Meet Griffin!

I think that it is about time for me to introduce you to Griffin! We are so blessed to be the parents of TWO sons!

Griffin Wakefield Barnett, who is now 3 months old, was born on Tuesday, May 26 at 8:26 pm. That day I had experienced contractions all afternoon but had doubted that they were the real thing. Finally I had suggested to Ben that he drive me to the hospital just to see if anything was happening. And, well, Griffin was born a little over an hour later! It was another natural birth, accomplished without too much trouble! He was a small baby, weighing just 6 pounds 2 ounces and measuring 19 inches long. He has beautiful blue eyes. His hair color is intriguing--often it looks light brown, but sometimes it looks RED like his Uncle Joe's!

I am not going to lie. The first month was awful. Griffin was hospitalized for a couple of extra nights due to jaundice and poor eating. Our doctor ordered us to feed him formula for a few days to help with these issues, and after these issues resolved it was a nightmare trying to re-train Griffin how to breastfeed. Griffin also had his days and nights mixed up for the first few weeks, resulting in many sleepless nights for me. Meanwhile, Big Brother Weston was going crazy with boredom, jealousy, and temper tantrums. I almost wrote a blog post entitled "Why NOT to Have Two Children Under Two," but alas, I was too busy to find time to write! Ha. Thankfully, God brought us through that difficult first month. Ben's mother flew up for a week-long visit to help. My mother babysat Weston every morning for several weeks. Griffin successfully transitioned back to nursing and learned to distinguish between day and night.

Life is so much better now! Griffin is now the easiest baby in the world! I am one blessed mama--he started sleeping through the night at only 2 months old! He even gives me a mid-day break by taking an afternoon nap at the same time that Weston takes his afternoon nap. And he has a sweet, laid-back disposition that I really appreciate! We love our little Griff! I think that Weston is starting to like him, too!

Here are a few photos from the past 3 months.
      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gospel Transformation and Me



Recently, I finally finished reading the book Gospel Transformation, written by Dr. Neil H. Williams and published by World Harvest Mission. Embarrassingly, I had owned this book for several years before reading it; I had bought it at the recommendation of my pastor when I was a graduate student in Illinois all of the way back in 2008! But I want to give a shout-out that this book is a fabulous resource for understanding what the gospel message is and how it transforms your heart and life.

What the author says in the book's introduction is a good synopsis of the contents: "You are worse than you think!" But also, "Cheer up! The gospel is far greater than you can imagine! (pp. i-ii)" The 36 lessons of the 372-page book are grouped into 6 units: "Introducing the Gospel," "Enemies of the Gospel," "Believing the Gospel," "The Power of the Gospel," "The Fruit of the Gospel," and "The Gospel in Relationships." The book is an inductive study, often used in a group format (apparently especially for college students), but also an effective tool for personal devotions. It is a great book for not only the person like me who has grown up in church all of her life, but also the person who is unfamiliar with the Christian faith. The many diagrams and illustrations helped me to simplify and synthesize the information, and then the leader's notes in the back of the book helped me to understand the concepts on a deeper level. Overall, Gospel Transformation was very thought-provoking, very practical, and very encouraging! I loved working through it.

And I must say that while I am thankful for this book, I am even more thankful for the actual message of the gospel itself! I think of the book of Romans in the Bible and how it so clearly spells out the gospel message.

• Romans 3:10-11, 23--As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God....For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• Romans 5:8--But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• Romans 6:23--For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Romans 10:9, 13--Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved....For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And then I think of God's work in my own life and how He has transformed me and continues to transform me. I may not have the most dramatic testimony, but I think that any testimony of God's mercy and grace is beautiful.

• God allowed me to grow up in a Christian home and in a Bible-believing church, and I honestly do not remember a time when I did not know about Jesus. When I was 6 years old, I read a story about a little girl who prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior, and then I realized that even though I knew about Jesus I had never received Him as my Savior. I prayed, confessing to God that I was a sinner and asking Jesus to come into my heart. 
• Even though I believe that I became a Christian that day as a 6 year-old girl, my understanding of the gospel has been a journey and continues to be so. I struggled with doubts and fears in upper elementary and junior high school. Perhaps due to a lack of good teaching, I worried that my conversion experience had not been emotional enough and that my faith was not good enough. In desperation, I prayed the sinner's prayer over and over again, asking God to make me His child. Finally, tired of the drama and not knowing what else to do, I decided to just start reading the Bible and seeking God. Somehow through reading His Word, God gave me peace about my salvation and helped me to start growing in Christ. A few years later, when I was a teenager and my family had changed churches, I learned that faith itself is a gift from God and not something that I can work up on my own strength. That precious, precious doctrine gave me complete peace about the state of my soul. Ultimately, salvation is not about me or the quality of my faith, but about the Triune God--God the Father who has loved me before the foundation of the world, God the Son who died for me, and God the Spirit who has pursued me and given me the gift of faith. I see that God has done and is doing a work in me, and I praise Him for it!
• I like to look back and see all of the lessons that God has taught me through the years. In college and graduate school, I learned about God's unconditional love and His faithfulness. As much as I enjoyed school, I really, really struggled with all of the pressure and stress. I often tried to cope in sinful ways--by binge-eating or by giving way to depression. Horrified by my sin, I would come to God in repentance, and He would always comfort me with a profound sense of His forgiveness, mercy, and unconditional love. And even when it seemed like my programs of study would never end and I would never be able to complete all of the requirements on time, God was faithful and gave me success. 
• In graduate school and in my two years as a single professional, I learned about the blessing of Christian community in the local church. I attended small but vibrant churches where people cared about me and showed me genuine hospitality, and where in turn I learned the joy of reaching out to others. I learned about the beautiful unity that the gospel brings among people who might otherwise be very different.
• In the circumstances leading up to my marriage, I learned about God's sovereignty and providence. When all of my plans seemed to be falling apart, God brought my wonderful husband into my life and showed me that He had had a plan for me all along.
• And in this current phase of life of motherhood, God has been exposing my selfishness and teaching me the joy of loving even when it involves sacrifice. I have been learning how making sacrifices for the good of another person is an opportunity to be like Christ and an opportunity to better appreciate Christ!

Thank you, Jesus, for dying for sinners like me and for transforming hearts and lives through the gospel!

An Announcement

A Mom's Weekend Out

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the True Woman 2014 National Women's Conference: Finding Freedom, Fullness, and Fruitfulness in Christ. As you can see from the picture above, I made the trip to Indianapolis with 7 terrific women from my church.

Why was I so interested in this particular conference? About 2 years ago, our women's group from church studied the book True Woman 101: Divine Design by Mary A. Kassian and Nancy Leigh Demoss. It was an excellent book that helped me to finally put the puzzle pieces together of what it means to be a woman from a biblical perspective. When some of the church women announced their plans to attend a conference in which the authors of this book were main speakers, I desperately wanted to go. Ben surprised me last Christmas with a ticket to the conference, and I was so excited!

This weekend was the first time that I had ever been separated from Weston, my 13 month-old, for longer than a few hours. My mother-in-law Kandy flew here to be Weston's main caregiver for the weekend (3 days and 2 nights total). She did an amazing job taking care of him, and I am so thankful. The night before I left on the conference, Kandy showed me the recent movie Moms' Night Out. It was great! I recommend it. It was full of good acting, good laughs, and some good encouragement for moms, especially stay-at-home moms like me. Watching Moms' Night Out was the perfect prelude to my "mom's weekend out!"

The conference was uplifting. My favorite message was by Mary Kassian, on being a woman of the Word instead of a "wimpy woman." My favorite testimony was by Naghmeh Abedini, wife of imprisoned Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini, on God's grace during a horrific situation. And my favorite aspect of the conference was the music! I was so thrilled that Keith and Kristyn Getty were the musicians for the conference.

I think that God spoke to my heart more through the songs than through the "sermons." I loved "My Worth is Not in What I Own" and "O for a Closer Walk with God" from the Gettys' CD The Greengrass Session. Through the lyrics of these beautiful songs, God encouraged me that even though I am an imperfect woman who never has it all together, God still loves me and accepts me in Christ. My worth is based on who I am in Christ rather than on how I perform in any given area. God encouraged me that even though long devotions are not an option during this season of my life, He still wants me to press forward in pursuing a closer walk with Him. No matter how busy I am chasing my toddler son, I can still afford to spend at least 5 minutes per day meditating on the Bible and talk to God in prayer as I go about my day. I think that recently I have been feeling like a robot--going through the motions of changing diapers, washing dishes, and trying to tackle my to-do list, but letting guilt and stress keep me from a vibrant, joyful relationship with God.

I also loved hearing the song "A Mother's Prayer." It so gorgeously expresses what my heart feels for Weston. (Of course my favorite Getty songs would be the slow and reflective ones, because I am a slow and reflective person, ha.)

I found YouTube links to 2 of these songs.

My Worth is Not in What I Own
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfFrJHuptUQ

A Mother's Prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoy74orJu10

So yes...the content of the conference was a blessing. But then another "blessing" was that getting away made me want to come back! My mother-in-law texted me adorable photos of my son, which made me miss him so much! After a little while I started preferring my husband's more logical conversation to the women's more emotional conversation, my own simple little house to the luxurious Hilton, and the school of daily experience to the school of conference session after session! Ha.

And so I had a happy reunion with my husband and son on Saturday night. And now I am back to real life, after a refreshing mom's weekend out!

Weston is One Year Old!

Okay, I know that I am rather late in writing this blog post. But better late than never, right?

A few weeks ago, we celebrated our son's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

We love our little boy! As I reflect upon the miracle of his birth (and, by the way, I think that EVERY birth is a miracle), I will never forget staring into his beautiful eyes right after he was born. He stared back at me with such intelligence and personality, such thoughtfulness and curiosity. It has been so awesome to watch this little boy grow and watch that little personality develop during his first year of life. Parenting is 10 times more difficult than I ever imagined, yet 100 times more satisfying and wonderful than I ever imagined. Despite all of our inadequacies, God has been gracious to us and Weston is alive and thriving! Hurray. And now instead of a baby, we suddenly realize that we have a TODDLER!

At his one-year doctor appointment, Weston weighed 23 pounds 10 ounces and measured 30.5 inches long. Important updates include that he started walking at 10 1/2 months; he can say "Da-da" and "Ma-ma;" he is still toothless; and he is absolutely infatuated with electronics and technology!

We enjoyed our summer with Weston because he was finally old enough that we could DO things with him! Weston and Daddy enjoyed going to swimming lessons together, and Weston and Mommy enjoyed going to Kindermusik classes together. Weston also participated in a special summer reading program for babies and toddlers at our local library.

Below you will see some photos of Weston from age 9 months to 1 year. At the very end, you will see several photos from his birthday party, which was a simple cookout with hot dogs and s'mores. We were privileged to have out-of-state relatives Uncle Matt, Grandpa Carl, Grandma Kandy, and even Great-Grandma Violet come to join us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Kauflin's Helpful Hints for the Contemporary Church Pianist



 

So...I am one of the worst procrastinators ever. Over a year ago, my church's music director e-mailed all of the church pianists and recommended that we watch these videos on "The Piano in Contemporary Worship" by Bob Kauflin, director of Sovereign Grace Music. When I read the e-mail, I was about to go on "maternity leave" from the pianist rotation, and all that my brain could handle thinking about was childbirth, baby names, and developing the perfect robot-themed baby nursery. Haha. When did I finally watch the videos? Not until this past weekend!!! Anyway, I am glad that I finally watched them. The videos were great, and I wanted to share what I learned.

Bob Kauflin's talks helped me understand some of the differences of being a church pianist in a more traditional musical context versus a more contemporary one. Musically speaking, I grew up in very traditional churches--an independent fundamental Baptist church and then a few Presbyterian Church in America churches. The congregations sang mostly traditional hymns, accompanied usually only by piano. When I studied hymn-playing for a couple of semesters at Bob Jones University with Faye Lopez and Ruth Coleman, I learned the traditional style of hymn-playing (you know: play the soprano, alto, and tenor parts with your right hand in a three-note chord and then play the bass part with your left hand in octaves, etc., etc.). More recently, I have been in a non-denominational evangelical church and (currently) a Southern Baptist church, both with more contemporary music. For example, we have sung many songs by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Sovereign Grace (think "In Christ Alone" and "Jesus Thank You"). Instead of only a piano to accompany the singing, we have had guitars, and sometimes several other instruments, on our worship teams. I thought that to succeed as a contemporary church pianist, all that I needed to know was how to play from a lead sheet. But after watching these videos, I realize that I have more to learn!

Bob Kauflin shares some helpful hints for playing piano in a more contemporary style, especially with a worship team. Here are a few suggestions that I found interesting:

• Play like a donut--with a hole in the middle. Because the guitar plays in what you would call the middle register of the piano, play in the low and high registers of the piano to balance the overall sound.

• Give the music some space. Try playing just harmony (no melody) once in a while. One idea is to try playing whole notes that establish the important chords without necessarily playing all of the chords. 

• Create "distinct and memorable" fills--short, repeated melodic/rhythmic phrases that you can use to fill some of the space and add cohesiveness to the song.

• Listen to the other players on your worship team. Back off when they are doing something "distinct and memorable."

• Add color to your chords, using open 5ths and added 2nds.

• Instead of always playing the last line of the chorus for the introduction, try using a chord pattern that is repeated throughout the song for an introduction.

Here are the links to the videos if anybody wants to watch them. Oh, and may I say that Bob Kauflin has quite the personality!

http://www.worshipmatters.com/2011/11/30/the-piano-in-contemporary-worship-part-1/

http://www.worshipmatters.com/2011/12/01/the-piano-in-contemporary-worship-part-2/

http://www.worshipmatters.com/2012/01/07/the-piano-in-contemporary-worship-part-3/

 



Weston is 9 Months Old!

So...this blog post is a few weeks late, as Weston turned 9 months old near the beginning of this month. But still--I want to take the opportunity to sing my son's praises and post a few pictures! We are so blessed to be his parents!

Weston now weighs 22.5 pounds and measures 29.5 inches long. He is Mr. Active and Mr. Explorer these days! Ben bought him a little blue wooden cart from Ikea, and Weston can walk by himself while pushing the cart! Looking back, it was at 8 months old that things seemed to click for him. It was at 8 months old when he finally began to sleep through the night consistently. (Now sometimes he will sleep for 11 hours without waking--what a pampered mommy I am!) And it was at 8 months old when he finally mastered crawling and pulling himself up to standing. Besides exploring every nook and cranny of our house, Weston loves playing peekaboo, reading books, banging on the piano, grocery-shopping, swimming, and swinging on the swing at the local park.

Our "Mr. Explorer" went on two vacations during the last few months. In April he spent a week in Florida with the Barnett side of the family. And in May he spent a few days in Georgia at Uncle Matt's house and then a few days in Ohio celebrating Uncle Joe's high school graduation!

It is so hard to believe, but Weston will be a year old in 2 1/2 months! (Hopefully he will have at least one tooth by then!) Below are some of our favorite photos from ages 6 to 9 months.