Introductions . . .

This blog isn't mainly a blog for introductions, or for theological foundations, but it seems fitting to do some of both at the outset: Who are we? Why are we here?

Introductions

So . . . hello, and welcome to Chris & Ashley's family blog -- currently housed on 15th Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are glad you're here!

The temperature outside is hovering just above freezing on the last day before the "spring forward" time change. Instead of snow, freezing rain falls from the sky. Instead of ice, puddles of water spread across the sidewalks. I can hear a bird chirping his lungs out on the other side of our front door, single-handedly carrying the optimism of a city it seems. All are signs of spring's arrival. But, for Minnesota, that means another month or two of waiting.

Ashley is in the kitchen making a fruit smoothie, secretly hoping that I won't notice her mixing in a vegetable -- spinach leaves. It's about that time for lunch.

I was later informed that avocados made it
into the mix as well.

I'm in the living room, typing with the one hand I can sneak through all the love on top of me. One-handed, you choose words carefully.

Sam, 4 days old, is the picture of contentment. Mona's still working on it.

Today is a good day. It's a glorious Saturday in early March. 2013.

In the coming months and years, Ashley and I -- and maybe Sam, on down the road -- hope to share some of our lives with you on here, inviting you in (as it were) to the joys and sorrows of life that God has planned for us.

What a Day!

If you were a fly on the wall in our home, it wouldn't be too long before you'd hear the phrase "what a day!" I don't know where it came from. Or why we say it when we say it. But we say it all the same. And it's here to stay.

I suspect it functions in exclamation-point-phrase capacities, equally as applicable for the good days as the hard ones. But it doesn't get elaborated on, or need to be. It's just that 3-word phrase for us that captures that common, shared experience of whatever just happened in life.

Delighting in the God of Mercies

But, regardless of the day, Ashley and I aim towards the same end: delighting in the God of mercies.

We thought about sub-titling the blog "delighting in the mercies of God" (which is true too), but it wouldn't be saying something as foundational about our family life together -- for the Giver is more foundational than the gift.

One of my favorite professors likes to say that there are eyes in his pen, meaning that he often thinks better and sees better as he writes.

I'm hoping that will be true of our experience here, that in writing about the days God brings into our lives we will find ourselves delighting more and more in the One who wrote them into our story.