Baby Dedication - Two and a Half Years Later

Our church is having Baby Dedication in a couple of weeks.  They do this periodically and we've been approached twice to participate, but we weren't ever able to do so because we were out of town.  Well, this time around I'm determined we will be involved.  Poor Collin is going to look like a teenager up there with all of the precious, new babies!

I have to provide the church office with a little blurb about Collin and what our hopes/dreams/prayers are for him, and this really has me thinking about the things I hope for for my boy.

Before Collin was born, we heard a sermon at my parent's church about the importance of a name's meaning and the importance of speaking words-of-life over a child.  As if there isn't enough pressure to give your child the perfect name, I felt this was intensified after hearing this sermon.  I wanted to name my child something that could be relevant to any time period (so nothing too trendy), and yet I wanted to name him something a little different.  Also, in the spirit of speaking words-of-life over him, I wanted to name him something with a wonderful meaning - something he could aspire to live up to.  So a cute name would come to Jarrod or me and we would both agree that we liked it, but then when we would look up the meaning, we would discover it was something ridiculous, or just plain awful!

I have liked the name Henry for several years now, and it also happens to be a family name on my dad's side.  It is my dad's middle name, as well as his grandfather's, so I knew Henry would be my son's middle name.  Because it was the only thing I was certain of, I took to calling him that while I was pregnant.  Henry means "ruler of the home".  You could take that to be a bit too authoritative, almost like "dictator of the home", but I'm choosing to hope it will mean Collin grows to be the spiritual leader of his home one day.

So back to his first name...  I thought for a while that I wanted to name him Brighton.  In Hebrew, Brighton is "the one who is loved".  However, Jarrod wasn't crazy about this name and several family members let us know they weren't either!  I ultimately decided against it.

Collin just came to me one day.  I looked up the meaning and discovered that the name is thought to be derived from the name, Nicholas.  Nicholas is, of course, the male version of my first name, Nicole.  Both Nicholas and Nicole mean "victory of the people".  I thought it would be really cool for both my name and Collin's to have the same meaning.  Jarrod and I decided we both really liked Collin Henry, but we could never fully commit to it while I was pregnant.  We also didn't want to risk having that name shot down by our family members, so we kept it a secret until the baby was born. 

I remember looking at Collin after he was born and asking Jarrod, "Ok, so Collin Henry - are you sure?"  And then Jarrod would say, "I don't know, are you sure?!"  It's such a huge responsibility to name a human being!!

So that's how we got our little boy, who in name alone is: The Victory of the People and a Ruler of the Home.

That brings me to my hopes/dreams/prayers for him.  Obviously as a mother I hope my child is likable, handsome, athletic, smart, etc.  It's just human nature to hope for those things, but in truth, none of those things matters if he doesn't know the Lord.

Collin has been expressing such a sweet interest in praying recently and he likes to sing "Dat Bible song", aka, Jesus Loves Me.  I hope we're teaching him about the Lord, and I hope that as he grows up he will see Godly examples in both Jarrod and myself. 

This is the verse we have hanging on the wall over his crib and it is my prayer for him.  It is something I struggle daily to remember, so I hope that if Collin starts out his life knowing this truth then he will take it with him always.

My dad was in Seattle recently for an event called Time to Revive.  This ministry is based out of Dallas and they travel to cities around the country to share the Gospel with people.  They tend to focus on cities that are really populated and also really lost.  During an event, you can follow along online and each day there is a YouTube video posted that summarizes the day.  On Day 3 a good portion of the video features a little boy named Joseph.  His dad is the videographer for Time to Revive.  Joseph's fervor for the Lord is both precious and impressive.  I couldn't give a waiter my drink order at his age, much less talk to strangers about Jesus!  I hope Collin is this unabashed in his faith one day.

What the 5K?!

So here's an idea, let's not do anything physical for several years, have a child, get even more out of shape and then sign up for a 5K. 

The thing is that I've really been feeling convicted for some time now to get into better shape, but of course I always come up with excuses.  I don't have the time.  The weather is bad right now.  Etc.  So when I got a flyer from Collin's daycare about a 5K Color Run benefiting an anti-trafficking organization, I thought it would be a totally awesome thing to do...if I was in better shape.

Well, silly me got a little too eager and mentioned it to the girls in our small group, and sweet Kirstin quickly said she would do it with me.  I told myself we would back out of it, but dang it if Kirstin wasn't committed!

Last Friday I went over to her house on my lunch break to run with her around their neighborhood.  I realize it was stupid to run like that the day before the race was to occur, but I really needed to have an idea of how out of shape I was.  It didn't take long to figure it out!!  Kirstin easily pushed her baby girl in a jogging stroller, uphill(!) while I panted and stopped to walk every other minute.  We did about 2 miles before I had to head back to work, and the first thing I said was, "We have to do MORE tomorrow?"

This is me, sweaty and red-faced when I got back to work on Friday.

Of course, I woke up Saturday morning sore and grasping for excuses!  My sweet husband let me buy some new running shorts the night before, so I concentrated on my nifty shorts and relatively new/unused running shoes and made myself get ready.

Kirstin picked me up and we headed over to Harding where the race was held.  We instantly felt a little out of place...  Here we were, two moms several years past our co-ed days, and we were surrounded by overly eager college students.  We ran into a few girls who work at Collin's daycare, so I focused on visiting with them and trying to be as excited about the race as they were, and then the race started.

I seriously considered stopping and walking back to the start line to wait for everyone!  I know.  Pretty lame, huh?

It was so hard!

Luckily, it was a "fun run" and no one was too serious.  Pretty much everyone walked at some point or another, and Kirstin was sweet to say, "It's ok!  If we walk, we can talk!!"  So we would run, and then we would walk/talk and then we would run and repeat the whole cycle until we finished :)

It turned out to be a beautiful day and a perfect morning for the run.  Plus, the fact that it was a Color Run really broke up the running aspect and made it tons of fun.  And now that I've had a few days to recover and have regained the ability to make minor movements without feeling excruciating pain, I'm actually excited to start running again.


It was so funny driving home like this & stopping in @ Tropical Smoothie Cafe on the way !





I went straight to the laundry room once back home!

What a mess!

The other good thing about this experience was that it gave Jarrod and Collin some time to be together without me.  They don't get "guy time" often enough.  They were going to go fishing, but Collin fell down near the pond at my parents' house once (whilst being supervised by Uncle Daniel).  He got his bottom all muddy and wet and now he's convinced that this is what happens when you go near water.  He kept telling Jarrod, "No!  No go fitching!!  I no wanna get wet!!"  So Jarrod improvised and they played camp-out in the patio.  They set up a tent, played with Collin's little toy grill and spent time in the hammock together.

My boys!



Easter 2013

Apparently someone stole my idea and already filed an indictment against Punxsutawney Phil for his false prediction that Spring would come early this year.  Lucky for Phil, his handler has chosen to take the fall and is now claiming he "misinterpreted" Phil's prediction.  What Phil really meant to say was that we would have 6 more weeks of winter.  Stinking groundhogs.

I really hate winter.  For about two weeks I enjoy having a fire in the fireplace, drinking hot tea and hot chocolate and wearing comfy sweatpants with tall socks and using a blanket as a poncho whilst in the house.  After those two weeks I become very cranky.  I think I have that disorder where lack of sunlight seriously affects me.  You know the one.

Mostly I hate to wear jackets.  And layers.

So this past weekend while we were in Texas for Easter (and the weather was in the 60's and 70's) was awesome!  My toes saw sunlight for the first time in months, and I didn't wear a jacket once.  I also got to meet the newest baby donkey at my mom and dad's.  Collin thought he was super soft and my niece, Tinsley, told me he gave good kisses.  They were both right!

My city-boy checking out the donkeys.

Collin and Tinsley are so precious together now.  They talk to each other and play together and it makes my heart melt.  I wish they could see each other more often.  Collin has been pointing at things since we've been back home and saying, 'Dat's Tinsy's'; he misses her!

My brothers were obsessed with shooting crows while we were there, and now Collin thinks that's what you do.  He keeps saying he wants to 'go soot birds', and if we see a bird he'll make a gun with his hand and say, 'Pow-pow!' 

Collin got to hunt Easter eggs at my parents' house.  He wasn't very excited by this process, and enjoyed petting the dog afterward more than hunting the eggs.



Her name is "Little Ann", from Where the Red Fern Grows, but Collin told me, 'Nuh-uh, dis BIG Ann'.

The weekend went by too fast, but I'm super thankful we had a chance to visit.  Jarrod and I both say there is nothing we look forward to more than being able to sit on the porch at my parents' house and do nothing.  I took this place for granted growing up and now that I live so far away I miss it tremendously.


I wish I had realized sooner that not everyone can have a view like this from their porch.