Chris Here

Well after Mindy's last post, I wanted to put something up too. We have spent so much time blogging about Cade-man we have forgotten to blog about ourselves. So I am going to put somethings up in the blogosphere here for everyone to read.

First, it has been a pretty weird, hard, exciting, tiring, and sometimes boring summer. This is the first summer in over 14 years that I have not been busy doing something inside a ministry context. It has been great to be with my family and see Cade grow and change daily and I have loved being able to hang out with Mindy. So much of our lives have revolved around my job or my aspirations (and being in Abilene continues this tradition) this summer different in that I have really done NO ministry: i.e. mission trips, camps, retreats, lock ins, VBS, devos, etc. To be blunt, I really miss it very much. I never knew how much I loved working with teens and families until taking time away from it. I guess the old saying, 'you don't know what you've got until its gone' applies here. Needless to say it has been quite an adjustment coming here this summer. We have been burning the candle at both ends for so long, it has been hard to downshift but we believe it has been very much needed. To use a phrase from Mindy, we needed some healing time together. Some time away from Ministry--which may be hard for some of you to hear and understand.

Second, I am very excited to begin the Marriage and Therapy program at ACU. I am very excited to learn more about helping families be what God created them to be. I know it will be hard and I am sure i will struggle with the new lifestyle but I believe this will be a great tool in my ministry career. I have become even more passionate about families, marriages, etc over the past few years and believe this program is a great place for me to be.

Third, I can not wait to see Parker's face and hold her in my arms and continue to road of fatherhood. Though we were a bit taken a back when we found out Mindy was pregnant, we are very very very excited her arrival. We seem to be more excited every day. We are excited for Cade to have a sister and for them to be so close in age. I am so happy about our family becoming 4. We have this idea and this outlook about family that really started the day that Cade was born. We believe our family is a team. We work together for each other and with each other. We want to support each other, cry with each other, laugh with each other and build each other up.

Lastly, we are very much looking to get involved in a church here. It has been hard to do until now because we have been traveling so much. But we are hoping that will change over the coming weeks. We miss that 'family'. We miss our Fairfax family very much and will never forget our life there and the way that God brought each person into our lives. We were honored to be part of their lives.
We are excited about the next 2 years and cant wait to share it with everyone. Thanks for all your love and support.

Mindy here...

Hey y'all! I haven't blogged in a while, so thought I'd give a shot. Chris was right, summer colds are the worst! I'm STILL fighting it. My head has been so stopped up I have been too embarressed to talk on the phone to friends/family. I tried talking to my older brother on the phone the other day and I ended up chocking on mucus and had to run to the bathroom while coughing and gagging! We came back to DFW to get some things we need for Parker, but I haven't been able to leave the house until this past weekend. We did finally find a good deal on a bed and double stroller. I'm especially excited about the stroller. The seats can turn so the kids can face each other. I think that will be a cute picture some day! We have bought some of the basics like diapers and night gowns for her; some clothes and cute bows of course! It's hard getting into "Girlie" mode. There are tights to buy and bloomers with ruffles on them! Girls are really high matinence from the beginning! She has some clothes already from friends and family (thank you ALL!). My sister-in-law (brother's wife) gave Parker a ton of cute clothes that my nieces have grown out of; mom and I have discovered a really great second hand baby store in the area. We decided to go yesterday to check it out, but it was so HOT we both got tired fast. Today we heard on the news that it was 105 yesterday! No wonder we were tired! We decided to go shopping on the hottest day of the summer! So, then we decided to go back in the fall! Needless to say, she will probably want for nothing, but the mommy guilt has already sunk in! We were blessed with many supporters when Cade was born that being in A-town without our cheering crowd and encouragement crew is difficult for me to comprehend. I will miss all the happy faces of the teens that came to see us in the hospital, and all the visitors to the house. I will never forget what our FXCC family did for us. Thank you all! The ACU FXCC students have told me they will come visit Parker when they get a chance, so I know we'll have great memories and pictures to share. I'm hoping Lisa Bosley will still be in town! She was the 1st one at the hospital to see Cade! We'll see!
Chris comes back from Colorado tomorrow and we are driving back to A-town, as he calls it, for my next OB appointment. We will be staying in A-town for the remainder of the pregnancy to get ready for her arrival and the beginning of the first semester of grad school. Chris is really excited about school. He's got his office all set up at home and he was able to buy a new computer through his student discount that Apple has. I get his old one, so we don't have to share! You'll be hearing more from me when I get it set up.
I think that's all I have for now. This has been the busiest/craziest summer I've had in a long time. Can't say the same for Chris, but for me it's been busy! Now we need to get back to A-town and find a church home. We are really missing all the church stuff, but we haven't been in town long enough to go any where. We went to Highland once and then we left for a month! August will be dedicated to a prayerful decision on where to make our church home for the next 2 years.
More to come if I ever get the chance!
Love to all!
m

Having A Summer Cold Stinks

Well all three of us have colds. Cade and I are getting better but poor Mindy is suffering through. I hate having a cold in the summer. Cade actually had to be on antibiotics this week. But in other news, Cade has been able to stand on his own for brief periods of time. It is cool to watch. We try not cause too much commotion over it because he just sits down if we make a fuss. Then last night he was eating a cookie when MiMi (Mindy's mom) told him he was eating a cookie. Then she held one up and said, 'Say cookie Cade, say cookie'. Mindy and I have done this for forever with no effect but he looked at MiMi and said 'Caca' which we can either mean he knows what the spanish word for crap is or he is trying to say cookie. He did it twice. He can now say cat, duck, caca, and a few other things. Man they grow up fast.

Just a little over 5 weeks away from Parker's arrival!!!

Corn

We recently found out Cade loves corn on the cob. He takes it and pretty much gnaws on it 'till it's gone. It is pretty funny to watch. I took this picture about half way through one cob.

In other news, we are in Abilene for a couple of days before heading back to the DFW area for my brother's going away party. He is moving to Colorado Springs. I will be driving up with him and helping him move into his apartment. Mindy is doing well. Parker is kicking away in there and making it hard to sleep at this point. Cade man is still crawling around but is now starting to walk beside you if you hold his hand. We will have a video of our summer travels up in a few weeks. Hope everyone is having a great week!!

She Has A Name!!

Well after literally months of debate, baby name books, input, long discussions and trying to choose a name for our new baby girl, we have a name. And it is a name that Mindy and I actually agree on. So here it is: Parker Noel. She is due sometime the morning of August 29th. We are very excited to have a name and we even have a baby bed!! Of course we are also starting to accumulate baby clothes as well. We will have a picture of little Parker soon. Also, we will have some new pics of our trip!!!

Cade & the Cousins

We had a great day yesterday!! Cade and his cousins Madison and Sidney went to the park to play. Madison is the oldest (6) and Sidney is about 19 months old. Cademan had fun taking pictures and doing his favorite thing SWINGING. He loves to swing. He even went down the slide (with a little help from Dad). It was a great time!!

Little Man and Pops

We went to visit my dad this weekend. We had a great time. Brenda, my step-mom, cooked it up and we ate and ate and ate. Cade had a great time chasing the cat and just pretty much crawling all over the place. I even got to play golf with Tony and Dad. Tony pretty much killed us on the course. That means I need to practice a bit more. On Saturday we traveled to Shreveport to visit my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin for the day. We had a great time with them. My uncle David told a few stories and I got to catch up with my cousin Julie, who I haven't seen in so long.

Keep checking for more updates.

Team Bedard in DFW

Ok so we decided it would be a good idea to travel to visit family and friends during the month of July. So we left A-Town last Wednesday afternoon and have been to Grapevine, Lindale then back to Grapevine. We will be visiting my sister and her husband in Keller this weekend and Mindy's brother, sister-in-law and their 2 kids are coming to town from Atlanta. We will be hanging with them as we celebrate Mindy's mom's birthday. It will be a great time. Then Cade and I will be doing some visiting on our own while Mindy goes back to A-Town for a DR. visit. Then its back to Grapevine for a couple of days then I will be driving with my brother Tony to Colorado Springs where he is moving the end of the month. Then back to DFW and back home to A-Town (I will be referring to Abilene as A-Town hence forth). One full month of travel then one almost full month of recovery, preparation, etc as we await baby number 2 (its a girl but we have not decided on a name yet but have gotten plenty of suggestions). We are looking forward to visiting with some of our VA friends the middle of August!!!

It will be a great month of July and we look forward to visiting with so many of our family and friends. We will be updating pictures and videos as we can get to the computer. We wish everyone a great summer!!!!

Cade's First Unassisted Popsicle

This is priceless. We were eating Popsicles and Cade decided he wanted to feed himself. The video speaks for itself. Enjoy!!