Here we are, we are here

Sometimes the dishes don't get washed, and the dirty clothes pile up, and I can't remember when I mowed the lawn last. Sometimes we just enjoy being here, with each other.

Aunt Nay Nay

Recently, we enjoyed a visit from Aunt Nay Nay, also known as Janee, also known as Actress Extraordinaire, also known as my sister. Aunt Nay Nay and Emma both donned aprons, and went straight to work on a batch of cookies. Action shots here:

Giving Thanks

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Houston. It was Stella's first road trip, and when we told her the plan, we are pretty sure she said, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?". Pretty sure. During the holiday, Emma painted, Uncle Glenn practiced being Daddy (hold her like a baby, Glenn, not a Yule Log), we ate, and there was a kids' table.

Today was Stella's first day at Redeemer. She did well and I actually got to hear the entire sermon. I tried to get a picture of the girls so I could scrapbook this occasion and this is what I got. You can't always get the little ones to cooperate can you? After church our community group from church met for lunch at Cameron Park. It was a gorgeous day out there and very busy, lots of frisbee golfers and people running in a marathon. Emma got to feed the ducks with some of the kids in our group. It is so neat seeing friends love on our kids and play with them. It is such a gift to be a part of a community. It was good to hang out.

Early Arrival

So, of course, we are sorry for the delay. But, if you consider that Stella came a week early, then we are actually telling the story before it is supposed to happen; how can you call that a delay?

Diane's contractions began on Thursday the 14th, and were the of the kind to cause no concern; preparatory is what they're called. If those contractions job is to prepare us, they're fired. On Friday, the "preparatory" contractions continued. They were irregular, far apart, short...the kind that cause no concern.
Saturday, Diane and Zeze (Jeremy's mom) went to a scrapbooking class from 4-7 p.m. taught by a world-renowned scrapper, Ali Edwards (we know we know, we'll try to get her autograph for you). During the class the contractions got more painful, but only curiously stronger. They were strong enough to pause Diane's scrapping, but really not so strong as to cause concern. The other scrapping ladies cheered Diane to continue the scrap-work, and with their encouragement she endured. Did I mention that before a meal before the scrap class, we prayed that Stella wouldn't come until after the class? God is good, He hears us.
When Diane and Zeze got home, the contractions were enough to lay Diane down, and Jeremy was set to fist-rubbing her lower back in that spot that contractions really seem to bother. Really, nothing to be concerned about. Then, during a rather laid back effort to pack bags for the hospital (still a week till she's due, after all), something broke: yep, it was water. It was at that moment that we thought we ought to get concerned, and we decided it was off to the hospital. But first...

(in the bedroom)
Diane: "Let me just use the restroom before we go"
Jeremy: "Okay, but then we need to get in the car and go."

(in the bathroom)
Diane: "I think I'm having the baby!"
Jeremy: "Zeze, call 911! We're having the baby!"

(in the kitchen)
Emma: What's that noise?!"
Papa: Oh, don't you worry about that. Want some more chocolate milk?"

(laying on the bathroom floor)
Diane: "Is she out yet?!"
Jeremy: "Nope...Yep!"
Stella: "Wah...Waaaaah!"

And at about 8:15pm, on the bathroom floor at our house, we had our second daughter. We rode to the hospital in an ambulance rather than the family car, the rest is all pretty normal.

Stella was 6lbs. 4oz., 19 inches long, and pretty much looks just like her big sister. Here's some pics:

Catch up with a catch all

Lots to say, and we're doing it all in one post. Relevant pics can be seen below:

1. We have a middle name for the new kid: Louise. Yep, so its Stella Louise. Thanks, we like it too. Yes, you can use it if you'd like.

2. The Best of Waco Club met again last month for chips and salsa from Jesse's Tortilla Factory. Apparently, Jesse was killed there a few years back, but the place is still his, and someone keeps making tortillas and frying 'em into chips. The salsa (which Texans ridiculously insist on calling "hot sauce") was great; very tomatoey (you say toe-maw-toe-esque, I say toe-may-to-ey), Emma even liked it. Since we didn't think it right to make a meal out of just chips and "hot sauce" we picked up some tamale's, also from Jesse's. Don't get us wrong, these are tasty tamales...but we were mistaken when thinking we could make a meal out of them. They should be called "ta-mini-males" or "ta-tiny-males" or "ta-small-ees" cause there just little. The verdict of the BOW Club is: get the chips and salsa, and get the ta-small-ees too, only, get two bags rather than one.

3. To beat the heat, we family-tripped to the Pecan Bottoms Spray Park in Cameron Park a few weeks ago. Yet another reason to move to Waco. So it gets hot here, sure, but we got cold water shootin' out of the ground and sprayin' out of colorful shaped pipes at the push of a button! Emma couldn't get enough...and check out Daddy, he's manning the button in the pics below.

The Reveal

Two things going on here:
1. Ultra Sound Pictures--we admit they are late; there, we've confessed.
2. Name of Baby in said pictures--keep in mind this is not a potential name, it is the name. Really, we have appreciated everyone's input; the suggestion box has been taken in the back and emptied out. While we're still shuffling through the entries for a middle name, the first name is set in stone.

First, take a look at the pics

The Pics

Drum Roll Please...

The moment you've all been waiting for:

World, meet Stella.

Middle name is still to come...

Happy 2nd Emma!

On June 3rd, Emma turned 2! We had a backyard party with family and friends. The guests under 4 feet in height blew bubbles and played in the sandbox and playhouse. The guests over 4 feet assisted in the bubble production with the addition of a shop fan to increase both the bubble number and velocity; over-4-feet guests also stayed in a safely uncrouched position outside of the playhouse, and quietly but eagerly awaited a piece of cake.

When the time came for gifts, Emma quickly learned to say "Happy Birthday" (which she pronounces "appy birs-a-day") immediately upon opening the card, then she promptly cast the card aside to get to the real stuff. Thanks everyone for coming!

Best of Waco--Tres Leches

Best of Waco Club, entry #2:

The Critics picks in the Wacoan recommended we try the Tres Leches cakes from Fiesta Mart, an ethnic (?) grocery store in a largely post-white-flight section of Waco. Here is what the critics said: "This fabulous white cake, soaked in milk, is iced with whipped cream and topped beautifully with peaches, pineapple, and strawberries." According to the critics, Fiesta Mart's tres leches are the best within a 100-mile radius. Interestingly, googling "tres leches" reveals that the cakes from the Fiesta Mart in Austin Texas were awarded the highest overall score in an informal taste test of 8 tres leches purveyors there. Leaving aside obvious questions like "How 'informal' could the taste test have been if it included an 'overall score'", and "What constitutes a 'formal' taste test of a milk-soaked bread dessert," it seems that the Waco Critics are right about the 100-mile reach of Fiesta Mart's tres leches reign, at least in southerly direction. The best of Waco club (Joe, Anna, Jeremy, Diane) agrees: the tres leches deserve tres cheers.

The one caveat the Waco Critics provided was "May Be Addictive." True dat. The pic shows the cake in its handy flip-top carrying case.

Best of Waco

A recent issue of the Wacoan magazine featured the yearly "Best of Waco" column. Apparently, the folks over at the Wacoan relied strictly on the votes of the local chapter of the "World Homogenization Society". Why do I think this? Well, here's a few of the "Best of Waco" picks for this year:

Best Appetizers: Cheddars Restaurant
Best Hamburger: Fuddruckers
Best Desserts: Olive Garden

Are you kidding?! Does it seem right that a person enjoying a tiramisu at the Olive Garden in Nashville can legitimately say "You know, this is the best dessert in Waco"? It almost goes without saying that in order to enjoy the best of Waco, one should be required to come to Waco.

All is not lost: this issue of the Wacoan also included the "Critics Picks", and you will be happy to know that Fuddruckers didn't make the list. After reading this list, we felt compelled to support local Waco and do battle with the "World Homogenization Society" by patronizing each establishment on the critic's list.

Here's the plan: each month we will visit one or two of the restaurants on the list and order the dish recommended by the critics. Then, we will come back here and give you our take.

When's this thing getting kicked off? Three hours ago.

Breakfast Burritos at Adrianna and Janette's-
We loaded up ourselves and our friends, Joe and Anna, and headed to the part of town the realtors don't want you see. After passing the place twice (its on a one way street and is not well marked), we turned the minivan into the tiny parking lot of what is likely an old convenience store. Using the security bars to open the door, we entered an extravagantly colored eating area, where we sat at a 4 top covered in green plastic. Each of us promptly ordered the large breakfast burrito in various combinations of egg, potato, bacon, chorizo, cheese, and pico de gallo. "These things are huge" was the universal response when the breakfast was brought. The eggs: perfectly scrambled, not soggy, not bone dry; the bacon: crispy, thick, expertly sized for biting; the chorizo: well-mixed, just enough south-of-the-border flavor, not too greasy; the potato: moist, firm but not tough, soft but not squishy; the pico de gallo: fresh, cilantro-tasty. The critics are right, these burritos are worth coming to Waco. For $2.25/burrito, we left satisfied.
The atmosphere was great! "The People's Court" was on a muted TV on a table in the corner; a diverse group of patrons sat at tables and stood in line; clickity-clank of kitchen utensils tapped from the back. A constant flow of customers gave us hope that Adrianna and Janette's will be around for some time. Next time you're in Waco, we'll take you.

Check back in May for the next installment.

Jeremy

Church-Going

Today a person came into our church office to ask us about the Easter service schedule. In the course of the conversation, this person revealed that he had left a church after having attended for 25 years, and is now worshipping with our congregation.
I don't know the strength of commitment that this person had to the previous church, and I don't really know the circumstances surrounding the departure. But the encounter made me wonder about what it would take to lead a person to leave a church relationship of 25 years, which is also to ask why a person goes to a particular church.
So I thought I would take a survey. In the comment section, explain 2 things:
1. why you go to church
2. why you go to the particular church you go to

Let me know!

Jeremy

Mayday, Mayday!

There's really no reason for this, just watch it for fun! Click the link and laugh outloud.

Sing-a-long Songs

Songs for your kids and you! Diane iTuned (can that be a verb?) this album the other day, and it is great! Click the link to check it out.

Hokey Pokey passed away

I got this in an email from a friend who fowarded it from one of his professors:

"Sad News
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is
worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went
unnoticed last week.
Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokey Pokey" died peacefully at the
age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the
coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started.
Shut up. You know it's funny."

New Glass

We recently had a rose window installed at our new building. The man who made it crafts all his windows in the old way: real lead, hand made glass. Take a look.

Chiggy-check the links

Look left. We figured out how to add links to our blog! Here's a word of caution: links on a blog are like books on a bookshelf: display of a book does not necessarily constitute endorsement of the entire content of the book. In fact, I have a good friend who displays his books with their bindings toward the back of the bookshelf; his reasoning includes something about not be judged on the basis of books he may or may not have read. But I'm not talking about books; check out the links!

Blogging about something other than not-blogging

Since many of you were beginning to think this was less a blog about the Reeves and more a blog about our inability to consistently blog (see "Like we were saying..." from Tuesday, December 21, 2004, and "Fast and Furious" from Monday, February 27, 2006), here's some meat.

Wanna good "we should get together and talk about this" movie? See Equilibrium. A bit of a slow start, but the socio-cultural questions are interesting. Additionally, for us citizens of another world, the implicit assertions regarding the meaning of freedom and liberation should be more deeply pursued than the intended socio-cultural ones: "Okay, sure, you're free from a lifeless life. But what are you free to?" For skeptics, keep in mind that even Diane liked it.

Books? If you have time, take a read of Meredith Kline's "Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview." Kline is his own worst enemy, as his writing style is somewhat inaccesible. But, given time, you'll get used to it, and grow to enjoy it. Here's a snippit from the cover: As intimated by the subtitle, Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, the immediate literary focus of this study is the book of Genesis and its account of the formative ages in the eschatological movement of the kingdom of God from creation to consummation. Bonus: the book is free for the downloading here. Also, if you are interesting in further chasing the subject of covenant theology (and if you are a believer, you should be) Michael Horton's "God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology" might be a good start. I say "might" because I haven't read it, as it has just recently been released.

Music? In our kitchen we have been enamored with David Gray's "White Ladder" and "Life in Slow Motion." We are forever indebted to aunt Nay Nay for pointing us in his direction. Thanks Nay! Check out David Gray right here.

These should keep you busy. Let us know what you think!

After the Zoo? Nite-nite.

All that sliding can wear a gal out. Good night!

So if for no other reason, you should move to Waco to live near us. But if you need another reason, try the Waco Zoo. Its the best. Here's Emma, sliding down the plexiglass slide through the sea-otter environment. Daddy's at the top with a smile, Mommy's at the end with a grin, and Emma is in first-time-on-a-slide glory!

Fast and Furious

Ok, so we have not been so good at blogging in the past. We freely admit that there have been long and negligent pauses in our posting, extended periods of an eerie quiet, 3625 Morrow blanketed in a lost silence. I mean, how hard is it to type a bit about our lives, post a few pics so our peeps and keep up? Really, its as though those Reeves wanted to disappear, like they have something to hide. Well, what if we did have something to hide? What of it? In the spirit of full disclosure, we are ready to come clean, ready to admit to the world the reason for our blogging barrier. You'd better sit down, and get a glass of Sprite to calm your stomach (for those like Timothy, you should exchange the Sprite for a glass of Merlot). Since the blogging beginning, we have suffered against an insurmountable enemy, a ghost in our machine, controlling our every cyber-move, inhibiting connectivity on all fronts. The bop bop bop beederrrrp beeeeeedlerrrrrrrp neenoorr neenoorr neeeenooooor of this adversary's tonal growl is a constant reminder of its hiding in the background. Its name? Dialup. And out of the silent planet came a warrior, a champion, to slay the Dialup-dragon. This champion rode the wires of the dragon's stomping ground, destroying the army of the dragon with his wireless weapon. The champion: SBC Yahoo DSL at the low, low price of $12.99/month.

Then the blogger ran out of creativity, the champion asserted its own tyrannical nature, and had to be tamed by the AT&T line technichian named "Jeff." Finally, all was brought into subjection to the one paying the bill, as it should be. The point of all this nonsense? Dialup is dead, DSL is (relatively) fast and furious, and we are beeeloggin'!

For Christmas, Diane got a bag...a really big bag. Jeremy and Diane were happy...very happy.

Jeremy and Emma in the side-yard. Emma enjoyed playing the leaves; Jeremy was reading a book and drinking some sort of amber colored liquid...what is that, Jeremy?