Glorious Day

This summer is proving to be one of the best.  Every week I feel like I'm on vacation.  When I get home from work on Wednesday afternoon, Paul, Caleb and I have the next four days to do anything we want.  Today we decided to join some friends at the beach.  Everything is more exciting when you look at it through the eyes of a child.  Caleb seemed to absorb every wave that crashed, plane that flew overhead, and grain of sand that nestled between his toes.





Grandma, as requested...Here is video of Caleb's first feeding. It is extremely long but I thought you'd want the video in it's entirety.

First Feeding

Today was Caleb's first rice cereal feeding.

He seemed a bit confused as to why he was sitting at the table.

At first we he wasn't so sure about this whole eating thing.

Then he seemed to think it was just a kick in the pants.

Washed the mush down with a little water.

Overall a success. 

Not sure

We had an appointment with the pediatric urologist today.  Caleb was his usual happy self, eliciting comments about how good he is from the doctor and nurse.  The doctor confirmed what we thought he would say.  Caleb has an undescended testicle and surgery is recommended.  I won't go into the details, but the benefits of performing the surgery outweigh the negatives.   We completed paperwork to get things started and should set a date for the surgery soon.  

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing.  Although the surgery has really low risks, I am already feeling nervous and uneasy.  I think I'm most nervous about how Caleb will respond to anesthesia.  His last set of immunizations left him with a high fever, fussiness, and lethargy for a couple days.  Who knows what anesthesia will do to him.  When I was around five, I had hernia surgery and clearly remember the anesthesia being administered to me.  I wasn't scared and thought it was nice that all the nurses were leaning over my bed smiling at me.  But, I was five.  I could at least grasp that mom and dad were outside the door and would be there with me when I woke.  Caleb isn't going to understand what is going on.  I know I'm being a worry wart but he's my boy and I hate the thought of him being scared and not being able to comfort him.  We'll update the blog whenever we get a surgery date.  In the meantime, I'm not going to think about it.

A Weekend of Firsts

This past weekend we made our way down to North Carolina to visit with my family.  It was a weekend of firsts.

Caleb went for his first swim (as expected... with Gyorfi/Smith genes...he loved it)

We saw Elly swim (and nap pool side) for the first time

We celebrated Canon's first day as a five year old.

Caleb attended his first costume party. (My grandfather hands down won best costume showing up in a woman's wig, clip on earring and jewelry)

I finally remembered to pull out my camera and capture the first picture with Caleb and his great-grandfather.

We had a great visit with all of the family and some college friends.  I'm sad the weekend is over.

Father

Happy Father's Day!

Reconciliation

Last night in our small group we started a conversation about racial reconciliation and the church.  With only an hour to discuss, we barely skimmed the surface of such a large topic.  There were so many things dancing through my thoughts that we didn't have time to talk through.  

An awareness of the need for racial reconciliation first began to grow in my mind when I lived in South Africa.  I spent ninety percent of my time with Zulus (black South Africans).  I took a Zulu language class with a handful of Afrikaans (white South Africans) who were forced to take the class by their employers.  It sickened me when I found out that most of the class did not know how to say hello in Zulu.  It's not like Zulu is some random language that only a few people speak.  Zulu is one of the eleven national languages, and in the region I lived, it was the language of the majority.  The people in my class had not even taken the time to learn how to greet someone of a different race in their language.  They lived in fear and isolation from a people they did not know.  The people in my class lived in their white neighborhoods, sent their children to white boarding schools, shopped at grocery stores where only whites shopped, and went to churches with homogeneous members.  I found it was very easy to point the finger in disgust until I realized that if any South African came to stay with me in the United States they would think the same thing about my life.  

Martin Luther King, Jr. responds to a question about integrating the Christian church, at a lecture symposium on racial prejudice and race relations, by mentioning that the church is the most segregated major institution in America.  This saddens me.  It saddens me not because I think everyone should learn to sing the same music, and to worship the same ways so that we can have a diverse Sunday morning service.  It saddens me because I feel the church (the actual members not the sunday morning service or the building) should be the driving force in racial reconciliation.  The church should be showing that we are no longer identified by our race, nationality, or culture but by our belonging in the Kingdom of God.  

The only conclusion I feel we drew last night is that we should lament the brokenness within the body of Christ.  I do lament this brokenness and I feel helpless as to how to heal it.  The only thing I know how to do is to pray for healing and make decisions for me and my family to live a more heterogeneous lifestyle.  Paul and I are trying to live in such a way that our lives are not segregated from people that are different than us.  Most of the time I feel like our efforts are in vain because we are naturally drawn to people just like us.  We desire reconciliation and hope that our daily decisions are moving at least a tiny step in that direction.

Wet Kisses

After a great weekend with family  I am going through withdrawal.  Seriously, can't all you guys move closer.  Thankfully, Caleb is here to comfort me with lots of lovin.