TheLionRampant.net

Then:

Now:

Ezra is 6 months old today! More on that later.

For now, I read this post on a blog, In the Midst of It, and in it the writer discusses how she’s made times when her husband is away (he’s a pastor) special for her kids. I LOVE this idea:

The second thing I’ve added is a 4 p.m. tea time. Don’t read that wrong–not a tea party–a tea time. That distinction is important! I want my boys to grow up as civilized gentlemen, not delicate flowers. I pull out the good china for me, and the decent china for the boys, as well as a tablecloth and cloth napkins, and set the dining room table. We use the teapot and a tea cozy my mom gave me recently, and we make sure we have lots of sugar cubes. I use them to keep Addie quiet when she gets restless in the middle of the story. Her teeth will hate me someday, I’m sure.

I bring out a good, long story with lots of beautiful illustrations to keep the little ones as captivated as I can, and we read as we drink tea with lots of milk and sugar. I made the blueberry muffins this morning, in little heart shapes, and we’ll have fruit snacks, my children’s favorite food group. It’s usually loud and messy and funny and happy, and they look forward to it all week long.

Tea and books and proper gentleman! Fabulous and right up my alley.

UPDATE: New pictures of Ezra are up here!

Just a note to let you all know that after four days of exhausting, exciting and encouraging interviews, group projects, meals and debriefs that our calling to church planting has been confirmed. We’re still working through what that looks like for our future but I did want to let you all know that we weren’t given a kick out the door.

Thank you for your prayers. Ezra also did remarkably well. I was able to nurse him at lunch most days and he got good naps and took to a bottle well for my mom.

We’ve dropped off Francis at Bryce’s parents and are finishing up packing and thinking through church planting things before we leave tomorrow morning for Atlanta. Sadly, we won’t get to experience the city at all, but we will be qualified to tell you what we think of the Holiday Inn at the airport. Wish us well. Prayers are appreciated, too — in particular for: us to represent ourselves and our vision for church planting faithfully; Ezra to deal well when he’s away from me (and for my mom to handle him well if he doesn’t); for the assessors to get a clear picture of us and other candidates and for God to make his will clear through this process about what’s next in store for us. We’ll be back late Valentine’s Day night.

We are recovering over here at the Hales’ household. Bryce has been sick for more than a week and I’m nearing the week mark. Ezra got off easy with his first cold as it was over in a record 2 days. All of those antibodies in breast milk is doing his body good!

I wonder what one can do to make oneself slow down a bit. Life seems to be going at a pretty fast clip and some of that is inevitable (weekly church meetings, I’m working at home and out of the home, I still have a PhD to complete, etc.), but days just still feel busy. I hate feeling busy. I guess having a child makes life more busy (and he’s only 5 months old!) — not much time to sit around curled up in a chair with a mug of tea.

Here’s a list to leave you with. Things I’ve learned about myself since becoming a mother:
1. I need my own space.
2. A lot of mothering is just listening to your child and being confident that you know best how to meet his/her needs.
3. Many things that I used to stress out about I now stress out about less (I wouldn’t say that I don’t take things too seriously still…).
4. I appreciate Bryce so much more.
5. I don’t care too much when Ezra’s binky hits the floor.
6. I had no idea mothering took so much work and was so all-consuming.
7. Ezra’s smile can brighten my day even when I’ve had it.
8. A newborn’s (and infant’s) laughter makes everything pale in comparison.
9. I value my time away from Ezra at work on Wednesdays because it makes me that much more excited to see him.
10. I love experiencing the world through the eyes of my child.

We’ll be in Atlanta in a week for four days of being assessed for the possibility of planting a church. We’d appreciate your prayers — especially for Ezra as my mom will be caring for him for those four days (he’ll be with us during the nights). He really needs to sleep well for her and take the bottle well. I’m a bit nervous about how he’ll do away from me for 12-hour days.