Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
opened my eyes, let me see
beauty that makes this heart adore You
hope of a life spent with You

so here i am to worship
here i am to bow down
here i am to say that You're my God

you're altogether lovely
altogether worthy
altogether wonderful to me...

-tim hughes

isaac's first haircut

i put this off for sooooo long - i knew once my blond-haired, blue-eyed boy lost his long curls, they'd be gone for good. i couldn't take the shaggy look any more, though, and daddy was home, so we went for it. i was almost in tears, but my sweet joshie-boy handed off his brother: "mom, we've got to get a ziploc - you have to scrapbook his curls!" (dear boy - mommy still hasn't scrapbooked ethan's first haircut - but i do have the ziploc.)
in the midst of the Bible reading, the baking, the shopping, the wrapping, the homemade doggie biscuit-deliveries, the church service rehearsals... life goes on. and our baby-boy now looks like a little man.
Merry Christmas!

if you are His, then He is calling.

oh, Papa - shake me if need be. wrestle me down kicking and screaming if necessary. conquer my wandering heart and call me (oh be tender to me...) to come and swing in your arms.

jolly old...

doing some reading this week, i found out more about the story of the man behind the santa claus. one story i read says that st. nicholas was credited with fighting arianism in the early church - he stood passionately against heresy and gave all he had for the poor - especially children. (remember - these stories are often attributed to myths, but having studied the council of nicaea this year, this interests us!) you can read more
here and here.

Papa-God, in newborn skin.

and they found him wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

first ornament up.

that's right, mimi... he found it and put it on the tree before i could get one ornament out of the box. the donut man lives.

behold the lamb of God...

who takes away the sins of the world.

training up a child in the way he should go.

okay, so there's a MUCH more high calling than this one. but i sure hope he takes after his siblings in this area of interest, as well. keep cookin', Blue!

mmmmmmmmmmm.

caramel apple spice. peppermint hot chocolate with a shot of espresso. salted caramel hot chocolate. (although they do need to figure out how to make that last one without the salt sinking to the bottom, thus ruining the last sip.) thank you, Lord, that the evil temptation only rises to this level of difficulty at this time of year. but if i indulge, let it be with a good friend over sweet conversation! of course, last night my princess-girl and i enjoyed ours over a late-night Christmas shopping trip. now THAT'S the way to have "coffee."

happy autumn...

that might be just a bit too much glue!!





just in time for Christmas! that's how my timeline is working these days.

just now finding these photos, but they amaze me with the "sunshine" in their eyes... it reminds me again that i've vowed to play more this year... to be outside truly dancing with my Father with my children. we're going to do that tomorrow, as a matter of fact. it's time to run and laugh and read in the sun and be silly together. 'cause He made us to.

an afternoon with Sombrero.

Recently we spent an afternoon with some good friends at our favorite place for historical fun, Heritage Village. They brought the infamous Sombrero and we had some fun with him.

arrow-bearer.

movie night. prince caspian. need i say more? okay, i gotta.

i have chills again as i watch this film - beautifully portrayed. even disney couldn't remove the "deep magic" of lewis's masterful allegory of the Christian life. i am in awe as my late-blooming reader tells us in advance many of the plot twists; he remembers from reading the book! i am tender-hearted as each of the children fondly recognizes familiar characters even i have forgotten! and moment after unfolding moment, i am listening to my Papa calling through the lines of a man-made story...

one "nugget" from tonight: susan carries a bow and arrows. each of the sons and daughters of Adam has a posession useful in battle, gifted by Aslan. but susan's is a bow and arrow. how fitting for a woman to carry this "weapon;" as a mother i have once again forgotten that above any gift, my Papa has blessed me with five arrows. it is my high calling to sharpen them, to practice my aim so that it is tack-sharp, and to fire these arrows of God's truth and light and love into a world that so desperately needs it. i am not "in hiding" when i stay at home and focus my energies on my children; in fact, i am forsaking the highest battleground imaginable when i don't give them my fullest attention. oh my God, forgive me, and teach me to be faithful! and thank you for such a beautiful picture to call me back to creativity and attentiveness in my mothering!

(side note: peter carries a sword. he leaves and goes INTO the forefront for hand-to-hand combat with mortal enemies. the man uses the SWORD, when he is faithful, to "go into all the world..." hhmmm...)

Day 5 of our Jesse Tree journey. This is one of (I think, THE) neatest tradition(s) we've adopted into our family's legacy. Visit my friend here to see how we found it.

Today we placed a lamb on the tree to remind us of Abraham's journey up the mountainside with his precious Isaac. God asked him to take this gift of a son, and prepare to sacrifice him on that day - Oh, Father, how you call our hearts to give all to you. (Did you know a ram is a male lamb? Might seem silly, but when we went to hang the lamb ornament, there was some opposition, and we had to look it up; we'd always heard "ram," and it didn't sound right to us!)

God gives us a symbol of His precious son who would follow - THE LAMB who would forever remove our sin if we would but die to ourselves. As Abraham raised the knife (talk about a cliffhanger - today's movies got nothin'), he must have barely heard the bleating animal over the beating of his heart. Yet God was not late in His timing. He desired willingness, and He provided redemption.

ho, ho, HOstess with the mostest...

...EXCEPT DO I HAVE TO SHARE?? i hearby promise never to fill one of these glasses, to sip sparingly, and to wear my adorable apron and think of you whenever i do so, dear friend~ thank you! we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas...

look what came today!

happy, happy. i can ALMOST forgive the UPS man for ringing the doorbell and waking baby. almost. good thing friday nights are movie/taco night! we have a date with our old friends from Narnia. aslan is calling, in more ways than one.

martian volcano.

we love apologia's elementary science studies. whis week, we've been on mars, and the kids got to build their own martian volcano. mmm, love the smell of vinegar and food coloring in the morning. salt dough and hot chocolate, anyone?

breakfast.

yesterday anna found a recipe for hot chocolate fudge cakes in my cooking light (i swear it was!) magazine. in exchange for cleaning duty, she got to bake them right in the middle of the day! well, after everything else was mixed, she had to borrow 4 eggs from our neighbor miss marianne (thanks - we hope you enjoyed your little cake, too!), so time ran out and although they were all assembled, she had to leave for Christmas play practice, so... no cakes yesterday.

7:30 a.m., and she's up. ethan by my bedside: "mom, can we have anna's cakes for breakfast?" sure, why not, it's Christmas!!! (all month it is here, i'll have you know.) so... 8:00 am, special delivery to my shower (my spa shower is COMPLETE, for those of you who follow...) i receive warm, molten, COOKED LIGHT (no way, if you tasted this thing...) hot chocolate fudge cake. complete with a dusting of confectioner's sugar. and a piping hot cup of coffee with hazelnut biscotti creamer. oh, man, this IS the life. gosh, i hope my mother in law isn't reading this. if you are, NANA, I DID NOT ALLOW YOUR GRANDCHILDREN TO EAT HOT FUDGE CAKE FOR BREAKFAST. happy Christmas!

mom-blog-haters, prepare yourselves.

because what i have for you here will give you fodder for your feelings to grow. i present to you the contents of my washing machine today. from one load. (actually there were clothes, as well. and homemade soap. because i am amazing. even without a steam-dryer. and occasionally frugal. however, not so much organized and disciplined, because this was one of SIX loads of laundry done today. but i digress.)
one large lens of some type found by my son in a dumpster at an undisclosed urban location used for a recent family portrait sitting (dumpster diving is not stealing, right?) and because of location certainty, i can also ascertain that this pocket-treasure culprit is #1, who assisted me for this shoot. eight gold-plastic pirate coins, pocketed by an unknown, and un-confessing child. (unless daddy's getting desperate.) two silver ring thingies used most often to attach keys. used in this case, most likely, as a "someday-i-might-use-this-to-attach-a-tool-or-weapon-to-my-beltloop" pocket treasure. one perfectly shiny pebble. one small thank-God-it-was-here-and-not-in-one-year-old's-mouth grey lego piece. and one very small what-appears-to-be-ceramic-or-stone... muskrat?

boy do i love this little girl.

i cannot begin to tell you how amazing she is. so i'll just show you. lucky you.

look what my Papa made.

it's an ethan week.

because our big little brother lost his FIRST TOOTH yesterday! the tooth fairy hadn't made an appearance by either of his two middle of the night wake-up-and-check-and-then-visit-your-parents-to-tell-them-the-tooth-fairy-hasn't-come-yet trips. however, by sunrise, lo and behold, a DOLLAR!


do you know what he told daddy? he thinks the tooth fairy might be mommy (which it ISN'T, i promise!) because "she's tiny enough!" okay, give the boy two dollars. and a candy bar.

the wiggles.

my sweetie e. got to spend an afternoon "shakin his hips with wags" and groovin' along with the wiggles, compliments of our buddies the w. girls. oh, my, is he a lucky man, because in addition to the company of two beautiful young women of God and their cousins, etc..., they were chaperoned by momma w., who actually (sorry, girl, forgive me for letting out "our" secret) gets teary-eyed at their concerts like me! yes, that's right, the wiggles have a special place in her heart... in fact, i'm quite sure if they'd asked her to join the crew, she'd have left our kids for the rest of the family to care for in a heartbeat. thanks, girls!

soapmaking.

my friend b. is this amazing, quirky, thing who is super creative and earthy at the same time. she's as at home in a theology book with her kids as she is, well, just about anywhere else. i got to spend an evening making soap with her and boy, i tell you, it was an experience. talk about a rush for the senses. as much as i love to cook, this was almost as yummy.
lined up on the counter, her pharmacy of scents and oils.
okay, i'm a little nervous. she pulls out her tiny leather book of potions. complete with notes on past creations. how do i get these friends? truly, i'm awed.
shea butter and palm oil and coconut oil, and others... melding together in a pungent and beautiful medley (yes, i know i'm a goofball, but, oh, the heaven!)
don't we look so natural? she made me wear goggles and gloves (you use lye - this is dangerous business!) but her husband mercifully allowed us to remove them for the -ahem- "impromptu" photo op. i did not, however, want to remove the vintage apron i was allowed to borrow from her collection.
the end result? it's curing at her house. lucky dog. you should smell the stuff we created! if you're lucky, maybe we'll share...

delicious.