Little did she know...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Here's the albums that I have been listening to on repeat this year. First off, this golden album from Sufjan Stevens. Forty two songs . You won't be sorry. (P.S. Anybody know how to pronounce that first name?) This next album is technically for kids, but it's f antastic listening for advent! And my new all-time favorite Christmas album: The Light Came Down . SO. GOOD. I mean, Josh outdid himself. I am crying giant tears of sorrow because I can't be at one of his Christmas concerts. What are you listening to this year (Or every year)?

22. up and over while the babes wait for music practice to be over...  23. get real real talk right here. #bedroomstruggles 24. days end smokey skies at sunset 25. first thing coffee and wake up snuggles. 26. think about it 27. bite size 28. dress up 29. candy ...or something like that...  30. pretend if I can't see you, you can't see me. 31. trick or treat we party hard around here...

I did a bit more "cheating" for this week of pictures. I prefer to call it "borrowing" from other days. ;)  11. create my sister is really great at creating teachable experiences that are woven into every day moments. 12. night life technically, this was sunrise. but in my mind, same same. 13. musical the baby cousins. also, my focusing skills are lacking. 14. happy day Uncle Jon is the best. 15. cuddle 16. discover 17. the boss good thing he's cute. 18. oops don't worry, I helped her up. 19. special all of my plant babies come from special people in my life and from special times in my life.  20. silliness singing songs during missionary conference brings out the silliness in the adults, as these kids soon discovered. 21. favorite photo this is not a picture of my favorite photo (how would I ever choose?), but it is my favorite photo that I took that day.

Taking pictures every day helps me learn and grow. So, I took these prompts  for the month of October. Sometimes I missed a day. Some days I took pictures for more than one category. It all evens out eventually. I think.  1. weekend fall weekends are for fires and tending to the plant babies. 2. chilly love the fall chill that comes along with the changing leaves 3. symmetrical I tried. 4. around not sure what this has to do with "around", but it's open to interpretation. 5. prepare there's only 3 of us, and we already pack way too much.  6. travel road construction and rain. the worst. 7. friends my family has a problem with talking while getting their picture taken. 8. educate not sure what is happening in the flower girl squad, but it is bound to be good times. 9. farewell one last night of adventures in KC. 10. exploring coffee shops. always coffee shops. Save Save

[I wrote this post several months ago after the death of my dad. It's cheating, I know. But it is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of "bouquet".] Like my dad, I am a sucker for fresh flowers. Like my dad, I have a stubborn streak. Like my dad, I love to laugh. Like my dad, I adore my siblings' kids. Like my dad, I can be ornery. Like my dad, I know that exaggeration gets the point across. Like my dad, I work on an ambulance because I care about people. Like my dad, I have a January 31 birthday. Like my dad, I like to bundle up and go find adventures in the snow. Like my dad, I like to cheer for the Nebraska Huskers. Like my dad, I love to camp and hike and sit around a campfire. Like my dad, I love me some good harmonies and guitar. Like my dad, I have tasted and seen that God is good to us. Like my dad, I am a sucker for fresh flowers.

There came a point in my life where I realized that I was no longer able to physically beat my younger brothers, so I turned to my next best weapon: my words. Now, there's something you need to understand about my family: we thrive a little bit on the argument; the "discussion". Having a constant verbal battle was no strange thing in my house. However, when I decided to prove my dominance over the younger siblings through my words, I wasn't doing it just for the joy of discussing the finer points of Whatever We Were Discussing, it was to wound. I took satisfaction in those first few seconds of seeing that my words had hit their mark. Hey mom, at least we aren't physically beating each other up, right? Ouch. To this day I cringe at the thought of how thoughtless and careless I was with my words. The proverbial blowout of my anger and pride and selfishness, however well crafted, was never worth the victory of the moment. I hated it when my dad made us d...

I heard an interesting comment the other day. It was something to the effect that most Christians see church as a habit of convenience.  "If nothing else is going on, then I will make it to church." Church, gathering with other believers, is something that is not generally prioritized by most in the scheduling of the week, month or year, etc. This is something I am just as guilty of as anyone else. I remember when I first was really on my own, not just out of the house but still in Bible school. I had no-one who was dictating my behavior or habits. I could make my own choices about my time. This was liberating. Intoxicating?  And, as most "kids" do, I used my liberty to serve my selfish desires. I told myself, "You don't lose your salvation over not going to Sunday school (or whatever other service I wanted to skip)." And I was right. I didn't. You don't.  But what I failed to see, or just refused to acknowledge, was tha...

Squawking and squealing and "talking".  Laughing and rolling and whining. Drooling and chewing and thumb-sucking. Dark blue eyes. Or are they grey? Soft blonde fuzz. Or is it brown?  Copy-cat faces. Or was it an accident? Grabbing and holding. Careful balance. Writhing in joy. Notice me, mamma.  I see you, baby. And my heart is bursting with love for you.  More than you will ever know.

Something terrible happened in my house today.  I ran out of coffee beans.  Now, I have an entire drawer full of boxes and bags and bins of tea, but I am a coffee girl through and through, so this thing of having no beans is kind of a big deal.  I remember being in Johannesburg and surrounded by the choice of either instant coffee or tea. And most of the time, I chose tea. My brother Arnie and I tease each other about all of the nasty coffee substitutes to be found in that part of the world. One morning in the office at Lambano Sanctuary, the volunteers and I were taking our morning cuppa' and I was lamenting the fact of no real coffee. "You sound like you're describing a boyfriend!" they laughed. They weren't far off, I suppose. For me, coffee is more than just a warm caffeine or sugary drink to be enjoyed. It's about the ritual of heating the water, taking time to smell the aroma of the beans as I measure and grind them. It's about taking th...

It was sometime when I was in high school (along with my twin brothers), when we got "adopted" by an elderly couple in town. By adopted, I mean, they hired us to work on projects around the house and the yard. And by work, I mean that we spent some time doing actual work and a lot of other time sitting on the back porch with a pop (soda, for you other people), listening to stories from Mr. R's childhood and time in the military.  We had a lot of laughs that summer as we stained and built and mowed and painted. Like the time that we were trying to fix the hot tub, and ended up with soaking wet pants. I hadn't brought a change of clothes, so I cycled home wearing pants approximately 10x too big for me. And then there was the day when I was left to paint the brand new shed with some oil based paint. It ended up in my hair and all the way to the bottom of my feet.  They were patient, those two. They were gracious as we made mistakes and slowed progress. But we both b...