Two Months

Ethan turned two months today! He celebrated by receiving his first vaccinations. Poor guy! He received three shots and a liquid for preventing Rotovirus. While he certainly didn't enjoy that, he gulped down the cherry flavored Tylenol.
He is now 24 inches and 11 pounds 7 ounces. He is up to the 60th percentile on weight and 90th percentile on height. The doctor of course told us once again that he is going to be very tall.

He has been pretty pitiful today, mostly sleeping and crying. He woke up from his nap screaming and I felt so sorry for him. He is getting a pretty good pouty lip that he sticks out while his chin is quivering. That gets right to a mother's heart!

Tagged

My sister in law, Tiffany, tagged me on her blog. I wasn't familiar with tagging so this is new to me. I am supposed to list some of Daniel's favorite things. This is good because it is forcing me to update the blog which I haven't been doing a very good job of lately.

Let's see....

God
Family
New Life Children's Home
Michelle
Dallas Willard
Discipleship/spiritual formation (participating in groups, leading groups, reading about these topics, etc.)
Taking naps with Little D
Dr. Pepper
Playing the guitar
Basketball
His red truck (Antonio)
Willie Nelson
Texas

Those are the first things that come to my mind. Anyone have anything to add?

I am now supposed to tag someone else to write about their husband's favorite things on their blog. I will tag Krista and Amy!

Gap #6: Georgia Baby Shower

On Wednesday, July 9th we visited our former church, Bright Star UMC in Douglasville, Georgia. It was so nice to be back! We were able to visit with many good friends, although being there only one evening was not enough time and we felt so rushed. We were glad we could be there for Wednesday Night Supper. Following supper, we were able to show pictures and talk a little about our experience in Guatemala. It is especially neat to talk about Guatemala there because our church has made two trips to NLCH and several people sponsor children at the Home. Therefore, people are actually interested in hearing about it, not just pretending to be interested. :)

Following the presentation which was held in the theater building, our friend Tim Plumley came up on the stage and said they had a surprise for us. The curtains on the stage opened and behind them they had beautifully and elaborately decorated for a cowboy themed baby shower. We were blown away! They went to such trouble for us. I think that the cake was the neatest cake that I have ever seen in my life. Texans are very proud of their state, so in honor of Daniel and our move to Texas, the cake was in the shape of Texas and decorated like the Texas flag. I was so impressed! They did an amazing job! I think Tim, Katie and Kim could make a lot of money selling those here in Texas!
They even had a whole theater set arranged with a little house labeled "Harris Ranch" and a rocking chair out front. Thanks to everyone who made that such a special night for us!

Gap #5: Georgia

After celebrating the 4th of July with my family in St. Louis, we drove 10 hours (not too fun when you are 7 months pregnant!) to Georgia to visit with friends at our former church and to load up our belongings that Daniel's brother and sister-in-law graciously stored for us in their basement for the past two years.

When the shipping unit arrived, we thought we would have no problem getting everything in. Then we realized, the truck was carrying two units so ours was only half that size. We knew it was going to be a challenge.
We were so thankful for Jason, Robyn, Sarah Kate and Ben who helped load the unit. They made use of every inch and managed to get almost everything in. We did, however, have to leave behind a couch, exercise machine and grill. As you can see, there was no way those were going to fit.

Gap #4: Missouri Baby Shower

Here are a few pictures from the baby shower that my mom and her friends had for us at Mid-Rivers Chapel in St. Charles. It was so neat to have a shower at the church where I grew up and to see many old friends and family members. It was a wonderful day!

I was so glad that my friends Johanna and Mandy were able to come.

My seven year-old niece Kaitlyn was very helpful with the gifts and taking pictures.

Kaitlyn documented the details of the shower very well with her pictures. I have a picture of each stuffed animal, tray of food and other assorted things from the shower. Below are my two favorite pictures that she took. The first is of my mom after she hugged her friend and their sweater buttons got stuck together. The second is of the sign on the trash can. A baby shower through the eyes of a seven year-old!

Gap #3: Daniel's 30th birthday

To make Daniel's 3oth birthday extra special, my parents took us to our first meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House. What a treat!

Here was Daniel's plate. Yum!

Gap #2: Return to the U.S.

We flew from Guatemala City to St. Louis. We were greeted at the airport by my parents, sister, brother in-law, nieces and nephew.

Kaitlyn, Kyle and Kaedyn made us a special welcome home banner. I especially liked the poison control stickers they used!

A picture of Kyle saying hello to baby Ethan:

Kaitlyn and Kyle helped us with our luggage.

Filling in the Gaps

I promised before Ethan's arrival to write about the month that we were away from the blog from the time that we left NLCH to the time that we moved to Texas. Since Ethan is asleep right now, I am going to make my first attempt.

Very (very!) early in the morning on June 27th, we left NLCH. We were so touched that Lee, Staci, and the summer interns all got up to see us off and that Kendon drove us to the airport.

The night before, the kids and staff had a special goodbye service for us following dinner in the dining hall. Here are some pictures from the night:

The evening started with a birthday surprise for Daniel (he turned 30 on June 28th-- two days after we left NLCH) of singing, fireworks and a delicious chocolate cake.

We really appreciated Staci putting together a slideshow of pictures taken during our time at NLCH. As I watched the slideshow, it just seem surreal. I couldn't believe that we were really leaving the next morning and that two years had already passed. The slideshow was followed by a dance performed by a group of the younger girls. We were glad to get some last minute time holding Genesis and Michelle.

Several of the kids shared goodbye messages. Then we were surprised by many of the older kids that participated in our discipleship groups. They gave us a small pot with a candle in it. Then they turned out the lights and a beautiful song about sending out the light came on. One by one they came by, lit a candle from ours and told us special memories of our time together. Then they all surrounded us for prayer. As I looked around at each of their faces illuminated in the candlelight, I knew that moment was a time that I would never forget and one of those precious memories that you guard in your heart as sacred. I was struck by the depth of love that I had for them and gratitude to God for allowing me to know them. That moment to me seemed like just a tiny glimpse of what Heaven will be like.

Kendon and Wendy presented us with a beautiful ceramic wall plague that says "The Harris Family" for our new home. I love it! Right now I have it sitting in the entertainment center in our living room. I want to hang it outside the house but I am not sure what to hang it with and I am afraid of it falling down and breaking in these Texas winds.

We also received a very neat scrapbook that the interns graciously put together for us. I wanted to give each of the kids a special treat so I made ice cream sandwiches for them (chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream with mini chocolate chips around the outside).

Even Michelle got to have one, although it was about as big as her face and I don't think she really liked it.

The night ended with all of the kids and staff surrounding us, laying on hands and praying for us. I knew this would be part of the evening because we always do this the night before teams leave. It is always a touching and emotional time. I knew it would be hard for me and that I would most likely be very emotional during this closing time. However, if you click on this picture and enlarge it, you can see nine year-old Sammy smelling my hair. Throughout the prayer, I could hear and feel him sniffing my head and he said several times "Que rico" (how delicious). That was a good distraction and made me laugh, preventing me from being too sad. So, I am thankful for the blessing of Sammy's comic relief in that moment!

Check-Up

Yesterday was Ethan's one month check-up. At birth he weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches. He is now 9 pounds 7 ounces and 23 inches. He is in the 95th percentile on height and 50th percentile on weight. The nurse was impressed that he gained two pounds in a month! We wish Michelle could do that. We sure miss that little girl! Ethan has now passed her up in size.