daddy loved you before he'd even met you:)

August 1, 2010

Carson,

After more than nine months, we’re in the last several hours of preparing for your arrival. It’s hard to believe the time has finally come. Your mom and I have enjoyed so much our time together as a couple, but now we are so excited for you to join us in the adventure of life.

When I think about your joining us soon, I think about how much I am anxious to share with you. I’m excited to be able to read to you. I’m excited to share my love of music with you. I’m excited to share my life’s work as a minister with you. I have so many wonderful memories of time I spent with my dad growing up, and I hope that when you are my age, you’ll have equally wonderful memories of the time you and I spend together.

I want you to know how thankful I am for your mom. You do not realize how wonderfully blessed you are to have her as your mom. She is unconditionally loving, faithfully supportive, infinitely caring, and incredibly kind. She has prayed for you since before you were even conceived and has done everything she can to take care of herself and take care of you while she’s been pregnant with you. I hope I will demonstrate for you clearly just how much I love her.

It’s often tempting for parents to dream dreams for their children, and I suppose there is a time and place for that. But rather than dream all kinds of dreams for you, I simply hope to teach you to dream for yourself and to equip you to pursue those dreams with all of your being. But there is one dream I dream for you, one which will serve as a paradigm for all your other dreams: I hope that you will choose to follow Jesus, that you will live your life in selfless service to others, that you will commit yourself wholeheartedly to what you will come to realize is the upside-down ethic of the kingdom of God, and that you will dedicate yourself to loving God and all of God’s children, both those like you and those different from you. I pray I will be a faithful example of such a commitment to you. I promise you I will do everything I can to equip and empower and support you, whether that means cheering you on or offering constructive criticism. I want you to know it doesn’t matter whether you feel like you’ve done great things or insignificant things, what matters is that you have been faithful.

As we welcome you into this world we call home, we do so with eyes wide open. We have seen both some of the best this world God called “good” has to offer and we have seen some of the worst this world has to offer. Sometimes it seems as though the evil outweighs the good. But we believe God is still at work seeking to make right all that has been gone wrong in the world, and we are convinced God desires us, including you, to participate, in whatever ways possible, in the pursuit of that mission. So we welcome you boldly. We long to model for you a way of living that is captive not to fear but to the hope with which this mission of God has filled us and we pray humbly, therefore, that you will imitate us as we imitate Christ.

Carson, may the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and give you peace. And may you live your life in gratitude to the God who has so graciously blessed our lives with your presence and company and called you to be a Son of God.

I love you so much and can’t wait to share life with you!

Dad

your first picture with daddy

It was very special to see the two of you together!

You looked so comfortable together from the very beginning!

You have the very best daddy in the world!

since daddy met you, he loves you even more:)

i loved you before i'd even met you:)

July 29, 2010

Dearest Carson,

Your daddy and I have been thinking about and praying for you for a very long time. We could not have been more thrilled or more thankful on December 1, 2009, when we found out that you were an itty bitty baby growing inside me! We had lots of fun telling our family and friends about you! March 25, 2010 was another fun day, because we found out that you are a boy! It has been an answered prayer and an absolute joy to carry you with me for the past nine months. Each time I feel you move inside me is such a special treat! It has been lots of fun preparing your nursery and shopping for you. Even the queasy stomach, sore back, swollen ankles, and sleepless nights have been sweet reminders of becoming your mama!

After carrying you for all this time, I cannot believe it is finally time to meet you. I will miss having you inside me, but I know that having you on the outside will be even more special! I’ve dreamed about what your sweet face will look like. I can’t wait to see those tiny fingers and toes that I’ve felt wiggling inside me! I’ve imagined cuddling, reading, and playing with you, and in four more days, I get to do just that! I can’t wait to see you, feed you, and learn how to take care of you.

I have wanted to be a mama for as long as I can remember. It is a dream come true, but I have a lot to learn along the way. Please be patient with me while I figure out how to be your mama. I am thankful that your sweet daddy loves you as much as I do and that we get to work together to learn how to be your parents. Throughout the pregnancy, he has taken such good care of us! We could not be more excited that you’re becoming a part of our family. We are thankful that you have four loving grandparents, two precious aunts, and many friends that love you and will be important to your growing and learning.

It will be such an honor to watch you grown and learn. It will be exciting to watch you develop various gifts and use them to glorify God and imitate Jesus. Carson, I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

I love you more than you know, sweet Carson Robert. See you soon!

--Your mama

Our first picture together!

I will never forget finally getting to meet you! It was a holy moment!

since i met you, i love you even more:)

clarksville, population 3

There's so much to blog about, but so little time! I'm LOVING my new job as Carson's mommy!!! There are no words to describe the miracle of childbirth and the joy of becoming a parent! Wow! It's been an amazing three weeks. I'll backtrack and catch up on all things Carson in the coming days, but first, here's a link to my sweet husband's blog. He is such a wonderful husband to me and daddy to our baby boy!! Here's a sweet picture of my two favorite boys!!!

just the two of us

As we anticipate our sweet Carson's arrival, we've spent time reflecting on our life as a family of two. Keith and I met and became friends in March 2002, began dating in April 2002, were engaged in June 2003, and married in December 2003. So, we've been married for six and a half years and have been dating for over eight years! I am so thankful for our time as a family of two. We have had so much fun getting to know one another and growing as a couple. We've laughed and cried. We've traveled and stayed home. We've stayed up late and slept in. We've worked and played. We've talked and listened. We've taught and learned. We've gone on dates and done chores. We've waited and prayed. We've prayed and leaped. It's strange to realize that things will never again be the same. We will continue to love one another fully and spend time as a couple, but we will never again be a family of two. We are thrilled to meet our baby boy and could not be more thankful for the blessing and privilege of raising him, but we'll always remember fondly our time as a family of two! Here's a picture walk down memory lane:)

March 2002. ACU Spring Break Campaign. Eugene, Oregon. New friends.

2002. Dating. What fun we had getting to know one another and falling in love!

2003. We had a beautiful wedding ceremony and promised to God and our family and friends to always love one another! It was the most special day!!

2004. Newlyweds. Making our first house a home in Abilene, Texas. Keith was finishing his undergraduate degree in Christian Ministry at ACU and I was embarking on my first year of teaching at Bonham Elementary.

2005. We were hanging out with friends and enjoying life. Keith started graduate school at ACU, studying ministry and theology. I continued teaching first grade at Bonham.

2006. More grad school and first grade. Keith started preaching at Maryneal every Sunday. We had great time for conversation and reflection as we made the hour drive each week. What a blessing this little church family was to us!

2007. Abilene was still home. ACU, Bonham, and Maryneal filled our time. We had fun traveling to visit friends and family on spring, summer, and holiday breaks. We loved our similar school schedules.

2008. After hours and hours of learning through relationships, practice, reading, lectures, and conversation, Keith graduated with his Master of Divinity degree. We knew our time in Abilene was coming to an end. We began to pray about what was in store. We celebrated five years of marriage and took an amazingly relaxing and fun vacation to the beach!

2009. After much prayer and conversation, we said goodbye to our life in Abilene, Texas and moved to Hohenwald, Tennessee. Keith got a full-time ministry job and I began teaching sixth grade. We will always love Abilene, but Hohenwald has become our new home. Our church family has loved and welcomed us warmly.

2010. We've savored our remaining time as a family of two and anxiously prepared for and anticipated our baby boy's arrival. I have loved being pregnant. Carrying our baby has been an honor and privilege. What an exciting year this has been!

roby baby shower

Our dear friends in Roby threw us a grandma shower, since it's too far for me to travel at this point in the pregnancy. How sweet and thoughtful! My mom was the guest of honor and opened lots of sweet gifts for little Carson! I really wish I could have been there, but I was thankful to be able to talk to several sweet women on the phone! We're excited for Carson's first road trip to Texas to meet all of you!!

hostesses

I have so many special memories with these precious ladies from my years in Roby, and I'm thankful to have been able to keep in touch with them over the years.

the gift table

Thank you all for being so generous!!

Mama sent me pictures of all the sweet gifts!

sweet picture of Aunt Misty and Granny!!

church baby shower

Our sweet church family showered us with lots of love and thoughtful gifts for baby Carson! We were overwhelmed by their support and encouragement as we enter the exciting journey of parenthood! We are thankful to be part of such a special group of people and are anxious for our sweet boy to meet everyone soon!

the sweet hostesses and me

the beautiful cake!

the gift table

Keith joined me for the shower and helped open so many sweet gifts!

both of Carson's sweet grandmas were there!!

Aunt Misty was there, too!!

sister/cousin trip 2010

This year's annual sister/cousin trip was in Nashville!! Everyone was sweet to come my way from Texas and California this year, since I can't travel too far from my doctor at this point in the pregnancy.

My mom came a few days early. We had lots of fun hanging out, marking things off of my pre-baby to do list, cooking, washing Carson's clothes, and making homemade laundry detergent, thanks to Laura!! I'm excited to save money by only spending 14 cents a month on laundry detergent!!

We rented a house in Franklin for a few days, and my sister, Misty; aunt, Paula; cousin, Nicole; cousin, Staci; and Staci's two sweet kids, Wyatt and Raquel joined us!!! We had a wonderful time together. We talked, played games, saw the sights of Nashville, and ate some Tennessee favorites. They even got to come to church with us that Sunday and be here for my baby shower (shower pics coming soon!)

my sweet mama and me

I am blessed to have the best mama/friend ever!

I'm so thankful for her!

I hadn't seen my sweet sister since December, back when Carson was about the size of a bean:)!! It was so much fun to spend time with her!!

When we lived in Abilene, Misty and I hung out several times a week, so we did our best to soak up every minute of our sister time while she was here!! I love that girl!

me, Misty, Staci, Raquel, and Nicole before church Sunday morning

There were lots of funny photo ops in our tour of Nashville:)

cowgirls

biggest ice cream cone EVER!

Staci and I got matching sunglasses

Raquel and her grandma, Paula

could that sweet baby girl be any cuter?!!

cute big brother, Wyatt and his aunt, 'Cole

the whole group!!!