mary poppins!

in honor of mothers day my sister, mom and i went to see Mary Poppins. We had a great afternoon and evening together! and the show was fantastic!
at dinner

in front of the theater

not a very flattering picture - but the guy who took it got down on the ground - we couldn't believe it.

thanks mom and sis for a great night!

graduation pictures

tim graduating!!

tim's parents came for the weekend! we loved having them with us!!

and my family came up too - we felt so loved.

sam and a balloon

one of samantha's favorite nursery workers sent these pictures to me from easter - i thought they were cute and wanted to share. :)

five years in the making

denver seminary graduation - 2006 - a journey ended and another began. during that graduation ceremony which marked the accomplishment of my masters degree God began something only He could orchestrate - a winding, crazy, around the world adventure.

a few weeks ago Tim graduated with his Masters in Divinity from Regent College! a five year journey come to an end. and for those of you who know us and have been following this blog for the last 3 years know - Regent College wasn't our only stop along the way. Tim took courses at Denver Seminary while we lived in Aurora, and more significantly we had the chance to study again in Jerusalem as a part of his degree. Finishing up in Vancouver was the perfect ending. Regent was the perfect place.

so as I sat in the graduation ceremony I felt a wave of emotions. thankfulness - wow God thank you for where we have had the opportunity to be, the things we have been able to learn and the people who have significantly impacted our lives. thank you for the gifts along the way - for the growth in our relationship, for the opportunity to live with the mosers, for kurtis and erin - friends to have in Israel and to live three blocks away from in Vancouver, for provision, for healing - for tim's heart and for ken (tim's dad), for our famlies and the tremendous, abundant way they have supported us, for the gift of samantha jean and for rich community in Vancouver (Joyce, Calum, Finley, moms group, tenth church). i feel like i could go on and on but my heart was and continues to be full of thankfulness.

i also felt proud. proud to be tim's wife. tim is an amazing man. God has given him unique gifts, and so to see him learn and develop his gifts in these last 5 years has given me great joy. and i feel proud. (proud also because he was awarded the Preaching Prize - recognizing his gift in preaching!).

i also felt sad - this journey is over. some how, in some way life will change. we don't know what that will look like yet, but change is on the horizon.

this post wouldn't be complete without thanking you - thank you for reading the blog and writing comments but more significantly - thank you for praying and loving us. thank you. having this space to share and reflect has been another great gift that God has given. you are a blessing to me!!

so what's next?- great question. we have no idea. well that's not exactly true, but that is how it feels right now. we are praying and searching and talking and thinking. and waiting. and when we know - i will let you know. in the mean time prayers for wisdom, clarity, unity and patience are greatly appreciated!

thanks again! kristi

ps

tim's graduation was this last weekend (yeah tim!)- i have a whole post that i am writing in my mind. it feels a bit too much to share now. but it will be coming soon.

:)

from one extreme to another

some would say in my family that i can go from one strong mood to another. i think this was more pronounced in my younger years... but if it is true - i passed it along to my daughter (although i think tim may have some of this in him too...)

this morning i woke up to the sound of sammy singing at the top of her lungs. she was clapping and walking and talking and singing!! it was loud.

now she is quietly reading books in her room - not making a single peep.

in a matter of 15 min.

that's my girl.

also - on another note - my quote of the day yesterday for myself, "why do i feel so overwhelmed by tasks i have given myself to do?..." these days with my energy on the rise i want to deal with all the stuff that got forgotten while i was sick (like a good scrub of my shower and pulling the weeds growing in our yard). now that i am beginning to feel better i have moments when i think i should do all of these tasks in one day - all the while doing laundry, playing with sam, buying groceries and making meals. thankfully i gave myself a bit of a talking to - and i took a nap. tim is also especially helpful in these moments - speaking truth and sanity into my desire to be over-productive beyond my means.

thankfully today it is raining - and i don't pull weeds in the rain. one less thing to worry about :) we will see about the tub.

egg hunt

sammy experienced her first egg hunt easter weekend. i wasn't really sure how she was going to do, but she really liked it. i encouraged tim to be generous with his placement of the eggs and afterwards we decided we can ramp up the challenge next year.

very excited to find an egg!
"look mama there is another one over there!"
focused.

samantha was very pleased to find plastic jewelry in her eggs, as the easter bunny knew jewelry would bring greater joy to her heart than candy. and she was very excited! :)