happy spring!

on this first day of spring 2009, we held rhys' naming ceremony. c and i aren't religious, but rather spiritual. so, at exactly 11:44 a.m., the time of the vernal equinox, rhys' name was echoed into the universe. it was a small ceremony, just c, rhys, rev. jane, bubba and georgia (one of rhys' fairy parents). c and i decided that we weren't going to have 'godparents', but rather fairy parents. two sets of 'em :-) rhys' fairy parents are c's sister and brother, cassie and ryan, and my brother, john and our friend, georgia.

we chose to use the sunflower as his dedication flower. the sunflower, in spiritualism, is described as that which, even in times of darkness, the sunflower turns its face to the light. quoted as, "The sunflower follows the sun as it grows, adoration, haughtiness, devotion. 'I don't think there's anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that's because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.'"
... plus he is our sunflower, our sunshine, our son ;-)

we also incorporated a sand segment into the cermony. at our commitment ceremony, c and i symbolized our separate journies coming together by mixing together sand that we have accumulated from various points in our relationship (first date at the beach, buddhist monks sand art, etc.). we found it only fitting that, during this next chapter in our journey, that sand that represents our little guy also be added.

the mini blanket that we wrapped around rhys read, "go barefoot and build your dreams." c and i were barefoot during the ceremony, and of course, all we want for our sweet boy is for him to always be pure and open to love and to respect nature and to dream big always and to live his life as an exclamation, not an explanation and for all of his dreams to come true. we felt that today was the perfect day to dedicate him to the universe.

happy spring, everyone!!!