A Few More Pictures from This Week

Another rainbow shot.

Any one know what this is?

It's Poppy Time!

Joy

"But the secret to JOY is to keep seeking God where we doubt He is."  ~Ann Voskamp

Continue searching for Him, in the pain, in the loss, in the mess. 
He is there, no matter our doubts, our fears, our blindness. 
He is. 
When we seek Him, we will find Him and find the joy He gives, right in the middle of it all.

These Days

Are filled with lots of drawing and the building of many Lego cities. I LOVE Dumpling's self-portrait, don't you? Usually they have belly buttons. Even the turkeys on the cards we made for Thanksgiving had belly buttons. And wheels for toes. Wheels are very important to a three year old boy.

Pumpkin was so proud of the town he built he wanted me to take his picture. Love this boy.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with all the Grandparents here. We celebrated Pumpkin's fifth birthday as well. Amazing. Pictures later.

***
I've been quiet here I know. Not because I am without anything to say, of course. ;) I've always got something to say!! A big part of it has been preparing for Thanksgiving and spending time with family. Another reason is simply because I have no new news to share we are still in a bit of a holding pattern, trying to make some decisions, waiting on answers, and waiting some more. It's been a year of waiting. It's been good in a lot of ways and I've certainly learned a lot. I know I will learn more when I am a bit away from it all. Right now it all feels so close. Does that make sense?

The other reason is simply that I am trying to decide what this Christmas will look like for us. Homemade gifts, of course--some are done and more to come. Having the double-whammy of no extra money to spend and having all our normal Christmas stuff packed away has been interesting. I was looking through my stack of Christmas books the other day and they were in a tub I actually have here. I kept out five books and put all the rest back.

Truly, the books are the only thing I have access to. No nativity, no decorations, no stockings, none of the things I am used to having are here. Even my Jesse Tree Ornaments are packed. There will be no tree this year anyway. Part of it is the money, part of it is just not knowing if we will be moving at the end of the month.

We are financially in a great and crazy place as we are seeing if we can just buy a place we have our eyes on out right. All extra money is focused on that goal right now. We are not in trouble in any way. It is a tight time though with a specific goal in mind. Being able to not have to pay rent or a mortgage is what we would like especially as we try to build our business in this next year. It's that no regular income that we are used to having that makes it a bit tense since Sweetheart was laid off. See last post, if needed.

I am planning on making another couple of sets of Jesse Tree Ornaments anyway and just hanging them up on the bulletin board. I have all the clay on hand and would like multiple sets so that each one of the kids will have one they can use with their own families when they are grown. We'll see what I can do. I want to use Ann's devotional this year and I may just print out the paper ornaments at the end and hand color them.

I am not whining about the changes at all. I am just trying to figure out how to adjust to them. And in the midst of it all asking myself what really matters. I love to decorate my home and do lots of fun things in the name of Christmas, but...where is Christ in it all? I have no desire to pretend like it is not happening. Though, I do wish it could be the next month when I hope to have more answers. :) Just being honest.

I wonder throughout the days about all the Christmasy things I have. What is really worth keeping? When we are settled, what will I decide I want to continue to have? How can I keep the focus on Christ buried in all the stuff? And there is a lot of stuff, even pretty stuff that I enjoy! I don't have the answers, I am just asking the questions.

Luckily, I do have our special Advent book and some candles on hand. I've collected pine cones on walks and will probably try to score some evergreen branches to do a bit of decorating and whatever we end up doing for the Jesse Tree.

Through it all, I am thinking about What I Truly Care About versus What I've Always Done. It is interesting.

Wow. Is anyone still reading this ramblely random post? It's great to have a place to Brain Dump.

By the way, I was sure thankful I had this blog to go back to when I was planning Thanksgiving!! Several of my Everything Books are packed. I ended up going back to old posts and printing out the pictures so that I could make my lists.

Off on a Tangent

Ok, it is the day before Thanksgiving. I should be baking. And I guess technically, I baked something.

I decided I wanted to do a Jesse Tree with the boys this year, but did not have any of the ornaments. I've seen some done from paper and some from felt. this morning I decided to make the ornaments out of clay. I've got 10 done, 15 to go!!!!

Basically, there is a Scripture reading for each day of December leading to Christmas. Each ornament is a symbol of an Old Testament story. I found a link with a chart of readings and ornaments/symbols. (I'll post the link later as I am not in a regular internet browser right now.) I am excited about this.
***********ADDED: Here's the link: JESSE TREE INFO.

Now, I need to make the relish and do whatever is on my list for today. The sweet potatoes and pumpkin for pie are baking away at least. Hope you are all having a great day and remembering what really matters about Thanksgiving. I keep reminding myself. :)

Thankful

Finally, time to light the candles.

Sweetheart read Psalm 67 to us tonight at dinner before we began feasting.

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face shine upon us,

Selah

2 that your ways may be known on earth,

your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, O God;

may all the peoples praise you.

4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you rule the peoples justly

and guide the nations of the earth.

Selah

5 May the peoples praise you, O God;

may all the peoples praise you.

6 Then the land will yield its harvest,

and God, our God, will bless us.

7 God will bless us,

and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Thank you, Lord, for Sweetheart.

I had always wanted a cornucopia basket. I remember drawing them and making them out of construction paper as a child in school. Last year I found one at Michael's after Thanksgiving for a dollar. I bought it and loved using it this year.

Plus, it's another edible centerpiece since I made our last one into the pie.

Yum.

Something sweeter than pie.

I am blessed.

Thanksgiving