This Special Guy in My Life

There's this special guy in my life, who never ceases to amaze me.

I could write a lot about him here. But I have limited time today for "fun" stuff and a to-do list that beckons. Still I feel led to share this story.

During the storm, "this guy"(Mike) and I had a few early morning moments with our devotions. He's so disciplined at this and I am not. BUT, a message at church provided us with a list of scripture all focusing on Mary, and I decided to investigate them all before Christmas, to prepare my heart in the BEST way known - through God's word.

So the first morning I surprised Mike by joining him during his devotion time, I noticed that he was taking turns reading two books - "Dreaming With God" and "Next Generation Leader". So I said, "So you aren't reading your Bible?" And he said, "NOPE, I finished it".

Now, if you know my husband, he is always joking and trying to be funny. So for a second, I thought he was doing just that. But then I realized, that NO, he was completely serious. He read the entire Bible.

And he went on to say that he is going to read it again, but this time in a different sequence.

Amazed - in awe - inspiring...

A few years ago he would barely read an occasional cowboy novel. I'm so proud!

Remembering this week!

Some of my friends and family are done with this crazy weather...not me. I really love it. Love the excuse to stay at home (strangely not cabin fever) - Love that everything got canceled - Love Love Love the white stuff. No one can argue that it was/is a memorable time.

Please enjoy these pictures of our week and forgive me for butchering Daphne's video. I was trying to watch and video with my little camera at the same time. For you perfectionists out there, don't worry - we got the better angle/picture etc on our real video camera. And sob sob sob, the more exciting performance - the one where she was dressed as a BLUES BROTHER in tu-tu, shades, hat etc, and singin' "soul man!"...I "recorded" on stand-by. Once again got that on the real video recorder...bummer, as I can only share videos from my lil camera.

Daphne's Performance

Birth Stories

I adore babies - always have, always will. I'm not sure I will ever stop longing for more. Today is no different as I look at some newborn pictures...

This week our good friends had TWO babies. And not only will their "story" be special because they are twins, but they were born in this snowstorm. How cool.

Pray for these babies and their family. They are doing well.

Snow Storm

I could be posting pictures of the pretty scene out my window, but that just seems silly, since most my readers are looking at the same thing out theirs - SNOW. We are so enjoying it and taking advantage of our home time.

So instead, I will share a better story with you.

My sis returned my "we've got snow e-mail" with "we've got snow too". The ironic thing is that she lives in Las Vegas! Go figure.

I'm just happy for my nephew Max...

Three funny things about this picture if you look closely:

a. I think that is my sister's red coat (probably because Max doesn't own a winter coat being a dessert kid)

b. Is he wearing shorts?

c. Of course the dessert plant sunken down by the snow.

They're moving back this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Lot of Goings Ons After Thanksgiving...

It has taken great discipline to NOT blog these past two weeks. So much has been going on - from cleaning, to decorating, to parties...and I have wanted to stop and share them all, but alas there is ALWAYS laundry, dishes and diapering that seems to NEED me first. Yuck.

Well, today, I announced that I was going to do something for myself, rather than the mound of dishes in the sink. So, prepare yourself for a big "catching you up" post - - it doesn't really all mesh.

Number One:

Remember my goal to purge after our cabin trip? Well purging takes organization and I found myself wanting to centralize all our books again. Kid books that is...so this is the little song that I sang as I did this task:

"How many books, does an old teacher collect? If an old teacher never stops collecting books?" (to the tune of how much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood)

















Number Two (this is for Jill):




I made an official "word wall" for Daphne to hang in our dining nook. I made it look awfully cute with Martha Stewart papers. Daphne likes to sit at the kitchen table and "write", and has started wanting to spell and memorize certain words too. So we write them on index cards, she decorates them a tiny bit (not to cover the word tho) and hang them for future reference. This is something I used to have in my classroom, so if you have any questions let me know and I will elaborate. It's fun to cut text from print like magazines and newspapers too.



Number Three:

This year we have a Christmas Room, not a decorated house. Ruby stays corralled in our undecorated living room, and our dining room is our pretty spot. I love how it turned out.

A Thanksgiving to Remember

This Thanksgiving we went away ~ just us. All alone. We missed our family a lot, but we loved our family time so much.

For so many reasons I have fallen in love with the town to which we escaped. It's beyond scenic - out of a magazine perfect...in fact it is featured in magazines every once in awhile. And my in-laws, so conveniently, or should I say, strategically, bought a second home there. We all call it our cabin.

But I think beyond the beauty and the traditions we have when we are visiting ~ it's the fact that our own little family (just the five of us) are able to use it as a real, genuine getaway. We actually lived there for 6 weeks, when Maisie was Ruby's age. I think it was my time there those long weeks that made me fall so hard. There's no cell service or internet at the cabin, and we're so far away from home, that no small emergency would call us home.

It's all about rest, slowing down, taking in God's wonderful creation and remembering why we love one another so much. I mean for goodness sake, I even got Mike to help me with a puzzle while we were there. I barely get him to sit down around here, let alone try to make sense of a million pieces that are supposed to fit together to make artwork.

And now we're home, and I could never express all the feelings I felt on this last trip ~ OR bring home the wonderful smells so intoxicatingly cozy...but alas I have to share our pictures.

We are refreshed now ~ and just in time for the busiest time of the year, right?! And although I couldn't live at the cabin for all my days, and can't live "cabin pace" all my days either, I came home ready to implement some changes in our usual pace to make things more enjoyable and peaceful here too. I want to be able to do a puzzle every once in awhile in my own home, and play GO FISH at least once a day when my preschooler asks, and I want to cut back on the amount of toys and clothes around here, so I'm not cleaning up and doing laundry all day too. I want to turn off the tv and phones occasionally...

Just breathe.