Thankful

I think she's picked her song.

Each of our littles have snuggled up with Aunt Kenna early in life, bonding over lyrics and melodies.  They smile into each other's hearts, discuss, break, regroup, try others on...  And at some point walk away with a lullaby pact.  A sort of secret handshake.  You sing THAT song, you're in.  I'll be happy.  Deal?  Deal.

Eden's - Three Little Birds



Silas' - Pack Up Your Troubles


Maizy's?

Who's my pretty baby?  Who's my pretty little baby? 
You're my, my pretty little baby. Hey, hey, pretty babe.

And we will keep up our end, let me tell you.  We like happy babies.  Hey, hey.

I love this time of year.  Dear ones gather, the faucet of togetherness on full blast.  Thanksgiving fades to Christmas and graduates to New Year's.  Family and friends leave the grit of routine and step under the reuniting waters of love and tradition.

thankful (adj.)

conscious of benefit received; expressive of thanks

Coming to the end of a year of change and uncertainty I can say with conviction that I am thankful this Thanksgiving.  Thankful for the adventure of life, broken ankles and all.  Thankful for the ways it changes us.  Thankful for new days.  I'm thankful for forgiveness.  I'm thankful for family that are friends and friends that are family.  That hard seasons pass.  That good seasons come.  That through it all, no matter the season, the Alpha and Omega - the Beginning and End - of our souls stays.  And if we made a pact with Him, if He sang a lullaby over us, I think it'd sound something like this.

I pray you know His arms this holiday.  I pray you pause between the stories and pumpkin pie.  I pray you hear His melody wash over your soul.

Happy giving-thanks-Thanksgiving, all.

Souls Ajar

cel·e·brate (v.)

to mark a special occasion or day; to praise something publicly

I'm a big believer in the awesomeness of life.  Fragile but fierce, life deserves our applause.  Okay, it deserves more than that - it merits world-wide standing ovations.  And so I can't help but reply to Facebook statuses of soldiers returning to their families...safe, sound, home.  I can't help but share good news for Kate McRae (latest MRI update here.)  I can't help but weep over a boy in the Amazon named Jonathan, neglected by family and pursued by Compassion.  And I can't help but cheer when I read of hundreds of India's daughters changing their names from the one of their parents gave them - "Unwanted."

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

Emily Dickinson

Life is wild and precious...fighting the waves of war and cancer and hunger and cruelty that break hard against its shores.  Shouldn't we pause to give life the credit it's due?  And then C to the E to the L to the E to the B to the R to the ATE?

Each year we circle the miracle of life on our calendars with birthdays.  'Cuz when so many things could have gone horribly wrong in a womb, we were born.  Simple days that mark time...and scream of life.  Another year - more scars, more stories, more laugh lines, more...

We've celebrated a whole lotta "more" over the last few weeks.  Princess and costume parties, a brunch to honor my mom's 6-0.  A bonfire with my siblings.  Wii tourneys and the baring of hearts with out-of-town friends - blessing the "more" together...

Sunday, we celebrated my husband.  I'm grateful for Jon, for his life, for what it means to my life. There's a line from the movie Eat, Pray, Love where Felipe says to the main character, "You don't need a man, Liz.  You need a champion."  Jon is mine.  And I'm so thankful for more life with him.

I suppose it's easier to shut a soul up; to close a soul down.  To believe life doesn't begin at conception after all and even if it did, it isn't all that special to be here anyway.  Easier to walk away from a friendship or a marriage when hearts are shattered.  Easier to check-out of nurturing a child when connection is a struggle.  Easier to ignore the poor or the cast-off.  Easier to view people as commodity or resource rather than sacred, holy, precious, life...crafted and loved, fashioned by a Creator-God for purpose and delight.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Souls ajar.  Fighting.  Celebrating.  Imagine the life that would rise up from that place...

Happy Birthday Zai, Anya, Jael, Mom, Judah, Jon.  And welcome to another beautiful year of more.

More love

Hello November 10.

October vanished at our house, as I'm sure you can imagine.  After two weeks of help from my Momma Metz, my hubs, and my mom, I braved the transition to three on my own. You know you aren't on top of things when you're picking carpet fibers out of your toothbrush and deleting nursing pictures off your phone.  Sorry mommas...Mother of the Year Award is all mine.  Maybe next year?  Mmmk.

Three kids in three years is busy, I won't lie.  And the days are full of running.  At times I'm tempted with impatience and long for quiet.  But in the midst of the crazy, when all three littles need something at the same time and I'm subbing coffee for sleep, a Clif bar for breakfast and carrots/hummus for lunch, I find myself praying for more love.

Love to hear that my three year old needs to talk and my 20 month old needs to cuddle.  Love to stop and play Elefun when our toilets need cleaned and dishes are piled up at the sink.  Love to snuggle a newborn when all I want to do is dive into my bed and sleep.  Love to enjoy and relish this sweet season where months disappear and littles grow at lightning speed. 

And this God of Angel Armies?  This Creator-King?  He stoops down to hear the prayers of a tired momma.  He gives me clear vision and fills me up.  Exhausting as it is, I'm loving the challenge to dig deeper.  I'm loving my role as "mom" more than ever.

We'll hit a new stride and I'll be back to posting more regularly, I swear. But until then, O Lord, let me see well the beauty of now.  O Lord, give me more love...

And above all...put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony...

Colossians 3.14