Holiday highlights

The twelve days of Christmas - when do they start?  Can they start now?  I'd like to spend twelve days dwelling on all of the goodness God has brought us this season.  He has certainly filled the hungry with good things, in so many ways.

It was a very crafty Christmas for me - I was able to work with the kids and make some gifts as well as just some fun activities.  Some were Advent-related, and some were just fun.

We spent so much more time with family in the past several weeks than we have been accustomed to in the past ten years - it has been a reunion of sorts.  The kids have LOVED seeing their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  Especially "baby Jude" as they call him.

We've been able to enjoy the outdoors here in the desert.  The kids have been able to get fresh air and exercise.  Even today, they were outside for hours bouncing on their new trampoline.

I loved gifting this season.  I don't know why.  I think it was because I didn't have to travel; it really freed me up to be more thoughtful.

Altogether, this was just a really fun, family Christmas that I'm sure is going to present us with fond memories in the future.

Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving as returned Arizonans today.  It was sweet!  We got to host my parents - what better reason to push to get unpacked and settled!  I was thrilled.

My mom knew I was going to make cupcakes, so she surprised me with an early Christmas gift - a cupcake tree!  I arranged the top two tiers with the 10 turkey-topped cupcakes I made for today.  Even before I served them these little guys had brought so much fun to my life, but then when I put them on this stand my family said they looked like a choir - like a living Christmas tree pageant, if you've ever seen one of those.  They're right, of course.  Just imagine them singing, and try not to smile.

Speaking of smiles, I give you here my little boy enjoying finger foods from one of the pilgrim hat style combination plate and dipping-trays I made.  This was another super fun little project.

I liked when I took the picture below that I got so many people in the shot.  Mom and I were standing in my kitchen, just on the other side of that counter with the food on it.  That's my little girl with her Indian-style hat on that she made earlier this week.  My husband was in the kitchen most of the morning, since he made the turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and heated up the gravy.

Well, below is what it's all about; what we have to be thankful for.  I am thankful that my kids got to host their grandparents for Thanksgiving, that they saw them a week or so ago, and will see them in another week or so.  It's rather magical.

Side note: my daughter is wearing an outfit that my mom gave me at a baby shower for Kyrstin four years ago.  I just discovered yesterday that it would fit her, and was thrilled!  It has a bee motif.  On the bib it says, "Bee attitudes," and it is embroidered with attitudes I want to teach Kyrstin: Bee kind, Bee patient, Bee happy, and Bee thankful.  Seemed perfect for today.

We tried to get family pics for our Christmas card - it's all happening so fast! - but the kids wouldn't sit still.  We'll try again next weekend.

I've been trying to teach Kyrstin about Thanksgiving; we have a children's storybook that, I think, fairly represents the story from both the native American and European points of view.  It states as fact that there was a group of people who did not appreciate the way they were forced to worship, and so they were looking for another place to live.  Meanwhile in BSF we have been studying Abraham, and looking at Hebrews 11, which describes Abraham and others looking for the promised land.  

"[T]hey admitted they were strangers and aliens on the earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (13c-16).

I thought a lot about the faith and endurance of those early settlers.  I know they could have returned on the Mayflower when it sailed back after that first winter, but they didn't; they worked it out  because they believed.  Deep down they must have had the conviction of things not seen, and they stood and walked by faith.  It is a courageous legacy, one that I hope that I can grow and pass on to my family.

True buttercream

Nom nom nom.

Goofy drivers

Kids at my favorite grocery store out here.

Thus far the Lord has helped me

I read this week in my bible study about how when Noah emerged from the Ark one of the first things he did was to set up an altar and worship God.  Well, we have made it to this point in our journey, and thus far, the Lord has helped us.  So this post is a notch in the tree to help me think on all of God's blessings.

Here are a few specific things He has helped us with already:

- getting my husband a job
- finding us a place to live
- finding buyers for our house
- helping us find a church
- actually physically getting out here
- finding us a really great grocery store (sounds silly but I love it)
- sweet reunions with family once we got out here

These are some pretty big pegs.  I was challenged to change my thinking earlier this week.  One of the things the Lord used was this oldish song by Out of the Grey, which I heard on my TV's "Contemporary Christian" channel.  Good songs have staying power, and I'm glad the Lord brought this one out of the dust as a mile marker for me.

All things weird and wonderful

So today is Halloween. Always a weird day, but especially for us since we literally just moved yesterday. I have been full of all kinds of expectations. Right now our house is a box forest and we are all tired. As I ran an errand today I had to admit that I was feeling kind of weird. Not at home. A bit lost even. Then I realized that its going to take awhile for everything to feel normal, and that that's okay. In the meantime I have the comforting assurance that we are right where we are supposed to be, and that is wonderful.

Here are a few pics of weird and wonderful moments: prepping the caravan, driving through a border patrol station just inside the Easter arizona border, and gazing upon mountains and desert trees from the back porch.

Crickets

Just in case you're (p)interested

Ah, delay! What grief it has sometimes been to me, and yet, what a blessing in disguise! It is a delay that allows me to write this post, sitting here in front of this fire.

We are shifting our deeply-rooted lives 1000 miles west. That is a big ship to turn around. It takes a little more time than we thought.

I've been taking pics of things I think will be my last, like this cup of coffee brewed in my house. Please excuse my hair. I told my husband that I felt like packing up the coffeemaker would be the point of no return. Well, it's not sealed up yet, but I'd kinda rather not get it back out tomorrow, since I washed the carafe. That seems like boring news for the Internet.

Okay, so here's something kind of fun. Pumpkin spice bagels! Yahoo! I'm enjoying all the pumpkin ness.

I'm not on Pinterest, but it benefitted me the other day when I asked my girlfriends for advice on packing up my necklaces. An idea from Pinterest was to thread skinny ones through a straw so they didn't get tangled. So I did. If I were on Pinterest, I'd post this idea. I decided to roll up my busy necklaces in a towel, like so. It made a little necklace log that was easy to pack. TAda! I don't think this is super original, but it was a good solution.

This huge, bright truck is in my driveway. Isn't it pretty? The kids have had a great time running up and down the ramp. Here is my hubs, who essentially wore himself out yesterday and today, loading said vehicle.

So, we're to the point where the house looks like this. And we still have stuff like this in the garage. (Pic was taken during the day, FYI.). So there is just enough left to do that by taking an extra day we can enjoy this fire tonight, rest up, and then wrap up properly and without strain.

Oh yeah, one more pinteresty thing - I saw these apple nachos a site with a other fall recipe I like, and made them for the kids a few times. Nutella a d pb. They LOVE them. Who wouldn't, right? Do other families also go through a jar of Nutella per week, or is it just us, and the novelty of it?

So anyway, in case you're pinterested, we're a day behind but doing fine.

Worthy of our Trust

Okay, so I am waiting on something else to come through, and fighting, fighting SO HARD to trust, and not let my mind "go there." You know where I mean.  There - to the wild fantasy land of what if?

This is a trial.  I know what trials produce.  That is encouraging.  I know that TRUST is a thing I desperately, desperately want to have.

It occurred to me today that sometimes I fail to trust because - get this - I am afraid of being made a fool by God.  I hedge my bets.  That makes no sense at all, right?  I'm pondering that.

Meanwhile, I just know that the Lord is worthy of my trust.  It's not just when I'm going to get the thing I've been praying for.

This reminds me of two songs.  One is (of course!) from the new Getty album.  In a song about the Rich Young Man, Kristyn sings, "When I cling to what I have/ Please wrest it quickly from my grasp."  I have thought of that line A LOT this past week.

It also reminds me of another song, one which nobody really knows, but more people should, by a young man who shared a few songs at our songwriter event last weekend.  The bridge of the song merely says, "The Lord is just/ He is worthy of our trust."  My brother says if you want people to remember one thing, put it in the bridge.  It worked!

He is just.

That reminds me of another song, too, "As Long as You Are Glorified," by Sovreign Grace.  I think I need to listen to that now!

No greater love

I am about to go to bed with a messy house. It's okay. I can clean it tomorrow. But before I do, I wanted to reflect on the wonderful friends the Lord has brought into our lives these past eleven years in Oklahoma.

When you are about to move, or your friend is, you begin to realize what a gap will be left in your life. It is sad. At the same time, that feeling lets you know how deeply significant those relationships have been, and you are deeply grateful.

As I look at the faces in this picture, I think of the stories of their lives and ours; the joys and new beginnings, the sorrows and losses, of the past decade. Not just these pictured here, but others, too, whose lives have touched our own in such a way that they have become part of our story.

This morning I read 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." I was reflecting on ways that these friends and others have laid down their lives for one another over the years.

I hope I don't sound maudlin; I have shared plenty of light moments and my cup of humor consistently overflows among these good people. But in little bits of time here, a card there, a prayer continuously renewed, a meal provided, child care offered, a word of scripture spoken at the right time, through a wise teaching, or a home opened and welcoming, in all of these ways, love is shown.

Circumstances sometimes call for great sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice was the ultimate and the most complete, redeeming from sin and destruction all who believe in His authority. The redeemed know how much Christ valued them and what they are called to give in return. Lives are given for others as they are lived: just a little bit at a time.

Your perfect will in your perfect way

Here are the things going on with just some of my girlfriends:

- waiting to find out that a baby will not turn breech again and require a c-section

- waiting to find if husband will get a new job, entailing a total career change and relocation

- waiting to find out when the MRI for a mysterious skull numbness will take place

- waiting on the Lord to provide solutions to financial strain

Here am I, resting a bit after some shakeups, waiting to move, waiting on an offer from a buyer on our house, waiting on various pieces of news from friends and family, wanting pieces to fall into place.

I did download the Getty album I mentioned in my previous post, and over the past few days, a few songs have become dear to me.  One in particular speaks to the heart in the situations mentioned above, and it is called "The Perfect Wisdom of our God."  The first verse is about God's creative power and control in the universe, the second, about His plan and purpose of redemption in the cross, and the third, about His activity and leading in each individual life.  I'm just going to post the lyrics from that last verse here in their entirety.

Oh grant me wisdom from above,

To pray for peace and cling to love,

And teach me humbly to receive

The sun and rain of Your sovereignty.

Each strand of sorrow has a place

Within this tapestry of grace;

So through the trials I choose to say:

“Your perfect will in your perfect way.

I need to care for a daughter right now; she wants to put her new doggie costume on.  Such are the transitions that punctuate life these days.  Such is the Christian life, sometimes.   Unpredictable, yet, I trust, in some way, perfectly timed.

... and He must win the battle

I couldn't figure out why I got so choked up singing "A Mighty Fortress is our God" this morning.  Even as I type these words I feel a bit overcome by those of the "battle hymn of the reformation."  The song tosses me back and forth between my hopelessness in my own strength and the certainty of victory in Christ's.

It is not the first time I'd heard or sung this old song, but it was timely.  I was pleased to discover yesterday that Keith and Kristyn Getty have released a new album of hymns, and in this video  Keith pointed out the contrast between the goal of a pop song, which is to resonate in and of headlines, and a folk or classical song, which ideally outlasts the composer.  "A Mighty Fortress" is just that type of song.

At one point I stopped singing this morning, and just listened.  There were the voices of hundreds of women, singing together.  Then it hit me one reason why I was so overcome: it is the first last for me.  Over the next ten days or so, I'll have a lot of "lasts," since we are relocating soon.  One thing that struck me was the vibrance of the women among whom I had the privilege to stand and sing.  Salt. Of. The. Earth.  At the same time, I felt encouraged that amidst the threat of uncertainty in what will for us be a brave new step, God's "truth abideth still."

His kingdom is forever.

To err is human...

Yesterday I texted a friend's husband a kissieface instead of a fist bump.   Fortunately they both let me live that down.  Today I was texting a girlfriend during church, meaning to text a different friend, who was not.  Fortunately she thought it was funny.  I'm not-a-doin-so-well with the texts.  I think this is a symptom of overload.  My brain is near to firing on all cylinders again, but it's not quite got the necessary power to handle the mental off-roading I've had to do.

That is why I am so desperate for the Lord's power in my life.  His power is made perfect in weakness.

What does that weakness mean?  Does it mean I can do fifteen things at once, by His power?  Sometimes I think I'm hypertasking out of lack of faith that doing just a few things well will be enough. I think one of the ways His power is perfected in my weakness is when, within the limits of my humanity, among the myriad options before me and investments I could spread myself thin, he targets me in one, maybe two, directions, and covers all the other bases for me, so the system doesn't overload.

Pumpkin spice

I am actually in the drive thru of Starbucks to pick up a treat. There is a nice fall chill in the air. I was so encouraged by this this morning that I decided to just repost it.

As we transition from Summer to Fall, it's good to take some time to reflect on the ever-changing seasons of our lives. Often, we settle into a routine or comfort zone that suits us just fine until something completely unexpected happens, jolting us into a new season of life. God's Word encourages us to be content in all things. Psalms 118 says, "This is the day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." Each day, every day, it would do our souls well to rejoice in the knowledge of Christ and the blessings He has so graciously poured out on us. We all trudge through difficult times, but if we can learn to keep our eyes on Jesus, placing our hope and our future in His hands, we will see the tough times as merely temporary. In this context, it's much easier to find joy and peace in each season, each day, each moment.

A chip to build a dream on

Current Anglophilia symptom: obsession with BBC's Sherlock. Best show ever.

Current perplexity: finding a new place to live while raising two little ones.

Current coping mechanism: chocolate chips and down time.

Good things

(NASB) Psalms 90:14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

(NASB) Psalms 103:5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

(NASB) Psalms 104:28 You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.

(NASB) Psalms 21:3 For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head.

Photo Book

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Photo Book Tip: Create an adventurous travel photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Frosting: The Need for Speed

I just made a few more batches of frosting and think I've figured something out; the trick is to make it quickly.  The recipe I use is:

6 T margarine or butter

4 1/2- 4 3/4 powdered sugar

1 1/2 t vanilla

1/4 C milk

Mix margarine in mixing bowl until fluffy.  Gradually add half of powdered sugar.  Then add milk and vanilla, then the rest of the sugar, adding more milk if necessary to reach spreading consistency.

I never have to add milk.  This recipe is supposed to frost two small layers of cake, one 9x13, 24 cupcakes, etc.  If you like to pile on frosting like I do, it only frosts 12.  Yum.

So today I made two batches right in a row; one I kept the blender on quite a bit, and was a little slower; the second, the butter whipped up quickly and the whole process took about 4 minutes.  I tried the same method of piping on the frosting for the first and second batches and got the result on the second.  I've learned something.  

Cupcakes on R are batch 1; cupcakes on L are batch 2.  Batch 1's icing fell right away; batch 2's was just firmer and still looks exactly the same 10 min. later.

Teratology

Happiness is...

Here I present the cupcakes I've always wanted to make. Ta da!

Why have I always wanted to make these? Because a) I think they look pretty, b) this is how all the cool kids are doing icing these days, and c) the way the cool kids do it seems good for delivering lots of icing.

I made a single layer cake batter who h resulted in 12 cupcakes. The icing recipe I made was supposed to frost two layers of cake. I think that is supposed to frost 24 cupcakes. I used it up on just twelve.

It was super easy. I just sort of scooped frosting into a sandwich baggie, snipped off the corner, and piped it on in kind of a swirly motion. It was actually easier than frosting any other way. Pretty and sugary.

Good morning

Things fell into place to make the kids happy face breakfasts. We can always use the extra cheer!

Heigh-de-ho, neighborinos!

We have a new family moving in next door and and I don't know their names yet.  I decided to bake a loaf of sandwich bread to take over.  I hope they are not on a gluten-free diet!  In any case, it certainly can't make things worse.  It will finish baking in four minutes from the present moment in which I am typing, and I am hoping it will be sufficiently cooled that I can slice it and take it over while the kids are still asleep.

Some food

I made a few neat things over the weekend: some hamburger buns and son of calzone.

It's all in the timing...

I continue to think about this issue of the right time.  I know that our times are in the Lord's hands.  I read something yesterday that was pretty profound about how sometimes God is just waiting to build the right character in us so that when we have arrived where we are meant to be we can remain there.  Been thinking about this a lot.

I got an e-mail this morning that linked me to a video about making a countdown caterpillar, which is helpful for teaching kids about time and waiting.  Here's the link, just in case it's something you'd like to do.  I think it's adorable.

The Waiting Game

This morning I was hearing more from James, this time about being patient (5:7-11).  It occurred to me that being patient is often referred to as "the waiting game." I first thought to myself after reading about patience that it is not a game at all.  And then I thought to myself that if it were a game, it would be an endurance sport.  So of course I thought of the currently enduring Olympic games in London, and my love for its host city, and national culture.  Keeping calm and carrying on is the way to slowly, steadily, take the gold in the waiting game.

(P.S. I have decided I am a full-on Anglophile.  This is encouraged in part by rewatching season 2 of Downton Abbey.)

According to James

Okay, so it is tax free weekend in Oklahoma, which means you can buy clothes and school supplies tax free.  Yay!

For me.  I don't need school supplies - wait, well, I do, actually.  Gotta think about that.

I was really thinking more about clothes.

I have been having "I have nothing to wear"  moments lately.  Mostly about tops.  And if I had kept myself in shape this wouldn't be an issue, but I seem to gain weight when I bake/cook a lot.  Or just don't exercise.

Anyhoo, I'd been thinking that I really might actually need to buy a few shirts this weekend.  So I can have something to wear.  Like what clothes are for.  So maybe I need to buy just a couple of plain t-shirts.  Yawn.

I've been studying James lately, and the topic of hoarding wealth was the focus of today's lesson.  I've really been pondering it.  Specifically, with regard to what there is to wear in the house.

I hope this is follow-able.  As I was thinking about this, my daughter was watching an episode of Thomas that focused on James.  The Thomas theme song tells us that "James is vain but lots of fun."  During this episode James was feeling particularly proud of his new paint and blacking etc.  He thought maybe Sir Topham Hatt was favoring him.  One of the other engines said to him, "Looking splendid isn't the same as being really useful."  I felt a bit convicted overhearing this.  Then James said, "But the best thing of all is to look really splendid and be really useful."  I laughed and agreed.  But I'm not sure I should.

I am purposefully writing this before the episode is over because I can't resolve this right now.  I just wanted to share what I'd heard from James.

Pop culture

The kids are having Popsicles and popcorn for a late snack. I didn't give them soda pop, but could do pop tarts one of these days. And maybe some
Rice Krispy treats for that snack, crackle...

Passing the torch

So I cried a little when I watched the American women's gymnastics team win a gold last night.  It was a very sweet win!  I remember watching as a kid and thinking how graceful the gymnasts were.  I myself learned to do a cartwheel in my lifetime.  Could even do one on a balance beam.  Oh, yeah.

Now that swimming is wrapping up and most gymnastics are done, I think I'm going hand off the games to others to cheer the teams on.  My husband and I talked about how much more we've enjoyed watching this time around because it is all in HD.  Such a spectacle!  Yet I am too inspired by the athletes' discipline not to feel like I need to get to work.

Oh yeah - I loved the girls' jackets on the medal stand.  They're actually for sale.  Guess who won't be buying one?  But I predict this will be a new fashion trend.

Why it matters

To quote from a few classic films:

Casablanca: Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. 

The Naked Gun: It's a topsy-turvy world, and maybe the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans!

 Above, you see a picture of the lentils that my husband cooked yesterday while I was out. They were delicious.  We had them for dinner, and will have them again today for lunch.  It seems like such a small thing, but it's a big deal.  I didn't have to cook last night, and today, I can just have a good time with the kids and not have to worry about fixing lunch.  It makes a big deal.  It spoke volumes of love and encouragement to me.

Here's lookin' at you, babe!

I don't think it's selling my birthright to be thrilled over these bowls of soup.  The little things, as well as the big, matter.  I keep thinking of this song by Sara Groves when it comes to creating music.  It's easy to get discouraged and thing that what I want to write or sing about doesn't amount to a hills of beans in this crazy world.  This song encourages me and reminds me that a song can be like that cup of cold water - refreshing, life-giving.

Here is Sara Groves performing "Why it Matters"  at an International Justice Mission event.  Enjoy!


GPG 2009 - "Why It Matters" by Sara Groves from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

Hey, Jude!

I would like to borrow on the Olympic theme so I can introduce my nephew.  But first, a happy little family drama.  I was watching the opening ceremonies without great hopes, and then my eyes began to widen as I realized I loved it, and I started contacting my family in a later time zone to let them know they should tune in.  Halfway through the show on my brother's end I checked to see if he was as enthralled - he texted, "Relatively confused but entertained." Ha!  I thought it was so appropriate we were texting about it since the scene he was watching was the "digital love story" of Frankie and June.

Anyhoo, I knew we were supposed to be expecting Paul McCartney in there somewhere, too, but it was just as good as it could get, at least for my family.  My dad is/was a serious Beatles fan and my brother is a rocker who named his little boy Jude after the song which Paul McCartney sang during the ceremony!  

So of course I texted my brother and my dad that they had to watch the show all the way to the very end because I knew they'd be wild about the performance.

Yesterday my SIL, Jude's mommy, sent me a few pics of the eponymous little guy.  Isn't he adorable?  Can't you just put these pictures together and imagine Sir McCartney directing him as he sings?

                Na na na                                                               Na na na na!

Hey, Jude!

Isn't he cute with his daddy in matching hats?  I had to ask my SIL permission to put these pics on my blog because I think Jude is the sweetest, cutest little thing but didn't want him overexposed.  So, here he is.  Thank you, Sir McCartney, for making the introduction!

Making good neighbors

They say good fences make good neighbors.  Well, we have no neighbors on this side of the house, but now we have a better fence, so maybe we will get better neighbors.  This was one of Scott's many acts of love over the weekend.  I can wait to blog them all (those I haven't eaten already).

Lord of the Rings

So, last night was the opening ceremonies of the Summer olympics in London.  I L-O-V-E-D it. So theatrical, funny, beautiful, brilliant, and British.  I loved how the music helped tell the story, and the fact that there were twenty things going on at once on a huge field and that the cameras were able to zoom in on certain vignettes so we could follow the story.  There were parts that were a bit confusing to me and I was glad that the commentators were explaining.  I hope that all of the members of the crowd had some kind of guide in their programs.

Before the ceremonies, I was feeling completely exhausted and discouraged by all that there was to do.  I felt the Lord remind me to "cease striving, and know that I am God." I read the rest of Psalm 46 while I rested.  It was good.  In college it was brought to my attention that "Be still and know that I am God" is just half of the verse; the other half is, "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

So, as I was watching the historical drama unfold on the olympic field, I was quite struck by all of the hymn singing.  I want to find out what some of those hymns were - one sounded like "Bread of Heaven" or something like that.  And it seemed like at one point in the children's hospital scene that the Mary Poppinses and others were dancing to "Good Christian Men, Rejoice."  I imagine it's just a traditional tune.

I watched almost all of the opening ceremonies.  I was tired, right?  And I was (and still am!) an English major, a somewhat closeted Anglo-phile, so I seriously soaked the whole thing in.  It didn't seem as long as it really was, to me.

Coincidentally, my daily Bible reading for yesterday also included Psalm 46.  It made me glad for the acknowledgement of Britain's Christian past, and a little sad that it was just considered part of the past.  It left me wondering if hymns and Christianity could be a significant part of Britain's future.