My oldest...

My oldest child, Christian Douglas, will stand in front of our church tomorrow morning and make his very own profession of faith. I just can't believe that he is old enough! It seems as if it was yesterday that I was counting the days until my due date...and then experiencing those 3 painful days that I had to wait past my due date until he made his appearance.

When we found out I was pregnant, after experiencing a terribly painful miscarriage, we knew immediately what we were going to name him. Christian Douglas would be his name...this little man who would be the most perfect representation of our love. Combining my name Christine with my husband Douglas's name.

Christian is a thoughtful, wise, intuitive young man who is one of the most forgiving people I know. He is incredibly musical...never ceasing to amaze me how he can improvise on his saxophone with out any practice at all? Makes this momma wonder what how great he would be if he practiced.

He is also an incredible dedicated Christian who is not afraid to ask difficult questions, wrestle with difficult concepts, but is also not afraid to accept the things he can't always understand. He seeks to know Christ, he struggles to read his Bible and he seeks to hear God's voice through prayer. He teaches me things daily and often has insights that are beyond his years.

I'm incredibly proud of him, incredibly blessed by him and can't wait to celebrate with him tomorrow.

Learning about photography

I got Doug a Cannon Rebel XSI for Christmas this year. The camera does so much and I really have no idea how to use it except for the point and click function. I have this great instrument and only know how to play chopsticks on it. I am having fun trying to blindly find my way around the camera...and slowly I'm learning about the settings on the internet. I don't own a good photo editing software...so if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. I am thinking about Photoshop...one of my girlfriends has warned me that it is really hard to use. Maybe I'll take a class at our local community college?

Here are a few pictures of my beautiful children. My favorite subject.

Miscellany Monday

i've been reading lots of blogs lately, probably to just keep from doing my housework...and lowercase letters is one i occasionally read. i like her title. that's probably what brought me there in the first place, that or a give away. i'm a givaway addict lately...but haven't won anything yet. i even entered a blog swap...is that pathetic? we are leaving for mexico in a week from tomorrow...i'm not counting the days or anything. wish we had left about 6 weeks ago because i was 10lbs lighter then...and then, i fell off the wagon. birthday cake will do that to you...birthday cake and stress. i eat when i'm stressed...i've had a lot of stress lately...i've been eating alot lately. last random thought of the day, doug just asked me what i was humming while i was surfing the web...the song from dirty dancing that the sister sang in the talent show..."join hands and hearts and voices, voices, and hands. at kellerman's the friendships last long as the mountain stands." ya, i have no idea why?

Happy Mother's Day

I got this beautiful hand made card from Wesley this afternoon. He spent the afternoon over at Ettema's playing with Alaina. I was so touched I almost cried. "Ahh...buddy, did you make me a card...my sweet boy..." Then I read it....all typed up in pretty different colors(Alaina had helped him)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

I love and I'm sorry you had to go on the
camp out with Emily and that she was so
annoying. Happy Mother's
Day!

Love,
Wesley


Touching.

Life

As I sit here at the computer I hear Emily and Wesley chatting together. They don't know that I'm eaves dropping because I'm not in their sight lines but I can still hear their conversation and the crunch of their chips as they eat an entire bag of chips together as an afternoon snack. I hear him telling her all about his day as we "dragged him into all kinds of daddy clothes stores." I hear her ask him for a kiss because, "Wesley kisses are the best." They are having a great time and it makes me smile. It's times like these I need to remember when the trials of being siblings gets the best of them. Ah!

I'd like some more stuff

So the other day I was making dinner. Wesley was asking me 10,000 questions about what I was making...nothing new there. But I didn't have the patience to answer all of the questions. So, when he asked me what I was making I told him "stuff." That night he kept saying, "This stuff is great! I love this stuff!" The next day in the car he told me, "Mom, I really liked that stuff we had for dinner last night. Tonight I'd like to have stuff again! Ok?" Crack me up! That kid is the best!

Sitting alone...

This afternoon I am enjoying the rare treat of sitting alone at Borders with good coffee, a computer with free Wi-Fi, actual work to do and the smell of ...the bathroom? It would be a perfect afternoon if the horrid smell of the men's toilet wasn't wafting above the smell of Seattle's Best. Oh Well.

Tomorrow morning I'm speaking to my church's MOPS group on the topic of marriage and sex. I've spoken to many groups over the years but never to our church...strange huh? I was given an opportunity to speak at Christmas for a few minutes and I guess I proved myself because they asked me back.

I love giving this speech because it seems so naughty to talk about sex in church. I love busting through the embarrassment wall that is there and getting real with the MOPS moms. Any time I talk to MOPS groups it amazes me how walled off the ladies are...and when I start to reveal my own struggles and embarassing stories...they start to tell their own. It's amazing!

It's also a very heavy job too. Each time I've spoken, on a variety of topics, there is one or two ladies who tell me their stories...and I am amazed at the resiliency of women and how strong they are and how much they put up with. My heart breaks at the stories I've been told...

There is so much brokenness in this world, in our churches, in our circles of friends. We need each other so badly. And we so badly need to stop trying to be perfect and appear as if we have everything together...authenticity and transparency are so much less lonely than keeping up a great appearance.

My prayer for you today is that you have someone in your life who you can be completely real with...someone who you don't have to pretend around...and that you have the freedom to really share with someone what is going on in your life.