2 hours ago
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Picking...which summer events to add to our summer bucket list. A few weeks ago Derek and I sat down and charted out our weekends to make sure we get to everything we want to do this summer. I want to do the same thing for my weekdays with the kids. There are so many fun events at the library, at different parks, at movie theaters, and I want to have a plan worked out for each week! Last week was full with VBS, and now the homeschool conference that I like to attend is this week. So starting next week, the carefree summer schedule begins. We did squeeze in a summer $1 movie day with friends yesterday though!
Reading...Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance, which was a pick from my recent library book haul. A few of you told me it was good when you saw it in my post on Instagram, so I picked it up first! I am very interested in the story so far, especially being from the west. It's been interesting to read about the dynamics and culture from a place in the US that I haven't had much contact with.
Eating...this cucumber, tomato, and avocado salad, with a bit of ranch dressing. It makes me feel like summer. I made this a couple years ago when I was pregnant with Georgie too.
Watching...An American Murder Mystery on Hulu, specifically the Casey Anthony series. I go through spurts of true crime kicks, and I especially enjoy courtroom dramas. I like to imagine I'm on the jury, since every single time I've ever gotten real-life jury duty, the trial is cancelled before I get a chance to even go to the courthouse. I just really want to be picked for a jury once in my life. With so many people who hate jury duty, why does someone like me who wants to perform my civic duty never get a chance, I ask you? It's a shame. Anyway, sometimes I like to watch true crime shows and decide whether I'd say innocent or guilty if I was on the jury. (For the record, I do think Casey Anthony was guilty of something. But there wasn't enough evidence to be able to say exactly what went down. I think her dad has it right.)
Wearing...these tanks from JcPenney. They are just the perfect tank to me - relaxed without being sloppy, and they go with everything. I have a few colors, and I wear them with shorts or distressed cropped jeans for park days, tied to the side or tucked with a skirt for a dressier look, or with "athleisure" leggings and a jean jacket for grocery shopping. I buy a few every year, because I wear them so much they usually need replacing each summer!
Going...to the Great Sand Dunes! We took a little weekend trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and we all had so much fun. It is definitely one of the more fun national parks for kids, in my opinion. In May and June the snow melts off the mountains and the water flows down in front of the dunes, so it's like a beach in the middle of the country. The kids had so much fun splashing in the water and building sand castles. This was also the first time I've been there where the sand didn't burn my feet, so climbing up the dunes was actually fun instead of sweltering. Just a great time all around.
Derek and I are looking forward to a few more short trips this summer. We got a pretty decent tax return (which is the only way we pay for vacations). We were thinking about splurging on a big trip this year, but I think we've decided to opt for a more moderately-priced trip and a few other smaller weekend trips. You know, spread the fun out a little bit.
Wishing...that it would warm up just an incy bit more. It's been a fairly cool start to the summer here - I don't think we've broken 80 degrees in the mountains yet. I'd just like to get a couple 80 degree days so we can break out the kiddie pool and water-related toys. Right now it's still just a little too cool for that. I know all of you who are in sweltering parts of the country are probably wishing it was cooler, so don't think I don't appreciate that it's not too hot either!
Celebrating...my birthday this week! I'll be spending most of it at the homeschool conference, and Derek and the kids are going to join me there in the evening for a science family event. Then we'll do a little more celebrating together on Saturday (I don't know what we'll do, Derek has something planned.)
What have you been up to lately? Any summer plans or good books?
Do people publish blog posts on Saturdays? Is that done? Well, I guess I'm doing it.
Currently...
Reading...A Serial Killer's Daughter by Kerri Rawson. Why do I get sucked into these true crime stories? This one is a little different because it's actually less about the crimes and more about the daughter's own experience finding out what her dad had done. It's a Christian publisher, so I'm hoping there will be some hope from her perspective, because I imagine that would be pretty traumatizing. Why am I reading this book again? It is interesting though.
Worrying...About Harvey. If you didn't know, Harvey is our dog that we got before any of the kids were even on the way. We found out last week that he had a tumor, which we initially thought was a simple skin tumor that would most likely be benign. Turns out it was bigger than anticipated, so the prognosis is not looking as good now. But we don't know what it is yet.
It's hard sometimes to be a pet owner. You love your pets, they bring so much fun to your life, but you will almost certainly outlive them. I had an engagement present Yorkie, Ralphie, that died a few years back after an attack, and I never could bring myself to write about it here. I have a hard time knowing what to say, or if I even want to write about grief or worry related to dogs. Every time one of my pets gets sick or dies, I experience a weird mix of grieving for the dog I'm going to lose, but also gratefulness that my children and husband are all healthy and happy. Maybe that's just what experiencing death so close does, at least for me, and perhaps because it is a dog and not a person. I'm sad for what I might lose and grateful for what I have.
And I honestly just try not to think about it too much in the meantime. Hopefully it's not too aggressive and we have a couple years left with our clumsy, lovable mutt.
Frightened by...Mice! Why are mice so scary? I think it's partly the surprise, and partly germophobia. When we moved we realized we had mice in this house, and after some trial and error, we figured out they were coming in through a gap in the subfloor beneath our stove. Derek taped it up to seal it, which solved the problem for a while. But then when we were gone in New Orleans my mom saw a mouse in our house. She laid out some traps and caught 2.5 mice while we were gone! Yuck! We then realized the little varmints had torn down the tape that Derek put up. He fixed it, and we haven't caught any others, but still. Yuck.
Awakened by...Woodpeckers. Every morning. One that does slow, exploratory pecks on the wall right above my head. And another one that does a jackhammer peck on the metal flue that goes up from our laundry room, which causes an obnoxious echo through our entire house. (It's metal, bird! Give it up!) We would pull out the BB gun, but apparently woodpeckers are protected under some migratory bird law or something. So we just yell and hit the walls first thing in the morning. Great way to start the day, right? So far the birds are not taking the hint.
Puzzled by...The lack of flowering trees this spring. I have seen a few in town, but not many, and not at their best. I'm genuinely disappointed by this. The flowering trees in town are the main thing that redeems this muddy mess of a season for me.
Itching...To do some spring cleaning. I haven't had a chance or the motivation yet to clean out the closets and organize things in preparation for summer. You would think out house wouldn't be too cluttered since we just moved in October, but you would be wrong. That's what five kids and Christmas will do to you.
Excited about...Jury duty! My entire adult life I've wished I would get called for jury duty so I could participate in the civil process, do my civic duty, all that. I got called once 12 years ago, but the trial got cancelled. I finally got called again! This is my chance! I'm pretty sure they are going to dismiss me on the first day, but I'm still interested to see how it all works firsthand.
Planning...For all the summer fun. I know it's still spring, but I am ready to be in full summer mode. I bought all the kids summer clothes a couple weeks ago. (I feel like I didn't do too well price-wise, even though I shopped secondhand - is it just because my kids are getting bigger?) I'm thinking ahead to an August vacation (not sure where we're going yet). I am planning for little outings I could do with the kids, and day trips we can take as a family on the weekends. I'm dreaming of afternoons spent reading on the porch in the sunshine while the kids play outside. One more month and our summer break is on!
Looking forward to...Taking my girls out for some girly fun today! Derek and his dad are big fans of the local college football team, and they decided to take the boys to spring practice. The girls would probably enjoy going too, but this is kind of their guy thing, so we're going to let them have their time. We are going to a Mommy-And-Me Mermaid Tea Party. Yes, apparently there are such things. It should be crazy keeping Georgie out of the paint (did I mention there is paint?), interesting to see what a Mermaid Tea Party is, and impossibly cute for obvious reasons.
What are you up to this fine Saturday?
I go around the corner and settle into the homeschool room. I set up this room so we'd have a quiet(ish) corner of the house to do work in, but I've also found it serves quite well in the morning when I am trying to sneak in some personal Bible study time. I am working through Hebrews (again), and close my eyes to run through the first three chapters in my head. I was hoping to have chapter four memorized by now, but I always am too optimistic on these things, no matter how hard I try to be realistic.
And now quiet time is over, the kids are starting to get bored with Little Bear, and I am still sitting down to attempt to write this chatty post.
On Being "So Busy" And Feeling Like Myself
Elizabeth wrote a similar post about hobbies recently, and she mentioned that although she would never want to poo-poo those who are single when they say they "are so busy" (because doesn't every stage feel so busy?), the difference when you have kids is that you're busy, and any time you start something there is always the possibility of being interrupted. I fully concur with that. There are so many things I don't try to do, or posts I don't start to write, because I know I'm going to get interrupted. But this is me breaking the pattern and spilling out some words anyway, even though I will likely be interrupted in the next five minutes. Something is better than nothing, right?
March is the first month this year where I've actually felt like myself again! I don't know what it was about January and February, but I just felt somewhat lost both months, like I was running to catch up to my life. I realized I probably had to let some things go, and cut some things out of my life that were discouraging me. I quit Bible study because it was just too much right now, put myself on a social media diet because I was escaping to it too often, and planned a few spontaneous field trip days for me and the kids because I used to do that all the time and I miss it.
(I didn't know what photo to put in this section, so here is me in January, before my non-burgundy roots started to grow out. Maybe I should get my hair re-done one of these days...a hair appointment has never hindered me from feeling like myself, just saying.)
On Not Hating Spring Anymore
Though I do actually enjoy the winter, seeing some signs of Spring has helped bring me out of the duldrums as well. I took the kids to a park twice this week, and we could have been in short sleeves, it was so nice. The grass is greening up in town, and I am keeping my eyes peeled for flowering trees to start budding so I can whip out my camera and get some spring-time pictures of the kids (the only thing I regret about living in the mountains is that we don't have flowering trees).
The kids like to bring me "flowers" from outside, even though it's really just handfuls of dead grass (don't try to tell them that though). But I was pleased to see the other day that in the midst of the grass and dirt clods that were left on my counter, there was a small, green, fern-like plant as well. So spring is coming, even in the mountains.
I used to hate spring, hate it, because up here it's mostly just mud season. Snow is melting, but nothing is growing yet, and your shoes are constantly muddy. But somewhere in the last couple years I realized maybe my loathing of spring was based on a limited, immature view of it. When I was young, I hated hiking too, but now I enjoy the exercise. When I was young, I hated going on mountain drives because it seemed boring, but now I love to explore new roads in the car and find all the gorgeous views. When I was young, I hated spring because it was muddy and dull...and it's still rather muddy and dull, but when you look closer, you can see the signs of life returning after a long winter, and there is something more refreshing about it now. Everything starts new again. There is a redemption to it that I never saw when I was young.
Of course, it also helps that I can now drive to places where there are flowering trees (I love flowering trees).
On Medieval Guilds, Juggling, And Music
We are on the countdown until the end of the school year, and I have been tracking the days on our calendar and the lessons left in our curriculum book daily to make sure they are lining up. I am not one who thinks you must finish the book before the end of the year, but I also don't want to reach our last day and realize we only have a few more lessons left. The Type-A side of me would not be able to rest. We are mostly on track though, and I am thinking of tripling up on our math lessons for a couple weeks so we can finish math early and take the last month of school to just focus on "fun stuff" - history and science. I think it might be a nice way to wind down the year.
Speaking of winding down the school year, and also speaking of history, our co-op is doing our big spring event next week, a medieval "guild". Each family is supposed to pick a trade, make some goods, and dress up in medieval garb to come barter at the marketplace. I cannot tell you how much mental anguish I have gone through trying to figure out what to make. I had signed us up to be weavers, but then realized how ridiculous it was to think that I could "weave" (knit) enough...something...to trade at the guild, all by myself. Because of course my little non-knitting kids would not be a help. I was thinking about shifting to some other simple cloth-related craft, but couldn't come up with a tight enough idea. So after much frustration I switched us to being the jugglers. Juggling is kind of a trade, right? Court jesters and all that? Okay, no, none of us can actually juggle, but we can make some pretty neat little juggling balls, and it's a lot simpler than weaving something.
And speaking of co-op, we also did a field trip the other day to an "inside the orchestra" event, and it immediately made me regret not taking up the violin in my younger days. It also made me want to break out my flute again. It's really tricky to learn how to make the flute actually make noise, and I already have that part down from years ago, so I'm halfway to playing it, right? In reality I am not a very musically talented person, but I so wish I was. Enthusiasm counts for something, I think.
On Book Clubs And Reading Too Many Books At Once
Despite never thinking I could keep up with a book club, I have found myself in two book clubs over the last year. I get excited about book clubs because it's so nice to read a book and have someone to talk to about it. I love reading a book at the same time as friends or family so we can discuss it later. But I will also admit that I get a smidge stressed about book clubs or buddy reads, because I am such an ADD reader. I can't stick with just one book!
Recently I decided enough is enough and I would just read one book at a time, and read that book clear through before picking up another one. That idea lasted for all of one book before I was back to reading a chapter here and there from five books again. The problem is that I am a mood reader, and my moods change so often. I also have a terrible time deciding what I am in the mood for and feel like I have to try five books before I can decide...and then I inevitably never decide and just continue piece-mealing five books at once.
Recently I decided enough is enough and I would just read one book at a time, and read that book clear through before picking up another one. That idea lasted for all of one book before I was back to reading a chapter here and there from five books again. The problem is that I am a mood reader, and my moods change so often. I also have a terrible time deciding what I am in the mood for and feel like I have to try five books before I can decide...and then I inevitably never decide and just continue piece-mealing five books at once.
(Who am I kidding, it's more like 10-15 books at once.)
I am going to try the one book thing again, maybe with my most recent bookclub book, Far From The Madding Crowd. Have you read that one? PSA: It's free on Kindle.
Chime in, do you play musical instruments, enjoy or hate spring, read too many books at once, or have experience with medieval guilds?
Tips and tricks appreciated.
I'd pull out my little specialty tins from David's Tea that my dear friend Felicia sent me for a late Christmas present, and I'd probably mentioned that I first met her through letters we started exchanging as 12 year olds. How we still have never met, but we still manage a letter every six months and cross our fingers that one of these days we'll meet for real. How she's a longtime, dear friend of mine even though I've never seen her face in person.
Not many people have had pen-pals these days, so you might think it's cool or you might not quite get it, but I'd probably mention how I wish snail mail wasn't such a thing of the past, and how I wish I was better at it myself. All these words that we pound out and send off into the space of the internet are so...intangible. There is something about a letter that you can hold in your hand, how you can see what kind of pen and stationary the person chose, see what their handwriting looks like, hear the words that people won't put out there for any person to see but that feel safe to write in a letter. There is something special about that.
I'd pause and listen to your thoughts on the subject, and who knows where the conversation would take us, but I'm sure it would come back to a couple other things I've been thinking about lately.
I might tell you how I've put myself on a 15 minute a day "Instagram diet". I'm serious about it, and I had my husband put a passcode that I don't know to enforce my 15 minute limit.
You might care less about all this because you aren't on Instagram, or you might look at me askew and say "wow" because you don't see why I'd take such measures. And I'd explain that I realized how often I was escaping a boring day with mindless scrolling, and how I could see it was distracting me from my kids. Distracting me from consistency in my Bible study, from things that are eternal, and from the legacy I want to leave (it's never too early to start thinking about your legacy). And well, something just had to be done. If I died tomorrow, I wouldn't want my kids to remember my face glued to my iPhone.
Then I'd probably ask you if you print up pictures of your kids, and it would seem like a change of subject, but it's really not. Because with all of this talk about tangible things, I'd probably mention how I want my kids to have pictures they can hold in their hands. I'd talk about how I can never seem to get my act together with creating photo books, and I take an excessive amount of pictures so it's always felt like an insurmountable task to sort through them and print them all up. You'd probably commiserate with me, because its probably a huge project for you too. Then I'd tell you how I decided to print up my one favorite photo of each kid from each month. Just one. And how I'd like to accompany each photo with a short letter with my favorite memory of them from the month. I'd tell you how I grabbed a basic composition book and wrote the rough-drafts of my five little letters already.
Because printing some pictures is better than printing none. And it's harder to blink and miss a childhood when you are keeping an eye out for a memory to record.
Then maybe I'd get away from all this heavy talk, and I'd ask you what you thought about the Bachelor, or whether you've been able to get outside with all this snow. I'd ask what you've been up to lately, if you've read anything good.
And we'd sit, and enjoy our tea, and visit face to face instead of through a screen. And it would be lovely.
I wish I could have you all over for tea on a Tuesday.
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Shoutout to Amanda for making me want to write a "visiting over a hot beverage" post again with her coffee date posts. And feel free to steal the term "Tea On A Tuesday" if you like it, and write your own. I lifted the phrase from a long-ago blogger that is no longer writing. I don't think she'd mind if we bring it back.
Currently I'm...
Listening...to Sawyer Brown's Christmas album and the sounds of my kid's giggling, and a story from Gwen about what happened when they played with bubbles (in the bathroom, because that's where bubbles are restricted to in the winter).
Drinking...A cup of coffee. I had another epiphany last night that while I am very diligent to teach my kids about the Lord with words, I'm not doing so great at backing it all up with actions on a day to day basis. I get irritable and angry often enough that I'm embarrassed about it, and they almost never see me cracking open my Bible because I've been squeezing it in during the evening after they are in bed. So I'm too often treating them like a nuisance and never visibly reading my Bible, but I still preach at them? Sounds like a recipe for raising hypocrites to me, and last night I was so convicted about it. So I am radically changing up my daily schedule, and part of that is waking up BEFORE they do and starting the day with God's Word. It's better for me to start my mind off on a God-centered foot first thing in the morning, and good for them if they catch me at it. But...waking up before the sun...yeah, I need coffee.
Scheming...about surprising Derek at work today. I felt like our relationship is really taking too much of a back burner these days, and the wear is starting to show. So we are going to go pick up some cheap decorations, and surprise Daddy at work with Christmas music and hot chocolate while we decorate his office!
Thankful... that this cold that I was afraid was the flu (please see my Instagram post and video for more info), seems to in actuality be the mildest cold that we've had in a while. I had visions of sick children lying about the house, but even little Georgie is perky and cheerful this morning.
Planning...a Rube Goldberg device. You know, one of those set-ups where you push a marble, and after a bunch of stuff being knocked over, your cup of coffee is poured for you. Examples here. Sometimes I'm not sure what we got into with our co-op, because I have no idea how to build a Rube Goldberg device with a seven year old and five year old! Let's be honest, it will mostly be me building it, but I think I'll read the chapter and have the kids draw a Rube Goldberg device...and then I'll just show them the one I come up with, ha!
Slacking on...sending out Christmas cards. What is wrong with me? Usually I have them out the week after thanksgiving, but I can't get my act together this year. Which is a pity, because people need our new address to send US Christmas cards! I really need to get on it.
Reading...alot of things, as per usual. I'm reading Fool's Gold by John MacArthur, about discernment. I'm re-reading The Lord Of The Rings. I just started the Fellowship, and it's just as delightful as the first time I read it (or more, since I know the story now). And I picked up Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, which is the book that inspired the movie Christmas With The Kranks. Which happens to be one of our favorites (it's just so relatable as an adult!).
Waiting...on the photos to transfer off my phone and onto my computer. I only have to do this about once a year, but oy, it's a chore.
Excited...about the book bucket I put together. For years I've been wanting to wrap up Christmas books and open up and read one each day with the kids. This is the year it finally happens!
What are you all up to currently?
I told Derek last night that this week is the cutoff. Once we get to December 1st, we are officially on break from renovating until the New Year! He didn't take much convincing.
This has been a whirlwind month, and the house doesn't even look like the same house anymore. I haven't blogged through the process as much as I'd like, but I thought I'd do a little update now that we're about one month into our new home! This is what we got done, and what we still need to get done.
(Sidenote - If you want to actually see how far we've come, go on Instagram TV and watch my house tour videos on there (@callienicole7)! I have one "before" video, and a "halfway through" video. I'll share before and after pictures on here after we finish everything!)
What We've Accomplished
New flooring - You might remember the old flooring was mostly pink carpet, even in the bathrooms. There is no more pink carpet, and we've replaced it with a nice grieve carpet and (vinyl) wood floor downstairs! The carpet was installed for us. Derek did the wood floor. We had $1000 worth of wood stolen from us though (we have our suspicions), which is a bummer because it's really throwing our budget off now.
New paint - We originally thought we'd paint everything ourselves to save money, but we changed our minds. We decided to hire out the paint in the entire house (except bathrooms), even though it wasn't originally in the budget, because doing it ourselves would take forever, and I've realized I loathe painting. I have to say, that painter was worth every single penny. I'm so glad we didn't try to do all that ourselves, and the painter said he'd come back to touch up anything we weren't happy with, even up to a year later! I knew I picked the right guy for the job.
Painted the kitchen cabinets - We went with white on the upper cabinets, and navy blue on the lower. I may have panicked a little bit when we first started painting the blue, but now that it's coming together I think it's going to look great when it's done!
Kitchen backsplash - Derek just finished it last night! It's a nice tile with copper/gold/brown/grey/ivory pieces.
Granite countertops - They installed them last week! However, as soon as they were in, Derek and I decided to prioritize the kitchen, because with the color of the cabinets before, the granite didn't even look that good. It's amazing how much cabinet color affects the look of everything else.
New fridge and dishwasher - It had to be done.
Demolished the master bathroom - If you recall, there used to be carpet in the master bath. We are now down to bare wood floors, the shower and tile is ripped out, and tub will be going soon.
Painted the downstairs bathroom walls and cabinet - I did this myself. I tend to be a little sloppy with painting, so it's not as pristine as the painter's work, but it'll do.
Bought and assembled new furniture, hung curtains - Most of our old furniture works just fine in the new house, but we did need a few new things. I spent a ridiculous amount of energy searching for just the right furniture. We found an entertainment center that we love a couple months ago, and I picked out desks for the school room, bookshelves for my "library", and new curtains for the playroom and the kids' rooms (blackout curtains - yay!). I also ordered a new couch, because we are overdue; our other one is in that too-soft-droopy phase. The new couch comes in January!
Unpacked 90% of our stuff - This is no small feat. I have a few boxes of kitchen stuff, a few boxes of books, and toys left to organize, but I unpacked everything else and hung all our decorations throughout the house. It's starting to feel like home now!
Set up our Christmas stuff - Very important.
What We Have Left To Do
Finish the master bath - I fully expect this project to take at least a month - we are saving it for January so we can enjoy Christmas without projects hanging over our heads!
The upstairs bathroom - we have done exactly zero things in the upstairs bathroom. We want to paint the walls and cabinets, replace the pink toilet, replace the floor tile. We are still trying to determine if replacing the shower tile (also pink) is in the budget.
Finish the downstairs bathroom - It still needs a new (not black) toilet, new countertop, and new faucet and light fixtures.
Buy kitchen curtains - There are a lot of windows in this kitchen, and the glare is serious! We need something for the windows.
Finish kitchen island remodel - We want to put a faux brick with a German schmear-type look around the island to finish off the kitchen. Right now the island just looks like painted plywood (which it basically is).
Buy and install wood stove - I so miss my old wood stove! We decided we need one here too, and luckily, all the pipes are already installed for one - so we just need to install the rock backdrop and the stove itself.
Kid's playset - Derek wants to build the kid's a playset this spring, since we left the old one at our other house, so we budgeted it in.
Finish unpacking/hanging curtains - I have a few boxes left, and few rooms with now curtains yet - we're getting there.
Clean out garage - The garage has become the holding area for everything. Can you believe I still haven't even parked in it?
We've accomplished a lot, but it still feels like there is a lot to go! However, the main living areas of the house are mostly finished, so it's nice to not feel like we are living in a mess anymore. It's coming together, and it's so nice for the kids (and my sanity) to have the extra room! We haven't gotten into a good routine here yet though, and I'm looking forward to a little more normalcy during our December break!
Over the last week or so, I have heard several people mention how Thanksgiving is a hard holiday for them. Maybe they lost relatives around that time of year, or they moved and are away from family. To be honest, I think I could have dedicated more thought to this over the years. I haven't had any sort of major traumatic event happen close to a holiday in my life to this point, and I can see how that would kind of ruin a holiday.
I bring this up only because our church is going through some hard stuff right now, right before Thanksgiving. I wouldn't call any of it "traumatic", but I can see a little more personally how some holidays may become difficult after a major change.
But it also seems to me that Thanksgiving specifically would become a little more important in those circumstances as well. I think in our American culture, we get so caught up in the trappings of Thanksgiving - the family, the turkey, the football, the pie - that we forget what the whole point of the holiday is. It's for giving thanks to God for all He has blessed us with. Sometimes it might be harder to see those blessings in the middle of all that is lost. But they are always there, and how insulting to the Creator if we throw all His good gifts aside just because we don't have that one gift that we want.
All that to say, I'm thankful for many things this year even though this November has been filled with more heartache and stress and loss, in my own life and those around me, than some in the past.
I'm thankful for my precious children.
I went upstairs today to clean up the boy's room, and found a stack of papers all about fish beside Wyatt's table. They are crinkled and bent from multiple readings. He's his own little person, and I love seeing who he is becoming. It just was a tangible little reminder at how much of a privilege is to raise and shape five precious and unique individuals. I love that I get to do things like pick up dirty socks, change dirty diapers, and straighten wrinkled papers for all of these precious people.
I'm thankful for my husband.
Derek and I haven't been getting much couple-connection time lately, because he has been so busy tearing out flooring, putting more in, tearing apart bathrooms, and painting kitchen cabinets. He's been working so hard to bring our vision for this house to life, and still doing his best to take care of the kids and me (especially since we all came down with a stomach bug last week). He's something special.
I'm thankful for this house.
The remodeling process has been rough, and we've had multiple setbacks - from unforeseen delays, to ordering the wrong thing, to contracting a stomach bug, to even theft (someone stole $1000 worth of wood from us - how does that even happen?)! I think I have finally accepted that I am not going to get the entire house put together before the Christmas season, and the Christmas decorations are just going to have to go up while we are still moving in. It's a messy Christmas, and that's okay. It'll come together eventually!
I'm thankful for my family.
This is a season of upheaval for us, in our house and in our church, but the people are the same. I'm so glad I have my family (and friends too!) to lean into right now.
I'm thankful for my church.
Aside from the aforementioned upheaval, I can see that so many people are trying to handle everything in a godly way. Maybe we won't always completely succeed, but the heart is there, and seeing that lets me know we are in a good place.
I'm thankful for my Bible study group.
So many of the ladies made me meals and watched the kids during the move! They have showered me with love during a transition year, when I was sad about the need to quit our MOPS group in favor of homeschool stuff. I needed the help with this unexpected move, and they stepped up and filled the gaps. They've been such a blessing to me.
I'm thankful for audiobooks.
With the way the last three weeks have gone down, I'd be out of luck for my book club if we didn't have audiobooks! Time to read a physical book I have not.
I'm thankful for the Hallmark Channel.
When you are really in a Christmasy mood but can't decorate (aaah!), Hallmark Christmas movies fill that Christmas-shaped hole. We signed up for Fubo this year during the month of November and December specifically for football and Christmas movies. You don't even need a major satellite subscription anymore to watch the channels you want! What an age we live in.
I'm thankful for Christmas cards, and all the people who send them.
It's easy enough to keep up with people through social media these days, but it's not the same thing as when someone sits down to write out your name and send you a Christmas card. There is so little of the personal touches anymore because of social media, but at Christmas everyone suddenly remembers that the mail exists, and there are wonderful people at a mailbox on the other side of the line. It's a special thing. Christmas cards, don't you ever die out.
I'm thankful for Christmas.
I'm thankful for all the fun Christmas trappings, and most thankful for the Savior who we celebrate. The gift of our salvation through Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection - that's the greatest gift, and He is the only thing that never changes.
Happy Thanksgiving Week, friends!
I'm hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule soon - I've got something about "The Anatomy Of A Hallmark Movie" in the works in my brain, so stay tuned!
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