Springston sleeping – whether sadly or soundly, no one knows.
Counting Down

We’re getting down to the wire here. It occurs to me that Davy has been with us for a while now, although I’m only just now getting really excited about her arrival. Along with the excitement there is some fear. We have too many friends who have experienced loss at this stage of the pregnancy. If you are a praying person, we’d appreciate some prayer for peace and four our daughter’s safety. If you’re not a praying person, we’d love it if you at least gave it a whirl.
34 memories of Kristin from oldest to newest

1. Hanging out with Shawnda at Sember’s house. I thought she was in high school. (2000)
2. Praising the glories of Boston (the band, not the city) while driving a car full of college students up to Lutsen. (2001)
3. Decked out in her snow pants and moon boots, hanging out in the ski lodge doing anything but skiing. (2001)
4. MC-ing Toshavim’s George W. Bush Inaugural Bash with me and hating my guts. (2001)
5. Telling me I remind her of her little brother. (2001)
6. Laughing with Molly at me from their kitchen window. Still don’t know why. (2001)
7. Eyes lighting up when I asked her to go have root beer with me. (2001)
8. Tricking me into eating the parsley garnish on my plate on our first date. (2001)
9. Staring at me from across her living room just before the DTR talk. (2001)
10. Freaking out when I told her I was taking her to Boston (the city, not the band) to see the Dodsons for New Year’s eve. (2001)
11. Not freaking out when I needed her to spot the money to rent the car on said trip. (2001)
12. Kissing me for the first time on New Year’s Eve (she made the first move, folks). (2001 – 2002)
13. Not saying anything for about 45 seconds when I asked her to marry me three months later. (2002)
14. Walking. Down. The Aisle. (2002)
15. Totally owning our wedding reception. So beautiful. (2002)
16. Walking together along an English country road in the pitch black of night, singing and praying, scared for our lives. (2003)
17. Sharing the most amazing bread pudding on our last night in London. (2003)
18. Weekend babysitting for the LaRose’s and wanting to see her become a mother. (2003)
19. Telling me, if our baby was a girl, she wanted to name her Jaimes. She was so resolved. (2003)
20. Playing Tetris on her old Game Boy in the delivery room. (2004)
21. Cut open on the operating table for the emergency C-Section. So brave. (2004)
22. Holding our first daughter in her arms.
23. Re-finishing a dresser – looking so content. She was made to restore things. (2004)
24. Astonishment when I agreed that moving from Minneapolis to Austin was a good idea. (2004)
25. Making like a hundred breakfast burritos for breakfast-on-the-go while we were a Cares Team in Austin. (2004 – 2005)
26. Giving me 48 Days To The Work You Love when life got really hard. Fantastic helper. (2005)
27. So confused and so afraid when we had our first miscarriage. (2005)
28. So sad and so brave when we had our second miscarriage. (2006)
29. Sharing Giordano’s for the first time while stopping in Chicago to pick up the 4 Runner. (2006)
30. Holding our first foster baby in her arms. (2007)
31. Holding our second daughter in her arms. (2008)
32. Riding the tour bus in Savannah, GA. (2008)
33. Seeing our third daughter for the first time. (2009)
34. Smelling her perfume and kissing her when I came home from work today.
Happy Birthday, Baby!
Before & After: Board & Baton Shutters

The other weekend was really windy and one of our vinyl shutters blew off. Suddenly replacing all of them became a priority. We didn’t have much of a budget, so I built these myself. Kristin’s dad (in the bottom photo) helped me cut all the wood and hang the assembled shutters.
It took me two Saturday afternoons to stain all the wood and a Saturday evening and Sunday morning to glue and nail the board and baton style shutters together. All in all, the project cost about $140 and I only got one splinter.
Davy Bradstreet Donovan

Kristin is currently 20 weeks pregnant with our third daughter. Having experienced two miscarriages, we were keeping kind of quiet about it until now. We had an appointment this morning where we learned that our baby is in fact a girl and is perfectly healthy – you know, for still breathing fluid and stuff.
We chose the name Davy after Davy VanAuken, the heroine in A Severe Mercy – one of our favorite books. The middle name Bradstreet comes from one of my favorite poets, Anne Bradstreet – who, besides being a model Christian woman, was the first American to become a published poet.
I am thrilled, in love, obnoxiously outnumbered, and I feel a little dizzy. Hi, my name is Matt. Will you please knock me out?
The Bible Illuminated
Anyone taken a peek at this? Though the images presented in the Daily Illuminations often don’t support the text they reference beyond a shallow visual cue, I’m still intrigued.
When I get really busy I start feeling like my kids are in my way.
Today I’m working from home and, for the first time in a few weeks, I can’t wait to close my laptop and play with my girls. Turns out that when I’m feeling tired of my family, the remedy is more time with them – not less.
Why I am thankful for my pastor, Matt Chandler
He is passionate and loves Jesus. He’s a pastor of a very large and growing church and still (by God’s grace, I’m sure) is able to make emails sound personal, let us know we are loved often and misses us when he doesn’t preach. Matt continues to tell us he’s not going anywhere, that he’ll be here for the next 40 years. He makes a big effort to make a big church small. He doesn’t want the Village to be about him or us but about Christ. Nothing is sacred with him – nothing finite that is.
There’s a ton more but I’m (Kristin) is a procrastinator and it’s my bedtime. I hope you win, Matt! We Donovan’s are very thankful for you!



