‘some trust in chariots + some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.’
psalm 20:17

so proud of her chinese dragon

anneliese, josie & mattias,
sweetestofsweetiepies.

{missed a picture of sweetcheeks sidney}

we love erenei & karis & checed

hedbanz hilarity

the children play on a saturday morning
while cory & nathan saw + work in the back forty*.

the backyard laborer
takes a rest

*forty feet, that is.

ps -
encouragement from john piper,
don’t waste your cancer.

on a rainy new york winter evening,
the perfect night to
snuggle into those
red velvet cushy-oh-so-cushy seats
and

listen…

during the rad violin-marimba collaboration,
betsy said:
this music is scary

1 peter 1:22

ahhh, to be around
jess’s table on
a wednesday morning.

her cheeriest door

who knew it was as simple
as naming it ‘local’?

the institutional genius
of fairway strikes again;
they solved the bread aisle debacle.

too good to be true?

just wait until you’re there.

you can almost hear
the angels singing
as you peruse the brioche.

ps -
gospel in life ch 2 last night
with fellowship group,
righteous vs. self-righteous.

considering the immense
love of Christ leads to
grateful, restful joy.

thank you, friends, for another
eager and gentle night together.

specialthanks to judy {piano}
and amy & nate {sm group leading}

re: the scads of
sound-of-music
quotes
we’ve heard since our
mountaintopchristmascard…

can i at least tell you what
i was thinking?

our last family christmas card
was this snap from 72nd & riverside
circa. december 2007:

photocredit: our sweet juliaeagan
photo asst. {holding our coats}: megsie

so after our watermelon-y picnic
on the mountaintop,
before we hopped on the ski lift
to head back down for some alpineslide fun,

daddy was about to take a picture
of our fam and in onesplitsecond,
i thought,
‘hey, same spots as the last one!’

so we tried to remember who was in
what order & this is what we came up with:

so, yes,
the hill may be alive
with the sound of cates-es,

but it originated on
the grittybeautifulasphalt streets
we love dearly.

i’m pinch-me-i’m-dreaming grateful
for our new bedroom;

the space
to think,
to create,
to play,
two! windows-to-the-outside-world,

i’m stunned at the luxury.

ps -
did i mention there’s a permanent spot
for my sewing machine on my desk
in our room?!

ridiculously grateful.

our wise chess teacher,
imploring b to remember that chess is
‘a war, betsy, a war!’

[in his wonderful turkish accent;
i find myself calling it a
beeship in solidarity with r]

secret maternal smile:
she worked her
queen + knight into some
sittingpretty positions.

the words of encouragement
from sunday morning’s service
9:15a
ethical cultural society
64th + cpw

jess, amy + regan

j’s apple-ish handiwork

shall we settle?

a record-setting
fourteen infant baptisms
on sunday morning,
strong work, david.

hooray for ichiro [lin]

may the God of all grace
saturate your heart
through and through, lovey*.

snuggled in between these two,
listening to tim’s ridiculouslygood
sermon on marriage,
what a morning.

i can’t believe you’re
twelve.

iloveyousomuch,njc.

ellie, our jedi-in-training

[i bet they never thought of
this move]

blackjack with daddy

it was a mere twenty degrees
on sunday,
crisp+freezing.

cory’s weekday turf

11 madison,
home-away-from-home

cory + caroline
crossing 23rd toward me
with bookshelf materials in hand,

and look at the bldg to the right.

one of our favorites.

see the name?

‘the caroline’

[one of] the way[s] to my
husband’s heart;
chicken-falling-off-the-bone
chicken-in-the-dutch-oven-for-4-hrs
scrumptious chicken + veg

a special day, mlk day.

thankyou, boys!

bedroom shelves,
breathe in, breathe out.

ps – knock off this
mirror for my bedroom?
yesplease.

via vivian

*remind me to ask j for
the words he prayed over
sweet i – they were stunning.

he thinks he said:

‘this is ichiro takahashi lin.

david asked me to baptize him because he can’t
pronounce his name.

ichiro is first son in his generation on both sides of the family,
which is why we named him ichiro, which in Japanese means “first son.”

ichiro takahashi lin,

i baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, Spirit.

may God’s grace dwell upon you richly.
may you grow in knowledge, love, wisdom and fear of the Lord.

and may you come to know and
experience the grace of Jesus Christ our savior, God’s true “first
son.’

top shelf, baby.

nary a crumb left on the cakestand.

pps – ricky g + stephen m + jd =
‘life’s too short’

the girls, honor and i
were sitting behind the
boys, ezra + nate
for worship and
i was thinking how much
i love those men in front of me,
esp cory’s broad shoulders
and the bible in his back pocket.

ps -
nathan got to go with
carrie, em + kwes to
a shakespeare comedy show
last night and it apparently
was hilarious.

[we prodded n to recount
most of it to us over a
late-night bowl of cereal,
brilliantly funny stuff]

and c was still cracking up
at the gym this morning,
hours later.

love it.

pps -
as we prepare to move into
redeemer’s new building,
150w83,
we will miss first baptist.
and
ethical culture.
and
all of the places that
have hosted us in the past;

thankyou.

wellhellothere, mr. wall;
you look like you’ve always been there,
dahling.

and then the angels {in my mind, at least}
start singing
as i step into
our room,
the room cory + daddy
so beautifully + skillfully
built for me,
for us.

henry made my bed this morning;
i’ll try hard not to muss it,
sweetangel.

remember the family’s
walk-in closet +
the hall closet?

the next phase of their
collective life
is as our rosycozy
bednook.

j’adore!

it’s even better in person
than i dreamed it.

you’ll have to come over soon.

girls + boys clothes
and a few carefully-selected toys/books

everything else is stored away
for the duration of construction.

{four months? five months?
fingers-crossed.}

and the little nook
cory built under the
stairs years ago
takes on all new significance
as a sweet spot for
private time with a
flashlight & a toy/book.

inspiration 1

inspiration 2

inspiration 3

newly created hwk stations
are at Max Occupancy,
delightfully so.

cranberry bread
ready for the oven.

ppps -
how to talk to little girls from b
and
don’t carpe diem from m

guilty pleasure:

the rays of afternoon sunshine
i’m enjoying while tucked up
on my bed with jc ryle’s
‘the duties of parents’
drinking in his words on prayer.

i spy with my little eye:
caroline
betsy
cory
nathan

in that order.

a brilliant 45 degrees today.

bethesda fountain plaza

sledgehammers + crowbars,
this is going to be fun.

standing in the hall closet,
looking into what was the
walk-in closet.

n’s skills have grown
beautifully the past 4 months.

mom looks glamorous
even during the dustiest
work day.

prying back the layers
revealed measurements from when
we were first putting the
house together,
supernostalgic +
deeply grateful.

headed off to see ‘warhorse’
[subsequent 'thumbs up' from
both critics]

lyd, caroline + ez
in a meeting of the minds.

the roller-skatey minds.

there’s a joke to be made here,
but not in public.

seizing a private moment in the back
of the house, betsy gets her
rollergroove on.

by nightfall,
a new room emerges.

that makes all the difference.
all. the. difference.

my smile is wider than
it’s been since sept 3rd
when we said our goodbyes
in colorado.

the night before
the big chorus concert

a show of solidarity with her
2nd grade chorister sister.

of course i cried,
don’tbecrazy.

b adores the playmobil
meg gave her;
i only have 200 photos
of staged playmobil-ians
to show for it.

what’s a girls to do
with a dozen balloons + a bike
when she needs to make that
one last leetle fairway run
before the surprise bday lunch?

the much-anticipated annual
hinzman-cates holiday breakfast
xo

henry, skylar & karl’s group presentation, here here!

dinner in the fort,
a successful first-go of it.

thanks, friends.

cory’s famous
biscuits + gravy
{he learned from the best,
ahem, dad cates}

madison sq park,
a long-time favorite.

times square on
the fridaybeforechristmas,
not bad,
not bad.

ps -
one hilight of this
easybreezy holiday friday:

henry and i sitting at starbucks
flipping through a tantalizing
holiday cookbook my parents gave me
and i’m asking him to pick out
the things that look good,
things he recommends we cook
over this break,

and he basically ends up
flagging
every.single.page.