urbanlifeonline.com

It's here! Check it out: www.urbanlifeonline.com

UrbanLife in September

Several of you have pointed out that this blog is out-of-date! It's easy to miss the tech-wave and find yourself soaked in the sand and washed up on the beach. I'm using a surfing image because that's what life is sometimes like--you ride the wave the best you can and then swim back out and wait for the next wave. I've been working on the urbanlife website the past month and have found myself more washed out than riding high. I never realized how fast or much technology has passed me by! So what might take some just a few days to complete has taken me, well, over a month. (Hold your applause please!)
Things move at a different pace in the church for lots of reasons, oftentimes bound by resources of time and money. I was reminded yesterday by the good saint Rev. Wally Chappell that we are only 80 generations away from Jesus and look how far the church has, and has not, come. (I'm guessing he is defining a generation as 25 years). Hopefully within this generation I can get this website going.
The site should launch this week but there are still some technical glitches that have to be worked through...but at least we are going live. I'm excited by the opportunities the website will give us for ongoing communication and interaction.
Until then, don't forget that UrbanLife meets on Sunday mornings at 9:45 am in our new location--the 2nd floor of 1925 San Jacinto. When the website is live (probably by this weekend) you can see more of our events and activities -- www.urbanlifeonline.com

UrbanLife in July

(Reminder: Kathryn's personal blog has moved: www.nowyouarehere.blogspot.com)

Join UrbanLife for one of these events in July!

Sunday, July 13th, 9:45, Dickerson Chapel
topic: Sue Keever, "I Know This Much is True" (the 10 life lessons Sue has learned, along with discussion from the class about what we know to be true)

lunch: 12:15 Lunch at Strongs Everyday Tavern
2816 Fairmont (uptown)

Sunday, July 27th, 9:45, Dickerson Chapel
topic: Victor Vines, M.D. "Stem CellsDon't Leave Home Without Them"
lunch: 12:15 Lunch at Chip's Old Fashioned Hamburgers
4501 Cole Ave.

RSVP for lunch to ryan.fiedler.jones@gmail.com

Oops -- Gave you the wrong address for my new blog

Blame it on sleep deprivation...my new blog is at www.nowyouarehere.blogspot.com

My blog is moving!

Hello Blog World...I've created a new blog called, "You Were There and Now You are Here." This blog will be my place to write about life and give updates of our amazing little man! It will be more personal, so to speak. This blog will remain active. It will be incorporated into the new UrbanLife website which is under construction. This blog will become more focused on UrbanLife and include weekly devotionals that I will be writing.

So go to my new blog and check it out...(still under development)...
www.nowyouarethere.blogspot.com

For those of you who are subscribers to my blog, you can enter your email address and subscribe to the new blog also. I know you won't want to miss a picture of the little man!

My first post on this new blog is all about this week...which is my return-to-work week.

Ethan's first church service

I'm not sure where the time has gone since my last blog post on May 29th except that my time has been with Ethan. We have been venturing out this June...going on walks with our friend Joe (who is moving to Austin...born 3 weeks after Ethan), making our first outing to First Church (to celebrate Wendy's birthday), getting Ethan's first vaccinations (the toughest scream to hear), and mall-walking at NorthPark. We attended church today at Grace United Methodist Church in East Dallas. It was Rev. Dr. Diana Holbert's first Sunday as senior pastor. It was Ethan's first church service, and, he received a blessing at the rail during communion. It's strange--the words to the hymns hit me on a whole new level now.

Ethan Ross First Days

Troy made this great video of fun times from the first 6 weeks of Ethan's life!

Mission trips and Motherhood

Ethan and I went to Target today.  It wasn't a trip of necessity for commodities; it was more a necessity to see other living human beings in this world and just to see if I could accomplish what used to be a mindless task and now is a master skill.

After getting Ethan ready, I dashed in the bathroom, threw my hair in a ponytail, painted on a fresh coat of deodorant and changed my shirt to a less dirty shirt.  And we were out the door.  I felt such a high feeling of accomplishment driving to the store.  I made it into the car with Ethan--he wasn't even crying.  And I didn't smell too bad and only had two stains on my pants and one on my shirt.  

Something about the way my body smelled and felt seemed very similar to another time in life...and that's when it hit me:  the smell and look of early motherhood is very similar to the smell and look of mission trips.  If you have ever been on a mission trip, you know the feeling--you haven't showered in 2 days, you've slept on a sleeping bag on a gym floor with 40 other people of which 25% snore, you're wearing the same pair of jeans from yesterday and the definition of a shower is a fresh coat of deodorant.  And you know what, it's all okay to smell and look like that when you are on a mission trip.  And what I've learned is that it's all okay to smell and look like this when you have a 5-week-old-little boy.  

So maybe I'm not out building a house or repairing a roof or teaching the Bible to children in rural villages--but I still have a big mission and at this point, it's about perseverance and faith that the little acts of love I do today (while being a little smelly) will make a big difference in Ethan's tomorrow.   

Ethan and Sarah

This is just too good not to share...Sarah trying her best to get as close as she can to Ethan while he is playing on his baby gym. So what you are seeing is Ethan lying on his back on the play mat and Sarah inching up to him putting her head on his tummy.

Ethan visits his first restaurant

Ethan visted his first fancy restaurant on Sunday, May 21. We joined UrbanLife for a special summer Sunday brunch at Hector's on Henderson. Pictured in this photo are Hector Garcia, owner, and Blythe Beck, executive chef. The menu was fantastic...Ethan did not get to try the watermelon martinis, though! If you have not tried this fabulous restaurant, then do so soon! You are in for an amazing culinary experience with food that is out of this world. I would describe it as upscale meets soul.

The Many Faces of Ethan

I'm working hard to get THE birth announcement photo so when Ethan is having a good minute, I play photographer. This was my latest attempt, a series that Troy titled "The Many Faces of Ethan." I'm still on the quest for the photo for the birth announcement...and until I get there, I'm having fun trying.

Enough is Enough...

  Did you ever wonder if newborns get fed-up with new parents bumblings?   Charlie Brown often utters the catch phrase "GOOD GRIEF!", Ethan seems to be having one of those moments... 

Celebrate Cinco De Mayo with this Free Chickenstrips offer from Papa John's

Our last blog entry date has a lot to do with the headline above: both our lives and this offer from Papa John's is a little crazy. First of all, Papa Johns--who would have thought to put Cinco de Mayo together with Chickenstrips and pizza? My guess is that those who really DO celebrate Cindo de Mayo didn't wake up this morning saying to themselves, "If ONLY I could have some chickenstrips and pizza today in celebration of Cinco de Mayo."

On to us--so our last blog entry was April 26--the day the blogging stopped is the day that life began to find its new normal. The following week Troy returned to work full-time and I became a full-time nurterer and feeder of Ethan. Full-time mom. Sleepless nights. Long days at work for Troy. 7 pm bedtime for both of us to help off-set the middle-of-the-night-Ethan-wakefest.

Three things have been constant and faithful companions for me the past week: the indie movie "Once" (A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story); the book "Babywise"--we will get Ethan's days and nights straight; and, surprisingly, Eckhart Tolle's book "A Whole New Earth," specifically his chapter on the roles we play in life. If you have ever felt stuck in your "roles," or, if you have had difficulty in adult-parent/adult-child or parent-child relationships, this chapter is a MUST READ.

So that's our life for now...will blog when I get a chance but time is a precious commodity around here these days.

The pictures above -- our family picture on May 2. The other picture is of Ethan and my aunt Rosemary. She has been a huge help to me in caring for Ethan.

A father and a son through a mother's eyes

Twas the night before my due date

And all is fairly quiet in the house

'Cause I came 10 days early

And mostly, I'm quiet as a mouse!

Good night to all!  Love, Ethan

Hows Sarah?

Several of our friends have asked how Sarah is doing with the new baby... Well, she is just as sweet and gentle as ever. In many cases a picture really is worth a thousand words.

I yam what I yam!

Okay, is it me or does Ethan look a little like Popeye here? (Perhaps Churchill?) Just an observation...  In case you were wondering we here at the Ransdell house are HUGE fans of both Popeye and the former Prime Minister. (thanks for the pic Jim)

Tip-Toes!

Okay, had to throw in a shameless plug for all the Aggies out there! Gig’em! Note the extreme close-up of his toes... Wrinkly! Looks like he has Sasquatch feet.

The Ethan Channel

After a few very busy days we are home and settled in. Its nice to have some time to get to know each other. We’ve developed a loose pattern and schedule to our lives. Its called the Ethan channel, all Ethan 24/7! Ethan in the morning, at noon and night too, we’re loving it! He needs us all the time and as it turns out we need him too! We had a particularly fun and busy day today. Visited the pediatrician and he was none to happy about it. We also had some tummy time with a ride on the belly board! We are well and everyone is healthy but a little tired... but who has time for sleep when you have the Ethan channel! Sweet...

Big eyes!

Ethan had some time with his new Aunt, my Sister Tracey. Both were all eyes! Ethan seems a bit concerned... HA!

Friday night reflection from Kathryn

Ethan just left for his first Friday night slumber party in the nursery.  (Pictured at top is "us" taken tonight by my parents who are now in town to meet their grandson and help us.)  We are taking advantage of our extra, and final, night in the hospital by allowing the nursery staff to care for him while we sleep.  So here's what I want to talk about--this experience of natural childbirth.  Natural childbirth is not for everyone; but it was for me.

The past 9 months have been a dance of conversations as people discovered our choice for the birth of this baby--to use a midwife as our main medical caregiver and strive for natural childbirth.  I learned early on that the adjective "natural" to describe childbirth is defined by the person using the term.  For us it meant that we wanted the least medical intervention possible during the birthing process AND we wanted medical interventional available at moment's notice if needed.  That's what led us to Women's Health Alliance at Baylor Hospital and ultimately to our midwife, Lindsey Stephens. (Lindsey is pictured above holding Ethan about 5 hours after he was born.) 

Troy did an incredible job blogging our 24-hour labor experience and the blog is not complete without discussion of Lindsey and the two nurses who helped us, Becky and Jenni.  Our office visits with Lindsey instilled great confidence in her medical intelligence and insight.  Pregnancy care is an art and a science and she combined the two beautifully as we progressed through the months and then faced this past month of changing conditions.  

But at the birth, all 24 hours of it, Lindsey showed us the art of delivery.  She gave us the space to create the experience we wanted, and, like a master artist, she took the brush when needed and painted the strokes that helped me, Troy, and most importantly, Ethan, come to life in the crucible of childbirth.

There were some tense moments in the context of those 24 hours and Lindsey coached us and sympathized with us.  And there were some damn funny moments too.  I never expected to laugh myself silly with my midwife, my nurse and my husband when all 4 of us were amazed by the "river."

Lindsey is an amazing caregiver and she is fulfilling her calling that is grounded in science and guided by the Spirit.  As I said earlier, natural childbirth is not for everyone.  It takes a strong desire to want the outcome and it takes 9 months of mental, physical and spiritual preparation.  And, natural childbirth takes a medical professional like Lindsey who has the depth in her soul to bring two people like us through the night.  And, natural childbrith takes incredible nurses who don't have to be committed to my outcome, but still chose to be, and they also carried us through the night and into the light of the morning to welcome our beautiful baby.

I also want to thank all the people who hung on with us through the night, read Troy's posts, kept us in prayer, and left comments.  When the going was tough, Troy shared with me someone's words of encouragement.  Those words helped me to remember that there was a world outside the delivery room, and, this was 24 hours that would pass...eventually.  We never imagined how powerful a role this blog would play in the birth of our child.  Thank you.  

It's strange to think that we go home tomorrow.  Ethan will meet his dog--Sarah--and explore his "oriental" bedroom.  I feel so blessed by the support of my husband, Troy, who hung in there with me and has been AMAZING these past 3 days (and the months before).  We are a family and my heart could not be more full with the love of these two guys in my life. 

I felt the ancestors gather round the night I gave birth.  I have felt the love of my friends and family in the days since.  And now I'm ready to take the next step living in the abundance of love that this little on has brought into our lives.  Good night.