Who's that boy?

This week we cut off all Ransom's hair. The curls at the back of his neck and the problematic hair in his eyes are gone, and I'm left thinking, Who is that kid?!

Before:

 After:

I do love seeing his forehead now. There were expressions we were missing out on because his hair covered his eyebrows. And I like seeing his very boyish hairline. 

He looks like a mini version of AJ with my eyes and with chubby cheeks! :)

Beauty and the First Lady

Politics aside, I have a heart for the First Lady, Michelle Obama. It's not just because of the pretty dresses she wears, the importance she places on military families, good nutrition, and exercise. It pleases my romantic sensibilities whenever I see a picture of her with her husband and they're holding hands; I want their marriage to succeed. Something tugs at my heart when I think of her and her family of four. I see pictures of them dressed up and going to church and my heart hopes, but at the same time sinks. I want faith in Jesus to be real for them, not a veneer to impress potential voters, which is what I fear might be happening. I want a Jesus revelation to move the hearts and actions of the President and his Lady, not political game strategies. But I don't know the hearts of Barak and Michelle. What I see isn't the whole picture. So, I'm reminded to pray for them, something I don't do often enough.
Jesus, please stir things up in the Obama family. Place strategic relationships in their lives. Protect them, and let them know it is you who watches over them, who gives them breath and life. When they get dressed up and go to church, make it a physical representation of their desire to bring their best to you, to offer themselves to you as living sacrifices, doing the good works you prepared in advance for them to do. I pray for Damascus road experiences for both Barak and Michelle, and that you will open their eyes to see your plans at work. Let them align themselves with your plans, Jesus, not their own, not a political party. Bring people in their lives who are true friends to encourage them and to challenge them, who will stick with them when things are messy. Let them be dazzled by you, Jesus, not by big names, big money, big titles. Make their desire be to honor you.
God, may the glimpses of beauty I see in the First Lady become more frequent, coming from a deepening love for Jesus and a desire to let it be unto her according to Your will.
Your ways are higher than ours. Amen!

(Picture found at: http://mrs-o.com/newdata/2009/2/25/isnt-she-lovely.html )

Ransom, 16 months

Ransom at sixteen months: he LOVES crackers, and can say "cra-ka" when he wants one; he has learned "more" and "please" in sign language; his hair is looong but I'm nervous to try cutting it but I probably will soon; his bedtime routine includes diaper change; pajamas, brushing teeth, books, prayer & sometimes singing; mangoes don't agree with him; he is getting ever so much more chatty & responds to our questions with his own words. He's a lot of fun, this baby...er, toddler.

an achievement

The day came. Finally, yesterday, AJ's band received their long awaited albums. We are SO excited, satisfied, grateful! It's wonderful to hold in our hands the product of long hours of writing, composing, practicing, and recording.

This morning & afternoon Ransom and I have been listening to it nonstop, and he'll constantly point to the CD player and declare, "Dada, Dada!"
He knows his daddy's voice!
Now we're looking forward to the CD release show on Friday night.
Congratulations, to Joshua, Seth, Jordan, Andrew C.,
but especially (because I'm allowed to be partial) to AJ! Great work guys!

Moriah's visit...don't you wish you had a classy sister like her?

My little sister Moriah visited last week, for her interim break from university. We had her to ourselves for seven days! It was delightful!

(Side note: this girl is going to be going on her first missions trip to Nicaragua & Costa Rica next month & I wanted to present the opportunity for you, dear reader, to help her raise the money to go. It's tough to be a sincere follower of Jesus when you're attending a secular university, so I anticipate God working in big ways in the lives involved as Moriah is obedient and seeks God & what He's doing in other nations. If you're interested in contributing any amount email me at rajbeaird@gmail.com & I can connect you to the girl. BTW, she didn't ask me to do it, I felt a pressing to put it out there. Thank you in advance!)


Ransom got to spend some quality time with his auntie.


She spread some of her beauty around. Case in point: we made snowflakes out of book pages. They're still there.


She made her blonde brownies & tried out a new cranberry orange candied ginger scone recipe, twice! Wish my kitchen could be blessed with her baking more often!



We thrifted. We watched some old musicals. We had a couple knitting parties. We listened to lots of records. We went through a few pomegranates.

We went to the coast with Tia!


I'm so thankful to have been blessed with Moriah's presence in our family for a week. It feels home-like to be around her.

Romance

Recently I've been re-reading my journals and I've noticed a few of things:

1) I can be very long winded
2) It is splendid to see in retrospect how God answered prayers I journaled (for instance...)
3) God created a good romance for AJ and me

It's been fun to revisit the specific ways that God answered prayer. How he redeemed days & places I had associated with other boys by giving me precious memories with Andrew in those same places, on those same days. How when I was journaling prayers specifically for my future husband, AJ was really getting refined, and even though we weren't aware, our hearts were being prepared for the relationship God was getting us ready for. It's cute to see how I meticulously recorded dialogue & texts that were exchanged.

This all makes me love and appreciate the man I've been blessed with.

Have a prayer, a romance, a journal that's been collecting dust? Let this be my encouragement to you to brush the dust away & to revisit those hopes & desires (I'm getting all sappy...) and to give the glory to Jesus for how he answered (or graciously didn't answer) those prayers.

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas & some Christmas "do's"

Merry Christmas from our family!
(Our photographer friends took these photos. They highly exceeded our expectations & we couldn't be more pleased! We highly recommend them.)

With Christmas almost here, I've been thinking about how to celebrate it meaningfully with our little family of three, and here's some "Christmas do's" I scribbled down today:

-Christmas light viewing drive & good eats or drinks (Loved that this year. We ate at our favorite Mexican grocery store deli & with warm drinks we drove up to the ritzy neighborhood with the amazing city view to look at lights. We took Ransom out of the car to look at the most impressive house at the top of the hill. We also visited the spot where AJ proposed to me & got out & hugged & kissed for memory's sake. There are houses being built there now, in what was a previously almost empty lot overlooking the city. I joked that someday we may have to live in one of them to have access to the precious spot.)
-Advent celebrating with a calendar (I didn't get my act together in time, so I'll have to try to be better prepared next year.)
-Play Christmas songs on the piano (My mom sent me a Christmas songbook that I've loved using this year!)
-Make pulla, a.k.a. Finnish coffee bread, a tradition in my family (Haven't made any yet, but there's still time. Actually, I need to hunt down the recipe.)
-Read Christmas books with Ransom (We're getting a little collection of them.)
-Play good Christmas music (This year it's been Charlie Brown, Sara Groves, Chicago, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Sufjan Stevens, and I discovered a new mini album by Hue & Hum that I might get for next year)
-Be intentional about giving $$ to the Salvation Army bell ringers who are parked outside store entrances, especially because I want to cultivate generosity in our family & model it for our kids. (I need to get better at this one.)
-Get Christmas shopping done early (Yay for avoiding the mall the week before Christmas!)
-Send Christmas photos to loved ones
-Go on an date with AJ for my birthday (Dec. 26...have yet to follow through with this one)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

"God chose to have his Son enter the world in a stable and be laid in filthy slop so we could know our sinful hearts are not too lowly of a place for him to occupy." --Jen Smidt, from an article called "The Dirty Manger"