Christ-is-Lord: Father's Day Weekend (June 13-15)

Father's Day weekend was packed for us as well, as my good friend from college/nursing school, Natalie & her hubby Ben, and daughter Annie came to visit us. Natalie hadn't met John & we hadn't met Annie. They came back from Liberia to have Annie due to complications with her pregnancy. In addition to switching mission agencies that they went with and re-raising support, Annie has since had other medical problems that have kept them here a full year. She was born tongue-tied (where her tongue can barely lift off the floor of her mouth) & they also found that she has urine reflux which can lead to a number of kidney infections and ultimately scarring of the kidney. They have to wait until she is closer to one year old to do any procedures.
Chris had a 3 day weekend that weekend, so he went with us to meet them at the Whataburger in Belton, where we also got to reconnect with one of my favorite nursing professors, Dr. Pehl (OB nursing) & another of our classmates, Malaika & her mom. We spent nearly 2 hours there catching up. It was so much fun. It was really neat to hear Dr. Pehl being anti-technology for normal birth. I knew she was, but it was refreshing when so many are only taught technology. She didn't think it abnormal at all that we had John in a birthing center and that this next one we will have at home. She was completely all about the hospital being for higher risk pregnancies and not normal ones!!! Yay!!
After lunch, Ben & Nat & Annie walked around UMHB to see all the professors who were still there. I had forgotten John's stroller, plus he was getting to be a bear and needed a nap, so we drove around exploring Belton, and all the changes they did to UMHB since we were last there. He slept for maybe 30 minutes, ugh!
We got home, and thankfully the kiddos went down for a wee nap, and we prepared dinner for our friends, Eli & Kelly who were coming over with their kids later that evening. It felt like old times when we were living together, preparing food together, and then again, when we were all together later that evening. The older kids thoroughly enjoyed entertaining John & Annie & even playing with Kebap & Tess. They loved all the new and different toys they could find here. Kids are so cute! Whether they have lots of toys or a few, other people's toys are always better. Nat, Kelly & I enjoyed having girl time and talking about anything and everything. I have no idea what the guys talked about. I usually try to listen in, but we were just jabbering away, and I didn't even think about it!
Saturday was hang out day. Ben made us some yummy Dutch pancakes, and we hung out all morning. Chris took his dad out to lunch for father's day, so John joined them. We were supposed to meet another nursing classmate that evening, but she wasn't sure if she was going to make it, as she was packing for her trip to Florida, so we decided to not pack everyone up to go to Belton, if it was just going to be us. So we had pizza for dinner, instead of Mexican food. That evening we taught Ben & Nat how to play golf (the card game). Annie supervised in the swing.
Sunday morning was Father's Day. We kind of were slow moving that morning. John gave Chris a father's day card that he had signed himself (with some help from mom of course). Unfortunately we were about 3 minutes late to church, and so Ben missed winning an award for being the dad with the youngest child. I tried to convince them to stay for the beginning of second service to see if they could win an award then, but they decided not to!! I let Chris enjoy the service and entertained John (as he had done for me on mother's day). We then went home and let the little ones nap, before meeting some friends at a Mexican restaurant (yay!!!)
Later that afternoon, the guys went out for coffee while we watched the kiddos. They were really sweet, and brought us back some frappuccinos!! :o)
I got to talk to my dad for a while and also to my grandpa, who ended up passing the phone around the whole table, and I got to talk to almost all my aunts & uncles and even my cousin Pete, who I haven't seen in 4 years. It was really special.
It was also fun watching Chris be a dad, and how he has grown into the role. I can't imagine him not a dad now. He is so amazing with John, and he absolutely adores the kid. John feels the same way. He cannot wait for his daddy to get home and throw him up in the air, or swing him by his heels!! He gets so excited and crawls really fast to the door when he hears it open and hears Chris's voice. I can't wait to watch the kids grow and Chris be able to teach them all the things he knows, and to play with them, and love on them. I think he'll just become a better & better dad as the years go by. I'm excited to have a front row seat to watch it all!
Nat & Ben & Annie left Monday morning. It was rather sad to see them go. We felt a connection with them that we hadn't had in a long time. We truly saw eye to eye on everything, and it was refreshing to be around a couple our age who was passionate about missions.