I know. You thought every blog from now on was going to be something about our new baby. But, you were wrong. I am six + weeks postpartum now, so I can begin to think about other things. (But scroll down and see how cute she is if you haven’t already.)

Living in rural OK doesn’t provide a lot of opportunities for Mark and I to go out. I am not whining, really, I am not. It is just a point of fact. So to deal with the situation, we are beginning to plan for some more purposeful time together. We are going to have at-home book night dates from time to time. This will be like our own little mini book group. The first book we are reading is Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I have the advantage in that I have read it more than once before, and I have seen the movie countless times. However, already, he is seeing more “stuff” in it than I have ever seen. [Sometimes it is really irritating to have a smart husband ;)] Seriously though, I am about 10 chapters ahead of him, and he is pointing out things to me about the economic picture of England in the late 1700s that he is gathering by reading the book, and I am thinking, “I never thought of that before, but I can see why you would say that.”

I really think it is great that I have a husband who is willing to read Jane Austen in the first place. It is even greater that we can have coversations that don’t revolve around our kids (even though we have plenty that do). I am encouraged by this because 20 years from now when the kids are transitioning out of our home into homes of their own, we will still have things to talk about.

I have 5 older brothers. I think that girls with big brothers are blessed, and it is my prayer that my boys will love and care for their sisters for the rest of their lives. I plan to dig out these photos of the boys holding their baby sister to remind them how much they loved her from the beginning (I’ll show them the pictures of them holding their other sister, too.)

Our 4-year-old daughter loves shoes. This passion for footwear started early–shortly after she turned one. This photo demonstrates her need to bring up her little sister indocrinated to love shoes. She often says, as she did before this photo was taken, “Mommy, can we put shoes on the baby just to be pretty?” (I imagine some of you may notice that the shoe lover herself is not wearing any in the photo.)

It took having a 4th child for me to even consider putting up a picture that included me. However, I thought this one was pretty good of all us, and it shows how truly rich we are! This was taken at the hospital on Mother’s Day.

At long last, I am trying to put a few more photos of our delightful new baby girl, Charis. This photo was taken in her new crib, with bedding made lovingly by Grandmommy (who also took the picture). Thanks to Mark’s mom (aka Grandmommy), we have some really cute shots that I hope to add over the next few days. I hope you enjoy seeing them.

On another related note, Charis was baptized this past Sunday. Our friend, Doug Serven, RUF minister at OU, came to preach and perform the baptism. We also had several other friends from the Norman PCA church present. It was a real encouragement to us to have them with us. Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Aunt Tricia and the cousins rounded out the crowd, along with those from our own congregation. It was a joyous occassion, and we are thankful to be able to welcome our own little one to the covenant family of God.

Last Wednesday, the doctor approved me to drive again. So, on Saturday, I ventured out alone for the first time since Charis’s arrival. Since driving to OKC takes 35 minutes, I opted to go only as far as the new Wal-Mart store in Mustang, a town about 18 miles nw of us. It was nice to have a little time to walk around and look at things without any children along.

The thing that made me want to blog was the differences I have been noticing lately in prices at different Wal-mart stores. The ones I shop at are generally between 10 and 20 miles from each other, but the difference in prices can be pretty amazing. Here’s an example: A couple of weeks ago, Mark bought a large can of baby formula at the Wal-mart closest to us. It cost $22. A week later when we had to go to the pediatrician’s office, we stopped by the Wal-mart 10 miles closer to the city. I bought the formula there and paid only $18 for it. On my little outing to the new Wal-mart, about 5 miles closer to the city, the formula was priced at $19. I’ve been told several people that Wal-mart’s prices vary from store to store based on the competition in the area the store is in. This makes sense, but I was really amazed at the spread on one particular product.

One final note: when I was a teenager, I remember going to the grocery store with my mom. We would run into people she knew, and she would stop to talk. I would be standing there, listening to the conversation. It would almost always include content about the price of potatoes or lettuce or some other grocery item. I would think to myself, “Is there nothing more important to talk about than the price of groceries?” Now, 20 years later, I am talking about the same things in cyberspace. I have become my mother!