baby byrds

baby party

2011-09-14T21:44:00.002-05:00

i felt it was only appropriate to call this a "baby party" instead of a "baby shower." my dear friend, kat, is very very pregnant. and seriously needs to have this baby soon. we had a little baby party for she and karl this past weekend. one last hoorah complete with lovely table decor outside and razorback watching inside.

it was such a fun time and i had a great time decorating. my mom broke out my great grandmother's linens and a few old vintagy-looking sheets. i found a bunch of old jars at a flea market. we pulled out some candles from my wedding, homemade banner (i'm slightly obsessed), a few fresh flowers...and there you have it. baby party. but the best part...the food! all of us eikon girls brought great food. from dips and meatballs to punch and sangria. my favorite...the owl cupcakes by my friend sarah. so cute! enjoy some photos...

there she goes...

2011-08-16T11:34:00.005-05:00

yesterday lucy started pre-k. first day of real school. it was emotional. i cried. more than i should have. she laughed at me. ryan took her to school. he may have cried...just a little. and she loved it. couldn't wait to go back today. she loves her teacher and has made some new friends. she said she liked everything but the boys. so we're off to a good start. max, olive and i walk to her school in the afternoons to pick her up...and she talked the whole way home about how much fun she had. i'm excited for her. sad she's growing up...but happy at the same time.

pretty girl.

ryan & lucy.

olive & lucy hugging it out (and yes, olive does actually have underwear on :)

daddy taking her to school.

8 years...

2011-08-16T10:41:00.006-05:00

eight years ago today i married my favorite person in the world. somedays he may not actually feel like my favorite person...but he is :) no matter what. it's been a long eight years filled with the usual ups and downs, 3 kids, starting a church, moving a bazillion times. and doing it all together. i wouldn't have it any other way. nothing ever ceases to surprise me anymore. i feel like if we've made it through these past eight years, we can make it through about anything. i'm so thankful to be married to my best friend. i thought i'd share a few (embarrassing) photos of where it all began...

Christmas Party Under the Bridge!!!

2010-12-13T23:36:00.002-06:00

Hello to all Eikon folks and friends! As many of you know, we will be feeding our homeless friends under the Broadway bridge on Christmas Eve. We have decided to not only make this a meal for them...but also have a Christmas party. I mean, it's Christmas, and they're homeless! They need some joy in their life! We are going to try and make it a joyous time for all involved.

We are a relatively small group trying to make a BIG impact. So this is going to take all of us...and our friends to help us pull this together! So please spread the word, ask your friends and family what they can donate to help us out.

FOOD: We will be having a Mexican food theme. We figured they probably get a lot of "holiday food" and might like a change up. So If you'd like to help cook or volunteer to bring a dish, please get in contact with Alena on facebook or on Sunday night. We need to plan for between 35-50 people.

DECORATION: We have apparently secured a tree. So we need any decorations that are easy to set up and quick to take down, and christmas lights.
• Battery powered lights
• easy to set up decorations

GIFTS: Most importantly, we'd like to give these lovely people something for Christmas. Here is a list of things we are trying to collect...
• socks
• gloves
• hats
• scarves
• bus passes
• packaged snacks
• hot chocolate packets
• coffee
• insulated mugs
• tents
• sleeping bags
• blankets
• coats

I will organize some kind of meeting to wrap everything once we have it. Also, if you would just like to make a donation...please feel free! Contact me at christen [at] babybyrds [dot] com with any questions. We will take what we can get and give it to those who desperately need it on these cold nights. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to give! Now get to work and see what we can gather up!

christen

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...so be jesus.

2010-11-22T23:25:00.006-06:00

over the past several years, my feelings on christmas have begun to change. i love christmas. i mean, i really love christmas. it's the happiest time of the year. my birthday is on christmas eve, which is when ryan proposed to me many years ago...i love christmas. i could listen to christmas music all year round...but then it would just get old, so i don't.

i'm not going to rant and complain about how early people and businesses are putting up their christmas decorations...although it is a bit early. but i secretly enjoy it, so i can't complain about it.

i would like to share my thoughts on how we're doing christmas this year. over the past few years we've really limited the amount of gifts we've given our girls. i believe last year they each got 2 presents from us. and ryan and i haven't gotten each other anything in years. now, this all was not by choice...it's because we couldn't afford it. we usually take the money we get for christmas and buy something we can all use or need. however, i'm glad this tradition kind of accidentally happened.

every year i'm amazed at the obsession with shopping. the ridiculous spending and just the greed. i was shopping for olive's birthday present last weekend, and could barely get through the aisles...and it's not even thanksgiving. i just don't understand the "christmas shopping" phenomenon. it's insane. what about christmas says that we must buy everyone we know 15 presents? i don't know.

since lucy was born, we've always wanted to show our kids how we should help others in need. and not just at christmas time. and we haven't always been able to or taken the opportunities. however, last year we helped feed the homeless at an emergency shelter...and my eyes were opened. this year, we've been given an opportunity, as a church, to feed the homeless group that gather under the broadway bridge in downtown little rock. we will be feeding them the 4th friday of every month. this friday will be our first time, the day after thanksgiving. and next month will be on christmas eve. which is my birthday, and i'm more excited about spending my birthday with a bunch of homeless people than i have been in years!

today i was telling lucy what we were doing, and that she can come and help us. i told her that these people didn't have a home or food or anything really. and she immediately replied "can we give them our home?" and then she proceeded to work it out in her head that if we just had a bigger house, with a really long hallway, they could all stay with us :) she got to hang out at the shelter last year with us and i know she's picturing all the cots lined up in our "really long hallway." and i wish we could. i wish we could do SO much more than we are doing. i also think it's important for my kids to be a part of it first hand...how else will they learn. and the joy lucy and her friend, cash, brought to some of the people last year...priceless.

after some conversations at church, i realized that we have to make an effort to ignore the poverty and hurt that is right in front of our eyes. we were discussing the other night that unless you allow yourself to be face to face with these issues everyday...you'll never do anything about it. there are people hurting, no matter how they got where they are. no matter whose fault it was...they are hurting. no matter how uncomfortable it is for you...it's real. i know we can't save the world. but we can do what we can do.

this year, as a family, we have decided to put our efforts towards helping those that have nothing. i'm even pursing another outlet for our family to help out in other ways. all that said, i am NOT perfect, and am guilty of over-spending and buying things i don't need all the time. but i want my kids to know that christmas is not about presents. it's about jesus. and jesus helped, and fed, and clothed, and healed people. and i want them to be jesus to people who have nothing else. it's the least we can do.

if you'd like to join us, check out our blog at eikonchurch.com and feel free to come join us and help serve this friday!

then...

2010-09-15T00:04:00.007-05:00

it seems i've been looking back a lot lately. i guess i've just been realizing how drastically our lives have changed in 7 years. since we're at the beach with the toon cousins this week i thought i'd take a quick look back at our last vacation together.

this was rosemary beach in october of 2006. we went with rob, stephanie, and jack. jack was 9 months old, and i was actually 9 weeks pregnant with lucy. crazy! it's so weird looking back. it's been 4 years since this trip and we went from 1 kid...to 6 kids, and lost rob along the way. it's nice to look back though and remember how much fun we all had together. and it's great to remember the healthy, funny, old rob every once in a while. things just aren't the same without him.

trust me.

2010-09-10T22:31:00.005-05:00

if there's one thing i've learned over the past 7 years of our marriage...it's to trust.

trust myself,
trust ryan,
trust god,
trust my motherly instincts,
trust my kids (when one says the other one is puking in the middle of the night...don't go back to sleep and let her lay in it for an hour),
and so on.

i know i blogged about some of this on the eikon blog a while back, but i have more to say :)

for most people, the first year of marriage is the hardest. our first year was our easiest (i didn't say best). we both had jobs, both had cars, rent was $425(!!!), no kids, and so on. little did we realize how much would change in 7 years. as ryan put it...after 7 years, 6 cars, 5 moves in 4 different cities, and 3 kids...we are 2 different people.

i realized how simply trusting has taught me so much. for instance, when we moved to nicholasville, kentucky (btw, i hated it)...we had no jobs, knew NO ONE, had no money, etc. we couldn't even turn our heat on throughout most of the winter, and it is cold up there. since i traveled with the crappy job i eventually found, and it was just ryan there most of the time, he decided he could go without heat. which meant staying in bed as long as possible in the morning and then running to the hot shower, then wearing LOTS of clothing around the house at all times, and hanging out in the library a lot. looking back...it's hilarious to us. at the time...not so much. we also ate lots of hot dogs and ramen noodles. we were broke. i would have panic attacks about how we were going to make it.

we moved to paducah...not much changed. except i had a job i actually enjoyed, well, mainly just the people i worked with. ryan was still in seminary, driving 4.5 hours to school, sitting through classes all day, then driving 4.5 hours home...one day a week. that was ridiculous looking back. we were down to one car, i hitched a ride with my interesting friend barry (who brought horse bbq to work one day and didn't tell anyone it was horse until after everyone ate it...i'm still laughing, b/c i knew and threw mine away!)

we had a great church family and friends in paducah. i loved it there. i miss it sometimes. we had the weirdest neighbors in the world...and we loved it! i miss creepy Jackie who used to stand at our glass front door and stare at us watching tv till we realized he was standing there...staring at us. and betty, who couldn't remember our names after we lived there for over a year, and she covered the trunk of her car in contact paper. she loved us, and she loved lucy, and she cried when we left. i cried when we left. because it was lucy's first home. i had a front porch swing that i loved. we experienced losing a baby there. i was pregnant there. ryan and i grew so much closer when we lived there. so many good and heartbreaking memories. looking back, i was just beginning to learn how to trust.

*that would be the day we brought lucy home (i know, i look hot).
*and betty holding lucy.
*and me and lucy the day we packed up and left...that's why my eyes are all red and i look crazy (no explanation for lucy's giant head other than her father).

however, i think ALL of those experiences, and more i can't even remember, have prepared me for my life right now. this whole "starting a church" thing has done a number on us. while it is an exciting adventure, it is also scary. it has definitely brought out the best and worst in us. there's been times when we wanted to quit, and times when we think it couldn't get any better. it is way more work than we ever thought it would be. i miss my husband a lot. while he does a wonderful job of balancing a full-time job, a church, a wife and 3 kids...i'm still jealous of the time we used to have together.

and obviously, the biggest part of my life...my 3 kids. definitely something we wanted, just not all so close. it has definitely been the hardest thing i've ever done. i can honestly say that being at home, alone, with all 3 after max was born...i didn't think i was going to make it. i really struggled for about 2 months, pretty sure it was a little post-partum depression. i cried at least once, maybe twice a day. (i think most moms do more than they would admit.) i realized why people are driven to hurt their children. thanks to ryan and our mothers, i made it through that time. and about a month ago, i finally felt like i was coming out of this cloud i'd been in. i realized how much i loved my kids. enough said. everyday is still a struggle, and i feel like a crappy mom a lot of the time...as most mothers do. but things are definitely better.

everyday brings new challenges for us. literally...church issues, financial problems, bad days with the kids, new business ventures. but everyday, with every issue, i choose to trust...i mean, what else can i do. but i usually choose to laugh. because i remember the old me who would freak out and have a panic attack because we couldn't pay the bill on time. and thanks to my lovely husband who has always said "well, there's nothing we can do about it right now, so go to sleep," i've learned that i can only do what i can do. and it may get worse before it gets better...but that's life.

enough sappiness now. i have an amazing husband, and beautiful kids. and i've learned how to cope with life...for now.

so, in the words of the fabulous Tim Gunn..."carry on."

summer brides...

2010-09-10T14:19:00.003-05:00

here's a few of the summer brides i had the joy of photographing this summer. these are some of my favorites of stacy, elizabeth, and tracy. enjoy!

max

2010-08-05T14:44:00.003-05:00

and olive, because she's so darn cute...

a year of surprises...

2010-07-30T11:23:00.003-05:00

needless to say, this year has been FULL of surprises. i was thinking about it yesterday and how strange it is to think that this time last year...there was no thought of little max. i mean NO thought! we were definitely planning on having 3 kids, just not all right now, and so close in age. as most of you know, i was in denial for at least the first 15 weeks of the pregnancy. it was actually very hard for me to come to terms with the fact that i was pregnant again and about to have 3 kids. i was finally able to deal with it. however, i will say, being pregnant and having to care for 2 other kids...not fun or pleasant. and it definitely made for a difficult few months at the end. but then it all paid off as now we have little max!

i have still not completely adjusted to life with 3 little ones. it is most definitely the hardest thing i have ever done. i'm still trying to figure out what to do with them everyday and just generally struggling to make it through everyday without strangling someone :) i'm hoping to settle into some kind of a routine soon. i am thankful for my mom and mother-in-law for all their help with the girls. it is nice to have a break every once in a while so i can get some work done.

not only was max our big surprise of the year...but i've had a very successful new business this year! what starting me thinking about all this stuff was realizing that i joined etsy a year ago this month. i had absolutely no clue what i was doing and if it would even sell...but it did! to my surprise, things took off. way better than i ever expected. once i figured out how everything works and the best way to promote my items and when to list things and when not to...it started to really flourish. it definitely keeps me busy, especially with these 3 at home. i usually work on orders every night after they go to bed.

and looks like things are only going to get busier as i have a children's store that is going to start selling my prints! i will post more later when everything gets up and going...but for now, i'm just really excited! i have big dreams...and never really thought they'd go anywhere. i'm so glad i have something that allows me to stay at home with my kids, and i can still make some money. well, enough of all that. i'll update about my business as things change!

ryan is famous...

2010-07-29T00:13:00.003-05:00

...okay, so not really. but his blog, www.beingryanbyrd.com, did make the list for top local bloggers in Little Rock Family this month. he was the one single dude amongst a bunch of female bloggers. although he is definitely NOT a "mommy blogger," he does blog about our family, as well as SO many other things. anyway, i was quite proud that he was picked and that so many people like his blog...because he has a lot to say...i should know. and he's not afraid to put up whatever he thinks...no matter what i think. i certainly am not brave enough to do that.

also a shout out to my buddy kat for also making the list. i love her blog...it is hilarious. i usually read it when i go to bed at night, and i usually end up laughing out loud at something. she has such a way with words :)

max ryan byrd

2010-07-28T23:33:00.002-05:00

so, i had a kid last month...yeah, and i'm just now blogging about it. you try living with 3 kids 3 and under, and see how it works out for you.

Max Ryan Byrd was born June 8, 2010 at 1:16 pm. this was, by far, the best delivery of all three...except for the fact that he weighed 9 lbs, 3 oz. yes, that's right. to all of you who had the pleasure of listening to me whine and complain during the last few months of my pregnancy...that's why. i had to be induced, because although i was convinced he would come early...he did not. so he came on his actual due date.

i just wanted to share a few photos of my sweet little man. and he is so sweet! he looks just like ryan, which is funny to me because i feel like i have a "mini me" of ryan hanging out with me all day...like he's a little spy or something. so far, he sleeps all night (most every night), and has done so since he was about a week old. overall, he's a pretty great little boy...and pretty cute. anyway, here's a few photos. and there are more to come, if i can find time to take some :)

i've become one of "those" people...

2010-02-28T09:50:00.006-06:00

so, i've stated from day one that i do not consider myself a "blogger." in fact, i told mr. ryan byrd that i would be terrible at this...and i've delivered. as you will notice, my last post was september 5, 2009!! yeah, i know. so now, i'm trying to take it back and get going again. now, this still may mean i only post once a month, but that's better than nothing.

so much has happened in our lives over the past several months, it's hard to back track and recap everything. so i'm not even going to try. instead, here is an update on EVERYTHING going on in our lives...

• most importantly, we are having a little boy in a couple of months! it's official that Max Ryan Byrd will be joining us soon, but not soon enough! i don't really know what to do with a boy, so i guess we'll just figure it out as we go along. i mean, he can wear pink, can't he?

• our church, that we've been planning the past two years has finally started! we are so excited about the start of EIKON, and everyone that is on this whole journey with us. we have made some wonderful friends and are so excited about the future of our church.

• my etsy business, BabyByrds, has really taken off and done better than i every expected it to. seriously, i can hardly keep up with the orders coming in! i'm being featured in several blogs this month and next and am doing several giveaways. it's so exciting that i'm actually making some sort of living at this. i'm also doing some freelance design work for my previous employer in kentucky. so, all in all, i stay pretty busy. just trying to find time to work on all of these things is almost impossible!

• i am also excited to announce that my friend, cara beth, and i have finally started our own business!!! it's been a long time coming...but we did it. studio|2B is our new project, which offers wedding planning services and photography. we are so excited about the possibilities that are to come. so if you need pictures or have a wedding to be planned...email me at christen@studiotwob.com.

okay, so i promise i will get better at the blogging thing. while i'm at it, i should probably take a few pictures of my children. i mean, they are growing up...and i'm slacking...

my baby byrds...

2009-09-05T00:12:00.003-05:00

as promised...here's a blog about the girls. miss lucy and miss olive are growing up so fast! we've had such a good summer, and though we don't go to school (or work, for that matter) i still feel like we should by school supplies, new backpacks, and new shoes right now...but we won't. so here's a not so quick re-cap.

1. OLIVE is now 9 months. (i know, can you believe it!) in the past months she has started crawling really fast..and gets faster when she knows she's going somewhere she's not supposed to. i am blaming her friend nate for telling her about the little caps on the base of the toilet and how fun they are to put in your mouth (GROSS!!!) and play with...thanks nate. btw, baby gates are from hell. i am so tired of them already and they've only been up for a few weeks. at least i'm not really pregnant and trying to step over them like last year.

olive also now has 5 1/2 teeth. that's right...three and a half on top and two on bottom. she's an excellent biter. i'm thinking of getting one of those step counter things...but have it changed to count how many times i say "what did you put in your mouth" in a day. oh wow...it's insane...lucy was not this bad. she is also, pulling up on everything. she'd rather stand at the coffee table all day and dance than do anything else. she's so funny. she's started waving and trying to blow kisses, and even doing this weird winking thing. she is also making lots of sounds...which mostly sound like "mama," of course :)

we had a little scare last week when olive woke up, trying to breathe, was kinda purple, face swollen. and i totally freaked out. it was about 11 at night, so we woke up lucy and ran out the door to the ER. by the time we got there, of course, she was mostly fine...but she was barely breathing...and i wasn't going anywhere till we found out why. so after a fun night in the ER with two sleepy girls (and a sleepy daddy, who fell asleep at one point) we found out she had croup. which is usually taken care of in a steamy bathroom or by going outside. that would have been a lot cheaper than the bill... jk, she had to take a steroid to reduce the swelling of her airways. so it's all okay. and she was better off than the guy who came in who had just been stabbed...wah, wahhh.

2. LUCY is as crazy as ever. she's totally obsessed with the grinch and watches it maybe once a day or at least once every two days. yeah...it's a problem. her new favorite things to do are: stealing olive's pacifier, eating desitin (well, that's not new), not want to sleep in her bed....you know, the usual. her most recent favorite sayings are "i need that," as in "i need olive's pacifier i just stole from her." and "I want take it," for when she grabs anything in site to take in the car with her every time we go somewhere, or when she needs to pick up 5 sticks to take with her in the car. apparently she's a very needy and greedy child... not really. she really is sweet. she is picking up on everything and saying so much.

she loves going to library storytime, a small cherry lemonade from sonic, and long walks at the park. ha. she is very adventurous, meaning she's taken off up the climbing things at the park...and i've got to crawl up in there and get her down. not fun or pretty. or she'll just hang on the bars and i have to rush over, while holding olive, and save her from crashing to the ground...she is very brave. and i cannot even express how much she loves dressing up. i know she gets it from her aunt ann. it is absolutely ridiculous.

3. I am currently staying busy with the girls. And with my etsy stuff. I am coming up with new ideas and actually making a little money at it...not bad. i've also done a few cakes here lately. i really enjoy it, even though i have A LOT to learn. I'm enjoying figuring out how to do all this fun stuff...and they taste pretty good too! sad note...prepare yourself...don't cry...my iphone is dying. and very slow and painful death, well, at least for me. it has gone crazy and will only work when it wants and then just randomly shuts off all the time. it's so frustrating. i think lucy is having a hard time with it as well..she had at least 10 games she loved to play on it...

most exciting right now...i am getting ready to start a new business with one of my dear friends, cara beth. i am not going to give too much away just yet...but our website should be up in the next couple of weeks! we've already got business cards and all...super exciting.

4. RYAN is really busy with all the new church stuff. we've had our first few gatherings and are planning for this month. he did a fabulous job designing the website and i am so proud of him. we have a lot of exciting things happening with the church and are so excited about the people who are coming on board with us. it's so great to actually have others who share our vision for what we moved here 2 years ago to do.

he also is the best husband ever (i meant to blog about this, but haven't had time) because he planned a surprise anniversary trip for us! we celebrated 6 years on august 16, and we went to eureka springs for the night and had a great time! it's so nice to get away and spend time together...which we never get to do. we had a great room at the basin hotel (which is apparently haunted...we didn't see any ghosts though, i was disappointed), and spent the day walking around taking pictures and going into quirky little shops. it was a much needed break from life.

well, that's all for now. i will post some pictures soon...i promise. a little at a time, please. i would add a few iphone pics...but again, my phone is dead.

more etsy...

2009-09-04T22:10:00.004-05:00

I'm back...yeah, i know. I've been so behind on my blog. trust me, i know. however, i have been busy! you know, two little girls named lucy and olive. my real baby byrds. and cakes, and etsy, and new etsy ideas...i'm about to explode! i have new pictures of the girls i need to get up here soon, don't worry, they're still here. they are the reason i can't find time to blog...about them. anyway...

so please take a few minutes and check out my new etsy pieces. I'm really excited about them! I had three orders within the first 30 minutes they were up! i am getting the girls and myself ready to start going back to church for women's bible study mornings. i work in childcare and they get to go socialize with other little people...which they love. as i was thinking about getting back into the routine of things and being there by 8 am, three mornings a week...and them possibly having different teachers every day...i got this brilliant idea!

we've had moms in the past bring a chicken scratch little note about "what to do with my kid if he freaks out"...which we never find, or can't read it, or whatever. so i thought about creating a simple, easy to access way of letting caregivers know what the heck to do with my kid. i mean, it can get a little hairy with 10 babies, or 16 two year olds. i've created a diaper bag tag with your child's name on one side...and "directions" on the other side...brilliant! why didn't i think of this sooner. the "direction" cards are interchangeable and can be switched out depending on when and where your baby is that day. there are 12 different designs and the colors can be changed to match your diaper bag. you can also request custom orders. and, shipping is FREE!!!

these are great gifts for new moms or yourself! you can let your nursery worker or daycare teacher know if your little one is teething, potty-training, has a special blanket, or has an allergy...anything you want.

Click here to order.

Etsy!!!

2009-08-06T12:22:00.004-05:00

I'm excited to announce that I have started up a babybyrds etsy shop! For those of you who don't know what that is, it's an online place for people to sell their handmade crafts and designs. I have been working on several designs for quite a while now and i finally have them up for sale. I have several designs in the works and hope to add them soon, so check back often. Feel free to email me if you have and order, you don't just have to order through etsy. christen@christenbyrd.com

A while back i designed these LOVE letters for my sister. I had so many compliments...it made me start thinking about this whole etsy thing. I hung them up in her new apartment, and I just love them!

These are a few of my children's series. Each design is meant to be customized to your child's name. And if you have any other animal or character requests...I can make a custom one for you!

please help if you can...

2009-08-04T21:20:00.003-05:00

today my blog is dedicated to my friend rob. (please forgive me if i get some of the details wrong, rob...i'm not up on all the medical jargon:) it is hard for me to even approach this subject without getting emotional sometimes...but here goes. rob and stephanie toon are some of our very best and closest friends, not to mention family, and leaders in our new church. they have four beautiful kids, michael, jack, lily and averi, who are some of lucy's favorite people! over a year ago rob was diagnosed with leukemia, and underwent all kinds of chemo treatment to get rid of it...which he did...until around december. they found out it was back and started the search for a donor so rob could get a bone marrow transplant. they've found a match and he has already had one transplant, a few weeks ago. however, it didn't work, due to a viral infection. after a few very rough days for rob and steph, they finally got word that the donor was willing to donate again. this is very time sensitive and has to happen immediately. they are currently having people donating white blood cells to hold him over until the transplant. hopefully everything will work this time. they will get more cells this time and the viral infection should be gone, so they can do what they need to do. this transplant will take place august 11.

i must mention that this whole process is taking place in houston. which means that their kids are back home with stephanie's parents in bryant, ar. on top of the sadness of not getting to see their kids for months, stephanie is not able to work so she can be with rob in houston. thus...no income. this is obviously a very stressful situation for everyone involved...rob and steph, the kids, grandparents...you get the idea. and now that rob has to have another transplant, their stay has been extended into mid november at least. the whole situation just makes me sad...

i am asking anyone who reads my blog...to help, if you can. here's how:

1. please pray for this family and rob's transplant and recovery.
2. if you live in houston, rob may need more people to donate blood for him before or after his transplant. he needs more white blood cells. i'm not sure when, but if you are interested in giving, let me know and i can get you the details.
3. if you would like to donate any money, i know they would greatly appreciate it.

thanks for reading this and helping in anyway possible. rob and stephanie mean so much to us. we are hoping to go visit sometime soon and maybe even donate some of our blood, if they need it. which terrifies ryan...ha. you can keep up with rob on his blog. please email me if you have any questions about anything or want to help, christen@christenbyrd.com. here is a picture of their family i took right before they left for houston.

my husband

2009-07-31T11:08:00.004-05:00

for those of you who do not know, ryan is an amazing writer. let's be honest...what is he not good at? okay, i know i could come up with something, but i won't. he is an advertising art director at arkansas business publishing group, and was recently asked to write a little piece for little rock soirée. i have heard this story many times, yet i was so drawn in while reading it...i've read it maybe 4 times now. i know you will enjoy it too. and i'm so proud of him! also, check out ryan's blog.

HELLO STRANGER

BY RYAN BYRD

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The city is full of strangers. Well, maybe not strangers, but people waiting to cross paths. To engage. To enter the other.

So it was with Charlie. A Jesus-like figure. Not the triumphant Jesus, but the frail, broken Jesus. Scruff beard, gaunt, but with a focused look about him—like a man on a mission.

Beyond the occasional sputtering car or the screechy pack of girls chasing the lone neighborhood boy, our little midtown community was still, waiting for its break from normalcy. From my front porch, I observed this strange figure, this break from normalcy, who—sweeping his wiry broom through the nearly-clean sidewalk in front of our home—looked like the type my wife warned about: “You keep talking to people like that and I’m gonna find you dead one day.”

I approached.

Like a low man’s scepter, he hoisted his broom in the air pointing toward our house, “It’s Charlie. Like the Peanuts kid. I used to jam here.”

“Come again?”

“The name’s Charlie. Yeah, this house, you live there? (Never ceasing for a response.) We used to sit up ‘til we couldn’t sit up no more, just jammin’. There’s soul in them walls. And probably a couple tears. And maybe a couple spilled beers,” he concluded.

I baited his most-assuredly tall tale, sure to only grow taller.

“Sounds like quite the time you had. Did you used to live here?”

“No, no, no. I ain’t got no place. Not since the band broke up down in New Orleans. Nah, I used to come jam here. Hell, we coulda been somethin’, but we just liked to jam and have a couple of beers. Phil played the guitar, and I played that old piano he had. Phil’s brother, Mark, would slap his leg or beat on whatever the hell we had layin’ around just so we had somethin’ to keep the beat. I ain’t never stepped back in that house since maybe ‘88. I’ll tell you, that old piano could play, and I knew how to play it. I ain’t never forgot that old thing.”

Little did my new friend know, but that old, dusty piano of Phil’s still sat in our living room, just waiting to be reunited with its supposed long-lost homeless messiah named Charlie. So, I couldn’t help but to—like Satan testing Jesus in the wilderness—invite him in so I could shake the proverbial finger, showing Charlie just how tangled his tale was woven.

Abandoning his dutiful quest on the sidewalk, Charlie skipped behind me, up the steps and through the doors. We rounded the corner and faced the piano. I turned, “Here she is. Is this what you remember?”

In that moment, Charlie changed from a dirtied storyteller into a beaming prodigal, newly reunited with his father. Without saying a word, the worldly Jesus-man opened the hinged piano cover and began to play.

With tears in his eyes, his broken and calloused fingers glided over the keys, playing the most sweet and palpable bluesy riffs, as if Ray Charles himself had inhabited the diminutive body and hands of this new friend.

That day, in my own home, I was the stranger, quietly observing two old friends renewing their bond.

I simply sat. And listened. And believed.

Charlie was a stranger, in a city full of strangers. On that day, though, Charlie and I crossed paths. Jesus-like. Not the broken, frail Jesus, but the triumphant Jesus. Like a man on a mission.

summertime in the city

2009-07-22T00:29:00.004-05:00

so yeah, it's been a month since my last blog. lucy has grown about a foot, olive is now 8 months old, we've started re-potty training. been a little busy. you know, with two kids. anyway, i still can't properly collect all my thoughts, so here's a bunch of pictures to recap the last month. please go see all the pictures...click here.

olive and lucy having an art day...always messy...always fun.

lucy caught in a moment of coloring on her paper...not herself...rare.

this quickly turned violent and there was crying...shocking.

lucy and her friend cash at the fountain down by the river...so cute.

i thought they looked like they were clicking their heels like they were in a movie...they aren't that coordinated.

lucy got a cupcake after lunch at the rivermarket.

she's finally brave enough to run through the fountain...and get sprayed in the face.

my view...so sweet.

the olive...just chillin.

father's day...

2009-06-22T00:31:00.003-05:00

so, i'm not much of a sappy person...okay, maybe i am, but not publicly. but today was a special for ryan (or so i hope it was). we (and by we, i mean me...lucy just ate icing all morning) made ryan breakfast in bed, went to church, and we went to lunch at carino's, and they didn't royally screw up his order. although, i wish it would have been like that one time we went to carino's in lexington, and our waiter was dressed as A.C. Slater (for halloween), in his wrestling unitard thing and curly mullet wig. but nobody knew who he was supposed to be, except for us, and we died laughing...that would have been a great father's day...

anyway, lucy and olive are so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy. i don't tell him enough...but he's pretty great. i think the best thing here lately is when ryan puts lucy to bed at night in her big girl bed. he tells her a story about a little girl named lucy and what all she did that day, and how she gets in her big girl bed every night and goes to sleep. she gets so excited and is so into it, and then goes on to sleep...usually. it's great. i wish i could have that effect on her...but i don't. all day i've been telling her to say "happy father's day," and i don't think she realizes what that's about, since she doesn't even say the word "father." whatever. she did good though.

we tried to take a few pictures this afternoon...almost complete disaster. lucy just absolutely hates having her picture taken, and will just run from the camera if she sees it. ryan and olive behaved perfectly...and lucy just ran around like a crazy person. so here's a few of what i got. you can kind of get the feel of how things went by the first picture...yeah. to see more, click here.

somebody stop me....

2009-06-22T00:13:00.003-05:00

for father's day, i decided to keep it classy. i made ryan a cake, as you can see. a very small cake because he's not much of a cake person. but i am, and have a current obsession with cakes...so that's what he got. lucy and olive also made him a picture of a flower made from their hand and foot prints...they are so creative...i wonder where they get it. but, overall, i think the apple cake won.

ainsley & austin

2009-06-19T00:03:00.002-05:00

this afternoon i had the chance to photograph one of my best friend's kiddos, ainsley and austin. my friend jennifer is visiting from houston and had a few minutes to swing by and let me torture her children. poor austin was not really into having his picture made, but he pulled through and they turned out so cute. here are some of my favorites! to see more, click here.

my latest obsession...

2009-06-15T13:42:00.003-05:00

this weekend my parents had a party for my sister. she just graduated as a doctor of audiology, from uams. she will be moving (i'm sad) to shreveport, la in july to start her new career. so, we had a graduation/farewell party with our friends from cabot, and i decided i wanted to make the cake. so yeah, i was tempted just to make another ladybug cake...but i thought that might not be appropriate. so i was brave and decided to go with a two-tiered cake. and for my first "big girl" cake...it thought it turned out pretty good! i still have a A LOT to learn but i really enjoyed making it and am kind of hoping for another reason to make another cake soon... so, if you need a cake...give me a call!

swimming and sonic drinks...mmm...

2009-06-10T16:05:00.003-05:00

we took the girls swimming at my parents house over the weekend. lucy has literally only been in the pool two times this year...and is already swimming! can you believe it? we are shocked. i took her out one day with her floaties on and let go and she barely noticed. she did freak out a bit when she did notice. but since then, she's like a fish. she always yells out "i nemo, i nemo." and ryan is nemo's daddy. hilarious. she is doing amazing, already moving her arms and kicking her legs. of course, olive is not doing as well...she's pretty lazy. she just hangs out and watches everyone, looks hot in her swimsuit, gets her tan on...and enjoys her bottle. check out the flickr set.

we did it, we did it!

2009-06-10T15:31:00.002-05:00

okay, so i don't think it's a shock to anyone that we are the biggest procrastinators in the world. we just have to finally decide "we are going to do this right now" and not stop until we do. like taking pictures of olive...yeah, we'll do it later. whatever. with that said, we finally hung up our pictures in our house!!! this is not just a couple month procrastination...it's been since we moved from paducah in november 2007...yeah. in our old house, we just hung pictures up on the nails that were already in the walls...which our landlord thought was a great feature. "I just thought i'd leave all the random nails so you guys could use them"...really...no...annoying and crappy.

since we were having people over for the cookout, and since we'd had these frames sitting around the house for months now...no one really wanting to make the decisions as to what photos go where...we finally did it! that is lucy's favorite phrase from Dora, which is supposed to be "we did it" but she says "i did it." after a long emotional process, we finally decided on this layout and got them up. now we no longer have big blank white walls. they look great and make such a big difference in the room. we need a little lamp in this corner because it does get a little dark...but we may have to just talk about it for a year until we go back to ikea and then settle on yet another hanging lamp...i'll keep you updated.