The Silent Holocron

Grace’s first time in a swimming pool! This was so much fun. Put your mouse over the pic to get a caption.

Pay attention to how badly ignored Reese looks in the background.

It’s been a long time, but today I return to the Photo Friday world. Tricia and I are not picture takin’ fools, but we do try. Here’s a few photos we’ve taken over the 2 months our Grace has been in the world. I’ve tried to put them in chronological order, the first is at 1 week old, the last is at 2 months old. You can put your mouse over the picture to see a caption.

My two sleeping beauties.

This is how I plan on spending February:

Join the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge by clicking this link or the button in the sidebar!

Please welcome Grace Elizabeth Newell to these lowly residents of the Kingdom of God!

Vital Stats
Weight: 8 lb. 14 oz.
Length: 21 inches
Head: 14 3/4 inches
Hair: Black (possibly dark brown)
Eyes: Blue (for now)

Tricia and Grace.

First time in Momma’s arms.

Her first Bible story, the Gospel of John chapter 1.

Sing praises to His name, O Lord, praises to His name!

We interrupt our regular blogging here at The Silent Holocron to bring you some very important breaking news. In the next two or three days, Baby Newell will be born!

We had a doctor appointment this morning, and the OB-GYN was concerned that the baby has not yet moved to a head-down position. She said she would prefer to deliver this week. Our options are either inversion and then delivery, or a C-section. We will be having an ultrasound this afternoon to determine if our clone trooper is in the breech position, then will make a decision as to what to do and when. But we will definitely deliver before Friday. Tricia does not want a C-section, so we will pretty much surely be doing an inversion to try and move the kid into position. But if that does not work then we’ll do some cutting.

Needless to say, the ‘Cron will become silent the rest of the week unless I get a free moment or two and an available computer. Please pray for us as we move into these next few exciting days!

Update 5:30 PM – Ultrasound completed. The baby is definitely in the breech position, but it was not feet-first or butt-first, thankfully. We got a massive surprise — we have a 9 lb. 6 oz. kid! This makes inversion (turning the baby into the correct position) difficult and less successful. On top of that, since Tricia has not dilated at all, it means labor would be pretty long after she would be induced. Tricia has decided not to have a long, drawn-out procedure; instead we will be going ahead with a C-section. It is not our first choice, but the circumstances apparently dictate it.

We will be in the hospital at 8:30 AM tomorrow. Baby Newell should arrive by 10:30. Please pray for us as we prepare for tomorrow!

I also posted this over at the family blog.

This has been making the rounds of the blogosphere the past month or two, and I figured it was time I shared it with you guys. It’s a quote from Martin Luther. My Catholic readers can rest easy — he’s not about to post 95 theses on the blog and thus spark the Reformation all over again. (Note — you get to hold Baby Newell for 5-10 extra minutes if you actually know what I’m talking about. Call dibs on it in the comments!) With no further ado…

“Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? O you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful, carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.” What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.

A wife too should regard her duties in the same light, as she suckles the child, rocks and bathes it, and cares for it in other ways; and as she busies herself with other duties and renders help and obedience to her husband. These are truly golden and noble works. . . .

Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.”

[From Luther’s “The Estate of Marriage” (1522) posted online here.]

HT: The Southern Seminary parents in the blogosphere in general; copy/pasted from Timmy Brister at Nolan’s World.