greggandcyndi

ready to exit!?

I'm appreciative of the blog and Gregg's discipline to "keep it up," which is FAR more involved than mine.  He updates photo albums, posts on a regular basis, and even changes the banner to keep things interesting.  The current banner is my favorite so far..."with a baby ready to exit."  Easy for him to say...and for you to read...but that statement was ended too soon.  You see, the baby is ready to exit, it is true, but I'd like to add to this "exciting" and "adorable" comment from daddy two very important words: With a baby ready to exit from Cyndi.  Oh my gosh.  The baby will be born.  It will be coming out of me.  Exiting my body to enter the world. 

Now, this is something I've never done before -birthing a human child.  I have an idea of how things will go, which I'm sure makes experienced mothers chortle a laugh of "oh you do, do you?"  And they're right -I can only guess what it will be like and that guess is probably way off from the actual events that will be going down.  I've been thinking lately of how bizarre and unbelievable it is that Brennan really could be born tomorrow; we could be parents in 24 hours.  Now that fact alone is reeling enough, but the thing that is really blowing my mind is that the pregnancy is almost over.  The preparation, the growing of a baby, almost a year's process just suddenly becomes finished and done within hours.  So much time, nine months, 40 weeks, 280 days becomes history in a half a day's time. 

So Brennan's finally ready to exit after all that time, and I think mom and dad are ready too, or at least as ready as can be to have this miracle of life exiting me to enter into our life -which will never be the same again.  My mantra is: bring it on.

dog with taste

many of you know that we have a big brown dog named trevor true.  this pic was taken a couple of months ago, but i thought it was timely because cyndi is a little over a week away from giving birth to brennan brave, and she asking for whitey's all the time...it's cool though, because i love whitey's in an unhealthy way.  if i ever moved away from the qc, whitey's is one the things i would miss the most, outside of family and stuff like that of course.

here's to my love

here is to the love of my life.  cynthia lisabeth hampton.  she is currently over 35 weeks pregnant and her due date is just before our 3rd anniversary.  i figured there will be so much going on, i wanted to say this now. here's to my wife of 3 years and the love of the rest of my days.

over four years ago on sunday morning at church in rock island, il, a mermaid walked through the doors of a room i had the amazing fortune of being present in.  the instant she walked into the room, i knew she was the most beautiful woman i had ever seen.  i don't know how or why my eyes would ever wander to another.  it is perfectly clear that i married up and that cyndi is far out of my league.  it still baffles me to this day that she gave me the time of day when i used inviting her to a young adult ministry as an excuse to try and see her again.  so just so everyone knows that i know, cyndi is too good for me.

but in that is found one of the greatest things i appreciate and love about cyndi.  to others it may seem like weakness or stupidity, but i love how foolishly she will follow me, when i'm the biggest fool i know.  we have been through so much in the past three years and she has been at my side at every moment.  what is amazing is that even if at first something seems too big or too much, i know there is nothing that is too much for her.  i say this because she has made it clear to me over the years through her actions, that by far, i know no one else that is willing to rely on God in understanding and in mystery, as much as she.  where i give lip service, she is authentic, and where i am fake, she is true.  she is much more of a servant than i am, and there is still so much i could learn from her.  the picture above is a great example of that.  this is one of my favorite pictures of her.  a couple of summers ago cyndi used her only week of vacation to go to mexico and serve with the youth of "the furnace", the ministry i was helping with.  i went too, but it counted as work for me.  i love her.  she is my wife and my best friend. there is no other i could possibly make it through this life with.

so here's to my wife...the mermaid that stole my heart

birthday present

some of you may know that i am very into emerging ideas and love to experiment with what "church" really is.  well for my birthday, cyndi signed me up to go to the emergent convention.  this will be the third time i've gone, once to san diego and now twice to nashville.  last year cyndi went with me, but this year we will have a new born and so she won't be able to go.  she still wants me to go, as long as the baby comes on time.  if the baby is more than a couple of days late, i'll have to cancle.  every time i go i have learned so much about myself and i am very excited about going again.  if any of you want to check it out, you should go to the link above and see if it will be right for you.  i hope to see a lot of the friends that i have made from across the country and learn, once again, more about myself. 

God Bless and we'll see you later

gregg

Like a Virgin

Oh Lord be near me, I’m posting on the blog (and it’s my first time).  It’s not that I don’t like them or the idea of them; it’s much the opposite, I do believe in the blog.  It’s just the pressure –the pressure of getting one little blurb to have your thoughts on.  What if my thoughts aren’t deep?  Or funny?  Or even coherent?  And on top of that, what’s so special about my life that I ought to be pawning it off on innocent –or worse, uninterested readers?  As I ponder these my quandaries and anxieties of posting, a number of possible outcomes fly through my obviously over-analyzing and perhaps slightly dramatic head …

Outcome A of Posting –the world at large is gripped by my fascinating life as a bridal consultant and expecting mother who is living in the basement of her pastor’s home.  I’m not only the talk of countless water coolers across the nation, but the BBC, Fox Network and AOL TimeWarner have all made propositions for a made-for-TV-movie, Reality TV Series and a full-length feature film.  Trying not to let things go to my head, I remind myself everyday that this is blatantly my destiny and God’s plan for my life to touch the ends of the earth with his Good News and sweet sweet Spirit.  Not to mention it’s pretty cool that the hottest Christmas items out there this season are Cynthia Hampton tees, travel mugs, cell-phone covers and for $3.50 on the internet you can buy a recorded message of me to put on your answering machine so that when people call and you’re not home I’m the one greeting them to leave their name, number and a brief message.

Outcome B of Posting –the world at large becomes the nemesis of Cynthia Hampton!  They read of my “life” and are outraged at the boring and monotonous lifestyle of someone squandering away the opportunity to be anything near interesting, fun or hip.  I am to the blogging world what William Hung is to American Idol; people are embarrassed for me but can’t turn away at the site of something so pathetic –they wonder, “Does she really think that we care?  Can she be that dense?” and in my own mind I know that sure, I’m not the best –but some interest is better than none, right?  And in this particular case none of my friends let me know that right now, no, some interest it is not better than none.  It’s like they just let me smile big with this obnoxious piece of lettuce between my teeth and say absolutely nothing.

Outcome C of Posting –the world at large is mostly unaffected by the blog.  Rather, just those friends and family members close to me frequent it to have a chuckle or two at the silliness of life and the other thoughts and quirks involved in my posts.  It turns out to be just the thing for keeping in touch and having a kind of ‘accountability’ to write more.  Posting and I become friends and sometimes wonder how we ever made it without each other. 

…hm.  Stay tuned for how things come out.  I’d like to say that the networks and corporations around the globe are putting good odds on Outcome A –but let’s face it, networks and corporations around the globe don’t even know who I am –and besides I’d much prefer for Outcome C anyway; I’m just not ready for that kind of publicity at this time in my life.  Thanks for visiting our blog.  Please respond with any comments, thoughts or concerns regarding anything from Bridal Consultation, to American Idol, or even an embarrassing or sad and pathetic story about when your friends didn’t let you know when you had lettuce in your teeth. 

Shalom friends –clh.