<em />The video is also on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Apn2K2GbzU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egivemeaning%2Ecom%2Fproposal%2FCYWC07">YouTube</a> - for what it's worth.

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!

4 comments

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:29:48 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/1084521 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/1028294

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.

7 comments

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:17:13 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/1028294 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/1016290

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?

22 comments

]]> Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:40:24 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/1016290 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/986301 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.

0 comments

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:53:30 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/986301 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/985183 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.

1 comments

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:12:49 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/985183 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/958583 He is passionate and loves Jesus.]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:07:24 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/958583 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/943408

Found Jaimes sleeping like this tonight

2 comments

]]> Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:42:46 -0800 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/943408 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/890077 Took an evening stroll with the girls and snapped a handful of grainy pics of the neighborhood.

1 comments

]]> Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:28:10 -0700 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/890077 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/888750 Winterly engaged,
summerly wed, spring-time birth;
what will autumn ring?

0 comments

]]> Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:35:59 -0700 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/888750 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/884283

The wrong idea at the wrong time is a disaster.
The wrong idea at the right time is a mistake.
The right idea at the wrong time is unacceptable.
The right idea at the right time creates the potential for success.

-Allistair Begg

0 comments

]]> Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:36:23 -0700 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/884283 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/882705 I'm facilitating a panel at the Tapestry Conference on Saturday. I feel prepared in the sense that I have a robust list of questions and I'm generally pretty comfortable in front of people.

Anyone have any advice (experiential or otherwise) on striking a balance between fluid conversation and pointed Q&A?

0 comments

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:39:06 -0700 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/882705 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/877662 Connects needs in the church with abilities in the church to enable the community to be the church.

0 comments

]]> Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:14:07 -0700 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/877662 http://virb.com/mattdonovan/posts/text/838628 We finalized on Gracie's adoption on Friday, September 19th. I was more excited about it than I thought I would be. I mean - she's been home for six months, so I anticipated this feeling like more of a formality than something really special. It was really special.

I was nervous walking into the courtroom - the same kind of nervous as when I walked into the operating room when Jaimes was born. When our attorney asked me, under oath, if I understood that by adopting Sevyn from this day forward she is ours as if she was born to us, I got the same dizzy feeling I did when the doctor held Jaimes up for me to see for the first time.

I'm not comparing the kids, by the way. I'm comparing my experiences with new fatherhood. Finalization brought a feeling of newness and permanency to my relationship with Gracie that I hadn't realized was missing.

In Luke 5:4-9, Simon is asked by Jesus to drop his nets on the other side of the boat. He responds, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." For better or for worse, I read some sarcasm in his response. "Okay - if you say so, Master." I think I read it that way because I tend to have a bitchy attitude about seemingly silly requests.

After the men haul in a huge load of fish, Simon falls on his knees saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." On reading this, I am ashamed. I think many times the "gut feeling" I have about a design is the Holy Spirit nudging me toward being better. That difficult client request, if nothing else, is a chance to ask God (The Designer) for help.

I've always thought about worship at work as a Tuesday morning Bible study or a (mostly) daily prayer time. Only now am I beginning to realize that God knows how to do my job infinitely better than I do. Not only can I come to him for help with my laziness and pride, I can ask him for help choosing colors, developing grid systems, solving interface problems, designing for accessibility, and the list goes on.

If I ask him for help, believing that he listens and trusting that he knows better than I do, I'm more aptly ready to praise him in the successes and run to him in the failures. In the end, I think that's all that really matters.