some cute shots

best friends master whitney and master aiden. i love the Church. i love our dear friends the spears and the best friend they have given our firstborn. here are a couple of cute shots from playing around after supper tonite. i need someone to teach me how to layout this blog page. i am so inept technologically and i cant figure out how to put the pictures on the way i want them on. well, anyhow not a lot to say, so cheerio for now.

on service

lately i have been thinking about serving. kirsten and i have been talking about this a lot, i think because we have been anticipating the official WIC (women in the church) beginning and what that will look like at christ the king. i have been trying to examine my heart with regard to serving. i think having whit and norah catherine so close together, though great in so many ways, has left me with a spot of whiplash. and now adding knox to the tribe! so blessed, but also so distracted. i think it should be a distraction, and even labeling it such is undermining to what it really is: a calling. however, i think in just feeling like i have been almost underwater for three years, i have viewed service primarily as serving my immediate family. i should serve my family, and they should be after God on the list, but i fear that my tendency to emphasize that has left me somewhat lazy or negligent as far as serving in other areas. over the past few years i can think of several church circumstances, or neighborly circumstances, or even extended family circumstances in which i thought later; oh, i could have made this phone call, or taken supper, or sent this note, or spoken these words, or joined that "committee", or uttered this prayer...of course, the other side of the pendulum must also be examined. one might have a tendency to over volunteer; be it for vainglory or merit or fear that if they do not take up the slack the church will suffer. regardless of motive, this excess must also be checked so that the immediate family or the primary calling doesnt suffer. and of course, the heart is deceitful and needs constant examination. so, i guess in closing, examine your gifts, your time, your failings and serve the bride selflessly; for some that means spend more time ministering to the church and for some it perhaps means do less.

ringbearer for rent

shawnda and uncle frank
the "first" dance
the ringbearer, master whitney

now, if anyone is looking for a ringbearer for their wedding, know this: whit walked down the aisle sans help, stunningly pulled off a silver tux with hot pink vest and tie (which, yes, should be impossible and/or illegal), and was perfectly willing to dance at the reception and woo all of the bluehairs. this last feat however, was not atttempted b/c the bride and groom were the only people on the dance floor whilst the sober guests (uh, yes this was a "dry" wedding officially, but who says no to bride with a brown paper bag clutched in her hot pink acrylic nails? well, you and i, but not her bridesmaids/coworkers/60 year old ex-roomate/uncle frank with no teeth) pretended not to see the pornographic colliding of worlds that was i guess called the first dance. i assure you this is only called the "first" dance by means of custom and not validity. the bride is, after all, a dancer by profession.

well, there could be more said, but probably i should spare the babble. just thought some fun wedding pics might be enjoyed by others. i will end by adding that the bride, my stepmother, was not pleased with the photography (that was my job at the wedding). she told my dad this about the pictures:

"i look f***ed up in the pictures"

"well honey, you were f***ed up"

"yes, but i dont remember being that f***ed up"

hmm, you dont say.