Final portraits of 2013

Week 49: He LOVED this Mexican food. Dad helped the food on to the spoon, Ignatius (as you can see) fed himself.

Week 50: Playing with his pretty friend Amity.
Week 51: Pure joy as Hosea chases him around the trampoline.

Week 52: Baby Iggy is now Iggy Boy!

*This post is part of the 52 project: a portrait of Ignatius, once a week, every week in 2013.*

Shedding skin

We are trying to be intentional about paying attention to the (often subtle) seasons here. Joshua and I both observed that Advent (I know December is long gone, but I'm just catching up...) in Brisbane coincides with the shedding of bark on many gum (eucalyptus) trees. It is also when they begin to flower.

Each year there is an increment of living bark that results in the continual expanding girth of the tree. In all species [of eucalyptus] the outermost layer dies each year. In about half of the species this dead layer completely sheds, exposing a new layer of living bark, and the process continues year after year. Source.

Perhaps there is a message for us, for me, in this. There is beauty to be found amidst the messiness of change and growth.

What do I need to shed?