My name is Kimberly. You can call me Kim or Kimmama. The nickname “Kimmama” was given to me by my best friend, whom I refer to as “Chrystalicious.” The nickname became more sentimental when I became a mother, and when I decided to move my blog to WordPress (and self host), it was the only name that would do.
There are two questions that run through my mind daily. The first one is the most important, “How can I be more like the woman in Proverbs 31?” She is a hard worker, wise, strong, dignified, resourceful, loving & confident. Most importantly, she loves the Lord. The second question is less important in the grand scheme of things, but occupies my thoughts nonetheless, “How can I be a better photographer?”
I am so incomplete on both accounts, still learning so much in both journeys. This blog covers a little bit of both. 
The Characters
First, there is my husband, Eric. He’s a mechanical engineer and a computer technician. We met in college, and though we did not attend the same schools, we were both involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. We both went to Chapter Focus Week, a week long retreat up at Cedar Campus in Michigan, near Mackinaw Island. There were hundreds and hundreds of college students up there that week, and apparently he saw me across the room in the mess hall. (I was wearing bright yellow pants.) It also helped that my best friend was in small group with him that week. Over the course of a series of entertaining and sometimes awkward events, she decided I should date him. I believe the conversation went something like this:
Me: Eric is really cool. You should date him!
Chrystal: Why don’t you date him?!
A few months later I took her suggestion. Turns out he had liked me since we met (albeit briefly) at Cedar Campus. A little over a year later, we got married. That was in August of 2006. We’ve been disgustingly happy ever since!
Then there is my son, Micah. He came out like a lightening bolt and he’s kept me on my toes ever since. His birth went something like this:
Nurse: The Pitocin may take quite a while to work.
Me: (Five minutes later*) I think I need to push.
Eric: What’s that?
Me: I’M POOPING!
Nurse: That’s not poop, that’s his head! Don’t push!
Me: *freaks out*
Doctor: (rushing in) Do I have time to change?
Nurse: 2 minutes!
Doctor: (2 minutes later, just sat down) Do you want to touch his head?
Me: Oh my baby!! Oh my baby!! Ouch! Ow! Ow! Aaaaahhh!!! (Veins pop out of my neck like the Hulk)
Micah: Waaaaaaa!!!!!!
(*I may have exaggerated a tiny bit.) Some people say that how your baby is born sort of predicts their personality. I definitely think that is true. Micah was a little stubborn at first, but once he made up his mind to be born, it was fast. He is still that way: a little stubborn at times, but constantly running everywhere he goes. If there is one word to describe him, however, it’s “sweet.” He is very, very sweet.
My family means the world to me, and that is the understatement of the century. They come second only to my relationship with God. He should really be the first mentioned in this little introduction, because He is not only a part of my family as my Heavenly Father, he created my family.
My Savior
To say nothing about the relationship I have with the Lord would leave a deep hole in my story, which is essentially the heart and sole of this blog. Because of this, I am compelled to share the journey I have walked with Christ and proclaim the good work he has done in my life. Though many Christ followers are quick to throw off the label of “Christian” in an effort to save face and avoid criticism, it is a part of my identity I cannot deny. I am sorry for the sins of past and present believers, but I do not apologize for the God that I serve. I know that His Word is rejected by the majority of the population, religious or not. That does not change the fact that it is truth.
I always knew about Him. After all, I grew up in a Christian home. But, I didn’t really meet Him until I was 18 years old. We met at a conference. I’ve been to a lot of Christian conferences: this one was the Evangelical Free National Youth Conference in Atlanta, GA, in July of 2002. We had these huge rallies in the Georgia Tech dome each night. Chris Tomlin was the worship leader that week. I don’t remember the name of the speaker the second night we were there, but it was during his sermon on Isaiah 6 that the Lord rocked the earth under my feet. It was a breathtaking, bone-crushing, heart-piercing experience that left me speechless for hours afterward. The Lord had confronted me with the reality of my sin and the sin of the world. The weight of that sin and its consequences – death and eternal separation from God – was laid on my heart. It was a burden that rested very heavily on me. I felt a physical pain and in my distress and shame, until God reminded me of his mercy. I accepted his gift of grace with all my heart. This time it was for real. I was a changed person from that day forward.
But grace doesn’t make any sense without the charges. Before God got in my face, I was a self-centered, hypocritical teen, lacking in integrity and control of my emotions. I wasn’t mean or anything – I just couldn’t pull the focus off myself and a lot of “nice” things I did were for personal advancement. Ugh, right? Now I know this did not show from the outside, but it was something I was ashamed of and so I hid it well. I struggled with intermittent depression that largely stemmed from an inward focus with a critical spirit. I had absorbed the negative, become somewhat bitter, and abandoned my identity in Christ to pursue popularity. I was really preoccupied with being accepted by my peers. I even started swearing in high school for a while because I thought it would make people think I was cool. I hated swearing! (Now I think that was pathetic.) I may not have seemed all that bad to others, and some have told me I was anything but bad, but I was still living outside of God’s purpose for my life. My motives were all wrong and my focus was all wrong. I was totally unaware of my need for God’s grace.
A pivotal moment leading up to my true conversion happened during study hall when I was seventeen. A teacher interrupted me while I laughed and scoffed at the photos of disfigured people on a popular website. “Aren’t you church people supposed to be nice? I thought religious people weren’t supposed to make fun of people like that.” I was wearing a church t-shirt at the time. Talk about a blow to the heart. My heart was filthy and I was starting to see the gap between the person I was at school and the person I was at home and at church. I didn’t realize it yet, but this was one of the events that was preparing me for my true confrontation with truth the next year.
After the conference and my encounter with God, I entered college with a renewed spirit and a hunger for truth. God used InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to teach me what it really meant to walk with the Lord. It was in college that I began to witness first hand the power of prayer. It is also where I began to really study God’s Word and discover the character of God. Slowly, the person on the outside and the person on the inside became one again.
Today, I know God as my comforter, my provider, my King and my salvation. It is through an eternal perspective that I endure life’s hardships, knowing that one day this temporary home will vanish like a vapor and I will walk with the Lord in Heaven for eternity. Until then, it is my desire and purpose to continue to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God… [To be] strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified [me] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered [me] from the domain of darkness and transferred [me] to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom [I] have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. [Colossians 1:9-14]
We are saved once, but we are sanctified every day thereafter. I hope you find yourself reading this blog in a few years and noticing a clear progression: a maturity that speaks for what the Lord is doing in my life each and every day. I should be a better woman today that I was yesterday. And I pray I’ll be a better woman tomorrow.