Reply Requested...and Granted

Well, I think these last few posts will be short and sweet to get us caught up to the new year. I think the pictures and the videos will say a lot.
This is a picture of the kids at the Cleveland Post Office. They set up this nifty little box where kids of all ages can drop off their letters to Santa. Both of my kids wrote their letters. This year, Belle was actually able to write it all herself. She did have to have some help with spelling, but overall she knew how to do it herself and was proud to let us know! The nice thing about this specific box is this - if you write your return address on the outside of the envelope, you actually get a letter back from Santa (with a lovely coloring page too). At the end of the holiday season, the Cleveland post office actually sends the original letter that the child writes back to the parent. Someone in the post office is certainly thoughtful and thinking of all of our scrapbooking pleasures. The kids received their letters back on a very cold Sunday. They were very excited that Santa thought enough of them to write them back.
So, for those of you who don't do "Santa" with your kids...PLEASE, don't ruin it for mine. These years go by so fast. I love to see the excitement on their little faces. Besides, I've decided that I'm like the guy from Polar Express - I may be 35, but I still hear the bell ring. Hopefully when my kids are 35, they will still hear the bell too!

The Polar Express

Belle's December field trip was to the IMAX in Chattanooga to see the Polar Express. We had never seen the movie before. What a great way to experience it for the first time. We loved it so much that we took both kids back with a couple of their friends after school and work were out for the holidays. It is one of our new favorite movies. Although, I must admit that sometimes the animation seems so real that it creeps me out a little. One of the best parts of watching it in 3D with youngster is watching them constantly reach out to try and touch things! Belle kept sticking out her tongue to try and catch the snow. It was also a consensus that it was really cool, neat and awesome when the train almost smashes into your face. The video below is of the kids playing in the lobby before the movie. We all brought sack lunches and ate them in lobby before the movie. I forgot how much I loved field trips as a kid. It was just as much fun, if not more, as a Mom. I love seeing her smile. As a result of this fantastic field trip, we decided to take one of our when school was out. More details in a post to come. I tried to upload some cutie patootie pics of us in our stellar 3D glasses, but kept getting error messages. I'll try to add them again later. For now, you can enjoy the v v video.

Decorating the Tree

...gets more fun every year. I'm so glad that we have a "makeshift" tree full of the wonderful treasures that our children have made. I wouldn't have it any other way.
We started decorating Thanksgiving night at Papa and Grandma's and moved the fun to our house the day after. Thought you might enjoy the pics of our fun. The first picture is a tent they made at Grandma's while we were decorating the rest of the house. Don't you just love the way they decorated the outside with stockings?






I just love this time of the year. Honestly, I'm sad it's gone.

Lee Christmas Tree Lighting

The Christmas Tree Lighting at Lee was our first "official" event of the Christmas season. It was a cold night, but we had fun. The kids got to meet Santa and Mrs. Clause (although she was a bit overbearing and certainly a "FEMINIST" - even I was weary of hearing her talk of how Santa got all the glory while she did all the work!). We drank cider and ate cookies. At one point, we weren't sure if the tree was really going to light up, but alas it did. Grandma joined us for the grand event. Afterwards, we took the kids inside to warm up and play a little. The Christmas Tree became the "Kissmas" Tree as the college students cozied up for a intimate dance party. Let's just say that PDA certainly didn't bother them. All in all though it was a fun way to kick off the season, and we got a free photo opp with Santa. Who can beat that?

The Gingerbread House

Our second grand event of the Christmas season was building our very own gingerbread house. It was so much fun. The kids ate as much candy as they put on the house. You know you're in trouble when you see your kids scraping sugar off the counter with their fingers. (It's even worse, when Dad swipes the sugary candy off the iced roof every time he walks by! By Christmas' end, our Gingerbread house looked like it had been through a hail storms because of all the holes left where candy balls once held residence.) It was a great experience. The kids loved it so much that they made a second house with their Nana when we went to SC to visit. Making a Gingerbread house will definitely be a new Christmas tradition in our home. Maybe next year, we will try the Gingerbread Sleigh or Christmas Tree or have a Gingerbread making party. I seem to be all about having parties at our home lately. If you're lucky, maybe you will be invited (HA! HA!)

Catching Up...

Well, it has been well over a month since I've written anything.
I was told to "get to it". So, I'm back.
I'm going to split up the past month into several blogs. That helps us both...you won't get bored with one long post. And, I can take my time writing them.
Hope you feel all caught up in the end.

Better Days

Once again we had a great fall weekend. Belle had her first sleepover at a friend's house. She did ask to come home, but stayed and had a great time! It's nice to watch Belle growing and coming into her own. While Belle was out, we had some great time alone with Ashton. We took him out for pizza. He chose the place - Little Caesars. He got to sing loud in the car without anyone infringing on his spotlight and drank his "spicy" (his word for soft drinks, which came from Belle calling carbonated punch "spicy punch") with his pizza, always a special treat. We always tell him that it's
Pepsi, Coke, Sprite or whatever it may be, but that doesn't seem to phase him. He just wants his "spicy".
Saturday night, we picked up Uncle Kevin from work, and he spent the evening with us. We watched a whole lot of Scooby, Scooby Doo, and ate more PIZZA. Sunday morning was filled with early church and lunch with Grandma and Papa. And, Sunday afternoon was the best nap I've had in ages (ok, so it was one of the only naps I've had in ages, but it was great!).

So, basically it was a somewhat ordinary weekend in our lives. I hesitate to tell the next part for fear that we will be chastised again for missing Sunday evening church, but here it goes. After Sunday naps, we went outside and made an even bigger leaf pile than last week. It was so tall that Aston couldn't even stick his head out of it. The kids played on the swing set while Brian and I raked up the leaves. We raked up half the yard. (Also, I must admit that Brian did most of the "raking". He was out blowing the leaves while we were finishing our naps). Brian would blow the leaves on Ashton, and he would laugh and laugh and laugh. We threw the kids in the pile, and they would push us in. We ended our evening of fun with homemade chicken noodle soup (made by Chef de Brian)and grilled cheese made on hamburger buns (I forgot we had no bread.).

These are the moments...not to sound cliche, but these are the types of moments that we all want to hang on to and remember. They don't cost anything but time and lots of love (ok, and a little bit of extra energy too).
Last year at Christmas, I got Brian an iPod. I only downloaded one song "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Every family and marriage goes through its ups and downs. Last Christmas all I wished for us were better days. In many ways (especially times like those above) I have gotten what I asked for and more. I still tear up every time I hear this song. Faith, hope, love, forgiveness and the chance to begin again. Haven't we all wished for that at some point?
Below is the video and song on YouTube. I think this will be my only Christmas wish again, not just for me, but for you as well. May we all find better days...

Fall is for Friends

Each month at school Belle is given the opportunity to purchase books from Scholastic. Last month they had an array of Thanksgiving books. We decided on a couple, one of which was titled "Fall is for Friends". Tonight we created our very own version of the book with our friends, the McMullins (Mike, Angeline and Sam).
We went out to my parents home, raked up some leaves for the kids to jump in and made a big bonfire. The wood was really wet from the rain the past couple of days. At first, we didn't think our fire would ever start, but PaPa had a can of magic (you and I would call it kerosene). After the second dose of magic, we all thought we would leave with sunburns on our faces. At the least the fire actually worked! The kids thought it was amazing the way the flame suddenly burst into the sky. It was a hoot.
We roasted marshmallows and succeeded in devouring the whole bag. Remember by this time there are 8 of us cooking away. Angeline and I were trying to take pictures and video.


So, we got the shaft on our share of the marshmallows. Finally, we got to the hot dogs. It was getting dark by this time and the fire was SOOOO hot! Angeline and I ended up roasting them all by ourselves, but at least it gave Grandma a chance to actually take our picture.
We took our roasted hot dogs up to the house where Grandma had made spinach dip and brownies. We heated up some homemade chili and dug in (all while taking in our evening dose of Sunday football). It was a lot of fun. I don't remember the last time I roasted marshallows and hot dogs over an open flame.
Anyway, fall is for friends. Take some time to enjoy some fall fun with your friends too.

Chalk Monsters

Here are some pictures of our fun with sidewalk chalk. This was back in September just after school started. As you can see, Ashton enjoyed coloring himself more than the driveway. I love my kids. I love my family. There is so much to be thankful for.
There are more fun posts to come!

So Much to Say, So Little Time

Ok, so, well...there are quite a few things that I need/want to blog about, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. This will be a random thoughts blog covering an array of items.

First, I'm glad I voted today. I waited until election day to vote because of my quandry over the candidates. I did not feel that either of the candidates were an adequate representation of any kind of change. I also was sick of all the political insanity that Christians were circulating. Kelvin Page at Westmore gave a great sermon on Sunday about Christians response after the election and the issue of authority. For some reason, this message inspired me and actually gave me a peace about voting. I have no expectations for how this election will wind up. Either way, I'm excited about the process and the way it has people dialoguing about our country and about the problems within the church. Isn't it funny how these two things keep coming up in conjunction with one another? I think it will be fun to watch it all play out, and I will be watching intently all night long.

Second, I have really been working on my thesis and my Apocalypse paper, as well as thinking about all the things we have talked about in Wholistic Mission. It is all rolling around in my head. I'm beginning to make some concrete formulations, which I hope to write about soon. I'm contemplating what the ENTIRE Bible has to say about the fatherless, orphan, widow, the poor and the immigrant. I'm also looking at what Revelation has to say about systems (economic, political, social constructs), and all of this in light of what the church is doing or hasn't done. I will throw you a bone though, I have said that Wesley had a system of radical discipleship, a call to social justice and life as an accountable and growing community. If we can't get following Wesley right, it might be a little much to think we can actually follow the mandates of Christ.

Third, I'm very excited to have been able to spend more time with my friend Angeline (and Mike too) at various points. I am thankful for their friendship and loving support during this time of transition in our lives. I would also like to say a big thank you to Emily Stone. Her efforts to include Belle and Ashton in activities have really helped my children to transition well.

Fourth, we have been enjoying various fall events. We painted pumpkins, we did pumpkin arts and crafts and enjoyed the night of tricks and treats. I will have pictures coming soon. We also have 2 pumpkins to carve, but considering that thanksgiving is upon us, we may just try to make a true from scratch pumpkin pie. Belle keeps asking to make one and the dried pumpkin seeds would make a great snack!

While this is not the exact maze, we also visited the corn maize in Anderson with Nana and Papi. As usual, it was a fun visit.

We have also been playing with chalk of late. I have some great photos of the kids that I hope to get up on the blog soon.

We have done so much work at my parent's new place. The transition has been amazing. I am so thankful that they are here.

Finally, I am really enjoying my internship. I'm actually starting to get attached to the people there. They have been extremely kind and gracious to me. I love the conversations we share and feeling like we are actually making a difference in the world. I could tell you stories of how things each one of them has said has impacted my life. Each of them have tremendous stories of God's grace and faithfulness in their life. I look forward to continuing to get to know them.

I guess that is all for now. I feel better that I've at written something here, even if it isn't as polished and perfected as I would like. I suppose blogging has now become important to me, and I don't want it to be as sporadic as in the past. I will do my best to get pictures up soon.

I look forward to the dialogue that future posts may bring. By the way, does anyone else feel hopeful about tonight's outcome no matter what it is? I just can't help thinking that no matter what happens, we are still His children, He still loves us and wants to see us all redeemed. Will the outcome of this election really change that? I think not. Que sera, sera.