jude goes to college

From Friday through Sunday this past weekend, we took some of our high school students on a college tour of (relatively) nearby Christian colleges. We began with Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, KY, traveled on to Cincinnati Christian University in Cincinnati, OH, and then drove to Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, TN.

Because my version of our weekend would be boring and filled with thoughts about tuition prices, FAFSA information, and ratio of teachers and students, I thought I'd let Jude tell you himself about his weekend. Keep in mind that this was the first student ministry trip on which we've taken Jude that didn't involve him being fed from the umbilical cord and falling asleep when I started walking. Believe it or not, they're a lot more work outside the womb. So without further ado, allow me to present to you...Judeabug...

So this past weekend, we did a whole lot of driving. Mommy kept saying that she was so worried that I was going to be fussy and cry a whole lot. I think it's really funny to prove her wrong, though. We drove from home to Kentucky. I had a lot of fun on that part of the trip! My good friend Katie got me to take a whole entire two naps in my carseat by putting her hand next to my face - one of my favorite things EVAH!

We got to KCU, and after we went to chapel (which I slept through most of), Mommy and Daddy took us to Pizza Hut. Mommy started to tell me that was where Daddy worked to earn money for their honeymoon, but that was when I put my fingers in my ears and shouted, "La La La La La!" Gross, Mommy. Gross. But I took my fingers out of my ears to get some pizza crust, which is delicious, by the way.


And then Mommy and Daddy showed me the bench where they sat and talked a lot. Whatever. They talk all the time - what's so special 'bout sitting on a bench and talking?

We took a walk around campus. Oh great. Does this mean I'm engaged to Mommy? Or DADDY?! Oh man - can you handle how funny I am?

And hey - check out my pretty sweet carseat cover. I can't read yet, but I'm pretty sure those words say, "Most Amazing Baby Ever."

The people at KCU apparently didn't want an 11 month old staying in the dorms (and I had big plans for those college kids...big plans), so Mommy and I stayed in a hotel room that night. Mommy was super excited and thought she'd get a lot of sleep. But seriously - I was at a college! Hello!? Party! I kept her up pretty much all night...that woman just does not know how to party.

We got up super early (or stayed up super late...depending on how you look at it) to drive from Kentucky to Cincinnati. We heard someone talk, but I really enjoyed crawling on the chairs in the back of the room. Seriously, if I had to pick a college based on its chairs, CCU would definitely win.

CCU was so nice and fed us a lunch of something called Skyline Chili. Mommy was way too excited about this stuff, it was weirding me out a little bit.

They made me try it. My thoughts?

"Eh."

And THEN we got to go to a mall, and I got to see my Grammy and Grampy! I was so excited that they met us to hang out!

Grammy won me a Chick Fil A cow that I played with on the trip back. Grammys and Grampys are the best.

After that, we went to a church in Cincinnati. On our way there, Mommy gave me some puffs. I haven't had these kind before, but they are YUMMY! As you can see, I was very interested in "reading" the ingredients.

After church, we hit the road for Knoxville. We stopped to eat dinner, and after that, Mommy and Daddy put me in my pajamas and let me crawl around a little while we were waiting on the students to finish dinner. (Mommy note - the van was parked and completely off.)

Then Mommy put me in my carseat, read me a book, prayed for me, and tried to get me to fall asleep. I think she was trying to trick me into thinking it was bedtime. Seriously, though. I'm an entire 11 months old. I know the difference between a 15 passenger van with high school kids in it and my crib and dark room. You're not dealing with a 5 month old here. I didn't really sleep much, and was so excited when we got to Johnson! Mommy, Daddy, and I had our own dorm room (far away from the other kids and college students), and I was so excited to be awake at midnight! That hasn't happened in months!

I learned that college dorms have lots of drawers, and I just so happen to LOVE drawers! If that's what college is all about - sign me UP!

Once again, I was so excited about college (and those drawers...oh those drawers!) that I couldn't sleep! I let Mommy and Daddy have four or five hours, and I even talked (...err...cried) them into taking them into the bed with them. I've been working on that sweetness for months, and they finally caved.

I was excited to wake up the next morning and see the campus, though. I was going for the "college kid during finals week" look.

Mommy let me crawl around with just my diaper on for awhile, which was awesome! Nothin' makes me happier than diaper playtime. Mommy kept saying that she and Daddy were going to move into my dorm room just like that night if I didn't behave. I don't know what she's talking about. Mommy and Daddy are the most fun people I know. I think it'd be pretty sweet to have them with me in college (but Daddy said no way. he said they're going to have a big party and lots of dates when i'm in college).

After our campus tour (they did NOT point out the super cool drawers. apparently they don't know how to attract prospective students) we hit the road again. I thought I'd give Daddy a break and drive for little bit....

...but apparently you can't randomly play with sticks and gears and stuff when you're driving. So I left that part up to Daddy. Apparently he hasn't seen me driving my lion.

Besides, I had some serious fussing to do.

But really, if I trapped YOU in a carseat for stretches of five hours at a time, you might be a little cranky, too.

So Mommy took a ridiculous amount of pictures because at least the camera was amusing me. I'll spare you, though, and only show you a couple.

And then the kids in the backseat started making me laugh. Oh man - they are hilarious! I hope you have some high school kids in your life, because they are seriously too funny. Especially the guys - there's nothing better than high school guys looking ridiculous in public just to make me smile.

I was so happy to be home, in my own bed, with my own puppy, and playing with my own toys - you have no idea! And I think I'll do just fine when the time comes for me to go to college. It turns out that all I have to do is smile really big and show people my four teeth, and I have them wrapped around my finger. Professors, students, college presidents...yeah...this college thing is going to be a snap.

a letter to jude

Dear Jude,

Yesterday, kiddo, you turned eleven months old. This is ridiculous. As much as I try to keep you from growing up, you seem intent on doing so. Crazy kid.

You know, as each month goes by, Daddy and I keep saying, "This is our favorite stage. No wait, THIS is our favorite stage. No actually, THIS is our favorite stage." So I say with a grain of salt that this past month has been my favorite. MommyDaddy love seeing your personality - your sweet, independent, hard working, stubborn, cuddly, funny, entertaining personality, and we love watching you as you learn and grow. You're such a blessing to us, sweet Jude, and we're so glad you're a part of our life.

In the past month, you seem to have grown by leaps and bounds, but perhaps my favorite area of growth is your ability to play games by noticing repetition. You and I play a particularly fun game (to you, at least) that involves the lid to your bottle. Notice that it doesn't involve any of the myriad of toys we own - but a bottle lid. You take the lid of the bottle, and holding in laughs, hand it to me. I pretend to take a sip, and say, "Mmmm! That was delicious!" and hand it back to you. You giggle and try to put the bottle lid on the top of my head. I put it on my head, and laughing your little hiney off, you climb up to get it down. Then I put it on top of your head, and you giggle and shake your head to get it down. Then we start all over again. Judeabug, there's nothing else I'd rather be doing than playing that sweet game with you.

You're also starting to recognize people and get excited about seeing friends. You love laughing at silly faces people make at you, and you get a kick out of making people smile at you (especially when we're standing in line and you can make strangers smile). You love to be held, but you also get antsy when you can't get down and explore the world around you.

Speaking of which, you're walking around holding onto our fingers and starting to stand on your own for a few seconds at a time. I seriously can't believe that you're going to be one whole entire year old in four weeks. One year! In four weeks, you'll no longer be drinking formula or using bottles. In four weeks, we'll stop referring to your age in months. In four weeks, Daddy and I are going to celebrate one of the most important days of our lives. In four weeks, you'll be one year old.

So today, Judeabug, when you are eleven months old, I want to make sure you know that we love you very much. We love you more than you could possibly imagine. You are cherished, wanted, adored, and loved. I want you to know that when we tell you, "no," when we don't give you what you want because you're throwing a fit, and when we let you cry sometimes, that we do those things because we love you. We love you so much that we don't want you to get hurt and we want you to have boundaries.

When you get older there will be so many times that you'll be mad at us because we don't let you do or have something. There will be times that you'll think we're purposefully making your life miserable, or that you'll think we're unfair and mean. It's okay for you to be angry at us, but I just want you to know that the reason we don't let you have everything you want and the reason we let you experience the consequences to your actions is because we love you SO very much. You can't do anything to earn our love, Judeabug, and you can't do anything to lose it. We love you because. Because we do.

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

the joy of a straw

Jude loves straws. They thrill his little heart like no other...

He also really likes taking what he enjoys putting in his mouth, and putting it in MY mouth. It's like he's thinking, "If I really like chewing on this, then Mommy will LOVE it!"

And while chewing on a straw isn't necessarily my thang...I'll do just about anything to see that sweet smile.

maybe it's maybelline

(maaaybeee/maybe it was them/or maybe it was me/or maybe it's maybelline/or maybe it's maybelline)

If you know from what song those lyrics are, you get bonus cool points!

If you haven't been reading about the epic love story that IS Shawn and Jen, allow me to recap:

1. Shawn and Jen and are none too impressed with one another.

2. Shawn and Jen started hanging out because we were both RAs and Shawn had a thing for a friend of mine.

3. Shawn and Jen started to look past the sarcasm and goofiness and realize they respected one another.

4. Chris Tomlin intervened and saved a friendship that would've been lost due to lack of convenience.

There, now you're all caught up. With Easter approaching, Shawn and I decided to each challenge our sections with giving up something for lent. Shawn decided to give up music with words for the approximate thirty days, and I decided to give up make up. Being the college girl that I was, make up was a big part of my morning routine, and I felt like giving it up would be quite the sacrifice.

During this "fast" of mine, I visited my - by then very serious boyfriend- Kevin, who was living off campus. Even though Kevin and I had been friends for two years prior to dating, we'd kind of taken turns liking each other. As such, our friendship was one of those that mandated I put on makeup, fix my hair, and make sure I smelled delicious before hanging out with him. He knew what my lent sacrifice was, so when I saw him I asked, "So...what do you think?"

Being without make up - in front of the guy you hope to one day marry - asking him what he thinks - is a pretty vulnerable spot in which to find yourself. His response?

(long pause) "Well...." (another long pause)

"It's okay, you can be honest," I replied (a relationship's last words), "Do you think I look better with makeup?"

I remember this moment exactly. I was standing in his living room, and I was wearing a black, knee-length skirt, and a red turtleneck sweater, an outfit chosen painstakingly just for him. He looked me in the eye, shrugged his shoulder a little bit, and held up his pointer finger and thumb.

"Maybe just a little bit," he responded.

I don't feel like I need to belabor this point, but FYI guys - if you're thinking about marrying the girl you're dating, you know that means waking up every morning next to her, right? You know that means that at some point she's going to stop putting on makeup before bed, or waking up before you to "freshen up," before you see her, right? You might want to kind of like what she looks like without makeup. ...just sayin'.

I brushed it off as no big deal at the time, but I was pretty hurt that my vulnerable and makeup-less face was "just a little bit" not enough.

Meanwhile, Shawn and I were still hanging out and had started to talk fairly regularly on the phone. We talked about everything - things we were studying, doubts, classes, food, and even future plans. I remember telling Shawn that I wanted to wear daisies in my hair on my wedding day, and I remember him telling me that he imagined me to be the kind of girl who wore overalls a lot when I was pregnant. Of course, I never imagined I'd be looking at him with those daisies in my hair, and I'm sure he never imagined it would be his child my overall-ed self would be carrying.

Oh my. Can you handle the irony?

So one evening, Shawn and I chatted on the phone for a particularly long time. One of us ended the conversation with, "Well, we both have to wake up for church in the morning, so I should probably go." After lunch the next day, we saw each other in the library, and after a minute, realized that neither of us had actually made it to church that morning. As we continued to talk, we realized we both planned on going to the same church that evening.

"Why don't we just go together?" Shawn asked, "Meet me at my car at 6:15."

So at 6:15 promptly ('cause that's how I roll), we met to go to church together. Shortly after this, Shawn traded in his SUV for an Alero, a choice he complains about even today. He's all like, "I really miss that SUV. You know, if I still had that car, we wouldn't have a problem with getting all Jude's junk packed when we visit home." And I'm like, "Yeah, but honey, it guzzled gas, remember? That's why you got rid of it." And he's all, "(sigh)You wouldn't understand. You never saw that SUV. Oh man, I loved that SUV." And I'm like, "YES I DID! Remember? We went to Gregoryville together that night you fell in love with me, and you didn't open your car door for me, and I had to climb up like ten feet to get inside, and we showed up late to church, and then you fell in love with me? Remember?" And every time, just like we've never had this conversation before, he responds, "Oh. Yeah, I forgot."

We did indeed show up late - we thought church started at 6:30, but it was apparently 6:00 instead. So we snuck in the back and grabbed a hymnal. We'd been singing for a few minutes, when Shawn whispered, "JP!" (a college nickname)

"Yeess?" I responded, most likely agitated because I hate when people talk during church, the movies, or my favorite television shows.

"You're wearing makeup!" he accused.

"No I'm not," I responded. Then Shawn got a funny look on his face, which I thought was doubt about my honesty, so I whispered, "Well, I am wearing chapstick, but I don't think that counts. It's not like there's any tint or even flavoring to the chapstick. My lips were just dry. No, that doesn't count. At least I don't think it does. It's just chapstick. No way chapstick counts as makeup"

For someone who hates when people talk during church, yes, I was doing a lot of talking.

It turns out Shawn didn't hear my ever so eloquent diatribe on chapstick. Do you want to know why? Listen closely, because this is my favorite part of our entire story. Shawn didn't hear me because he was thinking, "Wow. So she really looks like that without makeup? Wow. She's beautiful."

In all the time that Shawn and I had talked about girls in whom he was interested, he never referred to any of them as beautiful. For whatever reason, that word was sacred to him, and the fact that the word just ran through his mind in reference to JP -his good old buddy JP -most likely caused his brain to internally explode.

Meanwhile I was babbling on about chapstick, completely unaware that yes - my friends - Shawn had finally noticed these sky blue eyes of mine.

a morning with jude

Subtitled: Chasing Jude around for an hour with a camera

Like most kids his age, Jude is all over the place when it comes to playtime and will hardly stay in one spot for for than a minute. I thought it'd be fun to document what he does and where he goes within about a fifty minute time span.

"What? You're going to be following me around with that camera? Fine, if you must."
"Sheesh. Papparazzi."

We have three of these cute little bins that stay under Jude's crib. Since he especially loves pulling things out right now, these are perfect for him to pull out whatever he likes.

But today, he decided he'd rather join his toys.

So into the toy bin he went

"Hey look at me! I'm in my toy bin!"

...and then the toy bin fell over. And because this was just a few hours after the never to be spoken of again incident, I was very careful to cushion his fall.

"Take that, you toy bin!"

A couple of minutes later, Jude scoots out of his room, into the hallway (where our giant dog likes to hang out and protect Jude. And by "protect," I mean bark at imaginary intruders while he's napping).

Apparently this is the magical hat that makes you look exactly like Daddy when you put it on.

Bored by the hats and books, we move into Mommy's and Daddy's room...

Where the guitar is!

Chubby baby fingers pluckin' on some strings makes me so happy...

...And then it's time to visit the baby in the mirror...who is hilarious, by the way.

And a darn good kisser, too.

Then Jude moved too quickly from our bedroom to the living room for me to get a picture, but it was apparantly lion time.

...and apparently Vodka time as well. Just kidding, we'd never give our kid Vodka. We're straight Whiskey folks here.

And then Jude found his first wasp. It's normally Daddy's job to kill the critters, but since it was just the two of us, I did a fine job and got rid of that wasp in one smack! Ironically, this was just a few hours after the pest defense guy came and sprayed. Personally, I think he sprays kool-aid around the edges of our home.

Shawn had put a gate in the entrance of our kitchen because Jude has disovered a passionate love for Coletrane's food and our garbage can. Jude thought it was hilarious when I stepped over the gate. So I kept doing it. Back and forth. Over that gate. Just to see that smile. Totally worth it.

Jude loves his "cruising around the coffee table" time. After I shot this picture, Jude headed straight towards our power cords, and was none too happy when I pulled him away. He threw quite the fit, which meant he was sleepy, so alas - the papparazi took a break.

chris tomlin and maybelline

Pre-dating, pre-married, and pre-Jude Shawn and Jen hanging out at Open Dorms.

Don't know what the heck I'm talking about? Part One. Part Two. Part Three.

So when we last left off, Shawn and I were relatively good friends. I say "relatively" because in large part, we were friends of convenience. Shawn would come over to hang out in the lobby, I'd ask him how his day had been, and we'd inevitably start chatting and just keep chatting. Occasionally we'd go on a walk to continue the conversation, but most of our friendship was based on the fact that we just saw each other a lot.

As Christmas break rolled near, though, the same genius who decided I would be the Head RA of the dorm decided to move me across campus to another dorm. I knew this move came because I was trusted - this was a particularly challenging section - but I was angry. I'd spent a semester investing into the girls in my dorm, and just like that - I was moved. Not only did I feel like I was abandoning my mostly freshman girls, but now I had to start all over again with relationships, AND had to deal with a difficult section. Since I had no choice though, I moved.

Shawn and I didn't talk over Christmas break, but we weren't really that great of friends. I remember wondering if we'd still hang out after I moved across campus, and deciding that we probably really wouldn't - and I was alright with that. A couple of weeks into the new semester, however, I got a phone call.

"Hey, Jen?"

"Yeah? Oh - hey Shawn!"

"Hey, so I was just wondering if you had a few minutes to talk."

"Sure - wanna meet at Lusby?" (yes, that's the real name of our main building. go ahead, everyone snickers the first time they hear it).

This time I had no delusions about Shawn noticing my sky blue eyes, but I was glad to hang out with him again. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember exactly how our conversation went that evening. I DO remember thinking that he was awfully serious and earnest, and was glad that he trusted me enough to share with me.

See, Shawn tends to be an intensely private person. I can't lie - some of the stuff I write on this blog (especially the looooovey stuff) makes him a bit uncomfortable. He doesn't open up to a lot of people and has a thick layer of sarcasm and wit to penetrate in order to really get to know him. I didn't know it at the time, but some of the stuff we talked about on those walks were a BIG deal to Shawn.

So that particular night, Shawn had been at a Chris Tomlin concert. I'm not entirely sure what was going on in his life before, and I don't even entirely understand what happened in his heart during, but he was apparently very affected. God spoke to Shawn and I guess changed his heart. I say words like, "apparently," and "I guess," because I really don't remember what Shawn said in that conversation.

I've since found out that when Shawn got back, his immediate thought was, "I need to share this with Jen." The same Jen with whom he didn't talk at all over break, and the same Jen with whom he hadn't even had a conversation since school started. Yet it was also the same Jen who he'd found genuinely listened and cared about what was going on in his life - and cared enough to call him out when he was being ridiculous.

I didn't know it at the same, but this was a big deal. Thank you, Chris Tomlin. Thank you.

And so once again - that one conversation broke the ice. Whereas Shawn and I had been previously friends of convenience, we now called each other fairly regularly to chat and hang out. He was the one person with whom I could share my struggles with my section, and he never failed to help me see the girls through God's eyes instead of my own. Our conversations would often start with, "Hey, so I was reading in James and read this, and thought about what you're dealing with," and we sat next to one another- worshipping and learning together- at chapel.

Now let me pause here to tell you that in case you're thinking there was any funny business going on - there indeed, was not. Sometimes when Shawn called and wanted to hang out, I'd meet him straight from a work out. Greased out hair, pit stains, and all. Shawn continued to ask me advice about girls in whom he was interested, and I continued to ask him advice about Kevin - who I was dating by that point.

This is the part of our relationship for which I'm most grateful, and I believe God guarded each of our hearts from falling in love before it was His perfect time. I had never let down my guard with a guy the way I did with Shawn, and I daresay he had never trusted and respected a female as much as he did me. Shawn saw me - the real, frizzy hair-ed, goofy me, and he allowed me to see beyond his sarcasm. If I had been interested in Shawn, I no doubt would've ruined it by trying too hard and filtering my words and emotions.

Thankfully, I wasn't out to impress Shawn.

It's 9:00am and Jude just woke up (color me thrilled! and productive!), so my friends, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait to find out what Maybelline has to do with our love story. Sorry for the (not-so-much) cliff hangers. I promise - I'll get through this one day!