The diligent procrastinator.

I have wanted to sit and blog for so long!  I have many large posts drafted...some are about things I feel passion for and some are about lame stuff like the massive clearance section I stumbled onto one day at Target.  (<---it -="" 4="" 5="" 90="" a="" about="" all="" and="" are="" ask="" at="" but="" clearance="" comment.="" could="" even="" facets="" feel="" font="" free="" going="" guess="" half="" have="" hour="" i="" if="" in="" it="" kay="" lame="" least="" leave="" life.="" like="" list.="" m="" make="" maybe="" me="" nbsp="" oday="" of="" off="" on="" our="" passionate="" question="" questions.="" really="" retend="" size="" some="" sort="" stuff="" the="" they="" think="" times="" to="" too...="" top="" update="" usually="" was="" what="" write="" you="">

Top 5 Questions (and answers) People Are Asking Me Lately

1) How much longer will you have those foster kids (Curly Sue and Dewey)?  Due to the nature of foster care, we don't know.  A lot depends on the progress made in the case...right now there is progress being made, but it could still take us into the summer, or even longer if necessary.  Is that hard?  Yes and no...we went into this (foster care and this specific placement) know it was temporary, even if by that they meant long term temporary.  We knew the kids were not going to be staying.  Will we miss them?  Of course!  But for now we enjoy the fact that a family is being built up and growing together in a healthy way.  We enjoy having time w/the kids and do what we can.  I have a lot more to say about all that, but feel free to ask me if you really want to hear more.  Are you going to take more placements after this?  Yes and no.  We recently submitted another application to adopt so most likely our next placement will be w/the goal of adoption.  After that, we'll see!

2) Have you started your garden?  Nope.  Only in my mind!  Shoot, it was only about a month or two ago that I was pulling frozen Brussels sprouts out of the garden!  I know I need to do a few things differently this year but I am intent on finding non-GMO seeds that Monsanto doesn't own, so I know it will take a lot more planning and such.  Any new chickens?  Nope.  Again, I would really like to add to the flock, but the timing is just not right.  Hopefully after spring break there will be some Barred Rocks available nearby and we can bring them here.  Lately we've been finding poor Pippa's eggs frozen and cracked - the weather has been so wacky that we just can't get out there fast enough!  Lois pretty much quit laying in the fall when she seemed to start molting...I think I've gotten 2 eggs out of her since then.

3) How are the goals coming?  Good!  I've been faithfully going to the Y and seeing results.  The morning Bible Challenge seems easy after last time and I am so blessed to be a part of it.  Practice for the play is trucking along and I marvel at everyone's talent.  Not only that but God has already done some amazing things in me, the cast and the community b/c of it.  I'm still working on the 'homemaker' duties...but the hot breakfasts are always a hit and I'm slowly getting better at other stuff.  I am falling short in some of the areas, of course, but I think it's part of the process.  Plenty to learn from the mistakes!  

4) What are you most excited about/inspired by right now?  All of the above!  The play, adoption, starting the garden, spring break...but also seeing people hold Life Is Precious signs by a local 'planning your life as a parent - or not' place near my house, sitting next to my 7yo as he works on the Purple Book while I do my morning Bible study, reading what my friends post about non-GMO stuff and healthy clean foods on that social networking site, talking w/friends about summer camping, some friends' pending adoption, hearing my 5yo read and spell her sight words, and many other things!  Aren't you busy?  Yes, but as I tell the little old ladies who see me out and about w/4 kids in various places and then remark, "My, you have your hands full!" - better full than empty!  That, and - full hands, full heart!  

5) Anything we can pray about?  Glad you asked!  This is what I wrote on Facebook today - "**I NEED A FAVOR** - in 6 weeks minus one day (EEEP!) will be our first performance. The closer we get to practicing the end of the play (really - the coolest part!) and our first performance, the more we feel under spiritual attack. >>>>PLEASE PRAY<<<< for all of us, our families and for those attending. If you have a small group or bible study, ask them to pray. (If you meet once a week, that's only 6 times you have to remember to pray for us. Of course we'd love it every day, but we'll take once a week!) Put a note on your calendar, in your phone, on your fridge, write it w/dry erase marker on your mirror, whatever you need to do as a reminder! Beyond that, invite people to attend! SHARE THIS EVENT on your own FB wall. Ask people to pray, even if they can't attend! This amazing play was written by one of the cast members. There are people from multiple churches involved which makes me extremely happy and proud to be a part of something bigger that supersedes my small circle of friends, influence and experience...THANK YOU for your prayers! I know many of you have already been praying =) Keep it up!"  Yes, as one of my cast-mates says, I can be a bit dramatic!  But in all seriousness, we would greatly appreciate your prayers.  Besides that, please pray for our family and our foster children's family.  Transitions are never easy on anyone, but for small children they can be so hard to process.  One final thing as my free time is winding down...please pray for Dave's heel.  When he broke his ankle a few years ago, we knew it wouldn't be the same.  He's been struggling w/plantar facilitis (sp?) and since he's on his feet all day, it's not getting better.  He has the shoe inserts, the pain meds and the goofy contraption you wear to bed at night, but even those and icing and putting it up in the evenings are not helping.  Pray that the heel be healed!  (Had to slip that in there...)  Also, the goofy contraption he wears at night causes him to sleep differently, causing him to snore more, causing me to sleep less...frequently I wake up thinking someone is sawing logs, or maybe there is large unhappy jungle cat in our room or something...the less sleep I get, the more panicky and odd things I think of when I wake up!  It's sort of funny when you think about it, but not when you're tired =)  Anyway - since you asked!  =)  Or since I pretended you asked...those are some of my prayer requests.  Thank you for your prayers!!  

Finally, if you are w/in driving distance and would like to come to the play...email me or leave a comment.  There is no cost!  And the audience gets to pick the ending!  Well, even if you are farther away, you are still invited!  Let me know and I can get you more information...and now I'm needed.  A messy basement awaits.  I can procrastinate no longer...

You would think...

I signed up for 2 classes at the Y.  Remember that whole 'get in shape' goal for 2013?  Yep, me and just about everybody else signed up for classes but I am one of the ones who tried to talk myself out of it all last night and this morning.  I'm glad I didn't =)  Today was the first class of R. I. P. P. E. D.  (The letters stand for something, I only remember a few - Resistance, Intervals, Plyometrics....Diet?  Maybe the E is for Endurance?  I remembered more than I thought!)  I figured it would be hard...last night I watched a bit of the Biggest Loser and since it was the first episode, people were falling off the treadmill and puking...I didn't think it would be THAT hard, but it IS Monday and I'm getting over being sick and only getting about 3 hours of sleep last week.  This morning I posted on 'that social networking site':

This cheese loving Wisconsin girl had a bad nightmare - someone at her first Y class actually noticed the dry, white, fuzzy, lumpy but smoooshy sticks below her waist! Praying it stays a nightmare and doesn't become a reality! EYES UP HERE PEOPLE!

So I went and like always, my brain has a running dialog I can't shut off.  You would think I'd be out of energy and just get to work, but no!  I like to remember some of the stuff I think about so that means you get to read it!

First of all, I was one of 2 women not in pants.  Well played, Wisconsin winter, well played!  Adding workout pants or capris to the shopping list....And how is it that at a little over 5'4" I am one of the tallest ones here??  Fe-fi-fo-fum, can't keep up and you look like a sore thumb!!  That's annoying.  But I'll get better at the stuff so hopefully I'll blend in better.  Oh, also, if Monica Seles was a mathematician, she was in this class.  I was like, "Who keeps grunting??  Really?  She's counting now?"  Then the woman next to me gave me the look that meant that she thought the same thing.  Suddenly I realized the noise was coming from me!  Yep.  Apparently I'm that girl!  It's healthy to laugh at yourself, right?  =)  Honestly I was having fun and I didn't care much.  But I do have one question.  Where do you people find this flexibility?  Is there an online store or something?  I need to add that to the shopping list!  And shoes!!  I need new shoes too!  My shoes didn't do much for me.  That was frustrating.  I don't want to wear my running shoes for this stuff, so it looks like I'm going shopping.  Right now my 'core' is pretty stiff and I'm trying to ignore the soreness.  It seems like this class will be good for me, hopefully strengthen up my back and well, pretty much everything else!  Next up:  Zumba.  I keep hearing about it and I figured I'd try it.  I like to dance =)  We'll see!  I also saw a friend there who helped me navigate some child care issues.  That made my day!  It was super helpful and I felt so much better seeing someone I knew and could talk to for a while!  I'm looking forward to all this - I won't talk myself out of it next Monday!   

It feels like yesterday.

Alright, I'm not feeling so hot today so what better time to crank out my 2013 goals?  It literally feels like yesterday when I wrote the 2012 ones.  I just re-read them and I kinda feel like I just want to say "ditto".  But I'm me and I can't ever keep things short when I talk/write so what fun is that?

2013 goals

Spiritual

-I will be joining Inspired To Action's Maximizing Your Mornings Challenge once again! 

-I'm hoping to do more scripture memorizing w/the whole family.  Out of all the verses I had memorized w/Moses, a little over half have 'stuck' in my gray matter.  I can do better.

-Still thinking about serving, whether it be on a missions trip away from home or here.  I have so many ideas!!!  Sometimes I wish God would stop giving me these ideas...I think of something or hear about it somewhere and I'm like, "That is so cool!  Someone should do that here!" and then I get the feeling like that someone should be me and my head nearly falls off b/c it's shaking NO so hard!  

-I don't think I will ever have time to be a part of women's ministry on a regular basis but I am glad I was able to be a part of this upcoming conference planning.  I do want to make it a goal to keep being in a small group or women's ministry in some way though.  

Personal

-Step it up in the homemaking department.  (Said the woman sitting on her couch w/2 torn out pages of a magazine, a binder, a highlighter, the remote, a banana peel, some laundry and a pile of kleenexes!)  This one is super broad so I need to break it down into smaller pieces...

     -Make more hot breakfasts.

     -Get better at meal planning and prepping things ahead.

     -Buy less cans, packaged foods and aim for more things from scratch.

     -Sew stuff.

     -Declutter in general.

     -Declutter/minimize clothing stash.  (I'm kind of a hoarder when it comes to clothes.  For everyone, not just me.  Stuff that doesn't fit, stuff that might fit, stuff that looks good or doesn't...stuff we wear or don't...I like options.  I feel better when their are a lot of options for everyone.  But I'm realizing it's ridiculous - many people could use the clothes that just sit there, taking up space.  I read a really good book called 7 and there was a chapter on clothes that convicted me way down deep.  I'm a work in progress and the more I talk about my clothing issues, the more I realized I need to pare down.  There's a whole lot more to this part of the 'story of me' but that's the short version.)

-READ.  Again.  I miss reading books!

-Get involved w/the Intergenerational Center.  

-Make it more of a habit to have Sundays be outdoors - hiking, playing kickball, going for bike rides...just keeping at least one day a week for family oriented stuff.  Not family oriented in the way that it's just us, but I mean that we're doing things as a family, maybe w/other families, outside.

There are others from last year's list that I just don't feel are as big of a deal for me this year...

Physical

Last year was a breath of fresh air in this category!!  I turned 35 and pushed myself harder than I have in a long time.  I didn't think I could still do stuff like running (I can, I'm just slower) or working out and still have energy to stay awake until 9pm!  (I don't know, I guess I pictured that since I haven't always taken the best care of my body that it might quit on me sooner than others!)  But I did that stuff and it felt good.  So this year my physical goals are to top last year's!

-DRINK WATER!!!  

-Get sleep - 7-8 hrs each night.  I know everything else in life goes sooooo much better when I do!

-Start and FINISH the R.I.P.P.E.D. and Zumba class at the YMCA.  No excuses!  

-Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes.

-Run five 5Ks.  (Not going to happen unless I find 5 I like =)  So...know of any no-hill, not too hot/good weather, for a special cause races near by?)

-Thin the thighs.  Ugh.  I did well for 10 months and crashed in Nov/Dec.

-Make a game plan so Nov/Dec doesn't turn into a SAD (Standard American Diet), SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), SAD (Surly, Annoyed and Depressed) cycle.

Family/Household

-Adoption.  Step one already done!

-Memorize Bible verses together.

-Save $ for a few things that are a little bigger than average.  It's time to take action and stop talking about what's important to us.  

-Out West trip.  There is a niece who graduates this year and more family we haven't seen in way too long.  

-As always, we're are moving in the direction of less waste, less plastic, less consumption of unnecessary goods, real foods, less chemicals, more garden boxes, more chickens, etc...just keep moving in that direction.

-Move? out of the city.  This is a long shot again this year, but it's still a goal and we can be taking steps toward it every now and then.

I'm sure there are others I am forgetting...and I think I need a nap.  But this is my list so far.

Best, Worst and Most Interesting (for Catherine)

When I was dating Dave, we went to Madison a bunch for football games and to visit his brother and family.  Being that his brother and wife are a few years older, they were/are ahead of us in life and already had a kid at the time.  Being that we both wanted to have kids, we'd visit and take mental notes and then talk about stuff on the long ride home.  I remember when one of the times we visited, their cute little family sat around the dinner table w/us and taught us a new 'game'.  We went around the table and asked/told each other what was the best, worst and most interesting parts of our day.  It was fun!  And it was adorable to hear my niece ask us and comment on our answers!  Well, she's just adorable so she could have been throwing the biggest tantrum and I would have said that anyway.  She still is adorable, even if she's about to go off to college.  (No, I haven't aged at all myself, it's some sort of time warp thing.  She got older, but I am not old.)
Anyway - fast forward to now, when I can't stand the fact that my own squirrelly kids do everything but make conversation at the table!  When I think of it, I remind them of the game and we go around the table and report on our day.  There is actual conversation shared, and it is then that I am reminded of how brilliant of a tool that is!  When we see friends we haven't seen in 10+ years, we ask them to summarize our time apart by playing the game!  It's really special to hear about their highs and lows and some really oddball stories...
I've decided to use this method to summarize 2012.  I worked on my goals for the year and had some successes, but some not so successful ventures too.  Always learning, always improving, it doesn't matter if I give myself an A+ or whatever!  So here we go...

2012's Best, Worst and Most Interesting

Best 

- went to a women's conference and am working w/a group planning another one in January of 2013.

- participated in 2 small groups - Courageous Parenting and a sermon based one.  AWESOME!!  The group of people we met and connected w/quickly became good friends and we are hoping to join/start new groups w/them soon!

- was the most successful so far in this season's Maximize Your Mornings Challenge.  We read through the book of 1 Peter and I am so glad I stuck it out.

- I did a super job of staying active and running in the warmer months, w/help from my hubby to free up some time in the schedule.  

- (other random stuff not on the goals list) I instituted a 5 bag policy for the kids (one ziploc for each day of the week, they pack the bags over the weekend so there is no discussion of what to wear in the AMs) and that is the best thing I think I have ever done!  I'd been doing well on getting enough sleep for most of the year but fell out of habit by the end (more on that later...).  I think I'm getting more of a hang of the rhythm of our days/life in general, which makes me so much happier.  I also feel like I have encouraged a lot of people to step out and try some things we've been doing - garden, eat better, etc...I try not to preach, I try not to criticize, but I aim to encourage.  I thought it would be so hard to break some habits or make changes for the better, but it gets easier every day.  I am no expert but I love to help people =)  Got that from my Mom!  I LOVE YOU MOM!

Worst

- I just can't seem to find time for my personal hobbies like reading, scrapbooking and sewing.  =(  I should say make time.  It's there...I just choose otherwise.

- I realized a few things this past Nov/Dec.  I do well for most of the year, but all my ambition, willpower and determination are gone by November.  It's like I just cave in!  I/We start eating SAD again (Standard American Diet), the days get shorter and we get less sunlight so we suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), life gets busy, I make excuses, I make poor choices and I just feel SAD (Surly, Annoyed and Depressed)!!  (----no, no link for that I just made it up!)  ***EDITED***  I had a whole paragraph here about food and feelings and it looks like blogger ate it.  I have no idea where it went!!***  =(

- Other worsts were the lack of progress on an adoption, a move, a trip out West, and reducing the amount of packaging in our lives.  

Most Interesting

- Well, I never thought I'd be part of the planning committee for a women's conference, nor going to practices for a community drama!  

- I also didn't think I'd get so good at french braiding hair, much less hair of someone w/a different ethnic makeup than myself.  But then again - at the least, it takes me an hour each week, so...I can say I have close to 60 hours of practice in!!  

- This last small group we participated in was hosted by a couple who were our first friends at the church we currently attend!  We hadn't hung out w/them in quite a while and rarely see them much anymore since we no longer attend the same church.  But it was sort of funny that we became friends by joining their small group back in the day, and here we were signing up for a group hosted at their house...it was sort of like old times =)  

- It was interesting that we had the same foster care placement for the whole entire year.  Most of our past placements were either a year long or for a very short time.  This one is turning out to be over a year, it may even go past a year and a half.  This is interesting...also, we're learning more about 'co-parenting'.  W/our previous placements, there was very little transition (for one reason or another) and very little reason to co-parent.  It looks like there will be plenty of both in this placement.  I can think of no better way to describe it than interesting.  We are learning a lot.  Not just about the system and co-parenting, but about ourselves, too.  

- Dave has a beard again.  It's been a while!  He's talking about letting it grow big again!  Due to his alopecia, it probably won't get as big as it was in college, but it's fun!  I like him w/a fuzzy face =)  We watch that show Duck Dynasty and I think he was inspired.  For as long as I've known him, he's never been able to get his beard to grow long/down b/c the curls are so tight!  It just gets dense and bushy, but not flowing like the guys from that show.  I commented that maybe since he's older now, it might grow differently.  I don't really care - beard or not - I love the guy and I just want him to be happy!  I have a feeling that by the time the heat of summer comes around, it will get shaved off, though, so I'm just sitting back and watching it grow for now.  Yep, that's interesting... 

Well, that's the goal recap for 2012.  I don't fret about the details, but I like to check on my progress in a relaxed way.  I was hoping to have time to write the 2013 ones before nap time was over, but...no such luck.  Maybe tomorrow =)

Today

Some things I want to remember:

• Doing the first 'homework' w/my kindergartener, Colleen.  She still switches hands when writing, which is probably common for a kid like her.  I stole an idea from the therapist or teachers, or maybe both.  I used highlighter to write the words and she traced over them.  It was interesting for me to see when/why she switches hands!  Her name is like a mirror image of itself!  I wonder if that is a sign of something...no I'm not worried, I just wonder....I do not wonder about her teachers, therapists and anyone that works w/her at school!  They must be very patient, compassionate and patient.  Yes, I said patient twice.  I am grateful for them all!  
• We made energy bites.  It was fun to watch Moses fill and dump measuring cups of ingredients.  PB was kind of tricky, so we discussed what to do when you don't know what to do!  =)  He was given a leadership role today and needed to apologize to his sisters for leading them down a path of poor choices.  It was nothing serious, but he thrives on leading them and lately we've been giving him more responsibility.  What is that quote?  With great power comes great responsibility?  According to wikipedia, most people think that it's from a Spiderman comic.  But apparently, Voltaire said something similar first, only in French.  (I like learning stuff, even if it may not be true!)  The wikipedia entry also references the Bible - The sentiment is also found in Luke 12:48: "from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (NIV).  I think I like that better anyway...
• I washed the stove.  The hot water felt good, but I kept thinking about my crazy dry hands!  
• I am resisting the urge to run out and buy all sorts of discounted/clearanced stuff - obviously most of it would be Christmas stuff....a few years ago I would have scrambled!!  I have slowly been trying to break my (self-diagnosed) addiction to shopping of any kind, but mostly the discounted-junk-I-don't-even-need kind.  Since we have 4 kids in the house, I allow myself to be slightly addicted to the food-on-sale kind of shopping addiction - it's getting harder since I have been working on eliminating junk-that's-not-good-for-our-bodies/you-can't-even-call-it-food!  Not too many sales or clearances there, but we've been realizing that good real food tastes so much better.
• I am thinking about a goals update and a lessons learned in 2012 post.  I want to write more but housework is not getting done!!

Merry Christmas 2012

(Once again, we are not sending Christmas cards out in the traditional way - see the end of this post for more on that...We hope you enjoy this online version! If you regularly read my blog, some of these stories will sound familiar...)

Definition of ABIDE

transitive verb

1: to wait for : await

2a : to endure without yielding : withstand

b : to bear patiently : tolerate abide

such hatred

3: to accept without objection abide

your decision

intransitive verb

1: to remain stable or fixed in a state

2: to continue in a place : sojourn

— abid·er noun

— abide by

1: to conform to, abide by the rules

2: to acquiesce in abide by

your decision

Examples of ABIDE

abide in the house of the Lord

a love that abided till the end of their lives

Synonyms: stay, dwell, hang around, remain, stick around, tarry

 ****(I promise, this is our Christmas letter for 2012, 
not just a vocab lesson!  Keep reading…)****

       As I read through the letters of Christmas past (you can find the last 4 years on the blog – 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011), I was struck by the fullness of each year.  Like I always do, I scrolled through the photos from this past year to help compile a list of all that we have done.  To my surprise, the list was pretty short in comparison to years past!  I looked over our calendar, tried to think of any major life changing events that I might not have photographed, re-read past Christmas letters…but in the end I was a little sad to realize not much has happened in 2012.  Then I remembered that in some cases, that was a good thing!  No major heartbreaks, no major losses, no health issues…praise God!  As you may know, I enjoy writing special creative Christmas letters and at that point I realized I had little inspiration as to how or what to write!  No news is good news, but apparently not if you pride yourself on your mad Christmas letter writing skills.  I scoured pinterest, googled stuff and kept Dave awake with my questions, self-doubt and tossing and turning.  (Well, not really, that man can insert appropriate-enough responses into my monologues so well that I believe he’s listening!  How one can snore for 2 minutes, answer me in 30 seconds and go right back to snoring, I will never know…!)  Finally, I decided to chuck all of the amateur looking infographics and cheesy photo collages and just pray about the whole thing.  (Seriously, why didn’t I just do that in the first place?!)  Over the next few days I began to realize that this past year we have been holding steady in a lot of ways.  Have you heard the saying, “Keep on, keepin' on?”  Well that’s us.  As always, I wanted a better word to describe that state we’ve been in and I went to my thesaurus.  (The online one – I do still have and use the ‘real’ one but when there is a baby running around it’s easier to use the laptop than holing up in a stack of books.)  The word ABIDE jumped off the screen and I didn’t need to look any further.  We’ve been abiding…each month of the past year has found us enjoying the little things in our daily lives…

January – We celebrated the 1 year anniversary of Colleen’s adoption and her dedication to the Lord on the same day.  Later in the month, Dave and I completed a massive 2000 piece puzzle! 

February – We introduced 3 new chicks to Pippa and Lois and finally got some snow for sledding!  Two of my cousins were so kind to come and make cut out cookies with the kids – they loved making different colored frosting and of course, eating them =)

March – I was in a church drama, the chicks grew into pullets and I got a little better at doing Curly Sue’s (and consequently Colleen’s) hair.  I played Tamar in the drama and was able say I achieved one of my goals for the year!  I also started kicking my butt in gear and going running, which means I can check off another one of my goals.

After a big storm, on the Gulf of Mexico in TX

Spring Break – We were in Texas again, for the second year in a row!  This time we checked out the beach in Galveston and visited the Space Center in Houston.  It’s looking like prices are really cheap again this year, but we might change it up and go somewhere else, assuming we can find decent prices. 

April – Moses began to ride a 2 wheeler (he flies now!), the tree fort was completed and the garden boxes were set up in the front yard.  (Grow food, not lawns!)  During the spring months I took entirely too many photos of everything budding and blooming, but what can I say?  When we moved into this house and the years following that, I planted so many of my favorite things!!  Sadly, though, I think I need to replant some tulips.  The 80 or so bulbs I started with have slowly been disappearing to the squirrels, yard improvement projects and probably just age.   Who wants to come help me plant this spring?

May – We were enjoying the spring sun and the end of the school year programs.  We attended our county’s celebration of foster families, put in some new windows, went for hikes and stopped at a covered bridge to take some silly photos!

Moses with the Lakeland College head football coach

June – We celebrated the first of 4 summer birthdays and traveled locally.  One of the bittersweet times we had this month was when my uncle passed away. These are the moments we feel sad, but blessed to be able to celebrate a life lived well with the rest of the family.  We delivered some roosters to a friend (yeah...maybe we should get sexed chicks next time!), hit a bunch of semi-local parks (including Bay Beach!), and Mo went to Lakeland College’s football camp.  It was both fun and nerve-wracking for this momma to see her sweet boy out there running drills and using his brain to outsmart some tackles.  He loved it and since it was one of the hottest weeks of the year, he also loved the free popsicles too!  Dave and I also celebrated our anniversary by staying in a B&B - special thanks to his Mom for babysitting!  

Me + You = 4EVER

July – There was an awesome triple birthday party (Curly Sue, Colleen and Dewey) and more local travel.  It was a another hot day for the birthday party so I was able to try out something I saw on pinterest.  Dave helped me freeze ‘treasures’ in blocks of ice and the kids worked on chipping them out!  It kept them busy and cooled them off =)  It was also a hoot seeing them strategize how to get the dollar store toys out…We continued to watch the garden grow and hang out in nature – up north, in Madison and Milwaukee.

August – This month contained quite possibly the biggest events of the year – Colleen was a patient at Children’s Hospital for 2 weeks.  I stayed with her while she was undergoing intense feeding therapy.  (There’s a few blog posts on that…)  We got a pass to get out of the hospital for the State Fair and to go to the zoo as a family.  We also had a backyard bash for Moses’ birthday – Army style!   We painted our faces, did a little boot camp workout, an obstacle course, tossed balloon grenades from the fort and of course deconstructed a cake with Army tanks and men on it. Our church celebrated local heroes/civil servants by hosting them, all their vehicles, and equipment.  Flight for Life even came! 

Goodbye kindergarten - movin' on to 1st grade!

September – This Momma saw one sweet boy off to his first day of 1^st grade, as well as 2 pretty little ladies off to their first day of kindergarten!  It was such a blessing that Grandma could come and hang out with Dewey while I took photos at school.  Not only that, but Daddy even got to join us.  It was a pretty special morning…

1st day of kindergarten!!

October – We went to a pumpkin farm and watched the lake as the effects of the storm Sandy could be seen even here in WI.  The weather was still nice so we got out into the boat a few times.  We also went to Denver for Fall Break.  We enjoyed God’s creation at Garden of the Gods, a random park when it started snowing, Pikes’ Peak, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and from the outdoor hot tub!

Pikes Peak, CO after the cog railway train ride to the top

November – We voted and boated!! In fact, Thanksgiving day was a beautiful 60* day – I hung wash, let the chickens out, saw a bald eagle and Dave went boating for his birthday!  The Sunday after Thanksgiving found us hiking by the lake.  It was a brisk, foggy day but we enjoyed moving around and seeing God's creation without her usual covering of snow this late in the year!

December – The kids’ school hosted a family dance party - it was so much fun!!  We also enjoyed school and church Christmas programs.   We fed the chickens some leftover pumpkins and ate kale out of the garden.  See, even the weather has been pretty much staying the same this year!

On the cordwalk at Kohler Andrae State Park

       Family, friends and random strangers reading – make no mistake.  The absence of big exciting events in our year doesn’t mean it was a bad one.  As you can tell – I started this post by saying not much happened and then I still wrote about a lot of good stuff!  I think one of the reasons I liked the word abide for our year was because it reminds me of a Bible verse…

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  
John 15:5  (KJV)

(Yes, I used the King James Version – don’t fret, it won’t hurt you.  Besides, you can feel free to pick up your own version of the Bible and read the same verse.  Better yet, I encourage you to read the whole chapter!  It’s that good!)  Apart from Our Heavenly Father, we can do nothing.  All glory, honor and thanksgiving goes to Him, for He sent a savior to walk on the Earth as one of us.  So whether we have a year jam-packed with action or a quiet one keepin’ on, we abide in Him and He in us. 

Merry Christmas and God bless you! 

Love from our family to yours!

Many thanks to my friend Hyori for taking our family pictures!

We hope you enjoyed this green version of our Christmas card! (If you still wish to receive a paper copy, leave a comment.) There are lots of reasons we decided to do things differently this year (again!)...here's a few:

1) Save postage. We love you, but we're cheap!

2) Save paper. You just recycle those cards after you read them...you do recycle them eventually, don't you??

3) Save printing costs. See reason #1!

4) Save stress. Nothing to print, sign, stuff, address...

5) Expand our options! Now you can see a practically limitless amount of photos.

6) Our greeting to you is saved in cyber-space for posterity! Yes, we can be that vain sometimes!

7) It went so well the past years...we heard a lot of positive responses, and even some people who said they'd try it themselves. Welcome to the dark (green) side! (Sorry that was a goofy Star Wars joke...)

DPP Day 16

This is one of the days of the year that I think my heart will burst with joy! Suit, Christmas tie, church, singing the songs we practiced a bunch - in Swahili!, seeing a crowd of those sweet faces looking for their families...after trying to process what happened in CT, I needed this. Merry Christmas - here's to celebrating the season, giving glory to God even in times of sorrow or pain. Nothing can take away the Gift of Jesus our Savior! Hallelujah!