LOVE

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:13:00 +0000

There are times in life when a person comes along side of you, helps you in a time of need, carries your load with you.

There are other times when the things you carry are all your own. Even if that person came along, there would be no way to let go of the burdens.

Sometimes in those moments, the only option is to be carried. Maybe nothing can be taken or carried with, but someone can hold you while you keep everything in motion.

That was last week for me. A few things starting, a bit of extra, a bit of planning and figuring out. And it was mine to carry and it was Clint who carried me.

And I am fully aware that the week wouldn't have been what it was without the listening, words of belief, encouragement and extra holding. I am thankful.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 05 May 2013 07:49:00 +0000

I turned to look back as I walked out their bedroom door. Clint was leaning over Evee, whispering good-night, pushing the hair out of her face, kissing her forehead... having just done the same to Iris.

As I walked out a picture flicked through my head... My own dad leaning over my bed. One morning, in the hours before I normally woke, I remember waking to a gentle weight on my back, the hand of my father, and to flickers of words, my father's prayers over me.

I remember looking up, seeing him knelt beside me, his soft smile and whisper telling me to go back to sleep. And I did, with such peace in my soul.

I can't tell you whether this happened once or over a number of mornings. I don't know how long he was there on that particular day, what season it was, what else was happening in my life, or how old I was at the time.

All I know is that one morning, probably 25 plus years ago, I woke to my father whispering his prayers over me.

I hold this to my heart.
I carry it with me
as we continue our own journey of parent our little ones...
remembering that it is often what we do when no one is watching that matters.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:37:00 +0000

Today I sit at my favourite cafe. I debate how I should spell favourite/favorite when I write that line (as I do mum and mom).

I think back to writing sentimental posts about my Saturday morning places in Princeton over a year ago.

And now here I sit.

As I stood in line at the counter this morning a girl on the other side asked if I was here for "my" veggie sandwich... the one she'd suggested I get months ago. The sandwich we'd bonded over.

The girl who took my order asked if this was my morning alone. Yes it is, I said with a smile. I'd forgotten that we'd talked about that awhile ago.

I know exactly what I will order and where I will sit. I can pick out the locals from the tourist. I know the man sitting at the bench is one of the owners and not a customer. I know and love the quote by the bike rack. I read it every time.

And it feels like home.

And not of course because of this moment only, but the collections of moments over the last year and a half. //The ladies I sat around the table with last night... almost one year exactly of sharing our stories, laughing, living out pain and joy together. Letting each other in a bit more as the days go by.

//And the job I took and started this past week, back into social work. That feels like going home in a way to something known and familiar.

//And the suicide bereavement group that will start in just over a week from now. And, although it is somewhat new territory, it's another way that we, as a church, are putting our roots deep into the soil of our community and that feels like home.

I could go on and on, the way any of us could about our own communities that we deeply love.

I guess all to say that today I feel very blessed to have multiple places in the world to call home, that truly feel "home".

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 08:49:00 +0000

Hello friends!

Where we're at
and gratitude:
:: We've moved house!
:: So many beautiful people helped us move, brought meals, watched our kids, helped us pack, and cleaned. Really, I was amazed.
:: Change always takes me a second to process. I wasn't certain about our new house, but one week in and I'm loving it. It seems to be just perfect for this season.
:: And as crazy as this week of unpacking and settling in has been, there have been amazing moments of processing faith over meals and friends sitting around in our unpacked living room and many cups of tea. I'm so thankful.
:: Evee turns 6 next month. 6! Can I just say I love the 5 year old age? She is a joy. Tonight, with Clint out and Iris to bed early, we had a girls night. She is a delight to hang out with.
:: Iris is all her own. Lots of laughter (and, at 2 years old, lots of tears).
:: Iris is full on into dress up. Not like Evee was with wearing dresses all the time, but actually dressing up in costume type clothes. I'm pretty sure her daily goal is to be in a princess or ballerina outfit as much as possible. She does pretty well.
:: This past week Clint, Iris and I went to visit some friends that have just under 50 years on us. There is something so peaceful about being with them. I hope that as I age I become more and more gracious, steady and encouraging.
:: We have another new niece! So many little people in our families that I am longing to meet!
:: And the last picture above - our happy faces at sweet blessings that came this week through papa & grandma (my parents). Learning more about God's goodness, love and gifts through them.

Much love to you all as you go about your days... May we find joy and peace.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 06:17:00 +0000

This is our current "say cheese" face. A very update picture, taken tonight. Evee is out with a friend. They will come back to our place for a sleepover tonight. We're already at that stage.

Where we are:
It's been a month since I last posted. What's happened to me friends?
We've had my sweet friend Regina for 3 weeks and her brother for almost one week. It was wonderful to have them.
We found out that our house that we rent is being sold and that we need to move. Just this week we've also found a new place to live. We move in 2 weeks. Crazy!
At the playground tonight, a lady we didn't know asked if we'd keep an eye on her daughter while she went to the end of the block to grab their fish & chips. I don't know... just thought it was interesting.

My next post will be on gratitude and thankfulness. I have been thinking a lot about that today and the need I have to bring that attitude back into my life more habitually.

Hope you are well friends.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:38:00 +0000

The girls and I headed to a bay earlier this week to camp with friends. We joined my brave friend who considered camping with her two little ones and me and my two littles no biggie... so we were happy to go along :).

And truly, it was easy. Granted, we joined them along the way since we had things on the schedule all ready. So we didn't even have to set up a tent! I guess I shouldn't say it was easy...

We had two days hanging out on the beach, exploring a bit, an early morning walk on the beach as both Evee and Iris were awake, and hanging out with friends.

The hills go right into the ocean. New Zealand is unbelievably beautiful. I will say this again and again.

Then we headed back home to get ready for Evee's first day back to school for the year. Lots of excitement here this week.

Hope you are all well...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:59:00 +0000

Pictures in no good order:
:: We went to the Botanic Gardens for the kids part in the Buskers Festival today. Clint got asked to hold a ladder on stage ;). It was fun to go together.
:: We are preparing for school starting next week (!!!). Evee's excited. We will treasure this last week.
:: She is a beauty. Seriously a joy to be around.
:: The confident scooter and bike riding are changing my life. The walk to and from school is going to be a breeze!
:: Clint & Evee watching the act today. Sweetness.
:: Iris on a non-baby swing going high. She is growing up. She is funny and wonderful.
:: And a picture Iris took. Just because I'm not often in the pictures :).

Hello again friends

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:21:00 +0000

I'm really not sure what happened. Somewhere along the better half of 2012 I stopped regular blogging. To be true, I'm not sure why. There have been other good things filling my time on the computer - projects that I started and continue to work on, researching and starting to address community needs. Blogging went on the back burner.

Clint and I took a day in the first week of January to reflect. 2012 has been an interesting year. So many changes, transitions, milestones - 10 years of marriage, a huge adventure as a family, Evee starting school, the groundwork for planting a church, getting deeply involved with things within our community, amazing relationships. Beautiful, wonderful things.

We are also so happy to have 2012 "in the books" (as Clint would say). There have been some really difficult moments and seasons in the last 12 months. There have been numerous lessons learned and I can already see wonderful things that have come out of that tougher year. I am truly excited about this year that we are in. And so very hopeful.

And so, blogging. In the midst of everything, I long to keep this space what it has been... little snippets, a collection of our days. I've been thinking this for a couple weeks now, but had a gentle nudge from a friend today (thank you).

So here I am. No apology, no promises. But in hope.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 05:10:00 +0000

{I wrote this post on November 27th, only to post it now}

Today Iris is playing elsewhere. The weekend - everything from hosting a baby shower, going to a wedding, hosting Thanksgiving for a number of families and heading for a short bit back to the wedding reception, all in one day, to having our second preview service - has come and gone.

I find myself (using a gift card from my birthday!), sitting down to eggs benny and a great cup of coffee.

It is hard to journal while you eat, so I get somewhat caught up on blogs. Namely my brothers.

I sit at my table alone and cry. Happy, sad, all together.

We've started an informal grief group for those who have lost someone to suicide. After this post a few people contacted us, looking for a group. For now, we've started to gather informally.

I find it interesting to be in this place of facilitating, empathizing, but not having experienced. When I give it thought I know I do it for my friend. My friend who lost her partner.

I believe that people who have experienced such loss should be able to have one place in their lives where they come and all that they are feeling and experiencing is normal. Especially when they so often feel abnormal in the rest of their lives.

As I sit and listen to the group, though, I also wonder if I do it a bit for myself.

Last night in the sharing my mind went to Josh and Kari losing Margot. I hear them in my head. Their story of loss and grief. And, somehow, sitting in a group of grief I feel connected to them. Grief is an interesting thing.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:34:00 +0000

Friends! We are well in to November now! Wow.

Hope you are well!

A recap in pictures of the last 2-3 weeks as follows...

Evee had a school disco. She wore dress up :).
Celebrated a dear friend
Evee and Iris, just in general...
Friends from New Jersey were here. Jonathan went to school with Evee.
We went to Auckland and Clint was ordained!
I turned 31 and had a sweet week of celebrating :)
We said good bye to our friends from NJ and cried. We talked about how blessed we are to know so many wonderful people all around the world. We are better for knowing beautiful people, even if we regularly have to say goodbye.
I "finished" my garden or at least feel like I have a proper one. And we got a chicken. A chicken!

On the weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 08:05:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 09:16:00 +0000

No school today, a public holiday.
It was wonderful - sleeping in a bit later, hanging out in pjs for a large majority of the day.
I bought bacon especially for a special family breakfast and we enjoyed each others company at a relaxed pace.
Somehow hide and seek is much better when your dad plays with you.
Somehow it is also better when wearing a helmet.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:17:00 +0000

School holidays have come and gone... tomorrow Evee goes back to school.

Time continues on, which is lovely and yet I want to make sure to savor each moment. It goes by so fast.

2 weeks of no school...

We went to Auckland for some days on the first weekend. We connected with great people, Clint spoke at church twice and we shared about The Well/Christchurch.
We went to a community house performance of "Jack and the Beanstalk". The girls wore dress up, sat on pillows and, besides the giant being a bit scary, we had a good time.
We were gifted a night out while there - free babysitting and dinner paid for. Amazing. To sit across the table from the best life partner, to chat, to dream, have a great meal and to be unhurried - the night was such a gift.
The week and a half, upon return, were full (for Evee) of playing with friends, little outings around town and sleepovers.
Back to a bit of routine tomorrow...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:36:00 +0000

Today there is sunshine. Sheets hang on the line.
It is the last day of school before a 2 week holiday break... anticipating casual breakfasts, more relaxed catch up time with friends, general being together...
Thanks to friends, we brought orchids to school - for Evee's teacher, for classmates mums. It was fun.
We will be in Auckland over the weekend, with a couple extra days for fun. We talked over what we would do as we fell asleep last night. We're looking forward to it. Thankful for the generosity of our leaders there.
This week redemption and freedom and beauty have come in the smallest, but biggest, of ways. And I am amazed by the hand of God and only long to press in to him more...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 09:57:00 +0000

I enjoyed the company and conversations that the weekend brought, though I'm not great with late nights/early mornings.

I realized how brilliant Saturday morning breakfasts are with other families... between multiple kids and naps and weekend randomness, Saturday breakfast is where it's at! A friend and I sat with tea and conversation as kids ran around us and we could faintly hear the murmur of our husband's chit chat.

Iris had pig tails today (Emilie...so good). She seemed so much older with something done to her hair.

Evee did ballet shows for me and I recorded a couple of them. She, too, seems to have grown up so quickly. 5 years goes by so fast.

Below is a snap shot of our evening tonight at The Well, kids version. I love these kids.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:48:00 +0000

Last week our door was revolving. I've loved it.

This week has felt that we are getting back to normal, coming back to ourselves in a sense.

(And I'm feeling a ton better...thank you for your kind words and prayers.)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:20:00 +0000

There are a great deal of things that make up our days. Some small, some big, some seemingly big that end up small and vice versa.

A bit of life the last couple weeks...

2 weeks ago we had the leader of our denomination and her husband here in Christchurch. What could have been an intimidating visit brought much warmth instead. After spending 2 days with the two of them and our NZ national leader I have an even greater hope for the church. In the midst of conversation and stories I found hope for my own soul as well.

I have been sick for weeks. (note: it is only a sinus infection... nothing out of the norm or dramatic except that it has taken a good while to finally start to clear up). All the same, last week I hit a low point friends... The nurse from the doctor's office called to see how I was doing/if I was feeling any better and I fell a part, crying on the phone with her.

That same day a group of ladies gathered to pray. We always gather on Wednesdays. It did my soul well. (and I'm feeling much more on the mend!)

Late last week brought a good number of sweet encouragements... through relationships, random and not random emails, texts and prayers. Emilie and Logan also arrived... they are a blessing in every way.

Thank you friends for being on journey with us.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 10:03:00 +0000

I'm glad for neighbours who think this is normal... even encourage it.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:28:00 +0000

The weekend seemed like spring.

I'm realizing how ready I am for summer goodness - berries and summer greens, bare feet and beach trips. I'm dreaming up what our back yard could look like if we put a good bit of work into it...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:42:00 +0000

I love the city all the more when we ride the bus. I need to remember that. We finally got a metro card.

ChCh Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 01:47:00 +0000

I've been working on a bit of a project over the last 2-3 months. A bit of a collection of things I've discovered as a mum living in Christchurch.

Christchurch Mums is a simple site for mums to come to and see what is happening for mums, kids and families each week. It's been fun to build and is definitely still evolving as I find time to work on it!

One thing I just started this past week was posting an "interview" with mums. A friend of mine and fellow blogger answered questions this first time around. I got teary-eyed reading her answers. I'm excited to continue to collect answers and share them on the ChCh Mums site. You can read Miriam's answers here.

It is a beautiful city and there are wonderful things happening. We are happy to be part of it.

(pictures above: Re:Start Mall, started after the Cashel Street Mall was mostly red stickered/closed after the earthquakes and the new library that just opened, after the one really close to us also got
red stickered)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:48:00 +0000

She gave me a generous wave from her front window. It still took me a minute to register and then I gave a smile and waved back.

Even though we didn't get too many people at our initial neighbourhood get together, by passing out invites at least our neighbours kind of knew our names or at least that a new family moved in. It's possibly helped a few conversations get started...

I love that now when we walk down the street, to and from school, we often pass a house or a person to wave or say hello to.

Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:57:00 +0000

I went for my normal time alone on Saturday mornings.
I got to the cafe and realized I just wanted to be with Clint and the girls.
I went back home (which, thankfully, is close) and we all went out for breakfast. And we ate good food and drank wonderful coffee and caught up a bit on the week, the bits we'd missed.
It was perfect.

And Evee's friend, who lives a block away, came for the afternoon. They worked on their spelling (what in the world?! :)) and had a tea party, among other randomness.
It was sunny and it feels that we haven't seen the sun in weeks (don't be fooled, though, by the shorts and t-shirt... it's not even spring yet.)

We had a vision night at a cafe tonight for The Well. I thoroughly enjoyed each conversation I was apart of. I am amazed at the people that have come around us. They are truly wonderful.

Happy start of the week to you!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 09:41:00 +0000

Today was "sushi day". Parents were allowed to come for lunch. Not sure how long I've got till me coming to school is no longer a special thing. I'll take the opportunities as they come.

After knowing her (almost) every waking moment for 5 years, it's nice to get a glimpse at what 6 hours of her days Monday-Friday look like.

She is such a treat to parent. Thankful for her little friends at school, especially the one who holds her hand on the playground.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:30:00 +0000

A highlight of my day.
A reminder of simplicity
and that sitting on the floor, feet together has importance.