If You're Happy and You Know It...

Clap Your Hands!

While visiting Chicago this weekend, Noah discovered a new skill, and he is SO proud of himself that we find ourselves applauding his applause.

Not only that, but this tangible breakthrough (clapping) seems to have been tied to several other connections. Within 24 hours, Noah started mimicking cousin Mike when Mike blew raspberries at him. He started responding to a "hi 5" by hitting our hands. He started clapping when I just said the word "clapping." I think he even discovered that he can use his hands to communicate. At lunch and dinner today, I could have sworn he waved his hands (the sign for "all done") when he was finished eating.

Granted, he still eats his feet, spent about 2 hours playing with an empty water bottle, and periodically gets "stuck" on his stomach -- he's still my baby. He's just that much smarter and more able to express himself than he was Friday. And that feels like a miracle.

Driving home this afternoon, I could hear the soft pat of Noah's hands as he practiced clapping in his carseat. I looked back to see him smiling, open-mouthed, starting to laugh as his hands expressed his delight. Definitely a miracle.

Only in Nashville

Last night, the women's ministry at our church hosted an evening of music and coffee. It was free, minimally publicized, and held in the fellowship hall. Intrigued? Probably not.

Me too - until I walked in. The lights were low with candles on the tables, Starbucks and desserts along the walls, and four stools on the spotlighted stage, one each for Nicole C. Mullen, Jim Weber, Ashley Cleveland, and Teresa Sugar. You may not have heard of them, but they're all songwriters and recording artists, 3 with Grammy and/or Dove awards. It was amazing. Each performed songs they'd written, explaining the backstory and then singing with a guitar. It was better than the Bluebird.

It reminded me of a moment last February. After Noah's baptism, some visitors told us they enjoyed hearing a young lady sing during the service. Turns out that young lady had won a Grammy that week.

After 16 years in Music City and 3 in the entertainment industry, I often take this culture for granted. The inherent love for music (not just Country), the connection with pop culture, the plethora of concerts where top artists sing to crowds of two hundred, the engagement in issues, the artistic aesthetic, the hair...

Nashville is not just another midwestern city - interchangeable with Minneapolis or Birmingham or St. Louis. It has its own flavor - a mix of Southern and smart and chic and storied. Picture Alison Krauss and Donald Miller at the Belcourt Theater drinking fruit tea, singing, and talking religion, politics, and art. It's just one side of a complicated city - but it's a side some cities don't have.

I guess that's one reason I finally have an answer when people ask me where I'm from. And why Noah is likely to have the same answer.

Happy Father's Day

It is said that our earthly fathers influence our view of God, our heavenly Father. If our fathers didn't care, neither does He. If they showed compassion, we expect it of Him.

I've always had a deep-seated sense of security, optimism, and value, and I'm pretty sure most of that was a gift from my dad. I always knew he loved me, I always knew he would protect me, and I never had reason to doubt his uncanny ability to know the right answer - be it whether to turn left at the light or whether to marry that boy.

Fortunately, I did marry "that boy," and now I get to see Noah receiving the same gifts from Josh. Noah lights up when Josh walks in the room. He starts shaking his feet (which shakes his whole body) and holding up his arms to be picked-up. Sometimes he even does the Stevie. Already, he knows what I have known - that God must be good and must love us to have given us such good dads.

Reflections on My New Job

In the last week, I've had lunch with two friends who are each pregnant with their first. I am so excited for them. I was telling one of my friends that after nearly 10 months, I'm still in love with Noah and waiting for the honeymoon to wear off. That's when a woman at the next table over leaned in to say, "It doesn't. My son's 4, and I'm still in love."

The other friend asked me if I ever regret leaving a job I loved to stay home with Noah. In a word, no. I did love my job right up until the day I left it. But my new job--mother and household manager--is so fitting and fulfilling for this time in my life that I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been an adjustment learning to schedule my time so that I can see balance, productivity, and challenge in my days, but I already see those muscles developing as I explore the different facets of this occupation. For example...

The Top 5 Reasons I Love My Job

1. Time with Noah -- teaching, watching, and loving on him, minute-by-minute.

2. Time with Josh. I'm not rushing to fit every chore into our nights and weekends, so when he's not working, we can be together.

3. Time for God. I've never felt the need for Him more than I have this last year. The responsibility of teaching a new person about the world and how to interact with it is a heavy weight. I'm so thankful for the teaching and prayer time that makes me a better wife, mother, person.

4. Time for extended family and friends -- lunches and facebook and emails and birthdays and playgroups and dinners and roadtrips, deepening relationships that were on autopilot for years.

5. Time for me. Reading, writing, consulting, cooking, swimming, hosting, organizing, traveling, eating out. I have time to stay connected with the book world while also pursuing hobbies and habits that keep me healthy.

Staying home is not for everyone or for all time, but I feel like it is allowing me to enjoy motherhood to the fullest. Which may explain why I'm so excited for those who are about to fall head-over-heels.

Sold!

Talk about another open door. God just keeps clearing the path for this move. Our house went on the market last weekend. We got our first offer Friday. We got our second offer (which we accepted) Saturday. We're done.

We only had one week of constant vaccuuming and spur-of-the-moment showings. We'll only have one month of two mortgages. We get to fix up the new house before moving in. And we got a good price fast in a down market.

I'm overwhelmed by it. We don't deserve so many blessings piled on blessings. It's all coming together, yet we could not have orchestrated it. I don't know how many times people have asked me how we found a house in pre-foreclosure and I have to admit: "We just stumbled across it." How do I explain the grace we've experienced through this process? How God has closed doors and opened better ones and we've been lucky enough to stumble through them?

I didn't think I believed in "luck," but now I feel like it's just another way of saying that I didn't deserve it, I couldn't make it happen if I tried, but by standing just here at just this moment, I got to enjoy it. And while God may not see it so randomly, I can't help feeling very lucky tonight.

On the Market

Our house is officially for sale. Sigh. We love it. We'll miss it. But we're not willing to move it. So let us know if you've got a friend in the market for a fabulous ranch in Brentioch.

It's a Concrete Beach!

Noah sat in the baby pool for a solid 20 minutes last night, slamming his rings down into the water, splashing droplets all over his face. He got himself thoroughly soaked--and a little cold--but it didn't seem to bother him a bit. Since 10 months ago he was basically a fish, we're hoping he takes after his mom and becomes a grown-up fish, too.
(If you click on the close-up, you'll see the larger image and the water drops are visible all over his face.)