Archive for 'Family'
Introducing Genevieve Pearl
Posted on 21. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
Totally unexpected, Genevieve came to meet us yesterday afternoon at 6:21 PM on 11/20/2011. Although her heartbeat and position was good, the doctors were concerned about her lack of movement and the low levels of amniotic fluid. We were in a gray area where we had a choice to move forward with a regular delivery where there were a lot of unknowns on how the baby was going to do with a lengthy process or just schedule a c-section where we could get her out quickly and avoid any potential complications. We’ve fought too hard for this little girl, so we opted for the c-section.
She was born at 6:21 PM at 6 pounds and 6 ounces and 19.25 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and looks amazingly similar to Titus when he was a newborn.
Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us through facebook, twitter and text message congratulations. We look forward to introducing her to all of you soon! Enjoy the pictures below!
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Baby Watch 2011: Live
Posted on 20. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
I won’t be monitoring the live feed, so if you want to leave comments, just do so at the botom of this blog post!
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Baby Watch 2011: She IS coming today!
Posted on 20. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
Due to some “gray area” potential complications, the doctor recommended that we move forward with a C-Section and get the baby here today. So, we’re all set for a procedure at 5:00 PM CST. Woo Hoo! Everyone is very excited. So, this is my last post. However, I’m setting up a post to go live right after this with “scribble live.” That way all my twitter updates (which there will be many) will post on this blog as they happen.
Pray for us!
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Baby Watch: This could be the day!
Posted on 20. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
Well, this could be the day our little girl comes to meet us. As I was headed to church this morning, Sara informed me that she hadn’t felt the baby move at all this morning. She called the doctor and was told to go ahead and go to the hospital. Shortly after checking in, the baby started moving quite a bit.
Before being discharged, they needed to do a test where they see how the baby is doing. The heartbeat has been fine and the baby is pretty far down, so position is great. In this test thought, the baby scored a 2 out of 8 where 8 out of 8 is passing. What does this mean? We’re probably having this baby today.
So, stay tuned for more info… follow @kennyconley on twitter for more up to date notifications. Pray for mom and baby Conley!
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Baby Watch 2011 Begins
Posted on 16. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
First of all, I flat out stole this image from Google image search because I liked it. It’s not mine, but a traveling band called “popple” made the image. I just spent 10 minutes on their site watching videos. They’re nuts… but I like them. So, if you’ve got a few minutes to be entertained… check them out. Maybe even buy one of their albums. Popple, if you’re reading this and my stealing your graphic angers you, let me know and I’ll come up with something original.
So, as many of you know, I’m expecting a baby. Actually, my wife is… but it’s going to be my baby too. For those of you who haven’t heard our story, this is our 2nd child born but our 7th pregnancy. If you do the math, you’ll understand how precious this new little baby is to us and how grateful we are to be where we are right now.
Our son Titus is almost 4 and a half and he’s excited about meeting his sister Genevieve! Genevieve will be the first daughter born to a Conley in 64 or 67 years (I can’t remember exactly). So, this little princess is going to shake some things up. Actually, this little girl is such an answer to prayer. Sara and I never really set out on a particular number of kids to have. However, I’ve always felt like I was supposed to be the dad of a little girl. I love having a little boy and I can’t wait to explore all the other father and son things we get to do… but I felt like I was supposed to have a daughter as well. With all the miscarriages, it didn’t take long to realize that I might just have to be satisfied with what I get. Our last miscarriage was a boy and so it seemed that if we were only going to try this one or two more times, having a girl just might not happen. So, you can understand how special it was to find out that our baby was a girl.
So, the due date is November 27th. That’s 11 days away. Illuminate is over (whew!), my mom is in town to help and the only thing on my agenda is to meet my little girl. So, I’ll keep you posted here. I blogged the birth of Titus 4.5 years ago and I intend to journal parts of Genevieve’s arrival as well. So… stay tuned… Baby Watch 2011 is now on!
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Mothers Day: To mourn an absence
Posted on 03. May, 2011 by Kenny.
Last summer I was sitting in a doctor’s office in Florida while on vacation. Titus had been really sick. In one of the magazines was an article highlighting several exempts from a book my Laura Bush. She wrote about struggles with infertility. I’d like to quote the exerpt:
George and I had hoped that I would be pregnant by the end of his congressional run. Then we hoped it would be by the time his father announced his presidential run, then by the presidential primaries, the convention, the general election. But each milestone came and went. The calendar advanced, and there was no baby. The English language lacks the words “to mourn an absence.” For the loss of a parent, grandparent, spouse, child or friend we have all manner of words and phrases, some helpful, some not. Still, we are conditioned to say something, even if it is only “I am sorry for your loss.” But for an absence, for someone who was never there at all, we are wordless to capture the particular emptiness. For those who deeply want children and are denied them, those missing babies hover like silent, ephemeral shadows over their lives. Who can describe the feel of a tiny hand that is never held?
Some of you know this feeling. Many do not. Often times it is at mothers day where moms or mom’s who never were feel pain and loss for the absence in their lives. Because it is an absence, we rarely recognize it. We rarely help families mourn, yet it is a tremendous felt need.
Mark my words. If you’re looking for a way to honor mothers, forget flowers and handmade cards. Find a way to show moms who never were or mom who have gone through this great loss that you know about their loss and that you care… you truly do. An investment in this will go a very long way in healing old and secret wounds.
Last year my wife held such an event to honor these women. Here are the posts:
Born Into Heaven
Overview
Resources
Video
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Why take kids on a mission trip?
Posted on 01. Apr, 2011 by Jenny Funderburke.
On our mission trip to Belize last week, we took 7 kids age 6 to 14. Until a few years ago I would have never envisioned this being a reality. David and Karen Rhodes, our partner missionaries, expressed that they have gotten lots of negative feedback about envisioning such experiences for young kids. Here is a summary of our experience.
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Family Mission Projects: Backpack Buddies
Posted on 30. Mar, 2011 by Jenny Funderburke.
One of the most startling realizations I’ve had over the past few months is the statistic that in our little Alabaster, Alabama (suburb of Birmingham) there are 2,000 kids on free or reduced lunch. We have a fantastic group that has grown out of Westwood called Sowers of Seed, whose mission is to provide lunch for those kiddos during the summer and to share Bible-based teaching about nutrition. It was a real wake up call to me that there are hungry kids, not just in other places of the world, but right here in the shadow of our church.
So, I was already pretty fired up about figuring out how to partner with them this summer. Then one of my very good friends who teaches at a public school commented about these same kids coming into breakfast at the school on Monday morning absolutely starving. I felt pretty silly that it had occured to me that kids that might be undernourished during the summer would also be hungry over weekends. Either their parents can’t or don’t provide them enough food. Wow. Kids right here in our area.
My small group (by the way, you need one of those if you don’t have one) has been looking for some type of mission project that we can do that our kids can also do with us. We found out that several organizations in our area and across the country have been doing a project called “Backpack Buddiesâ€. Counselors at the schools identify kids who might need food over the weekend and discreetly pack easy to prepare/serve food in their backpacks such as fruit cups, pudding, macaroni and cheese, etc…. Organizations provide this food.
Click here to continue reading and see what they did.
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Do you do anything for expecting mothers?
Posted on 24. Mar, 2011 by Kenny.
So I’m working on a possible event/orientation/service/something for brand new parents-to-be. This is an initial engagement, conversation and even tour of our ministry to kids, most importantly… getting new parents on our radar. We want to let them know about upcoming child dedications and equip them for success.
I know that I’ve come across churches in the past that have done something, either formally or informally. Are you doing something for this audience or do you know someone who does? Let me know please by leaving a comment or contacting me on my contact form.
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The Almighty Bible Club Give Away
Posted on 17. Feb, 2011 by Kenny.
So, yesterday I wrapped up my initial review of The Almighty Bible. I’ve never done a review that took three posts, but I’ve never really reviewed a product that was so comprehensive and versatile. I’ve been told to try to keep most posts at about 400 words and that was going to be too hard with all that this resource offered. To be honest, I’m not done. I still want to read one of the Biblical fiction books and give that a review, so maybe another one will come along in a few days.
However, the folks behind The Almighty Bible have something they want to give away. I’ve noticed that some other blogging friends have been giving away physical Almighty Bible books, but I’m giving away something different. I’m giving away three year-long memberships. Although pricing hasn’t been released yet, a year-long membership is a great gift… something you can use for your own kid or give away to a family in your ministry. I plan to have some families try it out and pilot it at our church.
So, I have three to give away. That means you have a lot of chances to win. Here is what you need to do.
First of all, write a comment below. Tell me your favorite memory of the Bible as a child or young believer. Second of all, send out a tweet linking people back to this post. You can say whatever you want to say, just use the #kidmin and #almightybible so I can track who tweeted. I’ll mix all the comments and tweets into random.org. The memory that sticks out the most to me from your comments, I’ll put in random.org 3 more times. This will run until Tuesday (Feb 22) at 11:59 PM.
Good luck!
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