a little Christmas footage

we went away for nearly a week to meet up with my family, gathering from india, maine, maryland, and georgia. time together is treasured these days as we all live so far apart. we met at my grandma's little mountain house (she no longer lives there because of its remote nature and the sometimes icy weather), which boasts of beautiful views, quietness, lots of memories for me and my siblings, and NO internet or cable tv. well, there was one corner of the house where the 2 people with smartphones could sometimes get a signal, but mostly we just talked to each other....ahhhh...so wonderful!

i have more photos, but i accidentally traded cameras with my brother, so these are from my dad.  maybe more later.

it was a week filled with laughter, messes, late conversations after the kids were in bed, sibling trip to see Les Mis, lots of eating, a little running and hiking, catching up.  poor abe had the flu and miles learned how to climb of his pack-n-play.  it was a wonderful week of slowing and enjoying each other.  we are so thankful.

lovely gowns from india and crowns from kelly

so many nooks and crannies...the loft!

good for storytime with bma

the kids got pretty crazy at times (6 aged 5 and under), but their play was creative...reindeer pulling queen marit

plaid shirts from india, minus adam

we did a lot of hiking/exploring outside despite the cold

still sort of the newly weds of the fam

super daddy

my favorite of my favorites

cousins playing campout

mainers thought the carolina weather was no big deal!

family meeting...probably planning meals or something

kitchen view

bma's art class

hiking down to the stream where we used to sip water with a little tin cup.  we would spend hours rambling in these woods when we visited as children

those of us with the little people managed to see a beautiful sunrise every morning.  such beauty feeds our souls.

we took turns cooking and ate well!

creature hats knitted in tibet

i'm so thankful for these people who love well and spur on to faithfulness

thanksgiving weekend

we had a quiet, travel-free thanksgiving here. while adam worked a shift each day, the kids and i enjoyed no school and beautiful weather. we enjoyed eating dinner with adam's sweet family twice. we have so much to be thankful for, we really do.

grandpa tackles are the best.  i hate i didn't get any pictures of adam's mom this time.  for some reason, she declined the tackling game:)

saturday fire and hot-chocolate seemed like a fitting way to end the week

in the south we drink hot chocolate by the fire in flip-flops

it's messy, but i'm just trying to stay in the picture. marit thought milk jugs would be good kindling...

our haphazard thankful tree.  we love this.

our caterpillar joined us for lunch

one of my favorites of graham's leaves

dave and carol's dog making the most of the six kids 5 and under

baking 'helper'

a "climbing break" on one of our scooter rides and i thought what a good idea it would be for helmets to be required for all tree climbing

playing charlotte's web.  these guys are obsessed with this sweet story lately:)

leaf break

raccoon hunting

she loves antlers.  i do not know why.

even in the midst of our very imperfect lives, there is goodness and grace. i missed my far-flung family as i always do, but hopefully we will gather at Christmas.

and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.  And be thankful. col 3:15

when you are 4

sometimes when you are a four year old boy, you fly high on playground equipment. then, your hands might slip and you slam, nose first, into the ground. then, your mama's heart almost stops, your daddy scoops you up and uses his expertise to assess the situation, blood gushes while you weep and spit sand out of your mouth. you go to bed early, falling asleep on the couch at 6:30. you sleep and then act like nothing happened in the morning, even though your nose is slightly crooked, swollen, and purple and you have scrapes on your face. four year old boys are resilient.

freedom

it's one of our favorite songs around here lately.  has a good rhythm and text for running, cooking, and dancing around the kitchen.  a while back our heat was broken, so the downstairs of this old house got pretty chilly.  ridiculous bundledness was a common occurrence.  and sweet marit, though very white, does love to break it down.  below is josh garrels singing the whole song.  thanks to my brother for introducing me to this guy.
 

healthy and growing, happy days

one of the things i enjoy about updating this little blog space is that it forces me to remember things...to think about what we are doing and engage and relish and delight in so much goodness that is graciously given. with discipline, i can do this without taking pictures and noting it afterwards, but it is just a little help for my heart to be in the moment. of course there are a gazillion moments that i do not mention...some of the hard, messy, tantrum, battles with my own self-pity, ugly parts of life that i do not want to dwell on. that does not mean i do not acknowledge the existence of disappointment and frustration in our lives. let it be known that we are far from perfect, limping along in this broken world like everyone else...clinging to truth, grace, and Christ who is our peace, and striving to be faithful with the work and life He gives. and we look at our daily lives and seek to give thanks for these fleeting moments.

 speaking of fleeting moments, we had 5,4, and 2 yr well-checks for everyone over the last week. six shots and a finger-stick and a flu mist later, there were no tears. what? i was amazed. they did not get that courage from me. what's more, everyone is healthy and growing with sizes in the 25th (marit), 50th (miles), and 75th (graham, the always hungry one) percentiles. poor marit is still too little for the booster seat, while graham is allowed to move up. we are thankful, as we know well that health is not to be taken for granted.   and bonus, sweet butternut broke the pacifier habit, thanks to my friend nicole asking him if she could have it and he willingly gave it away!  that transition was way easier than i expected.

we are falling into our home-school groove and really enjoying it! we have also been doing better with adam's schedule, trying to maximize family time at odd hours of the day. sometimes, the many days in a row with pretty much zero conversation to ourselves (lots of evening shifts this month) wears on our marriage. then, by God's grace, just in time, we are able to find a quiet moment that restores and gets us back on the same page.

we are thankful for:

sunny hobbit reading dates

beautiful weather and big old trees perfect for climbing

personality

sweet brother friendship budding

and the brother-sister one too

happy rolling-down-hill-moments

miles is their trainee

annual leaf waxing

2 yr-old "good doggy" s

nearby beauty and boy-net love

tired, time-change cuddles

skunk, dorothy, and tiger

as usual, we kept Halloween low-key around here...getting hand-me-down costumes and simply walking down the street to our church's community trunk or treat. the kids had a blast, and we have been rationing candy since. i do love a kiddo in a costume (as long as it isn't too creepy!).