our dozen beautiful feet

When our kids were small, we began the tradition of observing Advent as a family. Neither Paul nor I grew up observing Advent or Lent, or celebrated things like Ash Wednesday. But a mentor friend of mine had given me a set of Jesse Tree ornaments, and a devotional guide for the Advent season to go along with it, and we began to do this every year for our children. As we've returned to the US and found ourselves most at home in a Presbyterian church, we have been introduced to the celebrations of Lent and Ash Wednesday.  These were very unknown things to us a year ago, and I will always remember vividly my first Ash Wednesday service last year!  This year, I wanted to be much more intentional to embrace this season of anticipation. I'm learning a lot about and hope to grow through it these next six weeks, as well as lead my kids to some self-flection. Here are some resources we'll be using to help us navigate this season as newbies: I found this article that is a grea...

After all the food had been eaten and all the playing had been accomplished and all the dishes had been washed, Paul and I sat down in a quiet, lamplit home and gave our kids a few minutes to write a list of things they were thankful for.  Some of them chose to write a list based on the alphabet. Others went for a free-form list. :) Here's what our kids are thankful for this year! Luke, age 12 Apples Books Charlie Dad Eggs Family God Holy Bible India Jazz music Kiryn Levi Mom, Meryn Nerf guns Oxygen Playing Quarters Running Snakes Trees Uncles Work Zoo Kiryn, age 11: Aubrey Baths Charlie Dogs Einstein Food Good-lookin' Dad Hedgehogs Itch ointment Jesus Kaylee Laughter Mom Nadia (pen pal) Other People People Riley Sister Tristan Umbrellas Violin Winter Yogurt Levi, age 7: Mom Dad Papa Grammy Outside Brothers Sisters Aunts Uncles Music Animals Cousins Great Grandma Great Grandpa Dogs Cats Bunnies Life Jesus...

I always find other people's daily routines fascinating and helpful for me. I've gotten some great and lasting habits from posts like this: Morning Time, chore cards, reading aloud.  I love how the homeschool community inspires each other! So it is in that spirit which I write a post about a typical day in our home. 7:00 - I wake up to a quiet house. I sit in my favorite place reading until 7:30. My husband works from home, and some days, he's here all day. This morning though, he left a couple of hours before I woke up. About three mornings a week I get up and go for a nice long walk while I listen to a podcast. Starting my day with a walk or reading time in this chair is good for my soul. 7:30: Shower time for me. Some of the kids are now stirring, laying in bed reading themselves, quietly playing in their rooms. 8:15: Breakfast. This is one of those rare days that I made breakfast the night before: banana bread. So we quickly gather around the table and get to ...

I found this digging through some old files on my computer. I think I wrote it maybe five years ago, long before I was blogging, as a note to myself.  It was an excellent reminder to me this week. I got an email from a friend and it mentioned not praising what is not praiseworthy. This friend was talking about reading People magazine and how it’s truly hypocritical.   I think what she means is she enjoys reading it, but is disgusted with what she’s reading, which is why she enjoys it. J   It struck a chord with me and caused me to consider, what do I do with my actions or words that teach my kids to praise what is not praiseworthy?   If the kids see me spending more time on my appearance each morning than I do with the Lord, it teaches my girls that beauty is more valuable than Christ, and my boys that a beautiful woman is more valuable than a spiritually deep one. If the kids observe that Paul and I would prefer to watch television or read a book *every*...

It wasn't a crate or container after all.  It was a giant moving truck that covered three driveways.     The girls were extremely excited! Our boxes had seen better days. I can't believe nothing fell out.   Furniture in the house!! Time to get busy! We've got our work cut out for us the next few weeks to get this all put together to make a home!

Happy birthday to me!  Monday was my 35th birthday.  Dad celebrated in style by taking us for a night away to the Marriott! It's always been a dream of mine to go to the Marriott for a night, ever since it opened a couple of years ago in our city.  We got to eat two meals in a row there, dinner buffet and breakfast buffet.  We swam in their gorgeous pool twice, and all enjoyed the luxurious bath tub and room. Truly relaxing and we so enjoyed ourselves! So, that started our week off strangely.  We missed our learning work entirely on Monday, because we were busy soaking up all the Marriott we could. : ) We tried to get the all of our work done in the rest of the four days!  This week, we studied the life of James Madison, and his wife, Dolley.  She was known as the host-est with the most-est at the White House.  She was technically the first First Lady to live there.  John and Abigail Adams moved in just before his term ended, while it wa...

Paul turned 34 this year!  He's a very difficult person to buy gifts for.  He never wants anything, and pretty much has everything he *needs*, and then some.  I always rack my brain, try to listen for weeks ahead at things he mentions, scour the internet, and to add to the pressure, I've got two mothers begging me for suggestions as well. : ) This year, I decided to make it easy on all of us.  We would take a trip.  So I asked everyone to chip in a bit, and for Paul's birthday, we took a little getaway to a place right outside of our city called The Treehouse Resort! The rooms were little wooden boxes built up in the trees.  They had tree branches running through them.  The kids thought this was awesome. : ) They had all kinds of activities, like archery.  This was one of our favorite things to do. In the evenings, they offered camel cart rides through the Rajasthani wilderness.  They had bikes you could take on...

We've lived in South Asia for six years now as a family.  We've flown into South Asia from the US now four times.  Which means, a lot of our basics have been covered in terms of "What Do We Need To Bring."  So this time coming back in February, I was able to indulge in a few more luxury items in my luggage. One of the things I brought back was my mom's KitchenAid Mixer.  She gave it to me, and I jumped at the chance. I have always wanted one of these, but never bought one because I didn't think it would work here.  After living her for awhile now, I've realized, anything is possible. :)  We brought it back and had a stabilizer/converter built for it.  That cost about $45, but it was worth every penny! (or Rupee!)  I have so been enjoying that KitchenAid mixer.  It's funny how much better most of my recipes seem to turn out when made in the KitchenAid. :)  But, as surprising as this may be, my favorite thing I brought back from t...