Thanks to input from Jamie, I’ll start with my thoughts on some recent TV shows.

Repulsion may be a strong word, but considering we don’t have cable I think it is absolutely AMAZING that I have seen some of the following previews for new TV shows lately. I won’t put the titles of the shows here primarily so my blog doesn’t show up in google search for these, but also because I can’t remember exactly what some of them were called (I was too repulsed to pay that close of attention). If any of you have watched these shows and can tell me something redeeming about them, I would love to hear it. Also, please feel free to comment and add to the list of shows to avoid.

1) Have we really become so desensitized to premarital sex that it is entertaining to watch a show where the tag line is “Shack up or Ship out”? SERIOUSLY? Do enough people enjoy sharing their bodies with complete strangers that they can find contestants for this reality show? I AM REPULSED.

2) Is it seriously entertaining to watch people air their dirty laundry on TV while attached to a lie detector? Do people really find pleasure in knowing how much sin their neighbor/friend/spouse/sibling/parent is living in? Maybe its me, but I tend to want to be ashamed of my down-falls, not make money off of them. Why would you sign up to be a contestant with questions like “are you having an affair”, “do you make yourself throw up to lose weight”, “do you cheat at work” (and those are just the questions on the previews)? As Mel pointed out, you really can’t win. Either you answer truthfully and have everyone know, lie and have the detector rat you out, or don’t say anything and give yourself away by default. I just don’t think eating disorders and broken marriages are a great way to make a buck. I AM REPULSED.

3) Having known many a God-fearing man that would admit to having struggled with looking lustfully at women, especially those that are scantally clad, I hate the fact that there is a show where women are competing to become “pussy cat dolls”. The way they dress, do their make-up, and dance ON THE COMMERCIAL was enough for me to say…I AM REPULSED.

Those are just the three that I have seen in my limited TV viewing time. If I can “stumble” on these three when I mostly TIVO everything I watch and do not even have cable, I hate to think what else is out there.

ABL

WARNING– If you (or your wife) have had particularly difficult labor stories and are prone to jealousy, this post is not for you.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is hearing my mom read the “Night Before Christmas” and the story of Christ’s birth before we go to bed. In a little while, before we put our little one to sleep he’ll get to hear his Nonna read. I can hardly wait. The anticipation of moments like that this holiday season are far greater for me than any anticipation of marterial gifts.

What does that mean, anyway? “In a nutshell”? I’ll need more than a nutshell size of piece of paper to recap our November and I certainly hope that anytime you spend reading this will not equate to the part of the nut that you throw on the floor. Anyway, here are some updates from our whirlwind month. Any one of these items could make for an entire post, so be prepared for a long read…

1) MARATHONS– While “marathon” would be a pretty accurate metaphor for November at our house, there were a couple of literal ones this month, too. I finally achieved my pregnancy goal of walking 13.1 miles. Technically I power-walked 10 miles and strolled the last few; out of 2000 people in the race about 12 finished after me. Still, I count it as mission accomplished. The best part was that a childhood friend came to walk with me. We had nearly 4 hours of one-on-one catch up time and that was a huge blessing to me. RRL RAN a marathon a couple of weeks later with some of our favorite running buddies. I was so proud of their stellar time, despite being one of the hardest courses I’ve ever seen and I cried as they crossed the finish line (shocker). Here is a photo of the whole 1/2 marathon & 5K crew in Tyler.

2) RENEWAL– I had the joy of organizing an event for the women of our church during the 2nd week of Nov (with a LOT of help from some amazing volunteers). I have been hesitant to post about it, since I was in charge, but I just need to say publicly how blessed the event was. It was not blessed by my talents, efforts or wisdom; it was blessed by the Lord who provided so abundantly for it. Seriously, I was under prepared for the magnitude of the event and I have zero experience with dealing with that many women. If left to myself, my patience would have been zapped by questions about cloth vs paper napkin, people arriving 45 minutes early and whether the decorating theme should be fall decor (not even sure what that actually means). If it had been up to me, there would have been zero chance that 300 women would be willing to step outside their comfort zones and sit at tables with women they did not know. Instead, those details just fell in place, people came who have not been to women’s events for a long time and there was a peace on the place as we dealt with some uncomfortable “laundry” that was among us. I was once again amazed at how the Lord uses me to accomplish HIS plans, despite my efforts to accomplish a personal agenda. Eventually, I will quit fighting and just surrender to his purpose. Why is that so hard?

3) HOME SWEET HOME– RRL, KJ and I drove to my parents house for Thanksgiving. We got to spend one whole glorious week with Momma and Daddy and visited a host of other relatives and friends. You are never too old to be renewed by sleeping in your childhood bed, having meals prepared for you and getting hugs and kisses from your parents everyday. At least I hope I never get too old! I love that RRL, KJ, BL2 and I are making a home here that is a place I cherish and long to return to, but I can still have that home, too. I just love Thanksgiving. Our family has so much to be thankful for and I pray we can be more mindful of that all year. Here are a couple of pictures of our trip:

4) DREAMS– When I was pregnant with KJ I remember having weird dreams. They were mostly far-fetched sort of sci-fi kind of dreams about childbirth. The dreams have started again, but are so different this time. This time they are so real and vivid that I wake up able to remember every detail and I often get the dreams confused with reality. It is such a funny feeling to be in the middle of my day and not be able to remember if so-and-so is really angry with me or if that just happened in my dream, did I forget to send KJ’s lunch or was that in my dream. Crazy. One of the funniest dreams I have had, though, was one I like to call “Michael Scott and I save Dunder Mifflin“. Seriously, I had a very intense dream about how MS and I met with the owner of Dunder Mifflin to remind him to have more fun at work. This would help people want to continue working there. I had a whole power-point presentation that I wish I could recreate. The dream started as just any ordinary day at my real office, but some how went down this very different path. Do you think I watch too much TV?

5) TRICKS AND ENTERTAINMENT– KJ is full of tricks these days and I often I find myself just sitting and watching him. He is so funny. One of my favorite things that he does right now is sing the ABC’s. We have a Leap*frog letters magnet on the fridge that he sings along with. He only does a few of the letters, but always yells “Z” at the end. I love it. He also loves any kind of ball and some of his favorite words are catch, pass, dribble, shoot and miss. A recent favorite is a Christmas book that sings “Away in a Manger”. He loves to pat the baby in the pictures and call him Jesus…be still my heart! I could go on and on, I’m just so proud. If you run into us expect a show while I encourage my child to show-off. I’m definitely one of “those” moms.

6) COUNTDOWN– BL2′ s expected arrival is less than 8 weeks away. He is definitely growing and so am I…WOWzers. I seriously love being pregnant, though. I do not love people that have negative things to say about my size, the way I am carrying the baby or about how full my hands are going to be with two young boys. No JOKE, I know, thanks for the input…all things (and a few I’ve censored out) that I would love to say to such people. I’m thinking of wearing a sign that says “encouraging words only, please…may bite”. On that note…no, we don’t have room ready for the baby; and no, we don’t have a name picked out. The list of names is constantly changing. Current front-runner is Hudson Clark (funny, I don’t even think that name was even on the list last time I posted about this). Despite the lack of planning, I am not stressed. I know he will be welcomed with joy into a family that will love him and teach him about Jesus, who cares what color his room is. We just can’t wait to meet our littlest man.

7) PRAYERS FOR THE TRAVELERS– My parents are about 1/2 way through their trip to Paraguay right now to visit my brother. They went with 278 lbs of luggage, a small corner of which was reserved for their clothes and the rest was gifts (including components of a swingset) to take to the people they have never met, but that they love because my brother has come to love them. I love that my parents (and mother-in-law, too) have the desire and ability to travel to all parts of the globe to see their children and experience their lives. I hope I can pass that kind of love on to my boys, it is the only way I know to let my parents see how much it means to us!

Hope that explains a little bit of why I have not posted in a month. It was such a fun month that really wanted to document it, even if it was long. I did not even get into all of the normal youth group activities, going to work 3 days a week, having house-guests, etc. Like I said, this was just the “nutshell”.

ABL

Yep, that’s me. I’ll admit it freely. It doesn’t take much at all to send me reeling down memory lane or dreaming about the future- both of which usually come with tears. I’m not talking the sobbing kind of tears, just the kind of lump in your throat, eyes welling up, catch your breath kind of moments. I cry over songs on the radio (especially those about growing old, having babies, losing loved ones), I’ve even been known to cry at the end of races I run, or cry watching other people I love finish races. I cry when I drive over the bridge across the state line to Tennessee and again when we drive over it to leave. I cry at baptisms, even people I do not know, and I always cry at weddings. One of the places that always stirs-up these kinds of moments for me is being on the campus of my alma-mater in the beautiful town of Abilene. I always catch my breath as we drive into town and you get that first glimpse of the campus skyline over the hill. WHAT A DORK!

As a very precious gift from my husband, I spent three days there this last week during lectureships. He kept KJ at home and sent me off on the road-trip alone. I can’t remember when I’ve had that much time to myself. It was much needed and VERY much appreciated. I have not been able to thank him enough for being so understanding and for being the kind of Dad that I did not think twice about leaving KJ with him for a few days. I didn’t even have to leave any written instructions. He just took care of everything. He really is amazing.

This trip was such a different experience than I’ve had in Abilene in a long time. Usually when we go at Homecoming and/or Sing Song we pack our agenda full and run from place to place and friend to friend. It is so much fun, but far from relaxing and leaves no time for sentimental introspection. This week I did not really tell anyone I was coming, felt no obligation to keep any commitments and spent all my time leisurely eating at my favorite places, getting a pedicure, taking classes, walking around campus and staying up late talking to the friends I stayed with. It was perfect.

Here are a few things that stuck out to me about the trip, some sappy some just funny:

1) On Sunday night I went to the library to see the reconstruction and just to sit and read for a little while (I told you, I’m a dork). As I walked out of the library, with my backpack on my shoulders the bells started ringing on the hour. I cried. Too many memories.

2) I love to hear Dr. J. Willis teach the Bible. When he teaches about the Bible, you learn the Bible. No fluff, just the Bible. If he says the text is over Micah (as it was), you come away feeling like you have a better insight into the book of Micah. What an amazing gift!

3) I love zucchini bread from Hickory Street. Including the two pieces I ate at the restaurant and all that I’ve eaten of what I brought home “for RRL” I’m pretty sure I’ve consumed an entire loaf in the last 3 days.

4) Professor Brooks has an amazing gift for using her experiences to encourage others and share the gospel. She does it humbly, with grace, and prepares in a way that obviously allows the Lord to work on her and speak clearly through her. By the way, her class was so full people had to sit on the floor.

5) Men doing your pedicure, who never speak a word, and only shove your feet in and out of the water, can make a delightful experience very awkward.

6) At lectureships I was kind of an odd-duck. There were other people my age, but most people fit into two categories…1)obviously older than me; 2) students. I had to laugh in several situations as people I met tried to tactfully fit me into one of those categories. This was made especially difficult by the conflicting large bump of baby on my front and the backpack I was carrying. More that one sweet lady commented that I “looked young enough to be a student” and acted surprised later in conversation when I told them I was expecting. As if it was not obvious! I tried to keep my wedding ring apparent to avoid awkwardness.

7) I am very jealous that within walking distance of campus there is now a Cracker Barrel, SuperWalmart, and Chilis.

8) Staying in the apartment of college girls sure made me miss life in our little UP apartment. The girls I stayed with even had a Beta fish. Here’s to you, Mr. Fluffy.

As much as I loved my time in Abilene, as rested as I felt from my little get-away, and as thankful as I am for my experiences there, nothing about those three days could top the feeling I got as I drove into my own driveway and walked in our little house to my husband and my son. KJ’s huge grin and sweet kisses, RRL’s strong arms waiting for me- there really is no place I would rather be. No two people who can make me sappier. It is nice to get away sometimes, just to remember that.

You should have known that with a title about being sentimental this post was sure to get long! Next time I’ll just post what you really want- pictures of KJ.

ABL

One of the fun parts about the stage KJ is in right now is all of his new words. He tries to repeat everything we say and has a growing list of words that he uses without prompting on a regular basis. I liked Wendy’s idea of documenting this (thanks for letting me copy you) and I’ve actually been adding to it throughout today as I remember more words he knows. They all require some interpretation still, but he uses these consistently so rrl and I at least know what he is saying. So far he says:

Maaaah- mee (Mommy)
Daaahhhh-dee (Daddy)
Pea (please)
Dat-doo (Thank you)
wahk (walk)
down
Bi (bite)
Pah-Pah (pat pat, while banging on any object)
Nonna
Papa
Ball
Bah-Ball (basketball)
Bot-Ball (football)
Pea-Boo (peek-a-boo)
Uh-Oh
Bibah (Bible)
Hi
Bye-Bye
May-man (amen)
Yeah (Yes)
Wah (water)
Bah-bee (Baby-but he pats his own tummy instead of mine)
No (with hands raised and shoulders shrugged- “i don’t know)
No (when pointing to nose- nose)
Eye
Nah-No (no no- usually while waving a finger)
Dat (that…usually while pointing to say “I want that”)
Nah-None (all gone or all done…when waving hands)
soo (shoe)

And yesterday we started teaching him a new word…BROTHER. That’s right, we found out yesterday that KJ is going to have a little brother. We had a terrific sonogram. I love that our Doctor actually does the sonograms herself. She was so detailed in her explanations to us of what we were seeing. It was so cool that you can see so many things like the heart chambers and valves, the fingers and toes, spine, ribs, tiny bones, stomach, etc on a little person that weighs less than 1 pound. I loved seeing our little boy in this way and knowing that he is healthy and growing all at the hand of our good Maker. What a miracle!

One funny part about yesterday- During the earliest part of the sonogram, the doctor thought we were having a girl. She showed us on the screen even what she was looking at. Apparently our little guy was just being really shy and had his legs crossed just right. At the end of the sonogram the doctor went back to just check again and said “Hello, where was THAT hiding before”. I think I said something to the effect of “Is that your professional opinion?” We all had a good laugh and I realized we had just been moments away from preparing for a little girl, only to get quite a SHOCK in January.

We are so thrilled about having a brother for KJ. Literally, I’ve been bouncing off the walls with joy! They are going to be the best of friends (we pray).

Thanks for your continued prayers as we prepare to welcome Baby Boy #2 (still unnamed).

ABL

FAMOUS LAST WORDS.

From this point forward in my life, you will never see me turn-up my nose at those who walk for exercise, you will never hear me refer to walking as an “old-lady” sport, and you will never again hear me utter the words “I’ll JUST walk” as if there is any JUST about it.

Nearly 2 months ago, rrl and some of our running buddies decided to start training for another 1/2 marathon. I certainly did not want to be left out of the early Saturday am adventures and especially the chick-fil-a breakfast celebrations that follow, but I really did not feel like BL2 would appreciate running that much. That is why I uttered those famous last words “I’ll just walk”. Sure, a half-marathon is 13 miles, sure I’ll be more than 6 months pregnant at the time of the race, but how hard could walking be. I’ve run two 1/2s already, so if anything the walking might bore me to death… I’m still laughing at my naivety. Oh how wrong I was.

This last weekend was our 8 mile workout. There are a couple of other walkers in our group, but they weren’t there this week. So, I loaded KJ in the stroller, got some tunes, gummy bears, water, banana for KJ (the essentials) and headed off alone in the dark. Roughly 2 hours later KJ and I made it home (he was fast asleep), and we plan to keep going with the training. The point of this post is not to make you feel sorry for me, I’m really enjoying this work-out. I just needed to go on record now as saying that JUST walking 8 miles pushing a stroller and keeping a good pace while being nearly 5 months pregnant is not easy in the least- in some ways maybe even harder than my running days. In fact, I did take a few “run” breaks to make the time go faster and to give my legs a rest. (funny, i used to take walk breaks).

Hope this post might save some of you avid runners the mistake of saying you’ll “just walk” someday.

ABL

After constant harassment (as if I have that many readers), I decided to post something. I know it has been a long time, but thanks to our CRAZY summer, there wasn’t much time at home for blogging and such. Now, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the gap in my blogs- so much space to fill with all that has been happening in our little family. Our trips to Honduras and Ruidoso could each fill their own post, I could post about my growing belly and the excitement over BL2. I guess the easiest thing to start with, though, is pictures. So here you go, all 4 of you that have been waiting so patiently, here is a quick glimpse into our recent happenings. I’ll try to come up with 8 things so that maybe this will also count as my tag from Elisa. At least one picture, involving a goat, is sure to be random so I guess that is close enough.

1) In June KJ started walking, while we were on the mission trip to Ruidoso. He noticed that all of the teenagers were walking, and since he basically is one too he should walk like them. He went from crawling to exclusively walking overnight. I love pictures of his early steps. So cute!

2) The Ruidoso mission trip with 10th graders is great because it is very family friendly and we got to take KJ along. Here is a pic of our fam at white sands in Ruidoso.
3) I rediscovered this summer how AWESOME my husband is at his job. I love watching him lead kids, from the smallest to the teenagers, in worship, service and fun. I also love getting to be part of his work, especially forming relationships with girls.

4)) We spent some amazing time with both of our families on the coast in Honduras. We went to visit RRL’s sister whose family is doing mission work there and also to enjoy some beachy vacation time. What a joy to be with family!

5) Our last trip of the summer was a retreat for the seniors in high school. We went for a weekend at a ranch owned by some of spiritual heroes. We did not take KJ, our longest time away from him, and it was really good for our relationship with the teens (but we sure missed the little man). In the below picture I had been challenged to “catch a goat” and thanks to my training in the intramural rodeo, it was NO PROBLEM.

6) KJ has lately become a big fan of waterparks. There are several small ones in the area which I discovered way too late in the summer. Last week we went with his friend SPG and boy did they have a blast. It was quite a coincidence that the two were dressed EXACTLY the same. They really are the best of buddies. You can see the determined look in the second water picture. KJ loved these parks because he can crawl and climb by himself. So BIG!

7) I do not have any pictures to post of BL2, but we will find out in 2 more weeks whether the baby is a “he or she”. I’m sure we’ll have some pictures then. No guesses from me yet as to boy or girl. We have a girl name picked out, but no boy name. With KJ we had decided on a boy name, but not a girls name…maybe it is a sign?!?!

8) No picture for this one, either, but we have just started being a part of the most amazing small group at church. Some of our really good friends (the Turners) are part of it, too, which made the jumping in easier, but we have come to love all of the group. We’ve had some awesome conversations this summer that have been such an encouragement to our family- what an amazing answer to prayer and a true gift (thanks, guys!)

There is so much more I could share, but I guess that gets the ball rolling, my 8 random facts out of the way, and gets me over the hump of not wanting to blog because I felt so disconnected. Thanks for letting me scatter-shoot a little to plug back in!

ABL

The last couple of weeks, my eyes have been very open to the power of prayer. It is awesome when you can see things you pray for really come to fruition. I know that God always answers our prayers, but when you have begged and pleaded for an answer, the answer is all the more vivid when it comes about. We’ve been praying for two families in particular, one that we know personally and one we only know through others and because our teenagers help to raise money for them. We’ve been equally touched by both. Check out Samuel’s story and Lael’s story for amazing displays of faithfulness and the Lord’s mighty hand. He has clearly been at work for these families. To Him be the glory. Please join us as we continue to pray for these sweet families as their journeys are continuing.

We’ve had some of our own miracles, too, recently.

First, we are so thrilled that the Lord is blessing us with another child (see details in my last post).

Secondly, and the reason behind the title of this post, we are so thankful to have KJ’s passport in hand finally. This seems like such a small thing in the scheme of things, but it sure has been stressful for us. Because I know that some of you were praying specifically for our trip to Houston, I thought I should try to put into words all of the ways we saw God work in just those 24 hours. RRL and I specifically prayed for things to go smoothly (which they did) and that this would happen at the hand of others we would meet along the way. Let me introduce you to some Angels KJ and I met on our trip.

1) As we got in line early Tues am, we were surrounded by people asking how they could help me juggle KJ, stroller, diaper bag, important papers, etc. The line wrapped 4 long times through the office so we were all aware how long this would be for a 13-month-old, especially with guards barking to stay off the ropes, turn off your cell phones, contain your children, etc. As we neared the end of the first straight there was a sign listing important docs that were necessary for processing. I was almost in tears as a realized that, despite asking LOTs of people LOTs of questions, I was missing our one thing, our travel itinerary. Getting out of line to go get it would mean starting all over. The lady in front of me and family behind me were so sweet, offered to hold our place in line, keep the stroller and help me and Kj get out so we could go get the itinerary we needed.

2) The guards were clearly in the room for security purposes only and would not answer any questions related to passports. However, the line for “information” was almost as long as the line for processing so I approached two of them standing beside the door. I started explaining that I needed to get another form (really just my travel itinerary) and the first guard kept cutting me off rudely. The second, maybe because he could tell I was frustrated and about to cry, maybe because he had children of his own, DEFINITELY because God softened his heart- whatever the reason, leaned over, asked me what I needed and literally whispered “Go down to the deli on the first floor, talk to the owner, and ask if you can use his laptop to print something”. Praise God!

3) When we finally had all papers in hand we came back upstairs and we were next in line- perfect timing. We went to the window and met our next angel “Ms Torres”. She was so helpful when she realized that my pictures were too small (if the papers had been sent for processing with these pictures the whole thing would have been kicked out and we’d have to start again). She told me how to get to CVS (because the place in the building charged way more) and then said “when you get back, tell the guards that I’m holding your papers. Don’t wait in line, just come straight to my window”. Amazing!

4) Everyone that had morning appointments shows up at 2:30 to pick up finished passports. As you stand in line, some are ready, some are not. Most of the time when there were 2 or more passports in one family (as was our case since i was also getting mine renewed), they were not ready. Amazingly, ours were there!

5) As we drove back home on Tues night it was pouring rain. At times I really was terrified and could barely see the road. I knew that I was approaching a particularly tricky interchange, to get on the interstate I needed I had to exit and go up and over a huge overpass. I was really debating even trying it since I could hardly see the edge of the road, and I was afraid I would hit the side of the ramp. There were no cars around so I couldn’t tell if anyone else was trying it. I just started praying specifically about this and really, I’m not exaggerating, out of no where a pickup truck came from behind us with his flashers on and led us up over the interchange and into traffic where there were lots of cars to follow. I get chills as I think back to this angel. AMAZING!

So that’s the short version (you know me better than that by now). I just couldn’t help but share. I wish I had pictures of some of those faces, of KJ cruisin‘ around the office while we waited and making friends, or of him trying to share his beloved (and quite slobbery) blanket with a sad little girl. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

ABL

Below are the top five ways we know that KJ is growing up quickly. They are actually not in any particular order, except that #1 is definitely TOPS on MY list!!

5) He has his own passport! Thank you so much to all of you who were praying for success in Houston. I’ll post more details soon, about the angels that helped us along the way, but we are home safely with passports in hand.

4) He is getting very good at making up his own mind. This is not always cute and typically means that what he likes one day does not apply to the next. Occasionally, he’ll even take his favorite foods, touch them to his tongue and make a terrible face. So far RRL and I have been able to take turns cracking up and staying strong.

3) His list of animal noises is quickly growing. Current favorites include the lion, duck, monkey and fish. He loves to entertain.

2) He is walking like a champ. He’s been taking steps here and there for a few weeks and just decided while we were in Ruidoso last week to take off. I looked over in time to see him just stand himself up and walk off. I couldn’t believe it. He hits his head on a regular basis, usually while trying to carry something like a blanket, pillow, or Daddy’s basketball shoes. RRL and I hardly flinch anymore when he falls- we’re just great parents like that.

1) HE IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!! I know most of you already know the exciting news, but I wanted to make it official blogger news for those of you that I talk to less often. BL2 is due around January 22nd and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We actually found out on Mothers’ Day, which made the weekend of fun in San Antonio complete.

He’s just so big (but not as big as he thinks he is)!

ABL