in the shadow

Because Thou has been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice psalm 63:7

"Let us not be afraid of shadows. Let us not be afraid of clouds. We often meet Him in thick clouds. The shadow is the shadow of our Beloved. He is very near to the place where His shadow is...

Shadow and coolness,Lord,
Art Thou to me;
Cloud of my soul, lead on,
I follow Thee.
What though the hot winds blow,
Fierce heat beats up below?
Fountains of water flow---
Praise, praise to Thee.

Clearness and glory, Lord,
Art Thou to me;
Light of my soul, lead on,
I follow Thee.
All through the moonless night,
Making its darkness bright,
Thou my Heavenly Light---
Praise, praise to Thee.

Shadow and shine art Thou,
Dear Lord, to me;
Pillar of cloud and fire,
I follow Thee.
What though the way is long,
In Thee my heart is strong,
Thou art my joy, my song---
Praise, praise to Thee

---Amy Carmichael (from the Edges of His Ways)
photo from here

little people this week

i just want to put some of these up here to remember these sweet early spring days. adam finished his final ward month EVER! hooray! he is now on to icu, but this month will be the last time we have this kind of schedule for a while anyway. we are thankful.

some of you mamas might appreciate these wise words over here...such a convicting read for me. happy palm weekend friends!
miles loves to have bubbles blown in his face

marit and graham patiently enduring miles in their sandbox play

six hands!

sweeeeetness

miles gets tickle torture

miles learning from grahammers

beautiful things

can't get this song out of my head lately. spring is such a reminder of our redemptive God making new, always making new.


All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
You are making me new

bikes

these kids are getting BIG! we bought spring/summer shoes yesterday and both marit and graham are in 11s. craziness. and also, they have outgrown little bikes and trikes and are now both riding 16 inch bikes (hooray for used bikes at 2 for $37!). sometimes learning to ride a bike in a neighborhood like ours can be tricky as we don't really have a driveway and the sidewalks are bumpy and interrupted by countless driveways and intersections. yesterday we found an old tennis court 1/2 a block away. perfect...complete with a little hill for marit, the daring one, to go sailing up and down. it is on evenings like this one...about 65 degrees with a breeze, kids laughing and learning, that i think i have the best job ever. it isn't always easy, a fact to which every mom will attest, but it is so so good. *thankful sigh*


backwards helmet

rocks are so interesting...can you tell he took a nose dive on the pool steps yesterday? poor buddy's face is totally scraped.

good for my soul

our church is divided into parishes by geographic area. a few months ago, the young dads in our parish started having dinner together every month or so to encourage each other. together they decided to send all their frazzled wives away for the weekend so we could have some kid-free time to know each other better, and be refreshed. we did not have to plan a bit of it, which made a few of us anxious. however, it was a wonderful weekend of hiking, laughter, tears, quiet, prayer, reading, shopping here. it is a joy to be in the lives of others as we walk through seasons of blessing and hardship both. i am so thankful for these vessels of God's grace and for my sweet husband joyfully sending me off, and my parents who loved on the kiddos while adam worked saturday/night.












tara and i squeezed in one final hike in the Sunday morning rain...foggy glasses, wet hair and all.


it was the first time i had been away from all the kids for more than part of a day since miles was born and i was so glad to see these little ones again.

miles enjoyed a weekend during which no one made him wear pants...

classy baby

it's in the 80s! baby in just a diaper in the dirt having a great time.




and his sweaty, handsome prince charming of an older brother (note: he slept in this crown from my mom all night)

help! climbing on tables...but he really loves to color...can't tell here, but his tongue is usually poking out in concentration. and side-note: pulled those little red keens out the other day and it made me kind of sad. they have been through marit, graham, cousin benj, and now miles. feet are little for just a tiny window of time.

eric, tim, and kony

Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller "Fireside Chat" from Brian McGee on Vimeo.

this is a wonderful discussion between tim keller and eric metaxas...covers creation, hell, commuter church, apostle's creed. i watched it in snippets over the last few days and found it very encouraging.

if you have been kind of observing the "kony awareness campaign" and it's critics and wondering how to think about it, this post here by a long-time missionary in Africa is very helpful. on the tail of our mission's conference, i say "Lord, send us to Africa!"

today's loveliness

today was in the 70s and absolutely gorgeous so we spent a lot of it outside...playground this morning and bubbles this afternoon
marit said "they are floating up to Hannah!" we miss our sweet friend who is now with Jesus.

around here lately

been feeling busy lately (what's new?) with little time to sit at the computer long enough to post pictures and things, but i have been taking them some. i figure since adam is home early today i might try to throw some up here so i can remember these rapidly growing little people. how does it fly by so quickly and so slowly at the same time? there are so many moments (such as when the 3yr old is wailing or the the 1 yr old is climbing up onto the craft table and simultaneously eating and flinging crayons while teetering on the edge of said table and the 4 yr old is trying to "help" with dinner and pushing a stool up to the hot stove) that i pray for help to be thankful and not angry, to embrace messes and craziness instead of being selfish and not allowing their willing hands to help me with everything. i do not want to wish these sweet days away. but i do. i do sometimes. Jesus give me grace to be thankful for this full cup! and i want to have more kids someday and i think i am insane for having that thought...but the dreft commercial with the babies makes me tear up. it was the adoption banquet at church last night and i long to be more a part of orphan care, but pray for God's timing and direction as to exactly what that will look like for our family. so much on my mind about being purposeful in this sometimes mundane season. and i am so thankful for tasks to set my hands to...for people to love.

we finally decided for sure to homeschool next year. we are excited about a co-op in town and curriculum. we are open-handed about it and while i will probably not write a "why we are homeschooling" post on here, i would welcome conversation about it. one of my heroes writes a beautiful post about it over here. and on top of that, we/i just really want to and for now, we are taking that desire (along with lots of other things) as leading and gifting from the Lord for our family. and the community and structure a co-op provides makes me feel a little less alone and fearful about it. rather, we are excited!

and now for some pictures...

brotherly wrestle affection

i surprised them hiding under the blanket

miles wants to be a part of everything now...so aware of his third-wheeledness with marit and graham. graham is usually really excited to include miles...he let him scribble on his picture

i love how similar their eyes are...miles has obviously been snotty lately

miles and adorable emma are super cute together

watching some emergency jelly telly while we tried to get ready for church the other night. miles climbed right up there to snuggle with them. i like this picture because of how sizeable miles' gut is. this kid is all belly. love. it. and also, i inadvertently caught graham picking his nose...

saturday morning breakfast at the kid table

dancing and learning verses to the rizers

did the local half-marathon with some sweet friends last week...so so fun! i'm really sad it's over actually and feel antsy about what to train for next. it was my 3rd half and i was glad that this time was faster (and hillier) than my pre-baby one. feeling pretty good about the race until i heard of my incredible running buddy from college just ran the Kilimanjaro half marathon in africa much much faster. but then "comparison is the thief of joy" right? i'm just thankful for running and the mental/emotional/physical health it provides these days...(btw, borrowed these photos from jen and tara's mom since i forgot my camera...)


and then there is this lizard that graham and adam caught and then pax maimed and then marit caught. the poor thing.


and spring is coming so we planted some seeds...the kids need no excuse to play in dirt and i need no excuse to plant flowers, but we found one for both!


sweetness

bulbs have been appearing in the back yard and marit loves to pick the broken ones and arrange them in a vase