A 365 Marathon | Weeks 49–51a

Special greetings to my Grandma and Grandpa who I am sure have been about to call me more than once over the last few weeks to find out when they were going to have some new pictures of their great-grands! :) Here they be! :) Updating this today is my gift to you. ♥

 

It's been a very. full. December. Just about a month ago, Chris' work schedule changed dramatically. Rather than 8am-5pm(ish), he's now working 4am-1pm(ish). He goes to bed at 8pm and gets up at 3am. And the first few weeks were hard. I like schedules, and ours got turned upside down. Nuff said. We're definitely starting to get used to it though, and overall, it's been a good change on multiple fronts. Other than that, we've simple been busy with Christmas preparations and activities. So, here's a glimpse of our whirlwind month ...

 

Day 338. If one is going to eat a Christmas tree, one might as well begin at the top ...

Day 339. I love SC. December 4 and this young lady did her math outside in bare feet. :)

Day 340. Matthew was very excited to add his own handmade ornament to the Christmas tree!

Day 341. Shall we say, "Crayola?" I deemed this "out of my comfort zone" thrift store sweater a success when Hannah exclaimed upon seeing me, "Wow, Mommy! You look pretty! You look just like a rainbow!" ♥ I bought it because I knew the kids would like it. :)

Day 342. Art class ... still life.

Day 343. First day of unlinking the paper chain which is swiftly giving up the ghost! (As of today, there are four links left before Christmas!) :)

Thoroughly enjoyed our Annual Church Christmas Dinner!

Day 344. Wow. This Sunday most definitely brought the unexpected ... and undeserved. We were overwhelmed by the generosity and love of "The Blessing Family" (our nickname for this precious family/individual), and it looked like Christmas from grandparents in our home. Words really cannot express the blessing they gave us ... exceeding greatly beyond the packages.

Day 345. What a fun "field trip"! We traveled about 3 hours to join my friend in celebrating her twins' 3rd birthday. The unpictured element of this day was the GPS loaned by a friend from church which totally removed the navigational stress of the trip! What a blessing!

Hannah enjoyed meeting a new friend--a fellow homeschooler in 3rd grade. :) (She also managed to create about a dozen beaded keychains on the drive ... one of her gifts from The Blessing Family!) :)

Day 346. Peter wore his new tool gear from the time he got up till he went to bed for nearly a week straight. :)

Day 347. We discovered that Matthew is fully capable of pulling the wheelbarrow out from behind the shed and pushing it all the way up the driveway!

Day 348. Our budding reader discovered a new story ... in his new tool gear of course. :)

He was also quite excited about winning the Publix cookie of the month! :)

Day 349. What a blessing it was to celebrate Hanukkah with our Jewish friend from church! Thank you, Grant!

Day 350. One of my best 30ish minute investments of the season ... ten wrapped Christmas books for the ten days before Christmas!

 Book #1 yields it's wrappings!

Day 351. The Children's Choir sang "Away in a Manger" this evening ... what a blessing! So thankful for their teachers who work with them each week! Peter in particular made me smile--he stood still (major accomplishment for that young man) and sang loud and clear ... and more than slightly off key. ;) (Thankfully no one minds that too much when you're 5.) :)

Day 352. Daddy and Peter have been making progress in the basement ... one of the benefits of Chris' new schedule.

 

Subfloor is down, paint coming up next!

Day 353. The big kids have discovered the joys of exploring the woods. :)

Day 354. This young lady is to be thanked for stuffing, licking, return-addressing, and stamping all of our Christmas cards! Many thanks, Pumpkin! You are a blessing to your Mommy! ♥

Day 355. And today. Matthew decided he wanted his lizard up a bit higher on the tree ...

 

Hannah decided to do some candy cane washing ...

Peter enjoyed his candy cane in 5-yr-old fashion ...

And Matthew was simply cute ...

 We have four days remaining till Christmas and as of yet, not one gift is wrapped, but I have been thoroughly enjoying my munchkins. I am so thankful for them, and events in the last week have made realize how carefully I must treasure the precious gift of each day I am given with them.

He is Faithful

In the midst of a sobering day as the heart-wrenching news poured out from Connecticut, the Lord blessed me with beautiful and abundant reminders of His faithfulness. We had the privilege of celebrating the 7th night of Hanukkah this evening with a Jewish friend from church.

 

God painted the sky with splendid colors on our way to our friend's home:

And then we had the joy of learning the beautiful story of God's faithfulness amidst tragedy as the background for the celebration of Hanukkah. Thank you for letting us join you, Grant!

 

And then after dinner we came home and the Lord blessed with the energy to follow up with an idea from a friend and wrap ten special Christmas books for the kids. (Some of these are books I've had checked out from the library for weeks and not been purposeful enough in my use of book time to yet read to the kids.) I can hardly wait to see how excited they will be to see gifts under the tree tomorrow morning ... and then their delight to find out that they get to open one each day! :) Thanks, Bethany!

Truly our God is faithful. And someday, He will make all things right. He will wipe the tears from our eyes. Praying for the families grieving tonight in Connecticut. Clinging to His grace when it doesn't make sense.

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you;
I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure. ...
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.

 

Isaiah 25:1, 8a

365 Project | Week 48

Has anyone else observed that the week following a vacation is always longer than any other week? It was a good week, but it definitely seemed about twice as long as normal. However, a new work schedule for Daddy on top of some extra projects definitely added to that. :)

 

Day 331. Something clicked in the last couple weeks, and Peter is really taking off with his reading! :) It's so exciting to watch him getting excited about it! He has been doing well in his lessons all along, but he has now started reading other books on his own at non-school times. Yay!



 

Day 332. And another special project on so many levels ... Hannah-bug found and bought a kit to make a stuffed puppy as a Christmas gift for Matthew. It's been so neat to see her so excited about doing this for him. She's been doing a great job with all of the stitching, and Mommy's just been helping with securing the threads. Another very exciting milestone! :)

Day 333. After everyone else was asleep, Mommy put up the village Tuesday evening. The next morning it brought back so many memories of hours similarly spent when I heard the kids eagerly discussing the various pieces and dreaming up the stories behind each one ... ♥

Day 334. Peter's new waltzing partner ...

Day 335. So much fun to realize that Hannah's help made my job of putting the lights on the tree easier than it would have been myself! ♥

 

All decorated for Christmas! :)

Day 336. And Saturday we hosted a Christmas party for our friends from the children's classes at church! It was such a blessing to enjoy good fellowship with friends. ♥ And I definitely enjoyed the blessing of split responsibility--I just had to get the house ready, and Sarah brought all of the ideas and supplies ... love it!

 

 Yep, the party was *officially* for the kids. ;) The mommies had just as much fun! :)

So thankful for each of these friends!

That green tablecloth was a wonderful thing when clean up time came! ;)

Mommies and kiddos! :)

Day 337. My addition to our entryway for the season ... made by tracing our family's handprints--little hands that will someday be big hands. ♥

A Baker's Dozen

We had the blessing of having family photos taken over Thanksgiving weekend by a friend who is getting started in photography. She did such a great job, and we are so thankful! Enjoy my baker's dozen of favorites--there were just as many more I could have included, but the line must be drawn somewhere. :)

 

For our family's privacy, I've not mentioned our photographer's name here, but if you're interested in getting some pictures with her, I'll be more than glad to share her information with you personally. :) I highly recommend her! :)