To hear one's own thoughts

Not all moments in our home are this quiet:

The dogs slept curled in separate corners, denying one-another's existence.

Owen nursed slowly in the arms of his loving mother.

Anna read while snuggled in under the window.

The hum of the furnace, the tapping of the keyboard.

All is good on Union Avenue.

Master's Degree (in diaper changing)

Some things are better done when one is single or before children come into the home. (And no, I am not recommending the use of birth control for these things.) One of which is completing a Master's Degree. As you all know I have been working on a Master's of Divinity over the past two years. It has gotten more difficult with the birth of Owen.
Education has not gotten any easier with children. I have taken this week off of work so that I could catch up on papers that need to be completed before the fourteenth of December. A good amount of my time has been entertaining Anna, comforting Owen, or attempting to fix some toy related tragedy for Anna. It has not been an easy week.
Here is what still needs to be completed before semester's end:
Papers on the following topics:
Literacy in the Bible
Mark 13 exposition
House visitation
The circumcision of Christ
Baptism
Preparation for the Lord's Supper


Too bad I cannot write a paper on the morality of Thomas and Friends. I am sure that I know all that there is to know about our little British train buddy. I think more Thomas research has been done than paper research.
Maybe I am just a doubting Thomas, but I hope all gets finished.

Anna, Who made you?

Anna's theological training has begun. Lydia and I are taking great joy in training our children in the ways of God.

This is what she knows thus far:
Anna, who made you?
God.
Anna, why did God make you?
Glory.
Anna, what else did God make?
All things!
Why did he make all things?
Glory.

This is the next question in the children's catechism, but she cannot do this one yet..
Anna, what rule has God given to glorify and enjoy him?
The Bible

She also knows that we read and pray daily and that before meals she has to give thanks to God for his provisions. "Pray, papa, pray."

In her little Sunday school class she is learning things as well. She is learning the Lord's prayer. (She has difficulty saying it but she can repeat some of it.) She is also learning a couple of the Psalters that we sing in church on a regular basis. She can recognize the tunes and will lip along, but does not know the words yet.

She is also learning that Papa is an infralapsarian and that her Mother is a supralapsarian. (See marriages of differing religious backgrounds can work out!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Nathan!!!

Come away to the skies, My beloved arise, And rejoice on the day thou wast born, On the festival day Come exulting away, To thy heavenly country return.

We have laid up our love And treasure above, Though our bodies continue below; The redeem'd of the Lord We remember his word, And with singing to Sion we go.

With singing we praise The original grace By our heavenly Father bestow'd, Our being receive From his bounty, and live To the honour and glory of God.

For thy glory we are, Created to share Both the nature and kingdom divine: Created again That our souls may remain In time and eternity thine.

With thanks we approve The design of thy love Which hath join'd us, in Jesus his name, So united in heart, That we never can part, Till we meet at the feast of the Lamb.

There, there at his seat We shall suddenly meet, And be parted in body no more, We shall sing to our lyres With the heavenly quires, And our Saviour in glory adore.

Hallelujah we sing To our Father and King, And his rapturous praises repeat; To the Lamb that was slain Hallelujah again Sing all heaven, and fall at his feet.

In assurance of hope We to Jesus look up, Till his banner unfurl'd in the air From our grave we both see, And cry out IT IS HE, And fly up to acknowledge him there!

(poem by Charles Wesley to his wife on her birthday) (please note that I do not agree with the views of Charles Wesley but because of Christian liberty I freely enjoy his poetry and hymns, thank you.)

Here is Nathan's baby picture. Born November 28, 1977, in Warren, PA. I just wanted to attempt a blog post thanking Nathan for being a wonderful husband and father. He really truly is amazing. Our appreciation is not shown enough. Nathan is not your typical husband. He does way more than any man I know. He serves Christ first and foremost, and then always puts his family before everything else. He works full-time and goes to seminary full-time. He is a full-time dad and head of the house. He helps clean and cook. He would even do the laundry if I let him. (I am too picky...) What a guy. I will stop embarassing him now, but he is really loved and appreciated. Here are a few pictures.... Anna is definitely "daddy's girl." He loves her very much and she loves him very much. Happy Birthday, Papa.
Had to put this one on. It is one of the many times that Nathan is goofing around with Anna.
Owen also appreciates all that Papa does for him. They not only are sleeping buddies, but they also are theological debating buddies. Of course, Owen wins each time....(with the help of his brilliant mama).
Sedgwick wanted me to put his picture up also to let Nathan know that he appreciates all that he does. He is really sorry, but he ate Nathan's cake...

I find it unnecessary to put my picture up. You know what I look like. Thank you. I love you. Happy Birthday! We are taking a train to Chicago to go to Shedd's Aquarium. It is not happening on his birthday but when he is done with classes this semester.

Your loving wife, Lydia :)

Touched up versus the real thing

So Lydia commented to me in a very loving way that she does not think that my paint shop touch-ups are very good and that she finds it very obvious that they are altered.

I say, don't you remember that it was ME that went to one year of art school? What is your artistic background Mrs. Eshelman?

I thought that I would let my faithful readers be the judge of my abilities. Should I begin to include the altered pictures on the weblog, or should I stick with the unadulterated pictures?

Here is a sample of my work...who can tell, right?

Five months on Black Friday!

Today you are, may I lovingly say, a mistaken readerhood. You all thought that today was Black Friday, the day in which large women with hair weaves are trampled underfoot at Walmart. Little did you know that it is actually the day in which we celebrate Owen's fifth month of postgestational life! Yeah for Owen.

Of course, we thought that we would celebrate with a blog post full of drool-filled love. We also had a little discussion about the rampant consumerism and commercialism that is Black Friday, and we thought of a few commercial ideas as well.
Owen said that when he is six months old he wants to do the Quizno's commercials. He is sure that he has the roughian look that the company finds to be so marketable.
He also said that he would give his chance at some modeling. Here he is trying to look quite serious. He told me that he was going to send this in with his portfolio to some cologne companies. I told him that this may not be lawful gain, and we would discuss it when he is seven months.
Anna said to him, "O-O, you are staying right here with me. We want to live with Papa and Mama forever!"
They really love each other a lot. Anna thought that maybe they could do radio instead. She suggested NPR, Owen suggested Wood 1300.
I said, I would choose Wood 1300 as well Owen! I gave him a big hug for his thoughts.
They were both happy with the choice that I, their father, made for them. They would stay right here with us and not work until they are of age.
Lydia was obviously happy with that decision as well. Anna raised a hand in praise due to not having to be forced into child labor.
Owen reminded her that if it was not for child labor those people at Walmart would never have been trampled under foot. So much for a good deal on Black Friday with that on your conscience.

Highlights from Anna & Nate's birthday party

Anna and Nathan had their birthday party last evening. It was quite an event...many....many people filled the rooms of Union. With the basement completed we were able to filter the kids to the basement and have the adults (and a few of the kids) on the main floor of the house. Lydia baked a beautiful cake for Nathan and Anna....not our Lydia...Sam's Club's Lydia.
Anna got this sweater and hat from her grandmother in Pennsylvania. She really loves it. She wore it to the party. (Of course her baby was there too.)
Anna said, "O-poo fisss" She wanted to open the one with the fish paper on it first.
She thought that the stack of gifts was impressive enough without even opening one.

People filled the rooms of our beloved little English Cottage. We enjoy having a lot of people over. (We also enjoy the quiet at the end of an evening like this....but don't tell anyone...it will be our little secret.)
Here is a pack of Pickerings or a lot of Lannings depending on which end of the photo you start from. Linda enjoyed holding the babies, while James yelled in German at his lovely sister.
Here is a friend that shall not receive a name since Google can pick them up. Let's just say that he is writing up a legal disclaimer saying that he is not responsible for any of these children.

The Vedra family was there as well. Seth was snuggled in his sling and Noah played with all the boys that were here. As a side note, Emily, you left your nappy bag here.

We sang Psalm 2 as well as Psalm 28 before we sang the birthday song and cut the cake. Anna did not seem interested in blowing out the candles. I was.
Anna thanks everyone for coming on behalf of her and her baby. She hopes that you all had a great time.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, ANNA!

The 22nd of November marks the second birthday of our little Anna Grace Eshelman. We cannot believe the little lady that she is becoming and we are especially amazed at how quickly this time has gone by.


The one above is from a series that we did early on in Sepia. We had fun taking these. I remember that when we had them developed we noticed that her nose was quite runny due to teething.
We called these Safari Anna. She was teething here too. We had a great laugh about this one because her dress was on backwards. (Lydia's doing, not mine!)
The first months of life were spent on the bed. Many visitors spent a lot of time enjoying Anna and company on the family bed!
Dave Bishop thought that this one was great. He sent us a card with this picture on the front saying something to the effect of, "Ohh! Dad, can we go sledding? Please!" We have it in her archives at home still.

This was a contemplative one. She was considering the role that she would play in the family. This grouping also included one with a sign that read, "I miss my grandma".

She was always a smiley little thing. We are glad that she is a happy baby. We hope that that continues as she ages.

Everyone comments on how blue her eyes are. (And pink is always a good color choice for clothes.)
This was a Sunday dress shot. As I have mentioned on the blog in times past, I love taking pictures of them on Sunday morning.


Here is our little Anna now. She messes up the house, she plays with her toys, she wears her babies in her sling, and she is ALL LITTLE GIRL. We love our little Anna Grace, and we cannot wait to celebrate her big day.

THERE ARE FOUR NEW POSTS BELOW

Enjoy!

Anna, your brother is not a toy!

This is very funny. We have played this game before, but for fear of the CPS we have been unwilling to blog this. Here we have Anna pushing Owen around in her baby's stroller. She finds this to be quite humorous, Owen finds this to be quite annoying. Notice that the safety buckle is on. He will not fall out of the stroller.
He began to enjoy it and expressed his feelings of glee with a hardy thumb's up!
They took a moment to pose for their proud parents.



They sure do enjoy playing together. I hope that Owen, as he gets older, does not regret his bizarre parent's blog.

First Snow On Union Avenue

Owen got to experience his first snow fall of his entire life on Wednesday evening. We had about four inches and I was at work for the most of it. I was hoping to be the first in my ring of blog friends to post about the snow, but I noticed that it was on these blogs: Set It Off, Gimmie Back My Bullets, Our Family Garden, and Yes, I Have No Bananas. I am not sure if I missed any of the others; you can check my other blog if you are interested in what they are saying.

We also turned the fireplace on for the first time. Anna thought that the fire was great. She tried to blow it out as well as fanned it saying, "it's ot". Owen did not seem to care about it at all for some reason, but Sedge on the other hand will sit within inches of it!
I love our landscape as you all know. Not only do I love it in the spring and summer when it is in full bloom; I also love it in the autumn and the winter. In autumn there are a lot of great deep colors that come out in the form of berries, seeds, and hips. The roses get those dark hips and the Chinese apple trees get a fantastic bulk of seeds that look like cherries. This year we made a dining table display out of them (in a Fiesta vase of course).

In the winter the landscape is very nice. Due to the flowers that have not been cut and the trees that are nicely shaped, the snow falls and nests in great textural forms. I love to see the way that it rests on the letterbox as well as the birdfeeders.
This is part of our back yard. Notice the great little carriage shed that is now a garage. You could fit a MINI Cooper in it, but not much more!
This is the view on Union Avenue. It was a great first snow.

We are ready for Spring.

Wrestle Mania 05

One of the favorite past times of the culture known as "white trash" is the watching and or participating in wrestling matches. Being people who love to experience culture (ie, Chinese food) we thought that we would bring ourselves to experience this cultural event.

We had a fantastic time and Anna thoroughly enjoyed a good bodyslam and Owen found the sleeper hold to be most terrific.
Anna loves the thrill of being upside-down.
This was really fun. They were both being tickled at the same time and they also would laugh because of the tickles as well as the sight of each other laughing. Most enjoyable.


We thought that we would tag team against Owen and Lydia. We snuck around the corner to catch them off guard, but we were caught...on camera.