Make it. Keep it.

I have never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. Here's my thinking: if you know you need to change something, don't wait for an excuse like January 1st to do it. If something needs to change, change it now. Besides that, I hate how it starts out so adament, and a few weeks in, people all over the country are caving. Why do we keep doing it? It's never proven to be very successful. In fact, when we come up with our resolutions, we do so expecting them to not last.

I just finished writing a Christmas letter to sweet Neema. We have photos of her up on our walls. We sit in wonder as her drawings to us show how she is growing before our very eyes. I cry when I read of her prayers for me. She prays for me more often, and no doubt more fiercely, than even I or most of my friends and family do. God has used her to change the way I see things. She is ten years old and lives in Tanzania. I have known Neema since she was six, when Andy and I became her sponsors.

You can make a New Year's resolution this year and keep it. You can sponsor a child from Compassion. Writing letters to your child is worth its time in gold, for your child's heart, but even more for yours. Compassion makes it easy. You can go to their website, type out your letter, upload some photos and click send. They'll do the translating and mailing for you. This New Year's resolution comes with an eternal impact. And just in case you feel failure lurking in the shadows of February, sign up for automatic payments. You'll never miss your $38... we never do.

With this one act you can:

- love a stranger in the name of Jesus
- begin a new relationship
- change a person's future
- break the cycle of poverty
- help spread the gospel to the ends of the earth

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25; 34 - 40

Resolve to make a resolution you can keep. Sponsor a child today!

Thanksgiving in December!

So yes...Christmas is this week. But I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving. There's no better time than now to do what should be done. ;) Here's just a few photos from our great Thanksgiving with Grammy and Bumpa:

as close to a group picture as we could get...

Sophia is lovely, but what I like most about this picture is the background ;)

Berkley and Sophie are not the most willing or obedient posers

I love this dress. I got it last year at the JBF sale for $8. I bought it specifically for Thanksgiving, but also got to sneak it on for my cousin's baby shower.

Precious girl- I love every inch of her!

just like her mama..."No shoes, no grass!"

these were the cute little bloomers that went with the dress. Once inside, we let her take off the dress and put on her cheetah cardi...I thought it was adorable. Clearly she's much more interested in eating Christmas decorations...

2011 Ornaments

When I left home I left with an ornament collection. Since I was born, my aunt made me (and all my other cousins, which became quite the feat each year) an ornament for the Christmas tree. My first Christmas with Andy could have left us with a bare tree, but because of my special collection of personalized ornaments, our tree held colorful decorations and memories of Christmases past.

Our collection has grown wonderfully over the last five years, but that original collection still remains close to my heart. I wanted to continue the tradition by making Sophia an ornament each year, so that when she leaves home (hypothetically speaking...that day is frightening and much too far away to think on now) she will have a personalized collection of her own.

However, last year slipped by me. I had only intentions. This year, I knew the same would happen unless I got serious about it. So, I joined Pinterest! I found several ideas for ornaments that I loved. Because the budget is super tight this year, I picked the cheapest one to make, and headed to Hobby Lobby. I was so pleased with how it turned out, I've been back to Hobby Lobby twice for more supplies so I could fashion a few more as gifts.

Here is the one I made Sophia:

Sophia's name means wisdom. I want her ornaments to be something more than pretty decorations. So I bought a simple mini photo album. Each year when I make her ornament, I'm putting a picture of it along with a note explaining its meaning or a prayer for her that year. This year, our prayer is that Sophia would be filled with the wisdom of God, through his loving Word to us.

One of my favorite things about this ornament is that you can make it so many different ways. Here are a few I made for some of Sophie's sweet friends:

Merry Christmas!

Joining Pinterest

I kept hearing about Pinterest from friends. Everyone not only was on it, but was loving being on it! I was curious, but thought I don't have time for that stuff. I was right, by the way. ;)

I had this plan to make Sophia a homemade ornament from me each year. As I started searching online for some inspiration (Let's be honest, I was going to straight up steal an idea. My creativity tank is constantly on empty) I found myself wishing for a more organized way of searching; something where similar ideas were all clumped together, rather than having to go to 30 different blogs to find one item at each.

Enter Pinterest. I asked for an invite, then waited a few weeks before I finally received one. But since then, it's been happy pinning! (in moderation, of course) I've created a Christmas board with ideas for ornaments, recipes, advent calendars, decor, and gift ideas. I'm so glad to have my favorite things recorded. Next year, I'll be able to go straight here to pick an ornament to make, no searching required.

I'm not a techie. I tried to take a snapshot of my board to show you some things on it. But after 20 minutes of failing over and over again, I decided to install a "Follow me on Pinterest" button. It's a little premature, since my Christmas board is the only one that's filled. But if you're on Pinterest, check out my board by clicking the link on the sidebar. If you're not on Pinterest and want to be, let me know. I'll send you an invite. :)

P.S. I did get around to making Sophia's ornament and I'm so excited that the tradition has officially begun! It's at the bottom of my Christmas board, by Brown Paper Packages.

Let Advent begin!

One of the great seives of sanctification that children bring is intentionality. And as Sophia grows older and becomes more and more aware, my desire to be intentional rises to new heights. So for the past few weeks my mind has been racing with ideas for the special season we find ourselves in. Yesterday marks the first day of Advent, one of my favorite celebrations each year.

I want to create meaningful traditions for our family. Things that look like, smell like, feel like, taste like Christmas. Tangible memories that point to something much greater than presents under a tree. In the next few weeks, I hope to post some things that we'll be doing as a family, like a homemade Advent calendar, ornaments, and recipes. (hope is the key word there- we'll see if it actually gets typed out!)

These are things I don't usually do. Most Christmases of the past are filled with gift planning and buying, parties with coworkers, friends, and then family, and by the end of the month I find myself exhausted, ungrateful, broke, and wondering why I get so excited for this every year, because it all feels a bit like a letdown. I've spent all this time (and money) just scratching the surface.

Christmas is about Jesus. Advent means "coming," so in this holiday we celebrate the fact that God came. He came as a baby. Fully God. Fully man. Teaching, blessing, healing, suffering, delivering, redeeming, forgiving, dying, rising! We find ourselves in the middle of two promises of God. One already fulfilled in Jesus' first coming. We now await the fulfilment of the promise of His return.

I want to groan with the anticipation of it. But I don't. I want to say with John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" But I don't. What keeps me from it? My hope is in the now. I cling to the things I have here and now, forgetting the greater things that await me. Instead, I say, "Come, Lord Jesus! In 15 years! After Sophia gets the chance to know and love you, after I've had time to slow down and be more like you, after I finish the joys of my 20s and 30s. Come then!" But then I read verses like these:

"When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." (John 14:1-3)

"So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28)

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:16-17)

And all the loves of my life seem to dim in the face of Jesus, my first love. And my hands open from their death-grip and I give over to God what was already His. And I have to confess that I don't know how it is all supposed to work, but that I trust Him, for He knows best. He is good, He loves me, He will take care of all my needs.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:18 - 25)

Snack time fun faces

Sophie and I love to eat ;) We also like playing games like squealing as loud as we can and practicing sign language during our meals together. On this particular day, Sophie allowed a bow to be left in her hair!!! I jumped up to snap some pictures of this too rare occurance. Enjoy!

babies and baths

Andy and I have stored up a bunch of toys for Sophia in her closet. Some I bought at the JBF sale, and some are birthday presents we're saving. We introduce a few new toys each month to make them last a bit longer, and so she can enjoy each toy fully. Some great gems slip between the cracks if she gets several at one time.

This past week, however, she discovered our hiding spot! Needless to say, two toys made their grand debut a bit earlier than we had planned. One of them is her baby doll stroller- she is LOVING it!

She will walk a few steps then stop, come around to the front, and check on Bebe. I've also found her taking Bebe out to give her a hug and pat her on the bottom, put her back in, and continue walking. My heart melted seeing her imitate the things I do to show her love. Here she is checking to make sure Bebe is ok:

She's not picky, she'll give anyone a ride! Ellie Bellie was her friend of choice this morning. Ellie Bellie has a big place in Sophie's heart. She takes all her naps with him, and he is a staple in her crib throughout the night. He also makes a good pillow when she needs a time out from playing. But I've also seen her toting around books and tomatoes, so it's a very multi-purpose toy!

Rather than push her stroller, she usually lives dangerously by walking backwards and pulling it towards her. Move over Sheila Rae!

Just for the fun of it, here are a few clips from last night's bath time:

Happy Halloween!

Andy and I feel like we actually celebrated Halloween this year. Both of us dress up in costumes at work. Andy's bank went with a "villain" theme, and at our school, we do a "storybook parade." You pick a character from a book and dress up as that person. You bring the book with you as you parade around the school. I went to school as Fancy Nancy! If you don't know Fancy Nancy, here she is:

My co-teachers and I wanted to be some of the biggest "girl figures" in children's literature, so we picked Junie B., Olivia, and Fancy Nancy. I volunteered immediately to be Fancy Nancy, because I L-O-V-E her. It was also decided that since I'm the only one with curly hair, that it was my only option. Nancy loves butterflies, so this is what I did with my hair:

I wish I could have shown you the full outfit, because what made it was the hot pink boa I borrowed from one of my co-teachers, but at school, we didn't get a chance to snap pictures of us. We were too busy corralling the excited children and taking pictures of them! But you can get an idea of it from this picture Andy and I snapped before leaving from work. The lace leggings were a hit. :)

So in the evening we found ourselves still wearing our costumes. Sophie's Grammy got her a fairy costume, so we put her in it and I set out making some Minestrone Soup with Pesto. (If you ask me, pesto can go in anything.) We anxiously awaited our trick-or-treaters. Andy was so excited he was running and singing all throughout the house in anticipation. Poor guy only got to answer the door twice, because we had a total of 3 trick-or-treaters. What can I say, we live in an elderly hood. Here are some snapshots of a very normal evening in splendid attire:

I also was able to snap a play-by-play minor temper tantrum. Here's why she's upset: I said, "no," when she wanted to open the trash can and feel around inside of it. ;)

first play: show you how upset I am

second play: throw myself on the floor when you don't seem to cave

third play: allow you to distract me with tupperware

I just love how she will follow me around in the kitchen and loves playing with normal things. Sometimes I wonder why we even buy her toys!

 

 these are some new slippers we got her at Target. She is such a doll in them!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

I love the month of October. It is absolutely and eternally my favorite! This past weekend Oma was in town, and we did our standard thing: shop shop shop! We were just leaving Hulen Mall when I saw this great pumpkin patch where they usually sell all those flowers, by the main enterance. Now, I'd love to tell you that I'm the kind of fly by the seat of my pants mom that just pulled over right then and there and snapped some great pictures. But I'm not. We were running late to lunch and needed to get Sophie home immediately after for a nap. Besides, she was wearing this multi-colored dress with hot pink leggings. I know kids can get away with anything, but I don't do orange and hot pink. SO, after lunch, after the nap, after changing her outfit twice, we headed back to Hulen Mall to snap some pictures of Sophie in a very urban feeling pumpkin patch....because, let's be honest, it's in a parking lot next to a busy street. But, the real highlight of my day was what we miraculously got in her hair ;) What a big girl!

 look! look what's in her hair!

see her spunky locks just blowing in the wind? good thing she's got a bow on!

and her classic "I'm on a mission" crawling face, just because...

Enjoy this fabulous month- Happy October!