He was ours

This past week at a church meeting, we began discussing ways to connect with some of the younger folks all around us. One member said that she had participated in a program in the church where kids were paired with adults and "adopted" by them. It became a relationship of nurturing and care between generations of people in the church. This woman said that she had sat her child down and explained that, like it or not, he was hers now.

Let me be clear, no actual legal adoptions were occurring. Rather, this woman had decided to enter into a relationship with this young person in a way that made it clear that they were forevermore inextricably linked to one another. In fact, it's called a covenant. They declared to one another that due to this relationship, you matter to me and always will.

Two days later, I found out that a beloved senior student at my university passed away very suddenly. This was a student with whom I felt the same connection to as discussed in our church meeting. It turns out, I didn't realize I felt that way until I heard of his passing.

I was the supervisor of his residence hall his first year at school. I taught his freshman seminar course. I, quite literally, saw him on his first day of college.

When others thought he was too different, he confided in me and we brainstormed ways to relate to his peers.

When he felt homesick and couldn't process the emotions associated with that, he talked to me. Granted, it was about the perfectly arranged collectables on his windowsill but, at the same time, it wasn't about that at all.

I watched as this scared young man became a vital part of the University's community. I watched, and silently cheered, as he took on challenge after challenge and far surpassed them. I watched as slowly, almost imperceptibly,  he changed from "that guy" to "our guy."

The community adopted him and he adopted us too. He connected with many of us and made it a point to speak to us frequently. He made us laugh and he made us frustrated. He pushed our thinking and he pushed our buttons. He lived an inquisitive and energetic life diving right into anything put in front of him. He danced and sang even though he didn't have any great skill in either. He joked and laughed even though it wasn't always appropriate. He learned and grew even when others said he couldn't.

He was ours.

Top 9 things you should know about Title IX - Part 2

This is Part 2 of our two part mega-post on Title IX related issues. If you haven't yet read Part 1, please head on back there and get started. I wrote all of this at once so it really makes more sense if you begin at the very beginning with Part 1 of it all.

Don't worry, I'll wait. Ok, you're back? Read on for our next few items in the top 9!

Top 9 things you should know about Title IX - Part 1

With all of this focus lately on college sexual assaults, I thought it might be timely to write a little post explaining some of the basics of this complicated issue plaguing every administrator in the nation. As I was writing, the words stretched on and on. I decided this needed to be a two part entry. Read on to get my take on the first of the top 9 things you should know about Title IX.

Since you've been gone!

Is anyone else singing Kelly Clarkson right now? No? Well let me help you out:

It's been a little bit since I posted an update. We've been experimenting with different lengths of times between updates to see about reader stats. I think the daily updates was getting a bit overwhelming for folks. Maybe we'll settle in with something on the more weekly level.

Read on for a list of things that have happened since we spoke last.

60 Day Challenge Results!!

The day has come, folks!  My 60 day challenge that I wrote about several weeks ago (you can read about it here) has come to an end.

An exciting announcement

Let me put my family's minds at ease right here and now, we are not announcing another pregnancy. Let me repeat: LYNDSIE IS NOT PREGNANT. To be clear, an announcement of this type would come after thorough notification of close friends, family, and coworkers. I am making a different very exciting announcement, though.

A real life hostage situation

A little while back we posted about a "hostage situation" happening in our house thanks to sleep deprivation brought on by the transition to the toddler bed. Today, our family experienced a real life hostage situation. The short version of the story is our dog was lost, she is back now, and we have been happily loving on her all evening. Read on for the longer version of the events, and the hostage portion.

"That actually wasn't that bad..."

The compliment? rousing endorsement that forms the subject of today's post came as a result of a workshop I led last night with the men of a certain fraternity on campus. They came to me asking for a "sensitivity training." What they got was just a bit more than that.

Bathroom Renovation

Well, today began our master bathroom renovation! We are slowly working through our house projects list, but one of the bigger ones was completely redoing our master bath.  While being a more expensive and extensive renovation, it jumped to the top of the list since it's a room we constantly use.

Monday Measurements & Milestones

I want to thank you all for your love and support with going public about my journey to a healthier me. The feedback I am receiving is amazing and so encouraging.  You have given me the courage to continue to write about my health and fitness!  I can only hope that my journey might encourage and inspire others as well.

Taking the Plunge

I've debated for 23 days now on whether I was going to let our blog readers in on my new journey, but I think now is the time!  Gulp...here it goes...

Grilled pizza

It's high time we put out another recipe review. This time, daddy is taking the reins and bringing ya'll the good stuff. For the record, momma and BB helped a lot in the creation of this masterpiece but daddy got to play with the fire. Yes, that's right, it's time to review one of our favorite, and most versatile, recipe's: grilled pizzas!

Are you ready to be amazed?

Very rarely do we have a Saturday in the Blakely household that is free and clear of plans and obligations on the calendar.  Amazingly, today was one of those rare days!  We had a friend coming to take a look at our HVAC system at some point today, so we didn't make any formalized plans either.

It's yuckies up in there

"It's yuckies up in there," is what Noah says when he discovers a spot, a mess, a stray leaf, or any other "yucky" item in the house. We find it hilarious that he identifies "yuckies" as being "up in there." We also have no idea where he got that one from.

"Does this mean we don't get to have breakfast?"

This past Sunday, we had a "mission moment" during our worship service. This was an opportunity for a pre-chosen member of the congregation to get up and talk about the mission in the church that has affected them. This month's mission focus is the Farmville Area Community Emergency Services (FACES) backpack program.

It Finally Happened!

Well folks, it finally happened! Noah slept through the entire night in his toddler bed!

Last we updated you, we were still sleep deprived and trying every trick in the book to convince Noah that there was nothing wrong with sleeping in his room.  While we are still sleep deprived, last night Noah slept from about 8:45pm to 6:30am! Hallelujah! 

Last Friday while Noah was still at daycare I went ahead and took apart his crib and stashed it in the basement.  I won't lie, I wanted to both leap for joy and sit down and cry my eyes out at this new development in our little boy's life.   

I decided to make a few new arrangements to his room since there was a gaping hole where the crib use to be.  However, I didn't want to change things too drastically for fear it would add to the sleeping problem.  So I moved his toddler bed where his crib was and created a cute little reading/activity corner on the other side of the room using some of the decorations from his birthday party  that he loved so much.  

He was very excited about the new decor, but still wasn't sleeping well.  There have been nights where one of us has slept on the floor next to him.  We have taken turns going into his room for the many middle of the night wake up calls to get him back to bed and to sleep. We've tried new and old stuffed animals, new sheets, new pillow, and a flashlight.  

But it turns out our persistence and time have proved to be most effective in accomplishing the feat of the big boy bed...either that or he just lulled us into a false sense of accomplishment and we will be in and out of his room all night again for two more weeks.  Pray that's not the case...I'm just starting to feel human again.

Happy little man after snoozing the night away!

No way

Well our little man slept mostly through the night and allowed us to get a little sleep ourselves. Maybe we've turned a corner on the sleep issue? That being said, the rest of the house is becoming frustratingly expensive.

Sleep? What's that?

So as you've read, Josh and I have been struggling to get shut eye the past several nights.  Our dream child when it came to sleeping, napping and going to bed has revolted and we feel like we are in the newborn sleep deprivation haze all over again.  We still have no idea what the problem is.  He is taking his naps on a mat at school just fine like always, but something about his room and his crib is freaking him out.

Hostage situation

Let me just put this disclaimer right up front: Trying to get our son to sleep is not the same as a true life, scary as heck, hostage situation. That being said, I've been able to draw up some interesting parallels. Last night was another doozy which led to another Mickey mug kind of morning.

Is it time to go to sleep yet?

Yesterday we both had off from work so we had a wonderful family day full of playing and eating healthy. We topped it off with a new, to BB, movie: Tangled! Noah loved it and we got to relax going into the evening. Although the terrible twos showed their ugly head a few times, it was overall a great day. Little did we know that this was all a set-up for one heck of a night.

Breakfast Frisbees

There's a local diner in Farmville called Merk's Place that we love to go to! They have an especially delicious breakfast menu. This past weekend while family was in town for Noah's birthday, we made a trip to Merk's for breakfast.  On a menu that I've never seen changed the last four years, there was a new item listed this past week!! A breakfast frisbee! Basically it's a breakfast pizza on a tortilla.  Josh decided to get it and fell in love. So I wasn't surprised when he requested it on this week's menu plan. :)

Bee bow party

Thanks for being patient with us as we worked through August and the business that comes along with it. Now back to our regularly scheduled program: gushing about our little one!

Brief hiatus

For those of you wondering where the Adventures of BB have been, we're taking a brief break. August has truly taken over and we're having to focus on some things at home and at work. 

In the meantime, why not check out some of our past entries by clicking on the convenient categories to the right?

GQ has a picture spot

So thanks to the first day photos from the other day, BB now has a photo spot in the house.

This morning we found BB "reading" a newspaper.

Our little GQ BB

Today BB started at his new school. Some of you may not know that his last school ended up closing due to finances. God works for good in all things, of course, and so some of the teachers from there began their own! We are so excited for BB to be at KidzRUs. After the jump are some photos of our little GQ BB in his "handsome shirt" for his first day.

What's For Dinner?

Noah isn't old enough to ask that question yet, which is great because I ask it of myself plenty enough!

It's a Mickey mug kind of day

For those of you that don't know, we've been having a sort of rough week around the Blakely household. We've had a broken phone, a leaky roof, an explosive dog, and an adventurous baby boy. That means that this morning was a Mickey mug kind of morning.

Pavement 2, Blakelys 0

Well this is just not our week here in the Blakley household.  To add to our woes of a leaky roof, yesterday evening I was pushing a cranky toddler in the stroller and holding an excited dog on the leash at the same time, and as the cranky toddler screamed and the dog pulled me forward we hit a bump in the sidewalk in just the wrong angle causing my three month old iphone to be launched from the stroller and land perfectly screen down onto the pavement. Now it looks like this:

Water, water everywhere!

This morning was rough. The soggy weather outside meant that none of us wanted to get up and going this morning. Our little boy slept until almost 7 (practically unheard of!) and the pup was content to doze in the middle of our floor a bit longer than usual. Thankfully, this meant we were running way behind and discovered the leak in our ceiling!

Vegetarian Makeover

Josh and I have been vegetarians for almost two years now (Noah's always been a vegetarian).  It was such an easy switch for us that sometimes it's hard to remember ever eating meat.  Occasionally though, one of us craves a dish from our former carnivore lifestyle.  That's when we get creative and come up with a vegetarian makeover of the recipe.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't....and sometimes it's even better than the meat version!

Noah's First Haircut

Well, it was time.  The baby mullet had gotten out of hand.  As much as I adore those blonde curls, the sweaty mess of hair that was coming home from daycare every day needed to be taken care of.

Half naked in the Tractor Supply parking lot

Well if that doesn't get your attention, I don't know what will!

It's August, so you know...

It's August, so you know, life is a little rough around most college campuses. It is no different where I get the privilege of working. Most of you know I'm in residence life which means we get started up even earlier than most because student staff returns even earlier. Let the full out sprint begin and we'll all come up for air in September.

Blueberry Compote

We often find ourselves with leftover sandwich bread here in the Blakely household.  Josh and I will eat PB&Js and pimento cheese sandwiches, and we all love a good grilled cheese, but we just tend to eat things other than sandwiches most of the time.  So tonight I realized we had a whole loaf we had yet to open and I really hate wasting food.  I knew we also had eggs to use up, so french toast for dinner it was!

"Do all the good you can..."

I teach the Youth Sunday School at our church and have had the summer off from lesson planning in favor of some hands-on mission work. Today is my first Sunday back in full out teaching mode and I'm pretty excited for the topic this week: the relationship between faith and works.

We made it!

Lyndsie made it home from her week long mission camp. They had a blast building a ramp for an older woman to get in and out of her home. I wish I could have gone but I had a fun time with my family around our house. They were so helpful in watching Noah, working around the house, and keeping me sane. Although it started out a little rough, the week ended well!

Is getting coffee work?

I had the occasion today to grab coffee with a friend/colleague with whom I hadn't spoken in about a month. It was great to catch up, hear about the exciting things God is doing in her life, and to dream big about collaborative things we could work on. It was really energizing to switch gears away from the to do list and get to the thinking big thoughts with someone who isn't steeped in my world all the time. It got me thinking though, was that a work or more of a personal meeting? Where does networking fall in our daily work priorities?

Switching gears

Someone asked me last week if I'm the only person who wears a tie during the summer. "We're casual around here during the summer!" My response was typical of me, I pick my outfit depending on what is on my calendar for that day. If I'm getting office work done, I'm business casual. If I'm moving furniture in the residence halls or doing teambuilders with students, I'm casual. If I'm meeting with a Vice President or presenting to a group of professionals, I'm business. Attire sets the tone for your interaction, whether we like it or not.

I got kicked out of my house yesterday

So, as I've mentioned before, Lyndsie is away at a mission camp with the FUMC youth. It is sounding like a fantastic experience for them! Folks who have been with the blog for a while know that I also suffer from a ton little anxiety. Well yesterday morning it all came to a head and my mom kicked me out of the house for the afternoon.

Daddy daycare

As you know, loyal readers, Lyndsie is the Minister of Discipleship with Youth Emphasis at the local United Methodist Church. This week, she has taken a group of youth on a mission trip to southwest VA. In fact, you can follow their adventures over on the Fusion blog. Check out our blogs we love page to find the mission blog.

Doing what I love

So as I type this, I'm sitting in our campus auditorium having just finished speaking to our final summer orientation for new students. Yesterday, I co-presented on Title IX investigations for four hours straight. This introvert is exhausted and worn out but also totally energized. I love presenting, public speaking, and educating.

It's sort of bizarre how I've found myself slipping into more and more large group presentation roles. Although I am hoping to increase this part of my professional identity, I haven't been actively marketing myself yet. I pray that I'll continue to be fortunate enough to continue getting opportunities to impact people. 

I just love what I do! What do you love to do? Let's have a little challenge loyal BB readers: leave a comment with what you love to do (and your name) and after 24 hours we'll randomly pick one for a prize! Happy commenting.

Summertime Harvest

The abundance of fresh local vegetables and fruits is one of my very favorite things about summer!  We try to eat local as much as we can here in the Blakely household.  I've already told you about the Local Roots Co-op we are a part of, which is one way we support and eat local.  We also have a very small garden at our new house containing strawberry, tomato, squash and basil plants.  But since we only moved a couple months ago, we didn't have time to really cultivate a large garden this season.  Our focus was on unpacking and getting the house set.  I hope to plant more this fall, though, and use our harvest in our weekly menu plans.

My son's arm is not your chew toy

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, I suppose. Noah got bit today by another kid at daycare.

Yup, another human bit him. I bet you thought I was going to say something about the dog snapping at him. Nope, a person.

It turns out, our daycare provider has a rule that the bitee's family does not get to know who the biter is. When Lyndsie told me that, my immediate reaction was, "what, do they think we are going to retaliate against a two year old?"

The sad truth is, someone out there would do exactly that.

Parents of the world, how about we agree to one thing: let's treat our kids and each other with respect? Accountability and discipline are, of course, necessary but let's keep the whole vibe supportive of one another. We're in a little club here parents, let's stand together and not make things harder on each other by forcing daycares to set up rules that prevent the flow of information.

Loyal readers - what rules have you gotten frustrated with in the past? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Go with the flow

So, overall, we have a fairly well-adjusted two year old. Certainly, he has his share of toddler moments but overall he's a pretty happy little guy. Folks ask us all the time how he got to be such a happy guy. Other than the grace of God himself, we're convinced it's due to our strict adherence to a routine.

Roasted Red Potatoes!

I love potatoes!  I love how versatile they are.  Baked, fried, roasted, in soups, frittatas, side items...with breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Yum!

One of my absolute favorite ways to fix red potatoes is to roast them.  So easy.  So delicious.  And it makes the perfect side item for tons of different dishes.  Here's what you need for about 3-4 servings of roasted red potatoes:

Here goes nothing

We're working on improving our blog site here since it has expanded beyond just updates on our little one. Let us know if you have any ideas for blog posts or things you'd like to see us write about!

You can learn more about who we are in our new "About the family" page. You can also connect with each of us through our social media accounts there. We hope you'll reach out to us so we know who is reading!

Is it fall yet?

Our very favorite season here at the Blakely household is fall!  Really, we love things about every season, but there is just something about the crisp air, the leaves turning bright hues of red, orange and yellow, the smell of cinnamon and cider, the pumpkin flavored everything (but especially pumpkin spiced lattes), and finally getting to pull on that favorite sweater.  Apparently we are longing for a little bit of fall because on this week's menu plan, Josh picked out a new recipe to try that clearly belongs in October or November!  And, after making it tonight, I think it will be made many times throughout this fall.  It was yummy yummy!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I feel certain that Dickens was not talking about the Blakely family when he wrote "A Tale of Two Cities back in 1895. That being said, the famous commentary on the times seems no less applicable to us these days. The last 8 months have been pretty rough. First, my step-grandfather (Mom's step-father) passed away. Then my grandfather (Dad's father) passed. And now, my grandmother (Mom's mother) has passed away as well. At some point in my life I have known five grandparents and been blessed by that experience. Now, I have one living still. Needless to say, it's been an emotional couple of months for all of us.

My family of choice

You may not know this about me, but I'm an avid Buzzfeed reader. Some of the stories are wacky and not really "up my alley" but then some are very thought-provoking. Some, well some are just plain hilarious and make me laugh uncontrollably. Some of the posts are just plain wrong and I'll let you stumble upon them if you dare.

Heels are no joke!

Did you know that 1 in 4 college-age women report surviving rape or attempted rape? That is a staggering fact that sobers me every time I read it even as I am unable to comprehend a number that equates to roughly 400,620 women in 2010 (latest statistics available). That doesn't sound like too many until you realize that it is more than the populations of Richmond, VA and Newport News, VA combined.

Maybe the number would make more sense if broken down into something more meaningful. Longwood University has 4,355 undergraduates. Of them, 69% are women meaning that there are roughly 3,005 undergraduate women. If statistics hold true, then roughly 751 Longwood undergraduates have experienced rape or attempted rape.

Yikes.

Life is messy

The saying goes, life is messy but better than the alternative.

I've recently had the occasion to experience the death of another grandparent. This is the third grandfather to pass in my life. While I don't remember my mom's father all that well, my (step)grandfather Jack and my granddaddy Blakely have been an active part of my life for as long as I can remember. Jack's passing made me reflect on how tangible items can prompt jogs down memory lane; how having a physical "touch stone" can reconnect us with our past.

Noah's first trip to Disney World

So this is very long overdue but I (Josh) was finally able to get a video edited of Noah's very first trip to Disney World. Yes, this happened in October...I know, it took a while.

The video is a little long but includes some awesome images of Noah enjoying himself so hopefully you will find it worthwhile!

"What do you mean he doesn't eat meat?"

Oh boy!  If you want a boat load of unsolicited child rearing advice, strange crazy looks, and a basic commentary on what it mean to "be American," just tell folks that you are raising your child a vegetarian.  I can't tell you how many times Josh and I have heard that question..."What do you mean he doesn't eat meat?"  You would think we are killing our son by the looks we get from people.

But yes, readers, Noah is a vegetarian.