Over Two Years Later:

I'm still me. It's funny to look back at all these posts, some that are five years old or more, and although my life has changed quite drastically, I still feel so much the same. That is one of the funny mysteries of life. I can think back to my first day of kindergarten, and it feels as though I was looking through the same set of eyes that I see the world through today. And they are the same eyes, but they are also very different eyes.

Since my last post it has been just over two years. I now have a two year old (Isaac) and my little girl (Lily) just turned one. Much of life is spent chasing after these two little people, and cleaning up lots of messes, and wiping lots of running noses, and snuggling with soft and warm little bodies, and laughing at the innocence of first tries at talking, walking, making friends, and figuring out life.

Becoming a mom in many ways has felt very natural and comfortable, but in some ways has been the biggest stretch of my life. There have been occasions when I am not proud of my behavior, when I have grabbed at my children in rough ways, or have literally screamed at the top of my lungs at nothing and everything all at once. But what is so much bigger than those failures, is the grace that children bring to life. The grace of little hands grabbing for you. The grace of a two year old asking his mommy to lay with him at night and when I lay down he whispers, "come closer mommy." The grace found each night as I creep into their rooms and watch their chubby and angelic faces as they sleep. I try to remind myself each day, amidst the choas, that these are all such precious and fleeting moments.

So, back to the rebirth of my blog, I hope. I have been humbled and privledged to be part of a book that is coming out VERY soon called We Feel Fine. It is a project that was started right around the same time that I started this blog. It was started by two guys named Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar. They created a program that would scan the internet (especially blogs) for the words, "I Feel" and then pick up any words that followed. Somehow this program picked up some words on my blog, from a post that I wrote about my dad way back. Anyway, something about my blog post hit Jonathan, and it became one of their favorites. They used it in presentations and explanations of their project. Now they have writen a book all about the project and my blog has been featured. HOW EXCITING!! Here is a link to their website: http://www.wefeelfine.org/.

Well...with the release of the book and all, I have started thinking that I need revive this blog. Between life with two small children, working for Young Life part time, and everything else that comes along with life, it's going to take commitment...but I think that I can do it!!! Here's to hoping.

I'm hoping that I will be able to write on all my musings about life. These include: God, spiritaulity, creativity, beauty found in both obvious and suprising places, children, relationships, family, food, and crafts. (I HATE the word crafts...when I hear the word crafts I automatically think of something made of felt, glue, and popsicle sticks...which is not what I am talking about... I am talking about finding ways to build, paint, or sew beautiful things that communicate something of value found either within or without.)