for the love of a good blog

Last week, while sick in bed, I checked A Beautiful Mess where Elsie announced that she and her husband are adopting. She shared that a few years ago she and her husband followed a blogger named Ashley as she wrote about the adoption of her own little girl from China and it really stirred their hearts. So I clicked over to read a little of Ashley's story and basically read a year or two of her life all surrounding the time she was waiting for, receiving and finally bringing her daughter home. My heart swelled while I read each post and I felt so grateful for her writing.

It's amazing how blogs can do that, isn't it? I sat in bed sick with sick kids laying all around me and got to peek in on another person's wondrous life, a life she is living fully and passionately, and it left me wanting to live fuller too. Ashley is an artsy-crafty girl, but wrote about how she tries to tackle small projects, even ones that take ten minutes, just to fulfill that need to create. She seemed very practical and intentional.

Anyway, I had Rory read a few posts and I told him what a gift blogs are for me. There are some blogs that make you feel less than, instagram accounts that make you feel left out or lacking. But then there are some that are completely the opposite. The ones that show you someone who is fully alive and leave you wanting to live your life that fully too.

So if you're looking for some good browsing, clicking and binge reading, I highly recommend Ashley's adoption story. It's so tender and beautiful. I felt grateful the whole time I read it for parents who hear the call to adopt and become Mom and Dad to these little babes.

This link will go to all of her posts written about her adoption process. If I were you, I'd start with "If we could sit down and have a cup of coffee" and then proceed clicking through to their trip to China to bring home their daughter. And once you've read those, you'll want to back up and read all of the pre-story too. Enjoy!

hattie's earrings

Apparently these pumpkin spice cheerios are bit stickier than the usual, but Hattie wears them very nicely. The kids were in stitches the whole meal when Hattie wore her special hoop earring.

Hattie is a kick these days. She is so busy. And into everything. Our house has a very minimalist look to it because if she can reach it, it will be reached. I have a friend who has a two year old and when you ask him what his name is (Bo) he replies with a straight face, "No, no, Bo bo."  Hattie will likely feel the same way, except her name would be a very exasperated, "Ah! Hattie! No!" I lovingly call her the terrorizer because she is always freaking someone out. I'll hear her dad, "Ah! Hattie! No! Not the papers in my laptop bag!" I'll hear her siblings, "Hattie! No! Mom! Our puzzle! Get Hattie!" Or when I find her in the bathroom, "Ah! Hattie! No! Not in the toilet! Kids! We have to keep this door closed!"

She keeps us on our toes, proudly and quickly crawls up the stairs and then claps for herself. She monkeys around on all the furniture and stands on her own, but doesn't seem to feel the necessity to take a step. She's a fast crawler, a great eater and gives great snuggles, hugs and kisses. So she's a snuggly terrorizer.

did you know this?!!!

On Saturday my mom turns 70!!! We are going to celebrate at her house on her actual birthday, but the bigger party will be in February when just my sister and I are flying out to Seattle to meet up with my folks (coming from Mesa) for a weekend with my brother! We are so excited for this time together and mom just sent me the confirmation information for our flight.

It was in that email from Delta that my eyes popped out of my head and I nearly laughed for joy. Did you read the restricted hazardous items?!! Delta no longer accepts HOVERBOARDS!!!

HOVERBOARDS!!!! Does this mean they are a real thing?!! And why didn't anyone ever tell me?!! I feel like my whole life has been waiting for the invention of the hoverboard! You only have to watch Back to the Future 2 one time, when you're eight, to know they have the potential to change everything. Your life would never be the same.

So I did some research on this FORBIDDEN ON DELTA, BUT THEREFORE VERY REAL HOVERBOARD, and thanks to the experts at YouTube, I have learned a few things. First, they have wheels. Hmph. That's not technically hovering, then, is it? They still look fun, but they seemed to be more of a segway without the handle bar. But I can't really judge. I still haven't come up with the technology to hover the earth on a board. The wheeled version looks fun, but I'm still holding out for the real, space-flying hoverboard... 

raising optimists

The kids are so ready for wintertime. It's pretty awesome to see how fully Minnesotan they are. I, on the other hand, feel just fine with these mild days. I think it was back in March that I decided to regroup my seasons to help me psychologically. I now have grouped April, May and June as Springtime. July, August and September are my new summer. Because September is always glorious. Fall doesn't begin until October when the leaves begin to change and includes November AND December. Which leaves winter in January, February and March. That last month was the real zinger. Because every children's book out there would lead you to believe spring begins in March. And in Minnesota that is a flat out lie. 

Anyway, I like this new system. I think of it often. And since it's December, it's still fall for me. 

But my kids are ready for the snow! And Christmas. I got out only the unbreakable decorations this year, and the kids promptly decorated the living room into "Christmas Land!" It is a lovely place that removes every decoration from around the house, way more fun to set up than to clean up. And you can only go into Christmas Land if you are wearing a christmas tree headband. (And those are our new grey walls! I LOVE them! We went with a different grey in the end because the one we started out with was too beige. So we started over, again, and love the feel in there...)

We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving, eating lunch with the Groves at 1:00 and dinner with the Harrington's at 4:00. The rest of the weekend was incredibly relaxed. Hardly went anywhere and I started and finished a book in two days. The best! And then Sunday night Elsie got a terrible bout of the flu and we've been passing it around every since. But as Elsie said, "at least I got to eat my toast in my bed! so that's fun!" And I realized I am raising some awesome optimists. It old her that even when things feel hard, if she can always find the thing that she is thankful for, like toast in bed while she recovers from the flu, she'll have a very, very wonderful life.

happy thanksgiving!

I just watched this video that was posted on Ann Voskamp's blog and it moved me so much. It is a beautiful telling of the power of prayer and the power of love. Watch it to the very end. It's a story of bright light permeating the darkness: the gospel story...and we are all so desperate for that story!