Hip Waders and Bent Coat Hangars

This morning I performed my first-ever Baptism. I was initially going to baptize one of my third graders, but as it turned out I also baptized twin 7th Grade girls. Not my first at this church...my first ever. And I didn't take "Life and Work of the Pastor" in Seminary, so I had never practiced this.

I think it went well...although I feel like I slobbered all over myself, everyone else said I was a natural.

At this church, white robes are a thing of the past...the candidates wear a swimsuit with a 2BC Baptism t-shirt over the top. At the end of the day, they take the t-shirt home as a souvenir. The pastor performing the baptism wears waders and the same t-shirt.


This was my first time in waders...and I'm not sure if this is a normal thing to happen or if I didn't have them on correctly, but as I entered the water, an exercise of physics occurred. The force of the water displaced the air inside the waders. No, bubbles did not emerge...nothing like that. They simply became SKIN TIGHT. I actually wondered after a while if my circulation was being cut-off. I then experienced the terror of what ifs...


What if I pass out from lack of circulation?

What if, as I exit, they make some sort of noise...like a balloon with all its air being let out...filling the church with crude sound effects and rolling waves of laughter?


What if they're so stuck on me that I can't get them off and the volunteers and parents of these kids have to cut me out of these things??? Thank the Lord I listened to my mother and wore good underwear...


By the Grace of God...none of that happened. I exited the water, the waders loosened, and I was free and dry...and ready to conquer the next challenge.

We have uniformed, off-duty police officers who work the children's building on the weekend. Earlier this morning, I had overheard one of our elderly members pleading with the officer on duty to help her retrieve her car keys from her locked trunk. (And this will likely be another post all-together...Conway PD is no longer allowed to do this unless it is a true emergency...apparently someone sued the PD for scratching the paint on their car when they came to their rescue...seriously people).


Anyway, I was walking from one building to the next when I saw this poor lady - whose daughter had now arrived to help - trying to pry the car door open with a coat hangar. I stood with them for about ten minutes and tried to guide the daughter through the process. After several attempts, she gave up. I took the wire, and (seriously here) within about 15 seconds had the door open. I may have a career in auto theft ahead of me.


So all in all, it was a productive morning. Baptisms, car break-ins, lots of fun and just another day at Second Baptist, Conway.

And on a random note...this is the check-in slip that prints when you bring Benjamin on Sunday mornings. The pictures were taken our first morning at 2BC, so he was not yet sure of his surroundings.





Does he NOT look like the school bully?????? This pic kills me. I'm changing it this week so as not to terrorize his volunteers or other children. Still...it cracks me up!

A Season of Firsts...

UPDATE

We were just laughing about this and I decided to share...

His new thing is to name all of the characters of the Backyardigans...not just while watching the show, but at random times throughout the day.

Austin...Tyrone...Tasha...Pablo...and "Eee-lu."

He calls Uniqua "Eee-lu." Now I ask you, does it get any cuter than that?

****************************

Well as we close chapter 1, our first month in Conway, we wanted to take a moment and share a few other firsts we have experienced this week.


First Day of School (Mother's Day Out)


Pics of the new backpack are coming...Jenny has a new computer and her software wasn't loaded in time for her to monogram the new bag.


First day walking in with my Penguin Lunchbox all by myself...

I love this one...it's like he paused for a moment to think about what was in his lunchbox...

First time walking in and playing with friends...

And this morning...first day of Community Bible Study (This is his third year, but the first time he will be able to sing in the Christmas Program. Beware other parents, your seating is limited. Because everyone we have ever known will be there for this...)

And first picture of baby bump. 13 weeks tomorrow and growing!

The (Rest of the) Story of September 7

It was noon on a Wednesday. I had come back to my apartment in between an 11 o'clock class and a 1 o'clock lab. After having lunch, I pulled my trash bag, tied it off, and headed downstairs to the dumpster.

It was somewhere around the third to the last step that I looked up and saw her coming.

Like everyone does at a college of only 1,600 students, I spoke. Probably something uber-cool along the lines of "Hey."

But she went a step farther with her reply. I'll never forget the ring of her sweet voice..."Hi, Todd."

I went a few feet further before it registered. That girl just said my name. Hmmmm.

Immediately the gears started turning. Who was Jenny Tidball? I knew who she was, but what was she about? Who was she friends with? Where was she from? More importantly, who was she dating and how was I going to move in on him?

The answers came over the next few days from the usual sources...friends, classmates, her sorority sisters. From Little Rock. Education major. Seriously sweet. Most importantly - single.

Our paths would cross again over the next couple of days...like Saturday afternoon when I ran into Jenny with Rebecca and they laughed at me for leaving early to "get a good seat at the game," and by the OBU/Henderson Game that evening, I could not take my eyes off of her.

I called her on Monday evening around 7:30 to ask her out. Suzanne answered. I didn't tell her who I was, or what I wanted, just that I would call back. Over the next fifteen minutes - in what could only be described as a fury of phonecalls, runs to so and so's apartment, and estrogen-laced mass hysteria - Jenny discovered (even small liberal arts campuses in the early 2000's had caller id...) that the phone call came from two doors down from her friend, Sarah.

Moments later Sarah's roommate came running to my door to let me know that Jenny had figured it out, she was home at the moment, and she was surely expecting me to call again.

I can only thank the Divine Hand of Providence for this all to have happened, because in those few moments, it occurred to Jenny that I was probably calling to ask her out. She had a few moments to prepare...to not be caught off guard. And more importantly, she had a chance to decide to say "Yes."

Our first date was pretty low-key. I had been cautioned by our mutual friends not to come on too strong. No flowers. Just dinner and a movie.

So, feeling like Mexican was a safe choice, we headed to Benton and Cafe Santa Fe. I knew right away that she had a sense of humor. She seemed to be quite amused with the massive Chimichanga they served me. Our movie wasn't such a good choice. Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Completely stupid. Completely opposite of our taste.

The end of the date was where I knew something had happened. No, it wasn't with the goodnight kiss - which, again operating under the advice of our friends, did not happen - but rather on the drive home. We were talking and laughing so much that we completely missed the exit on the freeway.

I walked her to her doorway, said goodnight, and we parted ways.

September 8 was complete agony. Not wanting to call (again with the friends' advice) until Monday, I casually kept an eye on her parking lot for most of the afternoon and evening. Her car was gone. I was unaware that she had decided to drive home to Little Rock on Saturday morning, and that possibility never entered my mind. All I could think was that she wasn't home and she must be out on a date with another guy. How had someone not snatched her up? I must me competing with someone and her friends just didn't tell me. As it was, she was at home discussing me with her sister. "He's going to call me again...he's going to want to go out again. What do I say? What do I do."

Her sister, cutting right to the chase asked her, "Does he repulse you in any way? Does he seem to have questionable character? Is he ugly? Does he seem to be morally challenged?"

Thanks to my future sister in-law, Jenny was able to prepare for the inevitable second date.

Still, while she was at home soliciting advice, my world was complete agony. All day.

I had plans to call her on Tuesday. Give it a few days, call her, see if she wants to go out again, etc etc etc.

Tuesday was September 11, 2001.

What kind of low-life calls and asks a girl out on the day the world is ending? Or the day after, for that matter?

I waited until Thursday. Again, she said yes. This time we started with Miniature Golf, then went to dinner. We had such a great time at dinner that we went on to a movie.

Those of you who remember the days after September 11 will recall that the networks quit showing violent movies. Everyone was so overwhelmed with terror that mental health professionals recommended a break from guns and explosions.

It was a Saturday night, and Jenny had told me that she was going to Hot Springs with some sorority sisters to see Zoolander.

I was at home in my apartment, flipping between seven or eight feel-good movies...You've Got Mail, Father of the Bride, Family Guy, Sleepless in Seattle...it was crazy.

My phone rang. It was Jenny, calling to ask me if I had seen all of the great movies on at the same time. We talked about it for a minute, laughed about how we were both flipping from channel to channel, and I then asked her why she was home and not with her friends at the movie. I asked her if she wanted to come over and watch something, and she did.

Hours later, her sister discovered that she had ditched her friends to (hopefully) hang out with me. When Jenny told her this, Holly stated - very simply - "My work is done."

And with that, we were inseparable.

Thanks Suzanne for saying "I don't know who it was but he sounded really cute!" when you told her someone called.

Thanks, Sarah and Shannon, for playing the part of the silly girls running back and forth from our apartments.

Thanks, God, for putting me (trash bag in hand) on the course to intercept the love of my life en route to the dumpster.

Thanks, Ouachita Baptist University, for being the kind of environment where you meet your future spouse.

Nine years, and it just keeps getting better.

It's In the Air

It's finally here!

The weather at my parents' has been perfect. Yesterday the weather channel app on my phone said "81 Degrees...Feels Like 80." I guess that is our first wind chill factor of the season.

Ben's ready to call his Hogs from the driver's seat of his new Razorback Jeep, courtesy of Uncle John.

This feels like our year...GO HOGS, GO!

12 Weeks

Jenny had her 12 week appointment this morning, and we are happy to report that all is well. We are just a little over a month away from finding out what we are having. If you're in Central Arkansas, are of the child-bearing way or plan to be of the child-bearing way, Baby Views is something you should definitely look into.

We did this with Benjamin because Jenny wasn't scheduled to have an ultrasound at her OB until 21 or 22 weeks, and we were dying to know what we were having (for those of you who don't know, Benjamin has been the only baby out of an ENORMOUS family to carry on the Bunch name...so the stakes were high).

What we did not expect was to have a lengthy appointment with a talented and well-trained Ultrasound Technician who gave us an astounding sense of peace about our growing baby. She is a former OB US Tech, and now works independent - so whatever she tells you is not a true medical diagnosis. She can, however, tell you if she sees anything you might want to have "looked at more closely..."

She looks at skin folds for markers for Downs. She looks for signs of spina bifida. And of course, if your little peanut is cooperative, she tells you what you're going to have. The room was comfortable and relaxing, the images were thrown up onto a massive screen in front of us so that we could see things perfectly, and we walked away with photos and even a DVD of the entire experience. The cost is minimal and she does a great job. Look into her.

Sorry - I honestly didn't mean for this post to be a Baby Views spot, but I truly am a fan.

Anyway - we're twelve weeks, (insert deleted comment about Jenny's pregnancy weight status) and the doctor says she's doing great. Benjamin still thinks it's a girl...only time will tell. At the first appointment, Dr. Simmons ...aka Our Hero...listened to me talk about the severity of Jenny's sickness compared to the first pregnancy, and said very non-chelantly, "Probably a girl..."

Today he listened to the heartbeat and said, "I think it's a boy."

Who am I to question nearly 50 years of delivery expertise? We LOVE this man. I don't care if he hands us a boy or a girl...as long as he's the one to do it. The first thing that came out of my mouth when we were contacted by our new church was, "Simmons can still deliver our kids..."

He's that important to us.

In other news...according to our What to Expect iPhone app, baby number two is developing gastric motility and white blood cells! WOO HOO!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Baby on the Brain

It's really hard to comprehend that - six or seven months from now - we will walk into a restaurant and say, "Three and a high chair" or "Three and a car seat sling." The Bunch family will be a party of four. Trips to Mom and Dad's are, most likely, not going to include the dogs anymore (probably much to my father's relief).

It's 8:45 on Monday morning and I am sitting in my office. I have no less than ten framed pictures of our son scattered around my shelves and counters. One - my favorite portrait of him - is dead center in the back wall so it's the first thing you see when you enter my door.

I know it's cliche...the question all parents ask: "Will we love the next one as much as this one?" I think I can say that I already love this baby as much as I loved Benjamin (or the hope of the baby) when we were twelve weeks along with him.

That said, we do already have a child that we know, that we understand, that we love. I think I'm more worried now not that we will have enough love for both, but that Benjamin will feel overlooked. I know there will be adjustments, fights for attention, and quarrels that will last a lifetime, but I want Benjamin's last few months as our only child to be about him, because it will never be all about him again.

I know he's two and he'll never remember this and he has no idea what is happening, but I don't want him to one day look through his scrapbook and say, "Why was my third birthday party so simple...oh, wait, yes. That's when the new baby came..."

Is this train of thought abnormal? I hope not.

Do I need to talk to a professional? Probably, though likely about far more than this.

Do all expectant parents think this? I'm betting yes.

Does it just mean I care about my children more than I can possibly convey? I hope so.

Dreams of Fall

Needless to say we are sick of the heat. The forecast for later this week has our highs in the low 90's, which will be a welcome change, but still not enough. I want a high of 65. Clear skies or cloudy days make me no difference. Just fall.

This weekend I watched Last Chance Harvey on Encore, and I realized that London would be an incredibly beautiful place to visit in the fall. I went in late spring/early Summer, but I think if I ever go again I'll try it out in autumn.

Jenny and I are going to Chicago in mid November with another couple...just for a weekend getaway before the holidays and the third trimester and all of that. I am thinking of that trip often and wishing for cooler days which has prompted me to list my top ten favorite things about fall. And yes, I know it's not even Labor Day yet. But I can dream, can't I?

10. Party Mix (AKA Chex Mix)...though I typically like this more in the December - February months, it makes an appearance in my mother's kitchen somewhere around October.

9. Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. I don't drink it often. Maybe two to four times a month.

8. Seeing Benjamin in layered shirts and his little jeans.

7. Walks with Jenny and Benjamin outside and around town. Jenny's eyes have this extra little sparkle when there is a chill in the air. It's always been one of my favorite things about her.

6. Pumpkin bread. My recipe makes three loaves, so I usually give two away. You want to stay on my good list for this reason.

5. Being able to wash and clean out the cars without suffering from heat exhaustion.

4. Listening to Christmas music. I start around October 1.

3. Simplified wardrobe choices. Shorts when it's cool, jeans when it's cold, and almost every day a North Face pullover.

2. Pots of mums and piles of pumpkins on the porch and steps, and our fall decorations out in the house.

1. Razorback Football.