October 13, 2005

Three years ago, Daniel and I were both working for Catholic Charities and I was teaching an ESL class in Arlington. Daniel had invited me to meet him at Central Market after my ESL class that evening. "Is this a date," I wondered. I wasn't sure. But, after teaching in a Somali apartment for 2 hours, I decided I'd at least stop by the house and change shirts - nothing fancy, just didn't want to smell like the strong scent of the Somali apartment. I arrived at Central Market to find Daniel sitting at a table outside of Central Market, having jsut finished a little dinner. He asked if I wanted to walk over to Starbucks for some coffee. I agreed. We sat outside in the nice evening fresh air. He excused himself to the bathroom, and the sweet girl working that night came out and handed me this letter (of course, without the check mark...I added that as my reply):

That night, Daniel and I became an 'official' couple. And here we are, three years later, married and having our first child in just a few weeks....very exciting! And very much a reason to reminisce...

So... we went back to that Central Market on Hulen Street in Fort Worth last night....

We had dinner together...

We drove over to that same Starbucks (driving this time instead of walking. I mean, I am 37 weeks preggo!)

And enjoyed a white chocolate mocha and mocha with a shot of peppermint together!

...TO US, AND THE NEXT THREE YEARS+, MY LOVE!

showered.

I've mentioned before the blessing that our small group is to us. Or, if I haven't, I've meant to. :-) For Daniel and me, small group = our family here in Fort Worth. These are folks who love us in spite of us. Folks with whom we can share the ugliest parts of ourselves and know that the repsponse will be love, love, love. And much prayer. Folks with whom we can share our accomplishments and know that they will celebrate with us. Folks who challenge us. Folks who point us to Jesus!

my very best friends in Fort Worth

The ladies of our small group hostessed a baby shower for me and our little Baba Ganoush this past weekend. I don't know all that they did behind the scenes, but the shower was lovely and, if you girls are reading this, THANK YOU!!! They asked the moms at the shower to give me mommy advice. They spoke words of blessing over our son, they prayed over us, they spoke scriptures over us. They gave us a 'treasure chest' in which to put words the Lord gives us for our son, fun memories with him, and whatever else. They also blessed us with our baby crib mattress. Their generosity humbles me. I have great friends, wouldn't you say? It was such a sweet time, not only for me, but for my Mama who drove in with my Daddy from Ruston to stay less than 24 hours with us just to be at the shower.

super cute decor, wouldn't you agree?

the 'diaper cake' center piece

I opened many fun gifts - from practical things like the mattress and pacifiers and wipes and a diaper bag to fun things like outfits and books and more. Here I am showing off a monkey card from my Mama and my sister - so cute!

"Love the monkey card, Mama and Jenny!"

mommies and daughters

Olive Garden and Andes Mints

Last week Daniel and I had dinner at Olive Garden. I'm sure many of you agree that the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden are the best part of any meal there. And, the fact that you get Andes mints with your bill is an extra bonus for dining at Olive Garden.

It has been my experience that when there are 2 guests, the server brings 2 or 4 Andes mints with the bill. This particular night, our server returned to our table with 8 Andes mints inside of that black leather bill holder. When he came to take our credit card, I said to him, "Thanks so much for the extra Andes candies - I love them!" Little did I know that he would return to our table with our credit card in one hand and this to-go coffee cup FILLED with Andes mints!!

Cheers to Angel, our new favorite server in all of the DFW metroplex. My face lit up even more as I said thank you to him and he replied, "You've got to make the pregnant lady happy." ....You know, there are a lot of kindesses that have come to me as a result of being pregnant. Will I still have the same treatment when the little one no longer makes me look like I've stuffed a basketball in my shirt and he's screaming as we are dining???? ....I doubt it!!! :-) But, I'll enjoy it for now and smile and say, "Thank you!"

Jesus Storybook Bible

My walking buddy and friend, Rebecca, told me about this book, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. And, I thought it was blog-worthy - for any of our blog readers. The author's intended audience is children, but it is a fascinating book, one that has even been a suggested read to pastors because of the way the book is written. It causes the reader to look at all the characters and events in Scripture in light of their place in redemptive history. It's a book telling the stories of the bible, but strewn in to each story is the underlying theme that points each story to Jesus. You can read a sample from this book of the story of The Fall by clicking on this link.

Sally Lloyd-Jones received The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category for this book. Zondervan's description of the book quotes, "At the center for the Story is a baby, the child upon whome everything will depend. Every story whispers His name. From Noah to Moses to the great King Dave - every story points to Him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle - the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up on the clues and and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation - at the cent of their Story too."

The book can be ordered on www.amazon.com as well as several other websites and in Christian Stores. I hope you'll decide to add it to your book collection.

Sundays and coke ICEEs

Do you remember the post about our niece Meredith and her love for ICEEs?

Well, Baby Audi may come out with a love for ICEEs as well, namely coke ICEEs.

WHY?

Well, I love coke ICEEs, and Daniel and I discovered a while back that the RACE TRAC next to our church sells coke ICEEs!! And this summer, there was a special on 32 oz. ICEEs - 32 oz. for 69 cents!! Can't beat that!!! And all summer we didn't pass up a single Sunday without splitting a 32 oz. ICEE. Going to Race Trac after church became a weekly routine for us. So much so, that the lady who works there on Sunday mornings has become quite friendly with us - asking about our baby, telling us about her family, and today she said, "It's on the house!!"

Since the fall has arrived, the great deal on the 32 oz. ICEEs disappeared. A 22 oz. ICEE is now 99 cents. And the 32 oz. ICEE is $1.09. So, we share a 22 oz. ICEE every Sunday after church now. "Share" in the sense of the word that I hold the ICEE and drink from it most of the way back home from church and offer it to Daniel every once-in-a-while. Maybe I should go back to my nursery school days and re-learn how to "share." :-)

We're back home and well, the ICEE is all gone - just a cup with some trash from the car inside of it!

table top.

I'm sure you moms have experienced the 'table top belly'. And, I'm not sure exactly when it happened that my belly began making a good table top, but I find myself regularly setting things on it - my glass of water, my salad bowl, my cereal bowl, etc. I'm thinking I might miss it's convenience once it's no longer around. We're at 36 weeks in the pregnancy, so we have 4 weeks to go until the little one's due date. I guess that means I only have about 4 weeks left to enjoy my built-in table! Hopefully, it will be gone soon after he arrives!

brannon's arrival...continued

More pictures from Brannon's birth:

This is Meredith's "oooooohhhh!" face! She was so happy to meet her brother!

Proud grandparents!

Meredith kisses her new baby!

The double-chin is only a result of the angle of the camera...I mean, he weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces for cryin' out loud!

Daddy, his girls, and his first grandson!

baptism

I have tutored and taught ESL to every member of this family throughout the past year since they moved to America. There are 12 people living in the home together - mom, dad, grandmother, and 9 children! They are a super sweet family and have been such a blessing to me. A few weeks ago, one of the girls approached me while I was at her school tutoring and said, "Miss, Musa baptize. You come?" "Come," I thought, "Of course I'd come!" And I was honored to be invited!

I attended their Tumaini International Church service and was blessed to see that so many of the African refugee families we serve are a part of this church. The service was similar to an American Baptist Church service - which in some ways, was disappointing. I could imagine missionaries going into Africa and recreating a Western church among these people. None the less, they love Jesus!

And, Musa, decided to follow Jesus a few weeks ago and get baptized! What a sweet memory to have with this family!! Thank You, Jesus.

aunt kim & uncle daniel - part dos

My sister had a little boy today - Brannon David Cohn. She was a champ!

I made the road trip to Ruston yesterday (Thanks to Meg for riding with me)! And then hopped in the car with Mom and Dad to go to Baton Rouge. Jenny & Brian left for the hospital early this morning and we played with Meredith, took her to school, and met them at the hospital around 11:00. Jenny was dilated to 6 cm when we got there and within 3ish hours, she delivered a beautiful baby boy!

came at 2:18 p.m.
5 pounds, 12 ounces
19 1/2 inches long.

He has beautiful thick, black hair and a beautiful complexion. He looks great. And Jenny looks great too! Thank you to those who have been praying for her and for Brannon's safe arrival today!

Baby's Room

This past week I was off of work, so I got to dive into some creativity that has been buried for over 10 years - I painted a couple of canvases for our son!

me, exercising my buried artsy side

Since I was a child, I wanted to have my own pet monkey. That never happened, but I did sleep with a stuffed monkey until our wedding day. Daniel asked ever-so-politely if he could replace the monkey. It was a sad day, but 'monkey' got retired to sit on the pillows in the guest bedroom. And, that's been his residence for the past two years. However, he's now moving into a new room in our home - the baby's room! And, along with the stuffed monkey, there had to be some other monkey decor. So, I saw some great paintings on a website, and did my best to duplicate them.

the small canvas on the shelf in the picture below

We're getting his bedding made. The stripe is his bed skirt and the paisley is the outside of his bumper. He'll have a chenille fabric that is off-white on the inside of the bumper. I love his fabric! We're hoping to have it sometime in October, so pardon the incomplete crib. Here is his bedding and his bedroom so far!

fabric for his bedding

crib and canvases

the wall opposite the crib

Stories of the monkeys:

The monkey on the shelf above the crib is one that we saw in the boutique store at the hospital on one of our visits to the midwife. Daniel bought it for his little boy. This monkey comes complete with a diaper and a pacifier!

The monkey on the shelf above the couch was my monkey growing up.

The monkey on the couch is a gift from the baby's aunt and uncle who live here in Fort Worth - they made it at "Build-a-Bear."

We will get a big mirror to put above the bookshelf and I also painted 5"x5" canvases for each letter of his name that will go on top of the bookshelf.

We'll announce his name on his birth date! Until then, there are a couple of names we refer to him as...."Tommy Chuck" or "Baba-Ganoush". "Tommy Chuck" comes from our Hispanic neighbors who came over to meet my parents and my sister and niece one weekend they were in town. Mom asked Remon, a 2nd grader, what he thought the baby's name should be. "Tommy," Remon replied. And she asked Giovani for his opinion. He replied, "Chuck." So, for the remainder of the weekend, my dad referred to our son as "Tommy Chuck." "Baba ganoush," well, Daniel named him that. :-) We must have been eating some Arab food when someone asked what his name would be. And, since Daniel is always quick on his toes, he replied, "We'll refer to him as Baba Ganoush until he's born." Baba-Ganoush is a dip Arabs dip fresh bread in. It's really good! Why our son is nick-named after a dip is beyond me...but, I like it! And Daneil came up with it. You can feel free to refer to our little one by those names as well.