Things I am Loving

Coming home from grocery shopping to this hobbit/kid in an apron.

The way things are coming together for a study with both chinese and foreign friends.

The smell of these pumpkin cookies in the oven, and the excitement they will produce when my kids walk in on a Friday afternoon from school.

The way food makes my children adore me. I have many faults that make me hard to live with, but the food thing is one way we make peace and promise to live happily ever after together.

Studying Jesus in the gospels. The unexpectedness of it... the way he seems ever more real to me. 

The things that make me laugh. Like remembering Jen Hatmaker's quote about her reaction to surprise information that came home from school about costumes. "What fresh hell is this??" 

It is so where I am at right now. It is my new motto.

Other funny stuff like these taglines

Starting the Fellowship of the Ring with my boys after not having read it for maybe 10 years? We started in, and then... I remembered why... and I can't wait to get to know them all again.

Listening to Johann Sebastian Bach on Pandora. And then I came across this article.  The man's life: not easy. His music: equally challenging and difficult. But was his music a true gift of God, a divine inspiration? I love this line...But in the end, [the author] finds, it comes down to an act of faith. Other composers, among them Monteverdi, Beethoven and Mozart, have achieved greatness in various ways, “but it is Bach…who gives us the voice of God—in human form.”

Kneading bread. It's so contemplative to me. It's my favorite way to be quiet right now.

Helping my eldest study for his spelling bee. For as many as he gets wrong, I am still amazed at what the kid can spell! Where do they pick up these things?

The dimples, the uneven cowlicks, the jolted run, the constant jibber jabbering of our littlest man. (Not loving the endless forays into the sugar bin, the rice bin, the emptying of the water tower, ad infinitum).

Starting Chinese classes again, which translates into the hope of someday not sounding or feeling like a moron. Incidentally, I learned the word for "hope" this week... xiwang 希望. 

The way my Man rallies. He pulls himself together. He pulls me together. He pulls us all together. He's a rock, a steady force. 

Days of December 3 {Sending}

{Sending to Anna}

I just walked to a friend's house to see her off. She is leaving for the month of December to visit family in the U.S. I left a little package with her, to carry all those hours through customs and check-ins, and hopefully send from a post office somewhere in New York, so it can hop back on a plane and finally make it's way to Portland, where my newborn little namesake now lives. 

And why not send you something as well? I am not a linky person, because I just don't browse the internet enough, nor do I know the best places to visit. My links all end up being the same sites over and over again!

But I was inspired by a few things I saw just recently, so I'll happily share them with you. 

And while we often say in this day and age "what would we do without Google?" I do sometimes wonder how it would feel to be rid of all this wonderful access of ideas. Because often, instead of inspiring  it can easily be intimidating or overwhelming, or just make you feel like you have

 a. no time, 

b. not enough money, or 

c. no creativity. 

There are probably other things it makes you feel too. 

I'm just saying, take them with a grain of salt. Or only take ten minutes and then stop looking. Or only pick one idea to try (today for me, the muffins!), or be happy for all those people with wonderful gifts and talents that they share so freely with the rest of us, but then pick up the bits you have in your house and just use them differently than you did before (for me, green leftover string around scraps of linen from an old bag). 

Without further ado, here they are:

• Such a simple idea (how could I not love?), and cheap! It actually makes me think of gift-wrapping... since you can't get paper here and all I have is half a roll of brown postage paper.
• Can't wait to make these (perfect for leftover feta a friend gave me and some fresh pumpkin), and these are a yummy idea for scones, but I think these would make a perfect little holiday gift (as in, someone please make them for me!)
• This is one of the prettiest little advent calendars I've seen. Love those red numbers and sweet little packages.
• Using her free Advent devotional with the kids this year, and personally following the daily readings found here.
• Everything under the tree is going to made from wood (though from a local woodworker) or wool, I think.