What's in a Name?

Jameson Elliott Compton.

Our two year old. Pure joy. A smile that lights up any room. At least one thousand giggles a day.

I've shared before that Jameson was born in a dark time for Eric, me and our marriage. I'm not ready to share details with the interweb-world. But, let's just say it was dark. Sometimes I found myself sinking in an ocean of despair. Our personal struggles mixed with post-partum hormones were enough to push me into a deep depression. I remember laughing to myself at the idea that things would ever be truly good again, let alone better than before our mess. I was clinging to Jesus with everything I had. My only means of emotional survival was keeping the Word open on my kitchen counter, my bathroom counter, my nightstand and scrawled out on index cards on the dashboard of my car.

Through all of it, Jameson made us laugh. He rarely cried. Not only was he always joyful, Jameson was and still is a good eater, good sleeper, good traveller. Easy would be an understatement. As our pediatrician said not too long ago, Jameson was Jesus's way of letting me know that He was still there.

In Genesis, God tells Abraham that a post-menopausal and previously barren Sarah will bear him a child. A baby boy. Sarah overhears God speaking His promise to Abraham and she laughs to herself at the thought of bearing a child in her old age. God overhears Sarah's laughter and knows her thoughts. His response is: "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:13)

In the midst of despair, Sarah laughed to herself at the thought of God's baffling promise. Like Sarah, in my darkest hours, there was a mix of faith and unbelief that marked my days. As I clung to Jesus in faith, I also had my own moments of doubt, laughing to myself over the thought that life could ever truly be good again.

Well, Sarah's story continued. When she found herself holding her first baby at 90 years old, she said "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."(Genesis 21:6-7). Sarah and Abraham named their son Isaac, which means son of laughter.

Once again, I find myself identifying with Sarah and her laughter, this time on the other side of seeing God's promises fulfilled. Eric and my story continued. Here Eric and I are, over two years later. Walking through life with a healed marriage, marked by God's redemptive hand. Jesus has proved that He redeems. He walked us right out of the darkness. He walked us into the light with deeper relationships with Himself and with each other. To God be the glory, great things He has done. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. I laugh with Sarah, knowing that God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would have said that Eric and I would have the marriage we do today, about to welcome our fourth baby into the world?

Now, I know I'm kind of jumping all over the place with this post. But there is a point, I promise. 

Names are a big deal in the Bible. God often re-names people. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Simon became Peter. Saul became Paul.  And now, Jameson Elliott is going to become Jameson Isaac. 

Call us crazy, but we are re-naming our two year old. Well, his middle name anyway. Jameson's names were just two that we liked. There was no special meaning behind Jameson or Elliott. Marshall's middle name is Eric's middle name. Eliza's middle name is Grace - it came out of our study of Paul's letter to the Romans, the year that I was pregnant with her. (Little did I know it would become the most popular girls' middle name in America!). And, our fourth baby's name is loaded with meaning (but that's a story for another post). 

So, it only seems fitting that Jameson gets a middle name with meaning too. Maybe it seems two years late. Maybe it seemed late when Sarah didn't have a baby until she was 90. But, God's timing with Sarah's Isaac was perfect. Maybe our marriage seemed hopeless. But, God's redemption was perfect. We think maybe this is just God's perfect timing for renaming our little guy Jameson Isaac, our own son of laughter.

Thanksgiving, a 2 year old, and RIP MacBook

My presence in the blogger world has been lacking for the past week. Not due to morning sickness, extreme fatigue or busyness. No. It's because of a sweet munchkin who lives at my house. A munchkin who will remain nameless. But, one who spilled his/her entire cup of water over my Macbook.

Tragic.

R.I.P. Macbook. It was nice knowing you.

My Macbook has been sitting in its original box, full of rice, since Monday evening. We continue to hope against hope that the rice will absorb all of the water, and it will turn on again, by some miracle. There is a back-up plan (i.e. an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar). And I will be ecstatic if those Apple brainiacs can salvage my hard drive. Or at least some pictures. Oh. And maybe my Excel spreadsheet with EVERY address I need to send our sweet little Christmas cards, which are sitting on my desk waiting to be addressed. I had only made it through the D's by the time my computer met its tragic end.

In more important news, our family did indeed celebrate Thanksgiving. I took exactly zero pictures. That's right. Zero. Zero pictures of the wonderful, delicious and hilarious Thanksgiving that we enjoyed at Eric's Uncle Mike and Aunt Janie's house. But it did happen. Complete with pilgrim costumes, the turkey trot, and an ice cream cake that looked like a turkey.

Eric's Aunt Janie, who I adore, DID take an amazing picture, however. Of she and Uncle Mike in their pilgrim costumes. Hoping that these costumes make an appearance every year from now until forever.

And, Jameson did turn two years old last Saturday. He waited all day to be able to blow out his candles. Have I mentioned how much we love this guy?

Recent Happenings I Don't Want to Forget

Fun date night seeing Coldplay at the Rose Garden with Kari and Conrad.

Jameson plays hoops.

Eric was planning to run his first trail run - Monument Peak - but ended up with plantar fasciitis. Major bummer. He has been a trooper. Patient in his suffering. Making every effort to rehab himself with rest and Trigger Point Therapy tools. He is back to running just one to two miles at a time. And still went to the race to cheer on Conrad, and to work as a volunteer at the aid station where he took this pic.

Jameson discovered the backyard slide.

Baby on a Shelf

Oh weekends, how the Comptons love you. Especially when you are (finally) full of sun. There is something so fun about driving the Jeep with the top off and all three kids squeezed in the backseat. 

A big brother played t-ball.

A baby brother wished he could play t-ball too

And he sat on a shelf. Weird, I know.

A little sister passed the t-ball time looking for daisies. Unfortunately for Eliza, I think that she might have inherited my total and complete inability to play team sports. I have really random athletic abilities. I am coordinated. I can run. I did competitive cheerleading in high school (had to slip that in).  But, I have no gifting for team sports - you can still get my family to laugh (hard) at the mere thought of me playing softball. or volleyball. or basketball. Sorry, Eliza. Your deficiency is a genetic trait. At least you have a cute giggle to make up for it. 

We finished the weekend with dinner at the next door neighbor's house. How providential that the family next door has a boy and a girl. Almost exactly the same ages as Marshall and Eliza.  Jameson just tags along. Somehow I think he'll be okay. Even if his parents do set him on the shelf occasionally.  

The Drunk Monkey and the Marshmallow Smiles

What we did today . . . another food craft. thank you, pinterest.  (For all of you to whom I said "no pinterest for me!," you can now say I told you so. It is the best.) The natives were restless today. The time change has the kids just a little "off." And Jameson had reached drunk monkey status. You know. When he's so tired that he is delirious. And he thinks everything is funny. And he hides in the cupboard. and dances. and bobbles his head around like a crazy man. and giggles. and giggles. and giggles. Much, much better than a cranky, tired baby.

We had hours to go until Eric was home. So, we made apple, peanut butter, marshmallow smiles. Messy and fun and yummy. They were not nearly as pretty as the ones on Pinterest. But it just didn't matter.

We cored and sliced an apple. Spread on the peanut butter and stuck on the marshmallows. (Yes, Marshall is in his Christmas pajamas. again. Don't judge. Like I've said before - pajamas are better than just Lego Star Wars underwear.)

And then we ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And got messy.

I have the .... Best job ever. Best kids ever. 

My First Guest Blogger

Today's post comes from our first guest blogger, Marshall:

It was really fun meeting Doug. Doug is the dog from Up. We went around the Challenge Trail with Eliza too. Eliza was afraid of Doug. We went on the tire swing and one girl fell off. And then the man said "You have to stay on with your arms and legs." This was at Disneyland. And we ran through the Challenge Trail. No flip flops or anything that would fall off in the net. Wear tennis shoes. Staying at our hotel was really fun. It was called the Howard Johnson. 

I cried in San Francisco because I did not want to stay there.  I said "This town is a stinker!" with my blue blanket over my head. The Golden Gate Bridge was really fun. We got a picture there. I will put this picture up in a little bit. Actually I'm going to put it up now.

We are standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and I just got that gun from Disneyland. It is a Rebel Blaster.

Here I am pretending to hold a light saber. Besides, I went to Jedi Training Academy. It was pretty fun. I am now a Padawan.

A lady took this picture for us. I don't really know who she was though. Here is the five people in our family.

We stayed the night in Redding, instead. Eliza woke up with a barking seal cough at 5 o'clock in the morning. It must have been really painful for her.

Me, Daddy, Jameson and Eliza. Please comment about this picture:

Freezing Cold Fun

After a yummy lunch in Bend at 10 Barrel Brewing (yes, again. don't judge. we heart it. the tuna melt. the fries. the burgers. the kids mac n cheese. we just can't stay away.), we happened upon this crazy fun looking park.

Our kids were dying to play at a park but there had been too much snow in Sunriver. We couldn't pass this one up. So we parked and piled out of the Compton mobile. It was freezing cold. Our family lasted about ten minutes at the park. We got back into the car with red cheeks, cold hands and blue lips (wait. no. that was Marshall's lips. I mean, they were blue. But it was from eating a blue raspberry dum dum, not from the cold.). We had fun though. And got some blog-worthy pics.

Sunriver Living

Our Sunriver weekend in review:

Mommy/daughter pedicures. Eliza really just gets her toes and fingers painted. It is one of her very favorite things in the world to do. It's almost like this girl was created to go to the spa. She likes the relaxation room, spa music and the sound of the ocean, green tea in little tea cups (the idea of it, but not the taste of it. just holding the cup is enough), and chatting up the nail technicians. She is my favorite little girlfriend in the world.

Donuts from Hot Lava Baking Company:

Lunch:

Daddy happy to be at 10 Barrel Brewing Company:

Wrangling Jameson at dinner. It was a treat at dinner to run into my longtime friend, Alisa, and meet her beautiful family. We've been friends since high school cheerleading days and ended up at Willamette Law during the same years. Always fun to see friends "all grown up" with kids. Sometimes I still feel like I'm 16 and think of friends that way. . . how are we this grown up, and who thought we were responsible enough to have kids of our own?

Waking up to fresh snow:

Marshall, you're growing up way too fast, buddy:

Jameson always wants to be included with the big kids.

But, he gave up the idea of playing with Marshall and Eliza after he touched snow for the first time.

 So thankful for three-day weekends!