Thankful Wreath 2012

As I looked around my son's classroom, while helping in class, I was blessed to learn what the students are thankful for....

I found the leaf that I thought my son wrote "Legos and more Legos"

I am thankful that I got a glimpse of the gratitude in the hearts of these kids

Josh's exciting surgery (titled by Josh himself)

We just arrived at the hospital!

Josh is here for outpatient surgery, and the blessings of a Children's Hospital is the beauty to capture a child's mind....

Ready and waiting for surgery. We took advantage of the time and we read books together.  Josh shared his fears with us, then with his doctor, asking "I'm worried your gonna start before I fall asleep." Dr. B encouraged him, "It'll be okay. I'll wait for you. We'll do it together." We shared a group hug, and off they went to the Operating Room.

Roaming around, waiting to be called to the recovery room.

His nurse complemented that he didn't look like he had surgery!

He looked great!

Dr. B reminds me of the type of doctor in the movie Patch Adams. COMPLETELY endearing, Silly, FUN, gives from the HEART, professional, and excellent at his work. He clearly LOVES the role of physician. We have been blessed that he's been a part of our journey  for the past 4 and a half years.

 God's hand was on this surgery. I appreciated that Josh could articulate his concerns to Doctor B. Doing so, Dr. B was able to address Josh's fears directly. Josh said his favorite part of this day, was the surgery! Later, when friends asked how it went, he said, "I LOVED my surgery!" Thank you God for your faithfulness. We just had Josh's follow up appointment and all is healed. Praise God, the Ultimate Physician, who made His presence known.

St. Nick

 This is a typical sight in our home, Pete reading to our boys -- Boys In Bible. This evening we read a few Christmas books too with our advent candles glowing.

One night I found Aidon in this position, with God's Word opened up to  Psalms.  The next day, I leaerned that Aidon  got up to get his Bible and fell asleep reading it.  I was so blessed to see that God is his strength.

 On December 6th, we remember a man named Nicholas and how he loved Jesus. He loved in word and action, and was later named a saint, Saint Nicholas. St. Nick also secretly gave gold coins as dowry for three women of a poor family, so they could be provided for through marriage. God's word tells us in Matthew 6: 1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it....but when you give...do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret."

 I had forgotten about this annual tradition, truth be told, when we were planning our December calendar as a family. Josh asked, "When do we fill the stockings?" and Aidon recalled aloud, "St. Nicholas!"

 They each pulled out their stash of spending money and we went as a family to buy stocking stuffers for each other. This takes coordination! We each go to pay individually, so the parents keep trading off kids and cashier lines.

 This month, we have spent our mealtimes talking about what we'd like to give to someone, what we're thankful for, or something one would wish for (any time of the year). Through this, I learned what they  might think of a "something" as a gift for someone else. Since I am sometimes not confident with choosing gifts, I've enjoyed learning about them.

I enjoy watching the kids' joy in giving and also when what we've picked for them brought them a sense that they're loved, thought of, and cared about.

Gingerbread Man 2012

I arrived on campus to help in class, and found the first grade students, in the main office asking about the runaway Gingerbread Man.

Here the principal is pondering:

The students are asking the upper grade teacher:

This one is entertained by avoiding the camera:

A note from the Gingerbread Man:

Back in their class room, the students wait together as a teacher checks in the storage closet:

The teacher emerges with the Gingerbread Man cookies:

The children will finally get to enjoy the cookies they decorated:

Giving a box

 We often see and hear those around us, putting together a box of CHRISTmas cheer to be given to a child in need. It will be delivered by Samaritan's Purse (remember the story of the Good Samaritan?).

The kids look forward to filling up this empty box . On the way out, Aidon said, "I'm going to look for an airplane for my boy." and Josh said, "I'm going to find a bear for my boy."

Before we went to the register, Josh spent several minutes squeezing in as much as he possibly could into the box. This is a short yet sweet endeavor. We prayed for the boy that our box will be given too, that the Lord would use it to bless him, and that what we picked would be just right for him.

Thanksgiving Morning 2012

 We love to have Christmas day together, so Pete is completely "up" for working on Thanksgiving. This year we revisited our tradition of stopping by his work so we're with him for a bit during the day as well as our traditional dinner. It's fun to see your children start a question with "Dad...."

We are thankful for Pete's employment and that he has a career that he truly loves.

Christmas Cards

While signing Christmas cards, we watched a show or listened to Christmas worship music.

A while back, I shared with Pete and the boys, that I am okay if we didn't give Christmas cards this year. With this honest sharing, I learned that all three of them enjoy this tradition. Each of us chooses a photo to put on the Christmas card.

 With this new knowledge that they each enjoyed being a part of sending greetings, we spent an evening signing our photo collage -- while listening to Christmas carols and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.

We wish you a Christmas season blessed with quality time with those dear to you, and God's blessings of true Joy, and His peace.

A day's journey

We've had this overnight trip planned since April. We left church with much anticipation and were on our way. Josh looked out the window and said, "Look! God's beautiful heavens!" That was the start of our family retreat.

Traditionally, we have family time during our annual camping trip, and when visiting relatives. This year, we hoped to have affordable mini-trips to give us more opportunities to reconnect. Here's the view on route to a mountain town:

The boys were excited that our lodge room had bunk beds and jumped in right away to warm up.

We headed out for a hike to explore this 53 acre property. This manzanita tree's red color was striking:

The sunlight spotlighted a mountain in the distance, and caught our eyes:

Stopping to pose amidst the woods, about 30 steps into our hike:

The property has goats, sheep, horse, and a ram. The wild critters we saw were blue jays, turkey vultures, wood peckers and rabbit.

Balancing the fallen wood 'balance beam':

A curious horse:

Our resident rock collector found many lovely artifacts:

So excited, that he could just 'eat it up'

Our wooded path:

Pete turning back and checking on mama:

to find me taking photos as usual. As we got deeper in our walk, we were blessed with more and more fall foliage:

It was about this time frame, that we realized we were not where we thought we were according to the trail map. Can you say 'lost'?:

So, we shuffled along faster, knowing that we had less than an hour til the sun set, hence the blurry photograph:

The Lord gave us an opportunity to trust in and seek His guidance, to equip us along our journey. God is faithful.

When back on track, we were thankful for our exciting journey and for our cozy lodge. We cozied in for some comforts brought from home -- warm soup and then later some hot cocoa.

The excitement continued. When we headed out for dinner, it was pitch black dark outside. The lamps outside our lodge were not on when we left because they had not yet been adjusted to the time change. This gave a sense of adventure to our night time travels. As we drove out the one-lane dirt road to go one mile to town, there was a dense fog, and a rare street lamp.

The restaurant we found, had portions that provided us more than enough for one meal, so we saved the leftovers for our lunch the next day. The bonus about this place, was that the prices were comparable to a walk-up counter diner. When we returned back to the rustic lodge, with no phone or television or WiFi; the kids got back to Simple Yet Fun Entertainment - Shadow Puppet Dancing:

The night ended with a family game, and the next morning began with a chess game. These boys were making "check" and "check mate" within minutes:

Next up was hanging out in the Lodge's main room, starting with sand art:

And an exciting, fast paced, game of "What's Gnu?"

Here comes a literal "Insane Exercise" workout, with our two boys 'hamming' it up:

Time for target practice with rocks aimed at pine trees:

I asked the boys to "wind" up as they aimed:

Our resident rock collector found rocks with gold sparkles, white sparkles, each unique in shape, size and color. Pete suggested narrowing down to a 'favorite' rock, and Josh replied a reason to not one of them go, "It's gorgeous!"

Here, Josh is excited to pose happily, in front of a big rock he found: 

We said our good byes to Julian Meadow View Inn. If you are okay with rustic settings, they have a weekday special for $49.99 per night. We were able to enjoy this time away, packing food and snacks, for easily under one hundred dollars including lodging. Off we went to town for Julian Apple Pie:

Our favorite is a slice of Apple Crumb pie:

A picture with mom at "Mom's Pie Place":

We left feeling re-connected and blessed. The Lord has been growing us this year, and we were encouraged with a change from the regular routine -- and together, at that.

Til next time, See you later Julian!