raising a mommy

raising a mommy

Friday, March 29, 2013

from justice to mercy to grace

Today's blessing:
Grace.

Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve.

My friends, thank God we have grace.

There's something so powerful about the sight of a black cloth draped over a cross.

It's not about me. It's not about how pretty the music is or whether my voice cracked or I sang the wrong note; breathed in the wrong spot; started singing the wrong verse.

It's not about you. It's not about whether the reader pronounced every word correctly or the acolyte had trouble getting the candle extinguished.

He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he has poured out on us in the Beloved.

That means you.

Have a blessed Easter weekend.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

baby pics

Today's blessing:
A good photographer.

Seriously, I feel bad for those people who don't know a good photographer. Or even those people who know one good photographer, but it's the same good photographer that everyone else knows. In the town where I grew up, there was basically one photographer who took pictures for everything. Nearly everyone in my graduating class had the same swing, truck, or dock in their senior pictures. He was a great photographer, but when you are the designated photographer for an entire town of 10,000, there's only so much you can do to mix it up.

I was born in North Dakota and was lucky enough that my parents happened to be good friends with the man who is probably the best photographer in the state. I may be a little biased, but he's good. Seriously. My mom and I took a road trip back to North Dakota (from two states away) so he could take my senior pictures. Okay, so it happened to coincide with her high school reunion, but still, that's quite a road trip for senior pictures! We also flew him in from ND so he could photograph our wedding. Yes, he's that good.

Now we rely on the lovely and talented Ellie Peterson for our family pictures, and we have not been disappointed! She did a maternity shoot for us, some newborn pictures of the baby, and, most recently, some one year old pictures of our little family. What a blessing she has been to us! I've been told we'll have the full CD from the shoot sometime in the next two weeks or so, so I'm sure there will be more pictures to show off when that comes! For now, here's a sneak peek!
I realize that the subject matter is ridiculously cute to begin with, but really, how good is she?

I want to make sure you know that I received no compensation of any kind for this post. I really, truly love Ellie's work so much that she didn't have to pay me anything to say that she's awesome.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

my little parrot

Today's blessing:
A camera bag.

My baby is at that age where she copies just about everything we do. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly. She can say all kinds of words, from bear to lion to up, down, uh-oh (how cute!), and yeah! Most recently, I caught her doing this:
It took me a minute to figure it out, but when I did I was blown away. She was trying to get the strap over her head, just like I do with her diaper bag! How crazy is that?! I really do have the smartest baby...

Here's another, just because she's so dang cute that I couldn't resist!

Are those teeth not the sweetest little things you've ever seen?