Friday, August 16, 2013

Quoted

I loved this quote about conversing...

"The power of preserving silence is the very first requisite for all who wish to shine, or even please in discourse; and those who can not preserve it, have really no business to speak. ... The silence that, without any deferential air, listens with polite attention, is more flattering than compliments, and more frequently broken for the purpose of encouraging others to speak, than to display the listener's own powers. This is the really eloquent silence. It requires great genius - more perhaps than speaking - and few are gifted with the talent."

A summer night at Green Lake - - one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.
Quoted from here and found here.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Thursday, August 08, 2013

The Sword

Lately I've been reading Sheldon Vanauken. In "A Severe Mercy" he references the story of a Hebrew woman named Veronica, who supposedly wiped Jesus' brow while he was carrying his cross to Golgotha. I'd never heard of that before. And I can't stop reading this sonnet he wrote...

The Sword

Yes, Mark was posted to the Tenth that year.
The day we got there priests contrived to bring
This 'god' to death, and mobs that made me cling
To Mark surged round us, all one mocking jeer.

No omen warned me when Mark led me near
The yelling street that I should be implored
By God to wear my girlhood like a sword
So edged with mercy men would freeze in fear.

Mark's armour made the crowd draw back a space.
Just there beneath his cross the god limped by.
I saw his eyes and rushed into the street
Through sudden stillness wiped his face.
"My child," he said and staggered on to die.
- My girlhood lay in fragments at my feet.



Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Baby Boy!

Well folks, it doesn't get much clearer than this...

Kline-worthy genitalia right above the text.

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Thursday. I woke up feeling more excited than a 6 year old at Christmas!! The plan was to see if he was healthy all-around and find out our little baby's gender, and find out if we were right. See, we thought it was a boy from the very beginning. Before we ever got pregnant, we referred to our first child as a "she"...but once we were actually expecting, without even trying or noticing, we started referring to him as a "he". Once we recognized this, we realized we both thought he was a boy, for reasons we don't really know. We just knew. Then I had a dream he was a boy. Either way, we would've been so happy, but we were soooo curious.

As you can see from the picture, he's definitely of the male gender. We could tell right away, and we all laughed and Jeff said "that's my boy." :) And my eyes may have filled with tears. I was in awe. I couldn't speak for the longest time.

The rest of the ultrasound was great. He has all 10 fingers and 10 toes. They measured his bones and checked out his kidneys and internal organs. He was doing this funny nose dive so the doc couldn't see his face, heart or brain for awhile. Kinda the most important parts. :) So they leaned me back really far on the bed, with my feet up in the air, hoping that gravity would make him change positions. He finally did, and everything looked great. He is a perfectly healthy baby boy, and we are so grateful.

Here's his sweet little face...


"As you know not what is the way of the wind, or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb 
of a pregnant woman, even so you know not the work of God who does all." 
Ecclesiastes 11:5 

I can't tell you how much joy I have thinking of our little son. Every time I get to hear his heartbeat or see his little body on the screen I am full of joy in a way I've never been before. I can only imagine what it will be like to meet him for the first time. I hope he's like Jeff. :)

He's 21 weeks along now, and I can feel him more and more every day. Last night my stomach looked like waves. I think it's his feet. Then he will push his head or butt up really far so I have this huge round knot sometimes. It cracks me up. I love that I can picture him in there now.

20 weeks

His name is Lincoln. Lincoln Kline. It's been Jeff's top choice for years, and I really like it. We decided on it for our 1st son before we were even married. It means "from the settlement on the lake"....which is just perfect, since we live on a lake. But I also like that when I think of his name, I think of freedom, perseverance, joy, compassion and tenacity. I've never known another Lincoln, and the only other context I have is Abraham Lincoln. Not a bad namesake. We're still working on his middle name. For some reason, that's harder for me.

So things are progressing nicely and I have loved being pregnant, so far. I have lots more energy than before, except that I get really winded walking up hills. Phew. One other fun thing is that I've been having restless leg syndrome at night. My legs feel like they are waking up from being asleep, like there's ants in them. It. drives. me. nuts. That's my only minor complaint. Well, that and having only 1 pair of pants that fit. (Yes, we broke down and bought me a pair of maternity pants. They're actually really cute.)

What I really love is that so many of my friends are pregnant right now, or just having babies. I can't wait to be initiated into that crew of awesome women! I can't wait to hang out with my sister, letting the cousins play together.

Speaking of Ollie...here's my newest, most awesome photo of him...


What a guy! And I get to be with him tonight!!

On that note, thanks for reading this long catch-up post and coming along with me on this journey of becoming a mom to little Linc. I am truly in awe.

Adventure isn't missing.
xo!
Rose