Chandra's Journal
August 17, 2005…
Life has changed dramatically since the last time I wrote a journal entry (sorry it’s been so long). We are now a family of four! Austin Creed Perkins was born Tuesday, August 9th. He arrived at 12:58 pm weighing 7 pounds and 3 ounces (exactly the same as Canon!) and along with him was also delivered a profound sense of family and togetherness. At the same time, God has given Drew and me another opportunity to share time and love with one of His children and has also given Canon a very close brother (16 months apart!). It makes me smile to think of their eminent plots to conquer the imaginary dinosaurs in the kitchen pantry, their late night sleepovers under a fort of quilts in the living room, secrets by flashlight, lessons about too much Halloween candy perhaps learned the hard way, road trips… (Okay, I can see how that daydream might not be so pleasant!). Thanks to all of you who were praying for Creed during his stay at NICU. Though it was a very emotional shock to me that he had to go, I found myself much relieved that Creed was being taken care of by the same hands that took care of his sister, Amberly, four summers ago. Lori and Sandra were so protective of him and of me and I am convinced that the whole thing was orchestrated by God in order to teach us to better trust him to find the hands that will best take care of both of our boys.
It seems the question I get asked the most is, “What does Canon think about Creed?” The answer? I wish I knew!! Up until yesterday Canon pretty much ignored him. Mom and I agreed that yesterday he showed a few moments of curiosity. When Drew came home from work and sat on the floor holding Creed, Canon scooted over and after careful study reached to touch Creed’s mouth. It’s tricky, though, wanting to encourage him to interact with his brother, but not wanting Creed to become a plaything that gets poked and prodded! Canon seems to have an innate sense of Creed as a person and has been very careful with him so far.
Without going into details, let me just say I have a new respect for any mom who has had to deliver by C-section! The hardest part of the C-section recovery is not being able to pick Canon up. He’s still a baby, too, and can’t walk yet, so when he holds out his arms and says “Mama, mama!” it’s tear-jerking to have to tell him, “I can’t pick you right now up baby.” I end up sitting on the floor and rocking him. Also my family has been very sympathetic about this and has picked him up and put him on my lap on the couch to feed him or watch tv with him or just cuddle for a minute. What would I do without my mom??? She has taken off the first week of school in Austin to come take care of us. As a teacher, I know what a sacrifice that really is. To let someone else start your school year throws you and the class off for a good while, but she has so graciously said many times, “You can find substitute teachers, but you can’t get a substitute Mom.” After she goes back to Austin this weekend, Drew’s mom is coming up from Abilene to help us for next week. God has truly blessed us with two VERY capable, energetic (key word when you have a 16 month old), servant-hearted mothers who would do anything for us and love Canon and Creed with a grandparent love that even I don’t understand yet.
Let me talk for a minute about Canon’s campaign before I join him for a short nap! On Thursday night, the 4th, we had a meeting of Canon’s Events Committee at Jere’s house that was so exciting!!! This group of about 12 go-getters has so many incredible ideas for fundraising that I couldn’t help but leave the meeting feeling like there’s going to be no problem reaching the goal that COTA has set for us! Ideas were being shouted out and Secretary Tye was writing them down on large chart paper; by the time the meeting was over (and it wasn’t over because we were out of ideas, only because it was getting late!) he had five or six chart papers hanging from all over their living room. Ideas like Oprah (!!!), the Chamber of Commerce Barbecue, civic organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary, channeling United Way donations at our workplaces to Canon’s fund at COTA, getting the school district involved, and SO MANY MORE were discussed and each person went away with some specific idea they were going to explore in depth and report back at the next meeting. Everything sounded like fun and I was absolutely invigorated!
The next event on the calendar is Canon’s Golf Event on September 18th (it’s a Sunday evening) at Canyon Country Club. I can’t remember the exact times, but we’ll get the word out soon. If you want to be involved in any way, contact Vicki Brooks (at the March of Dimes office) or Dean and Rhonda McIntosh, or you can send an email to Canon’s Campaign Coordinator (there’s a link on the How Can I Help page I think). It’s NOT a competitive tournament. Rather, it’s a nine-hole experience in how FUN golf can be! Each hole has a different “rule”; for instance, on Hole 3 maybe you can only use a 7-iron. So everyone come out and play for Canon! Bring the wives and make it a date night!
We have two events scheduled in October that I know about. And both of them are being organized by family in Lubbock. So, you Lubbock people have many opportunities to help Canon in October. The first is a 3 on 3 basketball tournament on October 7th and 8th, headed up by Natalie and Whitney Conner (Drew’s cousins). I’ll get some contact information posted soon for those of you who want to get a team together or volunteer. The next is Tour de Canon, on October 22nd, a bike race headed up by Paul and Melanie Partlow (my sister and brother-in-law). It will for sure go from Lubbock (actually Idalou (sp)) to Plainview and back, and I think we’re still working on whether we can get a group to go from Amarillo to Plainview and back on the same day. Tour de Canon has exploded into a BIG idea with VERY big possibilities, so if you can help Paul and Melanie with anything we would be very grateful! I know they’re doing T-shirts, will need flyers printed and sponsors collected, rest stops along the way with snacks and drinks and such for the riders, etc. I’ll get more information to you on this as well, but if you know cyclists who would like to help, tell them to SAVE THIS DATE!
Okay, both of my precious boys are asleep right now, so I’m going to sneak a few minutes of sleep myself to try to fill in the gaps left in our nights now. What a blessing is the newborn experience!
And whatever you do [nurse, bottle-feed, diaper, tickle, sing like Elmo, dress, shower every three days, watch Dora the Explorer or Baby Einstein, read Goodnight Moon or Hop on Pop, hug, pray, kiss, cuddle, cry], whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17
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