New Look (Again!)

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you may notice that I've made a few changes.  I loved my old logo but it did not include our newest little boy who was born earlier this year, so it needed updating.  Alas since that cute flower cutout is not located in the same city as me, I had to retire my old friend.  Here's one final look at the logo that has served me well for the last two years, and inspires me to think of Mother Teresa every time I see it:

"How can you say there are too many children?  That's like saying there are too many flowers." (Mother Teresa).

You can read about that redesign here, in case you're interested.

Adding my newest little one to the logo gave me the perfect reason to redesign the site.  I'm not sure if there are rules around how often you should completely revamp a blog (pretty sure you probably shouldn't do it every two years though - oops!) But I was beginning to feel like it needed something a little more fresh anyway.  I decided to create a new logo that would be easier to add future children to, so that I don't find myself in the same position the next time a new little one needs to be added.

But - I really loved my old logo.  I loved the flowers and the tie-in with the Mother Teresa quote.  And I wanted something that visually represented family life, and the way it goes on as God intended.  The parallels to a family and a garden are obvious and beautiful, and I was looking for something similar this time around.  Visions of a picket fence with pinterest-like pastel backgrounds popped into my mind, but I wasn't really feeling it.  I thought about arranging their photos along stepping stones on a walkway and played around with that for a while, but I wasn't loving that either.  And then I remembered a presentation I did a while back as part of a writer's circle I took part in.  I based the entire presentation on the song "Sparrow" by Audrey Assad, which is one of my favorites.  I find myself often repeating the words of the chorus,

I sing because I'm happy
I sing because I'm free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He's watching me

And I realized that's family life for me.  All of it.  I am so happy in this life - it fills me to overflowing!  In this life I find freedom and love, and I know beyond every shadow of a doubt that God loves me.  It is my greatest hope to raise my children to know that God is with them too, that if He takes such great care of the sparrow, how much more does He care for and look out for us?  This is the message I hope to convey with this revamp but, more importantly, it is how I want to live my life, to love my husband, and to raise my children - secure in this love.

We had school pictures done last week by a friend of mine, and they turned out so beautiful I knew they were the perfect shots for the new logo. I added whispy lines to mimic flight, flowing from the front of the image behind the faces of my children and ending at the sparrow, because I hope that in this example my children will rise to new heights, and soar on the loving winds of a God who loves them.  And luckily for me Blogger had a template with flying birds in the background that matched perfectly with this imagery.  Also by a complete coincidence Blogger's layout had six birds flying in the background, which added with the bird in my logo makes seven birds - representing our seven children.  How cool is that?  I chose a soft teal because it's peaceful and I tweaked the colors of the template to match the logo. And I kept the icon of Jesus clinging to Mary's veil, because it holds special meaning to me (which you can read about here.)  I love that the color of the site is also a Marian color, and that she has a prominent space at the very top of the page.  I hold her intercession so dear and find in her comfort and encouragement as the Mother of all mothers, who leads me to her Son.

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  I love creating new things and it feels so good when things finally come together.  I look forward to many years of chronicling this crazy life under the watchful eyes of my beautiful children, whose faces continue to greet me each time I log on to write a new post.  But above all I give thanks to God for this beautiful life, and I pray that in sharing everything He does for me I will bring Him glory.  I know in the end it's not about how it looks but whom I share, and I pray that as I continue to go forward every word written in this space will be a testament to the love of God, who continues to transform my life and gives me a reason to sing.