Sunday, August 21, 2011

Four Generations


My mothers mother Vikki, my mother Rebecca, myself, and my son Ethan. When I was a year old we had a four generation picture taken with Vikki's mother Norma. She passed away just a couple years ago, so I had the blessing of knowing her more than a little, I also knew several of my other great-grandparents. I am so delighted that Ethan should know not only is grandparents, but most of his great-grandparents! Ahh, how good God has been.

Grandpa Blair (the first boy in his family for a long time).
Great-Grandpa Ron, a retired firefighter
All the adoring aunts with the happy parents. And of course the darling boy!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Growing Family



Here we are, a happy family! The Lord has been very good to us in bringing little Ethan Patrick into this world. July seemed like it would never end and then he waited even longer to come into the world. The waiting did become rather difficult near the end. The Lord has a lot to teach me about His timing. I far prefer my own, so I can make my plans and move on with life. Yet the Lord shows me again and again how much better His plans are. Courting and marrying Roman was not my plan, but it is a perfect one. I love Roman completely, because he is the one God chose for me, rather than I chose for me. I did not plan on having a baby right away, before our first anniversary even. But the lessons I have learned in pregnancy and the many ways it brought Roman and I closer together show me how much better the Lord knows. Now Ethan is here and I can make new plans for each day with him. Still, everything is subject to change, and since flexibility of life is not my strong point I think I can safely assume that the Lord will continue to change my plans for His infinitely better ones. By this I learn to trust in Him and acknowledge Him in all my ways, because whether I like it or not He does direct my path. Right now I am very excited about that path!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

It's A Boy!


Welcome Ethan Patrick Mallery, the newest addition to our family. Born at 7:35 this morning, weighing 9.2 pounds and 22 1/2 inches long.

Guess Who's Here!

Ethan Patrick Mallery
Born August Fourth, 7:35 in the morning
Mother and Son are Happy and Healthy!
More to come later.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Just Picture This

Sublime. Amazing. Absolutely breathtaking. Loved it.

Like the dreaded booming of a canon, thunder echoed up and down the little valley, awaking anyone who was not sleeping soundly.

I rolled over, blinking, like a bear after hibernation. An almost timid sunrise greeted me shyly. The real sun still hiding, the soft pink glow that warns the earth of its coming was reaching its fingers gently over the mountains. In stark contrast, the rest of the sky loomed dark, made darker by the seeming few feet of dust peach that was glowing between the rime of the rocky mountains and the edge of the angry clouds. Still, thunder rolled and boomed and echoed and yelled, screaming in its deep voice. I smiled, all to myself, and crawled from my warm covers to fling open the window in reckless behavior. (OK, I slid the window open in almost slow motion, but I liked the way that sentence rolled.)

That smell! Fresh, clean, crisp, and so cool it almost hurt when I took a deep breath. Cool raindrops now scantily touching a hot, sleepy face through the window screen, I stretched, closed my eyes, and listened. Listened very hard. It was raining hard now, pounding and splattering on the roof, as if in time with the rustling of a thousand green leaves being shaken in the mediocre wind. I tried to pay attention to every little detail I could. I let the rain the blue lightening, the dusty pink east, the spiteful thunder that rudely interrupted the flashing light display, and a dozen other sights and smells, and musical sounds fill me with little shivers and a a fast heartbeat. Who needs a movie to get excited, or a dramatic story to make a rush of emotions? A drama was playing out side my window, unrehearsed and changing with every moment that involuntarily ticked by. I looked straight up, past the water dripping quickly off our roof, and saw blue patches dancing merrily in the sky, as if to show that the storm was simply full of empty threats.

Now, it was as if there was only an inch between the craggy mountain line and those rolling, mysterious clouds. Bravely and calmly,, those weak rays then showed their strength, and sprinkled a peach haze through the rain, creating a fairy dust effect. In a composed manner, it let the booming that the sky take over, snuffing out its other worldly light. The tempest, young and to pas by won for now. The sun knew it could out another day.

Am I hopelessly in love with God's Nature? I'm afraid so. But who wouldn't be, when thinking about Gods hand directing every single one of those romantic waves of light, every single atom of those millions of raindrops, clear and clean, those incredible flashed of lighting that in, in color, matched the patches of baby blue sky, and best of all, thunder, powerful thunder, shaking the leaves of the trees that HE created? These words have simply not done it justice. But, after gazing at the ever changing art display, I grabbed a notebook, fished around for a pencil, leaned on the windowsill, and wrote.
Why? Because For some reason, I knew in my entire lifetime, I would never see anything quite like it again.