a late start

This year, winter has lingered on longer than usual (so it seems). But we have finally gotten a few things planted on the balcony - though the big garden-bed still remains to be tackled. A late start, but a start nonetheless, with radishes, chard, cucumbers, lettuce greens, and strawberries...and my sweet little gardener in training. :)

a little bit of color

Trying to fill our lives with a little bit of color this spring...

A little planting, a little sewing, a little learning, a little playing. We are hopeful to get a bit more outside play in April!

louie

In loving memory of a friend we did not get to meet...

more grey

Another grey, snowy day. Missing our vacation...it was so nice in the sun and warmth!! Ahhhh....

But this grey, gloomy weather is rather fitting for this spiritual season of Lent. It not only encourages inward reflection, it is fitting of reflection that focuses on sin, repentance, and the things of this world that are not sunny and nice. I've been engaged in a daily devotional with a group of friends, which focuses on these things, and it's been good to be in this season in the company of others. 

For the kids, I've used the suggestion of the book below, and focused on the story of the Good Shepherd. 

Thankful that He is good indeed. 

a lil' stitching

The days continue to be cold, cold, cold. Somehow this prompted me to take out my sewing machine for the first time in I don't know how long. Here are a couple fun projects I did with the four year old yesterday...

His drawing, my sewing...and the first time I've seen my boys play with "dolls" for an extended period of time.

His drawing, my embroidering...

I'm pretty sure this was way more entertaining for me than for him, though he did sit and watch the stitching happen for a long time. (His two year old brother, on the other hand, could care less.) I've gotta say, this has been one of the most fun and unexpected things I've done with the kids - collaborative art!

lent begins

Today begins Lent. Yesterday, I finished the above book. A very fitting reminder of what Lent is about - embracing our own weaknesses and failures, so that the glory and grace of God may be known through our lives. 

"We know that we need to train them [our children] in rules for obedience; that's obvious. But how can we teach them about something so outside the norm, such as God's joy in being merciful to sinners?" ~p.71

"Our children aren't innately good, and we shouldn't tell them that they are. But they are loved and if they truly believe that, his love will transform them...Our encouragement should always stimulate praise for God's grace rather than for our goodness." ~p.43

I've been reading this book for the last several months, and it's been deeply challenging on many levels - how to respond to my children's sin and failures, how to respond to my own sin and failures (esp in the area of parenting). I love that at the end of the day, this books points to God's grace and glory as the ultimate goal, and not my own parenting performance or childrens' behavior. What a deeply challenging and freeing thought!

I hope this Lenten season our family can really take the time to embrace what an amazing gift God has given us through His son - an amazing gift of grace and freedom. 

these snowy days - part deux

Games, trains, pots, forts, and friends.

Slowly, but surely, we are making it through February!

these snowy days

It's mid-February, and winter feels long and slow and very, very snowy. We've been spending a lot of time indoors. Our days at home are filled with book-reading, dish-washing (there's a non-stop flow of them!), playing with Legos, doing a bit of math and music, building forts, watching videos, and doing lots and lots of art. I thought I'd chronicle a little of the art that's been happening around the house...it's probably one of my favorite things about being at home these days...

With some trepidation, I covered the table with plastic table cloth and braved some painting on our dining table. No big disasters, and a pretty quiet playdate.

I've been leaving markers, crayons, and paper out, so the boys can use them as they feel inspired. There has been LOTS of drawing around here in the last month.  The 4 year old has been drawing lots of birds, fishes, suns and divers...and after some tears, successfully drew a cat that he found acceptable. The 2 year old, following his brother's example, has been drawing "people" and "whales". After years of seeing blobs and scratches, I gotta say it's been fun seeing things take shape under their pens, and love seeing them deep in concentration.

Yesterday, we tried to do some sticks and clay construction. It was a nice change of pace, as it was much more tactile and 3-D. It was also a lot more hands-on (by me), since the sticks tend to fall down, and the boys don't have a good sense of what will stay up or not. :) But they had fun building gates, houses, and boats. Not exactly sure what I do with the finished products though...

They've been asking to put some of their drawings/paintings up on the walls - the ones they are especially proud of. I have been (mostly) obliging...and finally got frames for some of them. It does brighten up the house during these long wintry months!

random glimpses

Several people have recently encouraged me to keep posting, and I've been feeling the itch to blog...but ugh, where to start? Seems so hard to pick back up...so, as a way to get back into this thing, I thought I'd just start with some simple glimpses of life over the last two weeks...

Two weeks ago, we were in a sorry state...

Everyone had the flu and a throw-up bowl close by. I didn't take a selfie during this period, but I was probably in the worst shape out of all of them. This pretty much lasted the whole week...and by the weekend, everyone was feeling better and ready for some fresh air.

So we got some donuts (and my first cup of coffee all week!) and played in the snow!

It felt pretty good after being cooped up inside all week. Coming into this week, I was still itching to take the boys out for a special treat, having survived a rather grueling week the week before. So we went out to Flatbread Pizza for some lunch. I went mostly for the big open-fire furnace that captures the kids attention, and for the organic goodness there (I can't think of a better place to go for salad either!). But we got a little bit of a bonus - since it was a random Tuesday lunch, the bowling alley in the restaurant was pretty much empty, and a very nice manager opened up a lane and invited the boys to roll a few balls. First time bowling for both of them. They loved it, of course.

That was a fun day, and I was starting to get back into the swing of things....and then, this happened:

My hopes of spending more time outside this week were dashed....so we made the best of it indoors. I tried making cinnamon buns - they were okay, but not great. I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and I think the yeast didn't work as well, so they didn't get as big and chewy as I had hoped. Nonetheless, the boys can't turn down cinnamon and sugar, so these buns were all eaten up by the next day. 

Instead of playing in the snow, Collin got to work on some music theory. Hehe, poor guy. Except he kinda likes it right now, so I have been giving into his requests to "do just one more page please."

 This week ended nicely with a Valentines lunch date with the husband...can't beat hot pot on a cold wintry day, especially eaten in the quiet of a restaurant without any kiddies in tow. What a treat.

And now that I've started on here again, I am hoping to jump back into this little blog more regularly. We'll see. Happy Valentines Day!

a moment of holy

On Sunday night, after dinner, Jason went off to a meeting and the boys and I lingered around the dining table unsure what to do with the hour or so we had remaining before bed-time. Unintentionally, I picked up a piece of mail from Compassion International and started opening it. In it, there were updates about two of the children Jason and I sponsor from Indonesia and Burkina Faso. I laid these updates on the table, not really thinking about them...until Collin asked, "What are those? What do they say?"

So I sat down and introduced my children to those two children from Compassion. We took out the map and we found where the countries were located. I told my kids that their grandma grew up in Indonesia too. We started reading about the country conditions where these children lived. We learned that the mosquitos in Indonesia often carried diseases (like malaria) - and people sometimes don't have money to get help from a doctor. We learned that Burkina Faso often has drought - where there is not enough water to grow food (like our tomato plants outside) and children often go hungry and are "malnourished" (that one took a while to explain). We saw pictures of the children's classrooms and pictures of their neighborhoods.

And then I suggested we pray together. Collin prayed for Indonesia - for God to protect the children from mosquitos with disease, and for sick people to get help from doctors. I prayed for our sponsored child in Burkina Faso - and for the drought and malnutrition there. We all said Amen, and then we went to the living room to play.

Who knows what really sunk in for the kids...but in those few minutes when we sat around the table, asking God to help and to bless, I do believe there was a moment of holy.