https://hedraios.net/ Recent content on Everyday Ebenezers Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0500 https://hedraios.net/post/five-years/ Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0500 https://hedraios.net/post/five-years/ “Taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalm 34:8a It’s August in Missouri which means many things - soaring heat indices, weeds outgrowing grass, back to school rush at Target, the return of 20K + college students (traffic!), and for our family it means that once again we are in countdown mode for a new baby. I have been pregnant during August for 4 of the past 6 years. https://hedraios.net/post/changes/ Sat, 29 Aug 2015 13:45:05 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/changes/ As Molly recently posted, this is the second anniversary of the stillbirth of our twin sons, Phineas Jon and Abraham Steven. We like to call them Phin and Bram. It’s difficult to add to what Molly has already written, but there are few things that have been on my mind and heart lately about the boys. Immediately after the twins were born (jumping ahead in line to be with our Father), the pain of the loss to us was visceral. https://hedraios.net/post/two-years/ Fri, 28 Aug 2015 02:32:59 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/two-years/ It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning – unseasonably cool for August, and as I sit at the computer I can hear the lovely sounds of a 10 month old trying not to nap. She is in the next room over and the monitor registers her sometimes pitiful moanings, and “nananana’s” and some sort of singing noises. The sounds rev up and then there is quiet for a minute, followed by more noises, then more quiet. https://hedraios.net/post/were-back/ Wed, 01 Apr 2015 02:12:06 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/were-back/ So it’s been a long time since something fresh has come across this blog. We’ve been busy – wonderfully, exhaustingly, busy. Busy with this little blessing: Miss Josephine Joy Bottorff made her appearance (3 weeks early) on October 23, 2014 at 1:33 in the afternoon. She was welcomed with overwhelming joy by her parents, grandparents (even her Grandpa K who was two days post-op from a total shoulder replacement), aunts, uncle, and a host of friends. https://hedraios.net/post/site-move/ Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:55:47 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/site-move/ Hello Everyone! We’ve recently changed hosts for our site. The web address is the same and everything should still look and work the same. The only exception is that during the transfer, we lost the email subscription list. So if you’re still interested in getting email notifications for new posts, please re-register on the right hand side of the page. Thanks! allyn https://hedraios.net/post/god-of-all-creation/ Fri, 10 Oct 2014 13:46:46 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/god-of-all-creation/ Fall colors Columbia 2009 October is one of my favorite months of the year. I love the beauty that unfolds as the seasons change, especially here is Missouri with all the trees and rolling hills. Allyn and I live in an older neighborhood with established trees and it is such a treat to drive home each day and see new bursts of red and orange and yellow erupt from the towering oaks and maples. https://hedraios.net/post/guitar-case-stand/ Sat, 27 Sep 2014 17:08:02 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/guitar-case-stand/ So as you may know, we have a new member of the family on the way! Josephine Bottorff will be joining us in early November. In preparation for this joyous event, we’ve set up the nursery in the room that used to contain the office. This means that the office was moved to the other room. Part of this process involved moving our musical instruments over. Since Molly and I both play our guitars with the worship team at church almost every week, there’s a lot of schlepping guitars around. https://hedraios.net/post/the-lord-increases/ Mon, 15 Sep 2014 02:26:01 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/the-lord-increases/ Things will be changing soon in the Bottorff house. Our party of two (plus one furry friend) will soon become a party of three. There is a new nursery coming together in the room that used to be our office/music/junk catcher, and the spare bedroom where four framed prints from the twins’ “things that go”-themed nursery still hang, has become the new office and instrument hub. Things are different this time around. https://hedraios.net/post/the-chasm/ Sun, 29 Jun 2014 02:50:47 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/the-chasm/ I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life and death and their relationship to one another. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that I’ve been thinking about this life in contrast to eternity. I picture it like two realities separated by a great chasm. On the one side is our day to day reality (the good, the bad, the ugly) and on the other side is a glorious reality shielded by a veil. https://hedraios.net/post/a-mothers-day-testimony/ Sat, 17 May 2014 02:02:20 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/a-mothers-day-testimony/ Allyn and I had the opportunity to share our testimony with our church family this past weekend. Ours is not a story you would expect to be highlighted on Mother’s Day; however, our pastor has been preaching through the book of Job and asked if we would be willing to share from our own season of suffering and loss. We were honored to have the opportunity to talk about what God is doing in our lives in this unusual season and hopefully to point to the reality of a God who brings beauty from ashes. https://hedraios.net/post/the-storm/ Fri, 04 Apr 2014 15:25:43 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/the-storm/ We have had some bad weather here in Mid-Missouri over the past two days. Crazy amounts of rain, pockets of hail, lots of lightning and high winds. Early Thursday morning I was awakened by flashes of light and claps of thunder as the storm seemed to be centered right over our little house. I woke up, wondering about tornadoes, hail, roof damage, and the possibility of any of our large trees falling into the house. https://hedraios.net/post/the-art-of-marriage/ Sun, 16 Mar 2014 00:03:21 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/the-art-of-marriage/ This weekend, Molly and I attended The Art of Marriage hosted by our church, Compass Evangelical Free Church. I firmly believe that marriage conferences are always a good idea, especially when they’re hosted by the people in your own fellowship. When I told a co-worker about the conference we were attending, his first question was, “You in trouble or something?” My response was, “No, and I don’t want to be, so we go to conferences to prevent problems. https://hedraios.net/post/forecasting/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:48:34 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/forecasting/ High of 75 AND snow? What?! I have a weather app on my phone that I check daily. I am a planner and I like to have any and all information accessible that will aid me in my plans to be comfortable in the midst of what is to come. So, if it is going to be 70 degrees and sunny (thank you Jesus!) I want to know that I can bust out a pair of shorts and my Cardinals hat for my afternoon walk with the dog. https://hedraios.net/post/six-months/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 02:14:50 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/six-months/ This weekend will mark the six month anniversary of our loss. It’s hard for me to think that six months ago I was washing baby clothes and figuring out how to organize the little dresser in a small bedroom overtaken by two cribs. The grief is still there and it comes in waves. You think you’re doing okay and then something causes the swell to start – maybe it’s seeing a photo of a beaming new dad as he holds his firstborn son, or having the eyes of an infant meet yours while walking through the grocery store, or seeing someone with twins. https://hedraios.net/post/training/ Fri, 21 Feb 2014 00:41:44 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/training/ As some of you may know, over the past few weeks I have been training for a triathlon. Trizou is a short triathlon taking place in early May. I’m really looking forward to it. The main problem with this is that I can’t run a triathlon… at least not yet anyway. While I fully believe I’ll be able to run and finish this race by the time it takes place, it’s become quite clear that I’m not ready yet. https://hedraios.net/post/lessons-from-the-dance-floor/ Mon, 17 Feb 2014 20:34:22 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/lessons-from-the-dance-floor/ Allyn and I were married two years ago this December. At our wedding reception (which was epic BTW) we did a choreographed waltz to Norah Jones’ song “Come Away with Me” and it was a lot of fun and really, really good for our marriage. Now I’m not talking about the song itself or any of the deep theological principles found in its lyrics (hah!), but rather the preceding experience of learning to dance. https://hedraios.net/post/before-beside-behind/ Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:56:04 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/before-beside-behind/ It’s been cold here in the Midwest. I mean really cold – like 8 inches of snow, single digit temps, freeze your snot kind of cold. On days like these I am thankful for friends who are prone to cabin-fever. Friends like the one I walked with yesterday. This friend introduced me to mall walking, and yes, I know what you’re thinking, I’m much too young to mall walk, but really, can you find a better climate-controlled free track that always ends up at Target? https://hedraios.net/post/on-getting-the-mail/ Sat, 08 Feb 2014 02:31:40 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/on-getting-the-mail/ I have a love/hate relationship with the mail. More often than not, my daily trip to the mailbox produces nothing more than offers to get a new credit card or switch to this or that cable company. Occasionally my mailbox produces documents that look like handwritten envelopes but turn out to be only a very generic invitation to trade in my car for a brand new car (and a hefty car payment). https://hedraios.net/post/email-subscription/ Thu, 06 Feb 2014 03:33:55 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/email-subscription/ Whereas it hath been requested that an email subscription feature be added to the site “Everyday Ebenezers” (aka hedraios.net, hereafter known as “the site”), and whereas a suitable plugin has been found for such a task, a subscription form hath been added to yonder right side of said page on the site. If it interests the reader to become a subscriber, please feel free to enter your email address using the aforementioned field-on-the-right. https://hedraios.net/post/everday-ebe-what/ Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:51:13 +0000 https://hedraios.net/post/everday-ebe-what/ Perhaps you’ve heard the term “ebenezer” before – maybe it makes you think of a certain Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, or it calls to mind a melody from a familiar hymn, or, if you’re a student of the Old Testament you might recall in 1 Samuel 7:12 that Samuel sets up a stone and calls it “ebenezer.” The word comes from a Hebrew phrase that translates as “stone of help.” Samuel raises up this ebenezer following a battle with Israel’s enemy the Philistines, in which God shows up in a mighty way and gives Israel the victory. https://hedraios.net/about/ Mon, 03 Feb 2014 03:01:55 +0000 https://hedraios.net/about/ We are Allyn and Molly Bottorff, an engineer and a physical therapist by trade, followers of Christ, partners in life and marriage. We enjoy our chocolate lab Belle, playing guitar on the worship team at church, living within ten minutes of our parents, good books, captivating TV series, working out together at the local gym, cooking, and spending time with our friends. This blog was created as an outlet for our thoughts and photos, and as a way to document this journey that we are on.