Six Words and The Crucifix

Roman has been saying a few 6 word sentences occasionally - I am usually driving or something and then forget to write it down when I finally arrive at home...but not today!! Today in the car he said: "I see da wain out dere" (I see the rain out there.) We had a lot of fun today even though the weather was yucky. :)

In other news, we went to noon mass at St Thomas on Friday and got to hear a great message from Father Dennis. He was talking about a church (I think in Great Britain?) that took down their crucifix because it was too "gruesome" and "unwelcoming".

W-O-W.

It SO baffles me to think about the things that are welcomed into family homes...the TV shows, the Internet content, the conversations, etc. Things that bear no fruit whatsoever...and I know I am just as guilty of those things.

But, seriously. The crucifix is the very definition of love. Scripture tells us so:

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this,

that he lay down his life for his friends.

I was so in awe of what Father had to say about honoring our Lord's passion.

I really liked that he also talked about the opposite being just as ridiculous...it's pointless to remember only the crucifixion. Without the resurrection, the crucifix would be exactly what these people are claiming it to be - just a horrendous image...very disturbing... and certainly not something that draws people nearer to the Lord.

But, that's just it. The crucifix is not simply about a man who was mailiciously put to death.

It's when we see the whole picture...suffering, death, new life...that we see love.

What a beautiful sacrifice.

What a an overwhelming display of devotion.

One man on behalf of many.

The righteous on behalf of the unrighteous.

Him instead of me.

Am I always comfortable as I look upon an image of my Savior on the cross? No. And I don't think I should be.

Sometimes, in fact, I feel deep agony when looking at the crucifix...because I understand the weight of what he did for me...and I know that I will never, ever be worthy. I also know that he never, ever regrets it.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is thank-you. Thank you to the churches that still believe it's okay to make people feel uncomfortable sometimes. In fact, it's necessary. How would we grow if we didn't ever step out of our convenience-driven lives?

Thank you to the faithful who believe in spreading the gospel....in it's entirity...the hard-to-swallow, painful parts and the grace-filled, refreshing parts. The gospel is not an easy message to deliver. Being a Christian is certainly not always an easy way to live. Sometimes we don't like the way it makes us feel. You know what? Sometimes, neither did Jesus. Sometimes we don't like having to be obedient to God's plan. But, in the words of one of my heroes, Jim Ott,
"Jesus didn't like the nails".

Our Weekend

Just a glimpse of what we have been up to:

Friday: Went to Des Moines for a fun night out with Chrissy and Jon. We ate at Taki, which is always delicious, and then went to play some Wii at Chrissy's house. Roman was very excited. He kept saying "Chrissy. Jon. Toys." Those are the main things that bring him joy, so good night for him. :)

Saturday: I spent the morning hanging out with Roman while Joe slept a little bit. We watched Veggie Tales, talked about the zoo, and read some books. The usual. :) Then we went to lunch at Dutch Oven Bakery with my friend Brooke. So good to catch up! Roman was exhausted when we came home, but if you haven't heard, he's been on a bit of a "sleep strike" lately. Good times. Basically, what this means, is that once he actually falls asleep, he's good to g0 - will take his normal 2 hour nap or sleep his normal 12 hour night. It's the falling asleep that's really giving us trouble. You see, as of about a week ago, our naptime and bedtime routine went something like this:

read 2 books, sing two songs, read a Bible verse, say prayers, lay down

Now, Roman would sometime whine a little bit when I left the room, and he certainly didn't go to sleep immediately - he usually talks to himself/sings for a while before falling asleep.

No more, friends. No more.

We have not had any interruption in our routine, but for whatever reason, about a week ago, he just started screaming when we left the room - and will basically persist in hysteria until someone comes back to keep him company.

I have tried rocking him until he falls asleep or laying with him until he falls asleep. The problem with these attempts is that he doesn't ever actually fall asleep. Super. I laid on the floor for an hour with him the other night (keep in mind I am 29 weeks pregnant). Feels good on the hips at this point. :) But, still after an hour, he wanted to chat with me, and screamed when I left the room.

I have tried leaving the door open and the hall light on. I have tried complete darkness. I have tried to just give up on the nap - but by 4:00 he is screaming because he's so tired anyway. I have tried everything I can think of.

On the bright side, he usually goes to sleep a little bit better for Joe. Joe says he can talk to him "man to man"...that they understand each other. I say "whatever works". But, let's just say, I'm a little nervous for nap time tomorrow while Joe is at work. :(

If anyone has any ideas...PLEASE share.

Anyway, after the naptime fiastco, and Joe finally getting Roman to sleep, we went out to rake the leaves that have been in our yard since August. Yep. Good homeowners, I know. But, remember, we moved in November, so about a week later there was snow on the ground and the opportunity has really not arisen until now. Tony has been AMAZING help with everything around the house - I am so thankful!!

After Joe and Tony yelled at me for being pregnant and bending over to pick up leaves, they finally just sent me back into the house. They are so funny - they think I'm handicapped or something - although I wasn't going to question their decision to exclude me from yard work. :) So, I went to Wal-Mart and bought paint so that we could get Roman and Judah's rooms painted one of these days. Very exciting.

Later in the afernoon, my family came over - Grandma, Mom and Bob, and Chelsey and Carter. Roman was SUPER excited to see everyone. He and Carter had a fantastic time playing peek-a-boo, "sharing" (more like stealing) snacks, practicing their crawling skills, and laughing at each other.

When my family first came over, Joe and Tony were finishing the raking. I left the room to get something and I came back to everyone laughing. Chelsey says "Tony just threw a bag of leaves on the roof". I look out the window to leaves raining down. It was so funny. He thought he could throw the bag all the way over the house into the pile with the rest of tha bags. Definitely didn't even clear the roof, so nice effort. :) He's hilarious.

Sunday: This has been a rather lengthy post, so I'll give you the quick version. Went to church, went to lunch at Applebee's with Anna, got to chat with Mike and Joyce for a bit, went home. Got to skip horrendous naptime screaming because Roman fell asleep on the way home - and does pretty well transitioning from car to crib. I taped Roman's "big boy room" so that Joe and Tony could paint. They got the whole thing finished and it looks AWESOME. Such good men at my house. :) Agape (my small group of high school girls). Dinner with some of the girls from my small group. Youth Group.

Such a productive and fun weekend. I only have about 2,957 more things to do before Judah is born. :)

Pictures and Video

Roman loving on his brother

Joe raking and Roman "helping." :)
6 months pregnant!

Roman and Mommy




L0ts of love.

Roman and Daddy

Roman wearing Adam's shoes

Roman playing Daddy's drums...he's a natural. :)

My Little Chatterbox: Edit

One I forgot to mention:

The past few days, Roman has given me a play-by-play of what he's doing throughout the day.

Examples:
"I'm sitting"
"I'm taking bath"
"I'm running"
"I'm so sleepy"

My Little Chatterbox

If you haven't talked to Roman in a while, here's what you are missing:


1. Four and five word sentences.

Examples: "I love you, Daddy." "I see trees and skies." and "Look at all the birds."


2. Words that he knows he is NOT supposed to say. This is really a challenge for me right now, and if anyone has suggestions on how I can stop this ASAP, I would really appreciate it. Luckily, it's nothing too terrible - thank God we don't have anyone too close to us that would learn those from, although let me just say I would really like to scream at some people that we overhear in stores. That probably isn't what Jesus would do though. Just a guess. :)

Examples:

• "diarrhea" - awesome. He learned this one when he was sick (admittedly, our own fault), and I just can't quite make him understand that it's not appropriate conversation in a restaurant. With a perfect stranger.
  
• "that's stupid" - another one of my favorites. This one is also probably my fault. You just don't realize what you say until you have a 20 month old that picks up on every.single.word.
  
• "oh my God" - this one literally brought me to tears. Joe was changing his diaper one day and was gagging because it was such a delightful experience. I overheard him slip but didn't say anything, hoping Roman wouldn't notice. He noticed. And repeated it immediately. HELP.
  
• "crap" - also, my fault. Are you super impressed with my mad parenting skills at this point?? It's not that I really think that "crap" is a bad word, it just seems a little excessive for someone who is less than 2 years old.
  I'm serious about suggestions...

3. Back to a lighter note. You will often overhear Roman saying the following words/phrases:

• "wrestle"
• "bah-ee swam me" ("body slam me")
• "ding ding ding"

Perfect. Because we were planning on taking him to try out for the WWF when he turns two.

This may be due to the fact that we have an overwhelming amount of testosterone in our house between Joe, Uncle Tony, Roman (and Adam and Ryan frequently visiting)...and it's about to increase. Truth be told, I love it.

4. Extensive conversations about the zoo. We went last week and every time he thinks about it (which is approximately every 23 minutes) we have a conversation similiar to this one:

Roman: "I saw the zoo"
Me: "We did go to the zoo. What animals did you see?"
Roman: "I saw wions. big. Roar." (lions)
Me: "They were big. What else did you see?"
Roman: "I saw ducks. Feed ducks. Swim in water."
Me: "uh -huh"
Roman: "I saw tigers. big. Roar"
Me: "Yeah, you liked the tigers."
Roman: "I saw fishies"

I'll stop there, but you can imagine that it's about the same for birds, otters, sea lions, emu, and other random animals. He is really, really excited to talk to everyone about it, though. :)

5. Replaying conversations that happened the day before.
Example: We had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house the other night. Roman spilled on the floor and say "I'm sorry Marla" to my aunt. The next night he dropped a chip on the floor during dinner. He said "I'm sorry Mommy." "I'm sorry Marla." And he kept repeating it over and over and over. I felt bad that he was still apologizing!!

6. Asking a question that he wants me to ask him.
Example: Roman will say "Wha would you wike?" (What would you like?) when he wants me to ask him that question. Other examples: "why you sad?", "help you?", "do you like that?"

7. Convincing himself that he is okay when he's scared/hurt/unsure of something.
Example: in the presence of a dog, or when going through the carwash, or when he just hurt himself he will say "you ok. it's ok. you alwight (you're alright)" over and over to calm himself down. It's really funny. We will have to teach him at some point that self talk is really supposed to be just in your head. :)

8. Colors. Roman is really getting good at identifying colors. He will tell you the color of every object in his line of sight.

Example: The other day we were looking out our front window when he noticed some flags in our yard marking the water line. (I think?) He doesn't know the word "flag" except in the case of the American Flag. So, he turns to me and says "I see green and blue." Show off. ;)

Well, friends, that's all I can think of for now, but I do have pictures and videos to post soon. I'll try not to take 10 years in actually making that happen.

When Joe Talks in His Sleep

HILARIOUS.

If I haven't already mentioned how fantastic my husband is, let me just tell you. Joe takes his role as a husband and father very seriously...and I appreciate him so much. I just love seeing him with Roman - the two of them are kindred spirits if I ever saw some. Already we know that Roman wants to be just like his daddy. You will find him saying these phrases at least 23 times a day: "pway dwums" (play drums), "pway micwaphone" (play microphone - which usually consists of him licking the microphone and then pulling the device away from his mouth in order to actually sing a song). I so look forward to seeing how Judah will bond with his daddy and his big brother.

And speaking of Judah... this well tell you how much Joe loves him already.

Often, when we are laying in bed, not really trying to sleep yet, Joe will talk to Judah - he will put his head on my stomach and talk to the little guy (and let him kick him in the face...) Judah responds a lot to Joe's voice which is really neat to experience!

Anyway, they are clearly already bonding.

So, the other night Roman was just not sleeping well. At one point (about 4 am) he woke up, laughed and talked to himself for a while, and then, about 15 minutes later, just started yelling. Apparently, he was mad that he was awake. Joe, of course, is mostly oblivious to all of this - the man could sleep through a tsunami. I was laying awake in bed giving Roman a few minutes put himself back to sleep (Please God!)

Now, Joe frequently talks in his sleep, but it's usually just nonsense - funny - but mostly not related to anything. All of a sudden, Joe sits up in bed and says "Wait, wait...Which one is that?"
Me: "What are you talking about?"
Joe: "Which kid is that?"
Me: "Honey, we only have one outside the womb"
Joe: "NO! We have two kids!"
Me: (laughing) "I know, babe, but it's not like we can hear Judah crying"
Joe: "Oh yeah."

And then he falls right back to sleep.

He is such a good dad. SO confused...but such a good dad. :)

Conviction of the Day

I read this today on the Stuff Christians Like blog and thought it was very well written. Funny but also powerful and SO SO true. Let's be more real about our sin and help each other live better lives for Christ.

Carter Laughing

my nephew...the cutest EVER!

Judah

a few pictures of our sweet little boy!