It is the holiday break. I'm afraid the days are going by more quickly than I had hoped. I thought I'd have free minutes here and there to drop in and leave a thought, but I haven't.
The Mr. is home on holiday this week and that alone takes up most of my attention. In a good way. I am thankful for long conversations and hot pots of coffee. I love an evening spent in front of the fire or playing a game.
The Little Mr's are also on break. Another source of spent time. There have been fuse beads to melt, gifts to finish making, and toys to be played with. Then there's Stratego, Narnia style. Lots of rounds of that.
Around here the celebrations continue until the the 1st. We have two more big gatherings. One here at our home. It means a bit of cooking and cleaning. I still have gifts to wrap. There are plants to be saved from the light saber attacks inflicted upon them.
There are some big thoughts to come. Right now, they will have to sit as drafts until I have more than a spare moment to form them into something that makes some sort of sense.
Here's wishing that all of you had a very Merry Christmas and will have a blessed new year.
jen
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Sleeping In... Or Not
This morning I was awakened much the same as I am every morning. By the sounds of the Little Mr.'s pounding on each other. I wish I had known ahead of time that brothers like to whale on each other daily. Anyway.
With my eyes closed and the blanket pulled up over my head, I sense the Little Mr.'s. I lift up the blanket on either side and they eagerly slide in to get a quick cuddle. It is quick. They are little boys. Eyes still closed I ask what was all the yelling about? Pictures, they say. What about the pictures, I ask. The older Mr. tells me that the younger Mr. was drawing the wrong kind of pictures for me.
You see, the older Mr. believes that the only sort of pictures fit for mom are the ones with flowers & butterflies & and smiling people. Lots of lovey, girly stuff. But to his utter shock, the younger Mr. wants to draw pictures of light saber battles for me. The kind with lots of cut off heads and blood. The younger Mr. insists that Mom loves anything we make her. I think the younger Mr. is onto me.
So out of the shower I am greeted with a serenade of Frosty the Snowman, at an ear splitting decibel. I won't even tell you about the lyrics.
Follow this link and read the story about my home church in Madison. It is an interesting story, only partially about Blackhawk. As in any article, it only captures a tiny bit of what Blackhawk is.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=5136
Our new church here is very tiny, but we're over the shock and adapting well. In some ways, they are very alike.
Jen
With my eyes closed and the blanket pulled up over my head, I sense the Little Mr.'s. I lift up the blanket on either side and they eagerly slide in to get a quick cuddle. It is quick. They are little boys. Eyes still closed I ask what was all the yelling about? Pictures, they say. What about the pictures, I ask. The older Mr. tells me that the younger Mr. was drawing the wrong kind of pictures for me.
You see, the older Mr. believes that the only sort of pictures fit for mom are the ones with flowers & butterflies & and smiling people. Lots of lovey, girly stuff. But to his utter shock, the younger Mr. wants to draw pictures of light saber battles for me. The kind with lots of cut off heads and blood. The younger Mr. insists that Mom loves anything we make her. I think the younger Mr. is onto me.
So out of the shower I am greeted with a serenade of Frosty the Snowman, at an ear splitting decibel. I won't even tell you about the lyrics.
Follow this link and read the story about my home church in Madison. It is an interesting story, only partially about Blackhawk. As in any article, it only captures a tiny bit of what Blackhawk is.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=5136
Our new church here is very tiny, but we're over the shock and adapting well. In some ways, they are very alike.
Jen
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Not Quite The Night Before Christmas
Trying to steal a minute to write around here these days is like trying to gift wrap a live frog.
Thankfully, that is not on my list of things left to do before the holiday. There will be frogs, but not until later. They are tadpoles first, don't you know.
Here at home, the tree is up and decorated. It has been since mid-November. Ahh, the fresh scent of plastic. I mean, the convenience of an artificial tree. It really is convenient. The Mr. put it up while I was away at a conference. The Little Mr.'s gleefully decorated.
The decorating has continued. Almost everyday they have taken off all the ornaments they can reach and rehung them. Sometimes they play "Grinch" and steal Christmas. I always make them bring it back.
Our house is a classic two story colonial and so we have done the classic decorating. Candles in the windows. Nothing else needed. Besides, where I live, most of the neighbors do enough decorating for all of us. We live pretty close to a small airport. Maybe this is extra protection. I'm quite sure it can be seen from the sky. Maybe we'll be mistaken for a runway.
Some of our neighbors have those inflatable things. Down the block a bit is a Santa that towers above the ranch house it sits in front of. Mostly these blow-ups just bug me. They really disturb my dog. I did see a really cute polar bear though.
The little Mr.'s are feeling the holiday craze. There are a million questions all day everyday. The littlest Mr. has the most questions for me this year. Why doesn't Santa just come in the door? It's weird that he goes into the chimney, mom. What does he use reindeer for? Can't he drive a car? And my personal favorite, What kind of presents did you get me? My response...Christmas presents! No, no, mom, what kind of Christmas presents? The wrapped kind. No, no, mom. What kind? Like are they toys?
He's persistent for only being 4. The older Mr. is wondering this year. Is Santa really real mom? We pulled out Polar Express, lit a fire and cuddled up on the sofa. There haven't been too many more questions. He's pretty sure all you have to do is believe. He's also decided that maybe the Grinch wasn't all bad, and maybe it wasn't all his fault that he was behaving so bad. Maybe it's hard to be good and nice when people are being mean to you. After all, it wasn't his fault he was green and hairy, right?
One last Bible study this morning before the real holiday break begins around here. Two more school days to squeeze in. I'm sure we'll at least get to our science lessons. It's worm dissection week. The Little Mr.'s love this. We will finish up with Old Yeller too, I bet. So very sad, but so good.
So, with that, I'm off to make more coffee. These Thursday morning ladies like their cup-o-joe.
Merry Almost Christmas!
Jen
Thankfully, that is not on my list of things left to do before the holiday. There will be frogs, but not until later. They are tadpoles first, don't you know.
Here at home, the tree is up and decorated. It has been since mid-November. Ahh, the fresh scent of plastic. I mean, the convenience of an artificial tree. It really is convenient. The Mr. put it up while I was away at a conference. The Little Mr.'s gleefully decorated.
The decorating has continued. Almost everyday they have taken off all the ornaments they can reach and rehung them. Sometimes they play "Grinch" and steal Christmas. I always make them bring it back.
Our house is a classic two story colonial and so we have done the classic decorating. Candles in the windows. Nothing else needed. Besides, where I live, most of the neighbors do enough decorating for all of us. We live pretty close to a small airport. Maybe this is extra protection. I'm quite sure it can be seen from the sky. Maybe we'll be mistaken for a runway.
Some of our neighbors have those inflatable things. Down the block a bit is a Santa that towers above the ranch house it sits in front of. Mostly these blow-ups just bug me. They really disturb my dog. I did see a really cute polar bear though.
The little Mr.'s are feeling the holiday craze. There are a million questions all day everyday. The littlest Mr. has the most questions for me this year. Why doesn't Santa just come in the door? It's weird that he goes into the chimney, mom. What does he use reindeer for? Can't he drive a car? And my personal favorite, What kind of presents did you get me? My response...Christmas presents! No, no, mom, what kind of Christmas presents? The wrapped kind. No, no, mom. What kind? Like are they toys?
He's persistent for only being 4. The older Mr. is wondering this year. Is Santa really real mom? We pulled out Polar Express, lit a fire and cuddled up on the sofa. There haven't been too many more questions. He's pretty sure all you have to do is believe. He's also decided that maybe the Grinch wasn't all bad, and maybe it wasn't all his fault that he was behaving so bad. Maybe it's hard to be good and nice when people are being mean to you. After all, it wasn't his fault he was green and hairy, right?
One last Bible study this morning before the real holiday break begins around here. Two more school days to squeeze in. I'm sure we'll at least get to our science lessons. It's worm dissection week. The Little Mr.'s love this. We will finish up with Old Yeller too, I bet. So very sad, but so good.
So, with that, I'm off to make more coffee. These Thursday morning ladies like their cup-o-joe.
Merry Almost Christmas!
Jen
Monday, December 18, 2006
Welcome Home
Open the door and come on in. Take off your coat. Stay awhile. Pull up a chair in front of the fire. Let's catch up.
Here you'll find a little glimpse into my life and my thoughts. It's a spot to find out what the family is up to these days. Maybe even leave us a note. It's a place where I'll share some of my thoughts about life as it happens to me.
So how is life around here you wonder? What is the family up to?
Life around here moves pretty slow in comparison to the rest of the world, and yet to me, it feels pretty fast. We're on a bit of a schedule break right now. Swim lessons are over. Soccer is over. Art class, done. Phy. Ed., finished. Small group, on hold for the holiday. Bible study, just one left. Awana, one last meeting. Then everything goes on break. Even the Mr. takes a break from the office.
Looks like we'll be having a week to ourselves. How will we spend it? We'll sleep in, only the Mr and I. The Little Mr.'s don't sleep in. Read. Play board games. Sit in front of the fire. Read some more. Play video games. Watch a movie. Talk.
Life in our house really does look like that. Even during the regular season. We talk a lot. We read even more.
And what do we talk about? It depends. Right now the hot topic in our house involves relationships. People are lonely. It is common in our culture. People say they want something more, something deeper. So how does one get a deeper relationship? Effort. Time. Pain. Yep. That's all it takes. Pretty easy to see why no one's willing to do this. I think there's one more thing. I think you have to have a real relationship with the Lord before you can have any real relationships with mere mortals.
When you come to the bottom of all you are or thought you were. When you take just the little shreds that are left and lay them down at the Cross, that's when relationship starts. To know that you are unconditionally loved by the Father and forgiven, then you begin a relationship with Him. Once you learn to feel His love, hear His call and follow His direction, people are easy.
Now, if you don't live in this world of saved and forgiven, you just plain think I'm crazy. Perhaps I am, but since I've gone there, it's easy to build real relationships with people. The hurts are far fewer and easily forgotten. Grace and mercy come easily. Love is abundant to freely give.
The people problem, the big relationship issue is that it takes work. We aren't a people that believes in work anymore. For anything. Everything should be easy, cheap, fast and make you feel good.
That's what I think.
Jen
Here you'll find a little glimpse into my life and my thoughts. It's a spot to find out what the family is up to these days. Maybe even leave us a note. It's a place where I'll share some of my thoughts about life as it happens to me.
So how is life around here you wonder? What is the family up to?
Life around here moves pretty slow in comparison to the rest of the world, and yet to me, it feels pretty fast. We're on a bit of a schedule break right now. Swim lessons are over. Soccer is over. Art class, done. Phy. Ed., finished. Small group, on hold for the holiday. Bible study, just one left. Awana, one last meeting. Then everything goes on break. Even the Mr. takes a break from the office.
Looks like we'll be having a week to ourselves. How will we spend it? We'll sleep in, only the Mr and I. The Little Mr.'s don't sleep in. Read. Play board games. Sit in front of the fire. Read some more. Play video games. Watch a movie. Talk.
Life in our house really does look like that. Even during the regular season. We talk a lot. We read even more.
And what do we talk about? It depends. Right now the hot topic in our house involves relationships. People are lonely. It is common in our culture. People say they want something more, something deeper. So how does one get a deeper relationship? Effort. Time. Pain. Yep. That's all it takes. Pretty easy to see why no one's willing to do this. I think there's one more thing. I think you have to have a real relationship with the Lord before you can have any real relationships with mere mortals.
When you come to the bottom of all you are or thought you were. When you take just the little shreds that are left and lay them down at the Cross, that's when relationship starts. To know that you are unconditionally loved by the Father and forgiven, then you begin a relationship with Him. Once you learn to feel His love, hear His call and follow His direction, people are easy.
Now, if you don't live in this world of saved and forgiven, you just plain think I'm crazy. Perhaps I am, but since I've gone there, it's easy to build real relationships with people. The hurts are far fewer and easily forgotten. Grace and mercy come easily. Love is abundant to freely give.
The people problem, the big relationship issue is that it takes work. We aren't a people that believes in work anymore. For anything. Everything should be easy, cheap, fast and make you feel good.
That's what I think.
Jen
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