romantic french music
playing on pandora,

grandaisy on the counter,
bocconcini in the fridge,
children playing and crafting,

love is in the air.

i wouldn’t have guessed it.

lolly love.

caitlin + caroline

the homeschool coop
chorus & movement performance
rocked.

way to go, guys!

auction project work
in ms. h’s 2nd grade class;
love these kiddos.

we talked about how we’re raising money
for our school & later one one of the boys
discreetly asked,

‘about the [auction] money,
am i going to get paid for this?’

bff’s to be:
these pictures are the Hilight of My Week.

baby wraight in scotland &
baby eubanks in boston;

happy early bday, morv!!
xoxoxo

this counts as your birthday week &
we’re going to celebrate on your behalf.

remember the blt party…
we love you & wish we were there on saturday.

mandarin hwk

reminiscent of
portlandia’s ‘did you read’
on the 2/3 express today

patient&creative amy
helps caroline w/ a tricky math concept

we weren’t exactly traveling light
to piano lesson.

ps -
thanks to ann & hope
for their book list for girls;
i was just emailing back and forth
with jenny f & elizabeth m re: girls books.
xo

pps -
tim on nyc church/school decision

prayer & singing w/ s

‘we’re almost home, mom’
a text from the bus

‘A city is not the creation of one person or one developer
at one frozen moment in time. Nor should it be. A city is an
evolutionary ever changing organism. It has no clear beginning and
no clear end. It has something for everybody. The imprint of both
powerful leaders and anonymous residents shape a city. Its
character is never permanently defined and shouldn’t be…
The city, in essence, is adjustable, various & decentralized.’

a bit before lunch,
we were looking at henry’s baptism announcement
nostalgically taped to my desk wall &
they began reminiscing our first meeting each other
ten years ago:

jen had just delivered j,
cayley had an infant w,
i was pregnant with henry,
and kara came to mom’s group when
she was still pregnant with her first,
brave&wise woman that she is,
she knew she was going to need some
community to build her family on,

oh, the kindness of the Lord.

we egged on the
cheesy pose

weloveyou,j xo

{cayley & chasey included,
though i missed a photo of those cuties}

k reads ephesians
aloud to us

and after they leave,
her words are ringing in my heart,

made alive in Christ

as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world
and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

all of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our flesh and
following its desires and thoughts.

like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—
it is by grace you have been saved.

and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…

ephesians 2

magnetic lovenotes
from grammy&papa

i think that was the symbolic first
thing we ripped out + lugged to the dumpster;
sayonara, sucka.

then i gave an example of a sad conversation
(when my grandpa died) and they affirmed how sorry they were for me,

and then nathan challenging cory
as to how you can do this when you disagree with someone.

n’s first example:
‘i think communism is the most
effective form of government’

c’s conversation-affirming response,
somethingtotheeffectof:
‘i can see how you would think that;
many people thought that for a long time,
but over time it hasn’t held up.’

last night’s pushup assignments
were 20, 14, 10 & 3, respectively.

chest to his fist, baby;
they rocked it.

one more coat of glossy white paint,
spectacular.

korean class w/ the sunny ms. helen

making fairy houses
for corinne’s bday

betsy named her fairies
‘lucy’ and ‘paula’
and labeled their wooden fairy-chairs
with a fancy ‘L’ and ‘P’

breakfast club
complete w/ honor & harry

nathan’s signature debris-hauling
scooter move

harry, world-class
debris-hauling assistant

studying psalm 119

v. 87-91, that is.

ps -
natural wooden nesting dolls?

‘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.