On the cusp...T-minus 2 days!

We are currently 2 days away from having our second son, and no I'm not going to announce his name in this post!
However, being on the cusp of something monumental has us looking and reflecting back on Brendan's birth.  If you need a reminder read http://the-smart-family.blogspot.com/2010/03/13-minutes.html.
Since Brendan has joined us he's been everything we could have hoped for and more!  He's funny, energetic, joyful, loving, compassionate, and a genuinely good kid.  It's been a fast 2 years, too fast maybe.  Soon he'll be riding his bike around the neighborhood begging me to stay out 10 more minutes.

Soon our blog will turn from a report about a family of 3 to a report about a family of 4 - and that's got some weight to it.  As parents we strive to parent "with the end in mind".  This is something that doesn't come easy for anybody, but especially two people that aren't naturally reflective and contemplative.  We have great examples in our life in Pullman of this goal - reflectors and guard rails of admirable parenting.  Parenting that's not child-focused, but child-empowered.  Parenting that gives boundaries without fear of making mistakes.  Relationships that evolve and change as God continues to mold us.   We will struggle, as any parent will I suppose, to maintain an open and transparent atmosphere where it's okay to not be okay, but not okay to stay there. 

It takes more than will power to be a good parent.  We would contend that it takes parents who are praying for their children.  As hard as it is, we want to be open-handed with our lives and children.  Only God knows what the future will hold for us, who are we to think we should sit behind the wheel or try and navigate.

We're excited for who this little man to come will be.

Valentines Day and Barnyard Dance

Life the past few weeks have been busy but good as we try to prepare to welcome another member to our family.  If you ask Brendan where his baby brother is, he will respond by saying "baby bruda" and then half the time point to his own tummy, sometimes to Josh's tummy, and often to Mom's tummy.  So crazy that in a short time our life is going to be very different.  

We had a great Valentines Day:

Check out the pita pizza's made for v-day dinner





Jamie's parents watched Brendan so we could go out on a little date to Jamms (a new frozen yogurt place in Moscow).

We made valentines for all the kids at Stacey's house.  The boys love to dress up so we thought it would be fun to make superhero valentines.



There are many more years of making Valentines ahead of us!!

One more thing I don't want to forget to blog about is the Barnyard Dance book.  Brendan's favorite book is Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton.  It is a book he has acted out at Stacey's since this past spring, he loves to do all the motions with the boys.  Stacey has let us borrow the book on several occasions, HE LOVES IT.  I think his favorite part is getting everyone around to do it with him.  We were able to capture his joy while reading this book on video...check it out on our family video feed to the right.

Brendan is so much fun to be around right now, he is adding to his vocab daily and lives life with so much joy.  It will be fun to have two little boys in our home soon :)

Saturday Nothing // A Memoir

One of my best friends in Pullman has had a dream since high school.  He wanted to write a book.  He wanted to tell anybody who was willing to read it that Jesus had radically changed his life.  He wanted to talk about the day nothing happened.  The day in between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.  A year and a half ago I was curious about his project so I asked to read the draft he was working on.  It's honest and raw. It's a memoir.  Memoirs are supposed to be honest and raw.  The only difference is Josh is talking about his past influences his future.  How when we pursue Jesus, family, friends, and co-workers with the End in mind our life is changed.
We're familiar with Jesus - maybe you've seen that in our blog.  Jamie and I understand the weighted depravity of our sin, the captivity of our hearts to worship ourselves and our own autonomy, and the glory of the incarnation.  Josh (and for the record, his wife Amy too) has been as big a part of our last 7 years in Pullman as anybody.  Josh does not have a "church kid" past.  He has a story.  It's an honest story about Jesus and redemption.  About victory and freedom from shame.  Josh can encourage me and challenge me in the sentence.  Lately it's been over slices of pizza.

I want you to read this book.  We're a people moved to action by a story.

Jamie and I hope you'll be intrigued and support this project.  Consider pre-ordering this book and help my friend self-publish his book.  You won't regret it.

Sledding

One Saturday afternoon while we had all our snow we decided to take Brendan sledding.  I was a little skeptical at first if he would like it or not, but was quickly proved wrong when he not only liked it but loved it...his face had a permanent smile and his laughter was so contagious.  Josh went down with Brendan several times and then we let him go down by himself.  He loved it all!!  It was one of those priceless periods of time you wish you could stop and bottle up forever, hopefully these pictures and the video on our family feed (to the right) will help us remember for a long time.  Thanks Brendan for continuing to make us laugh and provide us with so many fun times already.

Poo Poo Trauma

Brendan does not like having messy hands.  He is quick to want his hands wiped off when sticky food gets on them, doesn't like to have paint or marks from markers on his hands, and wasn't a fan of snow on his gloves.  A few weeks ago, Brendan walked up to Stacey and told her he had "poo poo" in his diaper.  She quickly said, lets go change your diaper.  As she told him this, Brendan stuck his hand down the back of his diaper and pulled it back out only to discover that his hand was covered in poo.  Stacey said that Brendan's face was priceless...complete disgust and horror at what covered his hand.  It completely traumatized Brendan.  It was the first thing he told Josh when he picked him up, the first thing he told me when I got him up from his nap, the first thing he told anyone he saw all weekend.  He kept looking and pointing at his hand and saying "ewww" "poo, poo" "Stacey wash"...it was very traumatic for him.  Even now, several weeks later Brendan still tells people about his poo story.  This will be a fun story to tell his future girlfriends :)