Christmas 2014

I was really struck this Christmas with the word "Emmanuel"...."God with us."  WITH us. Incredible. I pondered that a lot throughout the month of December, and the closer it got to Christmas Day the more I was overwhelmed with gratitude for God's willingness to come down and live among us humans and BE one of us.  Simply astounding.  Christmas Eve was a time of powerful personal worship for me.

As usual, the children "patiently" waited to open gifts. :)

Son C opened his very own container of chocolate covered raisins, new pajamas, and new set of books (the Alex Rider series).

 Daughter G gave daughter H a sign for her bedroom door that says "Spoiled rotten pug lives here" because daughter H is in LOVE with our pug.  It was a big hit!

Son L with his new vest and bow ties.

Could it be????

Yes!  The lego sets most desired by these two!  Happiness.

New watch.

Daughter G gave me the new Pentatonix Christmas CD!!

Daughter H opened her special ornament we had made in memory of her biological dad.  She said later that it was her favorite present.  Love.

I was blown away by my husband's gift...he gave me a picture of a Surface Pro 3 and said that we'd go shopping later to buy the exact laptop/tablet hybrid that I wanted.  Wow!!  Daughter G has her own laptop, but the other 7 of us have all been sharing my husband's.  I know it is a very first world problem, but it has been hard to divide the time on one laptop when 7 people all use it for some amount of time every single day.  My husband put a lot of thought into a computer solution that would work best FOR ME...what electronic tool would best help me in the ways I really need?  I just felt soooo special that he values making my life easier.  That knowledge alone was such a huge gift!

So, thanks to my husband's year end bonus, I am now the grateful owner of a Surface Pro 3!!!  It is a laptop/tablet hybrid, meaning it has the full functionality of a laptop, but you can magnetically detach the keyboard and the "monitor" becomes a fully functioning touch screen tablet.  (for the uninitiated, it is the Windows version of an Ipad.)  It is small enough to fit inside my purse, but not so small that I can't type easily on the keyboard.  And it has the coolest little pen that allows me to write directly on the monitor and circle things or make notes, etc.  It is an amazing little piece of electronic technology for sure!  It will allow me to print documents when I am down in the schoolroom without having to go upstairs, to easily update the shared Google calendar that me and my husband use, take it with me to our homeschool co-op, keep it open on the kitchen counter when using online recipes....etc.  In a myriad of ways, it will help with the little things.  And doesn't life so often come down to the little things?

In other amazing news, we wrapped up this set of bongo drums for all the children, to represent the ENTIRE DRUM SET that we obtained used from a friend at church.  Woot!  Full band capability now right in our very own home!

(we set up the full drum set the next day)

And in still other big news, all of our children were ecstatic to receive this family gift of an xbox one! For years and years I have resisted having any gaming system other than the Wii.  Even that was a stretch for me at the time.  Long story that I won't bore you with (unless you really want to know! haha) but for a variety of reasons we felt that now was the appropriate time to purchase this as a family gift.  It has been a big hit, and *I* have even played a few games on it!

Happy lego building continued long into the evening.....

...as well as much merriment and singing into a spoon. ;)

We figured out the xbox controllers and the older kids played a bit right away while the younger ones worked on their lego sets.

A fun family evening.  My heart was very full!

Change

An annual Christmas tradition that has always meant a lot to me is baking cookies with the children. I'm not sure they have enjoyed it as much as I have.  They would probably say they love the end result! :)  For me it has been a fun time to spend together and to talk with one or two of them at a time.  It has also been fun to see how they choose to decorate their cookies from year to year.  We are *almost* past the dump-all-the-sprinkles-the-pan-will-hold stage.

This year, however, only the two youngest had a strong desire to bake cookies with me.  I could have "forced" the others to bake also, but chose instead to embrace the change.

Others may bake again next year....

so it is not necessarily a permanent change.  I am slowly learning, as my children age, to go with the flow and keep my own non-negotiables few.  I have some awesome mom friends with slightly older children to emulate as I become a parent of (almost) adult children.

And in the mean time, I thoroughly enjoyed baking with my 12 and 10 year olds!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Double Digits, Little Man!!

Our baby is now ten.

Excuse me while I go have a tearful mom moment.

Okay, I'm back.

I'm thrilled that Little Man is growing and learning and maturing as he should, but there is a part of me that knows I will miss having kids in the single digits.  For so long I couldn't imagine NOT having children that young, and I woke up this morning and found that none of them were anymore.   It's cool but kinda weird too.

We started celebrating his birthday a couple days early when we took two friends to see the third Hobbit movie!  It was enjoyed by the boys and declared "awesome."

His requested birthday dinner was mac and cheese and jello.

Art kit from his oldest sis!

Minecraft play figures from his brothers.

Lego play book from his WA grandparents.

Oh wow....could this really be.....

the Minecraft "diamond" sword and battle ax????  Cool!

Happy, happy birthday to the fun, delightful, sweet, lovable, smart, and tender-hearted youngest son God blessed us with!  We love you!

Hard

I have had one of the hardest weeks of my life this week.

It's Friday and I am so glad to have made it to today, by God's grace.

He is so faithful.

I have much to learn about parenting a child with depression.  But I am thankful for all that God has taught me so far, and for just BEING with me as I struggle, and learn, and soldier on.  Our girl has had such a difficult fall and at times her grief has very nearly overwhelmed her.  In an attempt to not feel it to the point of being overwhelmed, she masks her grief and pain in anger.  And because I am in authority over her, am a safe person who has shown her unconditional love, and mostly because I'm here, that anger is nearly always directed at me.

It is a hard, hard thing to endure, even when I cognitively understand it.

And it is made even harder by the fact that the other children take up offenses for me.  At times the needs of various children appear to be at exact polar opposites, and meeting the needs of one can seem to have the effect of harming another.

BUT GOD.....

God can take what appears to be emotional harm and transform it into something else.  Something beautiful.  My mama's heart aches for my children who are in the midst of transformation.  I'm sure the butterfly isn't comfortable just before it breaks out of its crysallis, either.  But when God gives me glimpses of what He is accomplishing in my children's lives, it is absolutely amazing.

Please pray for our girl to let us comfort her.  Pray that she will trust completely in who God is.  Pray for daily strength and wisdom and grace for us as her parents.  And praise God with me that He is who He says He is, and He does what He has promised to do!

Go Navy, Beat Army!!!!

This and the Super Bowl are the only two times during the year when it's a football day for the whole family! :)  (though a couple are missing from this pic)  We were a tiny bit happy for Army that it wasn't a blow out, but VERY happy that Navy won again!

Gingerbread House Decorating

One of daughter G's oldest friends has had a really cool Christmas tradition that her mom started with her when she was four years old ~ they invited a few friends over and decorated gingerbread houses together!  The host mom provided the houses and all the friends brought candy and food to decorate the houses with.  Daughter G was invited to join this tradition when she was 6.  Other friends have come and gone from these parties, but daughter G is the "longest running" friend, at 12 years!  It has been such a fun thing for the daughters and the moms through the years.  This year daughter G decided to go with an Oz theme.

The friends with their finished houses.

I loved this one....it even has a carport (with car!) and a balcony!

Loved this one, too!

Such beautiful girls.  All of them homeschooled, and nearly all of them seniors this year!  We joked about how for the host daughter's wedding shower some day, the girls should get together and decorate houses!

So thankful for fun and meaningful traditions.