4 Miles

Saturday, James took Will & Alex outside and built a snowman with them. It was MUCH more impressive then my first attempt.

After that, he took them sledding. They had a fun time, and I was able to get some shopping down without the boys. It was a win-win situation!  That evening we went up to Marion to visit some friends/go to their Holiday Open House. We had a great time and the boys behaved really well, so we ended up staying until 9:30.  We had been telling people how the boys would fall asleep on the way home–so of course this time they stayed awake the entire time.  It took them until Tuesday to catch up on sleep!

Sunday was Will's Preschool Christmas Program.  It was VERY short–which was nice.  He was a shepard. 

Can you see him there?  He's right by the plant.

Sadly, the camera batteries were dying so we have HORRIBLE pictures. This one and a really blurry one.  And a picture of someone's feet.  They did the 12 Days of Christmas, but a Christian version (1 baby in a manager, 2 parents, 3 wisemen, 4 donkeys, etc.) They'd have several groups come out and then we'd sing a carol. Then more 2-3 more groups would come out, etc.  Then the kids left to go back to their room for a snack and we got to hear a short message from the pastor of the church.  It was good it was easy, they had only one practice on Monday, then a snow day and then an "in-service" day.

Sunday had one more event…James started Job #2. Our Budget Lock-down Mode went into place in September and we thought it'd be short term, we'd get back to "normal" once we hit the 4th quarter.  Well, we're in the last month of that quarter and nothing has changed at work, so something on our end had to.  This seems to be the best answer for now.  James is stocking at Target for the holidays, from 7pm-3am.  He worked Sunday, had yesterday off, and works tonight (Tuesday), Wed. and Thursday.  Please pray for him, for strength and energy. He's always been one who needs his sleep and this is obviously cutting into it.  Also, pray for me–I really appreciate his help with the boys when he's home and now when he's home he'll be needing sleep.  It's going to be an adjustment for our family!

A week ago, I was really struggling to get into the Christmas "spirit".  There were a varity of reasons that I won't bore you with, but here are a few things I've been doing to help combat that that I thought I'd share with you.

Along with the favorite CDs (some of which I can't find!) we've been listening to music on Finetunes (which is why I'm not as upset about the missing CDs).  I've made a "Christmas Playlist" (you can click here to listen to it) and it's been a fun way to find new music. (Speaking of which, I now SO want the Sarah McLachlan CD called Wintersong…you can only put 3 songs/artist on your play list and I had such a hard time picking hers! I keep changing them!)

I've created our own "Advent Activity" Calendar for the boys and I.  Some of the ones I've seen online are really impressive (Look here or here or here). I went for the old fashioned count-down chain (and then I don't have to feel bad for starting it this late in the month and not on the first…tho one person mentioned doing the 12 Days of Christmas).  I made strips of paper with activies to do on it (some as easy as "Eat a Christmas Cookie while reading a Christmas story" or "Have a cup of hot chocolate with a candy cane in it"…some are really impressive like "Make Cinnamon Spice Ornaments" or "Help decorate the tree" and some are just boring but necessary to fill in the gaps "Help mommy mail Christmas Cards" or "Drive to St. Louis!" Then I have a few back up ones if the weather premits, like "Take a walk and gather pine cones" and "Make pine cone bird feeders for the birds". Or, I may save those ideas for once Christmas is done and we still have another week of no preschool!)  We'll see how it goes.  Will is wanting to know when Christmas is, and I think it'll help him to see the chain. Of course, I've been planning this for three days and am only now priting out the paper!

I've found trying to focus on doing things with the boys and getting them focused on the real meaning behind Christmas has really helped me.  Of course, the cynic in me points out that the snow & Christmas tree have helped!

Last night we were at the store. A gentleman in line was chatting with the boys and being silly. He asked Will if we got him off the shelf.  Then he said, "Are you free?"

Will said, "No, I'm four!"

* * * * *

This morning Alex got to see the tree decorated. He said "Cis-mas tee!" and "tar!" as he noticed all the stars on the tree. Will pointed out the star on top and said "That's the star of Jesus!" A moment later he added, "Those are the ribbons of Jesus!"

Today we got our Christmas tree! Will wanted to know where we were going to cut our tree down.  James told him "The farm of Lowes".  And to the hardware store we went! There was still snow on the trees, so it was almost like going to a field to pick them. (Um, yeah, sure!) If was a very mild evening so it was a good time to look for and get a tree.  Then we had a good time decorating it tonight.

James put on the lights.

Will did a GREAT job helping me hang ornaments on the tree.  It was fun to have him helping me and asking me questions about them.  Of course, most of his questions were "Who's is this?" (there seemed to be a bit of a competative edge to how many each person had), not the questions we used to ask "Where did you get this one?" or "What's the story behind this one?"–but it's a start!

The finished product!

• Spaghetti Squash is cool!
• I was making a meal with spaghetti squash last night, and I couldn't help but marval at how cool it was and think "How creative is God! And how long did it take people to figure out the odd shaped thing could be a good food?  And what other things has God created like that? Is He waiting, watching, to see what we figure out/discover next?" (Hmmm…guess making supper doesn't lend itself to deep thoughts!)
• I decided last night, watching show fall on top of the 4 inches you already have isn't quite as cool as watching it fall on your grass & leaves.  But it does 'clean up' the snow already on the ground.
• We got 3 more inches of snow last night.  The boys & I shoveld the driveway again, then I took them around on the sled. But pulling 60 pounds behind me while walking through 7 inches of snow was a bit tiring, so I stopped. Alex wanted to go on the "boat" again.  He now knows the word "Sled".
• We also made our first snowman. It's really sad looking–I don't think I'll even take a picture. Our niece & nephew did a MUCH better job over Thanksgiving (James thinks they had Grandpa's help, we're going to have to find out). I'm going to have get some lessons, growing up in Texas didn't give me many chances to practice as a kid.

We got 4 inches of snow last night/this morning.  The boys (all decked out in snow grear, thanks to relatives) had great fun playing in it while I shoveled the drive way.

Will made a snow angel. He wanted to build a snowman, but the snow wasn't good "packing snow". Can you see how you can bearly see his eyes in the picture below? He wanted his hat that low.

Alex decided he wanted to jump off the front porch. This was actually his second attempt. The first time his mitten slipped off and he had one hand in the snow holding him up and the other hand up in the air, trying to get the snow off of it. He needed help getting up from that.  The second time, mittens were firmly in place and he decided to try again. You can see he didn't like landing. (I did help him up again right after I took the picture.)

This is a post that has been in my head for about a month.  A month ago I was vising the church I go to MOPS at, and the pastor was preaching a sermon on faith and how it important it is for us to step out and test our "faith muscle".  I had meant to write in more detail about it and how much it ment in light of our step of faith for our trip to Kenya, but we got sick and life just got crazy.

Then, I read this amazing quote from Beth Moore's blog today (and it reaffirmed what I'd been thinking, only says it MUCH better):

God called us through Christ to an adventure that never ends. To seeks answers that are never fully satisfied. Not here on earth anyway. You and I were given restless hearts so that we’d only be satisfied with a wild ride. Some of us try to find it elsewhere because we've reduced our relationship with God to a neatly compartmentalized religion we pay regular homage to. We keep our faith to ourselves because we haven’t got that much to spare. We expect little and get little. This way, we don’t have to let it get to us much. But if you engage in the real, live walk of faith with the real, live Jesus Christ, it’s GOING to get to you because HE’S going to get to you. You will get your feelings hurt at times because you’re close enough to be vulnerable. Faithful enough to put yourself out there. Because sometimes walking by faith and not by sight creates as many questions as answers.

She had several points in her writing, but her comments on our need for adventure, or a wild ride, reminded me of that initial sermon I heard a month ago. 

This last few months have been interesting. It has been a blessing for support to come in. Friday & Saturday we had a team retreat to get ready for our trip next month. I drove the boys up to Mom and Dad's–it was a huge help to have them watching the boys! As I was driving home Friday, I was thinking and praying about how much we still needed to come up with.  Our host church (not the church we attend) wanted all funds in by the 15th. If we had not met our goal, they asked that we be prepared to write a check for the difference.  I was praying (and fretting) about how we just didn't have the ability to write that check.  We were blessed during this weekend to receive the final amounts that we needed!  I had been planning to write this Friday saying "We have 84%!" Then I had thought I'd be writing "We have 95%!"  Instead, when I finally had time to write this post I'm able to say "We have 104%!!!"  What a blessing!  (The extra money will go to help another team member or to pay for the VBS supplies we're going to be bringing with us.)

We will try to do a better job keeping you up to date on our preparation and then the trip. I hope to write a bit more about our retreat and then more details on our jobs later in the week.  But this post is long enough and it's getting late, so I'll end it for now.  Thank you all who have supported, and thank you all who have been praying for us! Please keep it up!