an early Christmas

I'm the proud owner of a new camera. A Nikon D40. {K} surprised me with it on Friday. Never in a million years did I expect it. It's going to take me a while to figure it all out, but in the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun playing with it.

THANK YOU, {K}!
I LOVE YOU!
































not quite Wordless Wednesday

I was going to make this a Wordless Wednesday post, but I thought I'd sneak a few words in. The blog has been quiet lately because I just needed some time to think... time to sort out a lot of thoughts and feelings about our friends who are missing their baby. Someday, I will write more. I need to write more, but I want to be able to treasure my thoughts privately for a little while longer. I've had a lot of visits to the blog lately, and I thank all of you who have been praying.

In the meantime, here's a picture of the boys. Make that one cowboy and one horse. Yee-haw!


held

The first time I ever heard this song - held - by Natalie Grant, it touched something inside of me. Knowing that God doesn't promise that unthinkable things won't happen, but He will hold us when they do. My cousin Bruce posted this video on his blog awhile back, and I commented to him that it was one of my favorites. I had no idea then how much this song would come to mean to me. God has a way of preparing our hearts long before we are aware. He knows what we need before we do, without our asking. He guides our paths in what might seem to be everyday occurances, but if we look back, we can see His hand. A week ago, we went to the hospital when baby Burris was born. It isn't my habit to be at the hospital when a friend has a baby. I'm more inclined to give privacy. But, we were needed to take luggage to our friends. In that one simple act, God gave me the opportunity to be touched by a very special baby. He gave me the opportunity to meet this baby and have him become very real to me so that I can be a better comforter to my friend. Instead of the grandparents leaving the hospital to get the luggage, by using us for the errand He gave them the gift of valuable time with their new grandson. God used us to be a blessing, and that is a very humbling, awesome thought. Awesome isn't a normal word in my vobulary, but when you see something in your life that was completely directed by God, then awesome is the only word that might even begin to describe it. It helps to know that even in a tragedy, God's hand is there offering blessings. Blessing us, and holding us.



Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.

Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved
from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live? It's unfair.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley
and tomorrow.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

prayers, please


Some good friends of ours lost their infant son today. He was barely over one week old. He was the newest baby, other than my own two, that I have ever held. I don't know why I keep thinking about that right now, but I do. I held that tiny, new, perfect baby when he was only a couple hours old. And now he's gone. May God give them strength and comfort.

"nuthin" starts with N


Yes, I am aware that {p} didn't quite follow the directions. Yes, {p}'s teacher has a sense of humor, and yes, she will likely enjoy this response to the homework. Thank goodness for teachers who can appreciate creativity!