Ethan, Amy and Baby Emelyn

Wow, our little girl turned one today! What better way to celebrate than to introduce her to cake for the first time. Emelyn patiently waits to see what lies ahead.

“Ok, I see a candle and it’s sitting on top of some sort of food. I don’t think I like where this is going. Seems scary to mix fire and food.”

“Great. They’ve got the camera out. I suppose I should act interested…still not sure about all this though.”

“All right - THAT’S IT!. I hate this cake and I’m scared of it! GET IT OFF ME!!”

“Thanks dad. I was scared out of my mind. I like to stay clean at all times just like Mom.”

Birthday wishes all the way from Indiana from Aunt Tori and Uncle Andy!

Those of you who know me can probably infer quickly I’m not referring to an actual race….I wish I was more excited about exercising! I’m referring to the Christian life. God’s been getting my attention lately in a number of ways, through our pastor’s wonderful sermons, through Bible studies in I John with our community group (great people!), and through the powerful testimonies and writings of modern saints - Rachel Barkey and Francis Chan.

First, Rachel Barkey…a Canadian Christian, 37 years old, wife and mother of two, dying of cancer which has spread throughout her entire body. With only a short time left, she tells her story of battling this insidious disease, with a vision of glory before her. Absolutely powerful - do not miss watching this. It’s 55 minutes you will not regret. I love her simple words: “Know God, Know yourself, Know the Gospel, Know your purpose. Serve with Joy.” Click Here

And Francis Chan…My mother-in-law was raving about this book recently and I took note, but hadn’t read it yet. Then, my friend Joni talked about how it was convicting her to the point of great discomfort and I thought, do I want to read this? But now, thanks to my sweet sister-in-law’s facilitation (go Tori!), and the fact that my husband already had a copy of the book in the house (he’s always one step ahead of me!) I am reading it with Ethan’s mother and his three sisters. Already, Chapter One is excellent, and he uses online video clips to augment the book. I can tell this is going to make me uncomfortable…ugh. This is good uncomfortable, though. “We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry.” Ouch - I can relate to that last sentence all too well. “In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.” So true. I am far too easily distracted.

Our pastor Jamie spoke about loving people this morning, and Ethan and I talked about this afterward, because we saw something yesterday that really hit us. We were in the car at a busy intersection with Emelyn in the back seat, and we saw an overweight, dirty man standing in the median with a cane. Another man, who looked more like we look (washed, nice clothes, etc.), walked across several lanes of traffic, went over to the dirty man (who was begging for money), and embraced him, brought the beggar’s hand to his chest, and spoke to him. It was a brief exchange, and then he moved on. The beggar stood in the median and just wept, openly. Cried like a baby. Ethan and I wondered if perhaps he wept because he had been touched by someone, someone who didn’t seem to mind that he was dirty. We both got teary. But then we drove on. We both talked about how we wanted to turn around and invite him to get in the car and take him out for a meal, but we didn’t, because we were afraid he might be crazy or dangerous, and we had our baby in the car. Did fear hold us back from blessing someone? Was that wrong? What would you have done?

The next time I post, I’ll probably have some pics from our trip up to S.C. My sister is having baby girl #2 this Thursday, and we are eager to meet little Hollyn Paige. Please pray for us, that we will be a blessing to my sister, who is having a planned c-section, and for her husband and 2 year old daughter. Pray that Emelyn will sleep well in a new place and that she will be a fun distraction for her cousin!

My father mentioned over the weekend that we hadn’t updated in a long time.  We are going on two months, so it seemed like the time to update, except that we are coming off of two rather stressful days caused by (1) illness, and (2) a heavy workload.  We went over to my parents’ house on the Gulf Coast for Mother’s Day, and all was well until Sunday evening, when I started feeling sick.  Fast forward 24 hours and I was really sick, the victim of some disgusting little virus that had to run its course.  It was awful.  Today, I have consumed Gatorade.  That is it.  And I have no desire to eat anything, but I know I need to.   We ended up staying at mom and dad’s until this morning, so I could recover.  Meanwhile, Ethan is working a lot (it just has to be done right now), so we are both on our last leg, you could say.

In times like these, I realize how many things I take for granted, health being at the top of that list.  Over the weekend, before the disgusting bug, mom and I visited a dear friend who has been wheelchair-bound for years, with a degenerating spinal condition.  In spite of her condition, she has maintained an amazing outlook and spirit.  Although her condition has affected the range of motion and strength in her hands, she has recently taken up painting and paints beautifully.  She hasn’t let her struggles stop her from being a bright, creative person.  I wonder if I would do as well, if the tables were turned. And I think of another friend, Scott, who has been battling cancer for years with a faith that never ceases to amaze us both.

So, here is the challenge:  to have a gracious, Christ-like spirit when I feel terrible, when my husband has to work a lot, when I cannot control things…

I Thessalonians 5:18 - Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Emelyn loves crawling all over Dad in the evenings.

Emy enjoying a swing for the very first time while visiting her cousins in South Carolina

Make the swing go faster! This is boring!!

Making a mess with oatmeal and looking a little shaggy as her hair grows out!

Here are some pics of my favorite girls from the new digital camera we just bought:

We launched a new site for a client last night at midnight that sells over 30,000 tools to car dealers and mechanics. The site, while able to be seen by the public, is only for members. Once a user logs in they gain access to additional functionality and have the ability to purchase these tools. This was a huge project and I’m so happy our group was able to help this business go from their old website to the new one. I think you’ll see some drastic differences!!

BEFORE

AFTER

We are doing a fascinating series at church called Practical Atheist:  Are you who you say you are? 

Here’s a definition:  “The distinguishing characteristic of these people is that they live as if God did not exist.  God makes no difference in their lives.  This is ‘practical atheism.’  We all know people like this.  Some of us hardly know anyone not like this.  And sometimes we live this way ourselves.”  –Dinesh D’Souza.

Hello conviction.  The sermon series (and accompanying Bible studies) have titles like “I believe in God, but I trust in money” (yup).  “I believe in God, but I don’t know Him” (yup - bec. that takes discipline I often don’t have).  “I believe in God but I don’t want to go overboard” (yup - no one likes a fanatic).  This is hitting a little too close to home, people.  I guess that’s what good preaching does.  Ouch.   I like that our pastors make us squirm, and they squirm right along with us.  I am far too devoted to my own comfort and the praise of man - and this often translates to a life that, for all intensive purposes, is godless. 

So here is a great quote from the sermon series, from Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy:

“There are two powerful effects that the gospel of grace has on a person who has been touched by it.  First, the person who knows that he received mercy while an undeserving enemy of God will have a heart of love for even (and especially!) the most ungrateful and difficult persons.  When a Christian sees prostitutes, alcoholics, prisoners, drug addicts, unwed mothers, the homeless, the refugees, he knows that he is looking in the mirror.  Perhaps the Christian spent all of his life as a respectable middle-class person.  No matter.  He thinks:  ‘Spiritually I was just like these people, though physically and socially I never was where they are now.  They are outcasts.  I was an outcast’….The second major effect that the gospel of grace has on a person is that it creates spontaneous generosity.”

Conviction again.  I don’t like ungrateful and difficult persons.  I don’t really care if prisoners are mistreated, I feel angry toward unwed mothers who pop out babies to get more welfare dollars, I often dismiss the homeless as people who didn’t try hard enough.  But if I really “get” that God had to die on a cross for me, then I would admit to myself I am NO DIFFERENT than these people.  We all have a deep well of need that cannot be filled with other people (although God created us to desire human fellowship and that is certainly a good thing).  But I should fear God’s opinion and worship Him, not man.  This is really good stuff, but I don’t like it because it challenges my carefully cultivated self-image (hard-working, nice wife, mom, and lawyer who contributes to society) and the accompanying misperceptions I hold so dear (I deserve what I have, I’m not so bad, etc.).

The little gal has been sick all week - her first ear infection.  Ethan took her to the doc Monday and she’s been on penicillin - it’s working, slowly but surely.  She fights taking it with every single ounce of energy she possesses.  We have to work together to hold her down and inject the sugary pink fluid into her mouth.  She also vigorously resists having her nose wiped or her fingernails cut.  None of us has to be taught to resist what will help us, do we?  With the exception of these wrestling matches, she is her usual cheery, snuggly, babbling little self.  What a delightful girl God has given us.