It was a glorious, relaxing time sitting back enjoying my family, Tim talking theology and relationships with my dad, mom playing with John, Chris joining in the conversation with T & dad, and also engaging with John, and Sarah & I talking about nursing and life. I miss these family times. They are so few and far between now!
After lunch the boys took the dogs walking around the park, and we followed them. I wish I had brought my camera, b/c they were doing manly show off for our women things, like showing off how many pullups each could do, or who could make it all the way across the monkey bars. Even dad got involved. That's what I wish I had a pic of more than anything! Sarah got some, but I forgot to ask her for a copy before they left.
Dave & Sarah showed up with Penny shortly after we returned from our picnic. Penny & Kebap hadn't really been together since they were wee pups because they were kind of aggressive with each other. Penny came in all ready to attack and went after Kebap, but since he was about 6 times bigger than her, it was like an itty bitty play toy! Bella even joined in too. We were actually thankful all the dogs were there to keep Kebap out of our hair!
That evening we grilled hamburgers, and Chris ended up missing out on them, b/c he got a stomach bug. He pretty much was in (and out of-I'll let you imagine since I'm sure he'd kill me if I posted anything!!!!!! ) bed the rest of the evening. We still enjoyed a good family time and we taught my folks how to play Bible Scattergories. It was hilarious watching my dad get flustered when he played according to the black and white rules, and we stretched things!! He caught on, and began to enjoy the game a bit more.
Sunday morning, Chris still wasn't feeling the greatest, but he managed to get dressed for church. Both Chris's parents showed up for the dedication in addition to my family. What a blessing!! Neither one of us knew what to expect as we hadn't seen a dedication done at this church yet. We wish that we had actually said something, primarily about why we chose his name , John Isaiah. Partly, so the pastor would have said John & not Jonathon ;o) ;o) but also to indicate to people a little of what we had been through. After studying John the Baptist, Chris wanted his son's name to be John. He wanted him to be one who wasn't afraid to humbly stand up against the wrongs in the world & in the church. Isaiah was chosen for a similar reason. He was a prophet who shook things up. However, even more than that, both names have special meanings for us. John means: "Jehovah has been gracious" & Isaiah means "Jehovah is Helper." John was conceived shortly after we miscarried our first child, and through & because of God's grace we made it through a very hard time. God was gracious in providing another child, our son John. How I wish that we had been able to convey this to the congregation. But, maybe for this next one, we will throw in a little something about John!! Our pastor read some verses about children being a blessing from the Lord, including one of my favorite passages Psalm 127:3-5. Then the congregation stood in agreeing to help us raise John in a Christlike manner and we prayed.
Chris was able to stand and hold John, and then had to leave to go home to rest as he still wasn't feeling good. We were planning on eating Mexican, but changed our minds to McAlister's so Chris could join us. Chris's mom & Kevin & Laura joined us. It was a really sweet time. Sadly the aunts & uncles had to leave shortly after lunch. My parents stayed an extra day, so we got some more good conversations in, and they spent most of Monday trying to teach John how to crawl! It was really cute to watch my dad, b/c he was so patient, and would continually put John up on his hands and knees. By the way, they were actually happy when they heard the news about us being pregnant again. My mom was trying to find a way to move down here. I was told I forgot to put that in the last blog!! :o)
Aside from Chris getting sick, the weekend was perfect! Here are some pictures:
John showing off his new trick of standing while holding on to something
Enjoying helping grandma do laundry
He found he loved to play catch & soccer (with a little help!!)
Penny arrives and greets her cousin!The dedication:
How Penny & Kebap interacted the majority of the time:
I also posted some other pictures including daddy styling John's hair & some bathtime fun on our Picasa Web Albums site: http://picasaweb.google.com/armyforchrist/MarchAprilPics Here's something else John learned how to do! He is getting to be such a big boy.
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