Little Slugger

Micah loves all things baseball. And he's got a pretty good swing.

John Owen Parnell

It’s with great joy that we introduce our fourth little crazy, John Owen.

Tebowing in the womb. Is that joke still funny? 

He was such a timid little guy during our ultrasound. The entire first half I didn't think he would let us in on who he was. He finally gave up and untucked his teeney legs. His hands stayed constantly around his face, but we got sweet glimpses of our second son. 

John Owen: The Meaning and Significance

The meaning of John in Hebrew is “YAHWEH is gracious.”  Owen means “young warrior.” 

We also chose the name from one of our favorite English theologians, John Owen. We plan to call him by both names, kind of like we do Hannah Kate. 

Our prayer is that he will delight in the graciousness of the Lᴏʀᴅ by seeing Jesus as beautifully sufficient for all his needs. And that he would one day echo John Owen’s words from his work, The Glory of Christ: 

On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. 

May our John Owen be graced to find that all things pale in comparison to the glories of Jesus.

So here we are, 20 weeks in. And praying for 17+ more until we hold our littlest son in our arms. 

We're having a...

I tried to rack my brain about a creative way to tell you guys, but I thought I'd share by showing the video of us telling the kids.

Baby Parnell #4: Guesses

Latest picture taken: 15 weeks

The other week I had a routine doctor's visit and we scheduled our big ultrasound for next week. I've been all over the place as far as what we are having. I'm constantly going back and forth. 

Past Pregnancy Sickness:

With the girls, I didn't feel better until 16-17 week. I thought I'd be sick the entire pregnancy.

With Micah, I started to feel better around 10 weeks. 

With Parnell #4, I started feeling better around 11 weeks. 

If I were to guess based on how the pregnancy has felt so far, I'd say boy. 

Past Pregnancy Dreams:

With all 3 pregnancy, I never specifically dreamed anything about the gender of the baby. Mainly off the wall things, like red afros or my babies having really dark skin. 

With this pregnancy, I had a dream about being at the ultrasound and seeing the little boy part. A few weeks later, I had a dream that I had two girls at the same time while the doctors were trying to convince me that they were not twins. 

If I were to guess based on this, then I have no.idea.

My chinese baby predictor says girl. 

Family Guesses:

Elizabeth was pretty dead set we were having a girl. But as of recent, she says she really wants a girl, but thinks baby is a boy. 

Hannah thinks baby is hands down a girl. And if you try to ask her otherwise she gets pretty haughty. 

From what I can guess from Micah, he either wants a baseball or a chip. Yep. Hope that's as helpful as the rest of the post is for helping you make an educated guess. 

Jonathan, unlike Micah, isn't saying anything when I ask. Party-pooper.

And me? Well, have I mentioned I'm going back and forth? Oh well, make this my official vote, I'm going BOY! 

And just so you know my guessing history for our past babies, I've been 1 for 3. I thought Elizabeth and Hannah were boys. And I guessed Micah was a boy.

Are you noticing a pattern? Yeah. I always guess boy and so far I'm a terrible guesser. Much like my mom, who has done the same. It's inevitable. I knew I'd turned into her one of these days... :)

But in all seriousness, whether the baby is a boy or a girl, we are just over the moon excited to bring this little one into our home. Can you tell??!

So here's your chance to guess and be excited with us. And we are telling this time, so you'll find out if you are right soon. 

**I couldn't get an online poll to work, so cast your votes in the comments.

House Updates: Micah's Room

Here's a picture of Micah's room that I snapped when we first moved in. This khaki color paint is in most of the house. And while I love it in my dining room and living room, I wanted to mix it up a bit in the rest of the house.

Before

Micah's room was the easiest for me to decide on a theme. I wanted the legends of baseball to decorate his room. And I wanted it have the old-timey look. We ordered really cheap prints from Amazon and got some frames from Michaels. To make sure the prints wouldn't look bubbly, we sprayed the print was adhesive spray to the cardboard that came in the frame and smooth it out.

The paint on the wall is Trail Print by Behr. We decided to leave one wall the original paint color because I was afraid it would make his room look too dark and small.

After

After

After

After

Micah's room for the most part is done. The only thing I want to do is replace all yellow outlets and plates with white ones and maybe add some more pictures.

Marriage: 6 years later

We celebrated six years of marriage at the beginning of this month, which meant some fun reflections on what it meant back when that guy and girl below exchanged vows. Sure, we read our books, we did our pre-martial counseling, but we had no idea exactly what we were diving into. And we didn't really care, as along as we were doing it together.

Six beautiful, hard, sweet, growing years later, I am so thankful for this day and for that guy who asked me to be his wife.

Here are some of my reflections on the past six years:

• I'm so thankful for the gospel. For its power. For its life-rearranging wisdom. For its beauty. I can't imagine our marriage without this. It makes our dark moments hopeful. And our hard times more beautiful. It pulls us out of the nitty-gritty and shows us there is something more going on than having/being a perfect spouse. It helps us to embrace our weaknesses and moves our eyes from each other to the picture we are eager to paint—Jesus and his church. 

• I'm thankful for our gospel community. Our community who loves the gospel and us. Who invests and imparts wisdom and points us Jesus. It's a very precious gift to our marriage.

• I have loved every single second of being a parent with Jon. I wouldn't have wanted to wait a month longer to start our growing family. Elizabeth, Hannah, Micah, and baby #4 have grown us and extended us in unbelievable ways. The things we have learned together on this parenting journey have been amazing, hard, and so joyfully wonderful. 

• This year, more than the others, I have realized how much Jon is exactly what I have needed. Six years ago, I would have said he is all I have ever wanted. Idealism has been removed and reality has set in. No longer are there ideals of who my husband is or who I am as a wife. We see each other exactly as we are. Weaknesses, blemishes, and personality differences. I don't want my ideal Jon. I'm thankful for his weaknesses and his quirkiness that make him so real. And that's what I need: a real husband, not a facade of one. 

Of all the things I've reflected on over the past six years, knowing all I know now, I would have just as eagerly said yes to him on that October night; days after the Cardinals won the 2006 World  Series and the night I flunked my Baptist History exam.

Six years later, I love you more deeply than I could have ever imagined. And I'm so incredibly thankful for the truth of Ephesians 3. Though I don't deserve a husband like you, grace was given and Christ's unsearchable riches have been put on display. I feel like I can almost say with Paul that even through our marriage I've gained insight into the mysteries of Christ. You have been such a tangible expression of Christ's love for me. And, I know in full confidence, sixty years later I'll say I love you more deeply than I do today, because Jesus is able and willing to do exceedingly more than I could think or ask, including in our hearts and in our marriage. 

May his grace taste sweeter to us in our years to come. Even sweeter than these past six!

Family Update

Just in case you missed our big announcement on Facebook, here it is.

It's been a whirlwind of a few months. We went back home to NC for two and half weeks for Christmas. I got my wisdom teeth taken out a week later after we returned home. Then a week and a half after getting my wisdom teeth taken out, we left for a church planting conference in Florida for a few days. Oh, and we also found out I was expecting baby Parnell #4. :)

I started feeling sicker a little earlier than normal so we wondered about our dates. We were scheduled an ultrasound and we got to see our little baby at just 6 weeks, 1 day. Our wonderful OB was even able to let us hear the heartbeat through the ultrasound machine and noted the babies heart beat had probably just begun. We were blown away (yet again) by another baby in the womb. It's so crazy to remember seeing Elizabeth, Hannah, and Micah at this stage in their development. Just a quarter of an inch little person then, a person whose personhood is dismissed by so many in this world, now look like these sweet faces.

And then to think of how their bodies and faces now will mature into adulthood. The full development of human beings is amazing, and I marvel at the miracle taking place inside me. Lord willing, come September we will have another sweet face to add to this picture. We are so incredibly excited!