Monday, February 28, 2011

Babymoon #2

This weekend was a nice break from our crazy week last week. Dave was overloaded with work and had a lot of other things going on. Our godsends (aka Grandparents) arrived on Thursday night to give us some relief. It was great. They took care of Tyler all day and even one night. he kept them up for three hours that night. Sorry grandma and grandpa. Hope you are catching up on your rest at home:)
Dave and I had a little babymoon before #2 arrives. We went to a hotel in Pasadena Friday night. It was pouring down rain, but we went out on the town anyways. We landed at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant for appetizers. It was awesome. They had lobster potstickers that are to die for! After that we stopped at the movie theater next door for some movie theater popcorn (Shelby's favorite)! We were going to eat it at the hotel while we watched am movie later, but it couldn't wait. It was hot when they gave it to us and we ate it in the car in the parking lot. SOOO good! We got back tot he hotel and went to the hot tub and the spa. It was so relaxing! The next morning we took our time getting ready, went to breakfast in the hotel restaurant and went to the spa attached to the hotel again. While at breakfast we saw Nancy O'Dell and family from Entertainment tonight. Overall, it was a much needed break before the baby comes.

Grandma and Grandpa took Tyler down to Hollywood to walk the red carpet. They saw Oscar, Shrek, and Spiderman. They have some fun stories to share about that. You will have to ask them. Grandpa brought Tyler a new book called "Tyler's Big Book of Ultimate Frisbee". It is his best yet. There are pictures of Tyler and Daddy playing ultimate Frisbee in it. The expression on Tyler's face when Grandma and Grandpa arrived was priceless. He was jumping up and down laughing. He bounced off the walls for a while and then went to bed. He had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.







Waking up after a nap


My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Thursday, February 24, 2011

February

Our little guys is not so little anymore. He is talking up a storm and doing new things everyday. We have had a number of people say that he says a lot for his age. He is saying sentences like "Where did he go?" "Can I play with that?" He is learning manners. He Says "scuse(excuse) me" when he wants to be get up from the table. He is learning to say "please" when asking for something. It has been fun seeing him interacting with his friends in more of a social way. They wrestle and chase each other around the house.

Our little girl is growing too. We are 34 weeks tomorrow. We had an appointment last week that went well. The heart beat was steady and doctor said everything looked good. I gained 4 lbs. in two weeks...opps:) The doctors guestimate is that she will be a little bigger than Tyler. I am not sure how in the world he can guess that, but that is what he said. I have met with our doula who showed me lots of stretches and techniques to help the baby get in the right position. We do not want a posterior birth again if we can help it.

Dave has been busy, busy, busy this week. He had a Keller Williams Conference(called Family reunion) at the beginning of the week in Anaheim, so Tyler and flew solo for the first three days of the week. We managed, but we missed daddy. He put another home on the market and wrote an offer for a nice sized house for a buyer. He has really been keeping busy. We are excited for a little break tonight when Grandma and Grandpa Knight arrive.

Our little artist. He loves to paint and draw. He has been learning his colors and can name all of the primaries.

34 Weeks tomorrow!
Ty and his friend Jace wrestling.
Tyler and Clay painting.

Monday, February 14, 2011

What is love?

It is Valentine's Day and I started out the day thinking about a few of the people I love most in this world...Dave and Tyler. These two guys bring me so much joy everyday. I am so thankful for them. I actually took my little valentine to the park and to lunch today. It was fun to see him with his little girl friends. He gave them little valentine's that we made. As the day progresses I can not help but think about what it means to be called to love. I have been in an introspective mood lately. It seems like an easy answer, but after the weekend I had at the CCDA(Christian Community Development Conference) it does not seem so easy. I left with a lot of questions and a lot of things to ponder. The love preached in our churches and our society is not always a true love or even personal love. The church has become very inwardly focused and I am not sure if that is what Christ came for...actually I am pretty sure it is not. He does not have an "Us and them" mentality but a "We" mentality. We need to focus on eachother and that means everyone. Here are some of the quotes and questions from the weekend that got me thinking:

"Jesus is not the answer to my personal peace and happiness." (that is a tough one-even when times are hard He is still there. He is not just there to make your life comfortable or feel good which is why he may call some people to do things that do not make sense)

"How can I be an agent of hope?"

"What are the needs facing people the most?" (This got me thinking about the people around me and around our city...what are the needs? Although overwhelming, it is a good question.)

"We are not going to leave until God uses us to change something!" ( I have often been asked if we are going to stay in LA and my answer is "I don't know". It is hard to answer, but I feel like this answers it perfectly.)

"The answer to violence is connectivity in the community." ( Connectivity is hard when you have so much diversity of thought, diversity of socioeconomic and political status, diversity of religion, but I believe this really can help transform a city. This is one of the driving forces behind community development...looking at the systems and bringing justice to people that would not otherwise receive it. It is not just charity.)

"The key to your being an agent of transformation is allowing your heart to be broken for what breaks the heart of God."

"I am not looking for people to hate, but people to love." (It is easy to hate, but love is a higher calling.)

"Churches are getting bigger and bigger, but the problem with the poor is getting larger and larger." (This just astounds me if this is what we are called to as the church. Why is this true? How can we not be more active in bringing about justice for the poor and oppressed?)

"The poor have the power to become invisible, we have the power to make them visible." (Cities have the power to make them invisible by ignoring the fact that they are there. Many cities do this and I had no idea. Many of us have the power to help the poor, but chose not to.)

In regard to homeless..."People see me and think they know what I need. They don't ask me I need...they tell me what I need." ( This one struck me hard...I think I know what food a homeless person needs and rather than ask them I buy them something I think they need, when really they may not be able to eat it. We really have to get to know them.)

"People want to help the poor, but they don't want to know the poor. (It is easier to stand and feed someone food, but to get out from behind a counter and get to know them is much harder. It is more about realizing they are one of us.)

I went to a few round table discussions and workshops about homelessness and about advocacy. It was interesting to learn that LA is known as the capital of homelessness. If you have ever been to skid row downtown you would believe it. The CEO of the Union Rescue Mission(one of the largest shelters in the US) was at the roundtable. We talked about not just helping people, but moving them from a place of survival to a place where they can thrive. Two experts shared about there years of experience working with the homeless. I learned a lot from them. I learned that it is a very complicated issue, but that we can do a lot. Our church has recently got involved with something I am really excited about. We helping start a branch of Family Promise in the San Gabriel Valley. This organization coordinates 10-13 churches that take turns 4 times a year hosting 4-5 homeless families for one week in their church. They house, feed and build relationships with these families in the evening and during the day they go to a day center where they meet with social workers, seek job training, counseling, financial advisement, and other things to help them get on their feet. It is a transitional housing model that has proven to be very effective in other areas. Our church can not host because we don't have a building but we have been able to be involved in other ways. We have also been able to help with the homeless count in Pasadena, attend city council meetings, among other things. I am not telling these things because we want a pat on the back, but to let you know what we have been up too and what I have been challenged with recently. It is hard to write it all, but at least you get a glimpse. Please post your comments and let me know what you are up to and what you have been thinking about lately.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Hope in the midst

Dave is out for the night at a board meeting and I find myself sitting here reflecting on the events of the last week and the things that I have been experiencing and I can not help but share. This may be too much information for some and may seem "preachy" to those that are not religious, but here is an honest reflection from Shelby Knight should you decide to read it. For once, no pictures included.
I have gone to the depths of my soul and back this week. Starting with a minor conversation with a doctor to a blog I read yesterday (about someone I knew from high school who's wife and unborn child were killed in a car accident- Click here to read his blog) to conversations about struggling marriages. I have felt for lack of a better word, discouraged. I have had numerous conversations some of which made me feel better, some of which made me feel worse, some of which challenged me and some of which brought me hope. Over all, nothing brought me more hope or encouragement then that of what God gave me this morning in worship and this afternoon as I spent time reflecting and praying. I can not say as if this has happened in a while, but I felt like God spoke to me and said, "TRUST ME...I am the Lord...I am the Lamb".
I started this Bible study at Christian Assembly(a local church) with a friend of mine and we are studying the story of Moses. It seems hard to find hope in the part where the plagues killed all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and the Passover. But this story is one that shows that God brings things together for glory and ultimately it is the story of hope and a foreshadowing of the redemption that Christ would bring. Crazy! I may not understand why things happen, but He does. Jesus endured the most undeserved suffering in the world. That isn't fair, but he did it and that is what sets Him apart from the other gods. It didn't seem right that these firstborns had to die and God let them, but as I read further into the story He rescues those that want to be rescued by passing over them. They had to make a demonstration of their faith by putting the blood of a specific lamb on their door. This was a substitute for the judgement they would have faced if they decided not to do what Moses had said. They had to "trust"! It must have been scary!
I feel like right now I have to trust Him and it is scary. I don't know how things will turn out for our birth, for our baby girl, for Tyler, for friends who are ill, for people who are hurting, for marriages ending, for the father who lost his wife and newborn daughter, for the weight of the world, but I can trust God with the moments in my day. I can trust that He is the Lamb and will rescue me someday. In the mean time, I will rest in His glory and trust Him! I will not let anything pull me down or let satan beat me up anymore. Good bye fear and discouragement!
In the mean time I will sing one of my most recent favorites:

Hallelujah We Will Sing (click to listen to this song)

On that white horse he'll ride
With blazing eyes of fire
He'll judge and make things right
Turn all the dark to light
When he'll split the eastern sky
With heaven's wings I'll fly
And I will say good-bye
To these tears I've cried


Around his throne of grace
We'll see him face to face
With those who've gone before
Oh We'll be apart no more

And we will hear that sound
As all are gathered round
Like hills of thunder loud
We will shout

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Salvation and Glory and Power
Belong to our King
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, we will sing

Our King of king's we'll see
Faithful and true is He
Our faith at last insight
No more fears and doubts to fight
In heaven's choir we'll be
With robes of majesty
From sin and death now free
We will sing

What a day that will be
When all darkness final flees
When all bow and sing to the King
What a day that will be
When his glory we will see
When all bow and sing to the King

WE WILL SHOUT
WE WILL SING
WE WILL SHOUT
WE WILL SING
WE WILL SHOUT
WE WILL SING
TO THE LAMB
TO THE LORD

TO OUR GOD
TO THE KING