Last weekend we flew to Chicago for Lucy's dedication. We had the dedication at my parent's house. We decided to do the dedication in Chicago, instead of at our home church in Baltimore so that more of our family members could participate. We had a brunch, which my family totally helped me make. We then had an informal ceremony which was led by Don's dad. Don's parents flew in from Lynden, Washington and Don's brother, his wife, and their two kids drove in from Grand Rapids. We also had friends from Chicago attend, which was wonderful. We are so thankful to my parents for graciously extending their hospitality to our family and friends. It was truly a very meaningful day for Don and I. It was very important to us to make a public commitment regarding our intention of raising Lucy to know the Lord. As Christian parents, the dedication was our affirmation that we are responsibile for continually seeking God's wisdom as we strive to raise her in His image.
At one point during our "ceremony," I will admit that I was relieved that we were at my parent's house and not in chruch. This moment occurred when Lucy pulled my dress down and exposed my bra for anyone that was looking. Thankfully we were amongst friends!
We thought it was appropriate to put the following verse on the cake: "Let the little children come to me...for theirs in the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 19:14
This weekend we had Kim's friends from University of Chicago in town. We had a nice visit with Monica and her husband Todd on Saturday night. We enjoyed some yummy Chinese food and as always had good conversation. And then Lisa joined us for brunch on Sunday at our favorite Baltimore restaurant, Mama's on the Half Shell. Lisa actually just moved to Baltimore this weekend for a fancy new job she got in DC. We are really excited to have her in our neck of the woods. We had lots to celebrate on Sunday, such as Lisa's new engagement. Congrats Lisa and Ryan! We always have lots of fun visiting with them and it was great to celebrate St. Paddy's Day with some Baltimore style seafood brunch.
So I thought it was time for me announce that I passed my LCSW-C exam a couple weeks ago, which means that I am officially a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Certified. Most of you know that this is something I have been working towards for the past two and half years. In order to get my license I had to provide a certain number of hours of therapy, have weekly clinical supervision, and pass a test. Obtaining my LCSW-C provides me with more options professionally and allows me to practice therapy without supervision. I also now have the opportunity of going into private practice at some point. I really can't believe that I passed, primarily because the room that I was taking the test in had a problem with the heat and it was like 85 degrees. It was so suffocating that I almost passed out. There was no way for them to fix the heat and I wasn't able to stop my test. I already have a hard time concentrating, but with the heat I seriously thought that I was going to lose my mind. I actually contemplated stripping down, but the video cameras that were monitoring us made me think better of this. After enduring four hours of this stifling heat I was finally done. So the night after I passed the test Don took me out to celebrate where I was able to enjoy a nice martini and meal!
Here's the proof...
We are not quite sure what to do about Lucy's hair. Every day and throughout the day it changes its configuration. There are no curls yet as we were hoping (we are still hoping...!). We often comment about how our little girl has a reverse mullet. A party in the front and business in the back. You go girl!
At 8 months old Lucy is becoming much more active! She is like a little gymnast. She lunges forward when she is sitting up and is now turning 360 degrees when on her belly. She is also starting to scoot backwards. Still no sign of crawling though. This is a video where you can see is she is "cruising" (i.e. trying to walk while holding on to furniture, with the operative word being "trying"). We have so much fun with her. Parenting really shouldn't be this fun (someone please remind me that I said this when we are in the terrible two stage).
