Beautiful Nora, Exploding Kitchen Sinks and Other Stories...

I'm barely awake, but I'm determined to update you on the non-stop weekend we just had. Here she is folks! Our main objective was to meet our sweet niece. We made it! Isn't she a doll? Her Momma looks great too!

Here are some more hot mammas out for the San Antonio Buddy Walk which draws attention to Down Syndrome Awareness Month and promotes the "inclusion and acceptance of people" with Down's. Misty is one of those folks I count myself lucky to know. She is a MD and one of the sweetest, most determined and most brilliant people I know. That's her beautiful baby girl, Emma Katherine, on the left.

More folks "walking the walk"

Sweet Buddies

Since I haven't seen Misty in about 15 years and had never met her sweet baby girl, I needed a little late baby gift. I whipped out a couple of nursing covers... literally in about three hours one night last week. If you were able to look at them closely, you'd know I was barely awake and in a rush when I made them. I made my own nursing covers because I couldn't stomach the idea of paying $30-$60 for a square of fabric with a strap... even with a gift card. Nora's Mamma received the other one this weekend.

Shortly after Jonathan and I returned from the Buddy Walk on Saturday, we threw a few things in the van and rushed up to Ft. Worth. It was a busy, good, crazy, tragic (see previous post) and extremely tiring weekend. I wouldn't trade it for anything though and I'm so thankful we were able to see so many folks... even those plumbers who spent a good deal of the weekend with us repairing all of the plumbing in Granny's kitchen after she ran beef stew down a disposal connected to extremely old and fragile pipes.

Giggie and Bop - these are for you! Here's that darling t-shirt you bought the little guy at Cabela's. It's too cute!

WHEW! So we're off to Colorado in about three days. Most folks who know us know that we're completely infatuated with Colorado. I can't wait to get there and introduce Jonathan to REAL mountains. I can't wait to smell clean, clean air and lie in a golden aspen grove listening to the wind tickle the leaves. I'm ready for hot chocolate by the fire, home made chili and cowboy cookies! Time to get packing!

Terry Joe Butler

1946-2011

"Joey" entertaining granddaughter Delaney

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=153846279

This is Terry Joe...

Husband, Father, Grandfather, Son, Brother, Cousin, Friend...

Jason, Jonathan and I happened to be in Fort Worth this weekend to meet beautiful baby Nora when we heard the sad news that Terry Joe had passed away unexpectedly. He died peacefully in his sleep, and although we take comfort in that, he will be sorely missed. Severe arthritis pain and discomfort from other ailments kept this usually jovial and very active guy in his chair more than he liked. He was 65.

Here's what I know about Terry Joe. He was fun. He was funny. He loved the KC Chiefs. He LOVED his family. He was compassionate. He was kind. He had a big belly laugh that you could hear in every part of the house. He used that laugh often. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. Someone mentioned on the obituary guestbook that he "smiled from the inside out." Perfect. He had a big, big smile and an even bigger bear hug. I need to watch our wedding video again to tell you exactly what advice Terry Joe had for us, but it was so poignant, it still brings a tear to my eye. As funny and silly as he could be, he could be super serious about the important stuff because it was, well, important to him. Family was important to him and quite obviously, marriage was important to him.

Here's what I'm learning...

When I get a gut feeling, I need to go with it. Lately, I'm identifying those "gut" feelings as whispers from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes (more often lately) I jump right out of my "zone" and do what I feel led to do. Still, at times, I suppress the feeling and stay comfortable.

In late July, I hosted a baby shower in the metroplex area for my sis-in-law, Cyndi. Lyn (Terry's wife) and Aunt Melba (Terry's Mom) couldn't be there because Lyn had been in and out of the ER with various health issues. This is an aside... but Lyn is usually the one giving the showers. She tried to give us a baby shower even when we lived way out in North Carolina, and she hosted a beautiful wedding shower for us back in '04. When we visited her last night, she was trying to serve everyone coffee. She is just about as sweet and generous as they come. Back to the story... I had four extra plates from the shower and felt in my gut that I needed to deliver them to Lyn, Aunt Melba and the rest of the family just after the shower. Somehow I managed to talk myself out of the gesture. Oh how I wish I'd followed that little "voice." I felt guilty about it for some time after. I hadn't seen the Butlers since Thanksgiving when they made the effort to come out to Rendon to meet Jonathan. Terry Joe was in bandages from a recent shoulder surgery...but still managed to make it... smiling and laughing through a great deal of pain.

I can always find an excuse not to do what my "gut" is urging me to.

Conclusion...

It's time to start giving full vent to love, concern and compassion. It's time to stop giving full vent to anger, resentment, judgement and to stop jumping straight to the offensive line. Life is so incredibly short and I am so incredibly faulty.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

~Ephesians 4:32

I'm not sure why this verse comes to mind when I think of Terry Joe. I had nothing to forgive where he was concerned. Possibly there was something he had to overlook of me. I don't know. But I think of compassion and forgiveness when I think of him. I want folks to think of those same qualities when they look back over my life. Looks like I've got some work to do!

We will miss you Terry Joe!

On Discipline...

Never have I been the most disciplined of people. In areas, Jason is more disciplined than me, but in other areas, I'm more disciplined than him. Now that we're raising a child and building a family together, the fact that we are undisciplined is staring us in the face and thumbing it's nose at us. It's been time to take action for a LONG time. What we've come to realize? Jonathan will be as undisciplined, if not more so, than we are if we don't step up to the plate.

Thanks to Bop and Giggie, Jason and I got away for a little date. We took calendars for the rest of the year and planned it all out over avacado eggrolls and a pazookie at BJ's. Okay - In all honesty, we forgot the calendars at home and ended up writing everything down on an old church bulletin. That's about par for the course these days. We know we won't stick to it completely. It's just a guide. But we definitely need a guide.

We want badly for this happy little fella to remain this healthy and happy for as long as we have control over his happiness and health. To us this means that we will have to live through some un-happy times to teach him the skills he needs. We don't want the world to teach him those lessons later on when the consequences are much more harsh than a spat on the hand or a few minutes in time out. As I write this, I'm listening to that little cherub scream from his crib. We've got nighttime down for the most part, and now it's time to work on nap time. He went down today with only about two minutes of crying/ whimpering, but at some point, about 15 minutes into it, we ended up with a mess in our diaper and now we're back to square one.

I implemented a schedule today and up till now, our Monday has been the smoothest we've had in ages, even considering the fact that the toilet overflowed this morning. Jonathan had just started book time in his high chair, so no biggie! I was able to get the bathroom and myself scrubbed before he started getting even the slightest bit fussy. This schedule is really more for me than for him. It's helping me be much more disciplined with my time and Jonathan is getting much more quality time with me. Getting off Facebook hasn't hurt either!

It finally occurred to me that Jonathan relies heavily on television noise to sleep at nap time. I've known for some time that I needed to cut out most of the TV watching we do during the day. I just haven't been disciplined enough to do it. There's that horrible word again. Interestingly enough, we don't really watch it that much. It's background noise. Neither Jason, nor I enjoy watching TV. The problem here is that I do love to hear children's shows in the background. Many of the movies we have and watch are children's movies I owned before Jason and I married. I've generally always been too busy to sit down and watch a movie. I'm always working on something. But I love to hear movies. Ever noticed that some of the best music is in movies? So, today we've had the TV on once for 30 minutes while Jonathan had video time and Mommy had shower time.

We're still dealing with the fact that Jonathan wants to wake between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. It occurred to me this morning that we're the parents. Why it took me so long to come to that conclusion is beyond me. If Jonathan wakes up at 4:30, and I don't want to get up at 4:30, I don't have to. Eventually he will learn to go back to sleep if we're obviously not awake when he wakes. I'm ready for that eventuality. We really need to get this under hand before he moves to a toddler bed. He needs to learn that we tell him when to go to bed and when to get up. He doesn't get to decide. I want him to learn that skill before he's old enough to argue with me.

We are also working on "stop", learning to "come" when called and holding hands... being guided to and from places without a fuss, etc. To save my arms, I'm doing this a lot around the house and it's sticking. I really want to be able to trust that he will stop and come to me in public places when there are lots more distractions about. I'm hoping to get him to the point where he will stay within certain parameters within the house too so that I can expect the same behavior when we're out. We are also teaching him to look us in the eye when we give him a direction and hopefully to say "Yes Ma'am/ Sir" when he's at the point where he can say that. It's amazing how much more willing he is to obey what I tell him when he looks me in the eye. He was able to remove the sippy cup and his pacifier from those little "leashes" when he was about 11 mos. old, so another big skill to work on... keeping our cup and paci in the stroller/ highchair with us. We're making progress! After teaching jr. high for a decade, I've seen the result of parents who were too afraid to parent too many times. I don't want to make that mistake. Unfortunately, we started a little late.

On a lighter note, Jonathan is a very happy, friendly and affectionate child. He loves to hug and be held. He's been saying, uh-oh, fish, dog, ball, I love you, thank you, shoe, bath, lights, hey, hi there, and probably quite a few other words that we haven't deciphered yet. Lately he's started trying to cool off his food by blowing on it like Mommy and Daddy. Of course, by the time it gets to his tray, it's already cool, but it's super cute nonetheless.

Here's our latest project. That's our grain mill. We ordered the mill and a 40 lb bag of hard red wheat berries. I've made bread three times, but I've yet to get what I'd call a nice loaf. It tastes really good and isn't hard, but it's just not pretty and fluffy. Apparently, freshly milled grain doesn't give you a nice fluffy loaf. I don't think I've been letting it go quite as long as I should on the first rise. My friend Melissa has been giving me pointers, so today, Jonathan and I will be out at Green Fields Market buying lecithin and dough enhancer. I'm thinking our altitude and dryness may be contributors to my problem too, but apparently bread making is an acquired skill and I'm definitely still learning.

When we got our mill, surprise! Lots of peanuts to play with! Jonathan had a ball and then we spent some time practicing picking up our mess with Mommy.

Then we got to go outside!

I've bemoaned the fact that the grass has been burnt to a crisp all summer here. I want Jonathan to be able to play and roll in soft green grass. It doesn't seem to matter to him though. He loves to pick up sticks, rocks and leaves. Today we collected some in a large plastic yogurt container that I gave him. Amazing how kids can be entertained so easily.

Over the last few days we've received some much-needed rain. On our morning walk, we saw wildflowers and GREEN grass. The rain has allowed some beautiful fall colors to start popping out as well. We saw lots of happy birds this morning... King birds, goldfinches, hummingbirds and scissortails to name a few.

Time to go Mommy!

By the way... for the last 35 minutes, I've been enjoying some quiet time while Jonathan enjoys his nap. Yeah Jonathan!

Beautiful on the Inside...

There are so many reasons why I love and miss Elizabeth City, North Carolina. There's no shopping to speak of within a 70-mile radius, the only traffic you encounter is caused by farming implements in spring and fall, no one is in a hurry... most notably the farmers driving the farming implements, people just "drop in" to say "Hi!",(Okay, so those last two really annoyed me when we first moved, but it's something I came to admire the longer we lived there.) and there are very few "pretty" people.

Please don't mistake my meaning. There are some very beautiful men and women who live in that part of the country, but they don't need external "help" to be beautiful. For example, my North Carolina friends Christi, Catherine, Kristi, Melissa, Lisa and Anna are some of THE most beautiful women I've ever known, but they don't carry designer handbags or drive expensive cars. As far as I know, their hair is the color God meant it to be, and they aren't in for manicures, pedicures and facials every week. They don't mind letting you know that they struggle and struggle and struggle just like everyone else on the planet.

They are authentic. They are genuine. They are real.

I feel a little out of place living just over the hill from a housing development called "The Dominion," populated by at least one major country star and a handful of the San Antonio Spurs. We live just a few miles from a Nordstrom Rack, an Ann Taylor, a Pottery Barn and a multitude of day spas. I absolutely LOVE Ann Taylor and Pottery Barn, but I learned, living at least an hour from Ann Taylor, that I really can live without Ann Taylor. Walking into the market in an old pair of Levi's, zero makeup and my hair back in a pony tail, I just don't quite feel like I belong here anymore. For the first time in a long time, I'm aware of a subtle transformation that's taken place in my heart. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with trying to look your best and there's absolutely nothing wrong with shopping at Nordstrom Rack, Pottery Barn or Ann Taylor.

Getting a manicure, pedicure and getting your hair dyed/ highlighted/ whatever is extremely relaxing and can be fulfilling. It's just that I've finally come to grips with a freedom that I didn't know existed. I don't need to look my best to look someone in the face and flash a big smile. I don't need to wear make up and "do" my hair to carry on a conversation with a total stranger. I can be confident in a ball cap, decade old fashion and crummy tennis shoes. I am much much more than the sum of my acne scars, graying hair and crows feet.

Here's an example of the kind of inner beauty to which I aspire. Less than a month before we moved, I "dropped in" on my friend Melissa (Sorry Melissa, but I've got to pick on you for a minute.). You learn the art of "just dropping in" after living in Elizabeth City a year or so. This girl is sold out on God... doing her best to be the mom and wife He's called her to be. She gardens, keeps chickens, quilts, sews, stamps, cans, makes her own yogurt and bakes bread from freshly-milled grain every week. At the end of her bread-baking day, after home-schooling her kids and completing all of the daily tasks in her well-ordered, sun-shiny home, she still looked radiant... absolutely beautiful in fact. Melissa is well-endowed with external beauty. But what I saw that day radiated from within. That's become my goal. With all the fatigue educating three

children at home can bring, at the end of the day, she still had a supernatural energy to engage me in happy chatter while milling a fresh bag of wheat for me... sending me home with a bag of cookies she'd just pulled out of the oven. It's completely obvious that He occupies her heart.

Sometimes I wonder if scars, fat rolls around the middle, crows feet, laugh lines, gray hair, bald spots and the multitude of other imperfections we all desperately try to hide are really little testimonies that our Lord would prefer we share with the world... testimonies to a life well and fully lived... testimonies that tell the world we're just like everyone else. We're human. We're approachable because it's pretty obvious we've been there, wherever "there" is. The beauty of an inner life rooted in Him shines so brightly through outer evidence of suffering, shame and frustration, that we draw people who need to hear the Good News we have to share.

I removed myself from facebook today. A long time ago, I became aware of this smallish part of myself that's allowed facebook to make me want to compete against some ideal that doesn't really exist except as a facade. I'm one of those people that cannot ignore a temptation. The temptation must be removed before I can achieve mastery over it. We all dream a dream of a life we wish we lived. It finally occurred to me; I'd come closer to living that life if I committed the time I've spent comparing myself to my "friends" on facebook to actually implementing some of the disciplines that are missing in my life. What if I turned my gaze more completely on Him and ignored the daily "newsfeed." Would I find that I'm more content with and more ready to utilize

the gifts He's given specifically to me? It's a theory I'm ready to test.

So thanks Melissa, Kristi, Christi, Lisa, Catherine and Anna. Thanks for being the examples I've needed to live more authentically. Thank you, Lord, for orchestrating our meeting. And thank you Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I'd say I wish I'd been able to live there for the rest of my life, but, unfortunately, I rarely realize what I've gleaned from living in a place until I'm forced to reflect on it from some other place... far, far away.

Here's an exciting addition to this post. I'm an aunt again! Nora Lynn Womack is here - 9 lbs. 9 ozs., born at 9:30 pm today! She's a beauty and we can't wait to meet her.

Credit Where Credit is Due...

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the fact that I didn't give credit where credit was due the other day. I guess it's the teacher in me, but in case you were wondering or you'd like to make your own, here are the blogs where I found the instructions for the crib skirt and laundry bag.

http://dkhibler.blogspot.com/2009/06/crib-skirt-tutorial.html

http://www.designsponge.com/2010/05/sewing-101-how-to-make-a-hamper-liner.html

To bring you up to date, today was our first day at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). It's a place to share ideas and get help and spiritual and mental support from other moms who've been there. Jonathan stayed with the Moppets for two and a half hours and although he cried a bit at the beginning, the ladies said he did great and played with everyone. I think I'm going to really enjoy this! There are some first-rate ladies in the group. The plan of salvation was offered early in the meeting and we prayed at least three times.

Once a month the ladies get together for scrapbooking. I'm not a scrapbooker, but was told that lots of ladies bring their bills, Christmas cards, knitting, etc... and work on that while visiting with new and old friends. Child care isn't free, but it's cheap and you're right there in case your little one needs you. Sounds like a deal to me! Jonathan REALLY needs to play with other kiddos and that would give me the opportunity to work on some projects that have been waiting on my attention.

There's also the option to join a play group once a month. Wow! Again, I like the idea that I'd be right there with him, but also gleaning some wisdom from and getting to know other moms. Tomorrow night there's a social at Starbuck's for ladies who are new to MOPS. If I go, I'll be late. We're not far enough into this new sleep routine for me to skip out on it now and right now, Jonathan goes down easier for me than for anyone else. That's my fault of course, but as soon as we get really confident with it all, we'll be trying daddy out with the routine. Right now he's giving the bath and I'm doing the rest (Thank you Daddy!). Jonathan is really making some headway. Praise God - we're all getting some serious sleep these days!

I was thinking today how much I'm indebted to the ladies at Salem for getting tough with me and kicking me out of the nursery when Jonathan was young and giving me suggestions and pointers while we were there. This whole process would be much more difficult and we probably wouldn't already be involved in a church. Actually, I'd probably be a hermit... scared to death to take Jonathan anywhere.

Tomorrow is my first day in Bible Studay... on John. It won't be Jonathan's first day in Bible Land at Oak Hills, so I'm much less nervous about tomorrow than I was about today. I think we've found our church! We were regular attenders at Oak Hills when we lived here before, but we really wanted something smaller. Actually, as much as Jason traveled, I was a regular attender and Jason came with me when he was in town. However, we just can't get over the fact that Oak Hills really seems to be the best place for us. Pastor Randy and Pastor Max are phenomenal and worship is literally out of this world. So Jonathan will at least be in a familiar environment tomorrow. Wednesday is our 15 month check up and shots. That's the day I'm really dreading. I keep telling myself that by Friday it'll be a distant memory.

I stayed up a bit too late reading last night. I received my Baby Wise books last week and started on Toddler Wise. It's fantastic. I had a great deal of difficulty putting it down last night. There's a great template for a daily routine/ schedule. The idea is that children thrive on order and routine and that a predictable routine aids in their exploration and learning because it's much easier to build on what they know when they feel safe and when they can predict what will happen next. Of course, we can't always stick to a predictable routine, but I've seen proof that this philosophy works first hand. Jonathan does have a strong dinner time/ bedtime routine, but not a nap routine. He goes down beautifully now for bedtime, but not for a nap. Here's a link if you're interested. http://www.parentwisesolutions.com/toddlerwise/

I'm anxious to get a strong schedule together and implement it. It will probably help me learn to be a bit more disciplined with my time as well.

It's been a busy week, but we're making it so far. We hope to receive our grain mill tomorrow, so I'll be trying my hand at bread-baking by the end of the week (I hope). Still no word on Nora. She's still content with Mamma for now, but Brayden is here and safe! Eight pounds, six ounces and 21 inches long. The Williams family should be returning to their Elizabeth City home today! Yeeeee Haw!

Right now I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting word concerning the arrival of a certain baby boy into the arms of some pretty amazing people. If I'm calculating right, Brayden Samuel should be getting a kiss on the top of the head from his Mommy right about now. Josh is being ushered into the nursery where he'll give Brayden his first bath while Mom recovers. Christi and Josh have had a year full of major hurt, healing and some overwhelming blessing. Through it all, they have been a blessing to us. I'm thankful we live in a world where news travels quickly. I wish I was in a waiting room at Norfolk General, but for now, I'll have to be content with facebook checks every thirty seconds or so.

Much closer to home, we're waiting on a phone call at any time to tell us that Miss Nora is ready to come. What a beautiful day for it! There's a crispness in the air and the sky is perfectly clear. Baby Nora is due today too, but showing every indication that she plans to stay peacefully curled up with mom for a little while longer.

Speaking of peacefully curled up...

This boy has been undergoing some serious sleep training over the past five weeks. When we finally hit it hard, we had a very difficult time. Listening to him cry it out was excruciating for us. Jonathan really resisted going to sleep on his own, but he's finally making progress. Last night he slept from 7:30 pm - 6:15 am with one waking period around 4 am that lasted about 4 minutes. Yeah Jonathan! We love this boy and he's becoming even more lovable now that he's getting more sleep. I'm sure he would say Mommy and Daddy are a bit more lovable now too! Mom still often rocks her boy to sleep for his naps and we still have our special time at night with books, rocking time and more lullabies than the experts would probably allow, but Jonathan is learning to put himself to sleep and to sleep through the night. Often I wonder if I don't give our little guy enough credit. He's a lot smarter and, I think, ready for a lot more than I generally allow.

My friend, Lisa, came down to visit just before the school rush started in August. We had a great time in DT Boerne and on the River Walk. Here are a couple of pictures from the pool!

Bop and Giggie came down over Labor Day weekend for a much-anticipated visit. They were able to come out for Jonathan's birthday in June, but Bop got very sick on the way and wasn't able to visit with the little guy. We were so anxious to see them again and thankful that they were willing to make such a long trip. For some reason, this is the only picture we got of that trip. Maybe there are more on the other camera. We've been so sleep deprived, we haven't been thinking straight. Sorry Bop and Giggie! We know Bop got more and we're hoping we'll see a few of those soon.

We did a lot of hanging around the house and a lot more eating. The only site seeing consisted of a trip to Cabela's in Buda, TX (South of Austin) and then back to San Antonio for Pappasitos. The route takes you through a section of the Hill Country and up through New Braunfels and San Marcos. We got to see our friend Alvin and meet his dad, William. Giggie and Bop bought Jonathan a couple of very cute shirts and a pair of shorts at Cabelas.

We finally got a new dining table. We purposely purchased one that would make down into a very small table or a very large one since we're never quite sure where or in what size house we'll end up. This table includes four leaves just in case we get to host Thanksgiving or Christmas one year, but without the leaves, it fits very nicely in our eat-in kitchen.

Jason relented and allowed me to have this darling bench to go with it.

Here's one of two armchairs.

I had been contemplating redecorating Jonathan's room in a nautical or cowboy theme and decided that all the beautiful Pooh Bear pieces that had been made for him by my Mom and Mrs. Anne (...who will become a grandmother again today!) needed to stay on display a while longer. There's no reason why Jonathan can't be a Pooh Bear boy for a few years. I'm not a great seamstress, but I can sew a wobbly line, so I made a couple of things to compliment what Jonathan already has in his bedroom.

Here's the picture that hangs over Jonathan's bed. Mom actually created this using some copies from an old book. She spliced the images together and touched up the color.

Here's the crib skirt I made that will eventually be his toddler bed skirt. You can't really tell, but the fabric coordinates with the quilt Mom made him before he was born.

Here's the quilt and pillow mom made him...

The pillow to the right is store-bought.

We've been using the antique rocker we bought in Salida, CO to rock Jonathan to sleep at night. Here's the blanket that Mrs. Anne made him and the pillow Mom made to go with Jonathan's quilt.

This is the hamper I made just before Giggie and Bop's arrival. I found the hamper frame (with a bag included) at a consignment shop in Elizabeth City for $6 just before Jonathan was born. Sure beats the $30-$60 they want at the department stores. I plan to save the other bag to use for another project I've got in mind.

Here's Pooh and the darling book that belonged to Uncle Aaron when he was a little boy. We're keeping it safe until you need it again Uncle Aaron!

Items like this Pooh Story Book were quickly thrown into laundry baskets and hauled to the back of the car just two days ago. A wild fire broke out less than a mile to our north and we were evacuated. We are so thankful that we were able to come home just a few hours later. The fires are out for now, but we continue to pray for rain in Texas. As you know, there are quite a few Texans without houses to go home to today.

Things just seem to keep getting busier, but hopefully I'll get better about getting pictures of Jonathan and updating the blog. Love to all!