why

This year, as I sat down to write our annual Christmas letter and try to choose a few pictures from the past year to share with family and friends, I realized that the tiny snapshot of our life I was putting together just didn't seem like enough. When we receive letters and cards from people whom we know well, I smile at the polished stories, knowing what is missing. The glossy cards and pictures from friends and family are beautiful but they don't tell us the whole story - the story you get from having a relationship with someone. It is much like the difference between a beautifully crafted Nativity and the smelly reality of a barn full of dirty animals.

So, I'm going to try this blogging thing out because I think it will be a good place to share a bigger picture of our lives with our family and friends who want to know and see more about us than we can squeeze onto one page in a Christmas letter once a year. We are separated by many miles and the messiness of daily life often prevents us from developing closer relationships. Relationships that share the smell of the animals and the discomfort of the straw that is not captured in a picture of the Christ Child smiling at us from the manger. "It's human and it pleases Him...It's a mess but it's a divine mess, a holy shambles, a blessed disaster..." (from The Fussy Angel by Mary Arnold).