Some more Blogroll changes for you.

Welcome to the blogosphere Beck.

We love having you.

Check out Beckfest. The link's over there in the side bar, where it belongs! Oh yeah, and on the word "Beckfest," too.

Bath with "M"

Bath with "M"
Originally uploaded by Devona.

This picture is too adorable to keep to ourselves. Here's our "M"unchkin taking a bath with "M"om. Yes, that foam letter is stuck to her chest. She also had an "O" and an "X" which were stuck to her head at one point.

It's official though. Rob takes better pictures of Olivia than I do. So if you discover a picture with out a portion of Olivia missing, Rob probably took the picture.

More on the Blogroll

I don't know how we've missed doing this before now.

Our Pastor has a blog now. Guess what its name is. That's right, "Pastor Kozak." Any way, he's got some insight on the new Pope, along with a little wit. And we can always use more Lutheran Pastor wit.

So stop by and get to know the man who feeds our flock in Akron, Ohio. Leave a comment or two, encourage him that his blog is not in vain. We love hearing him on Sunday, it would be great if he'd share his insights with the internet and the Confessional Lutheran Blogosphere ® as well. Besides, he uses the same template as HWS, so we'll all feel at home reading it.

Visit Pastor Kozak's blog!

The Pearl 2

The Pearl 2
Originally uploaded by Devona.

Olivia is reading my text book. She's on a college reading level already. In fact she actually does prefer adult books over kids books. I think she likes the black letters on the white page and the crinkly paper.

Oh yeah, today is Olivia's HALF BIRTHDAY!!!!! Congratulations on being 6 months old today, Olivia!!!! It's not easy getting big, and you're doing a great job!

Faith like Olivia

We are reading The Pearl in my Medieval English Lit class, it was written by the same poet who composed Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. You can find a translation here. It's an awesome poem written about 125 years pre-reformation. You can see the churning of a "By grace, through faith" mentality within its ideals. If you want to read a good dream-vision I highly recommend it.

Anywho...

The Pearl (a very young girl who has died and is visiting her father in a dream) is suggesting that one must have faith like a child in order to enter the kingdom heaven. Sounds good, but she gets it a little wrong. You'll have to read it to make your own assumptions, but it got me thinking about what faith like a child is like. What better place to begin but to study my own faith-filled child?

Olivia doesn't even think about it. She believes that God will take care of her effortlessly. It is just a fact that God will provide me to come and pick her up and feed her, and Rob will make money for us to have a place to live. She knows God is providing her family for her and it is just the way it is.

Olivia is blessed with the lack of worry. She doesn't have the time to worry about tommorow. She doesn't have the time to worry about five minutes from now. It is clear that she has one thing on her mind. Right now. She's rolling, chomping, chewing, eating and sleeping as though there were no other option. And you can tell it by the way she changes from one activity to the other. She's happy as a clam, sitting and chewing on a red block. Then, without any noticable transition, she's starving and calling out me to feed her. She's completely forgotten the red block, and hasn't even thought forward ten minutes from now until nap time.

She is even more blessed by her acceptance of grace without question. She has not yet learned to harbor guilt for her sins. She bit me hard a few nights ago, and I cried out, and she was disciplined (She had to stop eating and I made Rob put her back in bed, it was 4 am, don't worry we aren't starving her). I guess that wasn't really a sin, it was an accident. But it's as close as I can think of since she is only 6 months old. Any way, supposing it was a sin, she hasn't thought about it since. It's gone and buried. She certainly dosen't worry about her salvation.

I know this is all speculative, and even a little obtuse. Like I said, she is 6 months old, how do I know what she's thinking?

I compare this to myself. I question constantly. I am up right now at a quarter to two because I can't sleep. Olivia was crying when we went to bed, and I wasn't sure what to do. Part of me wants to go pick her up love on her, and feed her. But another voice is saying, "She's just got to learn to put herself back to sleep. She's at the separation anxiety phase now, and she'll get worse if you feed her. She'll start to expect it." Both of these thoughts are pounding away in my head, and I can't decide what to do. All the while Olivia is crying. A few nights ago she went to sleep fine after about 5 minutes of crying, that's not bad. But this is going on for about 20 minutes now, and Rob has to work 14 hours tomorrow. I need to do something, so I go pick her up and her face is all wet. I feed her and she gulps it down like she's never ate before in her whole life. I know she was eating because she was upset, and not because she was hungry, but still. Is it so bad to feed your upset baby?

Now I'm feeling guilty for giving in, and feeding her. I know that there are people who are saying that I wasn't being consistent enough. I also feel guilty for not picking her up sooner because it breaks my heart every time I feel tears on my sweet baby's face. I'm not even sure I sinned, but I'm still feeling the burdon of guilt! This is why I need to have faith like Olivia.

I need to rest in the comfort of Jesus' sacrifice for me. I need to remember that God has given us forgiveness. And even more practically, I need to remember that as long as I love Olivia, it won't matter whether I fed her tonight or not. I have not broken my baby. As long as I do my best to grow her up in the Lord, she will hopefully turn out to be a decent human being that is thankful for me and Rob. And even if she is a terror at times, Jesus will and has pardoned her sins already. And right now, I need to go to bed.

Thank you for reading my ramblings. I didn't know I would have so much to say. ;-)

(p.s.) My spell check isn't working, and we all know how well I do without it, so give me grace. :)

Growing up

It's been a long time since I've blogged. I've been pretty busy, but that's good.

A good friend of mine and I have been picking up a lot of design work. More than we can handle, really. The dream of owning my own business has been running around in my head for a long, long time. Even after just a small taste, I want this to be one dream I realize.

I also want to make sure my family keeps eating. So, I'm taking it one day at a time.

Here are a few links I've found interesting lately. Enjoy.

Writer converts to Catholicism after years of covering Pope - What's the difference between the pope craze and any other cult of personality? Don't get me wrong, I have immense respect for this last pope. But lots of people--even the liberal media--have been doing backflips over John Paul II. I worry when I read any story about people converting only because of one charismatic person.

You should use this site. Come sit at the cool kids' table. There are a number of freeware apps that make it even simpler.

Advertising can be inspiring. I'm sure I have ideas as good as these. I just have to figure out how to deliver them.

Olivia and her Grandpa

Olivia and her Grandpa
Originally uploaded by Devona.

Dennis Family

Dennis Family
Originally uploaded by Devona.

I have a really large family. My mother was divorced and remarried when I was young, so I essentially have two fathers. This is a picture of my biological family. My grandparents, better known as "Nina and Papa" have been the most loving extended family I have. That's them here in this picture with all their grand and great-grand (Just Olivia) kids.

We just had the great pleasure of visiting the whole Dennis family for a short family reunion in Florida, in the sun, over the past weekend. It was amazing. I haven't been around my family as an adult before since everyone lives so far away, so it was exciting to get to know them with out constantly being concerned with how they are going to entertain me.

Besides my dad, no one had met Liv. So Liv got to know my aunt Lisa and her family from Olympia Washington and her Great Nina and Papa from Florida, and my dad's wife Lori all in one weekend. That's pretty impressive if you ask me!

Coming home from such an awesome weekend I learned about how even though I haven't spent much time with these people in my life, they are a huge part of who I am. I have the "Hutchinson Toe," which only makes sense if you're a part of my family (don't worry it's not gross). And I am trilled about private buisness because of my Papa's entrepreneurial spirit. I also get my argumentativeness from them. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

All this to say I had a great time, it was a very gestalt experience and I feel connected to the greater whole now. Thanks, Family, for being so inviting, and showing us such a great time. We can't wait to visit again.

Olivia looking a whole lot like her Dad.

IMG_0887
Originally uploaded by Devona.

Olivia is getting pretty good at sitting. She's a little early, most babies are doing this after 6 months, but Liv still has two weeks until the big half year point.

I was taking pictures of Liv to capture the milestone and I snapped this shot. Olivia is making a face that I've seen Rob making in the pictures from when he was a baby. I'm thinking of one in particular, but I can't remember what he was doing. Maybe he was sitting in a box, or on his old rocking horse "Tony Pony." Mary, do you know which one I'm thinking of?

Well, anyway, hopefully I can get a copy of that picture for all you bloggers to compare.

It's really amazing how similar they look. I really only have about 20% of a presence in Liv's features. She has my eyes in shape, but they're the color of Rob's. I thought she had Rob's feet but they're mine. She also has my hands. Other than that she's all Rob. Her red hair even comes from his side of the family.

I"m ok with this though. You husband becomes attractive to you on a deeper level once you see how beauiful the kids he makes are. I wouldn't mind if all of our kids looked just like him!

By request...

Ellie requested that I post my jambalya recipe on our blog. It's out of the ordinary for us L&Bers, but since the late great Tipi could post recipes, so can I. (I miss Twylah.)

So here's my recipe.

Jambalya.

1/2 green pepper
2 stalks celery
1/2 chite onion
1 can diced tomatos
1 can chicken broth
1 diced hot green chili pepper
2/3 cup white rice uncooked
one bay leaf
thyme to taste
1 package precooked smoked sausage (I use Pepridge[sp?] Farm)

1) First dice and sautee the green pepper, celery, and onion in an electric skillet on high, or in a lrge saucepan.

2) Add the Diced tomatoes, broth, chili pepper, rice, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is soft, about 25 to 30 minutes.

3) Cube or slice sausage, add to mixture and heat for about 5 to 10 minutes until heated through. You can substitute chicken, but it's not as flavorful.

Makes about 4 servings.

If anyone tries it let me know what you think. If you like getting m recipes here, let me know that too. If you think we should stick to theology and baby pictures, let us know, but do it nicely!