The evening I joined the Yoder family to take little James’ newborn pictures I recognized the fact that his session was more than just some pictures, it was a true celebration of life! This little guy had everyone there…mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncles all doting on him! What a great example of how helpful it is in life to have a community surrounding us.  We need others to cheer us on, to encourage and support us in the ups and downs, to point our eyes to Christ, and to love us. This little guy is blessed!

And just to give you a glimpse into the love and support James has, I asked his mom, Christine, if I could share a recent post she beautifully wrote about motherhood and the love God has for us.

In Christine’s words…

“Yesterday I was talking with my friend and she asked how motherhood is going. I told her it’s been amazing and how I’m obsessed with my son (and rightly so, I mean come on 🙂 ), but I also told her that lately Scriptures have been coming alive for me like never before…

I find myself telling James things like, ‘Oh you know your mommy’s voice’ and then think of John 10 and how we know the Father’s voice because we’re from Him, we are His. Another time I was squeezing James saying, ‘Do you know how much mommy loves you? Do you know?’ I wanted him to understand this unconditional, overwhelming feeling of love I have for him that he can never lose, and then I was reminded of Ephesians 1 and Paul’s prayer for them to understand this immeasurable love God has for us. I get filled with joy every time I hear my husband Vincent say to James, “I love you, son, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” and then I’m reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 8 that state “nothing can separate us from the love of God” (including ourselves.) Other times I will simply stare and marvel at this human Vincent and I created with God and be in awe that he formed from us, out of our love. And so it is between God and us–we come from Him and in Him is our origin. We look just like Him, just like James looks like his mommy and daddy. And so at the end of the day I told my friend that while I’m absolutely loving being a mom, I’m also now more than ever loving being a daughter.”