Family

Here are some videos of the little beauty from her time in the hospital and her homecoming. She's almost three and a half days old and still as lovely as the moment she was born.

(These have all been posted to my YouTube account... this player features the Éowyn's Birth playlist, and I'm sure I'll be adding more very soon... If you want to link to it yourself, use http://bit.ly/LbCgm. )

I'm super excited and happy to announce the birth of my baby girl, Éowyn Grace Szrama. She took her first breath of fresh air at 12:09 PM on September 25, 2009. The event was live blogged on Twitter, so she was immediately welcomed to Earth by Drupallers and friends from all over the world. We'll be printing her up a Google Map charting them all for her nursery.

Daddy made sure she'd feel a part of the community from day one. I pulled my baby into the world wearing one of my favorite t-shirts (visible in the background behind her little Druplicon head) so she'd know that Lullabot loves her. I even had to take it off between hospital visits to preserve it for the big day (long story).

Handing my little clay baby to momma under Lullabot's watchful eye.

Baby girl after her first feeding with a proud mom and dad.

For those interested, we've posted more pictures in a public Facebook gallery and will get some up on my Flickr account eventually. Thanks for all the encouragement and congratulations!

This next week I'll be taking my show on the road. After a high school friend's wedding this evening, I'm driving with Christina to Abingdon, VA where we'll stay with my grandparents for the weekend. We'll be meeting my older brother and sister-in-law there for some hangin' out and some play action - The Fantasticks at the local Barter Theatre. It should be a fun weekend!

On Sunday evening or Monday morning we'll drive down to Greenville, SC where I'll set up shop in their "bonus room". It'll become my new home office for a few days while we spend the evenings visiting with family and loading up on baby shower loot. I love spending time with my in-laws, so the week should be a real treat.

Even better... we won't have to leave our house unattended that whole time! Some friends are in between leases at two apartments and have agreed to come babysit Top Porch and our awesome veggie garden while we're away. Sheets changed, clean towels out, floor vacuumed, and chocolates hidden. Hah!

So, we continued the painting adventure in earnest on Sunday after a quick post-church lunch at Arby's (I always carry my Arby's coupons for just such occasions). Christina came home late that evening and was very impressed, but that quickly turned to distress when I didn't stop painting again till 1 AM. Apparently she was having trouble falling asleep and needed me by her side to conk out. Sorry, babe!

What was keeping me? Well, she wanted a red accent wall in the library/office (the middle room) downstairs. I picked up a gallon of the closest color I could find to the one she specified. However, the first coat looked like crap and the second coat didn't do much to help. I ended up waking up this morning (painting day 3) to put a third coat on and then put a fourth on this evening. I used the entire gallon, but it looks awesome! Pics to follow soon at the new Szrama Clan website.

While I continued to work on the accent wall, my step-dad was making awesome headway in the kitchen. The whole thing is taped and primed, leaving me with a much shorter weekend of painting to finish the job. It's been fun to take care of little annoyances around the house as we paint. I fixed a picture frame and a cabinet shelf, and we finally scraped the stickers off the windows that pre-dated our purchase of the house. I think next I'm going to have to clean all the windows downstairs, because they're straight nasty.

Today was probably the best "painting" day yet, because it included a trip to the movies, Moe's for dinner, and Dairy Queen for a late night "we finished two rooms, hooray!" snack. We saw X-men Origins and Terminator Salvation. Both flicks were awesome, but I was definitely more excited about and impressed by X-men. Watching Wolverine and Gambit in action just rocked. If you have to pick between these movies, go get some X-men.

Now it's past midnight and I'm continuing my trend of working all day and working all night. I'm hoping to hit the sack soon, because I have to get up to prepare for a business trip to Chicago where I'll be teaching Ubercart to a room full of learners. I can't wait! Christina's in Toronto for a couple weeks, so she won't miss me being at home. Here's hoping the garden doesn't dry up while I'm gone!

So, this Memorial Day weekend, Christina drove off to visit with family in Nashville while my step-dad drove up from Atlanta to help paint the downstairs of Top Porch. For those just tuning into my life, that's the name of my house, and he's the one who made us the sign that proves it. Painting downstairs is quite the task, as our ceilings are 11' tall. However, after a yummy breakfast at Denny's and a trip to Lowe's for paint and supplies, we dove in undaunted by the long weekend ahead of us.

I'm happy to report that things went quite well and possibly better than expected! We managed to paint and trim the living room and half of the library/office. We had to leave a few sections unfinished, because we didn't have the sandpaper necessary to smooth out some patched spots. We'll take care of those tomorrow and finish at least the library/office tomorrow. Who knows, we might even make some headway on the kitchen.

I don't have the color cards on hand, but I'll be sure to post the colors tomorrow. They're earthy and quite appealing, and even just the work we've done so far feels like it's transformed the house. Our walls thus far have been a dirty, scuffed white with small trails of stain and running down them here and there. We inherited them in this state and meant to paint them but never really had the opportunity. However, with baby Eowyn on the way and a pregnant momma able to leave the premises for a weekend, it was now or never!

Well, Christina and I just got back from her first prenatal checkup, where they did some initial tests, drew blood, and played the heartbeat for us. I'm posting up an MP3 recording of the heartbeat and some superfluous narration from yours truly. Feel free to grab it off of here and check it out. If I get a minute, I'll embed this in a media player... for now just click the attachment link to listen in your browser if possible or download the file.

Hooray, baby! You rock.

As I type these words it is now Christmas in Canton, GA where I am visiting my family for the holiday. Christina and I drove down Monday and have been enjoying our time so far. We've had some good meals, seen some good football, and played a good game or two. I was even able to get "the kids" to go see The Tale of Desperaux, an incredible little movie that I highly recommend to everyone who reads this!

As we prepared to celebrate Christmas, we were led to meditate on the opening words of the Gospel of John by the pastor at a church near my parents' home. He focused specifically on Jesus "coming to his own" who did not receive him. Jesus in the incarnation willingly stepped into hostile territory and endured the rejection of the people who should have embraced him. However, to as many as did receive him, he gave the power to become children of God.

The meditation begs the question, of course... Would I have been one of those who received him (Simeon? Nicodemus?) or one of those who did not receive him (Judas? The rich young ruler?)? Am I living a life now that shows the former disposition? I'd like to think so, but it's worth remembering John 2... when Jesus enters a place, he's not above turning over a few tables and driving out things that profane the holiness of God.

Which leads to a closing tangent... I'm reading and loving a book by R.C. Sproul called The Holiness of God that arrived just before I left Louisville. It was an unexpected treat, and I'm praying that it continues to impress on me the holiness of God and just what it means to live a life knowing and honoring Him.

Summary thought: Thankful for the incarnation and for the good gift of family.