Caden Walking!

Well, it's a bit more like falling forward in this shot, but you get the idea. I'll try to get a better shot soon.

Photos remix

Caden's First Birthday, Graduation, etc.

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From Covenant Seminary to Covenant Seminary

Next week, if all goes well with my finals, I will graduate from a four year degree program at Covenant Seminary. On June 15th I will return to Covenant Seminary to work in the PR department there. Last night I was offered a position here at the school where I will do some film work and some other PR type stuff.

Thanks for all of you who have prayed for us through this process! We are praising the Lord for this incredible opportunity. The position is a great wedding of my various gifts and I look forward to working for such a wonderful institution.

If you think of us please pray that the Lord would provide a place for us to live that would be good for our family and a place where we can show hospitality to others.

Glorious Randomness

So today I had a surprisingly wonderful trip to the mall. Now I'm sure many of you are thinking I got some great deals on some cute new clothes or something like that, but I actually was just going to return a dress I had ordered to Eddie Bauer and then get some lunch with the kids at the Food Court to kill some time until taking both to the MD to get their ears checked for possible ear infections. (which by the way was negative for both of them) Then comes glorious random moment #1. . .I'm walking through the mall with the kids when an older man, walks by and says "You're a good mama." All I could do was mutter, "well, um, thank you." I'm not sure what he witnessed that prompted him to say this because I know for a fact that I was struggling to be patient with Maia's desire to stare at all the fountains from the second floor while reminding myself of the magical nature of fountains in the eyes of an almost 4 year old that can leave them entranced. But really I think the One who really knows our hearts knew that this mama (and yes, it is strange that this man called me Mama because Maia has been calling me Mama without fail for the past month or so) needed a little encouragement as I've been really lacking motivation in my mothering lately. Usually I have some plan for our day . . .you know, some fun activity or outing. . .but lately when Maia asks me at bedtime what we are doing tomorrow I've found myself saying "well Maia I really don't know" and when morning comes and the question arises again I have no better bearing on the day. So then it is off to the food court where dear little Caden breaks down the social barriers with custodian Vince. Caden just sat in the stroller and stared at Vince for the longest time with one of those open mouthed stares as Vince cleaned the nearby tables and floors that finally Vince stopped to acknowledge Caden and we ended up having a nice little conversation with custodian Vince. . .glorious random moment # 2. Then it is off to head back to the car and this time getting a close up look at those fountains along the way. I had recently emptied the change out of my wallet so we could have change for our yardsale so Maia resorted to just sitting on the ledge by the fountain and becoming entranced again by its magical nature when out of nowhere a business man walks up and hands Maia a penny to throw into the fountain while saying with a wide grin on his face "Make a wish!" Maia gives him a hearty "thank-you" and runs over to show me her new penny, throws it in, and if that wasn't enough the business man comes back and gives her more coins before hurrying off to whatever was next on his agenda. . .can we say glorious random moment #3! So as I was thinking over my day I realized that it truly was a gloriously random day that was worthy of a blog post.

Stand by Me (all around the world)

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.