{ baby's first Christmas }

She's the sweetest thing under the Christmas tree imaginable.

 This post is especially for Lucy's Aunties.
I hear they are missing her and her chubby, kissy cheeks.

She loves to sit below the Christmas tree and play with the tags on the presents and gently bat at the ornaments just like a kitten would. 8 months is such a precious age to be experiencing Christmas for the first time. Lucy love, you are the Merry to our Christmas this year.

{ Legacy }

Today has been emotional for us. We've had tearful phone calls and cried in Lowes and cried as we held each other and prayed. Lots of tears and prayers for our dear Grannie Annie who is desperate with longing to go home to be with Jesus and her Rogie. We just heard that she was singing " I come to the garden" in the ER tonight. And she told David's sister Deb when she left her side on Sunday, " Okay honey, goodbye. I'll see you in heaven. " It's so hard to know that she is suffering as she begs to go to heaven. My Annabelle is named after her and I pray often and fervently that Jesus will infuse her with the sort of heart for others, for her family,  for Him, for beauty + joy, that our Grannie has. And with her quiet wisdom, her creative eye, her ability to love unconditionally, and listen well to the hearts of her loved ones, for her funny bone, for the sweet gift of encouragement, for her glass half-full perspective on life. I know of no one who is more admired or adored than our precious Granniebelle's. That's what makes this possible goodbye so hard and especially tender...I count knowing and being loved by her as one of the greatest treasures of my whole life. And we can't and won't stop praying for her, crying for her until we know that she is resting in the arms of her precious Lord. Or for a long time after.

  It will be worth it all, just for one glimpse of His dear face. Precious Grannie, soon you will get to hear that resounding sweet " well done"...for faithfully giving God the glory in the good times and the bad throughout more than ninety years of life and for your truly beautiful legacy. And when you finally get to go to heaven, please kiss Jesus, Grandpa Roger, Papa and our angel babies for us. We will miss you every day and speak of you with laughter and the greatest fondness, as we do our best to follow in your darling footsteps.  

Oft times the day seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over in God's eternal day.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light,
We're tossed and driven on , no human help in sight;
But there is one in heav'n who knows our deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem - just go to Him in pray'r.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Life's day will soon be o'er, all storms forever past,
We'll cross the great divide, to glory, safe at last;
We'll share the joys of heav'n - a harp, a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we'll lay our burden down.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ

  And while we are talking about legacy, this sermon spoke to + stuck with me like few others have in the past year. I think a big part of that has to do with the fact that David's brother Mark spontaneously jumped up from his seat to be baptized at the end of the service. We were so thankful and excited to be there to witness his public confession of faith.

 

If your married, I highly encourage you to take the time watch this sermon. If you are not married but hope to be one day, I highly encourage you to take the time to watch it as well. I walked away from it convicted, challenged and changed by Jesus.

Grannie Annie Update: The latest report is that Grannie has a much rosier outlook on life this morning. That is a huge answer to prayer as we dearly want however much time she has left on earth to be spent as comfortably and sweetly as possible.

{ 10 on 10 December }

Highlight's of the day:

cream of rice with agave + cinnamon for breakfast/o.j.

brown paper packages, tied up with string

bright eyed Lucy, and her two cute teeth

many cups of hot tea

pretty cookies, made with love by dear friends

vintage Christmas packing

birthday soup( that's what we call it...otherwise known as Chicken Tortilla Soup )  made for me by this dear friend + my cozy new slippers, brought home along with a big stack of Christmas cards for me from Costco the view from my front porch looking in

drive thru nativity

Sleeping under the Christmas tree

Not pictured: 

the new back porch and steps my husband whipped out over the last 48 hours

yet another batch of almond roca, which deserves a post all of it's own

piles and piles of tissue 

Jack's face covered in blue food coloring. Did you know that you can scrub away at the nasty stuff with soap and hot water with hours or tooth paste will take it off nicely. 

{ kitchen dreams }

Several years ago I had checked out this magazine from the library and scanned the pictures from this kitchen that I love. I just ran across the files the other day and had to share. Isn't it cheery?  

Call me crazy but I may or may not already be planning the next kitchen in my head.

{ Grace List }

I am keeping a grace list. A collection of the unending gifts of goodness and joy, just for me, from Jesus.

This is what my list for November looked like:

203. Really good conversation + dialog over the beginning of Philippians.

204. Seeing Sean and Deb

205. Seeing Me Ma + Grandpa

206. Heart to heart over coffee with Nikki

207. Front row at opening Sunday at Mars Hill Bellevue

208. huge light bulb moment for me as Pastor Mark was talking about love + respect between a husband + a wife

209. tears and repentance ( see # 208) 

210. More tears over Mark's spontaneous baptism.

211. making lists, big lists

212. stocking up on snacks at Trader Joes

213. all David's help in getting us out the door

213. getting a good early start

214. David chasing us down in the truck for one last kiss

215. the three beautiful little faces in my rear view mirror

216. palm trees + sunny skies

217. Lucy peeking out the corner of her car seat at me

218. making good time

219. only two poopy diapers all day

220. good report to Daddy. Kids were absolute troopers after 12 hours in the car.

221. someday I want to come back and explore Bend Or.

222. traveling mercies

223. feeling so prayed for

224. getting so close

225. Apple Izze

226. easy rush hour traffic through LA

227. pulling into the their driveway with Rylan jumping up and down in the front yard

228. hello hugs...especially Leslie + Lucy's

229. my strawberry + avacado salad

230. talking into the early morning hours

231. the way our kids became instant best friends

232. Cade's "yay!" everytime we called them for food.

233. hearing Annabelle tell David all about her day on the phone

234. the way Rylan said Annabelle with a southern accent...emphasis on belle

235. seeing them all lined up in a row at the counter.

236. party preparations

237. presents with strange numbers attached coming in the mail

238. dynamite shrimp 

239. surrounded by piles of presents in the craft room at midnight

240. slippers and scarves and being ding-dong-ditched in the middle of the night by #26

241. for the gift of true, encouraging words that brought tears to the eyes of our dear birthday girl.

243 shopping the attic for pretty party props

244 watching movies on the wall while the Mama's slipped away to shop

245 really yummy popped in coconut oil popcorn 

246.for four little ones who were so good and let us rush around getting things ready for the party

247 for making it out of Costco with all 5 kids, alive

248. for whispered giggles  in the shadows by flashlight from the tent in the living room

249 the girls in aprons helping me back g.f. s.f. happy birthday sugar cookies

250  Leslie wore leggings

251. giggles + cuddles over Pillowtalk

252. for hylands teething tablets

253. getting to meet their dear friends

254  for flirty emails sent and received

255. for the boys running miles of circles around the back yard 

256.for getting to help Nick pull off the prettiest date night picnic + a movie/ 30th birthday party in their back yard.

257. . Cade + Jack, Rylan + Annabelle = inseparable

261. reading quotes, really good, hitting-home ones from Sacred Marriage

262. really good g.f. panini's for lunch

264. our cry/pray spot on kitchen floor 

265. prayers while I went to not get Andi at the airport

267. playing dr. with the girls

268. Aunt Terri's corn and zucchini chowder ( which I've now made twice since we got home)

269. H+M

269. Andi's Trader Joe's taffy obsession

270. Nick vacuming out my car

271. stawberry's dipped in powdered lemonade

praying and crying together before we left

272. driving through Hollywood

273. surviving Redding CA.

274. two days of nonstop talking in the car

275. it's really true that we've never run out of things to talk about

276. the pillowcases L sent for us, stuffed with gifts that were a huge lifesaver with the kids

277. singing along to Matt Hammit, Rosi Golan + JJ Heller's Deeper

278. Annabelle's excitement as we got closer and closer to home

279. singing "Hurrah for Daddy" as we pulled into our drive way

280. a sweet + happy homecoming to David

281. having Jenny back in Spokane

282.  a fun happy birthday dinner for Andi with dear friends at Twigs

283. an amazing, amazing concert with Jenny + Tyler, Audrey Assad + Sara Groves
284. " your only labor is to trust..."

285  two hours of pure + beautiful worship to Jesus

286. laughing till our stomachs hurt

287. SB's caramel brulee lattes

288. Opperation Christmas Child

289. Lucy finally saying Dada.
290. Happy baby to be news of a dear, dear friend...and it's their first!
291. The movie, The Tree of Life

292.the green pea coat that I got on sale for %75 off.

293. tucked away in a row of bookshelves over coffee and tears with Roo

294. Twenty sweet, sweet minutes with Grannie Annie

295. That she remembered all our names
296. Singing " There's not a sweetheart anywhere" to her...
297. Jack's sweet kisses and snuggles with her
298. Lucy getting to meet Grannie Annie + Aunt Lynne all in the same day.
299. Daddy telling stories in the car
300. Me laughing so hard at his clever + funny rendition of Goldilocks
301. sister/cousin time
302. the happy chaos of Thanksgiving day at Mor Mors
303. a second Thanksgiving dinner with my parents
304. A really special visit + time with them
305. seeing Nate so happy
306. the best pumpkin pie ever that Nana made especially for Jack
307. Jack +  Hallee's goodbye kiss
308. 80% of my Christmas shopping done and it's not even December 1st
310. bedtime snuggles and stories and giggles with Annabelle
311. the anticipation of December days + Advent and snow.

{ Just to love you this way }

Phew! November was a big month. It included a ten day trip that the kids and I made to see oh so missed + adored friends of ours.We actually met through blogging six years ago and hit it off in person when she flew up on a crazy whim to meet us + bless us by taking our pictures, just before Jack as born. Long story short, we hit it off. In fact we enjoy each others company so much that we are pretty much always planning the next big trip one way or the other. Seeing each other has become an annual tradition. One that I am happy to continue quite frankly, for the rest of my life. 

Here's a little slideshow I put together of our ten days together: