About this Blog

November 2015

Hi, my name is Christine. I am a beloved child of God. I believe that you are as well. I don’t place any qualifiers on that belief. You are the forgiven, loved, beloved, cherished child that God created you to be. That is all I need to know about you to be your friend. It might be helpful to know your name but hey we don’t have to exchange names if you would rather be anonymous. This is the internet after all , right ?

I am not anonymous, I am real, I am a mom, I am a widow, I will soon be a Mother in law and a step-grandmother (is that a thing?) I go by Gigi thank you very much ! I  am a student due to Graduate this May with a Masters of Arts in Ministry at Drew Theological school in Madison NJ. I am the family story keeper and storyteller. I hang on to old photos and the stories that go with them. If you give me five minutes I will tell you twenty minutes of stories and I will be forever grateful that you took the time to listen. I love people and the people I love know I love them. I care more than I should, I give more than I can, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I will give you the shirt off of my back. My heart has been broken more times than I can tell you but I will risk it all again to tell you I love you.

The love of my life came into my life for just under three years. His name was Donald K Baxter and you will find many stories about him here. He died less than eight months after our wedding of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. I am lost without him, but I will continue to love and live and learn and laugh, because he loved all of those things about me, and because he loved those things about me I know that I am capable of love again. I hope you enjoy the stories I share, I hope to hear from you in the comments and most of all I hope that you love fully and dance without reservation this thing we call life, because we only have one trip around the sun my friend and we were made to enjoy it  …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

January 2015

I removed the word US from the title of this page today. I wish that I could say that there were two of us contributing to these posts and in some ways there really are still two of us but in the hard cold world of the physical realm we live in there is only me and I am no longer an “us.” I am a beloved child of God, I am a mother of two wonderful young men, I am a student once again pursuing a Masters in Divinity at Drew Theological school in Madison NJ. I am the family story keeper and storyteller. I hang on to old photos and the stories that go with them. If you give me five miminutes I will tell you twenty minutes of stories and I will be forever grateful that you took the time to listen. I love people and the people I love know I love them. I care more than I should, I give more than I can, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I will give you the shirt off of my back. My heart has been broken more times than I can tell you but I will risk it all again to tell you I love you. The love of my life came into my life for just under three years and I am lost without him, but I will continue to love and live and learn and laugh, because he loved all of those things about me, and because he loved those things about me I know that I am lovable and capable of love again. I hope you enjoy the stories I share, I hope to hear from you in the comments and most of all I hope that you love fully and dance without reservation this thing we call life, because we only have one trip around the sun my friend and we were made to enjoy it.

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November 2014

I have dreaded updating this entry. Somehow by writing the word widow next to my name I feel as if I am losing him all over again, as if somehow I can keep him if I still call myself a newlywed, but I am alone and I am no longer who I was when I wrote the lines below. I cannot remove them yet, I am not ready, but the stories need to be told.

My heart was shattered and torn from me when my husband suddenly went from vibrant health to his heart no longer beating while in my very arms in less than the span of half of a day. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are silent and undetectable unless they cause pain. My husband had a complete physical and was considered to be in fantastic shape and fit just 5 weeks before his tragic death. I know what his last conscious thoughts were and I know where he was on his Faith Journey. I KNOW that he is at peace, I KNOW that I am not.

I do not know very much else.

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December, 2013

Recent transplants from Upstate New York, Don and I are learning our way around the Northern NJ and NY Metro area. I am currently pursuing a Masters in Divinity at Drew Theological School in Madison NJ as a Certified Candidate for Ministry with the United Methodist Church.
Don and I enjoy exploring our new home area and engaging in conversation about all faiths and religions. We hope that by engaging with the larger world around us we can become better Christians, and better humans in the process.
As newlyweds many of the recent entries are stories about the causes and people that our friends and family members told us about as a gift to honor our wedding.(See Smith-Baxter Wedding Stories) As a child who grew up hearing the stories told around the kitchen table every night I learned the value of a good story at a very young age, my husband Don is the story collector however, and he has the book collection to show for it! (Thank You Digital Readers)
Don and I look forward to being partners in ministry together. We welcome you to join us!
If you have been with me all along I thank you for following me!

If you are just getting to know me I thank you for your prayers and support !