An Adventure in Photography

So, after an extremely unpleasant and disappointing experience at JCPenney Photo Studios, Brian and I decided to take our own holiday photos of Sophia. I'll post some of the others later, but this is the one we ultimately decided on for our Christmas cards. If you're reading this page it means you're likely getting one in the mail, but consider this your sneak preview. Is our little girl not the most adorable thing on this earth?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had so very much to be thankful for this year! First of all, our beautiful, healthy, happy little daughter who we love so much. We are thankful for all our friends and family, those we were able to celebrate with and those who are separated by distance but always with us in spirit. We are so grateful for Brian's wonderful job at Microsoft and for our church family here in Seattle. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to excercise my craft at Taproot Theatre this fall. We are thankful for our wonderful marriage. We are especially thankful for and to a God who loves us beyond measure. And, we're thankful for our new camera that lets us capture such beloved memories!

Grandpa Lyle and Sophia.

Uncle Ethan holding Sophia at Thanksgiving Dinner.

One of the Thanksgiving tables set up at Cythia & Bobby's house. They were gracious enough to host 13 of us! It was great to celebrate with a large family again, something I've missed since being away from home.

Sophia and Mama.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went down to Portland to meet up with Lance & Carol and the kids, since they were up visiting Lance's mom for the holidays. It was such a blessing to be able to catch up with them and introduce them to Sophia...though admittedly, it was a busy week for driving! Here is Carol holding our little girl.

Here we have Lancelot carving up the roast beast.

And Nathan with his Pokemon of the day!

Hope you all had as great a holiday as we did! God bless!!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Sophia Hudson!

Today, Brian, Sophia, and I went to the Lattins Country Cider Mill in Olympia to get some of the state's most delicious cider--and to pick out Sophia's very first pumpkin!

Poster baby!

We arrive.


A view of the pumpkin patch.

The old water wheel.

Checking out the bunny with Bun.

Sophia is rather unimpressed by the calf....

...but these little boys sure did like them. Maybe she'll appreciate them when she's older.

Isn't this just hilarious? Okay, maybe it's just me.

Sophia rather liked looking at the ducks.

Sophia started getting a little tired around 3 o'clock. What a good girl she was!

A little pumpkin on a big pumpkin!

Too sweet.

Sophia's Christening

On October 7, 2007, Sophia Christine Hudson was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Randy Rowland, our pastor at Sanctuary CRC, performed the ceremony, and Meghan Dole was presented as Sophia's godmother. All four of Sophia's grandparents were able to attend, as were many dear friends from far and near. It was a joyful day for our family.

Brian, Meghan, Sophia, me, Randy

After "introducing" us to the congregation, Brian read a passage of Scripture that he and I selected to mark this special day in Sophia's life:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

~1 John 4:7-19

We chose this passage for Sophia for two reasons. The first is that, as a member of God's covenant community, she is called to love others as God has loved her. This will be her continual daily calling in Christian life. The final verse is also particularly significant. In fact, it is this verse that we had placed on her christening cake. It is a reminder that salvation is a gift, given through God's grace as a result of His incomparable love for us. It is only because of this Love that we are able--and blessed--to love Him. This love relationship with the Lord of Lords is our hope in Sophia's life as she grows and one day, God willing, lives into her baptism.

Randy's sermon that Sunday poignantly touched on the same themes as he reminded us that God's love is calling for us to live in a way that we might try to be worthy of that love and to reconcile ourselves to one another as He reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Christ.

In this picture, you can see Meghan holding a candle. On the candle are symbols for Christ and a dove, which represents the Holy Spirit. I explained the significance of the candle, which was always a part of the baptism ceremonies Meghan and I grew up witnessing in the Catholic tradition. The candle is lighted during the baptismal ceremony as a symbol of the light of Christ and the flame of the Spirit that indwell all believers. Every year on the anniversary of the child's baptism, the candle is lit again and the family renews their baptismal vows, reminding the child of the charge they have been given to be the light of Christ in the world.

Here, Randy took Sophia and presented her to the congregation just prior to the actual baptism.

He handed her to our friends, Matt and Laura Watrous, who were seated in the front row. This illustrated the congregation's charge to live in a way that would compel our little girl to want to know, love, and live like Jesus. The congregation took a vow to this effect just after the baptism was performed.

Next, Randy asked Brian and I some questions regarding our faith and we vowed to raise Sophia in a Christian home where she might come to know and love Jesus. Here, we have the actual baptism.

The congregation saying their vows.

After all service and some pizza next door at Romio's (Sanctuary's tradition on the first Sunday of the month), the party headed across the Lake to our house.

Snuggling with Grandma after a long day...

On a more somber note, at the same time that the baptism party was going on, there was a memorial service being held for John Fason, a member of our Sanctuary community who had passed away earlier that week. In his final days, John surrendered his life to Christ. As sad as it was to say good-bye to John, it was a blessing to know that he has gone before us to our Lord and to remember that, ultimately, we all belong to Him and will rejoice with Him together forever. The cycle of life was reaffirmed, and it was a gift to have Sophia's baptism held on the same day that our community celebrated the life of our brother, John.

We want to thank all of you who were able to celebrate this special day in Sophia's life and those of you who were praying and celebrating with us from afar. God bless!

Daddy's at home with the Baby!

As you've probably read, I've been hanging out with Sophia while Bethany has been rehearsing for The Importance of Being Earnest, a hilarious Oscar Wilde play. They opened the show last night, and Matt and Laura Watrous were kind enough to babysit so I could be there. It was a remarkably funny show, and I was ecstatic to see Bethany back on the stage after so long.

Bethany was right - between work during the day and being at home with Sophia while Bethany rehearsed in the evenings, I've definitely experienced a long energy-demanding month. Fortunately I've made it to the beginning of my parental leave, and I have to say I'm already extremely thankful for it. I am so thankful for the wonderful opportunity to be able to spend so much time away from work with our new baby girl, and I think Bethany and I will be able to spend some much needed time together after our long split schedule in September.

I'm really looking forward to having friends out next weekend when Sophia gets baptised, and I'm hoping to find a number of opportunities to grab some great snapshots with our new camera. I've also been eager to get a cable to connect our camcorder to the computer so I can put together a compilation of the cute moments we've caught on tape so far.

Welcome the Fall

"Whoa!!"

What a September! What with Brian working frantically to get everything squared away before leaving for a month of paternity leave and me rehearsing in the evenings and on Saturdays, and both of us juggling the care of our beautiful newborn, this has been one crazy month. The Importance of Being Earnest had a wonderful opening last night, though, and it has all been worth it. October will be relaxing comparatively, with Brian home from work! What a privilege.

Here's me busily making dinner with Sophia before heading out to rehearsal:

Daddy and Sophia being sillies.

My beautiful opening night flowers from Brian!

Praise God: Morgan is finally home from Iraq and reunited with Elizabeth! We got some good pictures of him and Sophia meeting for the first time at church on Sunday. What a blessing to have him safely home again.