was kind of weird to hear from a friend first and not from the academy but I'll take what I can get! Woooooooo-hoooooooo!

It feels really good that I did all that hard work and completed something. I think it means a lot because the normal mundane life of a stay-at-home-mom is just never-ending. Always wiping counters, floors, faces, hineys, sinks, boogies, cooking meal after meal, did I mention cleaning? There isn't ever a sense of completeness or accomplishment of the day--except perhaps, when the babies are sleeping. Does that make sense?

I felt a similar sense of accomplishment when I got accepted into grad school and started taking courses. I felt like I was doing something "big".

It took almost one year from start to finish to get affiliated. Big thanks to the Lord for helping me slug through the work and giving me passion for birthing!

If you want to see my name on the website you can go to this and look up the directory and see my name on the webite.

By the way, on a side note...I have had terrible allergies for the past month. It has been miserable and I have been driving Jon crazy with my sniffling and sneezing. The poor guy had to go hang out in the other room when he came to bed the other night because I was already asleep and SNORING. I haven't been able to breathe normally out of my nose at night for weeks now and have woken up with a totally parched mouth and chapped lips from breathing thorugh my mouth. I went to Whole Foods yesterday and got a homeopathic remedy for allergies that does EVERYTHING Benedryl does without all the side effects. I started it yesterday and am a new woman!!!!!!!! Praise the LORD for that!!!! Last night was the first night I didn't wake up sneezing, parched, chapped, or my nose randomly leaking like a faucet. What a breath of fresh air...hahaha....

My Handsome Son

Ewan did his first wedding performance as a ring bearer this morning. It started off rocky but he did a great job. For whatever reason he had an aversion to the tuxedo and DID NOT want to put it on. This was about 30 minutes before the wedding started. We were a bit worried that he wouldn't have a change in his attitude. We wrestled the little gator and got the suit on and then all was well. Go figure. He walked down the aisle just like he was supposed to and sat (mostly) still and was quiet during the ceremony. We were very proud. He even went to bed late and still managed to do everything with smiles (minus the putting the suit on tactic). The wedding was at Northwest Bible Church and the reception was at the Dallas Museum of Art. David and Linh were in a happy bliss to be finally tying the knot. It was a very nice service. Congratulations to David and Linh (who are heading off to Paris--very romantic!)!




As Ewan walked down the aisle I got the biggest tears in my eyes because all I could think about was how one day this little boy would be walking down an aisle to get married so some beautiful girl. Sigh.















This was taken at the reception and Jon and Ewan were doing "Cheers". Ewan looked so cultured standing there in his tuxedo, drinking his special cranberry lemonade, and eating hors' d'ouvres. It was a special moment!











It isn't the best picture of Ewan from the day but Jon and I look pretty good! Thanks Kim for letting me borrow the shirt.

We had a lot of fun today--Mimi watched Isaac because we quickly figured out at the rehearsal dinner that having Isaac at the wedding was NOT going to be easy and was going to be very stressful. Thank you Mimi!

We got to catch up with our friend Tony who recently moved back to Texas. We were really hoping Tony and his girlfriend, Judy, would move back to Dallas but landed jobs in Houston. They are both doctors and two of the sweetest and kindest people we know. It was nice to see him again. Sadly, Judy was on call but hopefully we will see them again soon.

I finally got some pictures to upload onto this without using flickr! Hooray! I thought I would try this picture of my handsome men. This was last Saturday on big game day. Jon went to UT so everyone has shirts to wear on game days. I finally joined the shirt wearing. UNT doesn't have much school spirit nor much to root for-it's not like I can proudly wear my alumni Eagles football shirt, ya know? Both the boys know to say "Go Texas!". Ewan tries to do the hook 'em hand gesture but hasn't got it down yet. I predict it won't be too long though and Isaac won't be far behind.

New Birth

I had a cool dream a couple of nights ago. I dreamt that I was in labor and loving it. The labor was calm but I was working through the contractions. At one point I knew I needed to stand up and do the "7th grade dance" (waddling back and forth holding on to Jon) and that the baby would come. Shortly after dancing the baby was descending down the birth canal and was crowning. I squatted down to push the rest of the baby out and catch it in my hands. I was holding a gorgeous baby girl with thick, curly, brown hair and full of chub. She was beautiful! The dream felt so real to me and I was sad when I woke up because I felt like I was missing out on such a warm feeling.

Most of you who read this know that we would like to be pregnant again and are doing our part to make that happen. I would love to have that little baby girl I dreamt about! I think it would seal the fate on having 3 kids. If we had another boy it would be hard not to have a 4th and see if we got a little girl.

I keep chewing on that dream and am wondering if there is another meaning to it. (I am open to suggestions if any of you have the gift of dream interpretation!) I wonder if God is showing me that he is going to birth something new in me. That thought keeps coming back to me....In my heart of hearts I am hoping that it was a promise that we will have a little girl but I don't think that is what God is saying in that dream. Maybe God is showing me that Jon and I need to work together for this "new thing". Trying to figure out seminary and our next phase of life would definitely fit that description. I know He will make it clear but for now I am enjoying catching that baby girl in my arms and thinking about her face. (Dreamy look on my face now)

Some thoughts I've been having

Have you ever wondered whether or not you have been forgiven (by a person, not God) for something--a huge mistake you have made?

I have been thinking about that for a few months now. I had a falling out with a friend several years ago. It was over about some pretty serious stuff. My friend knew that my boyfriend had cheated on me and didn't tell me about it. We got in a huge fight about my response to his cheating. I was taking a few weeks to figure out if I wanted to stay with my boyfriend and didn't do much talking to her. As the fight escalated she accused me of being a part-time friend. It came out during the argument that she was really hurting because I was not there for her during a very hard time in her life a few months before. I think that is where the part-time friend accusation came from. She had decided to terminate a pregnancy and I went out of town with another friend the same weekend. I came back the day or the day after it happened and went to see her. I had no idea that going away and not being there with her had hurt her so badly. She never said anything about it until the day of the big fight.

Looking back on it now, I so wish that I had gone with her. It is hard to admit that I played a part in influencing her decision to terminate the pregnancy. I have beat myself up about that for years now. What kind of a friend was I to not be with my best friend (for years we had been friends) during probably the most difficult decision she ever made?

Hurt upon hurt was spoken between us the day of the fight. I can still remember it so clearly--where I was sitting in my bedroom, yelling into the phone, crying loudly. I think the I think we both said and did some terrible things to each other. Our friendship had gone through some rocky times before but nothing like this. Our friendship pretty much ended after that fight.

I became a Christian about a year after that happened. Somehow knowing that God loved me despite my past sin and mistakes (and there was a lot!) gave me hope that I was not forever going to be labeled as a terrible friend. (I did learn something about friendship from that whole experience though.) I know that God has forgiven me for all of that but I still long to know that true reconciliation can happen between my friend and I. We have recently been in touch again-it has been over 10 years since "the incident" but we have not yet spoken about the past.

Moving back to Dallas has been difficult for me because it has brought many of the realities of my past in my face. It has been interesting to reflect on who I am as a new creation in Christ and yet being surrounded by all the memories of my past. I am such a different person than I was 10 years ago--since I have become a Christian. I feel as though my whole adult life is disconnected from my childhood and adolescence through high school. Even listening to certain music takes me back to my BC days and honestly, there are a lot of things I would rather forget. How do I reconcile these two areas of my life?

My friend and I have been talking via email for a couple of months--nothing very deep. She is a new mom and is staying at home with her baby. I have seen pictures of her baby and she is adorable. Even though I have a hard time connecting with the past I really want to reconnect with my friend. I would like to get together with her to see where things go. I have suggested getting together but it is hard to know what she is really thinking. I realize that she might be hesitant and feeling reserved about reconnecting with me. I understand that I hurt her in the past but I want for both of us to be free from our past and to move forward with our lives. Perhaps after spending time together we will be able to define what our friendship looks like. Maybe we will realize that we will only be friends who check in every now and then. Maybe after spending time together we will want to invest in a deeper friendship. I really don't know where it will go but I have been anxious about it for a few weeks. I feel like God is speaking to me about it and it has been nice to do some reflection about my past.

Going back to forgiveness.....Is it selfish of me to want to know where she stands or how she feels about my mistakes from our friendship? I am too scared to ask her. There isn't enough trust in the bank yet. I would rather do that in person anyway, and we haven't gotten together yet. What DOES she think about when she thinks about our chumming around days? What would she have done different, if anything? Are there things she would like to say to me now about our friendship or the past? I guess forgiveness won't feel complete to me until we revisit that painful issue again. I fear bringing it up and I can only imagine that it is painful for her to think about again. I don't want to remind her of that. I feel love for her --no bitterness or anger at all. Why is it so hard to just rest in the forgiveness of God? I don't need to pay penance for my past sin--it has been forgiven. But, I do want to be sensitive to my friend and her process too. Maybe the hesitation I feel from her about getting together is not there at all and I am just imagining it. My intuition tells me otherwise.

Forgiveness--or the lack of it-- is very powerful, isn't it?