Tangents

My real life is a lot like my blog. It goes in tangents. If you've read for very long, you've probably thought to yourself, "Dude, she beats a topic to death and then moves on to a new one...which she then proceeds to beat to death...and so on and so on..."

That old saying, Variety is the spice of life...may be true. I wouldn't know, I'm not good with variety. Or balance. I tend to focus on one thing at a time. Which is good for the one thing and not so good for everything else.

Lately, it's been pregnancy, baby Lucy, her three big brothers and the newness of being a family with four kiddos (which happens to feel pretty great:)

Ministry has taken a back burner for me. Which is ok and not ok at the same time. The ok part is the brief break I'm taking from my "official" ministry roles at church...other gifted individuals have stepped in and done wonderfully. But during Ben's sermon last night, he talked about our personal witness and ministry to those around us...the "unofficial" stuff...and I knew God was trying to get my attention.

The stuff like spending time in God's word and prayer...enough time to actually hear Him...not just opening it up and reading quickly here and there in order to make myself feel better that I actually opened it up *cough*

Being conscious again that my life, all of it, all the time is a witness to those around me. God has placed me right here. For a purpose. A purpose bigger than what I've boxed it into lately.

Of all the things in my life, the one that always always always needs to be my "tangent" is my relationship with Christ. Yet, sadly, it's often the first thing I push down the list. Every. Single. Time.

But amazingly, every single time...He quietly and gently calls me back. His love and patience with me astounds me. It really does. He doesn't need me. He is God, after all. But...He loves me enough to never let go. I don't know if I'll ever be able to wrap my head around that.

But I'm so thankful for it. And someday, I'd like to be that woman...that pastor's wife, the one who always keeps Christ first where He belongs...but until then, it's just me. Good thing He's not finished with me yet.

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Just Because...

During my pregnancy we pretty much kept our baby name choices secret. By the fourth kid I'd finally learned that sharing the name ahead of time, meant someone's opinion on it was going to annoy me. Greatly. And besides, surprises are fun...when I'm not the one being surprised.

Little Lucy Leyton (as Eli likes to refer to her) is nine days old today. Her name caught some by surprise. Many figured there must be a Lucy in the family...somewhere. There's not.

Many thought she'd have a Bible name. After all, we did have a trend going. Benjamin, Sarah, Noah, Eli, Jakob...apparently we've made Lucy the heathen of the family. Oh I kid.

Truth be told, the Bible name trend had nothing to do with picking Bible names and everything to do with the fact that they were just names Ben and I liked and could agree on.

Sure, I like that Noah obeyed God even though he must have looked like a lunatic to everyone else. And I love that even though Eli thoroghly messed up with his own sons, God gave him a second chance with Samuel and he got it right. Jakob...honestly, off the top of my head I don't know that much about the biblical Jacob. I've like the name Jake since the movie Sixteen Candles and Sweet Home Alabama. Aren't I spiritual? Ben liked Jacob, so we compromised with Jakob. What can I say, it's the stuff successful marriages are made of.

Ben and I liked Lucy from the start. There were other choices, but from the moment we saw that ultrasound and knew she was a girl, we also knew she was a Lucy. (Regardless of the fact that we have two sets of friends who have dogs names Lucy.) Turns out though, that Lucy (in Greek) means light. I love that. There are so many Bible verses that speak of light. God's word is light for us, as believers we are to be a light. (I'll share the specifics in another post.)

And, for my baby girl, the thing I pray the most, is that she would grow to love God's Word. That He would be the light for her path. That she would know Him so intimately that she would shine brightly with His love and truth.

And her middle name...Leyton...no particular reason except that I liked it, and I liked how it sounded with Lucy. Fascinating story, no? People keep asking about it, expecting a great, meaningful reason for the name...me blurting out that I just like it seems to disappoint. I'm close to just making up some ridiculous story. Suggestions?

*image courtesy of Google images*

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Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Turns out I had never heard the song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds until friends mentioned it after her birth. I obviously live under a rock.

Word on the street (ie Google) says the song was written while on LSD. After listening to the song, I'm not gonna argue with that. The verses in the song are bizarre...although I do like the yellow and green cellophane flowers and something about marshmallow pie...but the refrain...oh the refrain. I can't stop singing it to her. I added three different versions of it to my ipod. Elton John, Elton Jon & John Lennon, and a Bono version.

Jake (4 years old) has been making pictures of Lucy. He brought me this one the other day and I had to smile. Like the song says...the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. *smile*

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They Think I'm Stupid...

Well, this is random, but...

Today in the mail, we got a letter from the car dealer where we purchased our mini van five years ago.

The letter informed us that they have a high demand for 2003 Dodge Caravans, and they'd love for us to come in and trade ours. Along with the offer was a $500 dollar incentive.

Are you kidding me?

Do they really think I'm dumb enough to think that people are flocking through their doors begging for a 2003 minivan that's been driven by a mama to 3 boys for the past five years?

Get real.

And a measly $500 incentive? They're gonna have to do better than that to get me to give up my minivan that I'm strangely attached to.

They'll also need to send me an apology for insulting my intelligence. *wink*

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Lucy

My friend Heth came up to the hospital and gave Lucy her first photo shoot. I adore them. Here's a peek...

Accessorizing Lucy...poor girl, we have no idea how to do it. :)

We came home from the hospital today. So far, so good. We're all pretty enamored with her.

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It's a GIRL!

Let me introduce you to the newest member of The Parsonage Family!
Lucy Leyton joined us yesterday at 3:36 PM weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz. She's perfect. Can't wait to share more with you later...but here's some pics to tide you over till then. :)
Thanks so much bloggy friends, for all your prayers!
PS - She's nursing like a champ so far! Woo Hoo!

The boys crackme up. Life is gonna get even more interesting with little Lucy around ;)

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Julie Goes to Prom!

Friday when I went to the Doctor, she offered to strip my membranes. She was pretty sure it would put me into labor this weekend. I declined. Now, before you go thinking I'm crazy, let me explain.

1. I've gone that route before and it worked. Too well. Too fast.
2. It was going to be beautiful last weekend for us and I wanted to just enjoy it.
3. Julie had prom. How could I miss that?!?

I'm so glad I didn't. The weekend was full of beautiful weather and relaxing. Julie had a ton of fun at prom, and we had lots of fun watching all the couples arrive. Although the boys are still confused as to why anyone would ever want to get all dressed up like that. And Noah is quite ticked that the boy has to wear a tux that matches the color of the girls dress. He thinks the boy should get to pick the color too. He has a lot to learn... ;)

Blogger is totally messing with me and my pictures. I've tried all sorts of things, but for SOME reason it is making the pictures microscopic.

Except for this one. Which Julie is totally gonna love. I made them fake pose for this. At the time she said, "Are you taking a picture of my butt!?!" and I was like "No...well, yeah...sort of." ;) Someday...when she's hours away from birthing her 4th child, she'll look back at this picture and think...Dang, my butt looked good! So glad my host mom took that picture ;) I'm sure she will...

She was the most beautiful. And they were adorable together. (FYI: This is not the boyfriend from before. They broke up a couple months ago. I've resisted blogging about it because my joy seemed innappropriate at the time...it may still be innappropriate ;) This is Nick, a friend from youth group. He seems like a nice kid. And, in my humble opinion *cough* had the best tux of the evening. He is from a different school, so it was very kind of him to escort our Julie...she in return gets to go to his prom in two weeks.

Maybe blogger is just trying to help me out by making the pictures smaller so that I look smaller. I guarantee you that in the real picture I in fact look huger than huge. But I can deal...because people we are counting down HOURS now till the little baby arrives!

Tomorrow (or eventually) I'll post the news! YAY!

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