Merry Christmas: All is Marin and Brite

The tree is lit, the coffee is brewing and all the presents (and parents) are just waiting for Marin and Brite to wake up.  I think i'm going to start banging pans soon.  Life has the funniest ways of flipping the script on us because here sit two grown ups, clanking coffee mugs and coughing as loud as possible so the kids will finally WAKE UP. Right when I thought the magical years of Christmas morning were behind me, Marin and Brite show up and re-gift us with all the excitement of the season.  In fact, these two little souls have taught me more about the magic of Christmas and the miracle of the Messiah than anyone. I am especially humbled today that we have a God who would give his child so that my children could have hope in this world.  And we can delight in all the happenings of today because behind it all (and in front of it all) we have the hope of Heaven and the gift of grace.  Our hearts have been given the invitation to be light, and in these quiet hours before our babies wake up, we are GRATEFUL.  

Much love, friends! And Merry Christmas! 

And now, I present to you some of my favorite images from this Christmas season... 

Campgiving

If you've been following along then you know that each year, on the day before Thanksgiving, we join Andy's family at the campsite where they spend the holiday.  Camping for Thanksgiving was a tradition born during a season of grief for his family, but has become one that brings so much joy and togetherness.  As I looked through the photos from yesterday, I couldn't help but smile at the new little faces that joined us this year, a true reminder that God makes all things new. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

SNAPSHOTS OF OUR HOME

It has been a whole week since we moved into our new house. And little snapshots like watching Andy play in the yard with Marin, watching him drive up our driveway at the end of the day, and officially retiring from our life of whispering in the evenings has made me tear up, oh, about once a day. I actually washed my face during her nap the other day, something that would have woken her up in the condo.  I skip around this place more than I walk because it feels good, friends. It feels great to have met this goal as a couple, as a family. We prayed and hoped to be in a home by the time Marin turned one. We closed the day after her birthday. And it seems love continues to be in the details. Because at the end of the day we didn't NEED a house. Oh man, I cringe at how much we have and how little some have. It's just that sometimes a little thing sits in your heart that you look forward to because it will bring room for babies and dinners with friends and, frankly, remind you that the Big Guy hears you and sees the desires of your heart whether they are first world desires or not. Sometimes you ask for something for years and try to go about it in a way that is honoring and worthy, and it eventually works out.

Enjoy a couple pics from our home. I will keep you updated as we save our pennies to put a coffee table in it or something. Marin is napping now, so excuse me while I go skip and make some racket somewhere.

Happy Monday, friends.

SHINE. My word for 2014.

Shine.

I’m going to do a bit more of this. From the inside out.

And I’m not going to get it twisted. 

Because one kind of shining is for stages and one kind is for knowing 20,000 leagues down in my heart that I AM PRECIOUS in the eyes of the one who made me.

And I know the feeling because I love a little person whose EVERY breath matters to me.  I cheered today because she ate the BIGGEST bite of oatmeal. And I made rhymes, and songs and puns about it. “Oats Magotes!” “Oh, Oh, Oh, you and mommy eating O, o, oats.” “Thank you for that bite. I oats it all to you.”

And I’m going to leverage this new understanding so that I can really truly live in the knowledge that I too am beyond loved and sung over.

I’m going to SHINE and be the warmth in my home.

I’m going to SHINE when I meet a stranger because I won’t be thinking about how I’m not showered or wearing make up. I will be thinking about them and how they are.

I am going to SHINE when I feel afraid because I know the one who goes before me.

 “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

Happy 365 New Days (and mercies).

Andy brought this New Year’s headdress home for me exactly a year ago today. “It’s for your weekly pregnancy pic,” he declared proudly.  What can I say, he gets into my projects and I like it.  I ran across the picture last night during some digital reminiscing. I giggled at the hat and the memory of taking these pics while Andy was at work every week…and the steps that went something like this:

1. Set camera up on counter. 

2. Set timer. (And don’t forget this time)

3. Scurry to right spot, just so.

4. Figure out how to pose with this new body feature.

5. Smile. Or half smile.

6. Regret half smile decision. (Note: makes face look kinda chubby.  Always has, always will.  Accept it. You are not Katie Holmes.

7. Take pic. over

8. Take pic. again (Last time, I swear.)

9. Hope someone somewhere saw into our fishbowl home and laughed at the pregnant person taking selfies. 

10. Repeat process next week, all for the sake of remembering this beautiful, awkard season.

I laughed and re-lived these moments along with the tear-jerkers that single handedly made this one of the most magical years of my life...like Marin’s birth, the beach, our half marathon, our tiny little monkey.  And I was amazed and moved by this beautiful little year we got to call ours. I was also amazed at how ironically similar pieces of this year were to that silly photo shoot routine…learning to live in our new roles, super awkward at times and needing numerous re-dos and saying a million apologies.  Some years are just bigger than we are, and this one was- if that makes sense. It stretched us in all the ways we needed to be stretched…as parents, as best friends.  Big resolutions used to really excite me, and in a way they still do a bit (mine are neatly scribbled in my journal), but what I’ve come to on the matter of a New Year is that I’m really glad a New Year, when you break it down, is 365 days of HIS new mercies.  And this is good news for me as a mom, friend, wife, and daughter. 

Happy New Year (and new mercies), friend.