Home:: Christmas:: Parties:: Walking:: Growing

Home::

Is still a bit turned-upside-down and after the first week of flurry and walls coming down and framing going up, we're down to the more tedious part: furnace/duct work, sanding and sanding and sanding the floors to get all the lead paint off, taping & sanding the drywall, and eventually painting. I'm secretly hoping the painting part won't be so slow-going, but I have learned to hold hopes loosely when it comes to house projects!

As of now, we are still at the Dunphey's house. Who would have thought 2 weeks ago when I threw a few outfits per person in a suitcase that we would be gone this long?!?! Of course, that day we were only thinking Flooring-- not Rearranging the Blueprint of our First Story!

Christmas::

I have good chunks for my Christmas shopping completed, but am still far from being done. Yesterday I placed a few online orders to help fill in the cracks, but I'm not going to lie: it's a bit overwhelming to think about adding packages to the insanity that is currently my house!

That said, I can mostly laugh about it. This is the third time Daniel and I have faced moving into this particular house mid-December and trying to settle/resettle our things while decorating for the holidays simultaneously. I'm feeling surprisingly calm about it all.

Parties:

Calm, that is, until I start thinking about needing to get gifts for Christmas party exchanges or baking cookies for various events. I am being very slow to RSVP to much because I have no idea what we'll be up for as the weeks progress.

But I also don't want to skim over the holidays because of this project. I only get one Christmas with Gabriel as a 7-year-old, Bronwyn as a 6-year-old, Jackson as a 4-year-old, Aubrey as a 3-year-old, and Claire as a 1-year-old. I want to make the most of every minute this year.

It's a good thing the real joy of the season has nothing to do with parties or cookies or trees or baking. I am with these children and my husband wherever we go, and snuggles can be had and candlelight is nearby even when we're not in our own home.

Walking::

Speaking of Claire as a 1-year-old, she has taken a few wobbly solo steps these past few days. Unlike some kids who take steps without realizing it, she seems very aware of the feat. It's kind of cute!

At a day shy of 13 months, she looks like she will be right on track with my other children who-- except Aubrey (I can't say that I really count Aubrey in terms of the "average" since she is an exception in every way, including the fact that she really doesn't look like any of the other children!)-- were officially walking (not just taking wobbly steps) sometime between 13 and 14 months. It's fun to me that we have now established our family patterns. Doesn't it make me sound so grown up when I say things like, "All my kids have done such and such at such and such age"???

Growing::

I so pray that as my children are growing, so am I. It's not just that I want to be a "good mom": I want to be a sincere follower of Christ. I want to be able to show my children through my life a glimpse of their Heavenly Father. There is nothing I want more than for them to see Him and love Him-- no matter where we are or how topsy-turvy our lives and schedules and routines are or whether we have little or much or more or less!