What Parenting Teaches Me

What Parenting Teaches Me #1: Tenderness

One morning not long ago, Josh and I were laying in bed, chatting over the morning, with Noah nearby in the room. In a minute or two we realized Noah had disappeared into our bathroom and shut the door behind him. This is, of course, a recipe for trouble so I called for him.

Me: Noah, come back out here where we can see you.
Noah, opened our door just slightly, peeked out, and with lighthearted self-importance said: No
In the split seconds it took me to think about how to respond, Noah followed up with: Buh-bye
And he shut the door again.

Josh and I looked at each other and fell apart laughing at how caught off guard we were, how bold but cute Noah was, answering us NO with such confidence, like it was a question or something, like he had delivered an indisputable verdict on the situation, like we are not really in charge or some other toddler nonsense. We laughed so hard we literally were crying. You might just had to have been there. :)

But this taught me about myself as a child of God - and perhaps the tenderness that God looks at us with. Because we love Noah and know that our authority is really not in question in the end, we can - at times - just giggle at how adorable he is. And maybe it is the same with the Lord. Because, seriously, God knows he is in charge whether we know it or not. Imagine how the Lord must roll back and laugh at us as we flex our toddler muscles, assert our independence of Him, believe we can control things, and not yield to his will for our lives in any given circumstance. It caused me to consider again that the Lord is not so entirely stern with us. We are his children, his beloved. It is refreshing to me to remember he has a sense of humor about us, tender love toward us, is slow to anger with us, and is still the guardian and authority over us. Yes, there will be discipline for us at times. Noah gets a steady dose of discipline for his defiance, to be sure, but if you look closely, you can see Josh and I working very hard not to crack a smile and bust out laughing at his antics - at least not while he is looking. I think maybe it can be the same with us and the Lord. In a nutshell - maybe we just look like clueless, yet comical toddlers, from God's perspective. Yeah, that's probably it.

What's In a Name?

Picking Noah's name really was a breeze, so why has it been so laborious to choose and settle on a name for the baby girl that is on her way into our lives? It just doesn't make sense given my love for words and lists of names...something I have done since I was a little girl.

Here are the 5 names we had a million honorable mentions narrowed down to:

Summer Noelle
Hailey Noelle
Anna Noelle
Jenna Noelle
Avery Noelle

I had a number of friends near and far share their thoughts on these names and offer their faves from the list. Avery was a HUGE hit, which made me love it all the more, but in the end it still just didn't sit right for me. I tell Josh it still just didn't match us. Summer was the second clear favorite from the list, and is also near and dear to my heart for years now, but when push comes to shove, I still can't make it fit us, and believe me I tried to feel OK with it. Anna was a late entry after I had friends comment on the list, so I have no idea what everyone thinks of this name, but after much deliberation, it seems Josh and I have settled on her. Anna Noelle Brown. It fits us, our style, matches with Noah's name - which is important, and is simple and pure sounding to us...not to mention, not all that common these days - which I really like. And the more I say it, the more I like it. So I think this blog post makes it official.

Noah's baby sister will be named Anna. Hee, hee, hee. I love closure.

Late (and humble) Beginnings

Bandwagon, here I come! My resistance has faded (sigh) and I am finally beginning a blog.

Better late than never, no? Although I wish I started at a more momentous time of life, say when I graduated college, or started my first job, or got married, or more recently - adopted Noah. It just got to a point were Noah is now doing and saying so many things I never want to forget, so I figured this was the lesser of two evils...type it or scrapbook it - horrors! Short of Noah's Lifebook, I would rather not spend my time stressing out and hunching over tape, scissors, and a jillion types of papers, stickers, and cutters ever again. I say, blogging is the new scrapping!

So the Brown family is joining the ranks of bloggers everywhere and documenting that stuff we want to remember, having a soapbox or twenty when the occasion calls for it, and just posting cute pics, and random thoughts - whatever floats our boat and just for the fun of it.

And what with being pregnant, getting ready for the new baby, getting to know Noah's many toddler moods per day, trying to sell our house and move to TN, there will be plenty to reflect on I think. Nothing too flashy, but a blogger beginning just the same. Hello, Blogpsot!