meet kevin, the other max in my life -OR- a brief ryan byrd music history
Tue, Aug 24 2010 06:02 PM
| general life, personal, music, music you should know, family, free stuff
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it's safe to say that we've established on this blog that i love music. and not just one single kind of music, but a variety of
it wasn't, though, always this way.
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the tweet heard 'round the world: a few words about segregation and educational options
Mon, Aug 23 2010 09:04 AM
| christen, general life, personal, little rock, olive, christian subculture, theology, arkansas, lucy, family, popular culture, children, current events, max, politics
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By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world.
so begin's ralph waldo's emerson 1837 masterpiece, concord hymn. the line that closes the stanza, of course, has become a cultural idiom. the shot heard 'round the world is in reference to the american revolutionary war, specifically the battles of lexington and concord. indeed, those shots reverberated around the globe and set our nation on a new course.
and then—on august 21, 2010—there was this:
worth not just a read, but extended reflection for LR people / RT @GOOD: Are students pre-segregated before high school? http://su.pr/9msbx1
ryanByrd
ryanbyrd
which was immediately followed by this:
in addition to what the @GOOD article says, it's also worth reflecting on "self-segregation" (parents who put their kids in private school).ryanByrd
ryanbyrd
ah yes, the tweet heard 'round the world.
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why we should stop letting black people live in the quapaw quarter
Mon, Aug 16 2010 07:56 AM
| personal, jesus, theology, family, popular culture, politics, current events
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our family moved, in early 2009, into the quapaw quarter (in little rock). we really enjoy being so close to downtown and our neighborhood is relatively quiet and friendly. there's a diversity of people here that you simply don't get in other parts of town.
but i'll get to that whole diversity thing briefly.
several months after moving in, we attended a 4th of july breakfast at the empress (our immediate neighbor) and had an opportunity to meet the large majority of our neighbors. i had a lengthy conversation with a man who, along with his wife of 30-something years, has lived in the quarter for well over 20 years. he offered a bit of history of the neighborhood and one particular story stood out among the others. he said that a little over 20 years ago, a gang of about 6 or 7 black guys jumped a white man (who lived in our neighborhood) while he was walking his dog. apparently the guy was pretty messed up and after a few days of intensive care, he died from internal bleeding. whereas several of the black guys were subsequently arrested, the two main leaders of the group got away and were never arrested.
he said, for obvious reasons, many people in the neighborhood were shaken up pretty badly and even after having some candlelight vigils and racial reconciliation-type conversations with some of the predominantly black churches in the area, tensions ran high.
he and i talked about some of the backlash and anger that, to this day, still exists in this neighborhood and we came up with only one logical conclusion.
ban black people from living in the quapaw quarter.
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long on diagnosis, short on cure: remembering rob with don chaffer
Thu, Jul 22 2010 08:02 AM
| general life, personal, jesus, theology, music, music you should know, family, favorites
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time flies when you're having fun, right? well, what does time do when you're living in the wake of loss?
truth be told, time has flown and we're approaching 6 months since we lost rob. i was actually going to wait to write this until august 13—the 6 month anniversary of his death—but this is just one of these things that i need to write. now.
rob's been on my mind quite a bit lately and i think, more than anything, it was triggered by a don chaffer house show last friday night (which was great). don chaffer—1/2 of folk/worship/nebulous band waterdeep and one of my favorite artists—plays a significant role in my final memories of rob.
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i'm rubber, you're glue: letting go of the negative
Wed, Jul 21 2010 07:58 AM
| general life, personal, church, eikon, confessions, family
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it's 5th grade. you're on the playground. you see billy mcgee—the class bully—coming your direction. billy doesn't beat people up with his fists. but billy knows how to beat people up with his words. you know it's coming.
"hey you. yeah, you. your mom's so dumb she brought a spoon to the super bowl."
his entourage—little eddie hankins and robby smits—laughs devilishly. "this kid's good," you think, trying to avoid eye contact.
"your mom's so fat that when she wears a malcolm x t-shirt, a helicopter lands on her."
you've gotta do something as the laughter mounts. think fast.
"yeah? well…i'm rubber, you're glue. whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!"
like kryptonite to superman, big bad billy mcgee and his weasely entourage shrinks away, knowing that he's lost this battle of pre-teen wits.
ah yes, back in 5th grade, the "rubber/glue"—much like "sticks & stones…"—held great power and were deep words of wisdom.
the world was simple.
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counting sheep: one more thought about guns, fear and becoming a sheep
Fri, Jul 16 2010 08:02 AM
| general life, personal, church, jesus, christian subculture, theology, family
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ok, ok, i know: enough with the sheep, ryan. yes, there's only so much ryan-poo-poos-on-guns talk one can take. i get it. i swear. one last post. ;)
in the aftermath of my previous posts about guns and the culture of fear, i got quite a bit of feedback. it varied from people retweeting the link to posting it on facebook all the way to people sending me rambling, scrolling emails telling me i suck at life (not really…but sorta…) and a couple people bravely posting actual comments on the blog. what i was most struck by were the couple people who said something like the following: "if you had ever been affected by violence you would think differently" or "just wait 'til you get a gun pulled on you and i think you'll change your mind."
well, i have.
and i thought i'd share about my experiences.
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more sheepishness: a few thoughts about our culture of fear
Wed, Jul 14 2010 08:02 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, christian subculture, theology, church, jesus, lucy, family, popular culture, current events, max, politics
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the bible's a funny thing. and so is following that guy jesus.
at best, they're frustrating. at worst, they're maddening. even illogical. counterintuitive.
you see, in scripture, we're referred to as sheep. basically, mindless followers that roam without proper self defense or the ability to find the way on our own. we just sorta hang out with the flock and go where the shepherd leads.
we're sitting ducks. but, you know, in the sheepish kind of way. (a shmuck?)
quite frankly, sheep should be frightened.
but the bible's a funny thing.
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feeling sheepish: a few thoughts about concealed weapons in church
Mon, Jul 12 2010 07:54 AM
| personal, church, jesus, christian subculture, theology, family, popular culture, politics, current events
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If you're like most Americans, there's probably been a time in your life when you've been sitting in church, listening to a particularly ennui-inducing homily or enduring another warbly version of "Holy Holy Holy" and thought, "Man! I could really reach for some steel right now, squeeze off a few rounds, and let these fools know what the score is!" Well, in Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal has recently signed into law a measure that would allow you to at least feel comforted by the presence of your gun in the house of the Lord.
so begins a huffington post piece (sometimes you just gotta grab a great quote and use it…) about the newly-adopted law in louisiana that allows people to pack heat into houses of worship. yes, the good, god-fearing
god bless america.
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one month down: new pictures of max
Wed, Jul 7 2010 07:58 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, lucy, family, children, max
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better late than never, right?
it's hard to believe, but tomorrow, july 8, max will be one month old. wow. at the risk of total cliché, time has flown by. it really does seem like yesterday that we were going to the hospital to prepare for his arrival. and now, fast forward a month…and we're just now taking pictures of him. yes, in the household of a photographer (christen), we're just now getting around to it. i guess that's just how it goes at this point…
it's hard to believe, but tomorrow, july 8, max will be one month old. wow. at the risk of total cliché, time has flown by. it really does seem like yesterday that we were going to the hospital to prepare for his arrival. and now, fast forward a month…and we're just now taking pictures of him. yes, in the household of a photographer (christen), we're just now getting around to it. i guess that's just how it goes at this point…
so i'm the dude who crashed little rock family's mommy blogger story
Tue, Jun 29 2010 08:03 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, little rock, work, lucy, family, max, blog stuff
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greetings. welcome to the blog. maybe you're here because you saw me in a little rock family story about the top local bloggers. i'm the large, hairy woman in the middle. you know, the one who looks like the offspring of a lumberjack and a grizzly bear. yeah, that's me.
the lone dude.
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of max and men: teaching a boy to be a man
Sat, Jun 12 2010 08:53 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, lucy, christian subculture, theology, family, popular culture, children, max
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in the event that you've slept through the last several days or haven't read my blog (or decided to unfollow me in the midst of gratuitous labor tweeting…), baby byrd #3–max ryan byrd–squirted into this world on tuesday afternoon. weighing in just slightly under the minimum tonnage for aspiring sumo wrestlers, all 9 lbs, 3 oz of max has spent the last couple days acclimating to his new home. big sister olive and even bigger sister lucy have also been acclimating to having a new human being in their home, especially for the fact that this new human being is a little boy.
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the new baby byrd has arrived: first pictures of max
Wed, Jun 9 2010 08:58 AM
| christen, general life, photography, personal, olive, lucy, family, children, max
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well, he's here…
yes, max ryan byrd made his triumphant arrival yesterday at 1:16 p.m. if you weren't aware, we were scheduled to induce yesterday morning (on the awesomely, numerically nerdy 6/8/10) and things went very smoothly. christen was incredible and literally up to the point of pushing, she was calm and really didn't experience too much pain (relatively speaking, of course). the pushing went well and all 9 lbs, 3 oz (!) came plopping out just like he ruled the joint. :)
yes, max ryan byrd made his triumphant arrival yesterday at 1:16 p.m. if you weren't aware, we were scheduled to induce yesterday morning (on the awesomely, numerically nerdy 6/8/10) and things went very smoothly. christen was incredible and literally up to the point of pushing, she was calm and really didn't experience too much pain (relatively speaking, of course). the pushing went well and all 9 lbs, 3 oz (!) came plopping out just like he ruled the joint. :)
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pre-max: a lucy and olive photo retrospective
Mon, Jun 7 2010 09:38 AM
| christen, general life, photography, personal, olive, lucy, family, children, max
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tomorrow—tuesday, june 8, 2010—max ryan byrd will be born. we've been scheduled to induce and while we're not big fans of inducement, it's definitely a relief after what has been a month of constant anticipation. it's a little strange knowing the exact date of your child's birth, but it certainly does allow for a little planning that we didn't have when lucy and olive decided to pop out a couple weeks early.
with max's impending birth, the focus will largely shift to his arrival. for older children, it can be a difficult adjustment. lucy did pretty well with olive and i expect olive to do alright, but i thought i'd give lucy and olive the spotlight one last time before max jumps into the scene (and subsequently steals it).
with max's impending birth, the focus will largely shift to his arrival. for older children, it can be a difficult adjustment. lucy did pretty well with olive and i expect olive to do alright, but i thought i'd give lucy and olive the spotlight one last time before max jumps into the scene (and subsequently steals it).
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loving your enemies: a few words on criticism by don miller
Wed, May 26 2010 08:07 AM
| videos, personal, jesus, eikon, chuch, christian subculture, theology, family
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as i've shared before here on the blog, since starting the church over the last year or so, i've fought a consistently and surprisingly difficult battle with self doubt and criticism from others. sadly, it seems to just come with the territory of pastoring and particularly, it seems, church planting. in a post back in february, i shared about this struggle, saying the following:
much to my surprise, over the last half a year, i've fought a very tough battle with intense self doubt and bad case of trampled ego. i've always been the type to disallow the actions or words or critiques of others to shape my inner self, but taking the lead in a church planting project has revealed a new layer of emotions and personal battles. what you were certain of a day ago is now fodder for intense personal scrutiny and doubt.
baby watch 2010: lucy lu turns 3 and a free max mix
Tue, May 18 2010 09:02 AM
| christen, general life, personal, lucy, music, family, children, max
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ok, which cliché do you want? how about time flies when you're having fun? or maybe it seems just like yesterday that she born? of course, there's she'll be all grown up before we know it. there's plenty others i could throw at you and quite frankly, many are true. the fact is, our little lucy lu turns 3 years old today and many of the age-old sayings that seem a little worn out ring true for me today.
surprise! i blogged! -OR- looking for blog suggestions
Fri, Mar 26 2010 08:03 AM
| recommendations, personal, eikon, family, blog stuff
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in a post reviewing 2008, i crunched a few numbers, revealing that i blogged just over 1 time per day (1.004 times to be precise). for some bloggers, 1 post is nothing. to the average blogger, that's relatively frequently (in terms of the type of blogging i do). i love to blog and enjoyed the time/ability to frequently post my thoughts and build some interaction.in 2009, blogging became a little more
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download rob's memorial playlist |||amp; videos
this past saturday—as noted in the previous post—we celebrated the life of our friend rob toon. it was honestly a great time, with laughter, tears and a whole gambit of emotions in between. i had the honor of participating in a number of ways, including sharing a few words about who rob was and the legacy he leaves. one of the things i was most excited to do, actually, was to put together a playlist that played before and after the service.
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information about rob's memorial service
**EDITORIAL NOTE: about 2 years ago, my best friend rob was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. since that time, he had hospital stays at both uams and md anderson in houston, tx. there were times that rob could have walked out of the hospital and conquered the world and there were times when he was preparing to leave this present reality. last saturday, rob's preparation for death culminated with just that.**
most of you know by now that my friend, rob toon, passed away last saturday, february 13 in the wee hours of the morning. after 2 years of dealing with the realities of leukemia, rob moved on to the next space, somewhere where his pain is gone and the broken is made new.
the good, the bad |||amp; the space between: in memory of rob toon
Sat, Feb 13 2010 09:40 AM
| general life, personal, family, favorites
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**EDITORIAL NOTE: about 2 years ago, my best friend rob was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. since that time, he had hospital stays at both uams and md anderson in houston, tx. there were times that rob could have walked out of the hospital and conquered the world and there were times when he was preparing to leave this present reality. this morning, rob's preparation for death culminated with just that. so, on the wake of his passing, i thought i would offer a few words about him here. i hope that after reading, you gather at least a small sense of how beautiful rob's life truly was.**
we humans tend to see the world in either/or terms. it's black or it's white. it's hot or it's cold. it's right or it's wrong. it's good or it's bad. we live in dichotomies. in bifurcated realities where the middle is often lost.
so it is with people. we see good people. and we see bad people. we seek out opposing forces and divide accordingly.
but there is, in fact, a middle space. and maybe not even as much a middle space, but a blend, a melding somewhere in between where, on any given day, we must re-evaluate and find ours and others' place.
so it was with my best friend rob.
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a final farewell from Fat Ryan -OR- my plan to lose the equivalent of a 10-yr old
Sat, Jan 23 2010 02:26 PM
| christen, general life, personal, humor, weight loss, family, popular culture, children, food
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hello friends,
Fat Ryan here. yes, this is the same ryan that's been bringing you this stunning blog content since the year of our lord 2007. yes, this is the same ryan that you see every day or that you interact with on twitter every day or that you think longingly of each day. but i'm now referring to that guy as Fat Ryan.
and the Fat Ryan is singing.
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an advent reflection: in anticipation of life (and death)
Tue, Dec 22 2009 03:12 PM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, music, music you should know, family
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over the last couple weeks, many of you have worshipped with us as we've engaged in this season called advent. through our modVent gatherings, we've eagerly anticipated the coming of the messiah. as we've learned, of course, advent simply means coming. during this season, we await the coming of a baby, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. who is the savior. who is the one sent from god.
advent is about life. it's about redemption. it's about hopeful expectation. but advent is also about death. we not only await the coming of the christ child, but we await his death on a cross. we look ahead to the time of jesus' atoning sacrifice in which he suffered in order to restore the brokenness of all creation. death, indeed, is a part of the cycle of anticipation.
advent is about life. it's about redemption. it's about hopeful expectation. but advent is also about death. we not only await the coming of the christ child, but we await his death on a cross. we look ahead to the time of jesus' atoning sacrifice in which he suffered in order to restore the brokenness of all creation. death, indeed, is a part of the cycle of anticipation.
our sweet little olive turns 1
one year. wow.
it's nearly impossible to avoid all the necessary clichés with this type of post. it feels like yesterday... time flies... she'll be a teenager before you know it. blah blah blah. the reality, though, is that all the clichés are true, really.
it does seem like just yesterday that we were taking off for the hospital at 1:30 in the morning and seeing olive for the first time just a little after 5 a.m. (you can read the overview of those events here). time does fly when you have a sweet little girl that turns 1 without you realizing that even a day or a week has passed. and yes, the reality that she'll be all grown up very soon sets in when you begin making plans for that first birthday party.
pulaski academy, marching bands |||amp; the new racism
Fri, Nov 13 2009 08:11 AM
| rant, general life, personal, little rock, theology, family, popular culture
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when i saw, on the arkansas blog, the teaser, "A local blogger has written—unhappily—that Pulaski Academy won't send its band to a football playoff game in Helena-West Helena", i thought this was going to be a flashback to 1993 when the conway high school football team lost to pine bluff in the state championship game. after a searing defeat, some conway fans looked for a direction in which their finger could point. of all places, they found the band, saying that their minimal playing caused the team to lose. yes, you read that correctly: the band's lack of horns and drums and cymbals. so when i saw this headline, i thought i was in for the same disbelief from nearly 16 years ago.
that, though, is not what i discovered.
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a little byrdy told me about a place called etsy
i'm really excited to be blogging about this particular piece of information (i've been meaning to do it for a few weeks now..) and i hope you'll find it beneficial.christen has started an etsy store.over at babybyrds.etsy.com, christen has created a really great store that features, generally speaking, children's print items such as custom wall prints and custom diaper bag tags. as a parent of two
to the dave ramsey disciples: beware of moths and rust
Fri, Aug 7 2009 10:00 PM
| theology, family, popular culture
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for many people, dave ramsey—christian financial author and radio personality—is a financial messiah. he has droves of ardent disciples and masses of ready-and-willing evangelists. try googling something having to do with dave ramsey criticism and you'll quickly find blogs or forums in which hordes of his disciples adamantly tell the critic why ramsey is the next best thing to the second coming
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my piece in little rock soirée: a day in little rock
let's do some word association, shall we?what words pop into your mind when you hear 'ryan'? if you said sophisticated, upper class city magazine, then you would have been the literally only person in this world to make that connection.well, that connection, in fact, has been made. several months ago, i was approached by the fine people at little rock soirée about writing a piece called a day in little
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father's day pictures
Sun, Jun 21 2009 09:59 PM
| christen, photography, personal, olive, lucy, family, children
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ok, christen told me my previous post about father's day was "depressing" and "weird." in fact, i believe she read it and then said, "wah waaaaahhh". so, i'm going to redeem it with a couple pictures she shot today in our backyard.despite the fact that lucy was being a grade-A terd, we managed to get at least one semi-usable one (although she demanded she hold an old rusty hose nozzle she found). olive
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father's day thoughts: count your blessings...or curses...
let's talk a little father's day theology.today is a great day. as stated, it's father's day. for me, as the father of two beautiful little girls, this day is less about being honored and recognized and more about me stopping to think about how beautiful and incredible my daughters are and the impact they have on my life. i've certainly done that today.one thing i notice, though, is that days like
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lucy and olive hit the pool
Wed, Jun 10 2009 05:33 PM
| christen, photography, personal, olive, lucy, family, children
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we hit the pool a couple days ago and needless to say, lucy and olive had a blast. christen blogged about it over at babybyrds.com (where she's put a couple updates as of late) and i thought i'd throw up a couple quick pics of the girls here.
a quick pic of lucy lu
in a lot of ways, this really captures the essence of lucy, so i thought i'd share it.
to lucy: birthday two
it's 11:56 p.m.4 minutes left in lucy's 2nd birthday.for me, blogging is an extension of my brain. it's what stirs internally coming out in an external platform. it's easy. and fluid.in this case, though, i've been sitting here for awhile trying to think of the best way to write this. it isn't that i don't know what to say. it's more that i don't know what not to say. as you well know, i can be notoriously
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our [not-so-new] new house
Mon, May 18 2009 09:57 PM
| photography, personal, family
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for quite some time, i've been meaning to briefly blog about our new house. of course, at this point, our new house is not-so-new. we've been here now a few months, so i'm a little behind (what a shocker...). of course, while we've been here a few months, we're still getting settled in and there are still plenty of things in boxes that have yet to see the light of day. so, we're gonna stick with this
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the common
for quite some time, there's been a bit of a debate—primarily in the blogosphere—about whether or not true community can happen online. moreover, some have argued that not only can a true sense of community not happen online, but that virtual forms of "community"—like blogs, twitter, facebook, etc—actually work to kill true community.i tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the debate. whereas
my two moms
primarily, i have two moms in my life: my actual mom and my wife—the mother of my children. so, i thought on this mother's day, i would pause and say how much i love both of these mothers (although not in this way...) and share a couple thoughts about each of them.i thought in keeping with the theme of two, i would list two characteristics about each of them that i most love/respect/appreciate.[cue
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an olive update
Thu, Apr 2 2009 12:16 AM
| christen, photography, olive, family
| permalink
it's been awhile since i've given any kind of update on olive or shown any pictures. while there have certainly been things i could have given an update about, there definitely have been no new pictures...until now.christen shot some yesterday while lucy was away at the grandparentals (which is necessary in order to have any semblance of a successful photoshoot with olive) and they turned out great.olive
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facebook promotes sibling love
ah, the love between a brother and sister. it's a beautiful thing, especially when it plays itself out for the whole world to see on facebook.now, i don't do facebook. it's just one more thing for me to have to do (although, as a matter of full disclosure, i've considered it long and hard simply for networking purposes). christen, though, has done it for a long time and has the facebook iphone app.
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new pics of olive
Mon, Dec 29 2008 11:22 PM
| photography, olive, family, children
| permalink
olive played model today, so i thought i would share. she keeps getting more and more beautiful...i'm sure you'll agree... :)
merry christmas from olive
ok, just disregard the slight blurriness and just accept the shear cuteness. her christmas present to herself is holding her big neck melon up by herself...while it's not lucy's giant head, it's still very impressive at 1 month old...
WARNING: gratuitous proud poop pictures ahead. :)
to emphasis the "WARNING" part of the title, i'm just gonna keep it real and say that i'm about to drop a serious pooping story on you. if you are gagging just reading the word, "pooping", then you may want to call it quits now. :)with that said...file this blog post under two categories:1. only a parent would actually be excited about something this, or2. embarrassing pictures just waiting for lucy
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happy birthday, olive!
ok...that's if you count months as birthday opportunities...which, of course, we do. so...happy birthday, olive!today, i can't believe it, but olive is 1 month old. just four(ish) shorts weeks ago, olive came into the world and we already can't remember what life was like without her.now, i'm not going to be sappy, cry-er dad here (which would be typical...), but i just wanted to take a minute to put
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oh! christmas tree
these days, we're on a little slower schedule than what we used to be. last weekend, we bought a christmas tree. tonight, a full week later, we decorated it. it took us a week to muster enough energy to actually throw some freakin' balls and lights on our goofy tree. needless to say, it's been a little hectic around the byrd household as of late.anyway, the tree stands, in all its glory, decorated
more goodness from tony campolo: power vs. authority
Thu, Dec 11 2008 11:53 PM
| recommendations, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, family
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recently, i wrote about a podcast with tony campolo in which he contrasted power and love. it was a deeply affective topic for me and his depth and insight carried over into something i heard from him today.i managed to track down an mp3 of a sermon he preached at the denver seminary's chapel service in october. in it, he talked about the difference between power and authority. it's absolutely brilliant
a quick olive pic from the iphone
current olive stats: 2 weeks, 2 days old. beefing it up at almost 7 pounds. quickly learning defensive skills from lucy's regular big sister beatings. more beautiful than ever. here's the (grainy iphone) pic:
new olive pics!
Tue, Dec 2 2008 11:22 PM
| christen, photography, personal, olive, lucy, family, children
| permalink
we finally got a chance (read: olive was awake, lucy was being nice and me & christen felt like doing it) to shoot some more pictures of olive (and lucy) today. these are the first ones we've done beyond the hospital pics, so we were excited to finally do them. also, as you can see, we did some with lucy and olive together. they turned out really great. (don't worry, although there were a couple
olive's first (real) trip out of the house
tonight, lucy went and hung out with aunt ann while christen and i took olive out to dinner. thanks to the ol' iphone and the great app, camerabag (itunes store link), we got this photo:
babybyrds.com updated!
hey everybody, make sure you fly (ha ha...get it, "fly"...because you see, it's babybyrds.com...you know, like a bird...how they fly...ha ha.....) on over to babybyrds.com! christen has finally gotten a chance to do some updates and talk about the whole olive experience from her point-of-view.it's about time she updated it...i mean, what's she doing with all her time? feeding a newborn? looking after
more pics of olive: day 5 (already!)
update time:i fee like time is flying. it's almost been a week! this is my first blog since saturday, so that may give you a little insight as to my time availability for blogging... i finally have a few minutes, so i thought i would offer a few updates and put up a few new pics.olive: she's looking more and more beautiful each day. her skin is gorgeous, her hair is shiny and beautiful and she's starting
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a quick pic from olive's first night home
notes on an olive
hopefully you all have had a chance to read, a couple posts back, about the process by which we have welcomed olive into the world. if not, take a minute to read it...christen was on the brink of telling me to remove some stuff when she got a chance to read it, so that lets you know it's worth the read. :)i thought i would follow up the long account and the initial pics (which i hope to have more
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come see the olive
i shot a zillion pictures as soon as she popped out, but since it's been a crazy day and an exhausting day, i just decided to edit a few of the ones that stood out as i quickly glanced through the shots. here some of them are (you can see a few more at christen's flickr page). (click to see images larger)
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gone in 60 seconds: the story of olive grace
alright people, i'm finally getting around to it. olive grace, as teased in the previous post, made her illustrious world debut this morning at 5:06 a.m. here's the story:8 p.m.: christen returns from visiting one of her best friends who is giving birth at baptist hospital. she tells me—before going to bed—that she thinks she could have this baby tonight.8 p.m. and a couple seconds: i think to
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scratch that last post...
...yeah, forget everything i said in that last post...it's 3 a.m.we're at the hospital.i'm predicting baby within the hour...more details and pictures to come...
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olives available next tuesday...
...ok, not so much olives in the plural form... more like the singular olive...olive, in the baby form, will make her triumphant arrival next tuesday, november 25. after several weeks of slow dilation and olive shimmying down into the lower nether-regions of the birth canal, our doctor put forth the option to induce. although we're not huge fans of the idea of being induced, christen would have had
hell freezes: my wife's a blogger!
Sun, Nov 16 2008 03:32 PM
| recommendations, christen, family, children, websites, blog stuff
| permalink
as i told you all yesterday, babybyrds.com is up and running (and some improvements have already been made from the time i posted it). i posted the first little ditty on there, but today, christen has entered the blogosphere! indeed, hell has frozen (because of all the months that christen has made fun of me for be a goofy blogger).she posted a humorous/horrifying story that you should definitely go
babybyrds.com!
Sat, Nov 15 2008 10:55 PM
| christen, personal, olive, lucy, family, children, websites, blog stuff
| permalink
i'm excited to let you guys know that we got babybyrds.com up and running tonight! this will be the home for all things christen and ryan offspring: namely, lucy and olive (but we're sure there will be more to come down the road...). primarily, this will be the place that christen blogs, but i'll hop on from time to time. we'll be putting pictures, updates, video and whatever else seems to be entertaining
lucy lu: sans parents
lucy spent a couple days at grandma and grandpa's house, which meant the following:1. she got to stay up really late2. she could get away with not taking naps3. she generally got what she wanted, and4. she got to go to day care with grandma and aunt bethanythe former of this list is by far her favorite part. the times in the past that she's gone to cradle care, she's had a blast. lucy loves other kids
baby byrd #2: very close...
i got to thinking today and realized that the thing that is currently the most important matter in my life has gotten very little face time here on the ol' blog. that thing, of course, is the impending birth of our second sweet little girl, olive.first of all, once upon a time i believe i promised to let everybody know the name we've chosen. (broken promises could be the theme of this blog...sorry,
why i can't not vote for obama: a manifesto of hope
Fri, Oct 31 2008 12:24 AM
| personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, family, politics
| permalink
in 5 days, i will go to my local polling station and cast a vote for barack obama for president of the united states of america. a dirty and heated presidential race will finally come to an end.i'm most glad that the hateful and deceptive emails and divisive political climate will somewhat recede. after receiving yet another email full of lies and hate toward barack obama, i felt compelled to sit down
lucy lu @ the pumpkin patch
on saturday, we went, along with our best friends rob and stephanie and their kids, to the schaefers and collins pumpkin patch and farm in the fine and bustling city of mayflower. we really had a good time watching lucy run around fearlessly on the big kid playground and in and out of all the pumpkins. it's hilarious how fearless she is (especially zipping down the big slides).this trip called for
who knew '73 was so fancy?
the classiness continues...today, christen and i went and looked at a house and subsequently, i had to run over to the realtor's office. christen had already been there and had told me warned me about the time warp that was their office.my wife is a truth-teller indeed.it was like i stepped into sort of a dirty version of anchorman. i'm surprised everyone wasn't sitting around smoking and drinking
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stay classy, g.i. joe
let me begin by saying that my grandma is awesome. she's awesome in the sense that's she's a great grandma and i love her, but she's also awesome in the following sense: you know when you see a piece of clothing or some product in the store and you wonder, 'who the heck buys this crap?'...yeah, it's my grandma who buys that.she's that kind of awesome.my grandma's house is quite the collection of awesomeness.
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little rock: come here and you will die
Tue, Oct 21 2008 10:06 PM
| general life, personal, little rock, family
| permalink
as i indicated a few posts ago, we've been back to arkansas for almost a year now. growing up in conway, little rock was always a regular part of my life. living here, though, i have a whole new perspective on little rock—especially with living in midtown and working in downtown. i don't just live in little rock. i really do love little rock now.given this fact, there is something that's been absolutely
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healthy, wealthy...and wise?
hey, i don't know if you guys heard or not, but somebody told me something about you and me—you know, taxpayers—giving a bunch of rich white guys at some place called wall street 700 billion dollars... no, no, that's right: 700 billion dollars. oh, you think we should use our taxpayer dollars for ridiculous stuff like healthcare and education and global aids relief. clearly you're retarded. that's
the most profound mystery
parenting is a profoundly mysterious thing.after missing a couple naps today and having a rough night last night, lucy's eyes began to droop at about 7:30 (she usually goes to bed around 8:30 or so). with several unsuccessful attempts under my belt, i finally left lucy in her crib about an hour and a half ago. i have been laying here in bed ever since listening to her cry.crying doesn't really bother
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5 years
Sun, Aug 17 2008 10:26 AM
| general life, personal, family
| permalink
five years ago yesterday—august 16, 2003—christen and i began our life together as a married couple. in a society where the divorce rate is over 50%, it's good to know that christen and i are more in love and more deeply committed to each other than we were 5 years ago when we walked down the aisle. undoubtedly, relationships change as marriage goes along. the infatuation lessens and the newness
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lucy in technicolor
ok, i swear i'm not going to turn this blog into a lucy photo gallery (although i can't make any guarantees when the new byrd baby arrives...). but..i thought this picture of lucy turned out great from this weekend in paducah. our friend terri took it, but i played around with the toning that a friend of mine recently showed me. i've been tweaking the toning effect a little and i thought it was interesting
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paducah: a retrospective (cue flowery music...)
it’s hard to believe, but we’ve been gone from paducah for almost a year now. we love everything about little rock, but we really do still miss paducah. for being the weird little small town that it is, it was a good place to live. for the first time since leaving, we were able to go back and visit. i thought i would offer some highlights and insights from the weekend.1. paducah is still named
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lucy lu
this is a picture christen shot several weeks ago and posted on her flickr page. it's my desktop image at work and i had to put it on here because it perfectly captures lucy.
springfield and me, the giddy obama stalker
ok, so remember when i said that i was going to try to blog every day of my trip here in springfield... yeah, not so much. oh well. alas, i find myself here in the university plaza in springfield about 7 hours away from the conclusion to our little excursion.which brings me to the most important update of the week. the university plaza that i am referencing is the same one that a certain democratic
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honeysuckles in branson
if i ever start a country western band, that's going to be it's name...honeysuckles in branson... we'll probably go on tour with my other favorite country western band, the overall gang....so, i have no problem admitting that i am a grade A cheapskate. i care very little about service, convenience or any other category you might find in consumer reports. i am unashamedly concerned, primarily, with
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marriage in reality: |||lt;i|||gt;to christen|||lt;/i|||gt;
in my previous post, i talked about songs that have had a significant theological impact on my life. one of the songs i listed was roll to the middle by sara groves. sara groves is an amazing and insightful artist who always has profoundly theological lyrics in a neatly packed pop facade. one of the most engaging things about her music is simply her emotionally charged voice and endearing musical arrangements.roll
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lucy the camera hog
when you flip around the viewfinder so that lucy can see herself, she suddenly transforms into the camera hog that she was born to be...(p.s. sorry for the crappy audio...)
alien girl found in woman's womb...
ok, so that was my attempt at becoming a headline writer for the national enquirer...we have big news and i'm assuming by the photo you can take a guess as to what this big news is... this november (the 26th to be exact), we will be greeting a new little baby girl! today we had a nice long 45-minute ultrasound when she decided not to spread eagle, thus angering her parents and greatly frustrating
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our summer vacation is in minden, louisiana...seriously...
Sat, Jul 5 2008 10:05 AM
| photography, travel, family
| permalink
yeah, that right...this is our vacation: minden, la. no offense to minden—it's a fine town, i'm sure—but it isn't exactly a vacation hotspot. actually, christen and i are here to shoot a wedding of one of our good friends cara beth (congratulations cara beth and brent!) and they've put us up in a hotel for two nights, so this is what we're referring to as our sad summer vacation.nevertheless,
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lucy lu
Fri, Jun 27 2008 09:57 AM
| general life, personal, lucy, family
| permalink
smoke in the air
Sun, Jun 15 2008 10:30 AM
| general life, family
| permalink
yesterday we spent the day in conway at a family reunion (you know, that thing that rednecks do in order to have an extra reason to eat kfc and assorted casseroles...) and we decided to dump lucy off with the parentals before heading back to the rock. so we went out for dinner and a movie (the happening, specifically...more on that in a later post...) and got home at about 11:45 p.m. we walked in the
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lucy
i'm consistently reminded about how deep my love for lucy is and how much brighter she makes my life. most of the time, i notice these things in the simplest parts of life.a couple days ago, we made a monumental switch: we turned around lucy's car seat. this change has been really fun for us because we can see exactly what lucy is doing as we drive along (of course, the chance of rear ending some other
