Emma is now three weeks old! She is a delight as always. This week she has really developed some muscles and works hard to sit up and keep her head up when you’re holding her. She is a strong little baby and keeps getting stronger!

The past week was a busy one for Emma as she met Great Aunt Sharon and the Zernias, Auntie Gen, Uncle Aaron, and the Thul cousins, and finally Uncle Matt and Auntie Jessi! She had a busy Sunday at Bethesda as well, meeting lots of old Irwin family friends.

Thank you to everyone who has brought us meals — they have been a big blessing to us. We really appreciate it!

So occasionally I pick up an arcane hobby and run with it. This week: alcohol stoves. I was reading about ultralight backpacking strategies and researching how people eliminate weight from their backpacks and ran across these little gems and an entire subculture of backpackers who build them and use them. So far I’ve built about half a dozen and finally found a design that works consistently.

The beauty of these stoves is how light and simple they are. Most people construct them out of aluminum cans, cut, sanded, and drilled into the correct shape. It only takes me 20 minutes and two pop cans to build a fully functional stove, one that can boil a quart of water. The fuel is simple — alcohols such as methanol or ethanol — and is generally safer than white gas or other fuels.

To be honest, I’ve grown tired of my Optimus stove breaking on trips. I’ve had more problems with that stove than any other, and though it works very well when it’s working, I’m ready for something simple.

For the curious:
The Art of the Alcohol Stove
Penny Alcohol Stove
Pepsi Can Alcohol Stove
Penny Stove Construction

Emma - Smiling

I’d always heard that major life changes, such as getting married or having children, allow you to experience aspects of God’s love that you hadn’t previously. When Ben and I got married, I found this to be true-I was able to see God as my lover and to experience that intimacy with Him now that I had a picture of it here on earth. When Emma was born, this phenomenon occurred again, yet much more drastically. Not only did I have a clearer view of God as my Daddy, I also experienced the power and reality of unconditional love.

There is no one in this world that I have ever loved unconditionally; my love for people has always developed over time. I fell in love with my husband over a four-year period and now love him unconditionally. My love for Julie, my best friend, evolved over time and is now unconditional. With Emma, it was completely different. From the moment she entered this world, my love for her was instantaneously unconditional, something I have never experienced before. She is completely helpless and dependent on Ben and me. There is absolutely nothing she has done or can do to earn my love, and yet it is hers. No matter how many hours of sleep I lose or how many diapers I have to change, it is hers. I can’t get enough of her! I desire to be with her all of the time-talking to her, teaching her, reading to her, comforting her, and just holding her. She is the first person who hasn’t had to “earn” my love over time. Because she’s my daughter, I love her unconditionally. Period.

As I realized this transformation in the way I love, it dawned on me that this is exactly the way God feels about me, His daughter. He can’t get enough of me! He desires to spend endless hours with me-talking to me, gazing at me, teaching me, and comforting me. There is nothing I have ever done or can do to earn His love; in fact, there are many things I have done that would give Him just cause to not love me, yet He loves me all the more. Because I have never loved someone unconditionally from the start of the relationship, I never grasped the fullness of being loved unconditionally by God. Only by Him blessing me with a daughter of my own did this reality become clear. And for that, I am so thankful.