A Gift is my Namesake

A co-worker of mine came up to me last week and said "I saw the pictures on Facebook of you and a new baby. Why does your family have so many babies?" Now this could be seen as rude but English is not Fernando's first language and he is a Mormon who is pro-family. I knew he was really angling to find out if welcoming children was based on faith. We had a great conversation that hit both our faith in God and the gift that fertility and children are.

Baby E's burp cloth made at the baby shower

Each child is a gift, an image and likeness of God, shared with the world. How awesome is that? How could that ever be a bad thing? Those pictures on Facebook were in celebration of the newest gift to our family, the newest gift entrusted to Heather and Will, to raise so she will know, love and honor her creator. And I was asked to be there to participate in her transition from womb to the world. Every birth has it's own character and dimensions. Heather's labor was moving quickly and when I arrived at the hospital she had decided that she wanted pain medication and was longing for an epidural. But her labor progressed quickly. I was so in awe of Heather's focus on following the directions she was given by the medical staff, all while being at that internal place that pain brings you. She surprised herself by powering through and bringing this new gift to us without anything to numb the pain. The euphoria of birth is powerful and I was blessed to have been present. Will and Heather are beautiful parents, who graciously and intentionally receive God's gift.

Elizabeth Clementine Jauquet

Our whole family gets excited about a new baby and at our labor day gathering we asked Will and Heather if they had chosen a name. After some clues from little John and guesses from the crowd we learned that her nickname would be Ellie. Then I tried to guess her full name, finally Heather said she's your namesake: Elizabeth. I didn't guess it and the term namesake sat oddly with me. I am thrilled there is someone to carry the name Elizabeth Jauquet, again. I love the name. Then at her birth, with her big purple checks and sweet mouth and tongue, Heather asked if I wanted to hold my namesake. Yes! But again the term namesake sat strangely. The realization that it wasn't just that we would share a name both biblical and common in our family but that Will and Heather named this little gift after me, filled me with emotions that were an unfamiliar mix. I felt proud and honored and unworthy.

Ellie is such a unique expression of God's hope and goodness. She feels like a gift to me at a time when my feelings on more children are getting complicated. My desire for that most intimate experience of pregnancy is no less, my yearning to be an instrument in God's creation is no less but they feel like desires that can no longer be. They feel like something to mourn the loss of. They feel like wants that I know will not get to be. I guess being forty and having a full house and schedule have moved the idea of growing our family to the unrealistic. With the sense of loss, it was especially wonderful to experience Ellie's birth. It lifted my mood and gave me a vision of seeing more babies born. More children to be vessels of God's grace.

Johanna marveling at Ellie in utero

Fall Goings On

And a month later I am back...
While I was not blogging there were a lot of things going on in our family.

The school year has brought about routines.  A different schedule for each day but a regular rhythm over the week.

Monday = Me working in the office and Jim working at home. Hanna going to Ms. Kate's house Bridget's Brownie meeting (twice a month) followed by soccer practice (every week). Megan's soccer practice (weekly). and sometimes Rachael's Small Group Confirmation meeting.

Tuesday = Me at home with Hanna and Jim in the office. Emma has National Art Honor Society after school and Rachael stays for stage crew (Annie the Musical). Bridget, Megan and Rachael have Religious Ed class in the evening. After dropping the girls off, we started using this time for Emma to get driving practice time.

Wednesday= Me working in the office and Jim working at home. Hanna goes to Ms. Kate's. Sometimes Rachael has badminton club after school. In the evening Emma and Rachael have soccer practice together. Megan has ballet class.

Thursday = Me at home with Hanna and Jim in the office. Sometimes Rachael has Quiz Bowl club after school. In the evening Megan and Emma and Rachael have girl scout meetings.

Friday = Me working in the office and Jim working at home. We don't have any regular activities on Friday night, so social events or family chilling out usually happens.

Saturday = Soccer games in the mornings. We have 3 different teams to cheer on, so there is quite a bit of splitting up and running from one field to another. Megan starts contemporary dance class in November after the soccer season is over.

Sunday = 11 o'clock mass and church youth group meetings in the evenings twice a month. Emma is in a high school group at St. Marks's and Rachael does the middle school group sometimes at St. Mark's and sometimes at St. Will's, and now Megan can go to the middle school St. Will's youth group too.

Some other new things that are going on:

Emma was asked to join the AYAC Archdiocesan Youth Advisory Council. They have meetings once a month around the Archdiocese, to plan events and provide a youth voice. As a part of this she will be an MC at the Baltimore Youth Catholic Conference in November. Emma is currently working on her application to the National Honor Society which is due next week. She has an aggressive course load this year and is doing very well with it. We have been talking a lot about colleges recently. Emma is a fan of video blogs and hopes to do her own vlog in the near future.

Rachael is playing the flute with her school band, She and Emma split the job of letting our neighbor's dogs out every day after school and they get a little income from it. Rachael is quite a "fan girl" and delves into certain topics very deeply, mostly based on young adult fiction series. Rachael reads constantly and continues to volunteer every day at the library during lunch.

Megan's first year on a soccer team has been a great experience. She is pretty adept with the ball and scored a goal during a recent game. Megan has decided to play the stand up bass in the 5th grade orchestra and is progressing quickly through the skill level goals. She just got back from a GS camping trip last weekend, she and her friends had a blast together.

Bridget decided to play soccer this year instead of dance.(they were on the same day) and she is having fun on the field. Bridge is a more defensive player but will go after the ball if the opportunity presents itself. Bridget is amazing at the  routine of homework. She needs a break when she gets home from school but then when it is time, gets it done. Her reading is progressing but not quite where she wants it so we put in extra time on that. When she has unscheduled time, you can usually find her in her room with thousands of little pieces and dolls all around her. She loves to play. She starts First Reconcilliation prep next week and will receive the sacrament in December.

Johanna is onrey and delightful. She loves animals and retells stories about visiting the zoo and seeing giraffes, with long legs and long necks. and the ul-nut (elephant) with the long back. She has discovered tv and computer games, and has gotten really good at asking politely if she can play. She is pretty effective. Hanna is also being introduced to potty training and uses it about once a day. She would sit there for hours if someone sat and read books to her all the while.