Friday, December 30, 2011

steps!

here is brief footage of what miles has been toying with for quite sometime. at 14.5 months, he is our earliest walker and has not fully transitioned yet. what is amazing, is how happy the little guy is when practicing his new-found skill. he has been super frustrated lately with desire to walk, molars erupting, and ears infected. i love to see his sweet happy side again. so thankful for our little bald butternut.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas photos

as our family grows, capturing framable photos becomes more challenging. so for the first time since our wedding, we had someone take pictures for us. we were so thankful for our talented neighbor and her willingness to do this for us. thank you anna! i'm so glad we did this because the little people are growing up so fast and i want to remember them at this precious age. we went to our favorite park, a special place to our family and she just photographed away...

merry Christmas to you and yours!




this would have been our send-out picture since we are all smiling and looking, except for where my hand is holding wiggly miles. oops.











there's still my joy

i heard this song on molly piper's blog yesterday and thought it was so beautiful! family starts arriving today, so wishing you a wonderful Christmas in which you know the "Word made flesh" a little more fully.


I took my tree down to the shore
The garland, and the silver star
To find my peace, and grieve no more
To heal this place inside my heart

On every branch I laid some bread
And hungry birds filled up the sky
They rang like bells around my head
They sang my spirit back to life

One tiny child can change the world
One shining light can show the way
Through all my tears, for what I’ve lost
There’s still my joy
There’s still my joy
For Christmas day

The snow comes down on empty sand
There’s tinsel moonlight on the waves
My soul was lost, but here I am
So this must be amazing grace

One tiny child can change the world
One shining light can show the way
Beyond these tears for what I’ve lost
There’s still my joy
There’s still my joy
For Christmas day
There’s still my joy for Christmas day

Lyrics: Melissa Manchester
Performed by Indigo Girls

Monday, December 19, 2011

the spirit of Christmas

been feeling sort of shy over here lately, but i want to put this here so i can remember.

my mom found this essay on an ancient news-clipping in my sweet grandma's Bible. i think it is a lovely reminder and reflects my grandma's unselfish life.

Excerpt from “The Spirit of Christmas” by Henry Van Dyke 1905

ARE YOU WILLING TO FORGET
what you have done for other people and to remember what other people have done for you, to ignore what the world owes you and to think what you owe the world, put your rights in the background, your duties in the middle distance and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the fore ground,see that your fellow men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;
close your book of complaints and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--
Are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

ARE YOU WILLING TO STOOP DOWN and consider the needs and desires of little children; remember the weakness and loneliness of those who are growing old;
to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough, to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts;

to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want without waiting for them to tell you;

To trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you;
To make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings with the gate open;

Are you willing to do these things even for a day?
Then you can keep Christmas

ARE YOU WILLING TO BELIEVE that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death– and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the eternal love?

Then you can keep Christmas.
And if you can keep it for a day, why not always. But you can never keep it alone

From “The Sprit of Christmas“ 1905, Henry Van Dyke.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Grace?

What is grace? Is it a sprinkling of fairy dust, a warm, happy feeling? No. Grace is a power that lifts you out of the domain of darkness and transfers you to the domain of light. Grace is God's magnificent power erupting in your heart and soul by his own intervention so that you move from death to life, from darkness to light, from hell to heaven. Grace is power that is embodied in a person.---joseph r. ryan