Thanksgiving

We didn't do much creative celebrating of Thanksgiving this year, though we did read through a Thanksgiving Book that Grandy mailed to us.  She had made it in her days as a mom of young kids.  It was very cute and a sweet gesture.  

We also had another wonderful potluck dinner with 4 other families from church - one of them being the Wyrtzens, our good friends who moved to Connecticut this summer.  We all had a great holiday weekend.  

Being officially outnumbered by kids this year made things a little chaotic, but they didn't time their group meltdown until after the meal so that was nice.  

The food was SO good.  I love it when a potluck comes together.  

We were reminded at church today how it is not only important to be thankful for things but also to be thankful to the One who gives them.  We are grateful to Jesus who has been so generous to us.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Date Night In

So after a few nights of putting the kids to bed and then being too brain dead to do anything but watch dumb TV together, I decided to research (polled friends and googled) ideas for spending evenings at home with your spouse.  We want to be more purposeful with our time together so here's what I've come up with so far.  Please share any other ideas that you may have.  I plan to print it up and hang it on the frig right next to my "Ideas for What To Pack for Leah's Lunch" list and "Easy Dinner Options When Your Exhausted" list.  What can I say?  I'm a list girl...

DATE NIGHT IN IDEAS

• Pray (for marriage, kids, work, church, family, missionaries, world issues, etc.
• Go for a walk (have a friend/neighbor listen to monitor)
• Do a project (picture album, blog, house remodel items, etc.)
• Clean/organize (dishes, laundry, office files, etc.)
• Cook/bake something or do meal prep for tomorrow
• Eat a special dinner (order delivery, picnic on the floor, etc.)
• Enjoy a special dessert
• Play a game (cards, Scrabble, chess, etc.)
• Listen to an audio show (sermon, NPR, audio book, etc.)
• Read (a book out loud or your own individual books)
• Exercise (weights, push-ups, sit-ups, yoga, birth ball, etc.)
• Answer conversation starter type questions
• Learn something (google a curiosity, research a vacation destination, etc.)
• Dream about the future
• Journal (about the kids, marriage memories, etc.)
• Call or Skype an old friend
• Watch TV or movie (mute commercials, turn off once it’s done)
• Create a relaxing environment (build a fire, wine, music, candles, etc.)
• Give massages (shoulders, head, feet)
  
• Go to bed early and fool around  =)

Enjoy!  Any other ideas?  

Tucson visit

Went to Tucson to visit my folks and had a great time.  

We had a fun visit to Old Tucson riding the train, cars, and merry-go-round.  And Aunt Barbara Faye joined us, which is always fun.  Together we ate lots of good food and loafed around the house.  

They even got to play in the dirt with their cousins (once removed or something) Collin and Brandon.  

It was a very relaxing visit, just not long enough.  We look forward to their visit in the spring.   Love you guys!

I've been published!

Most of you know that I enjoy writing, but you may not know that I took the abrupt leap of writing an article about my friend, Amy Herbert, who is a fantastic freelance artist.  I pitched it to the Hill Rag, our monthly community magazine here on Capitol Hill.  I read it religiously every month and thought they needed to highlight all the cool things that Amy was doing around the Hill.  Though the editor doesn't know me from Adam, he accepted it and I've got 2 more articles being published in December.  I'm hoping to keep writing something once a month, so I continue to pitch all manner of ideas to him.  And, yes, I get PAID!  So now I am officially, ahem, a freelance writer.  (Wild cheering and applause.) I have goals of writing for Edible Chesapeake, a local foods periodical, as well and just threw out an idea to my alma mater, Biola Magazine.  I feel so excited to be doing any writing that I'm grateful for whatever comes.  Anyway, just thought I'd share!  

Heroween

We love the opportunity to walk around our 'hood interacting with neighbors and the kids enjoy dressing up, but the rest of Halloween has gotten pretty lame.  So with the inspiration from one my friends in California, "Heroween" was born.  In honor of All Saints Day on November 1st, we decided to highlight heroes of the Christian faith.  I borrowed one of Dave and Neta Jackson's Hero Tales book from our church library and searched for coloring pages on each of our heroes.  (These were not as easy to find as I would have hoped.  Any artists out there want to draw some simple coloring pages for a variety of Christian heroes?)  The week before, we highlighted four of them and the kids colored the sheets while I read (and sometimes paraphrased) stories about how God used these folks to bless people around them.  

Our heroes for this year are:

George Washington Carver - I want to read an entire biography on this guy - he's awesome.  He basically used crop rotation and his inventive uses of the peanut to get the African American farming community off of their reliance on cotton.  He also created a school on wheels to teach kids who couldn't come to him.  He wore a fresh flower in his lapel everyday and though he didn't learn to read until his teenage years he had multiple degrees by the end of his life.  He also refused pay raises so he was earning the same wage at the end of his life as when he first began.  I wish current teachings on him didn't dilute his faithfulness to God and heroic stewardship of His creation.  

Mother Teresa - Who doesn't love and respect Mother Teresa?  It's a joy to teach my kids about her.  One of the vignettes in the book talked about how some hoodlums were threatening to kill she and the sisters and she basically said to their faces, "Fine.  It would get me to heaven faster."  They were so tripped out by her response that they never threatened her again.  She's another one who's message has been watered down, especially regarding her strong feelings against abortion.  When she received the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1979 she stated that "the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion."  I love her love for children.

Brother Andrew - This guy actually went to war looking for an adventure, but ended up injured and confused about life.  Not only did he find God during that time, but he was led to the adventure of a lifetime smuggling Bibles into closed countries during the Iron Curtain years. His famous prayer was asking God to, instead of making blind eyes see, make seeing eyes blind, so that he could get the Bibles through.  This led to the organization Open Doors International.  He was also a contemporary and travel companion to Corrie Ten Boom.  

Mary McLeod Bethune -  Definitely lesser known than the others, MMB was the fifteenth child of former slaves.  She was one of the first teachers to start a school for young black girls after the Emancipation Proclamation, which is now Bethune-Cookman University.  She believed in teaching their minds, hands, and hearts and would often say, "Faith is not a puny thing!  If you are going to believe - believe like a giant!"  The cool thing for the kids is that there is a beautiful statue of her at Lincoln park, where the kids play just 6 blocks from our house.  

This was another fun experiment of celebrating the church calendar in creative ways.  It makes me look forward to All Saints Day next year!