Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Spring is in the air

When I was younger I used to feel trapped an depressed when Fall came to a close and winter arrived. The past two years have not been this way for me though. I am actually enjoying the seasons as they are here. I have to say that I am thrilled to see the bulbs popping up though--it's perfectly timed.

Evie is getting to the age now where she is more self sufficient and my brain has been able to take somewhat of a breather. When Asa was her age, she was already 2 months old. It's nice to have some order back to life and also be able to enjoy the wonderful traits my 2 and 5 year olds have. I love to hear them sing. I know they won't always want to sing me songs. We have been reading in my bed before they go to sleep at night. They love it and get so cooperative with bed time routines now. I love cuddling with them and enjoying them. I love when Asa calls me into his room--after he is supposed to be sleeping--to tell me something that happened at school. I love when Evie tells me "Mom, you're my best friend" ...then goes on to tell all of her family members the same thing. I am so happy with my life, and am working on being more content as the days pass. I feel so blessed to live in this home with my children and husband in this safe country. Issues I go through are so minuscule compared to peoples suffering around the world. I am so thankful for my church too. What an awesome bunch of servants. I feel so blessed to have so many godly, wise older people in my life to advise and encourage me when I am going through something, or even when everything is great. I see how many people don't have this opportunity, and therefore don't really mature, grow or learn..I never want to take for granted what I have been given, I never want to be unteachable.

I have been working on ancestry more lately--or maybe about the same amount as usual. In my research I have obtained a couple family recipes and am thrilled to try them out!!
I wonder if home prices will continue to slump over the next couple years; 2013 would be the year we originally had wanted to have our house flipped and sold by. We changed our mind this year to stay. Now I wonder if we can because our new mortgage company is giving us grief. I hope that even if we don't sell the house then, that we will have it finished. Sometimes when I start a project at home, it encourages my man to start one of his as well. I guess I have more than a few good reasons to finish re-grouting the tile in our bathroom!! It's a mess too, Evie spilled pink nail polish all over the grout that hadn't been fully cleaned up, so I have a lot of scrubbing and digging and re-grouting to do, a hard job that will take a long time and I honestly don't want to even start.

I should get my chores done now so that I can do special jobs like that when I get an extra minute.

Friday, February 4, 2011

melody

I love the hymn, O Sacred head now wounded:


I love Fernando Ortega's version too


Now listen to this:


very pretty right? I love this melody.

I want Green Pastures played at my funeral.

Friday, January 28, 2011

New Year

Well it's 2011. We've had a lot of snow so far this year. Over 15 inches yesterday! I am sore to say the least--it was very heavy snow. I was busy shoveling it into a big fort complete with tunnel for entry. The kids and I had fun. Asa had only one full day of school this week, he's on a delay today and it's snowing again.

So lately I have again been working on our family tree on Ancestry.com. I bought an international membership so I can now see international census records and such. This is so much fun for me, I feel like a sleuth and I love finding pieces of the puzzle and having things match up on records. I am stuck on a few sides but still am thankful to have relatives to ask questions of. I love getting stories about people, not just their names, origin and birth years. I love having a face to put into the name even if I don't have a picture. This is a big job though, it takes a lot of time and thought. My brain is usually fried after I research for a while. I love that it gives me the excuse to talk to older relatives that I normally may never have talked to again. (As sad as that sounds)It's amazing how many ways a specific family's name was recorded wrong throughout the years. That's the kind of stuff that makes searching difficult. It's important for me to do this though because it seems so many people don't have any interest in it, and I am afraid that family heritage will be lost forever. I want to pass it along so my kids and their kids can know how and when their ancestors came to this country and where they came from. I have all their family members back to where they migrated from...at least country wise. Although I do have a family member with a Polish name who was born in Germany. A little confused about that. I eventually would love to publish a book for family and especially my kids, complete with recipes of beloved dishes their ancestors made. I hope that I can accomplish this in my life.

Life is so short though. I have been thinking about this lately. It changes your perspective on issues with people or most earthly problems when you realize tomorrow could be your last. I am not saying that in a sad way either. I have just heard of/ or have known quite a few people lately who have passed away early. It makes me appreciate life and my family so much more. It makes me much more likely to over look offenses and not be so sensitive about petty things that I normally get upset about. It makes me want to hug my kids and other family members and let them know how much I love them way more than I normally would. It really just helps me put life into the right perspective: God is in complete control--not me. It even helps me not to put value on material things I want. I realize I can live without so much that I have and how wasteful I am and then ways to change that. It makes me realize how much courage I lack when it comes to speaking up and standing up to people who don't know the Truth and that I have nothing to lose if I can be loving in how I challenge/inform them. Seize the day!

I better go get my kids ready to drive to school, since we missed the bus as I was writing this!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

This is a fun and hectic time of the year. Love getting to see family and eating good food, but I am also looking forward to going into town and now being stuck in traffic or long lines at stores.
I love the smells of Christmas. I found a candle at a store in the mall called "fraser fir" Seriously a wonderful smelling pine candle--not overwhelming but this light perfectly reminiscent scent of christmas trees. I want to go buy it after the holidays...because I'm hoping it won't be $35.00 anymore! I like the idea of reflecting on the birth of the son of God. I find it odd that we hijacked a pagan holiday to do it though. I don't like the idea of Christmas being anything you want it to be though either. Celebrate it or don't.

Finished watching the BBC series Little Dorrit. I have to say I absolutely loved it, up until the very end. The chemistry between the two characters wasn't there for me. It was sweet--I liked the story of it, I just didn't see the chemistry they should've portrayed. That was slightly a let down. The whole series was so well done and perfectly acted--until the last part in my opinion. I love Charles Dickens. When I was young my mom read to me and my brothers "David Copperfield". It was such a long book but I was so enraptured by it. I couldn't wait for the next time she would read it too us and always wanted an extra chapter more.

My kids are so crazy..bouncing off the walls in anticipation of Christmas. They are pretty cute though. We've been reading a special Christmas book each night before bed and it's been really fun. They love to cuddle in my bed with me in their warm jammies and listen. I hope this is building good memories for them. Today we are going to make cookies and brownies, hopefully that will add to their holiday memory jar as well.

It's a bright, beautiful Christmas Eve late morning. It's cold out and slightly breezy. The weather forecast had been looking favorable for a white Christmas--now not so much. That makes it better for travel if nothing else. Tomorrow we will be having Christmas brunch with my husband's family, then Christmas dinner with my family. It's going to be an incredibly busy day. My family is having a huge dinner with over 30 people- it should be fun. We do a Yankee swap and everyone always gets into it. There are family members on my dad's side that we won't be able to see. I miss them. The older we get, the larger the family grows, the harder it is to see everyone for Christmas or any holiday. It's bittersweet. I didn't get to send out as many cards as I'd have like this year. Things just get so hectic!!!


I am thinking of venturing out into the crazy shopping hub bub to see if I can grab a pair of shoes. We'll see if I make it.

Mark and I watched Mad Men for the first time last night and couldn't get through the episode. I thought the concept of the 60's theme was great, but it was so raunchy and had nothing more to it then scandal after scandal and glorifying the way NOT to live, making it seem exciting and fun, when in truth people living that way I am sure feel empty. It didn't even seem slightly realistic, overly sensual and unbelievable.

Well if I don't blog again until the new year. I wish everyone a happy holiday season and I'll catch up with you next year. I can't believe it's already 2011..Sometimes I still feel strange writing 2010.

Sufjan Stevens - Once in Royal David's city