Learning to Be a Big Brother

This weekend, Jake has been learning more and more what it means to be a big brother. When we were out and about on Saturday, we bought a boy doll so that Jake could practice how to hold the baby and treat the baby when he comes home. Jake agreed that if I wanted the doll, he would help me take care of it...but since we got it he has helped to carry and "take care" of it. I think he's really learning what you do with babies and don't do with babies.

Jake's also learning how to be a big brother in other ways. Sandpiper and her family attend our church and her youngest son has taken Jake under his wing. They attend some of the same stuff and several times over the past couple of years, J has really shown Jake how to be protective and brotherly. There have been several times that Jake will come home from summer session and talk about how J had played with him and his friends or how J had sat with them at lunch or how he had said hi throughout the day. We were at a reception and J took Jake around and taught him some very "needed" skills for a young boy (how to make gaseous sounds with a container of slime and how to scare all of the women with a fake spider).

Today, during the children's moments I saw one of the neatest things too. Jake came in with the other younger children and J was already up front. Jake went and sat down next to him and J put his arm around him and talked to him. After church I said something to Jake about it...Jake said, "Yeah J's pretty cool." I said, "He's kinda like a big brother, huh."

Jake said, "Yeah...he's like MY big brother."

And the learning continues.

Nesting

Lately, I've been getting a little nervous because I have this urge to clean and purge what we no longer need. A little nervous because that always precedes childbirth (I'm hoping this doesn't mean that it's coming quicker than we expect.) Anyway, while I've been packing away the summer clothes that I can't fit into now but hope to next year at this time, I think Jim's been nesting too.

Today was a big day in the McKay house. We had been looking for a new living room suite for a while now...and a couple of things have made our search a little more intentional. First of all, the Annual Conference is no longer providing furnished parsonages for their pastors so we'd have to get one sooner or later because the one we have now is the church's. Second, with the new baby coming we wanted something new and nice for him to sit on, be rocked in, etc., etc.

We went today with no intentions of buying, just looking around. To our fortune, we found a really nice set at a furniture outlet. I'm so excited that we found something of real quality for the price of a sofa at most other places. Jim found this one and I decided to sit on it to be sure that it felt nice, that I could take a nap on it and **most important** I could get off of it with little trouble. It was WONDERFUL!! Jim looks at me and says, "Wanta get it?"

The big question was will it look the same when it gets in the house? We were able to bring the throw pillows home with us and it looks great.

I'm so excited. So, now we have our, well my first living room suite (Jim had bought one for his apartment before we were married) that I have bought for the house. We will take the church's furniture to the church to be used as they see fit...perhaps in one of the Sunday school rooms.

Nesting continues in our home.

Welcome Summer!! Goodbye Heat!!

Today began the first day of summer and it seems that the weather must know that too...it got very, VERY warm and humid today. It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. Wow, if this is a taste of what July holds, I'm going to spend a lot of time inside in cool. I don't like heat in the first place after having had heat exhaustion several years ago. So, my body tends to react to heat a whole lot faster than it used to. Pregnancy always makes me hotter...our first child was born in January and I was hot throughout that time. This little guy is due in August. I'm praying for cooler weather, but am not hopeful.

Here's the Picture As Promised

As I posted a while ago, our son was given the privledge to present the Bishop with a stepping stone at Annual Conference. Above is the picture taken by our Conference photographer at that event.

The Results are In - World's Greatest Dad

Happy Father's Day to the Greatest Dad in the World and the Greatest Father to Be in the World. We hope your day is great!! We love you!

Carol, Jake and baby on the way

Countdown to Baby

Well, it seems I have like 10 more weeks to go until our newest addition arrives. I have added a baby ticker at the bottom of the page so that our progress can be seen in cute cartoon form. Actually, it's probably a little bit less than 10 weeks since we're probably going to have a c-section with him and they'll take him about a week earlier than I'm due. Wow...the time which seemed to crawl during my first trimester has seemed to fly in these past few months. Hopefully it's blue skies ahead.

Intolerance

Currently, I'm reading the book No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke, a book that examines how we, as Christian leaders, can create a "come as you are" culture for the post modern, post Christian generations. He contends that one of the barriers to the Christian church reaching those outside its walls is the lack of tolerance seen through its members.

Burke contends that many of the people who aren't interested in church see the institution of church as a gathering of intolerant, judgmental, and hypocritical people instead of the loving, caring, accepting gathering of people it's proclaimed to be.

Over the past several days I have unfortunately witnessed what I think these nay sayers of church may be talking about... specifically, intolerance. At our annual conference this past week, the assembly voted to uphold Decision 1032 of the judicial council which supported a decision of a Virginia pastor who refused membership to a man who is gay. I was saddened by the decision and by the round of applause that followed the result of the votes. It was a chance for us to show tolerance of those who are marginalized... and instead we showed intolerance.

Another witness to intolerance happened today... actually in two different situations. Someone came to the church door asking for help for himself and his pregnant wife who were not allowed to access help at our City Mission, which proclaims itself a faith-based organization. Allegedly she had cussed and was told she and he were no longer welcome. They just needed some help and shelter especially for her since she was probably about 7 months along (I recognize a fellow "sufferer" when I see one) and was very concerned about her baby. Her husband was given some work to do to earn some money to help them out.

On the heels of their leaving, another man came by the church seeking help. He'd been turned away from the same place because he didn't have the "appropriate" dress...he was wearing a tank top. He was looking for some food and a way to a nearby town. We gave him a shirt, some sandwiches and showed him where he could go to get a good start on his way to the other town.

What do our actions or our inactions say about the faith we are called to live? What do they say to those who are looking for a place to belong? A place where they can find love? A place where they really should see the living Christ?

This week I am speaking at our contemporary service where we are talking about the gifts of the spirit... this week is faithfulness. How can we be true and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ? What is the most authentic way to share of our faith? And how can each of us display to those who are watching who Jesus really is and how he loves each and every one of us?

Back from Annual Conference

We just, well a few hours ago, got back from Annual Conference. There were a few votes that turned out not as I had hoped, but the conference went pretty well all in all. I gave my second report of the nominating committee and I think that went pretty well.

The highlight, though, of the conference came yesterday morning. Each year our conference honors those who are retiring on Saturday morning. As part of that service, the retirees are presented with a gift. The past two years at least (I didn't pay much attention before) the gifts for the retirees have been made by the children attending Children's Conference. This year since our son is in the 5 year old class, he helped to make the gift...stepping stones. Not only that, he was picked to help hand out the stones to the retiring class. He handed out a few and when all the retirees had been honored, our son got to present one to the Bishop. I'm hoping to get a picture later this week and will post it when I get it.

We Finally Heard!

Well, we finally got the test results in from the 3 hour glucola. They turned out good. I only had a high reading in the one hour test and all the other tests (there were 4 total) turned out normal. I'm watching my sugar and carb intake a little more than normal to keep everything ok. But at least I don't have to go somewhat cold turkey on the sweeter things in life.

I have been craving fruits and stuff so at least I can have that stuff.

YEA!!

Just Say No to Glucola

Can I just say I hate the taste of orange glucola...especially the kind that is 100 gram kind. It tastes like corn syrup. I went today for the 3 hour glucola test after my numbers from my one hour test turned out to be elevated. The drink, after fasting for 12+ hours was just plain gross. The poking on an hourly basis I could stand. I'm just hoping that the results of this test turn out ok.

As I was pulling into our back driveway, I could feel my sugar dropping...I began to shake and get really REALLY hot. I knew I needed to eat and drink water so that I could get this stuff out of my system. After eating lunch and getting a little more leveled out, I crashed for 2 hours which I hadn't planned on doing.

I guess I just can't handle my sugar. I'm praying that all will come out fine with this test or it's a modified diet for me. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Top Ten from San Diego - Part II

7. San Diego Zoo - This was something that I'd wanted to do since I watched Captain Kangaroo visit the zoo or at least have clips from the zoo on his show. It was a very large zoo with many animals that you won't see many other places. One of the neatest exhibits was seeing the pandas...I love pandas and seeing the baby ones was a real treat. It's a definite fun day for all ages.


6. The Pacific Ocean - Now I've seen most all of the bodies of water that surround our country. The Atlantic Ocean is one that I have probably seen the most because of where we live. It's pretty especially when you look at the horizon and the sky meets the water. The Pacific Ocean where we were was gorgeous too...especially the cliffs against the water. This picture was taken by the water...when we visited number 5 on my list.

5. La Jolla - This area of San Diego is sometimes referred to as the Beverly Hills of San Diego. It's very pretty...but one of the neatest places is this little beach that originally was supposed to be a children's beach, but a colony of seals had taken over so the beach was unable to be used by children and families. It does make for some interesting seal sightings, though. The females are the darker colored seals and the bull is the one that looks kinda like a pile of sand in font of the other seals. If you have the chance, it's a neat thing to see.