Weekend linkage

"Hmmm. If I was an apron, where would I be?"
-Jared

"When it's crying in the middle of the night, I will call it your baby. When it's being really cute I will call it my baby."
-Jared

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Pregnancy happenings: Here is the first picture we've taken since finding out the Tadpole was on its way. I know, not too impressive. At 14 1/2 weeks, there's just a vague thickness about the middle. Use your imagination!

I am beginning to wonder if I will ever appreciate coffee or squash again. Even though I've stopped feeling sick, those two things are still 100% disgusting. I wouldn't actually mind about the coffee, far as consumption goes (there is always tea!). But it makes me kind of sad that I can't even walk into a cafe these days without gagging.

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Little acorn people in little walnut houses. Be prepared to squee.

Why are we trying to sound posh? "Britishisms are everywhere. Call it Anglocreep. Call it annoying. Snippets of British vernacular . . . that were until recently as rare as steak and kidney pie on these shores are cropping up in the daily speech of Americans (particularly, New Yorkers) of the taste-making set who often have no more direct tie to Britain than an affinity for Downton Abbey."

Weddings worldwide, from group ceremonies in China to a royal couple from Brunei.

A nice post from Tim Challies: The Extraordinary Value of Women. "Women are no mere afterthought, but are an integral and equal part of God’s design for human beings. The Bible is unique in that it honors women as women, exalting them for their femininity, and encouraging them to seek honor in a uniquely feminine and God-glorifying way."

Marc Cortez on the supposed "golden age" of the Church: "Maybe we’d be better off saying that every age is a Golden Age; that is, a time when God is still faithfully working through his people to spread his gospel and display his glory throughout this broken and fallen world."

This story is quite amazing. "More than half a century after their previous meeting, the two men approached each other on the bridge on the river Kwai. After bowing formally, Nagase nervously acknowledged that the Japanese Imperial Army had treated the British appallingly . . . When they next met, in a Tokyo hotel room, Lomax carefully read out a letter he had written assuring Nagase of his total forgiveness."

Well Written Wednesdays: this Tartarean grey

{photo found here}

Lungi è la luce che in sù questo muro
Rifrange appena, un breve istante scorta
Del rio palazzo alla soprana porta.
Lungi quei fiori d'Enna, O lido oscuro,
Dal frutto tuo fatal che omai m'è duro.
Lungi quel cielo dal tartareo manto
Che quì mi cuopre: e lungì ahi lungi ahi quanto
Le notti che saran dai dì che furo.
Lungi da me mi sento; e ognor sognando
Cerco e ricerco, e resto ascoltatrice;
E qualche cuore a qualche anima dice,
(Di cui mi giunge il suon da quando in quando.
Continuamente insieme sospirando,)—
“Oimè per te, Proserpina infelice!”
 
Afar away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall,—one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door.
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar, how far away,
The nights that shall be from the days that were.
Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign:
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is fain to bring,
Continually together murmuring,)—
“Woe's me for thee, unhappy Proserpine!” 

-"Proserpina" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti 

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Okay, it's not quite that bad. But a chill is definitely upon us!

Weekend linkage

Pregnancy happenings: EAT ALL THE  THINGS!!! That is my modus operandi since finishing the first trimester. The tadpole's main job now is to get bigger, and that has turned me into a hungry hippo. It happened overnight; one day I was queasily sipping Diet Coke, and the next day I was devouring two large bowls of chili and a banana for lunch, followed by yogurt and granola one hour later. Nom nom nom.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time yesterday, which was wonderful. It made me smile all day long. :) Amusingly enough, the pressure from the Doppler probe apparently annoyed Young Tadpole, because the heart rate kept going up! Poor kid (but listen, if you would just stay still instead of swimming around the whole time, it would be much easier to find you!).

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Moss graffiti. Watch out, I may be spicing up our back alley once we move . . .

List of 10 new documentaries worth checking into.

I would like to furnish my entire house with items from Father Rabbit, thank you.

engageaversary!

Three years ago, my super-hot boyfriend asked me to marry him . . .

Saying yes was the smartest thing I ever did.

(He's the best husband in the whole universe and he's going to be the best daddy too.)

he has always answered

I just want to make a note of this.

God has always answered us.

Many people have told me, upon learning about this baby, "Wow, God answered your prayers!" I understand what they mean, I think. But I would like to be more precise: that positive pregnancy test didn't mean that God suddenly sat up and said, "Oh hey, Jared and Rebekah have been asking for a kid for quite a while . . . maybe I should respond." He never failed to reply to our prayers. It's just that, until July 28th, the answer was "No."

Actually, in another sense, the answer has always been "Yes." The Lord knew from the start when this child would be conceived, so even when we-- stuck in time-- heard no, He-- unbound by time-- knew that there would be a yes. What seemed like a no was in fact a not yet.

That is amazing.