Hibernation

It's rapidly getting cold outside and winter is quickly drawing near. Life is starting to slow down and days are shorter and temperatures colder. Just as those bears out there are gearing up (or gearing down, I suppose one could say...) so I feel life is slowing down for us as we prepare for life indoors the next couple of months. Also slowing down is the number of posts I do a month. It seems a little backwards to me- in summer when we are busy out galavanting across the countryside, I have many post swarming around my head that actually make it to my blog. But now, even though life isn't as busy and things have slowly settled down, so has the frequency of my writing and posting.  I don't know why. Oh well.

I am still thinking of things that I am thankful for each day this month. I don't know what day it is, but I am sure that I have at least ten things that I need to write about relating to thankfulness. I am not going to do all ten now, but like I promised, there should be thirty by the end of the month.

1. Hibernation. I am so thankful for the slowing down of my world once fall and winter comes. This is something that I never experienced in always-sunny-California, yet having experienced it these past four years, I know that I could never go back. I love the changing of the seasons, seeing how vastly different the same landscape is between the different calendar months. I love that summer provides the opportunity for lazy days outside and many energetic expeditions, but even more,  I love the winding down of life during winter time. I love how life turns inwards, to my family, my home, my heart. I love the times to just sit inside and talk, curl up with a movie, or just sit and be. I am thankful for slowing down.

2. God. Cliche, no? But seriously. My path with God has gone in various states since college (When looking back, I look to college as "high" for myself spiritually), but within the last couple months things seem to be clicking a bit more, which hasn't happened in a long, long time. Realizing His complete love for me is something that I am trying to grasp once again, and it's a journey that for the first time in a long time, I am actually okay with being on.

3. Francis Chan. Not to be weird, but this guy says some powerful stuff. I know the Bible is the ultimate book, but other books can help to, right? Dave and I are going through "Crazy Love", and being only ten pages or so in, I am finding myself challenged by his words. Every now and then he suggests a video to accompany the reading, and if you have time, here was todays:



He would come and speak sometimes when I was at college during our chapel time, and each time I was left feeling provoked by his message.

4. My James. I am completely and utterly thankful for my little ball of energy and joy. Four years ago I never imagined that I would sit through hours and hours of Thomas videos and have my house transformed into Sodor Island on a daily basis, but here I am. I would not trade any minute of it. He's the best thing that has happened in my life (okay, okay, technically I should say God, or Dave, or something else, but whatever...) and I am so thankful for the joy and insight he brings me on a daily if not momentarily basis. I am thankful for his heart for people, his love for his sister, and yes, even his passion for trains.

5. Mom blogs. I mean, I wish I was as funny and creative as these ladies, but I am not. I am thankful for the reprive and grace that then give me (unaware) as a mom. Most importantly, I am thankful for the laughter they give me during my day. This one and this one are two of my favorites. I also love all my friends blogs too- they're just too many to link to here! But I love them all!

Okay, that's it for today, mostly 'cause James is up now and we probably have to watch a video. A Thomas video. And thats okay, since I am thankful for it and all, right?





**Edit** After I published this post, James came downstairs and  proceeded to spill my coffee everywhere over the end table, the couch, and his toys. I might have got a little upset with him. A little. Does that cancel out all the "thankful" things I said about him earlier? I mean, he was just hitting the side of the mug with a pencil saying it sounded like a train bell, so I shouldn't get too mad at him, right? Oh well. I did. We're better now though, in case you are wondering....

Thankfulness (or an attempt at it)

Nice knowing you, October. Apparently, November is the new kid in town and I have to be honest, I am not prepared for this changing of the guard! Seriously, where did fall go? I feel like summer wasn't that long ago, but judging from my apparent lack of tan (honestly, how pasty white can I get in two months??), fall has been here for a while. And with a quick look at the calendar, is almost on it's way out. How does that happen? It's like the Halloween to Holidays Death Spiral is officially here. You get all dressed up for Halloween and go trick or treating, and when you wake up the next morning, you are unwrapping gifts under the Christmas tree. That's how it seems, right?

Anyways, where was I going with this?


Hmmm....


Oh yes, Thanksgiving. Right. (I'm sure no one else sees the connection from my fall rant post above to Thanksgiving, but trust me, it's there). So I was reading a blog from a girl who I went to college with (which I don't know if she really knows that I read her blog- I mean, we lived in the same dorm and had some of the same friends, but I don't know if she would remember me. Is that a legal form of stalking? She just always has such fascinating posts. Am I being to honest here? Do any of ya'll do that? Read stuff from someone that you remotely know, but secretly? Again, I digress...) and she was posting daily something she's thankful for for the month of November. I thought it was a good idea. I do my share of complaining, and thought it would be a good practise to work on thinking thankful thoughts- not selfish or whiny thoughts. (If I spell practice like practise, does it make my blog more sophisticated? Yeah, I agree. It does).

Since today is November 4, I am four days behind, so will post four things that I am thankful for today.

1. A quiet house. After naptime, it was one of those evenings where the dinner, bath, books, bed routine just wore my out. I didn't have much patience or grace with my kids and was just worn out. I am thankful that right now, it is quiet. I can sit, type and unwind.

2. Our house. God completely blessed our socks off with this new place, and sometimes I just feel completely underserving. For so long home ownership seemed so unattainable yet was a huge longing on our hearts. We weren't expecting it to happen at this time in our lives, and the fact that it has makes me feel the  underserved love that God longs to give us. (Not that I would only know God's love for me if he provided a house, but you know what I mean, right?).

3. Sweaters. Seriously, is there anything better than a cool, crisp fall day, a good pair of jeans and a sweater? No.

4. Skype. I know that it's weird, but this little program has proven to be an awesome connection for my kids and my parents to use. When we uprooted from California to Michigan many years ago, I knew that I would miss my family and friends. That was a given. Once I had kids, however, I realized how sad it was for me that my kids wouldn't get regular interaction with my side of the family. This past summer we started to use Skype, and it has been so good for my heart (and hopefully my kids) to use this method of communication to form connections with my family. My mom has been awesome on Skype.  She always picks games and activities that the kids can totally engage with her 2,000 miles away. I feel good knowing that they understand who Grandpa and Grandma are and know them as someone more than people we see once a year.

Okay, there you have it! What are you thankful for? I don't think I'll be posting these every day, but I promise to at least have a list of 30 (or is it 31?) by the end of the month.

Moved In

It's true!

Nothing is in the old house, everything is in the new house! With a lot of grunt work, blood, sweat and (mostly mine) tears, we are all moved in! Yippee! The daunting task ahead just includes a lot of cleaning, unpacking, and completing a "house to-do" list that is about a mile long and will probably take years to finish.

A special shout out to all those wonderful peeps who helped, Jim, Ruth, Dan, Suse, Lang, Coleman, Rob V., my parents, and Erin. We couldn't have done it with out you, and are so very grateful for all your time and help.

We still don't have internet, but that's coming soon. So will pictures!

Sign at the dotted line...

So...

It's official. We're homeowers!

We put on offer on this house way back in August and we closed on it yesterday! We're excited to be starting this new chapter in our lives. We love our little log cabin already!

Also, that means we are going to be moving soon, which means I won't be blogging as much. We want to paint and prep the house as much as we can, then move in this weekend. I will post new updates when I can, but I can't promise when those will be!

Spousal Wars

Every marriage has their battles, right? Some big, some small. Some important, some trivial and petty. Dave and I have had our share of things to argue over throughout the course of our marriage. In the beginning, they were very insignifcant issues that would turn into a long, drama filled conflict that could take days to resolve. As we have hopefully matured a bit in our marriage, we have slowly evolved into a more civil way to get through our disagreements. We still have a lot of work to do, but progress is definitely moving into the right direction.


Except for one area.


Harry.


That's right. If you know me you know that I love all things Potter. If you know Dave, you know he despises all things Potter. And all things that fall under the creepy-small-creaturish-things that could have orange skin, pointy ears, or giant hairy feet (I'm talking to you Oompa Loompas, elves, and hobbits). He won't have anything to do with them. At all. Even with prodding, pleading, begging and the offering of incentives, my husband just won't budge. I don't know how we got paired up with this polar opposite view, but we did.

I bring this all up to show you the tiny battlefield that has been going on in our house for some months now. A while back, my dear friend Michelle got me this awesome Harry Potter figurine from a book store that was going out of business. He's dressed in his outfit that he wore in The Goblet of Fire during the Triwizard tournament. I thought it was sah-weet. Being a little naive, I placed my new HP statue on my dresser by my bed, thinking that would be an okay place for such an awesome imaginary guy to live. My husband had other plans- the moment he got home and walked into our room and a resounding "NOOO!!" echoed through the house. The battle had begun. Wanting to keep Harry safe, he would gradually pop up in different places arounnd our house in an effort to hide him from any destruction that could come his way. On the mantle, on the bookshelf.

Tonight when I was cleaning up after the kids went to bed, I realized that this war had more breadth and scope then I ever could imagine. Not playing nice anymore, I saw my dear Harry in the military grasp of some little green hands.

I know, it doesn't look good.

Those green men didn't know who they were up against though, and he was quicky freed from their tiny grasp. I have since hid him in another place, and took a picture which I think doesn't give away his location, but gives you an idea of what he really looks like.

Pretty intimidating, I know.

So far, I believe we are still on the offensive and making good progress. I know eventually my husband will break down and come to appreciate all things Harry as I do. For now though, there is a battle to fight and a war to be won. I'll keep you updated as new details come along....

***Edit: Before I even had time to post this blog, he had been found. Apparently the picture did give away his location. Rats. Some tug of war ensued and there was a brief moment when it looked like he might take a swim in the toliet. After I sacrifically intervened, he was then taken away and submerged into the fish tank. The fish didn't like him at all. He's now resting safetly at the hospital wing and will await his next deployment as soon as I can think of somewhere creative....