As soon as I posted pictures on Facebook and Instagram that showed my living room redo in the background, one of the constant questions I started getting was, “where did you get those giant canvases?” Want to know a little secret? They’re not canvases!
Read MoreWe Had A Baby. It’s a Boy!
I remember watching this commercial when I was in high school, and told Daniel this would be a funny way to announce our baby’s arrival if we had a boy: However, since we have the Internet, I guess we don’t have to do that type of announcement anymore. 🙂 So, we had a baby, and he is a boy! Justus Daniel Shalom was born at 2:14p.m. on Wednesday. He surprised us by being a such a big boy: 9lbs., 8oz., 22 inches long, and a head size of 15.24 inches. (Not that most people really care about head circumference, but thought I’d include it since our midwife said it’s the largest head she’s measured.) It was the most difficult/painful labor and delivery I’ve had, but we were very thankful to have been able to have a healthy baby and have him at home, and to have no complications after his delivery. His first Apgar was just a 6, but he quickly got to where everything was fine and normal. I have had a lot of requests already for his birth story, and do plan on writing it out…sometime…soon. Right now, we’re enjoying this little guy so very much. So far, he is a fairly contented baby and sleeps a lot…a LOT, both day and night. He’s sleeping with us at night, and since he doesn’t even really wake up after eating, it’s made for some easy nights (so far), at least in respect to caring for a baby–my SPD pain is rather excruciating at night. I just help him find his place a couple of times during the night, and then we both drift back to sleep together. I was up a couple of times with him our first night, but the next four nights we just nursed lying together in bed, and he seems to be doing a super job. These are moments I want to cherish forever.
Read MoreReading 2012: Spirit-Led Parenting
In Spirit-Led Parenting: From Fear to Freedom in Baby’s First Year, Megan Tietz and Laura Oyer reflect on their early years of parenting, and how God moved them from fear to freedom during their first year of mothering. The book is divided into two parts, the first (chapters 1 through 3) focusing on their personal journey and their realization that many young mothers have also had a similar experience, and then part two (chapters 4 through 11) mostly focuses on examining specific areas in which many young mothers have been led to believe confusing and conflicting teachings. I picked up this book because it was new and written specifically to a Christian audience (with specific encouragement to mothers who have already read and/or practiced confusing mainstream parenting advice). It’s a field in which I try to read broadly, though this one definitely captured my interest as my experience of concerns with some “infant management” teachings seemed slightly similar to the authors’s experience. Still, I was surprised at how refreshing and encouraging this book was to me as we prepare to care for and nurture an infant again, in what could be just a few days or weeks. Contents: Chapter One: As We Began Chapter Two: As We Confess Our Fears Chapter Three: As We Pursue Another Way Chapter Four: As We Feed Them Chapter Five: As They Sleep Chapter Six: As We Parent Together Chapter Seven: As We Keep the Spark Chapter Eight: As We Encourage Connection Chapter Nine: As They Sleep … Where? Chapter Ten: As We Stay On Track Chapter Eleven: As We Have Found His Redemption Why We Accept Fear-Based Living and Rules of Parenting Infants (For highlighting this book, I think this post is less of a “review” and more of an introduction and exposure to the book. As such, I wanted to pull out several quotes from the book.) “The stakes in parenting are high. Unlike other areas of life in which we can walk away if things don’t work out, in parenting this is it. You are the only parents your child gets and it is up to you not to mess it up. That is an incredible amount of pressure, and it weighs heavily on parents-to-be. Added to this is the fear of failing our spouses, our marriages, and our circles of friends by not sticking to the established norms for how things are…
Read MoreBirthday Celebration: A Day of Thankfulness
There are few things in life for which I find myself spontaneously offering daily thankfulness to God. In the last year, in particular, I don’t think a day has gone by during which I haven’t found myself in awe of some aspect of our marriage, our family, or some act of love that has been connected to Daniel. (And to be sure, there have been plenty times of frustration, annoyance, and discouragement, too.)
Read MoreReading 2012: The Meaning of Marriage
The front flyleaf of The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God makes a rather bold statement: “There has never been a book on marriage like The Meaning of Marriage.” That seems a rather audacious assertion; but by the time I finished the book, I think I’d concede to read that claim on the back flyleaf, as well. Contents Many marriage books leave me scratching my head, banging my head, or really, really thankful I’m married to the man I am. This book did leave me doing the latter, but also left me thinking this would have been a very profitable book to have read if it had been available as premarital reading (not to mention less head-banging). Timothy and Kathy Keller pack a lot of experience and exegesis into this book, packaged into eight chapters: One: The Secret of Marriage Two: The Power of Marriage Three: The Essence of Marriage Four: The Mission of Marriage Five: Loving the Stranger Six: Embracing the Other Seven: Singleness and Marriage Eight: Sex and Marriage (The book also contains an Introduction, Epilogue, Appendix: Decision Making and Gender Roles, Notes) Although I’ve yet to meet a Tim Keller book I didn’t like, this book pleasantly surprised me in what it had to offer. The style is certainly Kelleresque, yet unique to his other published works. (It is co-authored with his wife Kathy, with Kathy writing the entirety of Chapter Six.) Unlike many marriage books, this book is not written with only married couples or soon-to-be-married singles in mind; it is written to a broad audience, but with particular portions of it specifically addressing singles. The Essence of Marriage One aspect of the book that I greatly appreciated was the Kellers’s emphasis on the marriage covenant as the foundation of marriage. And really, this is the essence of marriage and the essence of the book. (Maybe that’s why Chapter Three is entitled, “The Essence of Marriage.” :)) While I think most contemporary Christians teaching on marriage would acknowledge the covenantal importance of marriage, there is often a subtle shift to teachings that seem to indicate that “keeping the passion alive” is the way to have a healthy marriage. (This is what Keller includes in his assessment that we most prize “romantic fulfillment” [see quote below] as the key to a happy marriage in our culture.) This is spiritualized and then marketed in numerous ways, coming across in emphases…
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