TheLionRampant.net

Bryce and I have been invited to the PCA’s Church Planting Assessment Center and we’ll be traveling to Atlanta to be observed and interviewed for four days in about three weeks’ time. It should be interesting, enlightening and thoroughly exhausting. We’re looking forward to it! Please pray for us as we consider where God might be leading us next.

In home news, Ezra has cut his 2nd tooth and learned that when he cries “mamamamamama” that I come. We obviously have a brilliant child, albeit, quite sensitive. Right now he’s conked out next to me on the couch, and I’m flanked by Francis (our beagle) on the other side, while Bryce finishes up his sermon at Starbucks.

I had a lovely, long conversation with another mom who is also working on her Ph.D. (though in a different field) and it’s quite good to remind ourselves that the infant phase won’t last forever, that when we find parenting trying it doesn’t mean we’re bad mothers, and that we need to get out every day. We’ll be going walking together once a week and I’m looking forward to the exercise and adult conversation.

Classes have started this semester and as long as Ezra doesn’t continue to only need his mama when he’s teething, all should be well.

Things I’m pondering:
*Where the contemplation amidst motherhood, dirty dishes, laundry-to-be-done is
*How to get off my last bit of pregnancy weight by my birthday (March 30)
*When my Ph.D. will get underway again (I feel rather swamped with “dailyness” at present)
*Learning how to enjoy and appreciate the moment (knowing it’s a gift when it’s quiet and when it’s hard, knowing it will pass)

Over the last year our so our blog has morphed into something of a “what we are up to and pictures of Ezra” blog. As this has happened, I’ve realized that I miss having a place to write, but this no longer feels like the place to do it. Ash and I want to keep this blog up, doing what we’re doing, so I decided to start another, where I’ll write about more serious and less-serious stuff. Feel free to check it out.

We are alive, although we haven’t blogged in quite some time.
1. I finished teaching for the semester in the middle of December and since then we’ve been mostly out of town, which has been wonderful and completely needed to revive our sanity.
2. Ezra has now learned to roll over! (This happened at about 3.5 months)
3. Ezra is also quite advanced in that he’s cut his first tooth and is probably working on his second one. (This happened right around Christmas).
4. We’ve been dealing with all the fussiness that attends #s 3 and 4, coupled with a boy who often likes to fight sleep.
5. We are doing some work (I’m writing a book review and planning lectures for next week’s classes), but are also enjoying the chance to actually spend some leisurely time together.
6. We had our first family vacation, just the three of us. We rented a little cabin in the woods and enjoyed watching Studio 60 on DVD, reading, eating out and taking a few short walks in the cold. And my husband even built multiple log fires to keep us warm and toasty.
7. My goals for 2008 include: losing the baby weight and reading my Bible daily — oh, and getting a bit more time in for myself amidst the insanity of teaching, mothering, and trying to think abstractly still.

Happy New Year to you all!