Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
1.13.2011








Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Holiday leftovers...





Christmas 2010








Tuesday, January 4, 2011
18 months!

1 week old
18 months old!
Everett is amazing! He is such a joy in our family! He has a killer smile and an infectious laugh.
I am convinced that music is going to be a huge part of his life in some way. He is one musically inclined toddler. He has been singing the melodies of songs since the age of 8 months, started playing a harmonica at 10 months and could whistle by 12 months. He loves everything about music whether it's singing, dancing to it or creating his own music on one of his instruments. .
He loves books and story time. Curious George, Clifford and Little Critter are a few of his favorites.
Much to his daddy's delight Everett LOVES football. He talks about it all the time and loves throwing his football around. When football is on the TV he makes sure to let everyone know.
Everett is our little love bug. Bella and I get many hugs and kisses from him throughout each day. He loves his big sister. They are best buds and play so well together. When Bella is at school Everett will look all over the house for her calling her name and asking me, Bella bye-bye?
He is talking more everyday and is starting to build quite the little vocabulary.
Everett is one curious boy and is into just about everything. He has to know what everything is and exactly what it does.
He now knows what goes in the potty and has been sitting on the big potty waiting for something to happen.
He is sweet. He is smart. He is silly. He is gorgeous! I love him and could never have dreamed of a more perfect little boy.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Women at Christ's birth
It just so happens that yours truly was asked to play Mary. I am still not sure how they came to the conclusion that I was perfect for this role but I am so glad that they did. Preparing for my little part really threw me into the Christmas Spirit and reinforced even more what this special time of year is all about. Most of all it gave me an even deeper appreciation for my role as a mother. It is truly the greatest role I will ever play. Still the thought of playing Mary made me so nervous. More so than I think I have been in years. I was shaky and my heart was pounding. I thought for sure that I would get up there and immediately start crying and not be able to speak. It didn't help that I spoke last and listened to my friends before me tear up and cry as they spoke. Also before me was the most beautiful piano and violin performance of "O Holy Night", that I have ever heard.
So it was finally my turn and dressed as Mary I walked up to the mic and began to speak. I did tear up and I did fight back tears but I made it through and by the end my nerves were gone and my heart was calm and warm. I love that I was able to share these precious words with my sisters who I love dearly. What a wonderful message it is.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Yes, I am Mary; and yes, Jesus is my son. Indeed, blessed am I among women.
My story is an old one, told and retold from before time began, and once
again, here, today, by these women whom I love so well. It is a story of
spirit, rather than history, and it's simple and inspiring truth must and
will be manifest by the Holy spirit rather by the words of men.
I am a woman, much as the women among you, gifted with diving opportunity of
forming a partnership with God in providing a mortal temple for the spirits
of his children. It is a sacred thing, motherhood, whether it concerns the
Christ or any one of the infinitely precious spirits sent to each of you.
Sacred, holy, and beautiful beyond description. For in the pure and
undefiled love of a mother for her child, mankind comes closer to
appreciating the love of God, than at any other time.
Like you, I hoped, dreamed and prayed for the benefit of the child of I
loved. I prepared meals straightened bends and picked childish toys. My
relationship with my child was, in so many ways, no more mystical than that
of you with yours will be. With Him I enjoyed an exulted, sorrowed and
wept, learned and grew. He taught me of life, and of love, of this world
and the next, partly because He was the Christ, mostly because He was a
child.
For to me, His mother, He was, especially in the beginning, often just a
child, reaching, becoming.
It was so true, what Luke said of me, that after the birth of my son, after
the shepherds had come, born witness to the divinity of my babe and then
returned to their flocks, I sat quietly in the soft light and kept all these
things and pondered them in my heart. I knew, and was the only mortal
alive who did know, how I had come to conceive and bear this son of the Most
High. I had been told who He was, and what He was, and what He would become.
And yet, as I look at Him, lying in the manger, He was a child, a tiny baby
needing food, and comfort and care. I did ponder, for many years long and
often, and sometimes painfully; and yet come to a full understanding when I
stood at the foot of His cross.
For on that evening in a lowly manger was born more than a child. There
was born a way of life, the personification of love, the hope of the world
from the beginning until the end of time. I, I, who conceived Him, who
carried Him, cared for Him, and watched Him live and die, give you my solemn
word that He was indeed blameless and pure, that He lived to teach, and died
to save each of us, that He was and is and always will be the Son of God.
I, Mary, know it to be true! Amen.
Santa and a snow day!





