Paper Hearts

Pinks; reds; love is in the air.

The wedding was lovely.  Megan was gorgeous and our brother Dan beamed, so proud.  My girl didn't drop a single flower petal, but she made it down the aisle...saying "Where's my mommy?" the whole way down.  Melt my heart.

And on the heals of a love-filled day of wedded bliss we celebrate a whole day dedicated to love.  Glittery, sparkly, red love.  A day we tell those in our lives how much we care.

Just like these paper hearts my sweet nephew made for us all today, we've seen bits of just how fragile this life is.  Like sitting with a surgeon to hear that our six-month-old baby girl needed surgery.  Or when in a labor and delivery room we couldn't find Silas' heartbeat, and we went rushing down to a room in surgery (only to find his heartbeat there.)  Scary moments like these when you realize there are no guarantees and that there is only so much you can to do protect and shield those you love. 

But there are many who live this life-is-precious-and-fragile reality each day. 

And the "many" have faces and lives and hopes and dreams.  Like the McRae family: Aaron, Holly, Olivia, Kate and Will, family to one of my sister-in-laws.

A year and a half ago, then five year old, Kate was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive and mostly inoperable brain tumor. Some months back they heard incredible news: no definitive signs of cancer.  But this month their joy was snatched away by a follow-up MRI and new spots of cancer...with no more trusted medical options available to them. 

I cannot imagine how you process this kind of news.  How your paper heart must rip clean in two. 

And today, Valentine's Day (because it still is for a few more minutes here in California), I had to hold and kiss these two littles a bit tighter.

My nephew, Braden, styled Si's hair.  He's gonna make sure my little man is a rockstar.

And I know the McRae's is only one story.  There are so many more, with faces I don't know.  But would you take this family in?  Would you include them in your family prayers before dinner and bed?  And would you share the McRae family?  Would you share them with fellow pray-ers?  As the McRae's themselves say, they need a miracle.  Would you ask God to heal Kate?  (You can follow their story more closely here.)

Pink, red, fragile and broken.  I pray today you got to cherish those you love.

Bonjour Blog...And Hello California

So when you live in the mid-west, February gets long.  Especially when you get hit with an ice storm followed by more snow.  And we love the winter...but rumblings grow under contentment making us so ready for spring. 

Or for some sunny days in California.

We laundered, listed, stacked, packed up and headed for northern CA, ready to refresh frozen cabin-fever spirits with warm sunshine and some long overdue time with extended family.

 

Our little Si-guy became a passenger in an airplane.  And his sis acted like an old flying pro.

We had a lay-over in Vegas-baby and made the most of it with a picnic of airport crap and a game of kick-the-ball-and-try-not-to-knock-anyone-out.  We found it's a great game to meet fellow travelers.

And Cali, with it's breezy 70 degrees is not gonna disappoint.  Nor is eating In-N-Out outside with the cousins.

Tomorrow, our Edie-girl becomes a flower girl in Uncle Dan and Aunt Megan's wedding.  (Can I get a big yikes from the momma's?)  And family from all over is coming together to celebrate. 

So much more goodness to come.  Sending you some sunshine.

The Expansion of Us

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.    

Ralph Waldo Emerson

And so, my sister, Kendra, and I loaded up my car with kiddos, coffees, books, blankies, toys, snacks, Vampire Weekend, She & Him, the Decemberists and some Paolo Nutini.  We took a day-trip and trekked east 3+ hours to witness God's handwriting in big bold letters.  All underlined half a million times and asterisked and italicised because it's that important.  That beautiful.

And we paid attention, let me tell ya. 

After three years of blues and balls and trains, our sister, Krista, welcomed her third baby, a sweet little girl.  Welcome to the world, Tegan Nyah.  Welcome to pinks and glitter and tutus, sis.

There is nothing more beautiful than brand-new life.  Small and fragile.  So completely precious and perfect and lovely.  So totally written in the handwriting of a tender Creator who stoops down to fill our lives with awe, making hearts swell and eyes spill over with love and joy. 

A close second to that kind of gorgeous is the way a momma studies the face and feet and hands of this life she has felt moving and growing inside her.  There is nothing like meeting your baby for the first time.  It shifts your whole world.  No, it blows it up.  Expands.  Reshapes.  Fills in all the black and white with color.  (Gotta tell you, my bro, Jeremy is pretty wrapped.  Tegan, ask for the moon, sweet love.  Anything you want is yours.)

And sweet baby girl did not disappoint.  She completely slayed us. 

And I'm not sure how, but I know that so many little souls are born to mommas and families who don't want them.  Not you, sweet Tegan; you are embraced by all of us, with arms wide open, full of love.  You belong to our family.  And we so look forward to the ways you will change us forever.  The ways we will expand because of you.

In the same way Zai, Eden, Emery and Silas have changed us.  And yet in ways wholly your own, too.

 Swiped from my sister.  These two are besties, I tell you.  Nobody gets my girl like Isaiah.

 
It wasn't all that long ago we were welcoming and weaving their sweet new souls to into the fabric of "us."

Zai:

Eden:

Emery:

Silas:

And they so fit within our family that is seems they've never not been here, with us.  And I know I'm rambling a bit at this point but what else can you do when you've been a witness to love in it's purest, smallest form?  What else can you do but ramble and try in some way to capture what you've seen...and what the cursive from God's hand said?

Life was His idea.  And it is beautiful and fragile and small.  Sight was His idea, too.  I hope I never go blind to it's beauty.