Blevins Blog

The Blevins go to Yosemite

2008-08-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

After our trip to the annual conference of the International Council of Churches in Los Angeles, we hopped up to San Jose to see my old roommate, Jennifer. After a nice evening in the city, Jen took us for a couple of days to Yosemite National Park. Now, I love the outdoors, but with Jen, you also have to EXPERIENCE the outdoors. So my fitness guru friend made us hike (carrying the now 25-pound Jake) and bike (hauling the now 25-pound Jake) all over the park. We hiked through the "Big Trees," watched sunset over Half Dome from Glacier Point, and biked all around Yosemite Valley. We lumbered up to Yosemite Falls, stuck our feet in the cold river, and saw the smoke of the recent fires (which we did not start, by the way). All told, a wonderful trip! Enjoy the pictures!

Jake is the photogenic Blevins. . .

2007-11-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

We did it! We moved to Tennessee in September and we're finally feeling a little bit settled. Rhonda started her new ministry in October and Terry will begin working for the Episcopal School of Knoxville this week.

In the meantime, Jake is loving all the attention he's getting from his new friends at church as well as being close to his Mimi. We've had a number of visitors (to see Jake, not us, of course!). The Lamberts and the Spilkers have visited as well as Terry's mom, Gail, and daughter Marilou and her beau, Donta. Jake was dedicated in October which was a very special day for us.

Halloween marked Terry's 41st birthday, and we had a very cute "frog" in our care. Jake was six months old on November4, and his doctor reported a 26" baby who weighs (a hefty) 16.5 pounds! Healthy and happy. . .except for that teething thing.

Where have three months gone?

2007-08-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Check out our handsome guy's unofficial three month picture! Our tiny baby isn't so tiny any more, weighing in at over 12 pounds. We're enjoying his coos and occasional "goos," and we love watching his reactions when Terry reads him a book before bedtime. So animated!

In other news, we'll be moving to Tennessee in a few weeks, so that Rhonda can begin a new position as an associate pastor at the Tellico Village Community Church in Loudon, TN. It's a wonderful congregation, interdenominational in nature, located in a beautiful retirement village, Tellico Village, on Tellico Lake. Terry will transfer with school and will continue working for Verizon wireless. Rhonda's family is thrilled because it's only 30 minutes away from her hometown of Maryville, TN. The move happens the third week of September. Anyone free to handle boxes???

Welcome Jake!

2007-05-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to the newest addition to the Blevins family- Jake Abbott Blevins! Jake entered the world on May 4, 2007, weighing in at 4 lbs, 2 oz and 16 inches long. After a two week and two day stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Jake came home on Sunday, May 20th.

Here are some things folks have said about our bundle of joy:

"He looks just like Terry!"

"Small, but mighty."

"Look at what long fingers he has."

"He's got his mama's chin."

"He's so tiny!"

"Look at those big feet!"

Jake's favorite activities since being home include, but are not limited to, the following: snuggling with his mama, being burped by his daddy, eating, sleeping, and giving special guest visitors poopy diapers. If I don't post again for a very long time, you'll know why.

Baby's First Photos

2007-02-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

Finally, after several months of calling our unborn child "Butterbean"
and "It" and "He/She," we know! Our ultrasound today revealed a
very healthy baby ____. Look for yourself!

In case you couldn't tell, it's a BOY!!!

Empathy and the Male Pregnancy

2007-01-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

(A Response Paper typed for Terry's communications class)

“Empathy involves feeling and experiencing another person’s situation, almost as they do.” (Adler, Proctor & Towne, 2005, p. 38).

Empathy is the ability to put oneself into a condition or situation which closely resembles the emotional and sometimes physical state of another. My wife’s pregnancy has caused her to experience an array of emotional and physical changes as our unborn child grows and develops within. Nausea, mood swings, and a subtle weight gain are just a few of those changes. Wanting to improve my understanding of the pregnancy process, I picked up several books at my local library. Although I have gained a better understanding of these things, I have also, to a lesser degree, been able to share these experiences with her through my own empathic ability.
My wife told me that we were pregnant on my fortieth birthday. She found out two weeks before, but chose to keep it quiet to surprise me. Never before had I shared such a wonderful moment with another person, and laughing and crying were common recurrences that evening. The next morning is when we began to share other things as well. She was feeling nauseated, and for some reason, so was I. Not once in the two previous weeks had I picked up on her nausea, but now it filled the room like the scent of moldy cheese spilling from an opened refrigerator.
Mood swings are not as frequent as they could be, so I’m told. However, when a person bursts into tears while watching a two-minute human interest story during the halftime of a college football game, it doesn’t seem to matter how often they happen. We sat on the sofa together, feeling melancholy and watching the Vols get beat by Florida, giving a box of tissues a thorough workout.
In the year previous to the pregnancy, my wife and I exercised rather diligently about four to five times per week. We attempted to eat right, and other than the occasional trip to Lynn’s Paradise Café, we succeeded in this endeavor as well. Together, we lost a combined 25 pounds or so. Suddenly, this person who pushed so hard to bake or grill the chicken was dipping said chicken (now battered and fried) into non-fat-free ranch dressing and chasing it with a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I, being empathetic and a good husband, sat down to share in this new age diet with the love of my life and bearer of my future offspring. Consequently, the wedding ring that I traded in for a smaller size just a few months ago now causes my finger to turn odd shades of red and purple. I have now put on about eight pounds since the wonderful news first broke. My wife has gained about the same.
I do not have a child growing in my abdomen. Therefore, my immune system is still strong and my sleeping habits have not dramatically changed. Do I know what it is like to be pregnant? No way, not even close. Do I empathize with those that do? Without a doubt I do. Nausea, mood swings, and weight gain aside, I love my wife and am experiencing in all this as much as I can. But if it was possible to trade off every other month and let me carry the baby once in awhile, I’m not so sure that I could. She is definitely a stronger person than I am.
Reading is knowledge. Knowledge is power. Knowledge it is not, however, control. I decided to return the books after having only skimmed the first few chapters of each. “Systemizing involves identifying the laws that govern how a system works. Once you know the laws, you can control the system or predict its behavior. Empathizing, on the other hand, involves recognizing what another person may be feeling or thinking and responding to those feelings with an appropriate emotion of one's own.” (Baron-Cohen, 2005). Simply put, we as people, especially men, want to understand how something works. On the other hand, if we would simply be empathetic to other people, instead of dissecting them, the world might be a better place.

Works Cited
Adler, R., Proctor, R. & Towne, N. (2005). “A First Look at Interpersonal Relationships.” Looking Out/Looking In. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Baron-Cohen, Simon. “The Male Condition.” New York Times. 8 Aug. 2005.

A Big Year!

2006-12-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

It's been a big year in the Blevins household!

December 10 marked our one year anniversary! We celebrated on a cruise to Key West and Cozumel and made some fun memories. Rhonda performed karaoke for the first time, and Terry saw a huge sea turtle on his scuba adventure in Mexico. In November we celebrated an undefeated season with our Bengals, an 8-9 year-old flag football team that Terry coached. (Rhonda started as his assistant, but was demoted to photographer). October 31 was a HUGE day. . .Terry turned 40 AND learned that he's going to be a daddy! He found out by reading his birthday cookie. In August we had a fabulous vaction with the Spilkers to Ocracoke, NC. In July we both participated in a "habitat-like" house build in eastern Kentucky with Rhonda's work. Rhonda liked looking at the "manly" Terry with his hardhat and toolbelt! In June, Terry took a group of youth to a basketball camp in Arkansas, and in March, Rhonda went to Morocco, both through Rhonda's work.

Those are some of the highlights of 2006. It looks like 2007 is shaping up to be another exciting year, particularly the month of June with the arrival of Baby Blevins. We'll keep you posted!