The Journey Begins

I have wanted to start a blog for as long as I can remember. Writing has been in my blood since I was a little girl and ran the elementary school “newspaper”. I have always loved pondering, reflecting, creatively thinking….and putting those things on paper for someone else to read, ponder, and be inspired by. I have always, I mean ALWAYS hated editing and proof-reading. So while I LOVE to write, I care far more about getting my ideas out than I do making sure its in correct APA format. So if you cringe when you see grammatical errors, or incorrect uses of colons and quotation marks let me stop you right here and say, “You may want to read someone else’s blog.” But if you instead can look past run on sentences that start with a preposition, long winded writings that follow many tangents instead of an essay format, and the occasional misuse of punctuation…..then please stay and enjoy my ponderings with me, and I promise to do my best to keep these “crimes” to a minimum.

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Stacylyn Buckingham. (Lyn is my middle name but somewhere in high school I thought it looked prettier all schmooshed in with my first name, felt more sophisticated, and mostly finally gave me something unique in a school filled with “Stacys” when i deeply longed to have an original and unusual name.) I married my best friend after a VERY long and interesting journey through college…a story I’m sure I’ll tell at some point. We have 4 very different children.

Kathryn (Kate) Enliyis Brooke is my 13 (almost 14-I’m told that is an important distinction to make) year old teenager. Kate looks like a mini version of myself and quite frankly is a lot like me. She shares my sarcasm and my opinionated tendencies. But she also shares my love for writing and music. Her voice is AMAZING. One of my truly favorite things is listening to her sing. Her gifts of writing both music and stories fascinates me and at times make me feel as though I’m sitting in an underground cathedral listening to an ancient secret shared only with those who have journeyed through the depths of pain to earn the right to listen. It is an honor to listen to her heart and she is incredibly talented. She is also a pain in the butt and I often feel torn between the desire to hug her and bang my head into a wall….

Trinity Abigail Joyce is my 9 year old daughter. Her two middle names mean “Father’s Joy” and “Joy”. We joke that she is double the joy because she truly lights up a room when she is being herself. She is a natural comedian, prankster, and ninja. She would make an EXCELLENT CIA agent….either that or a member of Oceans 8. She is constantly sneaking up on us and can successfully remove her dad’s keys from his belt without his ever knowing she entered the room. Thankfully she does all this for fun and always gives them back. We are praying her moral compass continues! I love watching her be herself and immensely enjoy her dynamic personality. But her high energy levels, quick distractability, and incessant need to see the world as her personal gymnastics arena can leave me feeling overstimulated. She is working on learning how to slow down and I am working on how to breathe and let her be her.

Matthew Josiah William is my 7 year old son. Matthew is the perfect combination of so many things I love. He is incredibly gifted like his father. I am constantly in awe of his abstract thinking, complex pondering, and insightful conclusions on a vast array of topics. One of my favorite things to do is look at him in the rear view mirror as he stares out the window of the car. You can tell by his facial expression that he is thinking, calculating, theorizing something. If you ask him what he will usually smile coyly and say “nothing.” But every once in awhile he will share, and always it will amaze me that he is thinking about something in a way that is years beyond his developmental age. Matthew is my snuggle buddy. When I’m sad, tired, or just overstimulated by the rest of the clan; Matthew is the one I can count on to snuggle up next to me in a soft blanket and just be. His long peaceful pauses can instantly be interrupted by an outburst of what I call “freaking out” at a moments notice though. He struggles the most with change and unmet expectations. We are all learning how to take deep breaths, communicate with words, and manage intense emotions.

Wesley James Habakkuk is my beautiful little 4 month old. I waited a long time for little Wes as I always believed we’d have a 4th child. He is every bit the blessing I knew he’d be. Unbeknownst to me, my husband prayed for a son that was just like his mama. God heard his prayers and we have a delightfully high maintenance, silly baby who loves being outside. I wouldn’t say he is colicky….just very opinionated about what he wants, when and how. Unfortunately he wasn’t born able to communicate very effectively so its sometimes a little tricky to figure out what that very specific thing is. But I am in love with him and how his entire face lights up when he sees you. He is very responsive and reminds me a lot of his older brother. He rolled over today for the first time! It was so exciting to watch him figure it out.

Those are my kids in a nutshell. There will likely be many stories about them in the days to come. The purpose of this blog is to share my life, the good and the bad, in hopes that by doing so we (you and myself) might grow closer to Jesus with a deeper faith, a more healed heart, and a more skillful way of managing life and emotions. I am excited to embark on this journey with you!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton