sister

Believe it or not, the woman to my right in this picture is my sister! We share the same mother and shared the same roof albeit for a short while. Beginning this adventure of starting my own family with Corey has put some perspectives in place that I never gave second thought in the past. I have 3 brothers-Brad, Todd, Ralph-and my sister Angie whom are all significantly older than me. This age difference has always left me apathetic, thinking that it must not be that important for me to know them, since I didn't during my childhood. That has been eminantly reevaluated. I want Asher to know my family, and even more so I want to know my family. Friends can unfortunately be interchanged, but family is constant...or at least it should be. I want to be better at this, I want to remember birthdays and send holiday cards and call every once in awhile out of the blue. When major events happen in my life I want to think, "Man, I've got to call Angie!" or "Brad's gonna flip when he hears this." Right now I don't have those thoughts, the place where family is supposed to be is just sort of skipping like a dusty record, I keep repeating the same interspersed rare meetings that end up taking me to same place I was before. I'm tired of the 4 year reuinions, the catching up and missing out on nieces and nephews. Life is just SO busy, I know that if I want this, I have to make a priority for it. I guess I'm just not sure where to begin. What I do know, is that despite the distance and how little I know them, I LOVE my family. I love the dysfunction. I love the stories of hard faught success. I love that they will probably be the best characters for the book I may some day write, and that they are the best fruit I could hope for on my family tree.

Asher enjoying an IPA at his first post-womb Burgers and Bock.
Just joshin' ya, the bottle was empty but afforded a fun photo op. Here are a few other high chair poses for your viewing pleasure.

growing

It's amazing how fast this little being has developed. What was once a quiet, serene and mostly motionless lump of life has so quickly grown into a lively, energetic, loud little man with so very much vivid personality. Asher has so much to offer the world in such a little package, I learn from him everyday. Lately I've been considering my own growth, am I different than I was 7 months ago or do I sit stagnant in my day to day living? I want to thrive, to move forward, to take life on with aggressive yet peaceable action. I want to be what I am meant for, I want to be more than a conquerer. It seems at this stage in life I am being asked to stand up, to speak up, to be the voice of truth for those around me, to those around me, even to the church. It's frightening, knowing that you are being asked to be the wind of change when no one wants to fly a kite, when everyone is happy with the stillness around them. But I believe God is only alive, only active in this world when we refuse to accept all that is stolid around us, when we choose to live differently, to speak boldly and, in that, to love fully. It's a treacherous balance, but I HAVE to try. If I don't, I wonder what the world will be for this handsome little man in a funny hat.

Asher's Photo Shoot!

Man, he's cute!

Little Em

Yet another post from Washington, but we did many exciting things in 3 meager days! For Mother's Day my brother Brad, along with his sweet wife Ngoc-Diep and 2 month old baby girl, drove from Portland to Shelton, WA to visit us. It was Asher's first time to meet family from my side and my first time to meet my beautiful little niece. Below is Asher with Brad, then he, my mom and I with the babes and then a video of Asher and Emily's first meeting. Enjoy the splendor of baby bliss!

I'm so irritated that I can't get the pictures to go side by side any more!!!!!!

Zooin' It

A carefree trip to a local Washington zoo proves more than Asher expected.

Wa Wa Washington

Asher and I had our first aerial adventure this past weekend, flying on four different planes to get to Washington and back. He's quite the little acrobat when it comes to seat assignment antics, meaning he wanted to be in every seat but ours. Even attempting to climb up and over the seat in front of us via the tray table at one point. I must say that flying alone with an infant served to restore a bit more of my faith in the state of the world. I was moved by the compassion and servitude of the people on each of my flights and in the airports. At one point I dropped something and literally 4 different business men rushed at once to hand it back. When I arrived at the Seattle airport I was struggling with my luggage when a tattooed, dyed hair, emo-ish fella (my kind of people) popped up with a luggage cart he had rented for me, loaded all of my things up and refused to let me reimburse him the cost of the cart. Simple things, but it all added up to a wonderful experience. However, if you are ever in need of a rental car, be sure it's not a Chevy Cobalt. They look nice, but have just a smidge more power than a battery powered Barbie Jeep.