Friday, December 30, 2016

A Hope That is Living - This is Not the End




This Christmas was different.

This Christmas there was the celebration and the joy,
the time with our families,
the excitement of the little ones.

There was also deep sadness.
There was the knowledge of profound loss.
Amidst all the activity, so many thoughts fluttered in.
Thoughts of my dear Aunt and my cousins.
Thoughts of my Uncle Henry going home to Jesus,
the day before Christmas.



These days come.
So unseen.  Unplanned. Unknown.
But we do not fear.

"Never be afraid to trust
an unknown future
 to a known God."
- Corrie Ten Boom

I grieved with my cousins and wondered.
I wondered, “why not me?”
How is it fair 
that I go home and my life continues,
mostly the same.
But suddenly, for them, life will never be the same.

But we know truth.
And we trust.


The preacher said:
“There is Saving Grace,
There is Living Grace,
And there is Dying Grace.”

Oh, God is good.


“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
 This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
 who through faith are shielded by God’s power
 until the coming of the salvation
 that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief
 in all kinds of trials.”
 1 Peter 1:3-6




 Just before the sun went down,
 I went to the grave.
A shadow fell in the shape of a cross,
on the fresh red dirt.


There is a LIVING hope!
By the power of Jesus and the cross,
this is not the end.
There is glory waiting on the other side.


 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life;
 he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
Do you believe this?’"
 John 11:25






Friday, December 16, 2016

Andrew Davis -- Those First Weeks


This week my baby boy turned three months old.
Andrew Davis.
And here I am, doing my first post since his birth.
 Guess that says something about life in those first three months, huh?
What a time of events and emotions all running contrary to one another.

 Such pain and joy,
such exhilaration and exhaustion,
such despair and gratitude. 
All mixed up together in the same days. 

Just born.

Just over seven pounds.



Talking to my mamma who was on a hunting trip in Colorado when Andrew was born!

Brand new sweetness!



Playing doll baby in the hospital. :)

Best room in the entire hospital with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in two directions!


Flowers just picked and brought in by the sis-in-law.

A portrait of the family with the new addition, done by the eldest sister.


Little man with his Daddy.  Melts my heart.

There were so many times I looked at this baby and really 
couldn’t fathom that he is real and he is mine. 
So many times that my eyes filled up and the tears ran down. 
I can’t comprehend God’s goodness to me.

I look back on the pictures that we have of Andrew’s first weeks,
and I miss the tiny sweetness that was him. 
I know how quickly babies leave that newborn phase and there’s no way to stop it
no matter how badly I wanted to.
 The only consolation is that each new stage is captivating.
 Maybe a baby is God’s way of saying, “stop and enjoy today!
Back at home.  There's never a lack of arms to hold the little guy!

Never ending kisses.
  
You know how a sleeping newborn has a Sixth Sense
of when you’re just ready to eat a meal?  
Andrew has that sense in a very real way. 
He also has a Seventh Sense.
 It’s the sense that there is someone with a camera. 
My visions of my very own baby to play newborn photographer with,
kind of took a very bad nose dive and landed in a heap.
 Between his Seventh Sense and my exhausted new mother state of mind and body,
we got what we got photos when and where we could. 

Andrew seemed to have his great-grandfather Charles’ philosophy.
 I will share his quote:  
“Eating makes me sleepy, and sleeping makes me hungry.”
 In other words, anytime he was awake he was hungry! 
That creates photos like these.




I’m hoping to share some of the better pictures sometime after Christmas! 
Until then, Merry Christmas and God bless you all! 



"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.'"
Luke 1:46,47 & 49 







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