the Evans' family adventures: March 2009

So yesterday while I was holding Salem and trying to put him down for a nap I came across some interesting blogs, that I thought I'd share. Yesterday the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards' winners were announced and it's pretty cool- the best blogs and runner ups in a bunch of categories. And then of course if you go to some of these you could spend countless hours checking out other blogs in their blog lists...so let me know if you come across something amazing. I've only had time to check out a few of them, but here are a few interesting reads I found-

http://goodamericanwife.blogspot.com/ - check out the post from March 6th, and please tell me if I ever act like her "aquaintafriend"... very funny, but I can already see the dangers in comparing your kids with other people's kids :)

http://camelsandchocolate.com/ - a travel blog with great photographs and really good post about SF, if you need ideas for giving tours to out of town friends or fun things to do yourself!

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/- some totally delicious looking goodies and I liked her posts about wine country (March 9 & 10)... we still haven't been to check out Napa and Sonoma, so now I can't wait to go!

Chai Spiced Pancakes... interesting and yummy!

Wow...the past 4 and 1/2 weeks have flown by and are somewhat of a blur, but it is amazing to say that- "our son"! Joe and I (while missing good nights of sleep) are so loving being parents and are sooo thankful to God for our beautiful, healthy, precious baby boy. And he is 100% BOY- you should hear the way he grunts and burps! Since I haven't blogged at all since Salem was born, I'll try to catch up here with a few pictures and thoughts...maybe in a few posts as I think of things!

Salem Joseph Evans
born 5:45 am, 2/8/09
8 lb 1 oz, 20.5''

While it seems hard to believe Salem is almost 5 weeks old, on the other hand when I think that just a month and a half ago I was still working full-time at my old job in Sausalito, that kind of seems like a life time ago- being a mother has become my new identity.

Well first a little about his name. Salem means "peace" and is from the same Hebrew root as "shalom". It is found in the Bible in Genesis and Hebrews- Melchizedek the King of Salem who Abraham meets with and is a type of Christ in the OT, a priest without beginning or end of days. When it says he was the king of Salem (peace) it is referring to a city- probably the name for Jerusalem (the city of peace) before it was called by that name. Any way we both really liked this name from the beginning and although we considered a lot of names, this was the one we always kept coming back to and finally decided on. Besides the personal meaning the name has for us which I'll share below, I think that peace is such a huge part of the meaning of the gospel- Rom. 5:1, Eph. 2:14-15& 17, Col. 1:20.The name Joseph (besides being daddy's namesake and great biblical characters) means "He shall add" and God has blessed us with (added) peace in so many ways throughout the last year leading up to Salem's birth. About this time last year we had a miscarriage, and although the pregnancy was a surprise to us, it was a very difficult time to walk through. God, however, was with us and brought healing, strengthened our faith, taught us a lot, and gave us the desire to start a family. And now, less than a year later we have a sweet 1- month old baby boy in our arms. I was blessed with a great pregnancy (kinda crazy, but sometimes I miss being pregnant!) and although the labor was not how we prayed it would be (short and easy) God showed his grace in other ways (great doctor and hospital staff, healthy baby, good recovery for me, etc.) in denying that request. I labored at the hospital for over 20 hours and pushed for 4 hours, then in the end had a C-section. Not what we had planned, but God gave us peace and we had complete confidence in my doctor's decision (he said using forceps to pull him out was an option, but advised against it) and skill. Although I was disappointed, I realized that God was in control and he knew (even before time) the exact moment and manner that Salem would enter this world. Praise God! We are in awe of how he works and his grace in our lives and can't wait to see the plans he has in store for our son and our family.

Well here are a few more pictures (from the first few weeks...I need to keep snapping them and upload some new ones soon- he's really growing fast- weighed in at 10 lb. 13 oz. at his 1-month appointment on Tuesday!)... more thoughts on mothering in the days to come!