Festive and fun

We had a great Thanksgiving break. Food, family, fun, and festivities. Lots of great F words packed into one long weekend. Fabulous. :-)

After the turkey, we got out the Christmas decorations, strung the lights and decorated the tree. Everything looks so festive and fun. I adore this time of year.

We also made Rice Crispy Treat Houses this weekend, in lieu of the Gingerbread variety. It was easy, stress free, and the boys loved it. I highly recommend this little activity if you happen to run across one of the kits on a store shelf.

On Friday I braved the madness and ventured forth into the great insanity of Black Friday Shopping. Yikes. . . and double yikes. But I came home with lots of goodies and we now have a Christmas tree with gifts that are wrapped and looking oh-so-inviting beneath it. Of course, this has caused some confusion and delay (for those of you who know the Thomas the Tank engine lingo) with Alec since his ability to understand time is -- shall we say -- limited. He saw presents under the tree on Saturday morning. He thought Santa had come. It was tricky and took some fancy talking on my part, but I think he's now aware that Christmas is still some time away.

In our household we celebrate the Christ for which Christmas is named. We also celebrate the magic that is Christmas and Santa and all things joyful and good. I wish you all joy and goodness during this special time of year.

For Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful for my sweet boys, Zachary and Alec. I am thankful for their giggles and silliness, for their beautiful blue eyes and their sweet, pudgy hands. I am thankful for my husband, who somehow still loves me in spite of my many flaws. I am thankful for my friends, both old and new. I am thankful for my parents, both those from birth and from marriage. I am thankful for my brother, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law.

God has blessed our little family with good health and financial stability. No, we certainly aren't wealthy. But the ends seem to meet each and every month; our boys have warm clothes and decent shoes; our cars drive; our teeth are healthy; our memories are in tact. And those memories are sweet, warm, good.

I am thankful that our house is warm and that the smell of cinnamon candles makes it even warmer. I am thankful that I have walls that are covered with picture frames, and that those frames hold photos of my beautiful children. I am thankful that my pets are healthy, and that my sweet Molly kitty loves to lay beside me while I type. She keeps both my legs and my heart warm.

I am thankful that Zachary is such a smart, sweet second grader. He was chosen to play "Elf 1" in the upcoming Christmas concert. I am thankful that Alec is such a cute, charming preschooler. He and his preschool class just performed "I'm a little turkey, short and fat" to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" on Tuesday. It was blessedly adorable.

I am thankful that I get to teach and write. I feel extremely blessed to do what I do. I have seen marked improvement in several of my students this quarter and, frankly, it just doesn't get much better than being able to help a student become a better writer.

I am thankful for Mike. He is my soulmate, my best friend, the one I always want to see at the end of the day.

And of course, I am thankful for the life I live because of Christ. All praise, all thanks to Him.

Hunter Update

I wanted to post a quick update for those of you joining me in prayer for sweet little Hunter. This morning at church our preacher read a note from Hunter's mom, Jaymi. She said that the chemo was giving him occasional bouts of nausea and is making him very tired. But they received very good news this past week based on some tests (I have no details on what types of tests were run). The doctors are saying now that Hunter has a 95% chance of full recovery from this disease. I think that sounds very encouraging.

Jaymi and Rob have rented a little apartment right near Children's Hospital so that someone can always be right there with their little guy. I know that this must be taking a toll on them. I cannot even imagine it, frankly. I just know that when one of my guys has a bad cold, my world turns inside out. I ask for your prayers for Rob and Jaymi that God will give them energy and peace.

I'll continue to post updates as I receive them.

Forecast: Rain

I live in the Pacific Northwest.

I was not born here.

I was not raised here.

I did not, quite frankly, choose to move here.

And yet, here I am in my third year as a resident of the beautiful state of Washington. It truly is a gorgeous place to live, especially in the summer when the highs are in the 80s and the rain clouds are a hazy memory. But this evening, as I type, the rain is pounding on the windows and the wind is gusting outside. It's raining.

Again.

I've had migraine headaches since I was in high school. When I was about 20 years old I realized that my migraines seem to come quite often right before a change in weather, or when it rains. Yeah, the rain isn't a great thing for me. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate it on the days when I can snuggle up under my warm comforter and listen to it on the eaves. . .that is a peaceful essence of rain. But when it rains a bit (or a lot) each day for weeks or even months on end, I am not the type of person who can really revel in that. There are people here in Washington who truly and honestly love the rainy weather. I have students at Olympic College who walk into class on the rainiest, messiest of days and with heartfelt regard proclaim, "I love this weather." No sarcasm. Honest truth. They love it.

Not me. Not so much.

Below is a picture that I took from inside my car yesterday, right before I made the regular slog and slosh through the rain to get to my classes.

Thankfully, God did promise Noah that he wouldn't allow the rain clouds to get too carried away after that 40 day thing. And so there is always, inevitably, a break in the clouds. For those, I am truly thankful. In those times, I do love it here and I do feel welcome.


Pretty, huh? My little campus at Olympic College. It's a pretty little place.

Now, if only the forecast could call for dry, chilly weather for a few days. . . .

Four for dinner

I'm going to make a small thanksgiving meal for the four of us next week. Nothing fancy because, frankly, the boys wouldn't eat anything fancy and my waistline doesn't need anything fancy.

I bought a small spiral ham today and I'm going to make a small turkey breast. The boys requested corn on the cob and crescent rolls. What else should I make? Any ideas that are kid friendly?

Help me out!

Friends who need prayers

We have friends in our church home that have just had their lives turned upside down. Rob and Jaymi are a sweet couple with two little boys under the age of three. Rob is a firefighter and Jaymi has been running a home daycare for the past couple of years. Hunter is their oldest; he's only two and a half. Hudson is the newborn.

On Wednesday, Rob and Jaymi were given the news that Hunter has leukemia. This devastating information spread quickly through our small congregation; we've all been saddened and dismayed.

The good news is that the doctors jumped aggressively into action and they say the disease is treatable. They have given Rob and Jaymi a three-year plan of action. Hunter is already doing chemo at Children's Hospital in Seattle. Seattle is not an easy trip from Port Orchard. It involves either a ferry ride or a long drive around the water. Rob has been staying with Hunter at the hospital while Jaymi commutes back and forth so that she can be with Hunter during the chemo sessions and also be home with the newborn as much as possible.

Jaymi has already had to let her daycare business go because the doctors said "too many germs." Rob has let a part-time job with a construction company go so that he can devote more time to home. They've gone from three jobs to one in a few days.

They need our prayers on so many levels, but of course the most important one is for Hunter's health and well-being.

Will you please join me in praying for this sweet family today?

Facebook

So I've been on Facebook for a few months now and, for the most part, I think it's a fun little thing that I simply don't have enough time to indulge in. But one very cool thing that I've found on Facebook are old friends from high school, college, and summer camps. Mike and I met at Camp Blue Haven in 1995. Facebook gave me back my friend Chad, another CBH counselor from '95. Chad just finished scanning about 200+ photos and posting them online for the other CBH Facebook folks to view. Mike and I have had a blast looking through all of those old pictures today. I thought it would be fun to post a few of them here. I'm always posting pics of our kids. Here are a few of us. And man, do we look like kids. If only I could still squeeze into those clothes. Sigh.




Chad, Jay, and Mike

My long lost friend Eric

The counselors: Can you find me?

Fearsome, toothless, warriors

This is just too cute to keep to myself. This little boy is one of Zach's best buddies. They dressed in the same Halloween costumes and they've both recently lost front teeth. Sweet boys!

Family time in Oklahoma

The boys and I are back from our quick trip to Oklahoma. While we were there, they enjoyed cow-boying with Poppa Jim. They did some tree climbing, some horse swinging, some cow-feeding, some running and a lot... a LOT of playing.

I was fairly relieved to find my mom in about the same condition she was in this summer. The only major change I saw was a new compulsion to pick at her skin. She has developed sores on her arms, hands, and scalp from this unconscious need to scratch and pick. It is a frustrating new trait because she is incapable of stopping herself from doing it. She had a couple of bad days while we were there, but the last three days she was aware of the boys and had a lot of fun playing with them. For that, I'm very thankful that we went home.

We'll be going back for a week at Christmas. I'm so ready to live closer to home. It is very difficult for me to leave and come back to Washington after seeing how much help my dad needs with her. Please keep them both in your prayers. Alzheimers is a hateful, dreadful disease.

On a happier note, I got some sweet pics of the boys and I'll share a few here.