Traditions

I love this time of year.

There's something so comforting in the traditions of it all.  I was thinking about that tonight and couldn't help but wonder about the traditions that Jesus took part in. When He and his family celebrated Passover, what little things did they do every year to make it special? Was there a certain way that his relatives told the stories of their ancestors? Was there a game the kids all played every year? A certain song his mother sang?

What would it have been like for our God-become-man Savior to experience these celebrations, these festivals of remembrance and gratitude towards His Father..towards Himself? What a mystery it is for us.

How do you wrap your mind around a boy with skinned-up knees and calloused hands, helping his family prepare to celebrate a memory of a day that He was part of and yet not yet born? 

Did he smile fondly at mothers with children, remembering the lives-young and old-He spared that night in Egypt? Was it bittersweet, to also remember the pain, the weeping of Egyptian mothers, mourning for their lost babies, unaware of their own lost souls? Or was He caught up in being a child- doing chores for his family in the preparations, playing games with His brothers and cousins and friends?

I like to imagine that He enjoyed the traditions that His family kept, that the familiarity in them year after year sparked the same warmth in His heart that it does in mine. Since we are made in God's image, surely this isn't too far of a stretch.

Becoming a parent makes you think about things like traditions. It makes you conscious of what you are passing on-purposefully or not. It's such a joy to pass down certain Christmas traditions that I grew up with. And a privilege to witness the beginning of new ones. This year has had a great mix of both so far.

My challenge to myself this year is to be more conscious about how I present these traditions to Natalie. I want every tradition to point to Him, no matter how silly it seems. So we'll be baking cookies and giving them to neighbors and talking about how blessed we are to have an oven to bake goodies in for others. We'll be singing Christmas carols and reading about how David sung his heart out to God. We'll be opening an envelope each day to reveal another Bible story to read, another ornament to add to our Jesse tree collection. And yes, we'll even be anticipating the arrival of Santa here, and talking about how God loves a cheerful giver.

And with any luck (and a lot of Grace), this purposefulness, this pointing to Him will last into the New Year...

What a tradition that would be!

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

This line keeps ringing through my head when I consider our progress on our Alphabet Scriptures.

The letter "A" went so well. Natalie still points out A's everywhere we go and I find that the verse pops into my head at just the right moments! (A gentle answer turns anger away. Proverbs 15:1- Even if she didn't completely learn the Scripture, at least she'll have a Mommy who did!)

Right after we finished the letter A, however, we found a house to rent. A complete blessing, but a big hiccup in our Alphabet Scriptures progress!

Well, we are now settled and I was going to start with the letter B this week. But then I realized that Thursday is December 1st. 

We now interrupt your regularly schedule program for...CHRISTMAS! 

Another wonderful and blessed interruption. Christmas is such a wonderful season! When else does nearly every store blast music worshipping our Savior? When else do people decorate their yards with a baby Jesus? The opportunities to share Jesus are endless this time of year! I hope to capitalize on these opportuinities with Natalie, but I know that my human nature will probably get in the way and we'll speed through this season with little purpose. Enter a little planning and intention...

So we will be holding off on our Alphabet Scriptures until January and will be attempting to do activities based around an Advent calendar (which is still in the needs-to-be-made category.) Today is my planning day (which I decided to use as an excuse to stay in my pjs today) and hopefully by Thursday we will have 25 days of Christmas centered activities, stories, and verses to learn. 

My desire is to keep it very simple. Some days will just have a card in them with a family activity that we plan to do no matter what (like getting a Christmas tree.) Some days may just have a piece of candy in them. But hopefully most days will have an activity for us to do together to learn more about Jesus, the Christmas story, and the meaning behind some of our traditions. I also hope to pick one or two verses that we'll work on learning all month. I'd also like to do one or two activities where she can participate in giving to others and learn about generosity. This may just be goodies to our neighbors or money for the Salvation Army bell-ringers.

All prayers for creativity (or lucky Google searches) are appreciated today! =)

And Merry Christmas to all!

Oh, and here's a great website I found. I plan on using it to get started:
The Activity Mom: 2011Activity Advent Countdown

Time Capsule Tuesday-Wheeeeee

Thank goodness for Daddies! Even though I remember doing all sorts of things like this as a kid, I still don't think I could get past the mommy-heart-attack enough to have been the first to try it with her. At least not at 2.

-----------------------------------------

Okay so this is where a future adorable video will be. Unfortunately, our super smart Apple computer apparently doesn't like our Sony videocamera...so until we figure out what we need to do to convert our file types into something Apple likes- here's some snapshots of the evening. They don't compare to seeing what was actually happening, but at least you get some of the joy of the evening. Keith was pushing Natalie on the swing downstairs. She was going so high (from wall to wall!) and LOVING it!

We all had so much fun!

A time for everything...

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...Ecclesiastes 3:1

As a kid, I always thought it was weird when adults talked about seasons in life. 

Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer- okay. But seasons of life? What on earth did that mean?

Now here I am as an adult and the same phrases are passing through my lips- "Yes, everything is going great...it's been a very busy season in life."

Busy it has been. Keith and I have been looking for a rental house for some time now. (Translation: obsessively looking on Craigslist for over a year.) It finally paid of as we found a great house to rent in a great neighborhood. We found it right as September was ending, got the keys mid-October to clean and paint (and I mean CLEAN and PAINT!), and moved in just before November began. We are finally settled in, mostly unpacked, and even have some decorations up. Yeah!

Now we can finally relax...just in time for the Holiday season! Ha.

Time Capsule Tuesday- Baby kisses

One of my very favorite times with Natalie is in the morning.

She cuddles into bed with me and we watch cartoons and wake up slow. Most of the time, Natalie is not much of a cuddler. She'd rather be running, building, climbing, tickling, playing.

But in the morning, she rests her little head on my chest and we yell "Oh Tooodles" together at the t.v. and it makes this mommy's heart very, very happy.

This morning, we were cuddled up together. I was checking email, she was watching Little Einsteins save the day. Suddenly she pulls back the blankets, lifts up my shirt, says, "Baby!" and gives my tummy a big, wet kiss.  

Heart...melting....

B.F.F.

Back in the day, before there was texting and tweeting and facebooking, social life looked a little different. When I was a pre-teen and teenager, we did something that is practically unthinkable to teens these days. We wrote notes to each other. With a pencil and paper. And our own handwriting. And a "short" note was one page long. And since this was before text talk, words were not abbreviated.

Except for one little phrase at the end...

B.F.F!!! 

(or occasionally to switch things up, B.F.F.L!!!)

Any girl who was a teenager in the 80s or 90s knows exactly what that means.

(To help the rest of you out: Best Friends Forever or Best Friends For Life)

Any decent note passed to your girlfriends included this ending. (I'm pretty sure that boys didn't write notes. At least not to each other. I'm not really sure though. I was too busy writing notes about boys to pay attention to what they were doing.)

Obviously, looking back, it makes me laugh. It's such a naive and immature concept. But we believed it. Just like we believed we were invincible, our clothes looked awesome, and the fair was the highlight of summer. (What?! Your entire town didn't show up for the local fair? Okay, so maybe that was a small town thing.)

Real life doesn't exactly work that way. People grow up. Graduate. Move. Change. Marry. Change some more. 

Life moves on- with or without our 7th grade best friends by our sides. (Or college roomates, or summer camp best bud, or you-fill-in-the-blank.)

But every once in awhile, those silly little promises have rung true in my life. 

There is a handful of people in my life, who despite graduations, moves, marriages, divorces, babies, and lots of changes, are still just there.

And isn't that half of what makes a great friendship, great?

Just being there.

Through the good. The bad. The ugly. (Whistling...)

Mostly, through time.

I talked to several of them on the phone the last few months.

I watched one get married last month. 

I got to meet with one of them last week.

So to all of you who have been there for me, with me, through the years-

Thank you.

I love you.

And yes,

B.F.F!!!

Frugal Friday-Field trip to the Apple Farm

When I first moved to Portland, I lived in Beaverton, but worked in Hillsboro. After several weeks of sitting in morning traffic and waiting at traffic lights, one of my co-workers found out about my route and asked me why I wasn't taking the "back way."

The "back way" turned out to be my best friend. It's a two-lane, no traffic road that winds through farms, orchards, and peaceful country landscapes and then suddenly pops you out onto a main road in Hillsboro. For me, it was home. And it was the perfect way to unwind after a day spent with my crazy, precious little students. And their crazy, wonderful parents. And the eight pounds of paperwork I had to complete each day.

One of the beautiful farms on this road is called Oregon Heritage Farms. It's primarily an apple farm, but they add in hay rides, a pumpkin patch, a big blow up apple bounce house, barn animals, and a little gift shop with antiques and cutesy local crafts during the height of their season.

I stopped there to get pumpkins and fall decorations for my class that first year in Portland and have been going back ever since.

Since Natalie and I have been learning our "A" verse this week and learning all about the letter "A", today we decided to take a little field trip out to the apple farm. We prefaced the event by coloring letter "A" apple pictures.

Natalie must think green and red apples are boring, because her apples turned out to be rainbow colored. I'm pretty sure she used every single colored marker we have. (This took an incredibly long time. We were completely ready to go at this point, so I just sat there watching, doing my best not to make too many, "Okay, honey are you all done now? We're going to the apple farm remember? When you're all done, we get to go" comments. To which she'd glance briefly my way, look back at her coloring and announce which color would be next. Apparently, she had some inner-knowledge that the apple farm wasn't goin' anywhere.)

Once we finally had our apple pictures done and up on her bulletin board, we grabbed our snacks and our camera and headed out. It's pretty early in apple season, so unfortunately there were only two types of apples available. One was a really tart apple, not great for snacking, and the other was Honey Crisp. Honey Crisp is one of my favorites, but also pretty expensive for apples. The kind worker let me know that they aren't yet at the peak of their season, so they're not quite as sweet as they normally are. We got to taste samples and they were both pretty sour. We ended up deciding to come back in a few weeks when there were more varieties for apples, but left with a jar of delicious apple butter.

Walking around the rest of the farm was a blast. I clicked away while Natalie petted the goats, explored the tractor, and blew "wishes"on dandelions. I made her pose for a couple pictures, which ended up costing me a dum-dum sucker. (Maybe not parenting at it's best...but man the pictures came out cute!)

The goat just nibbled her fingers.

She didn't mind too much.

She looks so small!

Kinda looks like she needs a bathroom, but look at that smile!

Make a wish!

No more Mommy! I want my sucker now.

Random toys in the kid's play area. First non-bribed smile since the goats. Go figure.

Total cost of our fun morning: $4.95 for the jar of delicious homemade apple butter (and one dum-dum sucker.)

Alphabet Scriptures-Day One

Ever since Natalie was crawling, I've been turning over ideas in my mind on ways to incorporate learning into our everyday activities. At the same time, Keith and I have talked about how important it is to us that Natalie learns about Jesus. After all, our biggest goal for her in Heaven, not Harvard.

So when I saw the idea of doing ABC Scriptures from a blog link on Pinterest, I was hooked. It was the perfect blend for us. I could expose Natalie to meaningful, simple Bible verses while also exposing her to ABCs and lots of preschool concepts. A perfect match for all the ideas floating around in my head and what I truly want for her heart.

The hardest part then, was choosing Bible verses that were simple, short, and meaningful for her little life at this point. Keith and I have no false ideas that Natalie will be reciting the verses back to us. (It would help if she could talk first!) But we do recognize that Natalie is like a little sponge right now and she learns and remembers nearly everything we teach her. Some letters were super easy. And I stole many of the verses from the amazing blog that I got the idea from in the first place. But some letters had us stumped. Like X. Once we had that figured out, Natalie and I spent the large part of a morning walking to the library and checking out a bunch of books for letters A, B, and C to get us started. Then I spent a couple evenings/naptimes looking up fun, simple, toddler appropriate activities to do together.  We now had a plan for 3 weeks for the first 3 letters.

Last night, while Natalie was cuddling with Daddy watching sports, I put up a make-shift bulletin board to display all our creations each week on her closet door in her room. I also posted this weeks verse and stuck up a couple of die-cast letter A's on the board to get it started. It still looks pretty bare and plain, but Natalie was excited. Before going to bed, I displayed our "A" books on the TV stand and put all the magnetic letter A's I could find on a cookie sheet for her to play with during breakfast. (Which she looked at, said "Yeah!!" and then didn't touch. =)

We started out simple today. We pointed out the letters on her board and then I asked her if she wanted to use her new art supplies. I had bought some bingo markers from the dollar store and she had found them this morning before we were ready, so I knew starting with an activity that used them would be really exciting for her. (Picture small clapping hands and running feet when I told her to go get them.) Our "A" verse is: "A gentle answer turns anger away." Proverbs 15:1

Here's what we did:

The first one we did was a capital A. At this point, she was a little overexcited about the bingo markers and just started going to town on the paper.

By lowercase A her intensity went down a notch and she actually put the dots inside the circles.

I know, I know. It's a pretty ground-breaking activity.

But she had a blast.

And I was surprised at how much learning was incorporated into such a simple craft. We read (and sang) our "A" verse, we pointed out letter "A's" in the verse, I had her ask for each bingo marker by color (she signs half of them and attempts to say the other half), and she learned to unscrew the caps by herself (a great fine motor task!)

Then we hung them up on her bulletin board and she smiled for pictures. She was so proud! Definitely a success for day one!

I came that they may have life...

And may have it abundantly. John 10:10b

That verse has crossed my mind a lot this summer.

This summer has been full.

Full of activities.
Full of travel.
Full of adventures.
Full of emotions.

Full of life!

And what a joyous, abundant life it has been.

Our Starr family reunion was a blast.  We spent the days chatting away with family, dipping our toes in the beautiful (but frigid) Lake Tahoe, and watching our popsicle stained lipped children giggle, run, and get dirty together.

Disneyland was enchanting- and not because of all the colorful sights, yummy smells, charming music, and general Mickey magic- although that was all wonderful, but because there is nothing better than watching wonderment in the eye's of a little child. The entire trip was beyond magical to her. She woke up every morning and popped up out of bed smiling and yelling "Mimi!"
And we were delighted to say "Yes, sweet girl, we get to go see Mickey today."And thus every day there began with excitement and ended in sweet exhaustion.

Since that big adventure, life just kept coming.

We recovered though another sickness. (The not-so-happily-ever-after ending to the end of our Disney trip.)

We got to see our new baby for the first time. (Cute side note- when I laid back and pulled up my shirt so the ultrasound could begin, Natalie, who was in Daddy's lap, laid back and pulled her shirt up too. So darned adorable.)

 I survived a single-mom week while Keith was in Ohio for work.

We went on an amazing trip to the beach with Keith's family where we packed biking, playing in the sand, a carousel ride, shopping, and swimming into a perfect weekend.

Natalie began sleeping (cough, for maybe the first 2 hours of the night) in her big girl bed.

We went to the drive in movie theater and Natalie saw her first movie on the big screen. She loved it! (Which coincidentally the baby liked too and shared his/her enthusiasm by kicking for the first time!)
We went berry picking (unsuccessfully as we hit it just between seasons.)
We splashed in the pool.
We saw friends from Canada.

And then began our 3 weddings in 3 weekends.

The first was for my longtime friend Jamie. It was beautiful and fun and perfect and lovely and everything I hoped for her. Natalie and I were both in the wedding and we were so honored to be part of such a special event. And Natalie only peed in her dress on the grass during rehearsal, not the real wedding. (Another story, another time...)

The second wedding was for Keith's cousin Marissa. The Callahan's (Keith's Dad's side) are a big family. And by big, I mean BIG. We got curious one night and started counting cousins. There are 14 first cousins. Many of which are married. And many of which now have children of their own. And this crew knows how to have a good time. So needless to say, it was a great weekend. (P.S.- This is just his Dad's side! I think when we counted cousins on both sides of his family we lost count around 21.)

The third wedding is for my cousin, Jessica. It's in Boise and we leave to drive there tomorrow. (I really should be packing...)

And then?

Well, hopefully, life will keep coming. (Hopefully a little slower?)

Because it's exhilarating.
Because it's what we were made for.
And mostly, because it's what He died for.


And this is just a glimmer of what He has in store for us? How could I not be excited for His return?!

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 

John 10:10b

Thanks God.

Long time...no posts...

When I started this blog, I told myself I would not ever apologize for not writing more often. So, in good tradition of breaking my own rules...

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything new in what feels like an eternity.

-And-

I'm sorry that I'm not likely to post much more for the next month or so.

It's not that I haven't thought about writing. It's not that I got tired of writing. I enjoy writing and this blog gives me a perfect excuse to do that. And to chronicle our little lives. But the reality of our little life is that sometimes I am too busy living in it to stop and record it here.

And busy it has been.

June seemed to fly by and crawl by all at the same time. We had lots of fun events and outings, but they were marred by Natalie's seemingly never-ending sickness. She started the month off with a virus. Which turned into a cold. Which graduated into a rash that turned out to be hand, foot, and mouth disease. (It sounds a lot worse that it is- it's just a childhood illness, not a terminal sentence or anything.) Usually, it's contained to the (surprise!) hands, feet, and mouth. Natalie decided to get the rare version which gives you an all over body rash. That itches. Which, consequently, makes it difficult to sleep. (Just so you know, there is nothing on TV that is age appropriate for a 2-year-old at 3 in the morning.)

In the midst of all the sickness, however, there were highlights. We went to Southern Oregon for one of my closest friend's bridal shower. We spent time at the pool. We hung out with grandparents and brothers. We went to the zoo and the park. And, we found out that...

I am pregnant!

So that was June.

July is starting out just beautifully. No one is sick (except me, but only a little, and for a good reason.) and we had an amazing trip to California to visit family, spend some time away, and celebrate the 4th of July. It was a fantastic trip. Natalie played. And played. And played. We took walks in the woods. We floated in a lake. We got sun-burned. We sipped milkshakes and ate burgers and watched fireworks light up the sky. We spent time with family and just slowed life down. And, we found out that...

My brother and sister-in-law are pregnant!

And it's only July 6th!

Still in store for July: Natalie turns 2! Andrea comes to visit! We go to the Starr family reunion! We go to Disneyland! And then we all collapse. (Okay, hopefully not the last one, but it does seem likely.)

So again, sorry. Sometimes life is just worth living away from a computer screen.