And I saw that it was good…

Fantastic night with friends last night here at the house with Linds and Cora.  We’re really blessed to have some great friends and amazing community together.  We had some friends in from out of town, along with the in-town gang.  We ate some chinese take-out then followed dinner up with personality profiles – which was hilarious – and phenominal homemade strawberry cheesecake courtesy of my buddy Joel. 

It left me thankful for amazing friends.  I’m a better husband, friend, Christ follower and leader as a result of the friendships and community that we have together.  Simply amazing.  

I’m a fan of recognizing the presence of God’s beauty in his creation.  I usually limit this to the “natural” wonders of the world.  I was thinking today though, this kind of fellowship is us living in the communion of the Spirit that I believe we were created to live in.  There is striking beauty present in community.  Fellowship together that is authentic, genuine and intimate is surprisingly powerful and inspiring.  I found myself recognizing…this is good…its God’s creation and I often fail to recognize it as such.   

And again, well done God. 

So, what have you done in the past week?

Since we had cora – 2 weeks ago (I can’t believe its already been that long!) – Linds and I have both been taking time off of work.  I’m only “kind of” off work.  I’m still writing up our lessons and message outlines and doing some organizational stuff here and there.  But, for the most part, I’m taking time off.  That’s a whole different self revealing conversation that we can have sometime…but, I’ve been watching movies like it was my job.

Within the last 7 days, I’ve watched all 5 Harry Potter movies along with a few others and I’m excited to start the Lord of the Rings series tonight.  I’m realizing that I really love movies…wwwaaaaaayyyyy better than TV!

Anyway, I’ve never seen all of the Harry Potter’s before.  I’ve honestly had a bit of a bias against them thinking, “That’s childish stuff.”  I have been impressed – they’re pretty decent movies, and I actually like the story line quite a bit.  I’m too lazy to read the books, so I’m stuck waiting for the rest of the series to come out.  I have 2 thoughts in response to the series so far:

1) Why were (are?) a bunch of Christians all bent out of shape over these books/movies?  Sure, it’s not all good and pure, but there’s plenty of redemptive content and strong Gospel allusions.  For instance: Harry’s run in with Voldermort when he was a baby.  No one knows how or why he survived.  In the 5th movie I picked up how he survived.  His mother gave her life for him and that spared him from death.  So, a sacrificial giving of one life in love saved another. There’s also plenty of content dealing with building strong morals, choosing wisely, sin/deception and more.  There’s some pretty solid stuff there. 

2) They have executed a pretty genius marketing plan.  The way that they have connected these stories to an entire generation is pretty brilliant.  As the kids have grown, so have their favorite characters.  All along, they’ve been facing similar struggles and concerns.  Looking at the whole thing – it seems pretty smart…and like it could recycle itself.  Interesting. 

1 Week Down…

So, we’ve been home since last Saturday, and things with little Cora are going great!  She’s a super easy baby! (knock on wood)  She turned a week old today but it seems like a lifetime ago that we were at the hospital ready to pass out last Thursday night. 

What’s surprising so far: 

She barely cries.  Really.  She’s always super laid back and, even when she does cry, I think it’s cute and it doesn’t last very long.  I know that will probably change, but I’m loving it right now. 

She’s showing tons of facial expressions and is awake a lot.  I didn’t think babies usually started doing that until later.  SUPER cute!  She already owns me.  Mathematically, I don’t know exactly how many times I can be wrapped around her finger…but I’m pretty much fully wrapped. 

We’re not overwhelmed.  I thought we’d be in WAY over our heads.  I’ve never taken care of a baby whatsoever.  But, the diapers, baths, putting her clothes on, burping, swaddling…you name it.  It’s all been strangely natural.  And, Linds has done amazing – which I expected. 

Here are a couple pics from the past few days:

    

    

Ready to go…

It’s been a great past couple of days.  I don’t really remember Thursday, everything’s a blur: delivery, baby, visitors, sleep deprivation, more visitors, and a crazy nurse.

We should be headed home today, if we can get a doctor in here to give us the go ahead.  I’m really excited to get her home and start settling in.  I’m curious to see how the dogs will respond to the newest member of our pack.  

Linds and Cora are doing great; we’re all just a little antsy and ready to head home.  My favorite picture so far: 

Cora Jane!!

It’s official!  Linds and I are bona-fide parents.  Cora Jane Bitter was born yesterday (Valentine’s day) at 9:32 am.  She was 7lbs 11oz, 20″ tall (I know, I’m supposed to say “long”), she has daddy’s big hands and feet, daddy’s blue eyes and her mom’s lungs.  I’ve started a facebook photo album, and I’ll be posting pics here: Cora Jane, Dad’s feet, full, family.

I’m simply amazed!!  More to come soon!